Blue Ribbon Day

A couple of weeks ago, I was awarded a very kind Blue Ribbon Award by Nora at Knot Much of a Knitter. She wrote a really lovely little note about why she likes my blog and it seriously made my day. I love praise. Who doesn't? 

I don't remember how I found Nora's blog, but it's a relatively recent and very happy addition to my reading. She's a wonderful knitter (despite her rather amusing blog title) and an often very thought provoking writer. That's a winning combination for me and but for the fact that she already received the award, I'd have given her a nod.

I know some people think these things are a bit like a popularity contest but I kinda like them because they're a nice way to give people who love writing their blogs a bit of boost. Who doesn't love good feedback?

So here's my list of Blue Ribbon 'I love your blog' recipients. A mix of new and old favourites, in no particular order.

RoseRedShoes - It's no secret I'm a fan. We've been friends for 18 months or so now since I first wrote to her out of the blue and suggested we start a blog about Nigella Lawson (which we are sadly neglecting of late!). I love her blog. I love her knitting. I love her wicked sense of humour and I love her amazing stash. Her shoe collection is stunning and I am endlessly inspired by her work. What's not to love?

LilyPily Yarns - I found Terri's blog quite a while ago now. I can't remember how but it might have been through RoseRed. I get a great fix of fine knitting and gorgeous gardening through Terri's blog. And we often find ourselves a little bit aligned in what we're knitting or drawn to, as well as sharing quite a common approach to our gardening. 

Lolly Knitting Around - Probably Lolly is well known to lots of you. She hosts great schemes such as Project Spectrum and Socktoberfest. An endless inspiration with her photos of gardening, knitting and travel, there's something to to take your breath away in her posts. 

Lost Arts Studio - I've been reading Alwen's blog for as long as I can remember reading knitting blogs, just about. I recall the first time I watched winter in Michigan unfold through her stories and photos. I was hooked. Such a far away world. When I post photos of plants and flowers, I am often thinking of Alwen because I draw such inspiration from her view of the natural world and I want to show her things south of the equator. Oh and she does amazing 'lost arts' that are absolutely stunning. 

All Fingers and Thumbs - Sarah is one of the Brit-bloggers I read. She's a fabulous sock knitter, with a great eye for colour and detail. She's funny and obsessed with really beautiful yarn. Visiting her blog is more often than not a bit of a drool-fest. 

So there we go, just a tiny snapshot of my daily reading. These are some of corners of the internet where I go for inspiration, amusement and all manner of good things. 

And so concludes Blogtoberfest post #3. So far so good. 28 days to go.

Tomorrow, the proper write up of the Hemlock Ring blanket, which is just about dry, thanks to the sudden burst of heat.

Bells

Kindly nods

Recently, Bellsknits has been given a few very kindly nods from around the place, in the form of a couple of different blogger awards.


These are lovely things. They're a way for people to say 'I really like and enjoy what you do!'

I was given these nods by Rachael of All It Took Was Just One Stitch, Donna-Lee of What You Think on Grows and Terri of Lilypily Yarns.




Rhiannon of Knitty Bug gave me the 'Spread the Love' nod.



All of these are blogs I have read for quite some time now and thoroughly enjoyed. So thanks guys! It means a lot and your blogs and friendship always make my day.

Today, of the two, I'm awarding the Make My Day award.

Pondering how to respond, I considered Amy's response to her nods, which was to say that many, many blogs make her day. I almost went down that path. It's a good one.

RoseRed went down another path that I also liked (giving nods to relatively new additions to her blog reading list) and so I'm going to borrow a little bit from both my dear friends.

Incidentally, RoseRed and I were concurrently nominated several times. It's both funny and gratifying. We work together very closely and share vast quantities of cyber-time together. If I hadn't nominated her for other awards already, as well as generally just being very open about what a fan I am, I'd have given her the big nod today, too. But I think I'll cast my net a little wider today!

So here, in no particular order, are a few nods of my own, given in the direction of some blogs I'm either loving getting to know or who don't appear to be as widely known as they should be or who I have loved for a long and haven't mentioned before. I don't think I'm going to do 10 but I'll see how I go.

KgirlKnits - Kgirl was my swap partner in the Ravelry tea cosy swap and she sent me amazing stuff. Her kindness and generosity shows through in her swap packages and her blog. And she saw Rufus Wainwright a few nights ago. I'm still recovering from the bout of jealousy.

Chronic Ennui - I love Kim's blog. Have done for ages. I call her the Queen of Instant Gratification Projects. In between her larger projects, she churns out smaller, beautiful, inspiring projects that I am forever adding to my must do list.

Pins n Needles - Carol started out blogging about quilting. Then she moved onto digi-scrapping. What she can't do with a photo and a bit of text isn't worth knowing. She's got this series called Things that Never Really Happened where she takes an old photo and makes up a short, often hilarious story to go with it. It kills me. I'm on at her to get them published. I think they are fantastic.

A Room of My Own - Kylie is an ex-Canberran and long suffering PhD writer. I get sad if Kylie doesn't post for a couple of days (not to mention a little worried). She's got so much wit and charm and talent. It always makes my day to see her posts.

Writer's Lane- This is Amy, also referred to from time to time as Writer Amy, if I'm mentioning her at home. To differentiate her from Rhode Island Amy. Amy's a writer (of books I cannot get here and will eventually purchase from Amazon. I swear). Vampires and romance and God knows what else. As a Buffy fan, I really ought to get more acquainted with vampire lit although I'm sure that's not the technical term for Amy's writing and she may in fact shoot me for insinuating as much.

But Amy gets the nod because her wild and crazy outpourings, filled with as much heart and humour as a mother of four with a full time job and a literary career can muster always make my day.

So there you have it. My nods. That felt good. And these are just knitting blogs. I didn't even touch the food blogs, the gardening blogs, the infertility blogs or the photography blogs!

Bells

Move like syrup through the evening

That's how it feels here, moving like syrup. The REM lyric has been on slow rotation in my head this afternoon. Between the heat and a fading migraine, things are a bit dim here today. Grim even. I've got that post-migraine spongey feeling in my skull. Nice.

I do have a couple of things I've been meaning to post so will cover them off in one hit, I think.

First of all, when RoseRed came to stay recently, there was chuckling as I set her up in our fairly unadorned little spare room. We remembered how when she left me in her spare room, there were insinuations the next day that I might have gotten a little intimate with her stash. Well, come on, who wouldn't, given half a chance? Hello? Kid Silk Haze? Hello? Silk-cashmere blends? Yes, that's right. You know you'd all at least consider it. Don't make out you're so different!

I indicated clearly to her that what went on between available stash in my spare room and herself was entirely a private matter.

This is what she did.


These are a couple of disused CD towers we've got in the spare room. Long after she'd left on the Sunday, I found she'd amused herself and, frankly, come up with a very nice idea. Don't know why I never thought of it myself.

Pay It Forward
I signed up for Pay It Forward with Amy from Rhode Island. Sometime in the next twelve months, Amy will send me something handmade. Cool. In return, I will agree to send something handmade to the first three people to put their hands up in the comments. I like the idea of this game. I don't have to sign up to do something big. I might do something big. Or I might not. The only stipulation is that it has to be handmade. Let me know if you want to play.

In the Kitchen


We have loads of plums right now. Rich, dark, plummy plums. The kind that you think of when you say something is plum in colour.



So we made jam. And chilli plum sauce. Last weekend. How much fun is that? I never knew!


We'll be doing it again. No doubt about that. I think we were both pretty happy with the results.

I also have more than a few of these at the moment. Teaspoon pictured for scale. Like it being in my hand doesn't tell you how freaking huge it is.


Honestly, you blink and they grow. But I'll save those for another post.

Steeked Jacket Update
A rather nice milestone was reached a couple of nights ago.


See the needle at the top? It's a 120cm addi turbo. What is significant about this needle?

It's not on the jacket!!!!

Yes, I have so reduced the number of stitches on the jacket that I had to put it on a much shorter needle. This means that I am flying through the rounds much more quickly now. I am homeward bound. It's feeling very, very good.

Make My Day
Last but not least, I have been nominated a few times for the Make My Day blogger award. It's really very nice and it always makes me smile. Don't we all love to know that our ramblings touch, move or amuse somebody? I know I do. I will be doing a post on my own nominations in the next few days but for now, to those who gave me the nod, thanks!

Bells