Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Thoughts On A Sunny November Day

I was reading on somebody’s blog or other about staying “on topic” to keep one’s readers happy. I never thought about this blogging thing as being more for my readers than for me! Not to say that I’m not happy that I have readers: a few commenters and a passel o’ sneaky petes who regularly lurk – I love you all. However I mostly write this blog for my own personal pleasure, to document and show off my FOs, and to kind of think “out loud”. (Though it’s words on a screen, but you know what I mean.) I don’t feel that I need to have separate blogs for each interest like some people do. That would be an awful lot of blogs and I know I wouldn’t be able to keep track of what should go where. It would drive me nuts right quick! My craft stuff is totally integrated into my lifestyle and I don’t separate it out into neat wedges of time or space so why should I do it on my blog? This is not an apology but a clarification. Just so you know why I’m always all over the proverbial map, fluttering around on my little damselfly wings. Heh.

So have you seen the online knitting magazine Twist Collective? The second issue, Winter ’08, just came out recently. This one is a little different. Not completely free like Knitty nor mostly subscription-based like KnitNet (which seems to have not been updated since last spring – toast?). But you can peruse the content, read the articles and then choose patterns individually and pay for them. That way the designers actually get paid by the popularity of their pattern. An interesting concept although I haven’t succumbed to any of the lovely designs yet. I’ve got too many other things to keep my needles busy. It would have to be really compelling and I’d have to want to knit it Right Now to be bothered to purchase an individual pattern that way.

Another online knitting magazine (free) is PopKnits. This one has a vintage feel and the second issue will be out Dec 1. In the first issue I love Lia Liang’s Gossamer Garden Stole and may just make it one day. Not soon perhaps but I’ve got it stored on my computer for later consideration, something you can’t do with Twist Collective patterns.

One more newer free online mag is Knotions. The winter issue is now out after it was delayed due to some technical problem or other. has some nice designs, including lots of socks and other accessories. The technical articles and reviews are really helpful. One thing I like is the Ravelry link on each pattern that shows how many have already been cast on!

So as not to leave out the crocheters there’s the new Crochet Uncut, the official unofficial magazine of the Crochet Liberation Front. It’s available both online and in a downloadable PDF. There’s only been one issue so far.

And don’t forget that Spindlicity is back. And the British online mag, The Inside Loop is up to issue 3 now. These ought to keep you reading and knitting and crocheting for awhile!

I did have some other stuff to talk about but this post kind of got away on me. Just for a photo, here’s the progress on the Seaweed Shawl so far.

Seaweed Shawl progress

It’s my blog and I can post what I want to, post what I want to, post what I want to. You should post too then you can blog you! (Apologies to Lesley Gore.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the links. The seaweed is a great colour, love the texture.

Linda said...

Thanks for some great links. And I totally agree, you can post what you want, what you want and best of all when you want. I relooked at my reasons for blogging a little while ago and realized I had got way off track as to why I started blogging. I got caught up in memes, rules from other sites and deadlines to post on certain days. That has gone now and I'm blogging for me.

Louisa said...

Thanks for commenting! I went to check out Crafty Gardener's blog - nice photos. You're almost as eclectic as I am! LOL!!

And I'm glad you like the seaweed colour, Rosemary! It took some fun experimenting to get it. It's hard to photograph - changes with the light between brass and lt olive green. As always with lace most of the texture will disappear with blocking.

The socklady said...

Another thank you for the links, wasn't aware of them all, now bookmarked. Gail has the Wild Fibres mags back.