Pinterested?

If you haven't already, you should check out pinterest.com. Yes, it's another social connection tool. This one is very visually based. You create "boards" and "pin" pictures on them of things you like and things that inspire you. You can also follow people who share your taste and discover even more things. I am still a very avid user of Evernote, but there are some things for which I don't really need to clip a lot of information--I just need to see a picture.

I like the way both Pinterest and Evernote help keep me in touch with ideas and images that have piqued my interest. I've tried keeping ideas binders/albums in the past, but it was never easy to keep them up and almost impossible to actually find things afterwards. Bookmarks on my web browser had a different drawback: while it was easy to find them, it was hard to think of which ones to look for in the first place. By being able to access my sources of inspiration more readily, I find that I am actually converting more of into reality!

From a post I clipped into Evernote from the Freshly Found blog came this...


which looked even more cool when it was only half done



The other day, I found an interesting faux fur message board and pinned it on Pinterest. I saw the picture every time I logged on, and since it was still percolating in my mind, I stopped by the fabric store when I had a little extra time today. I must have looked a bit silly as I went around, scratching at every fabric I could find that had even a bit of a nap to it. I tried faux furs and suedes, fleeces, velvets, and velveteens. Finally, I decided that a knit velour worked best. My husband helped me staple it onto an old canvas. I oriented the fabric so that the nap was pointing upwards, but at a slight angle so that any horizontal lines "written" onto it would show up better. Voila! Instant messaging :-)



For more examples of PInterest, you can check out my "What to Knit" and "What to Live With" boards. I have a couple more Pinterest invitations to give out, so if you'd like one, leave me a comment here or on Ravelry, and I'll email it. Caveat: you have to log in through Facebook or Twitter to finish the registration, *but* you can then immediately disconnect your account from those other services, which is what I did.