Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Bad Beta Tester. Bad, Bad!

I got my invite to the big Ravelry Party last month. It's nice. I guess.

I must be the most lacksadaisical Raveler out there. I keep forgetting my user ID and password. I keep forgetting to bookmark Ravelry. I keep forgetting to post a link to it on the blog. I have posted all of 4 Finished Objects, though right now it looks like 5 because I seem to have duplicated when I thought I was over-writing and I can't find anything on how to delete a project. I assume at some point I will find the Search function, but until then, oh well.

Perhaps I am the most contrary Raveler. I have a picture-less "notebook" because there is no way, with Picasa, Blogger and my hard-drive already loaded, that I am going to set up another picture source and Ravelry will only take pictures from Flickr. I'll beta test when they're ready to support the other online photo organizers. Besides, there are pictures all over the place right here.

I am a resistant Raveler. It's all I can do to post here 3 or 4 times a week. Do I really want to duplicate this past year or so on another website? I question that you really need to see pictures of my stash and it's complete lack of organization. What? You think you do? Oh, fine. This entry needs a picture anyway. Here's some of it.

I know I'm a somewhat dubious Raveler. I've been "friended" by one person, a complete stranger from Michigan. Someone who, as far as I can tell, doesn't read this blog, which, frankly, strikes me as sort of odd.

I suspect I am simply a bad Raveler. I don't know what I was thinking. It must have been the peer pressure. Everybody posting about whether or not they'd gotten their invitations. Everyone speculating about their position in the queue. All the rabid creating and updating of Flickr accounts. I added my email to the list while temporarily deranged by all the Ravelry pheromones. I figured I'd get invited in, oh, January. Maybe. Or not.

Ravelry is something that, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it, and there I am: lacksadaisical, contrary, resistant, dubious, bad.

I should have waited for it to go public.

8 comments:

Diane H said...

Your yarn is in bags, in baskets and it seems to be color coded! And that's a clean floor. I don't think that's what Ravelry wants. Where is the shot of the hall closet, hmmm? There's yarn in there, you gave me some.

I joined paperbackswap and Shelfari and found the con in both websites. There's a hitch to Ravelry, just wait. You're going to be bombarded with offers of light-up needles and yarn that knits itself.

Susan Luni said...

WEll. Thanks. I agree. Now, I have to defend the Ravelry. It is a resource. Like your local library. Would you walk into your library and think that everyone in there is your friend?

ahem. I have come to rely on Ravelry, whenever I want to research a certain yarn or a certain project. It really works for that. I've not figured out why I should friend users on Ravelry, but I keep doing it. I'd friend you, if I KNEW WHO YOU ARE THERE. The rest of it, I agree. I've put up one or two things, but not all. And this Flicker thing will come back on them quick. I just read that they lock you out after a certain number of pics, and you have to pay Flicker money to get access to them. ???

Anonymous said...

I've been enjoying Ravelry, mostly when I'm researching new projects - it's been great to see what people have knit with X yarn or what their finished projects with Y pattern look like.

Plus I'm apparently too lazy to blog lately, so I can put up my FOs and my friends can see them anyhow.

You know I'm going to track you down now, even if you refuse to put up pictures. They're working on using other photo hosts for pictures, as well. I'm not a fan of Flickr - I'm locked out of my account there because someone hacked my Yahoo account, but I can still upload stuff from iPhoto, so I do. So what if I can't edit or anything, I don't care.

Renee said...

Hi Julie, I'm the lady from Michigan who befriended you on Ravelry and I regularly read your blog. It's in my Google Reader. I just don't comment a lot. What's funny is when I marked you as a "friend" I didn't know it would tell you about it. Not that it was a secret or anything. I did it more so I could also keep an eye out on Ravelry for stuff you were working on.

Everything you said about Ravelry is true. I haven't added my stash and I doubt I ever will. I have to admit I spent hours on Ravelry looking and reading about other people's Clapotis scarves. I wanted to make one and wanted to see all the different ways they came out with different yarn weights, solid vs variegated, how people adapted the pattern, how the yarn behaved with the dropped stitches and stuff like that. I think I made a way better yarn choice because of it.

Renee (PhillyPa329 on Ravelry)

Cheesehead With Sticks said...

What - You're on ravelry? Well I'm friending you know that I know :) Despite your resistance!

Actually - I have only added pictures for things that happened since I got in. No past projects. No past stash. If I didn't use flikr allready, I probably wouldn't add pics much either - that's what the blog is for :)

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

Ok I have to chime in here. I LOVE Ravelry. I already have a pro Flickr account so it works perfectly with that. I have all my stash and projects up there. I love being able to browse my stash while at work. Plus all that yarn I have no idea what I'll make with? I can see what other people made! or if I'm looking for a good sub for a pattern I can see what other people subbed and thought about it. Love it!

of course I'm highly organized and a Librarian by day so I'm love having all that info right at my finger tips and the organization! what a great way to organize my stash.

of course I realize that not everything is for everyone so no hard feelings if it isn't for you

Julie McC. said...

Sigh. I begin to feel like a record left out in the sun. It's not Ravelry, it's me. (click) It's not Ravelry, it's me.(click) It's not Ravelry, it's me. (click) It's not Ravelry . . .

Anonymous said...

You can use a source other than flickr, but it's only in limited testing. Go to the forums and search for beta-phototest. There will be a post with an email address that you can send an email to and ask to use an alternate photo host (URL based, so any host you want).