Comments on: Knit. Blogosphere. Still two words.

By: Krista

Krista — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 12:20:47 +0000

It's the snickering like this that propels us to create things like this: http://www.sexyknittersclub.com/

By: Tipper

Tipper — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 17:10:45 +0000

Hm. I'm surprised so many people in the comments above took it out on Darren. The people in the crowd were the ones snickering.

I'm also surprised that people laugh about someone knitting, or blogging, or doing the two at the same time. I'm always surprised when I hear that knitting isn't respected; maybe I'm just lucky to live in an area where crafting isn't frowned upon.

By: ilze

ilze — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 10:08:53 +0000

i’ve been reading your blog for a couple of months and i find it very interesting and inspiring too. i am 28 (yes, yes, an older woman) and i loooove to knit, but i am too lazy to blog about it. so i am just a knitting blog-reader. :)) i was very surprised, when i found out that there are sooooo many knitters outside! jipiiii! i am not alone! :)) so, yes, maybe a little PR would be good to show truth to persons like darren.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 23:30:34 +0000

Chris, sorry about your inadvertant sex change! Thanks for clarifying!

I guess what keeps mystifying me is why other crafts or hobbies haven’t taken off. My mother is a quilter and I started searching for quilt blogs to show her and there just aren’t that many of them! (Most of the ones I found were folks who knit AND quilt…) But most of the time I don’t wonder too much about it, I just am thankful for the fabulous community/tribe I stumbled across and belong to!

By: Chris McEvoy

Chris McEvoy — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 19:05:46 +0000

I am the person (Sarah I am actually a ‘he’) who did the analysis of bloglines subscriptions and was expecting to find people storing their subscriptions in folders called “tech”, “blogs”, “java”, etc. as most of the Bloglines users that I come across are ‘geeks’ like myself.

I found that the largest interest group that I found was the Knitters. I was not expecting to find this group so well represented in the blogosphere but I am really excited that less technical interest groups are making use of the technology to build and support a thriving community.

When you think about blogs and knitting are natural fits. They allow knitters to show other people their work and also discuss how their projects are going.

I have looked at quite a few knitting blogs since I stumbled across the knitters and I think that you can be proud of the fact that you are one of the first ‘human’ tribes to successfully populate the web in this way.

By: kim

kim — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 17:11:14 +0000

Thanks for posting about this! I’m in the process of geeking out and transferring my web mag into a content management system, and the computer programmers I’ve talked to about it got really excited when I told them (sheepishly, anticipating the snickering) that the site’s about crochet. They said the whole knitting blog phenomenon is very highly regarded in the world of web application programming, and they didn’t at all snicker when I told them how popular “Crochet me” is. They may be personally baffled by the knitting and crocheting, but they’re certainly impressed with our online presence.

By: Janine

Janine — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 01:54:29 +0000

Wow–interesting post and comments. I, too, am surprised that knitters represent such a large section of the blogosphere–why aren’t other crafts/arts/hobbies being talked about more often? I think that many people assume that knitters aren’t technologically savvy enough to work out how to turn on a computer, which is so totally off the mark (so many fiberistas I have met work in highly technical fields).

I know I blog to think things through out loud, to share triumphs, to get advice, to keep a record of my work and my ideas, to meet people (this was a big one for me as a newcomer to my community–and blogging connected me with a number of great people).

I’ve been having an odd sense recently of being irrelevant because I am 53, though not yet a grandmother (my daughter is 16). A spinning teacher was asked to write an article about new spinners, but she delicately rejected my comments because I’m not the demographic the publication was interested in. Phooey! I’m more free and more expressive now than I was 20 years ago, that’s for sure. But clearly too wordy….

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 20:13:21 +0000

While I agree that there often seems to be a sort of incredulity about knitting blogs (which could be attributed to the perceived demographic of knitters, or just for the fact that anyone devotes an entire blog to a perceived obscure hobby), I am often suprised by the sheer number and popularity of knitting blogs (and I’ve had one for close to three years). I found this site: http://usability.typepad.com/confusability/2005/04/bloglines_user_.html which is a statistical analysis of bloglines, and the folder entitled “knitting” is the 37th most popular folder! There were over 1700 knit blogs when she did her search in April 2005, and there have certainly been a lot of new ones since then. There isn’t anything similar for quilt blogs or cross-stitch blogs or Laborador retriever owner blogs, or even collecting toy train blogs…

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but I guess I don’t always take offense to the snickers about knit blogs because I don’t quite understand the phenomenon myself. (Or, more precisely, I don’t understand why there aren’t many huge blog communities for other hobbies or special interest groups.)

By: Amelia

Amelia — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 18:44:27 +0000

The company that I work for, an online marketing company, are always going on about how we should be harnessing blogs as part of the marketing mix. Quite a few of the people that I work for seem to think that blogging is a bit of a waste of time - and as for my knitting blog, I’ll spare you the comments that I’ve had. Pah humbug.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Sat, 03 Dec 2005 16:05:34 +0000

Yes, getting the word out. And yes, unfamiliarity breeds contempt.