bonuses to blogging...

There are bonuses to blogs. Reading them, and in my case writing one. We learn things, we see things, we follow links all over the place, get engrossed in a new blog, and forget where we started...

I will read a comment somewhere, and find myself clicking over to the commenter's blog sometimes. Then I start reading and find a connection somehow, and that blog becomes part of my regular reading. (By the way, my sidebar? Not up to date AT ALL - I read so many more, and really should update that...). Sometimes, someone will comment on my blog, and I'll reply, and a bit of email goes back and forth. And "friendships" develop. Not friendships in the old-fashioned sense, where we actually know each other face to face, but the new fangled, Internet type of friendship - emails, even comments on other's blogs.

And every now and then, some incredible bonus comes out of these chance meetings. Sometimes I get to meet new people (LuckyCanuck, Stephanie, Rachel H, Carol, Wannietta, Amy, and so many more...) And sometimes a new resource ends up in my hands...

Let me explain. I've seen AlisonH comment on a few blogs I've read. Then recently, she left a comment on my blog. I've clicked over to her blog, http://www.spindyeknit.com/ a few times, and been entranced by her work. We've emailed a few times. She knits lace shawls, and listens to them (knitters understand this), to determine where their home is. She's written a book. I looked at it, and when I was last ordering some books, I added it to my cart, since I love lace shawls and I'm always on the look out for new ones. The book came this week, along with some others I was waiting for.


(yeah, the little one is a good one too, (aren't they all?) and Big Girl Knits 2 is just as good and the first!) But the shawl book. Well. I love shawls - love making them, and even wearing them, except sometimes the shape doesn't work for me. The triangular ones don't sit right, the stoles aren't wide enough or whatever. I made a circular one once for a SIL years ago, and she loved it. It sat on her shoulders and didn't move. I resolved to make more in that shape, but couldn't find many patterns. Then this book landed in my lap. (Well, actually, on my doorstep.) It's a book filled with circular shawl patterns. And not your grandmothers shawls. I'd wear these. To work, around the house, out with friends. And on top of that, the stories that go along with the shawls bring them to life.

Thank you Alison Jeppson Hyde. By leaving me a comment, I followed the link back to you, and ended up with a book that will get a lot of use over the years. I've already bookmarked a few of them.