4KCBWDAY6: Thank Bob

Saturday may be the weekend, but it's still serious business.  I cast off, washed, and blocked the final handmade for my Joss Whedon swap.  In between the washing and the blocking, my mom and I went out and found ourselves some comfortable but stylish shoes at a great price, then indulged in some delicious frozen yogurt and scoured Half Price Books.

All the while, I was trying to think of what tool of my crafting trade I should extol the virtues of for this sixth post of the week.  I have a gorgeous Turkish drop spindle from Jeri Brock that constantly inspires me to improve my spinning to match the worthiness of the tool.  I'm also proud of my DIY noddy noddy, but I'll have to save that mini-tutorial for its own post.  Then again, I also love my polymer clay cupcake stitch markers, which never fail to put a smile on my face every time, even in the most boring/frustrating/never-ending row.  And knitting life really is so different after you get a swift and ball winder and stop having to coordinate winding time with Mom.

But when it comes right down to it, I think that Ravelry is far and away the most important tool in my crafting.  I don't doubt that if it wasn't for that site, I would probably not be knitting today.  And not just because of the ease with which it allows me to look up a yarn and figure out what to knit with it (as I stand in front of the shelves of the LYS, pecking at my iPhone).  Though that is certainly a factor.

I may have started with my college's Stitch 'n Bitch group, but having graduated and returned home many states away, that would have left my mom as the only other knitter I knew.  With Ravelry, there are literally millions.  Several of whom I feel as though I know very well.  And when something goes hideously, hideously wrong with a lace pattern, or even if something in 'real' life goes awry, I have them to turn to to keep me going.  And if it wasn't for swaps, I probably wouldn't have had the motivation to try so many new patterns and projects, and to make sure to get them done in time for shipping.  Manatees aren't really known for their speed, you know.

Unfortunately, you all know about Ravelry already, so I'm not giving you any new insights.  I can recommend trying a swap if you haven't already.  You'll just want to make sure it's well-run, that moderators will make sure that everyone gets a package in case of a flaker who doesn't hold up their end of the swap.  Other than that, there are swaps for all kinds of crafters, in a variety of themes and spanning a range of budgets.

I'm hoping to utilize more of Ravelry's features myself to make it an even more helpful tool, by getting my stash fully logged.  And one day Casey will figure out how to connect my library with my mom's, because right now we share our shelves, but she's the only one entering the books as they come into the house.  Like the stack we got at Half Price today...

Now that I've fulfilled my post for the day, I'm ready to start browsing other posts for great tool advice. For more posts, use the tag '4KCBWDAY6' in the search engine of your choice.  As always, our host Eskimi is a great place to start.