Unraveled

We’re still so excited at hitting our 4 million users milestone, so for today’s eye candy I couldn’t resist a few more related things.

First up, some millionth projects.  angelaknits’ Red Leaves was the 4 millionth project, CarreenWarner’s An Armadillo for a Friend was the 4 millionth finished project, and califlamingo’s Skipping Stones was the subject of the 4 millionth favorite.

Casey calculated some fun statistics about the site, and among them was the fact that more than 4% of Icelanders are on Ravelry.  So, let’s celebrate some of our great Icelandic Ravelers!  auduragla’s Turtles peysa is a wonderful take on the traditional lopi, LitlaSkvis’ Solid granny square blanket is such colorful crochet, and DagnyAsta’s Silkitoppur looks both sweet and luxurious.

Thank you to all of you for being a part of your community.  And if you missed it, make sure to check out these awesome infographics about Ravelry at 4 million!

I currently have 107 projects on Ravelry!  And let’s be real, sometimes I just like to look at them and enjoy the memories of creating each item.  The advanced search* is great if I want to look at built in filters like all my crocheted projects, or the sweaters, or everything made from purple yarn.  But sometimes you want to use more personal categories: gifts made for my family, lost projects, items that required time-consuming finishing work.  For that sort of organization, I use project tabs.

I can get started in the project section of my notebook, by clicking on the organize tab.  From there, I can start creating sets, which are based on tags.

And then I can page through my projects and add them to the appropriate sets.

When I’m all done, my new project tab is visible from my projects section of my notebook, right next to the organize tab, so it’s easy to refer back to those projects anytime I like.  And now, if I use those tags in any future projects they’ll automatically be added to the existing sets.

I hope you enjoy setting up some tabs for your projects and basking in the trips down memory lane.

*You can see your own projects in the advanced search by editing the user filter to be your own username.

Sorry, y’all, but down here in Texas it is running season.  I’m loving running when it’s not dreadfully hot, but this season’s colder weather has me wishing I had some knitted running accessories.  So I found myself searching for your activewear FOs this week.

First up, you gotta keep those hands and feet toasty!  runningtwig‘s Catawbas, whatthehay‘s Podsters, and runwithjen‘s Runner’s Sock.  I think fancy running socks are one of life’s greatest luxuries!

Next are the hats!  clairegirl‘s Pink Birdie, elineof‘s Runners beanie, and tjadensr‘s Runner’s ponytail hat.  What a great solution to avoid uncomfortable ponytail/hat collisions.

And finally, some goodies I couldn’t leave out.  shadkitty‘s Pod Protector, Knit24-7‘s Mufflehead, and LauraPNW‘s Future State Champ.  May piped running short never go out of style!

I was able to find all these amazing projects by searching the tags “run” or “running”.  I hope that tags can help you find inspiring projects, too.

I knit lots of different sorts of things, but my favorite thing to knit is sweaters.  If I’m looking for a sweater to knit right away, I can use the advanced search filters to narrow down results to those that meet my criteria.  To save time, I’ve saved this search so I can run it whenever I am in the mood for a new sweater.  The option to save a search is in the top left of the search screen.  And as of this week, there is the option to subscribe to a saved search.

If you choose to subscribe to a search, you’ll be notified of new results that meet your criteria.  Click the magnifying glass in the navigation, and in your list of saved searches you’ll see a notice of any with new items.

After clicking that link you go to that saved search and we help you find the new items.

This feature is brand new, so if you find bugs or have ideas about how to take advantage of it let us know in For the Love of Ravelry.

Now that gift-giving season is over and Ravelers are posting pictures of the items they made, I couldn’t resist focusing on recently completed gifts for this week’s eye candy.

From left to right: richiesoft‘s Happy Wedding, NanaCathy‘s Bigfoot Slippers, and KeTreKo‘s :::HappyNewYearRings:::.

Fron left to right: weaselmomma‘s Latvian Garden, judithlynn‘s Fireman’s Ghan, and SleepyEyes‘ Adelaide in Gray.

Don’t forget, if you’re making a gift for a fellow Raveler (or yourself!) you can mark it on your project page by filling in the “made for raveler” field.  It’s fun to able to see the lucky recipient of a crafty gift when browsing projects!

The end of the year is a time of great activity here at Ravelry, whether you’re making gifts for others, trying to meet year-end crafting goals, or maybe lucky enough to receive yarn as a gift.  Today’s tip is about how you can show off your new stash and projects with your favorite pals using the share with a group feature.

You’ll find the option on the right side of your project and stash pages.  Click the dropdown and select a group and your item will be shared!  You can share with as many groups as you like*, and if you make a mistake, simply click the x next to a group and your item is un-shared.

Want to see the fabulous projects and stash of your group members?  On the overview page for the group we have boxes for the shared items.

I’ll be keeping an eye on the things that have been shared in my groups lately and I look forward to some fun surprises!

*Some groups have guidelines about what sort of projects and stash may be shared.  A mod should be able to help you out if you have any questions about it!

PS Next week we’ll be taking a break from the blog to enjoy some time with our families.  But no worries, we’ll return to our regular schedule the following week.

Up here in the Northern hemisphere the days are getting shorter.  You know what I think is the perfect antidote to winter darkness blahs?  Rainbows!

Those lovely bits of brightness, from left to right: metavf’s Rainbow Heart, cleverchook’s Rainbow Love Socks, and bowerbird’s The Blanket (that yarn is handspun!).

Or if you prefer your rainbow toned down a bit by pairing it with a neutral, then these are for you. Cristi-Lael’s Will Work for Yarn #105, surlyturtle’s The Hexagon Project Rainbow Wrap, and strikkeanita’s Rainbow Sweater.

P.S. If you need another thing to brighten your day, we have new Party Bob stickers in the mini-mart!  Perfect gifts for Raveler friends, or yourself :)

So you’ve found the advanced pattern search, run a search, and gotten results.  Awesome!  Now how do you sort through them all to zero in on what you want?  Our search sort options can help with that.  They’re available right next to the search box, and this post will walk you through what each of the search options means.

Best Match – This is based on your search terms, plus several of the sort options below (Hot Right Now, Most Popular, and Recently Published).

Hot Right Now – This is ranking based on page views, it really is what people are looking at right now.

Name – An alphabetical sort by pattern name.

Most popular – A formula based on number of finished objects and member ratings.

Most projects – Patterns with the most finished objects come first.

Most favorites – Patterns with the most favorites come first.

Most queued – Patterns in the most queues come first.

Recently published – Date the pattern was published.

Recently added – Date the pattern was added to Ravelry.

Rating – User ratings of the pattern, taking into account the number of ratings made.

Difficulty – User ratings of difficulty, taking into account the number of difficulty ratings made.

Yarn required – The average amount of yardage needed for the project, from least to most. Phew, that’s a lot of info, but hopefully it will help you to get to the search results you’re after.  Happy searching!

Through an accident of real estate we don’t get many trick-or-treaters at my  house, so I’ve been thrilled to see people uploading pictures of their Halloween projects.

First up, I love these Halloween-related accessories.  Yes to seasonal decorations!

From left to right: kellys’ mummy yarn bomb, caseyplusthree’s Bat Garland, and Wineta’s Witch Face.

Next, check out these incredible handmade costume pieces.

From left to right: free2bee’s Madhatter, merboh’s cobweb faerie wings, and pentalia’s Whimsical Witch.

Finally, these costumes all made me smile.  I wish I had seen them at my door!

From left to right: lilianic’s Candy Buttons Halloween Costume, chocky’s Lady Bat, and EmeraldEmpress’ Velma.

Ravelry groups are a great way to connect with other members.  If you want to keep the conversation going at an even faster pace than a discussion thread, check out group chat.  It’s a chat room for the members of a group, where you can meet in real time to converse and maybe even craft together.

The entrance to the chat room is on the group page, below the options to leave the group and invite a friend.  Don’t see a box like in the picture above?  Ask your group’s administrator to enable chat for the group from the edit page.  Happy chatting with your fellow Ravelers!