Beautiful Blogger Award: You Like Me, You Really Like Me!

Heather of Implausible Yarn  bestowed upon me the Beautiful Blogger Award! Thank you so much Heather. Sometimes it can feel pretty lonely out here in blog land. But appreciation like this, along with my loyal commenters, makes it worth the effort.

As part of the Beautiful Blogger Award, I have to share 10 things about myself that you might not know about me. Being a very private person, this is a challenge.

1.  In my previous life, I was a lawyer. I gave that up to be full-time mom.

2. When I was a girl I read every Hardy Boy book I could get my hands on. Now, I read every Ian Rankin book I can get my hands on.

3. Greece is one of my favorite places on the planet.

4. I've rediscovered belly dancing which is something I haven't done since my twenties.

5. I love satirical British comedy.

6. Although I am a good at sewing, I hate sewing!

7. I still blast the stereo listening to the music of my youth like the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Elton John. It's on vinyl of course, although I do own an Ipod.

8. I'm an only child which means of course I am spoiled and self-centered. Not!

9. I'm an amateur bird watcher and take part in Cornell University's winter bird count.

10.  I'd love to own a red Ford Mustang before I'm fifty. I'd better get a move on!

This is the part of the award that I like the best! I get to pass on the Beautiful Blogger Award to 10 of my favorite blogs. I love so many blogs that this was not easy. But here in random order are 10 of my Beautiful Bloggers:

Lisa of Molto di Moda Designs

Andrea of Wisdom Begins in Wonder

Ally of  AllyB...That's Me!

Sara of Lazy Knits and Purls

Monika Rose of Monika Rose Crochets

Marguerite of Stitches in Violet

Holly of Knit With Snot For You

Marie of Permission to Unwind

Kate of Knits in Class

Not Ready for Handspun of Minding My Own Stitches

Happy Blogging!

Wool-less Wednesday: Fiber Art Blogs

Okay, technically I'm still blogging about wool. But, I swear wool has not touched my hands in the creation of this post! I've been discovering some interesting fiber blogs this past week. A couple of my new faves are these blogs.

The Student Knitter is an upbeat blog with a nice mix of topics including of course knitting. Blogs with lots of the author's own work for all to see are the ones I look to visit. The Student Knitter's compendium of finished projects are here. Great ideas for your needles!

A humorous blog is Knit with Snot for You. I enjoy blogs that make me giggle. Why does this blog have such an "unusual" name? You can find out at this funny posting. Does it make you giggle?

Happy fiber blog reading!

Wool-less Wednesday: Useful Websites for Being Creative with Your Blog

Resources for setting up and customizing your blog allow you to extend your creativity beyond the content of your blog.

Here are some websites that allow you to do just that:

* Three Column Blogger is a sight that gives you detailed instructions on how to change your Minima Blogger Template from two columns to three columns. You will have to edit the HTML of the original Blogger template. Don't let this stop you from trying it, if you would really like a three column blog. You save your original blog template before editing the HTML. If you mess up, you have the original safe on your hard drive.

* HTML color codes are easily accessible in this chart. Even though Blogger allows you to easily customize your blog's colors by clicking on color blocks when in the Fonts and Colors menu in Layout, this chart expands the range of colors you can choose. Just copy the HTML color code of your choice from the chart and paste it into the "Edit Color Hex Code" box found in Fonts and Colors. Press enter and voila the color changes for whatever part of your blog you have selected!

* Web Resizer is a nifty tool that allows you to resize and enhance the quality of your blog photos whether for posts or your banner. Check out the feature that allows you add a border to your photo. You can also visit  Picresize which offers some more cool ways to modify your pictures.

I hope these websites are useful for being creative with your blog.

Happy blogging!

Whiskers and Wool: Men Who Knit

Do you know of any men who knit? I know men knit, but I don't know any men who knit.

I got thinking about this when I discovered BrianKnits! on Twitter. Brian is a knitter who blogs about his love of knitting. Take a look at his lovely triangle shawl.

Further investigation of the male knitter led me to  Men Who Knit  which is an online community for, who else, men who knit. It has 3078 registered users! There are a lot of guys knitting out there.

 
There are so many men blogging about their passion for knitting. Asplund Knits  of Sweden has examples of his skillful knitting on his blog. I love his Twined and Stranded Mittens.

Then there is Queer Joe's Knitting Blog which is entertaining to read with more great knitting. This is Joe's excellent tutorial Seaming a Sweater Sleeve.  Joe where were you when I was trying to figure this out?

At MenKnit  there is  an interesting history of men and knitting. There is also a list of more men's knitting blogs you can explore.

Happy Knitting Guys!