making connections?
Donna, thanks so much for visiting my blog and giving us your insights!
I'm feeling pretty busy and overwhelmed...this is a crazy schedule I'm keeping, trying to write a book about fiber events, all in one season. Three trips to festivals in October, plus trying to juggle all the design submissions that will be over 20 projects for the book. Initially, I'd tried to set up the deadline for September, so that I wouldn't be trying to work on this while traveling. Unfortunately, there are always project delays, or even entire designs that fall through at the last minute, so I'm still emailing most every day with designers and working on projects, too. (Of course, I love my designer colleagues, but well, in the scheduling department, this hasn't worked out perfectly...) This sometimes is a recipe for weeping... No kidding.
Update: If I sound grumpy? Someone's been throwing trash in our side yard from a car. Today? I heard a noise, and I turned my head and watched them throw an entire bag of fast food leftovers, a plastic juice bottle, and a hamburger wrapper and sauce on the street right near my house. It happens now every day.
I'd also hoped to do a series of autumn photo shoots for the book, and so far, we're not having much fall color. In fact, in a state which has a serious drought (something like 15-18 inches below normal), and has been declared a federal drought emergency, don't expect much in the gorgeous fall garden photo shot department! You, dear readers, may have noticed a lack of garden photos this year. I've tried to spare you the upset of a mostly dead garden. We still have a couple pepper plants, an eggplant or two that has never produced a single fruit, Jerusalem Artichokes, Bolivian Sunroot, Walking Onions and some very measly autumn lettuce. The herbs that like a Mediterranean climate (oregano, thyme and rosemary) are still alive. I planted garlic, kale, and broccoli to overwinter, in hopes we'll get more rain. Thank goodness we don't have to live off this alone! I'm actively supporting my local farmer's market, because they DO have to live off what grows this year, and it's been a really bad growing season in a largely agricultural region.
We're also trying to conserve, so I water the garden with gray water most of the time, but things are bizarre when I'm just longing to hose off my (very dirty) venetian blinds but worry that it's a waste of water. I'm not that much of a clean freak, so things must be pretty dirty and dry here!
Last night, I couldn't sleep, so I carded these:
15 rolags of that Finn lamb fleece. I ran out of patience with teasing (this directs you back to another post about this) because although I've done two skeins worth of yarn this way, I'm not sure I've got the mental fortitude right now to do the whole fleece! Instead, I handcarded 15 rolags in 45 minutes. Pretty quick work, and then I could finally fall asleep.
I'd also hoped to do a series of autumn photo shoots for the book, and so far, we're not having much fall color. In fact, in a state which has a serious drought (something like 15-18 inches below normal), and has been declared a federal drought emergency, don't expect much in the gorgeous fall garden photo shot department! You, dear readers, may have noticed a lack of garden photos this year. I've tried to spare you the upset of a mostly dead garden. We still have a couple pepper plants, an eggplant or two that has never produced a single fruit, Jerusalem Artichokes, Bolivian Sunroot, Walking Onions and some very measly autumn lettuce. The herbs that like a Mediterranean climate (oregano, thyme and rosemary) are still alive. I planted garlic, kale, and broccoli to overwinter, in hopes we'll get more rain. Thank goodness we don't have to live off this alone! I'm actively supporting my local farmer's market, because they DO have to live off what grows this year, and it's been a really bad growing season in a largely agricultural region.
We're also trying to conserve, so I water the garden with gray water most of the time, but things are bizarre when I'm just longing to hose off my (very dirty) venetian blinds but worry that it's a waste of water. I'm not that much of a clean freak, so things must be pretty dirty and dry here!
Last night, I couldn't sleep, so I carded these:
15 rolags of that Finn lamb fleece. I ran out of patience with teasing (this directs you back to another post about this) because although I've done two skeins worth of yarn this way, I'm not sure I've got the mental fortitude right now to do the whole fleece! Instead, I handcarded 15 rolags in 45 minutes. Pretty quick work, and then I could finally fall asleep.
(caption: others in the household do not have Joanne's sleep issues)
It's a small world, and I've met wonderful people at festivals. I also see them sometimes at two or three events during this research season, and that is especially marvelous. I don't have a lot of close friends locally. I've gotten so much out of the positive interactions at the events I visit for book research. I mention this because lately I've been a bit desperate for more interactions between the festivals. I come home, and, well--I'm exhausted...and lonely. For me, this blog has been a way to make connections with people. I'm "supposed" to be interested in blogging for other, more selfish reasons, I guess. (designers and writers are supposed to promote themselves and their work this way, apparently, but I'm not sure if this boosts single pattern sales on my website, either? Does anyone desperately need a pattern for bug finger puppets?!)
Mostly though, I love hearing from people--the emails, the comments, and even seeing the numbers in the map on the right side of the blog. That is what makes this different from keeping a journal--the communication. So, why do you blog? Why do you comment on blogs, or lurk? What do you get out of the experience?
posted by Joanne at 9:46 AM
7 Comments:
Although I do not currently have a blog, I love reading them. What others are knitting and thinking and how several bloggers will blog about the same project or event and each entry is unique. All my knit friends are elsewhere in the world, too....
The Finn rolags look luscious. Why do I blog....that's a good question. Maybe because I'm an extrovert and I love sharing my experiences with others. I love getting comments and making comments on other's blogs because I enjoy making connections with people. Most with people I have no hope of ever meeting in person.
I started blogging for the reasons in the subtitle of my blog. Really :-) It seemed a good way to record my adventures in fibre and just possibly entertain some people in the way that other blogs entertained me. It seems to have worked, but I was vastly surprised when people did start reading it.
Scheduling, don't talk to me about scheduling... two large projects nearly finished, so now it's time to pick up all the others left standing by the highway. When all I want to do is play with my yarn. Gah. Double Gah. As for the rubbish, you're not alone. Our roadside property boundary is a high, thick privet (I hate privet) hedge: at least once each week I have to fish out the rubbish that passers-by stuff into it and tidy the branches they've broken pushing each other into it. And twice each year I have to cut it (I hate privet) and it stops nice, interesting plants growing on the garden side. Did I mention that I hate privet? I like bricks.
hi joanne! my onlines friends literally make living in florida bearable! and my wallet much loghter...
Interesting questions....I'm thinking about it! I read blogs because I'm interested in what other people get up to. I like finding out about other places too. Some blogs I warm to more than others, although sometimes it is hard to suggest why that might be. Some I lurk on but hardly ever post, others I nearly always post as a different kind of relationship builds up between bloggers. I started out on a fibre related theme but found that I wanted to 'journalise' it to reflect more of me I suppose & I do get alot of pleasure in other people's response to what I have written about & photographed.
The initial answer is, truthfully: my hubby made me do it, over my half-hearted objections. Typity typity type, there, you have a blog, now go write something!
Life is short. I want as much of me on paper as I can, because, healthwise, future grandkids wise, etc etc...you never know... I find that the imagined connections with future grandchildren just isn't enough to get me typing. A blog, though, with real live people who, in the process, become friends, does, however motivate me. Very much so.
Apple butter in the crockpot, if you're still looking for a good use for lots of apples. Don't even need to do the hot water bath if you've got the freezer space.
This post, and AlisonH's comment above, got me thinking about how little I've done to journal, photograph, or otherwise document my life, my knitting, my daughter's life... so I started my own blog at knitmensch.blogspot.com! We'll see if having knitting as a pull to blog will keep me writing. I want to give DD a window into what I was thinking about before she thought to ask. Thanks for the prod, Joanne and AlisonH.
So I start off with wanting to document my knitting and journal my life. But I also crave the connections with other fiber folk that blogging can offer, if anyone comes and reads... We'll see what happens there.
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