Four
I can barely believe it, but it’s my blog’s fourth anniversary. Where did this year go? It seems like just yesterday that I blogged about it turning three. I really need to pay more attention around here!
Thanks for the commiserations and suggestions about repairing the shawl – it’s still keeping me warm, and my friend who took this picture imagined it unravelling all the way as I wrapped it around me. But the malabrigo has fuzzed just enough for it to stay in place, and at some point undoing the centre motif, removing a couple of repeats and then reknitting and grafting it is a distinct possibility.
Talking about the anniversary, I have been wondering a lot about blogging lately, and knit-blogging in particular. Most of my favourite knit-bloggers (not the celebrity ones like the Harlot, or Grumperina, or Franklin) have gone silent, either because they got busy with new jobs or kids, or moved, or switched to Ravelry. I miss them. I tried finding new blogs to follow from a friend’s blogroll. But many of her links too were either broken, or were nearly a year or more old. The latest posts on a few apologized about neglecting their blogs or rued their lack of knitting time and mojo. So many people are tweeting, and while I’ve resisted following people into a 140-character description of fair-isle, I wonder if everyone’s just bored with oohing and aahing over cool photographs, and the online moment of sighing over the magic of blocked lace is now well and truly behind us?
So I ask myself why I blog, but also why I read knit-blogs, especially as an avalanche of work has hit me this semester, and I barely have time to knit, let alone write a journal about it. I know that blogging, either about knitting, food or travel, helps me relate to my own creative expression in a different way – finding an everyday idiom quite different from my academic writing, and a means of honing half-formed thoughts about stuff I like, that keep buzzing around in the brain. Of course I love Ravelry and I love people’s finished projects, but the best part about craftblogs, and knitblogs in particular for me, was a neat mix of process posts or notes about modifications to projects with the a-ha! photo, and bits of the blogger’s life and opinions about this and that. These seem to have vanished, and the Ravelry ‘notes’ section on project pages doesn’t do it for me.
It makes me wonder what the knit-blogs will look like a few years from now, or if they will still exist. On the one hand I cannot imagine not having one, and on the other the idea that this will continue for ever and ever is also a bit odd. Many of those going strong either have a strong non-knitting personal component to them (the Harlot), or have constantly kept it fresh through new crafts (Grumperina – who really made me take a fresh look at crochet), or have books and designs, and tours and tour stories (Franklin, Brooklyntweed, Ysolda). Does the craftblog naturally tire itself out at some point, and have to keep reinventing itself to keep going if it doesn’t have the semi-advertisement/design-showcase aspect to it? Are there interesting and journal-y regular knitblogs out there still going strong that you can recommend?
I saw the film Julie & Julia recently, and while I hadn’t heard of or read the original blog that inspired the film, I knew about the phenomenon of Julia Child largely through a couple of my friends who are excellent cooks. Apart from Meryl Streep the film was a disappointment because I had unwittingly, from the knitblog experience, expected more about the challenges of writing about a craft; about a work in progress; about how the medium of the blog both frees and traps you into consciously or unconsciously shaping your goals accordingly. All it did was make me hungry, and very annoyed that all that butter didn’t make that Julie put on one single pound!!
Midway through I said to the friend I went to see it with – someone should make a film like this on the Yarn Harlot! Her community organizing, her writing, her books, tours, the lakhs she has raised for MSF… even those crazies that keep writing to her spelling doom on judgment day for not being pro-American or whatever. Maybe they could even get Greg Kinnear to star in it!
Previously in this series: Three; Two; (I forgot the first one!); zero.
Happy fourth! I am drawn to the same sorts of posts that you are, and am missing them. And have also been remiss about blogging since my son was born. But if it is any comfort, I think of it as a blog in hibernation, and I plan to get back to it very soon. I am just finally starting to knit again, now that my son sleeps more than I do.
I think I actually hit anniversary 5 some time back in August, while I was going through a bit of a blogging drought, and so it passed without comment. I know what you mean–I find ravelry so valuable when it comes to investigating patterns, and I’ve probably found more things to queue from it than from blogs, but the ways that bloggers write about projects are probably more likely to make me actually move from a queue to a project on the needles. And yet I’m just as guilty as anyone when it comes to blogging and letting it fall by the wayside. Most of my blogs in the recent past have been just pictures of travels, and rarely about knitting. (Though I’m blocking something right now that will get written about.) And when you get in the habit of doing those kinds of posts, I find it difficult to go back to writing about knitting, somehow.
Facebook’s changed the way I blog, too. I think, however, that twitter will just have to pass me by. And I can’t imagine a 140 character post about knitting actually being much use.
Happy anniversary! I know what you mean about the blogs going AWOL. I started a blog and was good with it for a while but now with 2 under 3 it’s truly a demand for which I don’t have time. I love to read blogs though, and Ravelry is no substitute!
I hope you’ll keep going with yours. Aside from the knitting I’ve loved your observations about India. I was amused to see you still use the term “lakhs”…after 10 years here I’ve lost most of my Indian terms and have to think a bit about what a lakh or a crore is.
Hope you keep blogging. And FWIW, I think Twitter is dumb.
Happy blogiversary! I imagine that for all the folks out there who stopped blogging because they are too busy, there are others who start blogging because they have more time on their hands. I’ve found some blogs via ravelry.
I figure that I’ll continue blogging as long as I continue knitting. I think knitting will continue for a while because I love clothes (always have), and knitting is a way of providing me with nice clothing.
Happy blogiversary! I hope everything works out with the shawl…
Happy Blogaversary! I certainly hope you keep blogging–I love your voice and writing style. I’ve found that my blog tends to be more about family/kids stuff because, well, that’s what I do with the majority of my time. Also, with two small kids I don’t have much daytime to take pics with and it’s hard to get nice knitting pictures indoors in the evenings! That said, I’m trying to get back into more knitting posts…but sometimes it’s just that the kids are so much more entertaining!
Happy Fourth! I saw your pink shawl and gasped, but glad to hear that things are intact. Spit, splice should help! I have to say ditto to whatever you said about knit-blogs and micro blogging and Ravelry. I think that knitting blogs get behind a person’s knitting to the knitter itself – which is why I will keep reading and keep blogging. I always enjoy reading what you have to say be it about knitting, sewing, travel, food or whatever!
Happy fourth! Please keep blogging, you are truly an inspiration!
Congratulations! Looking forward to many many more thought provoking and just plain hilarious posts.
Happy Blogiversary!! I understand what you mean about blogging, it seems to be fading, it’s not the newest fad anymore. I especially find this disappointing since I was late to the game and have only been blogging for about a year and a half. But I enjoy it, so I will continue until some undetermined time and hopefully so will many others or more new people will join in.
Happy blogaversary Desiknitter!
I love your blog.
happy blogaversary!!!!
love the thought of a yarn harlot movie.. even more with Greg K in it!
P*L*E*A*S*E keep blogging. I love your willingness do “do the maths” and figure things out — it’s a challenge and an inspiration. And your writing sings! Please keep it up — you are appreciated.
(– from a local Bay Area admirer with no blog, barely able to post on Ravelry)
Happy Happy!
You said so many meaningful things in this post…I would love to talk more. Just that I am running low on time…but will pick up the conversation another time.
Happy Anniversary from me, too! I’ve been thinking about some of the same questions. After a hiatus from blogging, I’ve been wondering, whither now? So far, more of the same, but should I reinvent? Is the form tired?
Certainly, ravelry takes care of the desire to track and display your projects, which I’m sure partially accounts for the drop in blogging. But you’re right about the writing.
Some blogs I’m still reading…Green Apples (http://stitchywitch.wordpress.com/), http://knittingkninja.com/, A Mingled Yarn (http://amingledyarn.wordpress.com/), Rose-Kim Knits (http://www.rose-kim.com/rose-kimknits/). They all seem to enjoy *writing* as well as crafting. And I love Rose-Kim’s “Thursdays are for What the Hell is This”.
In short, please keep blogging! Maybe the passing of the trend means only the best will continue
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Agree with everyone who wants you to never quit!
And I agree with the comment that while Ravelry is great for comparing notes and gathering data on patterns, etc, the bloggers are the ones who motivate me to actually make something.
I find myself loyal to blogs that are good reads, like this one. Mason Dixon, Yarn-a-Go-Go, Panopticon and Yarn Harlot keep me because I can kick back with my knitting and enjoy. I want good writing, regardless of topic (and the fewer photos of cats, the better – call me a snob!) Lately I’ve gravitated toward blogs that don’t have knitting as the main draw, such as Maple Corners. With yours also, I love the forays into India, film, and dance. The nice thing about the blog is, it’s your stage, and for those who respect you and your work, it’s enjoyable to see you doing your thing, whatever that happens to be.
Keep it up, with many happy returns
Happy Blog Anniversary. Yes, why do we blog? I’ve been blogging for about 3 years. I find that my observations and interactions with the world around me are on higher alert when I have the blog in mind. I am eager to write about what’s going on in my life. It’s supposed to be about knitting but I tend to stray off topic. And I love to read blogs written by people in different parts of the world – a whole collection of international pen pals. There are just a few observations.
Janet