Changes

I've been hinting throughout the year about changes. As the year is coming to an end, and things have finally worked out, I will explain. Back in the summer we sold our house in town on the outskirts of London, and for the next year or so I will have a life split between the town and country. I had thought about renaming my blog, or even starting a new one. Seems a bit too complicated, but you may notice a few changes.

My husband retired in the summer, and now is living the country life in Cornwall (very near the border with Devon). While my daughter and I are living in a flat, close to where we lived before on the outskirts of London, until at least she finishes her A-levels.

Obviously there will still be a lot of knitting on this blog, and I am going to go on running the monthly Ginx Linx Party. But I hope there will be some new things.

What appealed to us so much about the house is that we also have several fields. The previous owners were very much into conservation, so the land has not had any chemicals put on it for many years. When we viewed the big field in the summer it was just a meadow full of beautiful flowers. So the initial plan is to continue to let nature take its course.  I am reading a Wilding by Isabella Tree, and hope perhaps we can follow the same ethos. 

We both have ideas for slightly different projects. He really wants to extend the existing woodland, and has been nurturing lots of tree saplings with this is mind. I still have my alpaca dream, although that will have to wait until we are both here full-time. I did think that perhaps we could have some beehives at the top of the field. We will just have to see.

But to start with I want to get cracking on the vegetable plot, which you can see below is a bit overgrown. I won't be starting from scratch, but really have very little experience of gardening, so may be asking for some advice. Expect I will make some mistakes, but I am going to try to write here about my vegetable gardening each month, also as a way of keeping a record of our first year here. 

I have spent a lot of Christmas looking out the kitchen window at the birds. So here is a little taster below, and expect more photographs of wildlife.

Just a reminder that there is still a little bit of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for December. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Confessions of a Secret Technophobe

Are you a secret technophobe? I know you are sitting at a computer, reading my blog, so you must be techie to some extent. I also know that I have been running my blog for over a year now, so you would probably say "of course you are not technophobic!", but I am, I just try to keep quiet about it.

I am fine once I get used to a way of doing something, but new versions of software etc. can completely throw me. It is partly an age thing. After all the most sophisticated thing I had as a child was probably an EtchaSketch. But I will call out to hubby (who is older than me) if I am stuck, and he is more than happy to click around in a programme that he is not familiar with and explore. I like to know exactly what I am doing before I begin. I think I put off blogging for about a year, as I thought I would have to know everything before I started. But it does seem the best way to learn is to just get on and do it, and probably make a few mistakes along the way.

It is not just computers, I am just the same with household appliances. I have still not made a cup of coffee from hubby's new coffeemaker that he got at Christmas. I love some of the functions of our new telly now (but when we got it was so upset by its size that I would sit upstairs watching the old portable one). And do not remind me of the trauma of adjusting to a new car!

What has brought this to mind is that I have been trying to branch Ginx Craft out. I have created a Ginx Craft facebook page, thinking this might be a good way to separate my crafty self from my other facebook self. There is a link to it at the top of this page. I would love it if you want to pop in there and have a look. But even this hasn't quite worked as I intended, as anything I link to my new page still seems to come up in the newsfeed too, but I am working on this.  I have also opened a Pinterest account. I've not got very far with this, as I have just pinned a lot of my own pictures.  But early days.

So I would love it if anyone has any tips on how they link their blog to other social media, and how useful they have found this? 

Or just tell me in what ways you are a secret technophobe.

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.