Beautiful Bloggers

Natalie from Free Spirit Designs has nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award. Really kind of her. The conditions of accepting are that you nominate your seven favourite blogs for the award, and put on seven random facts about yourself. Both caused me a bit of angst. My random facts were really difficult: and I have tried really hard to put on things that I have never mentioned on my blog.

Seven Random Facts About Me

   

My son has a pet green anole lizard, called Noel.

          
I love looking round charity shops and finding a bargain.

I wrote a dissertation on pollen analysis, and 

used to be able to identify a plant from fossilized pollen samples.

            
I passed my driving test in a red Citroen 2CV on the fifth attempt.

              
Both my children are IVF babies, and both third time lucky.

          
 I am quite stubborn/determined. Take your pick. See last two facts. 

Mick Jagger’s dog stole my son’s scone in a café once.

 

My favourite blogs also caused me problems, but mainly because I had a job narrowing down to seven. It really made me think hard about why I like a blog. 

So here is my analysis of what makes a good blog for me. There are quite a few exceptions, but apart from content that interests me, my favourite blogs tend to have really, really, really great photographs. Maybe I have a short attention span, but huge amounts of text tend to get me clicking on. (Mind you, I seem to be breaking that rule myself today.) It’s not that I don’t like reading, but with a blog you don’t want to invest a lot of time working out whether you’re interested or not. 

Also, I tend to get put off by fancy fonts, or very busy backgrounds, but perhaps that is just my eyesight. I think simplicity tends to be best. My other no-no is a blog covered in adverts.  I don’t mind one or two, and have even considered doing Google AdSense myself, but I think lots of ads spoil the look of a blog.

I’ve realized that my blog list is not up-to-date, as although a lot of my favourites are there, I’ve also bookmarked a lot more blogs which I really like and not yet added them to my bloglist. Must have a go at updating it. I use my bloglist a lot, and I love seeing when my favourite bloggers have put on a new post.

I do follow lots of blogs, but am not very good at becoming a follower. Why will some bloggers do almost anything to get you signed up as a follower? “You can only enter my giveaway if you become a follower.”  Is there some techy explanation that means you are further up search engines if you have lots of followers? I’d love someone to explain to me why it seems so important to some bloggers.

My Favourite Blogs

Well I’m sorry, but I just can’t narrow down to 7. So what are you going to do about it? These are (in no particular order) my top 9 blogs. I could add plenty more. Sorry that they all have crafty content, but that’s what I’m into. If you haven't found them before I hope you enjoy looking at these Beautiful Blogs.

Hilly Town Blue Crochet, knitting , sewing and family life in Gloucestershire, always bright and brilliant photographs.

Playing in the Attic Trudi’s blog has lots of craft, sewing and knitting, and other stuff and superb photography, often of the beautiful part of Australia where she lives.

CatkinJane Jane’s blog is mostly about sewing.  She makes beautiful toys, and bags, and other little items. I just love the fabrics, designs and everything.

The Knitting Squid Lots of knitting and other yarny stuff. Always great content.

Sticks, Strings and Crafty Things Another crafty blog, with knitting, sewing and crochet. Always beautifully photographed.

Frontier Dreams Nicole's blog has sewing, knitting, and the most beautiful photographs. Her Linky page, through which I have found lots of other great blogs, is quite aptly call Keep Calm Crafting On, as her whole blog has a feeling of calm simplicity. 

Tiny Happy Lots of crafty stuff and cookery from New Zealand, but what I like best is the embroidery and felt.

ChemKnits A biochemist knitting perspective. Need I say more. Always quirky, and always interesting. 

Create, Hope, Inspire Miriam's blog is about craft, kids, clothes, family life, and more. Somehow it always cheers me. I also like her Wardrobe Wednesday.