Ravelry is the best friend a knitter could have! I so wish there was something just like it for quilting. Yes, I know there are several similar sites or sites in the works but so far, nothing I’ve seen compares to Ravelry. If you’re not a knitter, are you amazed at how the site is put together and how the database works and it’s all free?
Every pattern you buy through Ravelry, and almost every knitting pattern available can be purchased through Ravelry, stays in your library. From there, you can add the yarn you want to use, you can put it into your queue. Here are the first few things in my queue:
Ravelry Queue
The Cream & Sugar cowl is the project I just finished and have started the green one one but am going to make a third one so that’s why it’s still #1 on my list. Second on my list is the 3S Shawl that my friend, Denise, started and then my friend, Judy, started and now I want to make one. That’s about what those “What’s on Your Needles” posts on Fridays are good for . . making me want to make what everyone else is making!
You may not have noticed this about me but I have a terrible habit of seeing patterns, buying the pattern, ordering the yarn, and then moving on to the next pattern, more yarn and never making a whole lot of anything so I’ve turned over a new leaf! A new, more organized knitter . . that’s what I’m going to be! Stop laughing . . please! It hurts my feelings when you have no confidence in my ability to stop buying yarn. It not like I’m addicted to checking The Loopy Ewe website for new additions . . really! I can see where this is headed. No one believes me. I’m going to have to regain your confidence . . show you that I do have will power and fortitude. Yes . . . that’s what I’m all about! 🙂
Project Bag #1
My plan is to make everything in this bag before I order any more yarn with the following exceptions:
- Exception #1: If the Second Quarter Loopy Challenge is announced before I finish all these projects, I’ll order yarn for that.
- Exception #2: If Camp Loopy starts before I finish all these projects, I’ll order yarn for that.
Sounds pretty do-able, huh? Sounds pretty organized, huh? Sounds good to me!
Now . . what’s in that bag? Or what was in the bag . . I’ve already taken out the green Fiberphile to use for the cowl, which by the way was supposed to be for Nicole but I love the yarn so much that either I might keep it for me or I might have to order another skein of it. Wait . . nevermind!
The yarn in the bag, along with all the patterns and projects . . it all corresponds with my Ravelry Queue:
- Cream & Sugar Cowl – a very dark green Fiberphile yarn for one cowl and a cobalt blue Tosh Sock for a second cowl — one is definitely a gift . . one might be for me.
- 3S Shawl – Colinette Jitter Bug – the one in the front left — kinda tan and aqua. I think it’s called Sea Breeze.
- Holden Shawlette – Second row, middle yarn – a deep red Malabrigo Sock yarn. Might be a gift.
- Yarden – Front row, two skeins on the right – Madelinetosh Merino Light – Amber Trinket and Fawn. Might be a gift.
- Howl Cat – This one is definitely for me. One yarn is Tosh Merino Light in a limey green (I forgot the name of it – it’s the left yarn in the middle row) and a Malabrigo Rios in deep purple, almost black, with some green.
It’s a lot of projects but I hope to do them in that order and stay on track. I’ll always have a pair of plain Jane socks in the works too. I can sit and work on those while visiting or riding or waiting and not have to count or figure out where I left off.
Should we take bets on how many projects will get done before I accidentally poke a button and order more yarn? I say . . it will happen with all five (six really because there are two cowls) projects are done! Stop laughing . . it isn’t nice! 🙂
Judy D in WA says
I was not laughing at you , I was laughing with you! 🙂
I love this idea but I have to take it a step farther for myself. I will have to put each project and pattern in it’s own bag and then put those bags in a bigger bag. Because I know how my memory is. Even if I note it on the pattern…. 😉
Mary Jo says
I can’t laugh because I am worse than you are. If I never bought another piece of fabric or more yarn I could sew or knit for hours every day for the rest of my life and then some!
sheila sanderson says
Dream on Judy, you will have ordered more yarn soon
Sophie says
I have had the same thought many times –there really is no quilting site/forum/application that is as good for quilters as Ravelry is for knitters.
diana says
I wasn’t laughing at you, honest. My Dad lives with me and he hands me the boxes of fabric from the mailbox that I order on line and says is this more fabric for the plastic containers . And we are both retired and it’s hard to beat him to the mailbox! So bekieve me, not laughing! you know the one about glass houses, right! I love seeing the things that you, Mary and Denise knit, but I just can’t start knitting…. that would be a whole new set of plastic containers! Enjoy reading your blog everyday, it makes me smile!
Denise ~ Justquiltin says
Loopy will think that Vince has taken away your computer! I may have to set up a little “Judy Pool” and see who can guess when you’ll crack. That’s what friends are for right? 😉 I think I have the Holden Shawlette in my Ravelry library too.
EagleKnits says
I also wish that there was a quilting site similar to Ravelry. I love the forums and all the notebook capabilities, but the advanced search is the most amazing thing, and the feature I enjoy the most. If I want to find a free vest pattern that uses 750 yards of worsted weight yarn, size 8 needles, and is knit from the top down, then I can search for that. Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to look at fabric you have on hand and then search for a pattern that uses, for example, one yard of fabric A, 2.5 yards of fabric B, and six fat quarters?
Stella Nemeth says
No bets. I was thinking of doing the queue thing at Ravelry and then I realized just how depressed it would make me to actually do that.
Mel Meister says
I’m not taking any bets! You won’t last!
I was looking for my tomato seeds (never found them) and had to move some yarn. ahem… I found more yarn that I had totally forgotten I had. I can’t seem to stop buying sock yarn and I darn well know that you can’t either! ROFL!
ps. have you seen the Nightfall yarn? It makes the most interesting socks and shawls! It’s another one of those hard to come by yarns but I managed to get the copper set today. http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/fibrofibers-nightfall-fingering-sock-set
And then there is the “There and Back again” sock pattern. I HAD to buy it!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/there–back-again-socks-2
Amy (Waunaknit) says
That’s my problem too. I buy the pattern and yarn but then get sidetracked by new patterns/yarns. This year, I’ve only bought patterns that have a discount coupon (and that were already favorited). All of the projects I’ve cast on in 2013 have been in my queue since at least last year. Now I need to stop buying yarn like it’s going out of style! Good luck!