Ravelry.com

I swear I never meant to become a knitter.
When my Mom first decided to introduce me to it when I was a young lass, I struggled through making a scarf that ended up looking more like a cape for a doll when I finally gave up on it. I picked yarn that was too small and needles that were too small for my short attention span. I then promptly gave up, bought a crochet hook, and set about making myself blankets, scarves, doll pillows, doll blankets, etc, etc.... and spent the next 8 years making variations on crocheted squares without much variation, if I did it at all.
For some reason I decided to try amigurumi. You guys have seen the aftermath. My office is covered in tiny stuffed animals now. Albeit cool ones, to be sure. But when I realized I actually ~did~ know how to read a pattern and could follow it to great effect, it started to crawl in to my mind that the same was probably true of other things, including knitting.
I have 3 balls of sock yarn waiting for me, and some merino and angora fingering weight yarn in light pink to make some knee-high lacy things out of. I have 10 skeins of twisted recycled silk sari yarn waiting for the perfect sweater pattern. I have wool and nylon yarn spun irregularly that I am uttelry convinced would make a bitchin' pullover. And right now I have bamboo yarn being worked in to handwarmers complete with a button hole and ribbing -on bamboo needles, I might add. I love the irony- and some wheat-colored angora mix that was on sale and I had to have with no planned project yet. I was looking in to knitted and crocheted lace for shawls and hand warmers and blankets and scarves and... And, of course, we continue out with my obsession for making plushies with yarn. (since I can't sew)
Seriously, I never meant to be a knitter. I play video games. I wire up home networks som the computers can share files with one another. I wardrive on other peoples' routers. I laugh at Robot Chicken and look forward to Heroes! I write FANFIC for World of Warcraft, for crying out loud! I was NOT aiming to be a knitter.
And yet... here I am staring at five double pointed needles and a ball of yarn in a most beautiful shade of cadet blue and deep violet. DOUBLE POINTED NEEDLES.
I often wondered at the strange tendency of women to horde yarn that they didn't already have plans for. Now I know. At some point you may come across the perfect pattern (or be struck with enormous inspiration) and simply HAVE to pull something out and work with it. Which is why I think I have upwards of something like 45 balls of yarn to my name. I would like to point out, however, that a large number of those are for plushie commissions. And it's funny that I'm feeling defensive over this. I guess in my head I associate knitting behavior with something to be embarassed about...
The final nail in the coffin was when I signed up for and received my invitation to Ravelry.com. It was a 2 day wait because of the popluarity backup. But when I got on I found patterns like the Rogue Hoodie Sweater with a celtic knot detail...and I am sworn to create this thing now. And it has cables.
Damnit.
Mom, if you read this, I'm fairly sure you'll love Ravelry and you should get on the site asap. They also have crochet patterns, if you survived my attempt to show you how to crochet over the Xmas holidays. There's also Fair Isle patterns, and a forum where you can ask questions. In addition, they've got this awesome grid that will let you keep track of what kinds of needles you have so you know to go dig deeper for them instead of spending money and getting more. In addition, it lets you record what project you're working on, how close you are to done, and how difficult it was for you. Even more than that? Lets you record your stash of yarn. So if you come across a pattern you love, and it calls for a certain kind of yarn, you can just flip over and see if you have it in your stash already. If not, you can either grab the yarn they recommend for it, or check out what type you'll need in terms of weight. It lets you see the retailer, the variations of it, and go to the website directly to buy it. It'll also show you people that are willing to sell or trade.
In short it's a fabulous site, and horrible for anybody who was hoping for a tiny bit of incovenience to talk them out of becoming a fibercraft-whore. I know I'm seriously doomed at this point. There's no less than 8 projects on the needles right now.