What to Blog
September 7th, 2006
I find myself not posting very often due to a lack of pictures. I get lazy sometimes, and don’t want to fiddle with setting up a nice place to take pictures of my latest work. Plus, seeing progressive pictures of just a few more rows of the recent pieces is kind of boring, and they don’t change all that much over a few rows.
What I really should do is just take pictures whenever I have a spare moment, not worrying about whether or not they’ll turn out right, or if I’ll use them in the blog. Then I have some ready to go if/when I decide to post.
I also find progress pictures really boring because talking about my progress is really boring. The only time it’s interesting is when I learn some new technique, am struggling with a particular piece, or am finally seeing what a piece really looks like. I think this is one thing I don’t enjoy in other knitting blogs as well. Reading someone write about the latest progress on a simple sock, when they’ve probably knit 50+ socks before is uninteresting.
What I find interesting in a knitting blog, or writing on knitting, is an interesting take on things. This could just be an amusing way of writing about what would be ordinary knitting, for example something that I might find at The Yarn Harlot. Everyone links to her, but for goodness sake she’s an entertaining writer. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention another entertaining knit blogger, Rachel at Lickety Knit.
Ok, so I didn’t intend for this to be a post linking to my favorite knitting blogs, but let’s just roll with it.
I also enjoy blog writers who write about their learning experiences, where I can watch the processes of (usually) an experienced knitter, like I can find at Pie Knits. It’s very inspiring to read about the design process she goes through, and I really enjoy some of the pieces she makes.
These are the blogs that I really look forward to reading. I have many others in my RSS feed reader, and I enjoy reading them and oggling the pictures. However, some of the time I find picture oggling more enjoyable than reading the whole post. Sometimes it’s good to be short and to the point (I never said I was taking my own advice).
With that in mind, the common theme in all the knitting blogs I read are the pictures. I really enjoy the pictures. Back to the pictures. So Kri, just face it, you’re going to have to start taking more pictures if you’re going to blog more. I think I also need to focus on what I find interesting in other blogs, when writing for my own blog. New ideas, learning techniques, the design process, an interesting point of view or take on things, and pictures.
Hi, thanks for the mention! It sounds as though you and I have similar feelings about knitting blogs. I would far prefer people to post once a week with actual substance rather than every day with “three more rows on the green sweater!” or something. And I also agree that pictures are key — I often have to put off posting because I don’t yet have photos that I think are up to snuff.