Happy Blog-day to Me!

Well… look at that! It’s my blog’s anniversary! It’s a little hard to believe I’ve been doing this for a year. And what a year it’s been!

I’ve enjoyed blogging even more than I thought I would. First off I love having a website I can go to that has links to all my favorite places online – even when I’m away from the “favorites” saved on my home computer. This has allowed me to keep up on the activities of other bloggers and that’s been a lot of fun – to watch a project from it’s genesis to it’s (occasional ;) ) completion.

Even more fun than watching other people’s projects has been having a place to keep track of all the things I’ve worked on... you know, my works in progress. ;) I don’t even want to admit how much time I spend reading my own blog… as my 9^th grade English teacher once put it “Everyone loves the smell of their own shit.” (Yes – I was well & truly shocked that he said “shit” in front of students… he was soooo cool!)

So what did I do this year?

I knit three sweaters, a vest, five hats, and finished a three year old pair of socks! Of my knitting F.O.s I made and kept all but four hats for myself. I learned how to knit cables and quickly became obsessed. I’ve also learned how to use the Magic Loop for knitting in the round. There’s still a lot of room for improvement there… but those are too big steps. Something I really need to work on though, is knitting clothes that actually fit. Socks and hats are not too tricky, and they’re small enough to feel okay about frogging & reknitting if I have to. But the sweaters I have made haven’t fit quite right. Mr. Greenjeans and the Lorna’s Laces Everday Cardigan are both two short and too big around. So for future projects I need to pay a little more attention to issues like ease and body size vs. finished size. I think that’s going to be a little easier now that I’m in Ravelry, so I can look up patterns I want to make and see how people have adjusted it for their size & shape.

Knitting goal for the next blog-year – a top that really fits.

On the quilting side, I started my ambitious Flying Geese quilt and finished the top in short order, but haven’t progressed beyond that. I got a bit side tracked by smaller baby/lap quilts. I finished six quilts... four of which were given away. I’ve mostly been playing around with pretty fabrics… and that’s what I like about quilting, getting to play with pretty fabrics. So I’m going to keep doing that. But I’m going to do more of it for ME!

As far as being a record of all my crafty activities – I call the blog a success. But it’s way more than just a craft journal. The thing that makes a blog a blog is the interactive aspect. I love love love getting comments on my WIPs – I’ve gotten some good advice and lots of encouragement – which is really great. Ever since Jr. High I’ve been a bit of a crafty girl, but until recently I’ve never had friends who shared my passions. Now thanks to the intertubes I’ve got a whole virtual community of crafters who get it… who understand why I love petting yarn, and cutting up perfectly good fabric only to sew it all back together again. And that makes me very happy indeed! Let me take this opportunity to say thanks to my readers & commenters. I hope you’ve enjoyed my reading my blog.