I saw this at Brad‘s. So, there’s a project over at “Get Paid to Write Online,” asking people how they got started with their blogs.

Well, my story comes in two parts.

First, there was knitting. (Yes, you heard me. Knitting.) In fact, my very first introduction to blogs at all was because of knitting. I knit a lot through the 1990′s, but put it on the back burner when I got my puppy in 1999. (Puppies and balls of yarn don’t mix, in case you were wondering.) It wasn’t until 2004 when I found my way back to the craft, and decided it was time I used up some of the yarn stashed at the top of my closet, to free up some space. I picked a pattern, started knitting, and then realized that the pattern had 3 different colors of yarn on each row.

Now, if you don’t knit, you won’t realize the complexity of this, so here’s the short version: When knitting 2-color patterns, like in a Fair Isle or Scandinavian design, you can either (1) drop each color from your hand as you switch back and forth–a tedious process; (2) teach yourself to carry both yarns in one hand–something I’d love to do but always results in tangles; (3) carry one color in each hand–my preferred method. But, um, I only have two hands!

So, I did a Google search for 3-color knitting and came across the blog Wendy Knits, where she had posted about that very topic. Ooh, cool! And, look, it’s a website that gets updated every day! So I made a point of visiting each morning at work. Then I realized she had a Blogroll–other people doing this blogging thing about knitting. So I started visiting them, too. I joined an online “knit-along” (where people around the world work on the same project at the same time), and started posting pictures and updates onto the knit-along’s blog. You know, the “toe dip in the pool” method.
By then, I wanted one of these blog things of my own. I tried signing up with Blogger, but hated the interface, and gave up. Then, in January 2005, I decided to try again, signed up with Typepad (on the understanding that, if you pay for it, you’re more likely to commit), and Chappysmom was born. My own knitting blog where I also talked about spinning, baking, reading, Martha’s Vineyard, and my dog, Chappy.

Then, in 2007, I discovered OTHER blogs. Blogs about writing. Blogs about business. Blogs about earning money writing. Sure, I knew they were out there, and I had stumbled across ones about reading from time to time (like the Booking Through Thursday blog I inherited), but … Hmmm…

Enter Punctuality Rules! in October 2007. I began it as a place to talk about writing, but also good manners. Being a rule-abiding citizen, it irks me when people cavalierly ignore them. Especially the ones that are there to keep life civilized. As I put it then, “Punctuality is not just about making meetings on time, but about being exact. It’s about doing what needs to be done at exactly the time it should be done. To me, that’s an issue that transcends mere punctuation. That ripples right out into the real world. Doing what is right, and doing it precisely. When you have everybody doing exactly that, well, it seems to me that that’s more or less the foundation of basic civility . . . and civilization itself.”

So, there you have it. Who knew a need for freeing up some closet space would work out this way?

Although, come to think of it, that didn’t even work. I now have more yarn than ever… and less time to knit because I’m so busy blogging!