Punctuality Rules!

In the Beginning

In the Beginning

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.

080808_0023 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!

10 thoughts on “In the Beginning

  1. Brad Shorr

    Great story, Deb. I didn’t know you had another blog out there. Looks like you’re putting lots of time into both of your blogs, so I can see why your knitting time is limited. I used to put in tons of time on my personal (humor) blog, but pretty much gave up on it. Too much time!

    Brad Shorr’s last blog post..How I Started Blogging, or Ready, Fire, Aim

  2. Joanna Young

    Thanks for sharing your blogging journey Deb. I’m wondering if one of your blogs is more ‘you’ than the other? Or do you just have different feelings and emotions towards them?

    Joanna

  3. Lillie Ammann

    Deb,
    I enjoyed the story of your start in blogging, and I admire your ability to knit. My grandmother-in-law tried for years to teach me … with no success whatsoever, not a reflection on her teaching but on my lack of skill.

    Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..Life is a Piece of Cake

  4. --Deb Post author

    @Joanna–interesting question! My knitting blog, though, is much more my “personal” blog than this one is. I rarely mention my family or my dog (or my knitting) here, while I don’t talk about writing over at Chappysmom. This blog feels more “formal,” though hopefully not in a stuffy way. I don’t post my reading lists here, either, even though there’s a certain amount of overlap between the way a person writes and the things a person reads. I hesitate to say that one blog is work and the other one is play, because I wouldn’t be doing either if I weren’t having fun, but … one’s avocation and one’s hobby?

    @Lillie–The teacher can make a difference. No reflection on your grandmother-in-law, but I know that when my own grandmother tried to teach me to crochet, it didn’t go well–too many expectations. It wasn’t until college, when I’d spent a semester in London and drooled over the gorgeous yarn I was seeing and regretting that I didn’t know what to do with it that I decided that I really wanted to learn to knit. I came home, bought a great book called “Knitting in Plain English” by Maggie Righetti, and taught myself. I loved that book, too–she opened my eyes to the idea of holding the yarn in my left hand (which still strikes me as more practical than in the right hand), and explained about circular knitting, rather than knitting flat pieces and sewing them together. Genius. And when you throw in spinning my own yarn and then knitting with THAT? Well! It doesn’t get better!

  5. Lillie Ammann

    Deb,
    I think the bottom line is probably that knitting (or needlecraft in general) doesn’t really interest me. It’s like those people who want to have written a book but don’t want to write it. I’d like to show off a finished item … but I don’t want to actually knit it or crochet it. 🙂

    Lillie Ammann’s last blog post..Right Brain/Left Brain

  6. Joan Kremer

    Hi Deb,
    Fascinating story you have! I, too, grew up both knitting and writing, but ended up dropping knitting for the writing, though I still remember trying to control all those different-colored yarns! I know enough to admire the skill required!
    Joan

  7. --Deb Post author

    As luck would have it, the knitting counts as recreation and can be done in front of the television, while sitting with friends, during a movie, while waiting on line at the bank … very handy!

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