Introduction to Ravelry

07 Feb 2011 Leave a comment

by crystal in Crochet, Knitting, Technocrafting, Tutorials

Ravelry is a very popular website for yarn crafters. You could call it social networking for people who love yarn. Besides the social networking aspect of Ravelry, it’s a nice way to keep track of your projects and find patterns.

I’ve been using Ravelry almost since I started knitting. Navigating the Website with a screen reader can be frustrating at times but most features are accessible. I still find Ravelry well worth the effort to learn even if there are a few unusable areas.

Ravelry has a lot of interesting features. In your notebook, you can add a project and keep track of the needle size and yarn you used. You can also make notes about the project to share with other people. You can search for patterns on Ravelry and narrow your search by different categories: yarn weight, yardage, gauge, free or paid pattern, etc. You can join groups to find people who are doing the same project as you, people who live near you and people who just share the same interests. You can set up a store to share patterns for free or to sell using PayPal. I’ll describe almost all of the features with more detail in later posts.

Today I want to tell you how to sign up for Ravelry and get started with your profile. To sign up for Ravelry you have to request an invitation. Ravelry is still in beta so you can’t just sign up. The best thing about using the sign-up link in the invitation e-mail is you don’t have to deal with a captia.

Directions for Signing Up

1-      Go to www.ravelry.com

2-      Use your screen reader to find the Username form field. Arrow down until you find the words, “Join Now” and press enter.

3-      Find the form field and type your e-mail address. Then tab to the “Send Sign-up Link” button and press enter.

An e-mail with a sign-up link should arrive within minutes. When I signed up years ago it took a few days to get the invitation. Ravelry is much faster with this now.

When you get the e-mail just click on the link inside. This will take you to a page where you can choose your screen name and password. This screen name will be your public persona on Ravelry so don’t pick anything you don’t want everyone to see. Once You’re signed up the next page will list some of the features on Ravelry with tips for getting started. If you want to view or edit your profile just click on your screen name. It’s usually the only heading on the page so it’s easy to find. On your profile page click on the link that says “Edit Your Profile.”

I’ll post more detailed tutorials about individual features of Ravelry soon. Once you’re signed up you can find me on Ravelry as Crystal6207.

Android Yarny

05 Feb 2011 Leave a comment

by Ana in Crochet, Knitting, Technocrafting

I got an android phone last summer, and after swearing at it for a month, I woke up one morning and realized the Lovely Droidia was really a very helpful and groovy … phone? (She’s asleep, so I’m hoping she won’t think we’re not friends.) My abnormal relationships with semi-animate electronic devices aside, I recently found three free Android apps that are accessible and sure to feed any yarn addiction.

Knitters Friend by Moorhen Apps is a portable hook and needle conversion chart. for knitting, it’s got three dropdown lists. the top one is for metric. the middle one is for U.S. needle size. The bottom one is for UK/Canadian. Select a number in one dropdown list, and the others change accordingly. For example, selecting a 5 for the metric box at the top makes 8 appear in the middle U.S. box and 6 in the bottom UK/Canadian box. To change the conversion chart from knitting needles to crochet or crochet steel hook simply hit Menu and the option you’d like. While the dropdown lists themselves are completely accessible, the labels aren’t, so you have to remember that the top box is metric; the middle one, U.S.; and the bottom, UK/Canadian.

County by BobbinsSoft is an electronic row counter. Each time you finish a row, hit Menu and Increase, and each time you rip out half a dozen rows because you skipped one or two vital stitches while caught up in your favorite TV show, hit Menu and Decrease. This app is great when you’re new to yarn crafting and still bitter about having to keep track of rows. It’s also great when you’re working on a really intricate project or when you do a lot of knitting on the go, especially if you’re plodding through patterns with repeats within repeats.

Yarn Shopper by Beekeeper Labs is a skein estimator: supply a few basic project details, and the app gives you a list of possible yarns and the number of skeins or hanks you’ll need to buy. Again, the app is generally accessible, but two of the edit boxes aren’t labeled. From top to bottom, the information to be supplied is name of project (edit box), yards required in pattern (edit box), yarn weight (dropdown list), and fiber content (edit box). The OK and Cancel buttons are at the bottom, and the results appear in nice readable text. To add yarns or get more results, hit Menu and adjust the filter. This is definitely not a good app for someone on a stash diet.

Who knew yarn and technology could come together so beautifully?

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