Over the weekend, LollyKnitting Around turned 6-years old.  There wasn’t much pomp and circumstance since 6 doesn’t command that kind of attention.  That being said, 6 is still pretty good.  I had no predictions and long-term strategies when I started this blog in 2004.   It has grown into a project much bigger than myself, and has served as a link in meeting the most amazing people. 

Many of my peers from those early days of knit blogs have stopped blogging.  Some have even stopped knitting.  Some have turned their creative attentions to something completely new:  other craft endeavors, writing, entrepeneurial pursuits… It’s intriguing to watch these changes over time.

LollyKnitting Around has changed significantly.  My posts used to be very knit-centric and very frequent.  Before Ravelry and Flickr were common, we told each other about a few inches of knit progress.  There was an occasional post on something else, but I felt that it would be betraying people to write about anything else at length considering that “KNITTING” was in the title of the blog.  I don’t necessarily feel this way anymore, which is evidenced by the scores of non-knitting posts. Thankfully, it seems that many of you have done the same thing – the blog becomes a reflection of you, and while it includes knitting, it is also about other things.

I have noticed that blog reading seems to be on a down-swing right now.  Or at least, I notice that in myself.  Unfortunately, I don’t read as many blogs as I used to… but at the same time, many blogs are not as frequently updated.  With my new Twitter fascination, it is mini-blog posts throughout the day… usually more opinionated and banal than the things I share here, but fun all the same.  Do you notice a difference in your blog-reading/blogging habits?

After a bit of exploration, I think I have settled into a pretty happy routine.  The blog is not as frequently updated – and the blog is not all about knitting.  As you know, I blog about what I am interested in.  Sometimes that is knitting, and sometimes it is travel and vegan food.  It seems to be something related to photography for the most part.  You have watched the passion grow and have seen the results.  Photography is a new love, and I would love to do more of it.  As before, travel remains one of my ambitions, and I hope to continue traveling to new places and sharing those details here. 

Sometimes I get ambitious and think about branching out into some new avenues: writing, publishing, exhibiting photographs… and if an opportunity came my way, I wouldn’t turn it down… but the fact remains the same:  this blog brings enjoyment.  There were many days in the past when I considered shutting it down, and I am glad that I reconsidered. 

I don’t thank you all enough ~ please know how much I value your comments and feedback!  After six years I can say that I blog for myself and for my own memories… where in the beginning, I blogged more for the interactions with others and the feedback…  but what a joy it is to know that you are out there reading along! 

Many thanks for traveling along with me!

**Six photos of stones from my travels – a milestone marking each year of the blog:  Photo 1 -The rock stacks “inuksuit” on the bank in Vancouver, BC.  Photo 2 – The stone formations at Joshua Tree National Park, California.  Photo 3 - Rocky Coastline The Ovens Natural Park, Nova Scotia.  Photo 4 – Stones in the snow, Massanutten Mountain, Virginia.  Photo 5 - Incan ashlar stones at Saqsayhuaman, Cusco, Peru.  Photo 6 – Meditation garden and stone labyrinth, Shrine of St. Therese, Juneau, Alaska.

The beautiful and talented Lucy at {a black pepper} tagged me for this project “10 Things You Don’t Know About Me”… and it was hard to come up with a list, but I thought I would give it a try. Perhaps it should be called “10 Things Some of You Might Not Know About Me”.  Since I divulged some of this information on Flickr late last week, I thought I would add an extra two especially for the blog

1 – One of the reasons that I took up knitting in 2003 was because I am always cold. I wear knits year round because I work in the cold environment of a basement archive, so shawls, mitts, and cardigans are always on hand.

2 – I don’t wear much jewelry. I usually wear a simple meaningful necklace (a souvenir or a gift to remind me of a place or a person) and my wedding band.

3 – I have my ears pierced twice in each ear, but haven’t worn earrings since my sister’s wedding in October 2008. I don’t think that the holes have closed though.

4 – One of my goals for 2010 is to learn Spanish. I am using Rosetta Stone (a generous Christmas/anniversary gift from Kris) and am really enjoying it so far.

5 – I have several friends from Spanish-speaking countries who promise that they will practice with me once I become more conversational.

6 – I am hoping to travel more through South America. I loved our Peru trip in 2007 so much that I want to go back. Argentina and Chile are next on the list.

7 – I was homeschooled for two years when I was young – 4th and 5th grade – and went back to regular school in 6th grade.

8 – I have recently become (a little) obsessed with 2 games on Kris’s Xbox: Peggle and Kingdom for Keflings.

9 – I am not a phone or a gadget person… I was a late adopter for cell phones, and still use a “pay as you go” service. However, I will admit to using Kris’s Blackberry on occasion for checking the web…

10 – I recently started a sprout garden – I use the sprouts for green smoothies and for salad toppings. My favorites (so far) have been the French lentils.

11 – The album officially “drops” tomorrow, but I have been listening to the new Vampire Weekend constantly on NPR’s Music site.  Wow.  I loved the first one so much, and this second one is amazing.  The one that stays with me the most is “Diplomat’s Son”.  Total win.

12 – I became a vegetarian when I was 14 years old.  I was never a big meat eater, but after seeing the movie Babe, I switched.  Yeah, I know that pigs don’t really talk, but that movie did help me realize a few things.  Additionally, I switched to a vegan diet after my struggles with Lyme disease in 2008. You never know when and how those life-changing moments are going to come!

Care to share your own list?  I would love to read…

We got our first snow in Maryland, and it was quite a pretty one!  My dear friend Vicki and I had made plans earlier in the week to go over to Takoma Park to attend a free yoga class taught by our friend Kath.  We all graduated from the teacher training program together, and now we are able to attend each others’ classes.  It is a joy!  As Vicki and I drove down towards the city, the snow flakes grew in size – like cotton balls falling from the sky.  It was lovely!

We grabbed some breakfast at a local diner, and had a little time to spare before we went to yoga – so Vicki and I pulled out our knitting.  She just took up knitting and she is learning so fast!  Such even gauge and stitches!  I told her she would be knitting sweaters in no time

…as Vicki worked on her lovely Noro scarf, I worked on (surprise!) Olympics sweater sleeves… lots of progress to show on that front, so more later…

In the meantime, as a celebration of my first snow day this winter, I wanted to do a little contest:  Tell me your favorite snowy memory and have a chance at this prize: 

Classic Elite 9103:  Snow Day pattern booklet – sweaters, cardigans, vests, hats, scarves!  all to keep you warm and toasty on your own snow days!  (You can see all the patterns inside here)

  ***

 So, tell me a story about your snow-covered memories:  building a snowman, sledding, ice skating, snowball fight – anything!  I would love to hear!  …and then you have a chance to win!

After two counts – I wanted to be accurate after such an amazing outpouring by you all! – I have found the final yardage for the scraptacular yarny ball!

1973.3 yards ( +/- 1″)

So, that means that the winners of this contest are:

• Mary at Tactless Wonder with her guess of 1974

• Nadine at Balkan Style with her guess of 1975

Thank you so much for playing and for leaving so many wonderful and heartfelt comments!  You all are amazing   I really liked ever green knits suggestion about a little retrospective of posts from previous years… I am compiling a list now.  As an archivist, you can imagine that I like doing such things.

…and because no post can go photo-less on my blog, here is my recently compiled mosaic of favorite photos from this past week on Flickr.  I really enjoy making these and they are a real point of inspiration for me. (Click on the photo for details about the photos!)

So, this one was a biggie - LollyKnitting Around turned FIVE years old a few weeks ago (7/24) – and I didn’t really do anything about it.  I took several computer “fasts” for a few days time to remind myself of the importance of non-attachment (hard!)  and just didn’t get around to posting about the momentous occasion. 

Huh… five years.  Time flies!

I am not sure how many of you have been around since the beginning, but that is no matter…  because I just want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart!  It is truly an honor to walk alongside you (virtually and in real life!)  on this journey.  I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet many of you, and I hope to meet many more of you in the future!  Thanks for reading and for being a part of my life!  *Much love and gratitude!*

As is the custom in this region of “Bloglandia”, I am planning to run a contest for my fifth blogiversary – but I wanted to put a little spin on it

I have been in organization/cleaning mode this past week, and I have come across hundreds of little yarn scraps – too much to throw away, but not enough to really do anything with.  Some are leftover balls from projects, some are yarn samples.  I have used these scraps in the past to make the Rapunzel scarves, but I can’t keep up with the supply…  So, I decided to start making a ball – a scraptacular ball – with plans to start a scraptacular project.  I am planning a big garishly colored blanket with these scraps… like only a blanket a knitter could love and appreciate.  The brilliant Chawne suggested a quilt that radiated out from the center, like Larissa’s Barn Raising quilt squares from her book Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together.  I love this idea, as it would be quite easy to add to with new scraps.   I may just have to come up with several ideas, as scraps are never going to be gone from my stash!

 How many yards / meters do you think are in this scraptacular ball??

Care to venture a guess?

Hints:  It is packed tight and has a little weight to it, and it took me about 100 minutes to wind this ball up (aka watching this past week’s amazing episode of True Blood episode twice).  There are at least 75 individual yarn scraps in this ball at this point.

And for the winners – two winners who come closest to the final yardage – a choice between these two prizes:

 Fleece Artist Goldilocks Kit – in rich indigo purple.  540 yards of silk/mohair boucle for the Goldilocks shawl – a triangular garter stitch shawl – pattern on the label.  I bought this in Nova Scotia, the home of Fleece Artist, last year.

Hunt Valley Cashmere -a Maryland supplier of this pale pink 100% cashmere.  1.95 oz skein.   Perfect for a cowl or mitts.

Contest is open till Thursday (8/13) at 5:00pm EST. 

Even if you don’t care to be in the contest, I would still love to hear from you    Once again, thank you, dear friends, for so many happy years!