April 2007

Pink Purl has a great post about the connections made when blogging, and she also considers why she blogs. (I found it via Simmy’s luscious blog.)

I’ve been thinking about why I blog ever since I missed commemorating my one-year-blogiversary a couple months ago. I started blogging 14 months ago, and a few times I’ve wondered if I’ll continue, but at this point my blog process is pretty simple to manage. I’ve got the tech stuff all set up, so I just need to write, click to add some pictures, and my post uploads almost on its own. When I feel like learning something new, there are always tech things I could add when I’m ready.

Other than blogging being easy because it’s set up already, I find creativity essential to my life. And so I blog.

Blogging has taught me that I’m less of a writer than I thought I was. I still enjoy writing some, but my love of visual arts, especially photography, as blossomed in the past year. And so I actually rely on Flickr more than blogs these days. Maybe I have more in common with the photographers there than with creative arts bloggers…? Could be……

Like Pink Purl, I too enjoy the connections that blogging has formed. AND they are a pleasurable and unexpected by-product of the creative act of blogging. I am unable to blog simply because I want comments or responses. My inspiration for blogging comes in fits and starts; I let it flow when it’s ready; and isn’t primarily about the connection.

As for my commenting on other blogs… I can rarely keep up reading the “mere” 35 blogs on my bloglines!! Some folks blog every single day, and I’m finding I cannot make that sort of commitment no matter how much I love reading their posts when I get the chance. Fellow blogger, you may feel resentful about that — how can I expect readers when I don’t read very regularly– but again, I don’t have many expectations about readership, and I think it’s more a matter of priorities. Lately I’m trying so hard to more thoughtfully and lovingly create/cultivate my “live” relationships, my personal growth/mental health, a spiritual life, and a potential new career instead. Often blog reading can take away from my live relationships or my own creative time.

(I’d feel remiss here if I didn’t point out that internet addiction is a growing problem. Click here or here to take a brief quiz about your internet use.)

I can only take in so much new information. (See my recent post about information overload.) Mostly I read blogs for inspiration to create, or for reminders about how to appreciate the little things in life. There are several blogs especially good at those kinds of inspiration; right now my favorites are Mary Jane, Simmy’s Echoes of a Dream, and HappyThings. I love being inspired to create my own beautiful little world! It’s joyful, even if only a few people choose to come inside and visit.

I’ve had two photos published!

These are my very first photos in print — if you exclude those in my high school yearbook! Yeah, it’s only an advertising-type mag, but I’m still pretty darn excited. I hope this is only the beginning.

They published two photos, from my North Carolina trip, of Lake Norman. You can click these to see them bigger if you’d like:

The publisher is Retire South, and it’s the April/May 2007 edition of their magazine Retirement Lifestyles.

Some knitting book reviews I’ve been meaning to post…

Wrap Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd

I checked this one out from the library recently. While I don’t like very many wrap patterns I see — the truth is, a lot of them look pretty dorky to me, including the one on the cover of the book — there are some lovely ones in this book.

I’d seen the Shetland Triangle on many blogs (including Grumperina’s) and I think I might like to try something like that… after I test my teeth on a more basic lace project. The Tapestry Garden looks like a lovely felted fair isle project which I’d prefer sans faux fur collar. Lastly, I just might have to knit up the Shoulder Cozy for a quick little item to throw over on cool evenings. (I couldn’t find any links on these latter two; is anyone working on it?

Wrap Style also features a section called “Design Notebook,” with handy tips and instructions for designing your own wrap, in case you want to alter some of the patterns in the book or start entirely from scratch.

To order a copy of this book and support this blog, click here: Wrap Style: Innovative to Traditional, 24 Inspirational Shawls, Ponchos, and Capelets to Knit and Crochet (Style series)
A related Knit-Along is here.

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Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham

I never really liked the cover of this book, so I resisted it for a long time. Finally, somehow, it wound up on my holds list at the library and I’m really happy it did! This is one knitting book which I actually read, because it is fascinating to hear author & designer Teva Durham’s approach:

“I want my designs to express the deeper meaning I have found through knitting–therefore, I may use symbolic motifs or reference costume history with a hint of ecclastiastical or Elizabethan styling. I believe that with such dramatic and cerermonial elements, knits can explore visual metaphors just like museum-sanctioned art; I seek the subtext in this textile medium.” (p. 7)

Durham divides her work into three approaches: cycles, planes and waves, making for three distinctive sections of patterns. While I personally wouldn’t knit that many of her patterns, I find the writing and descriptions of how she designs fascinating. You know a writer is good when even her acknowledgments page is interesting!

The patterns I might do someday from this book are the ballet t-shirt, the yoke vest, and the corrugated asymmetrical v-neck. Maybe the lace leaf pullover too, the one which has been all over blogland too.

To order a copy of this book and support this blog, please click here: Loop-d-Loop: More than 40 Novel Designs for Knitters

Love this! Card catalog generator. Seen at paperclips.

I could almost see every blog entry done with this method. 

It is estimated that a week’s worth of New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century.

So no wonder we get information overload, which information-guru Wikipedia says “refers to the state of having too much information to make a decision or remain informed about a topic.” Add to that the fact that our culture is overflowing with information pollution, and it makes the situation even worse.

Lately I had been feeling guilty for my lack of current events knowledge, for not staying on top of the late-breaking news… But the statistic about how much info a week’s worth of NYT contains confirmed my suspicions about it being too damn much information. In fact, I think it isn’ even healthy to ingest that much media. Our brains aren’t adapted to this constant barrage–at least mine doesn’t seem to be. How can we take in all the information, when so recently in human history we only had to deal with our neighbors’ news and occasional rumors of distant events?

In light of the Virginia Tech shootings, I know about them and am listening periodically to news about them, but I don’t think it’s healthy to station yourself in front of the TV or internet all day long listening to updates on the case. It’s just masochistic. Taking in all that negative energy isn’t about staying informed, that’s for sure. Same with Iraq War news…

I haven’t read the newspaper regularly in years, and now I don’t even listen to NPR much anymore, or at least not every day. (I can always count on Jeff to fill me in when something big happens.) Last year, when I was thinking about becoming a translator and so was avidly working on my French language skills, I was trying to listen regularly to French radio like RFI and Europe 1 and even watching French news online a lot. This year, it’s a good week when I listen to Wait Wait or watch a Daily Show with Jeff! And I am the first to admit those are not actually news shows, but entertainment.

The technology we’re developing doesn’t help. See a great illustration of this over at Mim’s blog!

I decided I’m going to stop worrying about not staying on top of the information barrage! My information overload doesn’t help me or anyone else. If events stand to effect me, I’ll find out. I don’t mean to bury my head in the sand - I do listen to the news sometimes still; enough, it appears, to keep me informed of what I need to know.

P.S. I still read the Voter’s Pamphlets and articles related to what I need to vote on. I’m informed enough as a citizen… I think.

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Jeff was explaining to me the full meaning of the expression tin foil hat and we found this hilarious mock-scientific study: On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study