Best of the Blogs

Before we opened last September, my only exposure to blogging had been limited to occasional insomnia induced wanderings through random blogs and following my friend's blog Girls who wear Glasses. Since Knit Nottingham opened, as part of my role as marketing manager, (a title that is much grander than it sounds!), I have had to climb a steep learning curve in the art of blog writing, which is still a work progress. As part of this process I have tried to put time aside every week to read the blogs of other knitters, crocheters and other crafty folk. My aim was to keep abreast of what was new in the crafting world, to gain inspiration from different sources and get a feel for what works and what doesn't when it comes to writing blogs.

As there is not the space here or enough time for me to wax lyrical about all of them (or enough time for you to read them!), I have selected three of my favourites to share with you.

First up is Susan Crowe's Damn, Knit and Blast it. I actually came across this blog at the start of 2010, when my knitting mojo was missing in action, I googled the phrase to see how other knitters had dealt with this problem and it led me to this post Bloody-Big-Wool.
Susan's sense of humour appealed to me and her honesty about the progress of her project made me feel better about some of my past projects that had not turned out as I hoped or not been finished due to my missing knitting mojo. So in October once the excitement of opening the shop had calmed a little, I got back into following Susan's exploits more regularly when I read her post about Project Knit-Room. This inspired me as I was getting settled into my new home and had plenty of space for my own knit/craft room, one day...one day!

I love that Thug the cat

and Basil the bear got to model finished projects and think the additional knit reports are an ace idea.

The next blog on my favourites list is Yarn Floozies, written by Dotty and Wenat. As I am always looking for inspiration to help me reduce my stash, one trip around the internet brought me to their post Scrap Happy

A fab scarf to use up extra yarn on, I owe a friend of mine a scarf so shall keep this in mind when the time comes. The post Burp had me chuckling. the comment about Shawl Wars caught my interest so had to go to Ravelry and check it out. Got me all fired up to have another crack at a lace shawl, well once I have caught up on my other projects, so drop by next year!

The last of my picks, and Eleanor's personal favourite (which is how I got into reading it) is Yarn Harlot written by the amazing and talented Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Yarn Harlot has such a great writing style and her humourous take on life always brightens my day. Have a read of the post from the 12th May - Juggling to see what I mean.
I am completely in awe of people like Yarn Harlot who can turn there hand to so many different fibre based crafts! I take my hat off to anyone who can pick up a shaggy piece of fleece and produce a stunning lace shawl, if you don't believe me check out these photos...

Especially enjoy reading about her road trips as I am a big fan of the road trip, never happier than when its just me and Peg (my car) out on the open road.

Picking my three favourites was tough, so many creative people out there in the blog-o-sphere, below are links to some others that I like to follow, what blogs do you our readers enjoy? Drop us a line and tell us about them or if you are a blogger yourself, send us a link.

KnitWits
Knitting to Stay Sane
Blissfully Eccentric
Attic 24
Crochet with Raymond
Woolly Thoughts (this one is not technically a blog but its such a great site I just had to include it).

bye for now
Liese