Ravelry Excitement

To all you knitters and crocheters out there, I read an article in the Sunday Washington Post this past Sunday.  Discussing a social network designed specifically for knitting and crocheting.  I was about to find the article on Slate.com a wholly owned subsidiary of the Washington Post.

After reading the article, hopped over to ravelry.com to check it out.  On first impression, it is a well designed library of patterns, yarns, and information relating to knitting and crocheting.  While I have not been focusing on knitting too much of late, I think this is a great resource that I wish I had found earlier.  I'm not sure I will use it for is social networking aspect but I believe that this is going to be a great place for new pattern ideas.  They have over 10,000 free patterns alone!  I've only been a member for a few days so I'm still learning everything it has to offer, to be honest there is so much there I don't know where to look first. 

I think this is definitely a site that could suck me into a time warp.  I may have to be careful I don't get too enthralled.  Have others hear of this site before?  Am I just living under a rock?  What do others think of the site?

If you have experience with the site, please share your thoughts with the rest of us.  What's your favorite part of the site?  How do you use it?