I've had this blog for 6 years now. During that time I've made some amazing friends and shared in their stories and photographs and I have loved every minute of it, but it may have come to your attention that there has been a bit of a dearth of posts recently. This is because I have decided to change the way I communicate with the world.
For around a year I recorded an audio podcast as a way to talk to the world which required me to take reasonable photos to share in show notes so people could see what I was talking about. Then, as I my health deteriorated, I found it easier to use my iPad or mobile phone to take photos and those photos are what got used for show notes. I often waited for months before feeling well enough to set up my camera and take photos that pleased me for the blog and the podcast. I have begun to feel that my blog posts were suffering because of those long waits between photo sessions and found talking enthusiastically about a project 6-12 weeks after finishing it was difficult.
I decided that I would move to a video recorded podcast format because I can show people what I've been working on and my finished items and talk about it whilst I'm showing them. It is fresh and exciting to do that, and I don't have to worry about photographs. I've found people are coming and talking to me on the Ravelry Group more often that they were when I was doing the audio podcast, which means I'm enjoying it more. Since I've been doing the video podcast, recording every 1-2 weeks I haven't felt the urge to type up a blog post and take "good" photos.
So how do all these changes effect the blog? I have decided that instead of just abandoning my beloved blog (as I have been doing) I will make a conscious decision to relax my photographic standards. The blog will also become something a little more like Susan Crowe's blog, Damn, Knit & Blast It. Susan has always done posts when she finishes something. Her blog posts have always been more like a Ravelry project page (even from before there was Ravelry). She takes some photos and writes a summary of how she found the project and gives points for the yarn, pattern, etc.,. What I plan to do is post when I finish something and use the photos I have on my Ravelry project pages, whether they are up to my previous standards or not. I will put all the notes I have on the Ravelry project page on the post, as well as the photos. If I ever take better photos I will update the post.
This means that though the photography won't be up to my previous standards, I will be posting on the blog and the photos will be good enough to illustrate what I am saying in the post. I won't be posting about works in progress, but you can see what I'm currently working on by looking at the Ravelry project pages, or by subscribing to the video podcast on iTunes, YouTube or on the podcast part of this blog, using this feed, which will also give you the show notes which has links to my current projects even if you don't watch the video. I also post a lot of photos on my Instagram feed.
If I find interesting things I will try and post about them, but I think there will be a lot fewer posts from now on, as I become more of a podcaster than a blogger. Things may change again in the future as my health either worsens, or improves, when I tinker with medication or have surgery, but this is the only way I can see the blog/podcast balance working out for the moment.
I am hoping this new method of communication will work for my lovely blog readers, but I will understand if you decide to skip reading from now on. If you say goodbye, I hope you enjoyed your stay and it would be lovely to hear from you on other forms of social media. If you decide to stay, I thank you for sticking with me through these changes, I'm glad we won't lose touch!
