Blatherings - October 26th, 2007

Tags:	crafts, knitting, website
Time:	07:49 am

When I first heard about Ravelry I thought, yeah, okay, a knitting community would be cool, and okay, it looks like it might have some interesting tools. But I figured it would be something I'd register for, set some stuff up on, and then forget about.

That was before I discovered that they've got it set up so you can put ANYTHING in a queue to be worked on at a future date, and easily move it to a works-in-progress page when you start it. For years now when I've seen interesting patterns online, I've bookmarked them or saved the PDF, but then forgotten about them. The Ravelry queue lets me put stuff right in there, then change the order as often as I like, so while I might not ever get around to some items, they're all there to see at a glance whenever I want.

I'm unlikely to ever use the tools that track needles, yarn, and books, because I don't really need those tools (but I absolutely believe some people do...I know some people have dozens and dozens of boxes of yarn that they easily forget about), but I'm loving the queue/WIP stuff.

It's also relatively easy for me to post patterns on there, and it doesn't hurt me at all to do it. I'm not giving up any more than I am by posting them on my site anyway. Ravelry is being ultra-sensible about listing the basics for a pattern (ie what yarn(s)/needle(s) are needed, where the pattern can be found, how much it costs or if it's free) without coming anywhere close to ripping anyone off. I consider that a huge boost to promoting my free patterns without feeling in danger of losing control of them.

They're going to eventually have a store as well where folk like me can choose to sell patterns. There are some patterns I've been withholding because I might want to publish them, but publishing knitting stuff is much more subject to the whims of current fashion than publishing other non-fiction or my fiction. If toys aren't in this season, nobody wants to publish them, and even within that, there are fashions for styles of toys that I don't really fit. So I'll seriously consider publishing some patterns through Ravelry, letting them handle the storage and delivery, and I can get a small bit of money to sustain my hobby, or who knows, maybe even a good chunk of change.

Obviously if their rates are unfair, I won't do it, but at the moment it sounds like a lot less work than hunting down a publisher (remember: I've had TWO publishers come to ME to ask me to do knitting stuff and both projects have fallen through on the early stages, so it's not a very stable marketplace for that kind of thing).

Anyway, point is, Ravelry rocks. It's been set up by people who know what knitters (and presumably crocheters) need and can use.

The only real danger is that it'll be so successful that someone unfamiliar with the craft will buy it out and wreck it. If a big yarn company bought it, they might not, but if a Yahoo or About.com bought it, they'd bugger it up for sure.

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Tags:	baby pictures, crafts, peo, peopost
Time:	03:04 pm

Dear World,

This is Peo.

Awhile back my Mummy asked me what I'd like to dress up as for Halloween, but I didn't understand the question. Then she asked me if I'd like to be a pie and I said, "YEAH!" She said I'm her cutie pie, which I already knew.

So Mummy made me a pie costume out of re-used boxes, ribbon, and bubble wrap. It has a hat too. I love it! I ask to wear it all the time. I like being a pie. I am a yummy pie!

Today Mummy took me to a big place with lots of other kids in costumes, and I got to wear my pie costume there. We walked around and there were people in blue shirts and Mummy said if I went up to them and said, "Trick or treat!" they'd give me something. I didn't say it, but I went up and they kept putting stuff in my pumpkin bag. I was confused, but they kept giving me stuff, so it was fun.

One man even gave me a necklace that has a smiley face bottle that Mummy says has BUBBLES inside! WOW!

Everyone who saw me said my pie was such a cute and creative costume. You can see it too:

( Read more... )

It was a lot of fun to stand there, being a pie, in front of the exercise room where people could see how yummy I looked while they walked on those funny machines. I wanted to play with the machines but Mummy wouldn't let me.

Then in the car I dumped out my pumpkin bag on my lap and discovered that what was in those weird little packages was FOOD. It was fun food too, because even though I couldn't get it out to eat it, it got all mushy in my hands and it smelled like chocolate.

Then we came home and Mummy opened some of the little packages and scooped out the melted chocolate so I could eat it. It was yummy!

I think maybe if I wear my awesome pie costume more, I might get some more chocolate. What a great deal for me! Yay!

Sincerely,

Peo

PS Even though I keep telling Mummy that I'll share my pie hat, I don't actually want to share my pie hat, and I don't like it when my friends take it off my head. The other day I cried when Xander took it off, but Mummy thought it was funny that I kept playing with Xander's puzzle while I cried about the hat. Then Xander's Mummy made him give it back to me and that was okay.

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