Coming Home

I don't know if anyone still cares or not but I am finally coming back from my extended blog vacation. I don't quite know what happened this year to cause my first major blogger's block. But the longer I waited to post the less I seemed to have to say and the harder it was to break the silence. My old blog buddy Nancy from N. Fallon Design Studio sent me a very sweet card in the mail this week that made me realize it was time to come back home. I shot the above of the girls on the first weekend I had my brand new Lensbaby. I will be devoting an entire post to my new love later I'm sure.

It's been a pretty difficult year but I won't go into it all now. The short version is that I've been fighting the major D, which saps the will to interact with anyone right out of me. Also, one of our dearest friends is in the middle of chemo treatment. This has caused an incredible amount of stress and drama for Mike and I both, which honestly neither of us handles all that well.

I haven't been knitting much either so I don't have much to show for my time off. I finished a vest for myself that I'll post later this week. I have made some good changes too but I will go into those on another day.

I will try to check in with some of my old pals today. I really have missed the support and connections from the blog world. I know lots of you have taken breaks too. I was wondering how you got yourself back into the swing of things after an extended break? Was it just like getting back on the old bike, which ironically I actually never learned to ride in the first place...

Done Dropping

This shot is from the farm with a sign my Dad made. I thought it was funny and appropriate for this post. I'm sad to say that I'm done with Entrecard dropping. The network administrator has informed me that there has been suspicious activity from my computer which is causing problems with the network. He told me the times that it had happened and they all corresponded to my lunch hour or after work when I would do my EC drops.

I've been growing disgruntled with EC for awhile but had continued to participate albeit much less often than in the past. But clearly the system is so corrupt and buggy that I can't risk my home computer either. I'm going to leave the button up for the time being since I don't think it's hurting anything and if it brings a little traffic in that's fine too.

I will now have to really think about how I want to keep this little blog going. I will be following the blogs that I regularly dropped on and using Google Friend Connect to do my blog hopping from now on. Hopefully I can find other less risky ways to connect with bloggers. Perhaps this might be just the thing I need to get me out of my blogging rut I've been in.

Blogging is Hard.

Anyone who is reading this is probably well aware that maintaining a blog is not easy. Anyone can post randomness once a month and call it a blog but to actually be consistent is really hard. Add to that the need to interact and be a part of the community and you practically have a full time job on your hands. The Embrace Your Narrative Key Chain comes with book and pen charms and silver split ring and is from fellow blogger Risky Beads. She maintains not just one but two handmade blogs including the Handmade Highway.

I honestly feel I've been a bit derelict in my duties the past 6-9 months. I've gone through the motions and posted at least 2 or 3 times a week and checked in with my blog buddies at least once a week but the passion was gone. This week I decided to try to recapture again what it is I have always loved about blogging. Mainly it is about being a part of a community.

I have the EC community and then the larger crafting community. I have seen Entrecard get overrun with spammers and won't even open up my drops inbox anymore for fear of what half naked pictures and other annoyances will be there. I've developed my Favorites list there of blogs I like in the system and who drop back regularly on me. You can find the list here and if you are in EC and would like to be added to my favorites that I drop on at least 3 times a week just let me know in the comments.

I also decided to make a commitment to be more a part of the wider blog community. I don't leave as many comments as I know I should and I hope to get over that lurking impulse. I went through the blogs I follow and cleaned up the list. I unfollowed anyone who hadn't posted in the past few months. This reaffirmed how hard blogging is as there were many abandoned blogs on my list. I have it down to a healthy 140 blogs. You can see the list on my profile here if you like. Now that all the dead weight is gone I can actually use my Reading List as it was intended to be used.

I also added some new blogs to My blog List on the right column. This blog roll is prime real estate as the more links to your blog the higher your google page rank. I'm still proud of my Google Page Rank 3 which took me 2 years to achieve. If you have a creative blog, not necessarily crafty but it doesn't hurt, you post at least once a week and would like to exchange links on our blog list you can also let me know in my comments.

I wanted to highlight a few of my new featured bloggers and recommend that you check them out. Some of the blogs on my list are well established with many followers like Makeunder My Life, and a few are just really well written blogs that have yet to be discovered like Cara Makes. Cara has a real way with words and is also very creative to boot.

I absolutely adore hipchic designs natural aesthetic and she really inspires me to try my hand at something new.

Additions Style has a very inspirational blog for the creative types. She has a modern design aesthetic which is refreshing to the eyes.

I also added Moonangelnay, who is a fellow longtime EC member. I have always respected her work and her commitment to blogging.

So I am going to make a commitment to return blog comments in a much more consistent way and to really try to be a supportive member of this wonderful community. I've gotten so much support myself through the past 3 years both personally and creatively and I really am grateful that there are people that still check in on me regularly.

300th Post!

This is my 300th post. The second 200 came much quicker than the first and the third even quicker. I have gotten into a blogging routine that I am comfortable with. I post on average 5 times a week, usually taking off on the weekends. I have stuck with Entrecard but I don't obsess over it anymore. I drop on those blogs that I like and don't stress about reaching any magical number. My blogging routine is definitely going to be interrupted in the next few weeks and turned on its head (I know I'm reaching, I just thought the shot of Kate went with the post for some reason). It's going to be hard to do much dropping while I'm off work so I apologize now.

I comment when I can and intend on spending more time on the blogs I enjoy whether they are entrecard or not in the coming year. I'm through dropping on blogs completely out of my realm or ones that haven't updated in over a month. It's affected my visitor numbers somewhat but I'd rather have 100 quality visitors a day than 250 when more than half are spending mere seconds with me.

I'm troubled by something I discovered on my Webmaster Tools from Google recently. It said that I'm in the 97% of download time and it takes an average of 20 seconds for my site to load. This is terrible. I removed a bunch of unnecessary widgets and links that it said were slowing things down but it still is dragging. I tried to run a site check last night with the new Page Speed Checker but it wouldn't install for me for some reason at home. I'll try it again later and hopefully find some more things that I can fix to speed things up. I really like my blog template that I spent money on from my graphic designer but if it is slowing my blog down that dramatically I will have to find a solution in the new year.

I've been debating about whether I should keep this blog solely for business and knitting and using Lenox Pics for personal and photography. I've been thinking about doing a form of the 365 shots in a year and reserved the blogspot name for myself. I think keeping two blogs going would be too much time and energy but I don't want this blog to get too broad. I've never been a true knitting blog and consider my cohorts to be other crafters rather knitting or otherwise. I've gotten more personal here in the past 6 months than I had originally intended but that is how things evolved for me. For those of you with two blogs do you think it is worth it or should I just focus my energy here?

Thanks for sticking with me. Hopefully I can keep coming up with something worth saying for the next 300 posts.

Happy Blogaversary to Me!

One year ago today I became the blogging feign you see today! I recently discovered the amazing artist/blogger Igor + Andre who celebrated his blogavesary by consolidating his unique blogger portrait series into the above print listed here on Etsy. Danny does the most creative portraits of fellow bloggers that he admires which I totally wish I could do. You can check out all of the portraits here.

I started very tentatively and was obviously scared to commit. I think in the past 6 months I've started to hit my blogging stride. I love the sense of community it provides and I've made some good friends through the year. I have opened myself up emotionally at times and blatantly pimped my knitting at other times. So Happy Blogaversary to me and here's my first little post that I'm sure you all missed on the first go round:


So, I've been reading blogs and talking about blogs, and telling other people how they need to start their own blogs for years, but I've not gotten my butt in gear and started my own blog. Until now. So here it is my very own little blog. I will pet it and feed it and call it my own. Until I get bored and abandon it. I'll try not to but there are no promises. The only way I could get myself to do it was to set no rules for myself. The first step was simply to lay claim to the name and then we shall see if I can maintain any momentum.

I have a hard time committing to much of anything and the thought of having an agenda for this kind of thing scares me. I will talk about my Etsy shop, knitting, all the cool crap I buy on Etsy, and maybe a little about my wild and crazy life will slip in. Anyone who knows me will laugh because my life basically consists of my Etsy shop, knitting, and all the cool crap I buy on Etsy. So that will probably be about the extent of it, except for the occasional whine about work/husband or a gratuitous shot of a niece or nephew, probably modeling a scarf or other knitted item. A knitting tip or Etsy selling or buying experience will probably round out the blogging agenda around here.

I used to keep a journal back in my single days and have around 10 filled somewhere with pathetic attempts at poetry and deep thoughts. Now that I am sufficiently medicated and placated with my domestic life I have found little to say. But we shall give this a try and see how it goes....

Entrecard Debacle

I, like many, am really fed up with the whole Entrecard debacle. If you aren't an entrecard blogger feel free to ignore my venting post. I was in a total wait and see mode with all of the paid ad changes recently. I rejected all of the annoying Blog for Money and sexy model ads and went ahead and approved the fellow crafters and regular blog ads, but it's all left a bad taste in my mouth. I've decided to just accept credit ads for a week and see if that makes me feel better about the system or not. I'm not planning on pulling my widget but I want to see what not accepting paid ads does to my ranking. I know that they need to generate some cash to keep the system going but it seems as thought there are many other ways to do it. Allowing us to use a double widget is one suggestion I've seen, and how about putting big dollar ads up on the pages we all check everyday on the entrecard site.

What I loved about the Entrecard system was the simplicity of it. You generated credits by visiting blogs and having other blogs visit you. You spend those credits on advertising on other blogs. I loved blog surfing my fellow craft and other interesting blogs through widgets. They have completely ruined much of this system with all of their changes. How many people really care about getting cash for their credits? I could care less honestly, that is not what I earned them for. But I like everyone else have started hording my credits and not spending them on advertising since all this started. For me it was because I just didn't understand what was happening and it seemed like we were no longer getting our credits worth with the paid ads taking 50% or more of the clicks we bought.

I have not been getting nearly as many paid ad requests the past few days since I started rejecting all but the blogs I knew. I hope everyone understands when I go back and reject your paid ads for now. I may change my mind, which is completely my prerogative.

The Happy Bluebird Scarf always makes me smile. It's still for sale in my shop if you click on the picture above.

Social Networking Sites vs. Blog Directories

Last month for some reason I got a wild hair and started joining blog directory sites like they were going out of style, which in reality they pretty much are. It seems the blog directory is being replaced by social networking sites for finding information on-line. Directories are still a decent way to get links to your site to build up your page rank but it can be a tedious process to join them so you have to way the cost vs. the benefit to you and your site. The above necklace by CouchObjects lets the world know you love your social networking sites.

The DMOZ, the open directory project, is the gold standard in directories and appears worth the effort if you can get in. I have applied but it is reviewed by experts in the field so it takes some time to hear whether you are accepted. It is a true directory and is the most comprehensive attempt to organize the web there is.

The other true directories that I applied and was accepted to relatively quickly are BlogRankings and Blogged. I like blogged and have done some searches with it as they index just blogs by topics.

There are other directories that are a combination of directories and social networking sites. We all know the true social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These sites are all about building a community and networking with like minded people. You can share pictures, make friends, and promote yourself and your business. The directories that are also creating ways for bloggers to connect are the ones that are most useful for promoting your business. Not only will they give you a link to boost page rank but they will also give you and your business opportunities to be discovered by new eyes.

Blog Catalog is the most popular of these sites that I have discovered. There is a great community of bloggers here that can be searched, befriended, and can be a good promotional tool if fully utilized. I haven't fully tapped into what I want to use the Catalog for but I think there is more potential here than many other sites. Technorati appears to be a similar site and has potential as well for networking opportunities. Fuel My Blog and Blog Hub are two other similar sites I joined when I was in my directory joining frenzy but I haven't explored them much yet to see what they can do for me.

There are also several crafting directories that I have joined partly for exposure and to develop links. Crafty tips Arts & Crafts Dirctory is the one I'm most impressed with. It isn't huge yet but it is very well organized and the editor reviewed my blog quickly and actually sent me a personal e-mail with suggestions and her thoughts on my blog. I also submitted to the Recreation and Hobby Directory and the etsyBloggers ring as well as a few others that I haven't heard back from yet.

Bust Magazine, which is one of my absolute favorite reads, just started a directory called the Girl Wide Web which is very cool. I submitted and was accepted to it very quickly. I have been wanting to explore their directory more to find some new favorites. There is also BlogHer that is just for women bloggers to connect and network. I have not found this site to be very intuitive and I have struggled to find my way around but I'm sure if I give it a little time I'd be fine.

There are some other social networking communities that are a cool way to connect and can be used for promotional purposes as well. I don't suggest just treating them for promo though as you don't want to be seen as a spammer. I think there has to be a balance between you as a person and the business. Even though I join them under my business name I at least attempt to inject some of the real me into each site I join.

The most interesting of these for me has been Indiepublic. I heard about it a long time ago but had never taken the time to join. It really is a great community of indie designers and supporters of the handmade movement. It has brought me more chatter than any of the other sites I've joined by far. There is also We Love Etsy and I just discovered a new one called MyCraft that looks interesting.

I'll cover the social bookmarking sites in another post. If you want to explore this topic further the blogging maestro TimothyAdamDesigns has a tutorial for $8 called Handmade Blogging Essentials which covers these topics and many more. I just bought it today and will do a review of it once I've taken it all in. If you have some other directories you swear by please share.

Define Your Life Through MEME

I was recently tagged by fellow crafty blogger extraordinaire, Soy Wax Candles.
The Rules for the MEME are:

1. Put your Music Player on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag your friends

I know that I'm risking great digital embarrassment but I do not have a Shuffle. I thought it would be inaccurate if I used my husbands so I decided not to play along. Yesterday I got a different music themed meme on facebook from Jen, a good friend in real life who blogs under Frugal Vegcafe. It was actually a lot of fun so I thought I would share it here.


Using only song titles from one artist, try to cleverly answer these questions, tag whoever might enjoy it, and pass it on:


Pick a Band/Artist: I choose Tori Amos, one of my all time favorites. I cannot tell you how many times I've listened to Little Earthquakes in the dark, while in the midst of some emotional upheaval or another.


1. Are you a male or a female: "Cornflake Girl"

2. Describe yourself: "Strange Little Girl"

3. How do you feel about yourself: "Silent All These Years"

4. Describe your boyfriend/girlfriend: " Heart Of Gold"

5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: "A Sorta Fairytale"

6. Describe your current location: "Here. In My Head"

7. Describe where you want to be:" Little Amsterdam"

8. Your best friend is: "Crazy"

9. Your favorite color is: "Agent Orange"

10. You know that it is: "Pretty Good Year"

11. What’s the weather like: "Winter"

12. If your life was a television show what would it be called? "Pandora's Aquarium"

13. What is life to you: "Another Girl's Paradise"

14. What is the best advice you have to give: "Enjoy The Silence"

15. If you could change your name what would you change it to: "Yes, Anastasia"


I am not going to tag anyone but I encourage you to play along. It is actually pretty fun. The other one looks interesting too so feel free to play along with that one if you like. You can find the questions on Soy's blog here. I've seen it spreading quite a bit lately.

It really is fascinating to see how many of this meme's are going viral right now. I read an interesting article on Slate the other day about the 25 Random Things phenomenon on Facebook. It is very similar to the 7 Random things tag that was going around last year on the blogs. Since joining facebook I've gotten lots of tags, some I've done and some I've ignored. There is only so much navel gazing I can indulge in before feeling self conscious. I think it says something about our culture that we really need this self analysis and connections with others right now. It may be a superficial connection but when someone participates it helps strengthen the bonds and makes you feel closer to them if only for a few minutes. I'm guessing that is something we all need more of, especially in our generation of spread out relationships.