I got an Award!

Very exciting isn't it!  I was nominated for the Liebster Blog Award by A Girl In Winter.

 
Apparently this award was devised to reward bloggers who have less than 300 followers, which I confess I do have.  I like the idea of this award as the blogs with the smaller amounts of followers need new traffic directed towards them.  It is also a way of discovering hidden gems that you would never have come across in another way.  A Girl in Winter has informed me in this post, that you need to nominate 5 other bloggers with less than 300 followers to also receive this award, so I have scoured my feed reader and named:

Countess Ablaze

Useless Beauty

Shutterboo

52 Weeks, 52 Hats

It Might Be A Metaphor

These are all bloggers who make me smile and also inspire me.  I hope if you haven't heard of them before, or A Girl in Winter before, that you check them out.  All 6 bloggers are definitely top people who are really interesting and funny.

With all this talk of bloggers it seems as good a time as any to talk about Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, which starts on Monday 28th March and lasts a full 7 days.

I am joining in this challenge because I think it will push me a little bit more than I'm comfortable with.  I like to actually set myself achievable challenges but ones that nudge me outside my comfort zone.  With blogging, my comfort zone is approximately 2-3 posts a week.  Blogging every day is definitely something extra for me.

The other reason I am joining in with Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, is that I think it is a great way for lots of bloggers to join in something together and to inspire each other.  I know I'm going to discover new blogs during this week, especially as Eskimimi has so cleverly thought up the tagging system.  Essentially is blogger who is joining in will "tag" each post with the label listed in the graphic shown below.  That tag is a unique set of characters that will only be found on a blog post belonging to this shared endeavour.  If you want to find blog posts on each day, all you need to do is go to the search engine of your choice and type in the relevant tag.  All the posts for that tag should then be listed.  Isn't this clever?

So, for example, on Day 1 of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, I would go to my search engine and type in:

and a list of posts will appear before my eyes.  This is such a clever way of connecting everyone up together, which enables everyone to look at different blogs.

I hope that next week will bring enjoyable blog posts from myself, but I also hope that if you read my blog, you might look out for some other posts written on the same subject.  I'm sure it will be interesting to see different takes on the same subject, from around the world.

Got me an award!

It is completed undeserved though, especially at the moment because I haven't blogged in aaaages!

The lovely A Girl In Winter, has nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award. You can read all about her nomination here.
It is always nice to know that you have contributed somehow to someone else's day. In particular I am very pleased to have been nominated by this blogger as she is someone who's taste I admire and who's crafting and photography skills make me spit with envy. Go check her out, A Girl in Winter is always a lovely read.


So now I have to tell you 10 things about myself ermmmmmmm, I hate these things.......

1) I grew up in York, but spent two years at boarding school in Surrey for my A'Levels (I was a scholarship gal don't ya know!)

2) The first craft I was addicted to was cross stitch. Though I don't do any now, I still have all my silks and they often come in handy.

3) I have a cat called Parsley. Yes she does have a strangely curly tail.

4) My favorite escapism is reading Urban Fantasy books. Thank heavens for the library system or my house would be buried under even more books than it is already.

5) I drink an awful lot of Pepsi Max. In my defence it's because I don't drink tea or coffee, I need some caffeine from somewhere.

6) I believe there is no bigger thrill than bagging an absolute bargain and getting something you couldn't normally afford.

7) I fractured both of my little toes within 12 months of each other. They still ache when it is cold even though it happened about 11 years ago.

8) I once played the role of Katisha (lead alto) in The Mikado, even though I am a mezzo-soprano. It took about a packet and a half of ultra-chlorasceptic throat spray to get me through the week of the show.

9) Most of my favorite holidays have involved sleeping in a field. I haven't been camping this year. I must kick the OH into digging out the tent.

10) My favorite sweets are chocolate limes.

Phew that was like pulling teeth, I'm sure 10 interesting things is too many, especially for me! Now I get to pass on the torture to some other lucky souls! I heartily recommend all of these bloggers, who bring a little bit of beauty into my day, when I open my feed reader!

Bellsjo

// Between the Lines //

Felting Fibres

Felting in FibreSpace

Knifty Red

Machen Und Tun

Songbird

The Binge Knitter

The Long Thread

Two Swallows

I hope you go and have a look at some of these blogs. I have tried to avoid listing those blogs which have lots of subscribers, so you may have not come across these before. I would have listed Mooncalf as well, but as she was in the same list that nominated me, I thought I'd give her a break. But I can recommend her blog as an interesting read, plus the woman knits like a demon.

So now I have had a kick up the backside I will try and start blogging again. Thanks again for the nomination A Girl in Winter.

Blog Award

Well I have been tagged for a blog award for the first time ever! I am honored to be the recipient of this fine award and now have to think of 7 things you may find interesting......erm...... could be here for a while.... sing to yourself while I think of something. Oh here is the award by the way.



Ok, Ang (the person who tagged me), here goes nothing:

1. When I was at university I wasn't at all crafty, I didn't even know how to sew on a button. When I had a skirt that lost a button, I simply used a safety pin, and wore a long jumper. Whilst at a temping job, I stood up in front of the three business men I was working with, the safety pin lost its grip and my skirt ended up round my ankles. Luckily the jumper was long and the men were all gentlemen enough not to laugh out loud as I grabbed my skirt and left the room to rescue my dignity. I quickly learnt how to sew buttons on after that!
2. I once decided to cut my brother's hair into a trendy style using an electric trimmer and forgot to put the guard on... he had a bowl cut with a shaved back of neck for about 3 weeks. We went to the same school, and I was mortified every time I saw him and everyone laughing at him. He appears to have forgiven me.
3. Despite doing musicals and choir stuff (including solos) throughout my whole life, I never do karaoke because I am too chicken.
4. The reason I am a crafty cripple is because I suffer from endometriosis and adhesions. If you want to know more (and are not squeamish) you can find out more here. It is thought that one in ten women of childbearing age have this condition to some degree or another.
5. My favorite sandwich is cheese and marmite with tomato and mayonnaise YUM
6. My guilty pleasure is looking at pictures of kittens on the internet (oh the shame!)
7. At my brother's wedding we played pass the parcel and I was secretly hoping to win (because you never know what is inside that last piece of paper!).

On that final weddingy note, may I remind you that I am celebrating my brother's nuptials by running a giveaway. There is still time to enter, before Sunday's closing date, by posting a comment here.

Now onto the people I am tagging for this award. I believe I have to tag 7, which is actually quite hard because I love so many creative blogs:

Plain Jane Creations - she is a lovely Australian crafter and photographer. And she wrote the pattern that started my felting mania!

Laylock - not only has an interesting blog, but she has a beautiful and informative website.

UpKnitCreek - because it proves that it is a very small world. I was reading her blog regularly, before finding out that I knew the blogger's mother quite well!

Sasha's Blue Carpet -Sasha is a woman after my own heart. She is articulate, intelligent, feisty and unafraid of showing it. She is also at the beginning of her designing career (oh and I helped her test knit one of her first patterns).

Blog Bletherings - lovely knitting, lovely photos, what's not to like?

TinTockTap - This lovely Scot (that I met in a craft shop!) stitches such gorgeous things, she inspires me to pick up a sewing needle every time she posts.

Eddy G - makes fabulous toys that inspire me to make something just like it, but I never do. I just sit and gaze in wonder instead.

So there you have it - 7 things you might not have know and 7 blogs that you should go and check out! I'm off to tell them they've been tagged!

Remember to go and enter the giveaway!