This is one of Kim Guzman’s latest designs. It’ll appear in the next issue of Crochet World Magazine. What a beauty! Kim recently blogged about Ravelry, so I thought I’d share her blog since she has said about all there is to say on the subject PLUS she hosts a crochet group there. So, here’s Kim:
What is Ravelry?
The first thing I really want to do is invite everyone to join Ravelry. So, let me introduce you. Ravelry is an invite-only group. But, it’s very easy to get your invite. You’ll first visit the Ravelry main page and simply put in your email address so that you can get your invite. How easy is that??!! Invites are sent out very quickly. It may only take about 5 days. Don’t dispair! In the beginning, it took more like 5 months! Whew!
In order to get your invite, it will be emailed to you. Be sure to check your spam folder, though. My invite was placed in my spam folder by my email provider.
Why would you want to join Ravelry, you ask?
The most important reason is because there is a database of patterns. You can search by pattern name, key word or even by type of yarn. If there is a pattern you’ve been looking for, but can’t remember what magazine you saw it in, you should be able to find it (if it’s in the database and more patterns are placed in the database every single day). Do you remember something cool you saw on the internet, forgot to bookmark it and now can’t find it?
See what I mean? The database search is very valuable to find those patterns which you’ve lost track of. And, it’s a great way to find those patterns which you didn’t know you wanted! Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a database of the patterns themselves. It is just an entry about the pattern, hopefully a photo, a link to all the projects people have made with the pattern and a handy way of finding out which yarns worked with the pattern and, most importantly, WHERE to find the pattern.
Looking for a pattern to use with the yarn you have in your stash? You can just click on the Yarn database and find every project that has been linked to that yarn.
Even if you only use Ravelry for these features alone, you will still have a valuable resource!
But, my main reason in writing is that I have a Ravelry Group, CrochetKim. In this group, there are ongoing conversations on each of my designs. Yes, if I have tips or errata to post on a design, I will post it here in my blog. But, just imagine how handy it will be to be able to browse the discussion on a particular design and be able to see situations where someone had questions and the answers are right there. So, I do encourage you to join Ravelry. And, even if you never venture outside the database, you will still have a valuable resource open to you, 24 hours a day.
There are other features of Ravelry which you may also be interested in browsing. These are just the highlights. I’ll let you find out about the other features on your own. 
Check out more about Kim and her designs at:
