Urbanspinner

Inspiring things

I've seen this in a few places on the Net recently.

Crochet cozy for a Smart Car

(The photo was taken recently in Italy by Flickr user "Start the Day"). I mean, it is perfection. From the use of different patterns for each panel of the car, to color choices, to the perfect fit... I just want one. Badly. But if I can't have a crocheted car cozy, I was thinking of perhaps covering my vacuum cleaner. It's boxy and has wheels too, right?

Danger! Danger! Books...

I am a sucker for craft books, especially those that focus on technique rather than projects. A few months ago, I found a site called "Amazon Japan in English". It's Amazon, but they translated all navigation and user interface elements into English to make it easier for non-Japanese users. I quickly looked up knitting and crochet and -- be still my heart -- there they were, all the Japanese technical books that I have seen and lusted after, all available at market prices. (When you get them from U.S. vendors, the prices tend to be inflated even after factoring in shipping costs.)

I have already ordered one batch of four stitch dictionaries and was delighted with the experience. It wasn't cheap, given postage, but they were reasonably priced. And it took only two days from the day I ordered to the day they arrived in my mailbox. The only shipping option is international express. Yes, two days. I almost had to sit down to let the waves of excitement die down.

So, here are the links:

Amazon Japan in English
Crocheting books
Knitting books
Beading books

    

LibraryThing and Ravelry and Etsy

I feel like Rip Van Winkle coming out of a 20-year sleep. There is so much damned STUFF everywhere on the Web, clamoring for my attention. Things that didn't exist three years ago when I fell into the hole and went away.

One discovery is LibraryThing -- an all-inclusive library website where you can search, catalog, and organize your books and publications. There are probably lots of folks who don't need something like this. Me? I have a huge library of textile-related publications. I've been collecting for decades now. And while I basically know most of what I've got, I've always wanted to make a listing of the titles so that I don't end up duplicating purchases (which I've done...). Also, simply for insurance reasons. If my house goes up in smoke, I'd like to have the funds to replace whatever possible.

I've got hundreds and hundreds of books, magazines, and patterns, though. Some modern, some vintage, and some extremely old. I've tried entering them into spreadsheets and databases, but the data entry is tedious, tedious, tedious. What sold me on LibraryThing is this: the website can accept scanned ISBN barcodes and automagically put all the book information into my library listing. So, theoretically, I could sit with my laptop next to my library shelves and just swipe, swipe, swipe with the Cuecat barcode scanner. (Hopefully, if the scanner works okay. I've had lousy luck with them, but we'll see.) The older publications will still need manual entry, but the majority of my stuff does have the ISBN barcodes.

Next discovery is Ravelry. I just got my invitation today, and started poking around. The resources are so vast I'm completely overwhelmed. I click on a topic link and then find myself not in some quiet corner of the site, but yet another huge intersection where thousands of knitters (or so it feels) are working and talking about the subject. No matter where I click, I hear the chaotic din of people's opinions voiced over the clack of knitting needles. I've already found about 50 other projects that have been worked in the same yarn I'm using for the mohair lace, and spent a good part of an hour looking through the photos and patterns, pondering ideas. It's inspiring and yet strangely anxiety-provoking for me.

And finally Etsy. Even in my crafting blackout I'd heard about this site, but never really paid too much attention to it until this week. Once again, I poked my head through the door and almost turned around to run away in panic. Too much stuff at once! Where to start!? I'm going to miss something fabulous if I don't see every page! But I don't have enough years left in my life to click on every page! Where do I even begin? Well, since I don't have the money to really buy anything, I guess I'll just take it easy and browse the type of fiber-related stuff on sale. Perhaps I'll even get motivated to sell off some of my excess stash so that I WILL have money!