Shop Q & A

In honor of the second anniversary of Ravelry, we're asking our shop staff "What's your favorite thing about Ravelry?"

Barbara loves that she can look up any yarn and see what people are making with it. If she sees something she likes, there's a usually a free or low-cost pattern available, but more to the point she learns how the yarn behaves in a lot of different circumstances. How does it drape? Does it cable well?

Jeanne likes that when she decides to work with any of the old yarn from her stash, she can find projects and patterns for it -- even if the manufacturer has long since discontinued it.

As a shop owner, Karen has taken advantage of the opportunity to interact directly with designers. It's easy to ask for permission to print and distribute a pattern, or include one in a kit. And she can go directly to the source if she has any questions, or finds an error.

Rachael likes that she can connect with all her knitting friends and watch the progress of their work online. This is true whether the friends are local or distant. We've all noticed that you can cross paths with someone in the shop three times in a week, and then not at all for six months. Ravelry keeps the connections up.

Don't forget we have a Ravelry group called the Gurls of Fresh Purls. Join us! And tell us in the comments what you like most about Ravelry!