My review of October’s posts never got written, so this is for October and November. It’s been an intense couple of months, between bereavement and swine flu and the aftermath of our extension works. (Yes, still ongoing, thank you. Why, only this week I have been doing the familiar round of “Where in [...]]]>

My review of October’s posts never got written, so this is for October and November. It’s been an intense couple of months, between bereavement and swine flu and the aftermath of our extension works. (Yes, still ongoing, thank you. Why, only this week I have been doing the familiar round of “Where in the Seven Hairy Hells are the Bloody Builders?” phone calls each morning, for we are going through the arcane and operatic process known as “snagging”.)

What I wrote about

I started October with a Sunday Stash post, which featured a brief meditation on socks. My review of September’s blogging followed, and then I was stopped in my tracks by deaths in the family. When I returned it was to introduce you to my trusty grey cardigan (aka “the 9-year knitting project”), and then it was time for another Sunday Stash post, this time featuring silk from Kolkata. Next, I showed you a sock in progress – fruit of the abovementioned meditation – before turning to consider words on clothes (briefly, I am against them) and unveil my Zazzle shop (where I hope to collect exceptions to that general rule). In my final October post I showed you a dragon, drawn by the Oyster and embroidered by me. (A recent commenter describes it as “the perfect combination of the Flag of Wales and Trogdor the Burninator” – thanks, Phil, I’m honoured!)

November began badly: the Feaster and I both came down with swine flu, and the Oyster soon followed. (I got diagnosed on my birthday. Boo.) I managed a plucky little Sunday Stash post the following weekend, trying to pretend to be a lot betterer than I was. My next post, a work-in-progress shot of my Birch shawl (thanks to the readers who identified it for me!), was rather more realistic, and it doesn’t surprise me much that it was followed by a ten-day lull. I came back fighting, with my single most popular post yet, in which I rant about children’s clothes. I finished the month with a Sunday Stash post about my antique Singer sewing machine accessories. Hardware love!

Life: it’s what you make of it

I haven’t been making much lately. My time seems to be more than usually soaked up by all the stuff I can’t put off – including paid work (which I do whenever I can get it), trying to regain some kind of grip on our household systems (ahahaha), and preparing for the forthcoming festivities.

With my redoubtable mother-in-law I did score one huge triumph in mid-November, when we finally planted the spring bulbs (in the dark of a late drizzly afternoon, with one of us planting while the other danced around to keep the motion-sensitive floodlight active). I adore bulbs – they’re like gifts to my future self, and I can’t wait to see them poking their little green noses up through the bark mulch.

I do have several craft projects on the go, including some that I haven’t mentioned here yet. We’ll see how I get on with trying to make headway on those in the coming weeks. We have a lot to do, as the Feaster turns 2 tomorrow, and we have agreed to host Christmas for the first time this year. (Meep.)

Metrics

For the record, this is my 39th post here. String Revolution is five months old, and at the moment it’s visited by about 400 people a month, who look at around 1000 pages. That children’s clothes rant is by far the most frequently read post to date, with over 200 views so far.

Nine people subscribe through Google Reader, and eleven through the Livejournal feed. I’ve no idea about other RSS readers, because I am essentially clueless about such things.

Posting causes a slight spike in site visits. Announcing my posts on Twitter and Facebook causes a dramatic spike. I need to remember this.

Almost 15% of my site visitors come directly, from people typing the URL into their browser. Just over 11% come through search engines. The rest – almost three-quarters – come through links on other sites. These include Twitter and Facebook (my updates and yours), blogs where I comment, and mentions by other bloggers. I am – quite honestly, cheese and all – humbled and grateful every time you take a moment to spread the word about String Revolution. Thank you.

My top traffic source, overall, is through my comments over at The Fluent Self. (I’m failing to describe adequately what that is. It’s kind of … business yoga. Best to visit, if you’re curious.) I don’t know if this is because Havi’s readers are some kind of “good fit” for me, or if it’s just that her blog gets vastly more visitors than any other one I comment on. Possibly both.

The mountains in my mind

I wonder how evident it is, post by post, that I’m stone terrified to be doing this. I notice that every time I write a “successful” post (i.e. I’m particularly happy with it, or you leave loads of great comments), I run away – because clearly, everyone now expects me to produce morebettermorenow!!! And I don’t know if I can.

So I pack my bags and go off to start a new life in South America.

In my head.

I am making progress, mind you. When I started, I used to get a full-on panic attack every time I clicked Publish. Nowadays, this happens only if I’ve really put my heart into the post, and it’s usually fairly mild. I’m coming around to the opinion that the trick is not to let the fear stop me.

Meanwhile, your comments are the best thing evah. Do, please, keep them coming (or e-mail me if you prefer).

Finally, if there’s anything I can do for you, just ask. You never know – I might say yes.

Another month gone! I can’t believe it.

In fact, I don’t believe it. Here at String Revolution, I’m pretty sure it’s still Mayish. But since lots of people seem to be under the impression that 2009 is 75% over, I suppose we’ll be polite and row in behind that gentle fiction.

At the end of July I posted a quick round-up of what I’d done on the blog so far. It struck me as a nice idea to do one every month, so here’s August’s.

August was … tricky. Listen. If anyone ever says to you, “I know! Why not extend your house while [...]]]>

At the end of July I posted a quick round-up of what I’d done on the blog so far. It struck me as a nice idea to do one every month, so here’s August’s.

August was … tricky. Listen. If anyone ever says to you, “I know! Why not extend your house while living in it?”, poke them in the eye and run away. Most of the filthy work was complete by the time August rolled around (although sneakily not quite all of it), but that left the unspeakably gargantuan task of getting the place back to some semblance of normality in time for (a) houseguests (yay lovely houseguests!), (b) the Oyster’s fifth birthday festivities (FIVE!), and (c) Niall’s thirty-fifth birthday festivities (yay Niall!).

Cue day after day, night after night, of unpacking, furniture-moving, cleaning, stashing, ditching, stressing. So, not much time for blogging, then, as you’ll have noticed. I’m sorry, little blog. I truly meant to take better care of you, but there simply weren’t even the slivers of time I’d counted on.

Still, focusing on the positive, I managed to produce six posts in August. I started with a progress report on the purple thing (which is coming along, coming along, slowly coming along), then wrote the third in my series of Very Secret Mysteries, about crochet. Next, I delved into my chequered (or at least pleated and beribboned) past and hauled out some examples of 1980s doll couture, before turning to the Very Secret Mysteries of embroidery. In mid-month I managed to dash off my first Sunday Stash post, featuring some amazing silk, and finally, while our houseguests were actually here, I published my fifth Very Secret Mysteries post, about quilting.

And there things stood until the end of the month. But the state of the house is improving, and those were some seriously rocking birthday parties. So it’s not all bad.

And now I’m back (I hope). I have posts in the works, and bucketloads of ideas.

On that note, I’d be delighted if you had any suggestions or questions for me. We still haven’t solved whatever problem is preventing the set-up of e-mail at this domain, but you can leave a comment here, or reach me through Twitter or Ravelry.

Thank you for reading – and perhaps next summer I’ll remember how busy late August always is, and be better prepared!

It’s 31 July – the end of my first full month of blogging here – so tonight I’m writing a little round-up of what it’s been like. I may institute this as a regular thing. We’ll see.

I’ve written twelve posts so far; this is number thirteen.

Starting with a personal [...]]]>

It’s 31 July – the end of my first full month of blogging here – so tonight I’m writing a little round-up of what it’s been like. I may institute this as a regular thing. We’ll see.

Baker’s Dozen

I’ve written twelve posts so far; this is number thirteen.

Starting with a personal ad seeking readers, I followed up with a recycled post about a hat, then wrote about some cushion covers I made for my mother-in-law.

Next came the genesis of the purple thing (which is creeping back towards the 49-row point again – rejoice and be glad), a triumphant FO post about the Oyster’s new jumper, and a post revealing where I found the phrase “string revolution”.

The purple thing returned in the company of Shakespeare, and then I shared some tips about knitting design, before writing a memorial to my grandmother.

Something possessed me to start a series next, all about the various crafts I do. First up, knitting. Ha. As if I know anything about it – for in the very next post I discovered just how thoroughly one can fall into the swatch-straight-knit-in-the-round trap. The second post in my series saw me fleeing irksome knitting back into the arms of my first love, sewing.

Chaos

As I mentioned in one or two posts, I could most certainly have picked a better time to start this venture. My home is in total chaos, as we draw near the conclusion of a huge extension project. What little organisation I had around my craft work has been entirely absent since the spring. (That’s the main reason why no fewer than seven of my first twelve posts are about knitting – it’s so portable and self-contained.) Finding a spot clean enough to take photographs, for instance, has been more of a challenge than I like to admit.

Truth be told, I tried to hold off. I knew I was being a little bit crazy to start when I did. But I couldn’t help it. Once the idea took root, I was like a four-year-old with a full bladder (see, this is why you read my blog – it’s the graceful refinement of my similes that keeps you coming back for more).

I had to register this domain as soon as I discovered the name, of course, in case someone else got there first. (In point of fact, they did: the unhyphenated version is taken. Boo. But unused. Yay.) And once I had the domain, nothing would do me but to start writing. So … here we all are.

Connection

Which brings me to the real reason String Revolution exists: connection. This is where you come in. It’s hard to exaggerate the thrill I felt when your comments started arriving.

I’ve written blogs before – quite a few, in fact – but this feels different. This is the actual, genuine me, you see, going out into the world with the stated aim of making real connections with other people who share my passion for crafts. This isn’t easy for me. I’m breaking down some fairly serious internal barriers here, and the results are nothing short of electrifying.

So, those comments and e-mails? Keep ‘em coming! Thank you.

Meanwhile, I’ve been dipping a toe in the impossibly rich and vast world of craft online. Excuse the hyperbole, but there are some incredibly amazing people out there, making some astonishingly beautiful things. (I should maybe do a “showcase” series at some point. Should I?)

Two blogs that consistently make me bounce happily when I see that they have new posts:

• Tiny Happy, written by a New Zealander who makes beautiful little embroideries, clothes for her children, quilts, bags – you name it. She is wildly prolific. I adore the aesthetic of this blog, not least because I have a long-standing obsession with New Zealand (having come within spitting distance of doing a PhD on the figure of the angel in NZ fiction and film).
• Red Pepper Quilts features a steady stream of quilts, each more delicious than the last. The author is in Melbourne, Australia – perhaps the Antipodean sensibility is what’s floating my boat at the moment.

Business

Part of the reason for my untoward excitement about String Revolution is that I eventually want it to provide part of my income (hence the Amazon associate links, for example). So as well as craft blogs, I’ve been reading a lot (really a lot) about blogging for profit, marketing, and related topics.

I’m trying to find a path that will lead me safely through the swamp of crocodile-infested slime that is much of online marketing, because the last thing I want is to go all But Wait – There’s More! on you – that’s not my style at all.

I’ll probably post more about this as I go along, but I wanted to mention it now, because I’d hate for you to be unpleasantly surprised when I eventually work up the courage to offer stuff for sale here. Also because mentioning it makes the prospect a little more real for me. One step at a time.

Well, then, this is where I’m at. So far, I’m loving it, and I hope you are too.