As I mentioned in the last post, following on from the success of the These Islands Book Launch Sara from Smudge Yarns thought it might be a good idea to run a KAL with the Beaker Shawl pattern from the book.

There has been such a fantastic reaction to the book, both at the launch and online that we thought it might be fairer to extend the ‘cast on’ deadline to Sunday 19th April, to give everyone an opportunity to be entered into the draw for the ‘special’ hank of hand dyed lace weight yarn from Smudge Yarns.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning, is to add your Beaker Shawl project to Ravelry 🏆

After speaking to a few people in the shop, I’ve discovered that not only are there Ravellers that have never used this feature, there are still fibrey people that have yet to hear of Ravelry (I know fibery isn’t a word, but).

So if you’ve still to learn the joys of Ravelry head straight over to ravelry.com and sign up now.  Thy’ll ask you the usual questions, name, email address, etc and then they’ll forward on one of those ‘confirm it’s you’ emails and once you’ve followed the link you’re in 👍They never email you after that, no spam.

If you’re new to Ravelry you should expect to feel the tingle of project power flow from your fingers and eyes to your brain quite quickly after logging in.  This timid little sensation will increase steadily until it reaches the level of teeth grinding, nervous twitching fibre related insanity, as you begin to navigate your way round the many features Ravelry has to offer.

Some features like the ‘my stash’ option are best avoided in my opinion.  Not only would it be a task of gargantuan proportion, it would also eat into my valuable knitting time and then there’s the ‘confession’ element of recording my entire stash.  Not only would it be out there in the realms of the online world for all to see, I’d have to see it too 👀  Much better that it stays the way it is – sorted into 10 large plastic crates, 3 duvet bags, 2 chests of drawers and countless other baskets, bags and boxes

Anyway, back to the real reason for this post.

You’ll notice when you hover over the my notebook tab at the top left of the Ravelry page, Projects is one of the options on the drop down menu.

Click on this to bring you to the next page and here, at the top left of the page again, click the ‘add project’ tab.

This will then lead you to the ‘New Project’ page for you to begin uploading the details.

I’m not great at naming my projects, so I tend to go for something simple, in this case I’ve called my shawl The Book Launch Shawl (’twas almost lunch, until I spotted the spelling mistake) .  The pattern is taken from a book and it’s called the Beaker Shawl from the These Islands book (just in case).

When you hit the continue button, Ravelry does some kind of voodoo magic and if it’s been added to their database, the next page to load, will have the details of the pattern on it.  Click on the ‘choose this pattern’ tab to continue.

Here you’ll be asked to record everything about your project.  The name of the yarn (Ravelry magically links it if it’s on their database), how much yarn you’re going to use, the size of needle/hook you’re using and with both of these items there’s an option to include additional yarns and needle sizes.

Working down the page, you’ll notice there’s the option to pop up where you purchased the yarn, if it’s from me in the shop, you type in Knit which brings up loads of us as you might expect, so you need to scroll down through the stockists until you find me

The notes section is used by people in different ways.  Some people might note whether they had to change their needle size or made modifications.  Others like to record for who and why they’re making the project.  There are also fibre people that record any issues they might have come across whilst working on the project, in order to highlight things to watch for others attempting the design.   These notes, like most thinks on Ravelry are there to help you and the other members, in fact when you look at other people’s projects you’ll notice there’s a tab underneath for you to check if you found the notes useful.

At the right hand side of the project page there’s places to add all manner of things, including how far along you are, when you began and if you’re enjoying it.  Underneath you’ve also got options to record more detail about your take on the yarn and the design.

Whilst it’s lovely to be able to add positive comments, I’d always suggest contacting the supplier/designer first if you have any criticisms.  The hopes and dreams of companies, in particular the small, independent ones, can easily be dashed with a harsh word or two.

Save your work now if you haven’t already.

Nearly there now.  Next it’s a good idea to add a photo or two, even if it’s just of the yarn for now.  At the top right hand corner click on the tab marked ‘add photos’

There are several options for adding your pics, including Flickr, Photobucket and uploading from your computer.  Just select your file and press the upload button.

Your photograph will often need adjusting to fit the frame.

You can tweak it by hovering your cursor over the 4 little arrows and moving your mouse in either direction.  You can upload several photos if you want including ones where you’ve zoomed in to show a particular part of the design.

Once loaded up, there’s no need to save them as Ravelry seems to do this automatically.

Remember you can edit your project at any stage, even if you decide to frog it years later.

Happy Ravelling!

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