Groups, voyeurism, and Ravelry

How's that for a title?

I continued to be bummed yesterday as it became apparent that the group that Cherylyn, Joy Gail, and I started doesn't seem to want to continue. Yesterday was a weird day anyway, as we totally left the safety of our accustomed box to go out and meet totally different new homeschooling folks. They were nice enough but they were different. So I was already in a discombobulated state when it became apparent that that was what was happening in the group.

I just couldn't figure out why it was that it bummed me out so much. I guess I thought it came down to it being an indictment against my ability (as a group owner/instigator) to get people to participate. On the best day, I am not an outgoing person and although I have enjoyed knowing these fine ladies for years, I couldn't convince them to talk to each other.

So this morning I came down to Power Central (i.e., my computer desk) to see if anyone else had said anything about the demise of the group. What I found was this:

Hey there,

frecklegirl has invited you to Ravelry!

"Here you go! Thanks for your interest in our little site.

Let me know if you have any questions or problems!

Jess"

Click this link to join (and make sure that the URL is not wrapped or cut off by your email program)

Casey and Jess

Oh yeah!

For those of you who are scratching your heads, this is an invite to Ravelry.com. This site is a community for knitters, crocheters, spinners, dye-ers, and general fiber nuts/artists. It is currently in a beta stage so you have to have your invitation sent specifically to you. I've read a lot about it in passing in knitting blogs that I read and what the ladies said made it sound unbelievably cool, so I wanted a look-see.

Wow.

It's definitely a fun site, for knitters and crocheters. Why? I guess because everything is concentrated right there. Right now I have a bunch of knit-blogs on my Bloglines account and I keep up with them that way. But here, you can scan for all sorts of things: patterns, works-in-progress, yarns, stash stuff, etc. and they're all in one location. I saw tons of socks that I've wanted to knit, all lined up in lots of different yarns and colors, finally found out the definitions of some knitting terms I didn't understand (remind me to look up "gansy"), and got to see lots of neat fellow crafters.

So I thought to myself, "Well, I guess I'll have more time to connect on Ravelry since the group is going south." And I could totally see myself falling down the rabbit hole there. One link leads to another and to another and pretty soon it's 4 hours later, the house is a shambles, and you've got the shakes like an addict going through withdrawl.

I closed the Ravelry window down and walked upstairs to get some air and some perspective.

What is it about the Internet anyway? I so enjoy surfing, keeping up with people I've met there, etc. I like reading about what other people are doing, reading, seeing, and I like writing about the same for myself. There is, however, a tone of voyeurism there. There are some positive parts but there are also some parts that are more scary and seductive, even if they look innocent on the top.

I notice that I am dissatisfied with my life a lot these days. Everything seems so hard and so, well, unglamorous. Where did I get the idea that life should be glamorous? I don't know...the Internet? I think on the 'Net we tend to put our best foot forward and don't talk about the dirt, the work, the insanely dull parts of our lives. So maybe that's where I got the idea that there should be more to life than the endless laundry-dishes-washing dirty faces loop that I'm on. I need to work on that or jump off the 'Net, one.

I've lost what I was trying to accomplish with this post. Who knows? I guess just be careful out there and if you are on Ravelry, my ID is Immax5. And write a little about how unglam your life is so I can feel better about mine.