Ravelry - What I think

Because, you know, my opinion is so important and all.... So I have been on Ravelry for a week or so now, and I have to admit that when I first got my invite, I wasn't as amazed as I was hoping (I think the whole waiting game thing made me more eager). But now I have gotten used to it, fixed my Flickr (apparently I already had an account??) and I now am using Ravelry daily for all kinds of things. So - a list of some sort... The best thing is that it is new, so I dont have to add stupid random numbers to the end of my username which I would inevitably forget and have to request a reminder because the number of members is currently limited (I'm xampx btw) Queue - all the projects I see, and would love to make, and that I usually add to my ever expanding list of favourite websites, I can now put them on my Ravelry queue, with comments to remind me why I wanted to make it, for who and in what colour etc. I find this really useful as I can see all of my 'want to makes' together, and pick them one at a time depending on the cost of yarn etc. Yarn - this is a fantastic feature for cheapskates like me. I rarely make a project from the recommended yarn. Mostly because I am poor. I like to ebay for yarns which come in bulk, and the thing with ebay (in England at least) is that very few people bother to write the yarn composition, and most importantly for me, the meterage/yardage. Ravelry has a fairly decent, ever expanding yarn database which lists all of this, I have found this fantastic (although I would like to see more of the lesser known English yarns and maybe some older discontinued and even maybe some vintage yarns on there because thats what a lot of people sell on ebay) Ideas - I like to see what people make because sometimes a pattern only shows one or two views of a garment in one size, and im a square peg in a round hole when it comes to clothing that fits right, so its great to see what other people have made and see that something I might not have liked initially, actually looks a lot better than I thought. Patterns - I love me some patterns, and I have been a huge fan and user of crochet pattern central and knitting pattern central since I found THE CRAFTS, and I do still use these sites, because Ravelry's database is still expanding, and I like CPC and KPC so I will carry on showing my support. But what Ravelry also does, is list non-free patterns, online and in books, which I wouldn't usually see unless you bought the pattern books or if I came across a website by chance. And as a mainly online book buyer, I dont get to see what the websites don't show me. I am willing to buy a book if that 'just right' pattern is in there, but the 'just right' pattern is rarely on the front cover. So Ravelry is good for that. Community - I love to read random peoples blogs and comments and so this part is great - there are also TWO English knitting groups on there (and about a million US ones...) which is fab because English knitters are hard to find. And one last thing is that since I joined Ravelry and started adding finished projects to my profile, I have realised that I have made a lot more things than I remember, which makes me feel good. I also realised that I need to take pictures of these projects, and I am trying. Generally I think its a really good idea and I hope the novelty doesn't wear off