Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Support - What a Concept!

In the past I have tried to avoid posting too much about Ravelry because so many people were still waiting for invites. Every time I log in now there are over 800 people logged in. So moving on. I just read a Ravelry Lace Knitters Group forum thread called "Lace Knitters and The People Who Love Them". It was a great thread full of snippets, stories and links to blog posts about spouses, friends and family who understand the quirkiness that sometimes comes with having a hobby like knitting. Unfortunately I am not one of those lucky people.

I get a lot of comments about having too much yarn, getting too many packages, having a cluttered craft area - you know the drill. I gift items that I loved making, but I never see them worn. I get "requests" for more socks and scarves to keep them warm - should I consider that support by default? No, I don't think so.

I will never forget the photos of Adrienne's scrapping/sewing/knitting area that her wonderful family felt she deserved. I read posts about husbands driving miles, through rain and snow to get that last ball of yarn from the same dye lot so a project could be finished. Posts about a friend waiting on the porch for a package to come, that required a signature of someone over 18. I sigh.

Wouldn't that be nice?? To have someone with that kind of understanding of your passion and enjoyment of a hobby. Ravelry has provided me with a Virtual Community where support, encouragement, enabling, knowledge and resources are abundant. I cannot tell you what that means. To click LOGIN and find immediate acceptance and understanding. This is just knitting and crochet folks, wouldn't it be something if there was this kind of support for all areas of our lives? But hey I'll take it where I can get it. When I first started blogging one year and one month ago I had no readers and no comments. Now there are people all over the world that know what my last pair of completed socks look like. That is amazing (pun intended).

There are also people who want to be written into my will to get my yarn stash, which is definitely beyond my life expectancy :D I don't know how Casey and Jess came up with the concept of Ravelry, but I for one cannot thank them enough. Now I wish my darn t-shirts would come so I can advertise the fact!!!

Peace ~~~

3 comments:

Adrienne said...

What a great post and you are so right, RAVELRY IS FANTASTIC!!! :-)

Virtuous said...

Yep I just love Ravelry!

B.c like you I don't have that much support from family or friends in my hobby so I look to other crafters too!

Deborah said...

...and speaking about tacky husbands, I recently read on the Knitlist someone putting out an APB for Noro because her husband THREW OUT 8 BALLS - by mistake apparently (yeah right)!

Ravelry is cool, just have to watch the clock!