Well, most of it, anyway. The second annual Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week, that is.
I know it’s going to take me some time to process the event. However, some things I can rattle off right now:
1. Wow!
2. Wow.
3. OhMyBob wow. I cannot believe all of the bloggers who participated. I’m surprised Blogger didn’t go kaput.
4. Yes, I absolutely realize that not everyone who blogs uses Blogger.
5. I am so thrilled I found some new blogs to read, and new bloggers with whom to connect. Some of them I already have connected with, and that’s really super.
6. I am interesting in seeing how I feel about following blogs written by people, and leaving comments on said blogs, when those bloggers either don’t follow me, or pretty much don’t respond to my content. I know I blog for myself, first and foremost. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t like making connections with my blog, so to see that connection be a one-way street is a phenomenon I’ll need to contemplate.
Of course, I’m not a big one for blindly following most anything. So this connecting-with-others out there raises some intriguing authenticity issues to be sure.
7. Blogging takes a whole lot more time and effort than I expected. Doing it everyday won’t be for me.
8. I love my blog and the writing outlet it provides. This past week hasn’t changed that one iota.
I’m sure I’ll have more to say later, as well as a recap of the blog entries that made me smile, laugh or otherwise emote the most. Once I’m done reading them all.
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| Crochet Languishing in the Media Attic Mixed media on canvas March, 2011 |
In the meantime, I’d love to hear your high (or low) lights from last week (or on most any other thing for that matter), so leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
Finally, an article of mine on U.S.
FANTASTIC! What an interesting article, I really enjoyed it (and I loved the photos, too.) Is it possible to read part 1 anywhere?
ReplyDeleteAt the moment I'm re-reading my old Laura Ingalls Wilder books and I feel a bit of solidarity every time I read how the little girls spent an afternoon on the prairie with their crochet hooks and knitting needles.
Very cool articles, Denise! Both were so well done! You definitely have 'the voice' for all things crochet!
ReplyDeleteTerrific article. My great-grandfather, who was an Italian immigrant and farmer crocheted! My mother had these doily's, as well as crochet trimmed embroidered doily's and gave them to me. When I asked where they came from she told me my great-grandfather, during the winter months when he couldn't farm, apparently crocheted. There's no one to ask about it now, but I do have the pieces and I found it intriguing that a man would crochet (this had to be in the 40's-50's)
ReplyDeleteNo to KCBW, Wow is what I said also. I do blog for myself, however used to blog because a group of us crocheters all blogged and it was before FB and how we communicated. I know I receive lots of hits for patterns, but so seldom do people comment anymore, it bothers me somewhat. A little feedback and not on FB is nice.
KCBW was very hard for me to get back into the swing of things and the predetermined topics made it more difficult for me because usually I would just show a project or it would just be about something that amused me at the time. For these posts, I had to dig deep and think. I was also determined to do the entire 7 days of it. I was thrilled when people (like you) commented and I found new blogs to follow. I also learned a lot about myself. I won't be blogging daily, however will make an effort to blog more often because of participating in this event.
Wow! Wow to the week of blogging and wow to the beautifully researched article!
ReplyDeleteI am new to blogging, I began mostly because my daughter wanted to have a wider listening audience re knitting, since she has now reached her maximum level of tolerance to listening to all things Ravelry and yarning.
I love writing the posts and try to think of my audience and what they'd like to read but I am still a newbie at drawing readers in.
As for comments... I live for comments and feel a bit like the Meg Ryan character in You've Got Mail. I check my blogspot faithfully to see how many hits I've had and how many comments have been made.
As for leaving comments on other's blogs, I try to leave a note of some kind whenever I read through the posts, both as encouragement and for the talking points.
Again, kudos to you in your article researching and writing! Well done!
Congrats on getting the article published. I was also just awe-struck at the number of participants. I have found SO many new blogs and it inspired me to get a twitter account so people who don't use blogger can get updates too... fun schtuff.
ReplyDeleteI would say the high was feeling good about putting myself out there and reading and meeting some awesome bloggers/knitters/crocheters!
ReplyDeleteThe low, not much knitting went on here.
Love your link to the amazing artist Judy Pfaff:
ReplyDeleteon your right side column -- Judy Pfaff | Installations, Sculpture, Drawings, Prints
I had the pleasure of hosting an Sunday afternoon event with my middle school art students and their families to Wild Rose at St. Rose College in Albany, NY. (Part of what I miss most about retiring from teaching is taking my students -- & whenever possible... families -- to see amazing art!)
In addition to her incredible site specific installation, she also had some of her paperwork on display! Scrumptious! http://www.judypfaff.org/gallery/album76
Nice finding you...
Congratulations on the article. I've bookmarked it for later reading :).
ReplyDeleteThe authenticity issue is something I find interesting as well. During blog week I stopped in at so many blogs I lost track, and I left lots of comments... but I didn't comment on all the ones I read by any means because I find coming up with meaningful comments on that scale to be exhausting! I'm sure I left a lot of comments that weren't especially meaningful as well, but there's only so much I can say "Good job! Awesome work!" before it starts sounding false even though I mean it.
Well done on the article being published! I've bookmarked it for later reading too.
ReplyDeleteAs far as blog week goes, it seems I used up all my steam on getting my posts out there. I started off strong but day 3 just about sapped my will to go on!
When life calms down, I plan on reading many blogposts.
Hey. You raised some good points. For me, blog week was great. It was such a good experience, and I would do it again. But, I didn't even come close to my goal of getting to every blog and commenting on as many as possible, and I agree with you on the authenticity issues, too; so it's a little uncomfortable to want both sides.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your articles for Crochet Insider. I didn't know they had so much information online. I have been reading about the history of knitting in America and it obviously contains some information about crochet but I find it sad that it is so difficult to trace its history. I am glad many immigrants brought their crochet skills with them to the U.S.!
ReplyDeleteMisty
www.crochetyourway.com