- prospective project (all the jumper yarn over there, all the hat yarn here)
- colour (spectrum order, obviously,)
- weight, (cobweb through to Aran) and
- quantity.
the moving finger
writes and having written moves on
Writer. Student. Knitter. Technophile.
And a bunch of other things
TwitterFacebookLinkedInFlickrmetaweblogWhy knitting is good for those with OCD
I'm at home sick today. (stupid cold, stupid sinuses) The only bright spot is that it's given me time to re-oganise my stash. I was in the middle of taking the photos of the yarn, that are linked to the spreadsheet showing what I have, how much of it there is, and where it's kept when I realised why I love my stash so much.
It's the perfect play-thing for my OCD.
I can catalogue it in spreadsheets, I can reorganise it based on
Dealing with the stash
I have recently acquired the first of Yarn Harlot's books.
I thought it would make me laugh - I was right
I didn't think it would teach me useful tricks - I was wrong....
See the problem that faces every knitter who lives with a non-knitter is how to deal with the stash. Stash is the yarn you keep at home. Non-knitters assume that the point of stash is to turn it into knitted garments, so they get very, very confused by the fact that knitters continue to acquire stash far faster than it can reasonably be knit.
That's because they're wrong. The point of stash is not to be turned into garments - the point of stash is just to be; just to sit their being soft, and warm and prettily coloured, gently inspiring the knitter into dreams of things that *could* be made out of the stash, but won't, because then the stash could no longer create those dreams...
I love my stash
Anyway, as a relatively new knitter my stash is still comparatively small, but I am already encountering the raised eyebrow when I bring home yet another skien of sock-yarn. So eventually I will have to start to conceal it in places other than the designated yarn-storage bucket.
And this is where the Yarn Harlot was so useful - thanks to her book I now have a long list if hidey-holes where yarn can be stored.
No, I'm not going to share them. My husband reads this blog and I don't want him to find out...
Perhaps a trip to my LYS this lunch might be on the cards - they've got some lovely silk/wool sock yarn I've been eyeing off and now I've got places I can hide it...
People+Common Interest+Tools=Successful Social network
Laurel Papworth recently wrote about a new social networking site for film makers. In that post she makes the excellent point that you need more than just cool tools for a Social Networking site to work. You need an active community.
I'd add to that it really helps if your community has a common interest - ideally in something more than just "catching up with old friends". I have a Facebook account (who doesnt?) but I'd check it once a week at most; there just ins't enough there for me to care any more than that.
But I'm not against "Social Networking" per se - far from it. I'm very active in a variety of fora - where the members and I have more in common than just our members.
For example, I'm pretty active over on the MobileRead sites - I'm passionate about my Sony Reader (as you may know), and I enjoy interacting with the other e-book enthisiasts, Whether it's helping new users, sharing tips and tricks, or even getting into the nuts and bolts of hacking the hardware - I'm there.
But MobileRead is pretty old fashioned by today's standards - it's just a place for people to communicate - nothing fancier than that.
My pick for "Best Social Networking Site Ever" is Ravelry. It's a community for Knitters and Crocheters (Common interest - Check) You have to be invited to join (slightly exclusive - cool) but you can register for an invitation, and it only takes a couple of days (not too exclusive - nice) Once you are a member - the tools are perfect for the needs of the users.
In my Ravelry profile I can display my current knitting project and get help with it (and help others). I can keep a record of what yarn I have in my stash, and which needles I have - and then find out from other members what sorts of projects I can do with the things I already own. There's a facility to draw my blog rss feed straight to my profile - so I don't have to create content in multiple places. And it's easy to share patterns, tips, tricks and information with other members. And, because we're all knitters/crocheters we have a common interest to build our relationships around
It's seriously great - and if you knit or crochet you should think about joining - and if you do You'll find me here.
