I feel accomplished

I’ve updated and made some changes to my blog over the weekend and I’m pretty excited about it.

First, I found a presentation format that has a 3 column lay-out and allows some minor customization. I found a few that had the ability to put a custom graphic in the header, but didn’t have the same features as this format.

The thing I really like about this format is that it displays the other pages you have right at the top. I like this because it’s accessible for everyone to see. Some of the pages are more for my benefit–it really helps me to keep track off all my WIPs and seeing all my FOs in one place makes me feel very productive.

Page tour:

About Me: I didn’t really feel like I had much to say about myself at the moment, especially since this is a specific knitting blog where I occasionally talk about my cats and coffee. It’s not really a personal blog.

Fiber Stash: I started spinning in February or so and have accumulated quite a stash. My mom’s friend Gloria found out I was spinning and sent me a bunch of wool and mohair top. She owns a farm in Texas and I think most of the fiber is from her sheep. There was also a big sale (25% off) at Mind’s Eye Yarns right before I moved back to NC, which contributed significantly to my fiber stash as well. The sale was actually the day I was leaving Boston and we delayed our departure time so that I could be there when the store opened at noon!

Finished Objects: This is where I’ll keep track of all my FOs for the year. I hope that this will help me keep better track of when I finish things. A lot of times, especially with socks and hats, I wear it before I even take a picture of it. I made a really cute hat with some Mission Falls 1824 wool and a little bit of leftovers from my Clapotis and then I lost it! I don’t have a picture of it or anything–I remember what the stitch pattern was, but that’s about it. Come to think of it, I don’t think I have a picture of the Clapotis either. It’s in Mountain Colors Twizzle–it’s gorgeous, if I lost it I’d probably cry. I’m also hoping that I’ll keep better track of the patterns I write and modifications I make. I rarely make anything exactly as the pattern is.

Finishing School: Here is where all the projects that just need the final touches will go. This is pretty much just for me so I know what I have to do. It’s relatively small right now. I had my own little “finishing party” of one in July where I blocked a bunch of projects, wove in some ends, added pom-poms, etc. I’m going to try not to let this list get so long again!

 On the Needles: These are all my current Works In Progress (WIPs). Some of them are projects that I’m actively working on, others I’m working out issues I’m having with the patterns and yarns and trying to figure out if I should frog or knit on! Others are on indefinite hiatus–either I’ve lost interest or motivation. For example, I lost the hat that matched the convertible gloves, I’m not sure how I feel about the striping and now I’m even debating whether or not I’ll need such thick wool mittens for winter in NC. The Monk’s Travel Satchel has been my longest WIP, I was having yarn issues. I knit up the body of the bag in “Provincial Rose” and then decided I didn’t like the color for a bag–that yarn is now the Wave Skirt. Then I went to my LYS to get a different color for the body of the bag and they only had one skein of each of the 3 or 4 colors I was considering.

Other neat things I added

• Search button so that my blog could be searched more easily.
• Meebo widget and now anyone can IM me from my page. Meebo is also neat because you can combine all your IM accounts into one. So you can be simultaneously logged into Yahoo, aol, MSN, Gmail, ICQ, etc. without having 8 million windows open.
• Blog stats
• Blog buttons for my blogroll–if you have a button and want me to add it, let me know.