I heard the best of the best are in town.

I'm wildly flattered that Dr. Steph has nominated me as one of her make-my-day bloggers.  I feel the same way about her - she posted?  yay! - and it is always particularly gratifying when a love affair turns out to be two sided. 

And now I in turn get to nominate 10 who make my day.  Rules:  "Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times." (The bit about posting and letting them know?  Not doing it.  I feel like a complete tool asking people to come and play along.  If any of these bloggers find this and want to participate, fantastic.  If not, that's fine too.  And I would say pleasure and inspiration, and optimistic about the possibilities of the internet, rather than happiness in general.)

Ysolda

The QC Report

Knitting on Impulse

Vegan Yum-yum

Klosekraft

Here be Hippogryphs

The Panopticon (on non-Dolores days Franklin is erudite, hilarious AND thoughtful, which is a rare and difficult trifecta)

Dress-a-day

Inanities (this one is new-to-me, but rapidly becoming a favorite)

Fashion Incubator

I found this exceptionally hard - many of the blogs who held this title in my early blog reading days are gone or dormant now, or so close to dormant as makes no difference, or not quite as vibrant.  I have no doubt in the fullness of time that the cycle will come round again, but I've been restless recently, feeling like the need that got me reading blogs in the first place wasn't always being fed anymore, even though the sheer volume of blogs has become enormous and I have so many friends and favorites I read frequently.

I recently purged my blog roll (in the most ruthless fashion) of many, many, many links I was no longer keeping up with from the sheer swamping volume of it all, and have been adding new and interesting ones as I find them.   These 10 are ones that I jump to read when I see they have posted and usually click away improved by the experience.  Worth it.

I'd love to hear about any that you know of (knitting or otherwise) that are interesting, educational, well written, thought provoking and/or just pretty to look at.  I'm in a track on the Internet where the view is sort of getting oh, not repetitive so much as self referential - like a closed loop - but I KNOW there's more out there. 
Poetry, arts, politics, religion, personal, commentary, fashion, cooking, sewing and of course knitting - what I want isn't topic specific, but thought and great writing and a sense of a strong personal perspective.

So click, read, enjoy...and if you've got something good in your back pocket, please share.  I'd love to hear about it.

 

Comments

[em]

Thanks for all the good links. I found thumbscre.ws and Doctor Bastard through you, and I miss the second a lot. Anyway, I love to read Dale at http://koshtra.blogspot.com/ Maybe you will like him too.

[Suna]

Hi, someone recommended your blog, so here I am reading it. And for the same reasons you point out: many of my favorites went dormant, so I am looking for fun or thought-provoking blogs that gets updated fairly often. I like to read about how other people live and think. Keeps you out of your own ruts. I blog for myself just to keep my own records of what I knit and what I think (and have a less public blog for more thoughtful and introspective things--it's hard to put yourself out there sometimes). If people enjoy it, that's great, but I am not in a race for readers or competing with Wendy or Stephanie. (Good thing, too, LOL)

Must say I have really enjoyed reading other people's lists of blogs that make their days, and have been pleased that my list gave others some new reading. That award was a good idea!

[Marin]

http://web.mac.com/michaelomeuntiedt/iWeb/Site/Right%20Brain%20Express/Right%20Brain%20Express.html

Well written, often funny, with pretty pictures by the writer (who, oddly, is a painter first, then a writer).

Now let's hope this comment doesn't get eaten like the last one.

[Emma]

I agree about feeling both swamped with blogs to read but also in a little bit of a rut. Okay, my trick to trying to expand my horizons. A) go to people's comments and click on the links to other people's blogs. B) go to Rings (if they're members) and just keep clicking "next". I've found some good blogs that way (like yours) :)
Don't forget C) wait for people to post lists of their favorite blogs.

[Dr. Steph]

Love affair! Nice taking there chickie.

I did a similar shout out on good blogs a few days back and am still checking out all kinds of goodies. It's fun.

[Jocelyn]

What a great list -- I'm definitely going to have to go check some of these out. I'll throw out there that I always enjoy reading Knitspot; there's something about the way that she looks at both knitting and potential patterns in the world around her that I really like. I should say that I also always enjoy reading your blog! :) Thanks for sharing your thoughts with all of us.

[heather]

ysolda completely makes my day.

[Tsock Tsarina]

Dang, does this mean you're pre-empted? I got one of those too and have been slow to compile my own list, but you were gonna be on it. Well, what the hell, they can't *stop* me from seconding your nomination, can they?

IAC, congratulations!

[seizuresalad]

For sheer weeping comedic genius, I love and always recommend Creampuff Revolution:
rosemaryrowe.typepad.com/creampuff_revolution

[claudia]

I love these kinds of posts, yet hate them too. Do I want to read new and different cool blogs: yes. Do I have time: no.

[Carie]

For something totally non-knitting related but an interesting read try

africaexpatwivesclub.blogspot.com

No crafting but it's a blog by a British expat living in Kenya which has prooved challenging in light of recent events!

[confiance]

I'll have to second the recommendation of Alice of Finslippy (finslippy.typepad.com). Also, Dooce (www.dooce.com) and Amalah (www.amalah.com).

I recently went through all of my feeds and cleared out the ones I was no longer really enjoying and have been looking for replacements. Oddly, the list of blogs that are part of BlogHer has provided a ton that I haven't quite decided about yet. Miss Zoot (www.misszoot.com) is another you might like.

And I just realized that all of the above are Mommy Bloggers. Ah, well. They are also all excellent writers.

[Ruth]

I have been reading Julia at Hippogriffs for a while now, and am so happy for her right now I want to drop everything and KNIT HER SOMETHING. Is that weird?

Other good reads: Alice at Finslippy (http://projectrungay.blogspot.com/), Karen at Chookooloonks (http://chookooloonks.blogphotography.com/), and Julie at Fricknits (http://fricknits.typepad.com/). I also spend way too much time at Television Without Pity and Project Rungay (http://projectrungay.blogspot.com/).

[Susan]

I doubt I'd ever make anybody's day, blog or no blog. I used to be rather narrow-minded about my blog reading (e.g. knitting) but have ventured out there and I'm blown away by the creativity of people in areas that don't involve two wooden sticks. Of course Franklin will always be on top, sticks or no sticks.

[Susan]

I doubt I'd ever make anybody's day, blog or no blog. I used to be rather narrow-minded about my blog reading (e.g. knitting) but have ventured out there and I'm blown away by the creativity of people in areas that don't involve two wooden sticks. Of course Franklin will always be on top, sticks or no sticks.

[Marin]

to read:

http://web.mac.com/michaelomeuntiedt/iWeb/Site/Right%20Brain%20Express/Right%20Brain%20Express.html

to see:

http://tlltworld.blogspot.com

[merete]

i love jeanmiles.blogspot.com. she is clever and fun and wise and blogging on a daily basis. and of course there are other but cannot really think of any right now.

[Danielle from SW Missouri]

Mine would be cool to see on yours or anybody elses. But, if you want my humble opinion put the Yarn Harlot and Wendyknits at the top!!They both manage to make me smile esp when I've had a rough day!

[Jane in London]

Jane Brocket's Blog, http://yarnstorm.blogs.com It's absolutely fantastic (and the reason why the latest batch of fairy cakes had jelly beans on top!)

~x~

[Franklin]

1) I'm blushing.

2) I love you, too.

[caroline]

Hey, girl. For art? hands down Mari de Runtz's blog, Quanceblog. She doesn't have a feed on it though.
For books, art, poetry all fantasy related but incredibly literate and wonderful (check their list of recommended books put out there each season in addition to the sidebar) is Endicott Redux. It's a joint site maintained by some of the best authors/editors in fantasy/sf publishing/writing. Midori Snyder, Terri Windling, Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner et al. enjoy...

[Specs]

Heh. I think you've just inspired me to post today :)

My paranoia totally kicked in during the first paragraph after the list. "Whoa, she's talking about me. I'm dormant. Well, I am dormant, it's true. But wait! I finished something lately! Wait, Juno, I'm still cool!" And so on. (Lest this be read the wrong way -- I'm totally not offended. I've just not felt like blogging in the last, oh, six months or so.)