Congratulations Ravelry!

A quick announcement, for those who missed it or are not members: Ravelry is out of beta! So far, this doesn't mean anything is changing on the site, except that the little word "beta" is gone from the logo. However, it is a LOT easier to get an account now than it was when I joined two and a half years ago. The creators have mentioned that one eventual goal for Ravelry is to make the database portions of the site (project, yarn, and pattern pages) open to the public. You'd still need an account to create a project notebook or post to the forums, but I could link to my project page and everyone would be able to see it, without logging in. Going out of beta makes sense at this point, with more than 600,000 users.

Ravelry was a huge part of me becoming a more active member of the knitting community. Once I was on Ravelry I wanted to add pictures, so I joined Flickr and started taking more photos. Once I had entered all my stash, updated all my projects, and read through all my forums, I wanted more. So I started this blog. I connected with other knitters and yarn-fanatics: some who are a ten-minute walk away, and some who live on the other side of the planet. I roped my friends in. I discovered yarn and fiber clubs. I wrote a pattern. I think it's a huge testament to the power of the knitting community that I joined in the first place, not really knowing what Ravelry was going to look like on the inside. Another knitter said yesterday: "I know there are people who would get pulled into the site if they could just see more of it. This is one of the few sites that I didn’t completely write off because registration is required" and I completely agree. Coming out of beta, and eventually opening up this fabulous resource to more people will only spread the knitting love.

I'm pretty excited to have been a part of the beta testing for Ravelry, and I've seen it grow tremendously since I joined. When I first sat down to add my stash yarns, one obscure laceweight yarn was not in the database, but it's there now. I'd made a pair of fingerless gloves, and while entering a project page for it I learned that the pattern wasn't in there yet. When they did add the pattern eventually, they asked to use one of my photos on Ravelry as an example of what the pattern looks like knit up in real life. Ravelry is huge, but it got that way through all of us. We helped build it by entering a little bit of data, uploading a few pictures, and generally channeling our excitement about yarn and knitting into a fantastic new space.

Thanks Casey and Jess for building this crazy train, Mary-Heather and Sarah for helping to keep it on the tracks, and all the other Ravelers for making it a grand old time. I can't wait to see where it's all headed.