Many fiber crafters are being thrown back to a long forgotten world: life without Ravelry.  In this first few months of Year One in the AR (After Ravelry) many of us are floundering about trying to find new solutions to old problems: tracking our stash, inventorying our tools, keeping notes on our projects, organizing photos... you get the idea. ​  There is in this world people are working to create alternative sites to Raverly, but that will take time.  Meanwhile, there are squishy packages arriving and that yarn ain't going to inventory itself.

​Today's blog post I'm going to give some open source and/or free resources to help you organize your life outside NuRav.  

Check back this blog for updates. I'll be adding to the list as I become aware of new resources.  I have a new option under Notebooks: Trello. 

If you have been following the Unravelling Ravelry Saga you know the once beloved yarnie website monopolized the fiber craft space with it's notebook functions to inventory stash, tools, track projects and of course, the giant pattern database.  But, they released NuRav which has been an utter debacle with reports of it triggering migraines, vertigo, eyestrain, and yes seizures.  

Until this week the most charitable description for Ravelry's response has been .... tepid.  The unvarnished truth it has been gaslighting and ableist.  But, this week the mask has completely fallen with the appearance of form letters from Ravelry:

People are abandoning hope that Ravelry will do the right thing and are either deleting their account, or leaving a skeleton behind as they walk away.  

Thursday, July 20 Jessica, co-founder of Raverly, emerged from the shadows with a statement (this link takes you to the OFFSITE Raverly blog and does not contain NuRav formatting)   I will probably write a separate blog post about it.   Let's just say, your milage may vary and I'm personally taking a wait and see attitude. In the meantime, the list of resources 

I have not used or tried many of these resources. My own organizational systems are a bit more analogue...Unusual for me to be honest. But, I hope for those who need it, you find this helpful.  If you want to skip to different sections I provide a menu at the beginning of each section.

Yes, I know blogs are old fashion.  But, before Raverly many people tracked and shared their projects on personal blogs.  But, maybe it was a mistake giving up control of our knitting life content to Raverly.  And maybe we need to get back to having a network of blogs we delight in.  There are several free ways you can set up your own personal blog.  This is by no means an exhaustive list. But, here it is. 

As always I provide this content as a labor of love. But, it does require time, resources, and coffee.  If you'd like to support my endeavors and show your appreciate you can always "Buy Me a Coffee"  

Also, you can subscribe to my YouTube Channel, sign up for the newsletter and follow me on all my social media.  ​You can find links to all of these things in the details at the bottom of my blog or head on over to the homepage. 

​Ever since I started YouTube and my Blog I've held out the tip jar.  I never truly expected much to come from it, but my feeling was always why not. It could help me fund some of the things I do with YouTube (get those needles I want to review, buy some yarn for the on camera swatches, upgrade my webcam, buy hard drives....).  

Because of my experience on YouTube, I knew at some point "The Indy List" would require a need that that love and effort cannot fulfill.

And, sure enough, it has.  When I started this blog on Weebly it was because I hated Blogger.  In High School I was the Editor in Chief for the school newspaper.  Anyone who reads my tweets knows I didn't earn that position with proofreading.   Nope. My skill was writing and layout. (I want to put text and photos where I want them, damn it!)  Weebly gave me that ability with their free website builder. No coding skills needed.  Perfect.

"The Indy List" is reaching the end of what I can get from Weebly for free, and believe me I will drain every free service I can. I am adding a Google Ad Sense to the site to help cover costs, but that takes time to set up and I do not know how long it will be until it is generating income.

Before AdSense is set up, I will have to commit to upgrading my site to a paid plan.  Switching to a paid plan will not only get a unique domain name, it will help me add better searchability to the "The Indy List."  

Thanks to your generosity,  I am 29% of the way to getting the paid plan fully funded for the year.   I am so incredibly grateful to all of you.  And I am working to live up to the faith you have placed in me to get this done, and get this done well.

If you do not wish to tip me with cups of coffee, I get it. These are tough times and I know I'm one of 100,000's of people holding out the hat.  But, there other ways you can support my efforts. Please consider the following:

• Visit this "Indy Site" regularly for updates to the list and check out the Designers work.  Ultimately I was inspired to star this project to connect Indy Designers and Crafters looking for each other outside of Ravelry.  
• Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.  Currently my videos focus on my love of knitting offering my tips, tricks, opinion and preferences, and every Sunday I Livestream at 11:00 am PDT to talk about ... you guessed it knitting.  
• Subscribe to my Newsletter. The sign up form is at the bottom of every page of the site.  When you do I will send you a free knitting pattern and you will receive occasional updates on what's happening with all things Carrie CraftGeek.
• Favorite and shop my Etsy Shop.  Currently I am selling handmade Fashion Facemasks, but I do want to start offering original handmade jewelry as well.
• Follow me on all my social media: 

This is how it happened: If you've been following the Ravelry NuRav debacle, you know that many Indy fiber artists who have previously relied on Ravelry for their business, are setting up alternative platforms to sell their work. (If you do not know about what's going on with Ravelry please check out my YouTube videos on it) 

And another glass - okay three glasses in - I thought, "You know Carrie, you can't build a NuNuRav, but you can put together a list of sites. You've been talking to designers on Twitter. Why don't you ask them for some links."  And the  The Indy List was born. 

This is a simple directory listing designers, their links, and short blurb by me. My goal is to make this list accessible and help designs and makers find each other outside of Ravelry. No designer is paying me. I am doing this to support designers who are standing with the disability community, often at cost to themselves. It's truly a labor of love. If you would like to leave me a tip to help support this effort, it would be greatly appreciated.  

It started with a tweet. But, it's growing.  If you would like to be added to The Indy List please fill out this form.  I am building this list by myself with whatever free time I have, so be patient as I make my way through.  

I swear I had no intention of writing another blog post about NuRav. But, today Ravelry released a THIRD "Readability" survey about NuRav.  I took it.  I have thoughts.  I did tweet about it but, I'm writing this blog as well to go more in depth describing the survey and to expand some of my thoughts after taking it. 

And if you're wondering why you should care about Ravelry and accessibility please read this tweet thread by Kathleen Sperling, aka @wipinsanity.  Because really accessibility is about all of us. 

Hello Knitting Friends,

It's been quite the ride lately in the Knitting and Crafting world.  But, that's 2020.  (Remember when we thought the biggest Stories of the year would be impeachment, Australian Wild Fires, and Murder Hornets? Ahhh simpler times) 

Sign up for my newsletter and receive a free knitting pattern!

Due the nature of my life and my videos I don't know if that will get up in a timely manner so I want to address some of it here.  

Ravelry has recently posted an update about the NuRav (nickname for the New Ravelry look) and say Ravelry has taken some steps to address their accessibility issues.    I will link to their offsite blog post if you'd like to read it, but be warned it is in the NuRav format.  (Someone put up a link to the update on a google doc. But, I forgot to copy the link.  If I find it I will give an update)

As for the post itself, in my opinion, it leaves a lot to be desired.  I go into detail on this in the upcoming video, but, in short I find it minimizing and ableist.  And believe me it gives me no pleasure to write this about Ravelry.

Although my personal use of Ravelry has always been love/hate, I've always held the site itself and the team behind it in high regard.  Ravelry has played an important, vital role in the Fiber community. There would be a huge void left behind if Ravelry were to go down.  I want Ravelry to succeed.  Truly.   But, in order for it to thrive, Ravelry needs to get over whatever issues are holding them back and fix their problems. 

Again I want Ravelry to succeed.  I want us all to be able to enjoy and use the site. 

Thank you for reading and as Always Happy Knitting!
Carrie CraftGeek
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