lollygirl ([info]seferim) wrote in [info]knitting,
@ 2004-08-05 06:15:00
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Current mood: curious

What makes a good knitting blog?
With the special visit of Stefanie "Glampyre" yesterday, (http://www.livejournal.com/community/knitting/2119671.html?thread=17863927) I began thinking what makes a good knitting blog? Many people were raving about her blog, http://www.glampyre.com (myself included!) and how her designs are so great.

I have really been into weblogs lately, and have looked at so many sites, and started own. I see a variety of things that entice readers. Many of these blogs have a large readership... So why do you read the blogs you do?


  • Free knitting patterns?
  • Experienced techniques / unique designs?
  • Pictures of cats? (haha)
  • Yarn reviews?
  • Great site design?
  • Knitting book reviews?
  • Photo galleries of their work?
  • Personal issues of the blogger?
  • Know the person in "real life"?
  • Other crafty projects covered?
  • Pictures of kids?
  • Anything I have not covered?


For me, and I am sure it is the case with many of you, I read blogs for a variety of reasons. As a (kind of) new knitter, I love to see the possibilities of two sticks and a ball of animal fur (or acrylic!), I also love looking at galleries and seeing peoples' own designs. So let me know... I am curious! :)

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[info]boogie_babe
2004-08-05 04:05 am UTC (link)
All of that stuff is good (I could care less about cat pictures) but I like the blogs that are written well, or there are also some that I read because I've become "friends" with the people. I get tired of the blogs that are the same things over and over. I have also found that I really like the blogs that people are also spinners.

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[info]seferim
2004-08-05 04:21 am UTC (link)
I was kidding about the cat pictures! :) Thanks for the input!

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[info]boogie_babe
2004-08-05 04:27 am UTC (link)
That's the thing though, cat pics seem to be the center of some blogs. It doesn't annoy me, but it doesn't make we want to read them more than others, I usually just skip the daily pic while I do like the occasional pic.
http://www.theboogerbog.blogspot.com is my blog if you want to check out the people I like to read, they are listed on the sidebar.

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[info]geekling
2004-08-05 05:52 am UTC (link)
pssst! you missed out an l in you URL
http://www.theboogerblog.blogspot.com/

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[info]boogie_babe
2004-08-05 05:55 am UTC (link)
oops! thanks
Where would I be without you guys keeping track of me :)

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[info]ayun
2004-08-05 11:16 am UTC (link)
In a bog made of boogers, obviously.

I really just wanted to comment because I read your blog, dig it, and didn't make the connection between it and your posts/comments here.

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[info]boogie_babe
2004-08-05 11:24 am UTC (link)
A bog of boogers - haha :)

Thanks, I don't really make posts connecting my lj and my blog. They really are very different.

There is a syndication if you want to read my blog from LJ [info]boogieknits

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[info]ayun
2004-08-05 11:27 am UTC (link)
Thanks for the tip!

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[info]mariora
2004-08-05 04:53 am UTC (link)
Most of the blogs I read regularly don't focus on free patterns. Some may have them but that's not why I read them.

I like good writing and things that keep me wanting to read. Humor is a good thing, too. There doesn't even have to always be knitting/crafty content. It's hard to put a finger on what I like because I think that I like each different blog for different reasons.

My blog is here http://home.cablelynx.com/~sgarza/knitting/blogger.html and I have a list of the blogs I read regularly on the side bar also.

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[info]geekling
2004-08-05 05:42 am UTC (link)
Much depends on their writing style.

Another big factor is the projects. Now don't get me wrong, but reading about garter stitch scarf after garter stitch scarf or naff things like flipflop covers, nosewarmers, edible undewear etc. just does not interest me at all.

The third things is to keep it mostly about knitting. If I'm reading something that makes it self out to be a knitting blog, i want to read about knitting. Not about your aunt in Australia having hip surgery or about how well your kids are doing in school. With the great exception of cats, of course. Cats are on topic in any blog.

Which leads us to pictures of cats. You might have meant it as a joke, but yes cat pictures is a definite plus in my book. As long as it's not more a cat blog than a knitting blog.

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[info]skittl1321
2004-08-05 05:47 am UTC (link)
I like blogs that have good pictures, interesting writing and update fairly regularly.

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[info]evilhenchcat
2004-08-05 06:53 am UTC (link)
I love knitting blogs. These are the kinda things I look for:

-Design:it should be easy on the eyes (no bright, glaring colors or graphics-just a nice, clean design), and easy to navigate (the little graphics and buttons & weather pixies are cute, but CLUTTER up everything. I don't care what the weather is like where you are, I don't care that you are a member of 3,234 webrings, I don't care that you have 25 different cute buttons and banners to link to your site. De-clutter, please!) The blogger should be able to write fairly well, as well. Spellcheck and proofread before publishing.

-Updated regularly: it's frustrating when a blog goes for weeks or even months without an update.

-It's about *knitting*: Personal issues should be kept to a personal blog, imo. This includes discussions/photos of cats & children. If the personal issue is related to knitting, ok (e.g. the boyfriend/hubby is getting annoyed with the knitting).

-Good photos within the blog: I wish more knit bloggers would include photos of the WS of their works as well. It's all well and good to see the neat, pretty front of it, but I wanna see the back-especially with fair isle.

-Innovation: A knit blog is a knit blog is a knit blog, except when its not. Do they use unusual techniques? Design their own patterns? Unusual fibers? Challenging projects?

-Involvement in the knitting community: Do they go to an SnB? Participating in a knit-along? Gift exchanges?

-Discussion of current patterns/technique: How did you fix that mistake? How did you update the pattern for a different size? Why did you susbstitute a certain yarn, and how did it work? How's the two handed color working coming along?

-A Photo Gallery of Finished Work: I also like to see photos of the finished product as well, preferably in one place.

-Enthusiasm: this is most important, imo. The knitter should enjoy what they do and be excited about it. If you're bored with knitting, then I will be too!

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[info]gilneas
2004-08-05 07:44 am UTC (link)
I like looking at people's progress, as well as finished objects (especially ones that I am planning or currently am knitting). That's totally my favorite thing. So photo galleries, and I like blogs that update frequently (which is why mine is updated so much), because I check them everyday and I like to sometimes just see that inch that someone has knit on the body of a pullover.. I don't exactly know why, but I love watching the process so much.

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[info]gilneas
2004-08-05 07:45 am UTC (link)
Oh. And punctuation. It drives me crazy when a person can't punctuate. Or capitalize. Or uses "LOL" all the time.

OK, I'm a grammar snob, I guess. But that makes me a little nutty.

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[info]kightp
2004-08-05 08:26 am UTC (link)
Pretty much what everyone else said, with one addition:

I'm getting old, and my eyes are getting old, too. If your blog is done in a font so tiny that I have to zoom my browser's text setting up to 200 percent just to read it, I probably won't bother.

This may not seem like a bit deal to those of you with young eyes, but wait just till you hit the bifocal years ...

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[info]mariora
2004-08-05 09:25 am UTC (link)
I have old eyes too and I hate the really dark blogs. Ones with black background and blue text or something like that. Where you have to highlight the text to read the page. *grumbles*

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[info]kightp
2004-08-05 09:33 am UTC (link)
That's just bad Web design, in any text size. Seriously, folks: Contrast is good. If you must have a dark background, then at least use light-colored text.

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[info]geekling
2004-08-05 09:33 am UTC (link)
*boggle*
You actually bother with highlighting if it's in an unreadable text / background combination? In a blog?

I mean it's another thing if it's a page with information that you want. But a blog?

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[info]mariora
2004-08-05 09:39 am UTC (link)
WEll..I really meant that if I wanted to read it I would have to highlight it. Most of the time I just keep going. Its a pain though if I'm following a webring and have to highlight the damn page to find the "next" button on the webring.

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[info]trinker
2004-08-05 12:26 pm UTC (link)
It's not just old eyes! I'm not old by most standards (unless you count the average age of LJers), and I loathe microtype on websites.

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[info]unsecretcrush
2004-08-05 08:48 am UTC (link)
for me it's all about pictures of finished projects or works in progress. i love looking at pictures of things in people's blogs. if they also include pictures of adorable children or cats, that's good too. also if they say funny things that catch my eye as i'm scanning the page for pictures. :)

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[info]glaukopis
2004-08-05 10:02 am UTC (link)
SITE DESIGN. For the love of god use a sans-serifed font (Ariel is good) in a contrasting color to the bg. I hate trying to read light blue Times Roman on a dark blue bg.

Also finished project galleries.

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[info]raanve
2004-08-05 10:36 am UTC (link)
I mostly just keep my crafting blog (found here, because I can't resist the opportunity for shameless self-promotion) up & going so that I can show off my projects to my parents, friends, and other people who are vaguely interested in what I'm doing and are far away. Also, it's really more for myself than anything, because I'm a writer so when I do something, I like to write about it. Plus I sort of keep all the links to crafty/knitting blogs I personally like to read in one place.

It's just a hobby, and I don't expect a big audience, but I do get a little thrill on days when I see that the counter is very active. -_^

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[info]sheknits
2004-08-05 04:05 pm UTC (link)
I feel so inferior since my layout is so... bland. I just use LJ to host my blog, and I will get around to making the layout look better eventually, ha.

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[info]fibermom
2004-08-10 06:20 am UTC (link)
I love knitting blogs (here's mine: http://www.xanga.com/Private/home.aspx?user=fibermom). I like to see what people are doing, both out of curiosity and in order to help choose future projects. I also like hints and tips -- I like to benefit from other people's wisdom. Of course, they have to be well-written and interesting -- I don't have any objection to non-knitting content if it is also amusing. But the reason I like knitting blogs best is the sense of community. I know very few other knitters in real life (sob) and I know that most people have no interest in my knitting. The knitting bloggers seem to be a jolly group who feel like friends even if they don't know one another in real life.

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