to help every knitter succeed.

The Games have begun: LET'S KNIT!

I've been enjoying some great knitting time over the past few days, watching beach volleyball, cycling, basketball, and so many other sports that some people obviously take very seriously,
but that exist on the periphery of my consciousness for 47 out of 48 months until the Summer Olympics roll around again. It's my goal to finish up the lovely Ginkgo Counterpanes shawl that I began earlier in the spring, and make some headway on my husband's Knockmore Pullover.

These cuties pictured below were made by a  knitter who just couldn't wait. They are part of a collection of Olympic themed buddies who were stationed along a bridge in London last spring. Check out  The Telegraph's photo montage to get the full view.

To follow up on what I'd mentioned last month, Ravellenic Games 2012, the Ravelry group that unites knitters who are working their way diligently through their own olympic sized knitting goals, is now over  12 000 members  strong and that doesn't even include the other  "team" groups registered  from Germany, Great Britain, Greece as well as francophones and Icelandic knitters.

  And this wannabe athletic knitter's cartoon showed up on Facebook last week. I checked it out and according to the website caloriecount.about.com , 102 calories per hour are spent working at a regular speed of knitting. That's worth a few crackers, or a light cookie. Just think what a couple of hours of exciting knitting, watching a nail-biter  like the women's basketball game last week between Russia and Canada. That could get up to the value of a whole piece of cheesecake.

What has changed knitting?

 It just occured to me that in almost every section of this newsletter, I have or could have referred to Ravelry - truly one of the great game changers of the craft world today. 

For those who don't know much about "Rav", it is an on-line community of knitters and related crafters who check in on each other's work and interests. The tag shown at right was the runner up in a bag design contest to note the 2-million member mark which was passed in the last few months. That is one heck of a lot of knitting support and information for you to tap into.

Why am I taking up this space in my newsletter to encourage you to get on the Ravelry bandwagon you might ask.  Because a knowledgeable customer is more confident and often a more satisfied customer. Technique questions, needle conversions, yarn descriptions are all part of what will help you succeed in your knitting project.

 If you haven't signed on yet, you can't imagine what you're missing. It's like having 2 million knitting friends who are willing to help out with a question that you have about a pattern you're doing, show you pictures of their version of the project that you're working on, lend you some of their patterns, and support you when things are difficult, thrilling, boring, fun, frustrating or elating in your knitting.

Don't worry if you aren't comfortable finding your way around internet sites. We'll be offering a class this fall - RAVELRY 101 where you can find out how to make the most of your time on Ravelry.

Meanwhile try this little experiment: go to your oldest or most obscure knitting book that you have buried deep at the back of the cupboard. Choose one of the yarns that they recommend, (especially good if it's a discontinued yarn) and log in to Ravelry. Click on the Yarns button at the top of the page and search for that yarn: Presto, you will likely get a picture and all the information about the product that you will need to bring to us so that we can help you find a present day substitution. You'll be amazed.