Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our family

Last spring I made the decision to give up this blog. I thought I would time my departure to coincide with either the public opening of Raverly or the completion of Morrigan—which ever came last. Well, both took longer than I imagined they would. I don’t want to wait around for Raverly to open up at this point. And ending the blog with Morrigan is a ending on a great high note. (Considering this blog began about the time I started work on the Reversible Rib Shawl, it’s only fitting that I should end with a similarly beautiful piece.)

I have had this blog for nearly three years now and I love some parts of being a blogger. For example, I love the way that my blog has connected me with people from around the world. I have “met” many other bloggers who I consider my friends even though I haven’t actually seen them in person. And some of my old friends have re-connected with me after finding my blog. I also loved receiving comments. I truly appreciate every comment that I have gotten on this blog. So a big “Thank you!” to everyone who has ever left a comment here (except for the spammers, I’m not thanking the spammers).

But what I didn’t like about keeping a blog was the pressure. All bloggers are under pressure to produce: “Be witty!” “Be informative!” “Be consistent!” “Be interesting!” As a blogger, I know that to maintain readership, I have to give in to those pressures.

Of course, the pressures have a different level for me as a knit blogger. I have chosen to include very little about my personal life on this blog. So in order for me to have blog material, I have to KNIT something. For the first 2.5 years of this blog’s life, I happily produced knitted object after knitted object for my enjoyment and as well as for blog fodder. But things have changed. Thanks to repetitive stress injury in my left hand, I can’t knit as much as I used to. The injury is making knitting less enjoyable and the added pressure of the blog makes knitting more of a chore these days. So I’m slowing down on the knitting, and giving up this blog.

But I am not giving up knitting OR blogging completely! If you want to keep up with what’s going on in my knitting life, you have several options.

Raverly, for those of you who are Ravelry enabled. (My Ravelry name is MiniLaura):
http://www.ravelry.com/people/MiniLaura

Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minilaura/

And a new blog:
http://www.houseofwoolrepute.com/

The House of Wool Repute is my new online home. It is a group blog and the “group” factor will hopefully reduce the pressures on me. The wonderful women contributing to the blog are all knitters, but most of the others dabble in other crafts. You can expect to see knitting, spinning, and dyeing on a regular basis and there will probably be many cute animal photos (Scout!) and some foodie talk. Please come visit us! We’re just getting started up, so please stay tuned! It should be fun and entertaining to read.

Oh, and I’m not going to delete this blog. I’ll leave it up and I will answer any questions that you have, so feel free to email me or leave a comment!

And with that, dear friends, I am signing off. Thank you so much for reading and for coming into my life!