I'm Back! Back in the Blogging Groove

[If you don't get the title, here's the song for reference.]

When I started this blog, Ginny Sheller's Yarn Along was a weekly thing, and podcasting for me was a monthly thing. Ginny shut down the Yarn Along because she found it was more work than joy, the same reason I haven't written a blog post since March or recorded a podcast since last September.

Life is busy. Free time is scarce. When free time appears, I admit, I'd rather make than talk about making, read than talk about reading. 

So why write a blog post now? Completely by accident, I discovered that Ginny Sheller revived Yarn Along on a monthly basis. Genius! I loved discovering new crafty bloggers (and craft projects) through Yarn Along as well as cheering along project progress on blogs I regularly visited via her link exchange. I also admit I enjoyed sharing my current projects and reads with other like minded bloggers and missed that exchange.

[Insert happy dance here!]

In another coincidence, Kristen of the Yarngasm podcast recently started blogging (again if I understand her correctly). I watch her podcast on occasion; she records weekly, and her podcasts can become repetitive as she talks about the same projects. I recognize podcasting supports her business so understand the schedule, but that does mean I take breaks from her channel. However, her new blog is fresh fun, and a great way to follow her newest projects.

After squealing like a teenager when Kristin talked (and blogged) about Stephen West's Smock It! pattern then realizing I have the perfect yarn in stash to cast it on RIGHT NOW, I started think about my own small patch on the internet and how little love it's gotten lately.

INTERMISSION

Stephen West & I on my first visit to Rhinebeck in 2012

So here I am writing my first blog post in quite a while. It's summer vacation, so I've time for to make and talk about making, read and talk about reading. I also think a monthly schedule a low key approach to keeping up with the blog once I return to the classroom in September. Who knows, I might branch out and blog a bit about my teaching practice!

I'll close this post with a pic of the yarn I plan to use for Smock It!, skeins I gathered over the course of the year with a different patterns in mind but none I was thrilled to start until now:

From left to right, "Wick" from Yarnbrary, what I call
"Tea Cozy" from Amanda Makes Yarn, and
"Dahlia Garden" from WIP Yarns (all on Etsy).