Well, not me. To String. Sort of.

I've heard tell it's customary on the first anniversary of blogging to link back to one's first post and prattle on about the experience. My first post was February 12 of last year, but I dithered a bit before really getting the thing off the ground a month later.

First, thanks go out to those who have encouraged me to do this - the gang at my local yarn store - both staff and core regulars (if I began naming them all this would be like the Academy awards), BlogDogBlog's Lisa, QueerJoe, Wendy, Linn, esteemed needlework pals of long standing (thanks Kathryn!); folks who are frequent readers/posters here, and the KFlamers (you know who you are).

I wasn't sure why I wanted a blog. After all, I already had a website - itself celebrating it's tenth anniversary this year. But it's cumbersome to update, sometimes requiring the intervention of in-house programming gods, and too structured to allow free play. I certainly rattled on enough in the various knitting-related email lists. But almost every post brought snarking from people who felt I was too long winded and was wasting their time. Plus the lists themselves are less interesting to me these days, as many of the most insightful and thought-provoking posters have moved on to their own blogs. So I decided to cut back on the eMail notes, limiting on-list participation to answering questions, and post the rest here.

String has sort of evolved into a running column on knitting and needlework in general (admittedly, with side trips), rather than a pure diary or personal log. I try to keep it up daily on weekdays, plus whenever I can on weekends. Sometimes life intervenes. I find that even though it's daily, I'm rarely at a loss for subject matter. There's plenty among my own projects past and present, old books, how-tos that seem to be a good idea at the time, things I stumble across on the Web, and discussions piqued by questions sent to me by others. Some weeks I have three or four general notes written up to post in advance, fitting my project progress bits in between them. Other days I write as the fit takes me, being neither disciplined enough in my habits to set aside one particular time to do so, or even trying to get something written by a particular time each day.

I guess the best part about it all is that I am no longer imposing on anyone with these diatribes. I can be more critical of things because the mass tyranny of political correctness and public niceness isn't in force for a personal log. (It's wonderfully liberating to lose the straight-jacket.) I no longer feel any guilt for imposing on anyone because people have to seek me out and visit. If they don't like what they read, they don't visit again. And that's fine by me.

Things I hope to do with String this year:

• More how-tos.
  
• Continuing the series of yarn maker website reviews. Possibly starting a directory of manufacturer/distributor sites (not retailers - just makers).
• More patterns. Some of these will end up maturing onto wiseNeedle.
• Whatever other whims take me.

Things you won't see here:

• Pictures of me.

Trust me on this. The most photogenic thing about me is my children.