You may recall that at the end of last year, I was interested in creating a Ravelry-equivalent for handweavers. I had thought about it, checked out a couple of content management systems, and in general was pretty gung-ho about it, except for one thing: I was NOT willing to maintain and administer it long-term. A six month commitment to build out a community website is one thing, but spending the rest of my life settling bulletin-board squabbles, managing users, etc. was not something I wanted to do – would take too much time away from weaving, cycling, and my other interests! So I let it be.
<time passes>
This morning, out of the blue, I got an email from Syne Mitchell, editor of WeaveZine. A woman named Claudia had emailed her about the possibility of setting up a weaving Ravelry, and was I still working on the project? I said no, it was back-burnered, but if someone was willing to do the administration and manage it long-term, I would love to set it up.
So Claudia and I have been corresponding and it seems likely that I will be working on creating a Ravelry-equivalent for weavers fairly soon, like within the next few months. Which will be good for me since it will give me experience in creating social networking/community sites and dealing with content management systems like Drupal, both of which are hot stuff on a resume. Also it will allow me to contribute something back to the handweaving community, which has been extremely supportive and helpful to me as a weaving novice.
This is going to be a huge project, so I need to clear the decks first. Which means moving forward as soon as possible with my “redo the website” project. Fortunately I have found someone to help me migrate the website, so as soon as my job situation stabilizes (hopefully in the next day or two) I can have her start work. Equally fortunately, I can parallel process this with my doubleweave studies – I wouldn’t want to give those up!
If you know of anyone else who might be interested in helping found a Ravelry equivalent for weavers, please let me know. I’m particularly interested in anyone with a technical background and/or experience with Drupal, but I’ll need help with beta testers and other nontechnical stuff too.
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I’d love to help with the beta testing!! I’m a SAHM who was a software engineer before kids. Ravelry is fun but I’d really really love to see something more focused on weaving.
Tien, I’m no good at programming but I would be interested in being a beta- tester. I’m a full time weaver who would love to be able to keep track of the projects I have in mind.
Is it possible that this program could interact with PixelLoom and/or other weaving programs?
Sounds great, I would love to help beta test it :-). Have you posted anything in the weaving groups on ravelry yet, you might find technically qualified helpers there?
This is so very exciting! I have a Ravelry account. I haven’t found it all that helpful, though I do knit and spin. Mostly I use it to kind of scout out and help new weavers. I really like the blogging community because there is more depth of content and of interaction. But I can see that a social website for weavers could be a marvelous thing.
Put me on the list for Beta testing too. It sounds like a lot of fun. Enjoy doubleweave. Bonnie is a friend of mine and she’s a terrific weaver and teacher and explains things very well. I’m working through her book too but not as fast as you are.
Very cool! I’m excited to see you and Claudia hit it off and are moving forward with this project. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. :>
Hi Tien – I’d love to help in whatever capacity I can – I don’t know much about Drupal, but I know a teensy bit of html, and can help test as needed. I’d love to find a way to connect with other weavers – I have a Ravelry account but seldom use it as I find I’ve moved out of knitting and into weaving. Please let me know if I can help.
This is a very exciting and much-needed area to develop! I do not have a blog, but I read a few of them avidly. I am a weaver, writer and editor–no experience with programming–but would love to help out if I can in any capacity.
This is very exciting, Tien. Please keep the weaving community posted and let us know when you’re ready for us to sign up.
Hi,
at last a revelry for weavers!!!
found this through alice schlein’s blog
i know a tiny bit of html and if you need beta testers you can count me in.
neki desu
I would love to help! I don’t know Drupal but do know html. Also can make my way around php like in WordPress style sheets. Experience with blogging, wikis, and discussion boards if any of that is useful. And always willing to be a beta tester! Very exciting!
While I look forward to a site like Ravelry that will allow me to record appropriate info for my weaving projects, could I make a suggestion? Could you make it able to communicate with Ravelry? (And maybe see if they would be willing to reciprocate?) I’m sure there are many like me who would prefer not to have to maintain two usernames and passwords for my projects.
OH! and can you include spinning?
Many of us fiber types like far too many fiber arts!
Have you come up with a name for it?
My web site has a link to my blog. I’m not technical but sign me up for anything else. What a GREAT idea!!!
sounds great – weavelry?
I don’t yet have a website but am very interested in this project.
I am interested in all information about this exiting work. All actions for weaving are to welcome.