Life In The Oyster

I started reading blogs on the regular in October 2010.  Less than 4 months ago.  It really started as several blogs bookmarked that I didn't read on a very regular basis.  But in October, I discovered Google Reader.  I now subscribe to approximately 46 knitting blogs.  Minimalists everywhere no doubt just gasped.  They should see all my yarn.  I mean, it's not all that much, honestly, have you seen the Yarn Harlot's stash ROOM?  It's as big as my house.

Forty-six is a rather large number.  Some of them I subscribed to only to discover that they're famous knit world personalities, like Jared Flood, and Franklin.  Others, like Ysolda, have work that I've admired for a long time.  I've had Vivian in my Ravelry queue since December 31, 2008.  I haven't even bought the pattern yet because it's so beautiful I'm afraid to own it.  If I ever ran into Ms. Teague on the street, I might behave like a 6th grader meeting Justin Beiber.

Many of my initial forays into the knitter's blog world began at Knitty.  Before Ravelry, I waited anxiously for each new issue to be released, then I studied patterns and clicked blog links.   Now, the process is rather reversed.  Recently, Ann Weaver, of WeaverKnits had a pattern published in Knitty, called Oranje.  I don't like orange, so I am imagining it in blue and teal and purple with more ease and long sleeves, or perhaps as a vest.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to read the customer reviews for JC Briar's new book Charts Made Simple, and recognize Cat Bhordi.  Maybe recognize isn't quite the right word, since it says Cat Bordhi in plain English, my native tongue.  But I know who she is.  She rights books, and more importantly taught her middle school students to knit and ignited a movement in her area to combine knitting with academic pursuits.  I too work in a middle school and have taught some students to knit, with differing levels of success.

Thanks to recent blog posts about Madrona, which I'd never heard of until a bunch of people started packing and going on about Washington State, I even know who Sivia is.  She made those lovely beaded gloves that look like veins and tendons.  Not in a gross way.  They're beautiful and one day I might work up the courage to do beading and fingers in the same project.  I know there's a fingerless version, but I don't think it makes the veins and tendons visual as clear, and I think fingerless gloves are silly and inefficient.