Back from the (Inadvertent) Hiatus

I didn't mean to take a hiatus from blogging.  No, seriously.  It's just that... well, my laptop died.  Or not exactly died, but was in a coma for a few months.  The hard drive decided it was incompatible with the wireless internet device (or maybe it was the other way around) and my Resident Computer Repairman (a.k.a. Husband) was living two states away and attending grad school.  He swapped out my hard drive and set me up with some funky Linux system on the new drive, but... well, all my photos were on my old drive.  And I couldn't put any photos on the new drive.  So I was basically stuck with a laptop that allowed me to go online and to write my sermon once a week, but since it was a temporary solution I couldn't do anything long-term.  Like put pictures on it.  Or upload them to my blog.  Sigh.

Husband finally realized how this barely-functional "temporary" solution was cramping my style (for, um, months) and spent a night fixing my old drive and saving all the data and getting me Windows and enabling me to use my computer again.  And so here I am!  Able to blog again!  Photos are not lost!  Some stuff on that drive was lost (some important stuff.  Really important.  Dangit.) but not the photos.  And I also have a place to put the photos I've taken in the computerless interim.  And now I can blog about them.

So here's what you have to look forward to over the next couple of weeks or so ('cause I'm gonna drag out this posting thing for as long as I can get away with it):

• An update on Husband's sweater
• An update on another sweater that I'm doing as a knit-along, but I might be the only person in the group who's still working on it, because the pattern is not well-written.
• SOCKS.  Yes.  Me.  Knitting socks.
• And MORE SOCKS.  That's right, you heard me.
• My thoughts for my participation in the Ravelympics newly-named Ravellenic Games, even though I may have missed the deadline to sign up officially.  Honestly, I don't care about it enough to bother signing up formally and, like, paying attention to rules.  Also I think I'm traveling during the Olympics.
• Hopefully by the time those five get posted, I'll have come up with something else to show for myself, too.

Now you have something to look forward to reading on here!  'Cause I know you've been on the edge of your seats for, like, months.  Me too.

Christmas Sneak Peek

How silly of me to start updating my blog again just before Christmas!  I really should have known better, because I've switched to that point where all my knitting is secret-knitting!  It's awfully hard to write posts about the things I'm knitting when they're all secret.  Still... I will post a sneak peek of the secret-knitting item that most excites me right now.  Seriously, I'm enjoying this item so much that I might make it for myself sometime, too.  And it's something I've previously not enjoyed knitting, so this is a surprise to me, too!

Someday, all shall be revealed.  [insert Mr. Burns-like laughter here, Smithers.]

Catching up

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted on this blog! That seems to be the situation this fall: I seem to think it's late September. How in the world is Thanksgiving this week? I am so not ready. I just cannot wrap my brain around the fact that Advent starts Sunday. Rather than being in a calm centered place of waiting, I am constantly hurrying to catch up.

I've been traveling a ton this fall, but haven't gotten as much knitting done as I'd like. I do have a few things to share, though. I'm on my fourth iteration of sleeves for Husband's sweater. I made a sweater for a friends' baby who is due any minute. I.... okay, I haven't done much else. But I think about it a lot! The closing of Borders, while sad, was good for the expansion of my knitting book library. And therefore my dreams.

I'm going to stretch my posting as much as possible over the next few weeks, so here's a sneak peek of coming attractions.

Malabrigo Rios has changed my life. Seriously. Not as much as my iPhone, but it's still it's own kind of quiet revolution.

Fun with Stats!

There are very few subjects I didn't enjoy studying in school. And, if I'm being frank, there were very few subjects that I wasn't good at when I studied them. I'm pretty sure there's a correlation -- I like doing things I'm good at doing, or I'm good at doing things I like doing, either way. But there was one subject in middle school that I hated so much--and I was so bad at doing--that I actively avoided taking it in high school, and then avoided all subjects that required it as a prerequisite in college: statistics. I was terrible at statistics. Probability, really. I get flipping a coin. I get rolling dice. But that's about it. And I don't even understand those very well: add in margins of error, and I'm confused all over again. Calculating that stuff is just beyond me.

But if someone gives me numbers to look at -- like, polling numbers on election day, something like that -- I do find them fascinating. The real-life application helps.

So when I tell you that Blogger is now showing me a Stats tab, you can maybe anticipate the progression of thoughts that went through my head. First was "OH GOD NO." What can I say? The reptilian fight-or-flight part of my brain is pretty quick. Then I remembered that I would not be tested on these stats, and I thought "well, it might be interesting to see what kind of things Blogger is measuring." It's number of pageviews, what kinds of browser my readers are using, where these readers live in the world, and where they came from to link to my page. I can look at stats broken down by time: stats are listed in terms of "today," "this week," "this month," "this year," and "all time." This is geeky-cool.

So now I know that people are connecting to my blog from Ravelry (which is not really a surprise), but that more people are connecting from my friend Elizabeth's blog than they are from Ravelry. Crazy! And the most-viewed page is my Snail Hat post -- so something I said there was apparently very helpful, and maybe the word has gotten out? In the last week, there have been as many as 10 people reading my blog at the same time. Ten! Who knew I even had ten readers total, much less ten at the same time?

And, not entirely surprisingly, most of my readers are from the United States... but the second-highest population of my readers are in the Netherlands. Not what I'd have thought. At all. If you'd asked me if I thought anyone from the Netherlands was reading my blog, I'd have laughed and said no. Canada, sure. UK, maybe. But the Netherlands? Not likely. (See? I have trouble with probability.)

So I'd like to give a shout out to my Dutch readers. Welcome! I'm glad to have you checking in from time to time! Also, my readers in China, and Australia, and Russia, and Brazil, and Germany, and India, and the United Arab Emirates (!?!?!??!!!!)... y'all, I had no idea you were out there. I'm grateful and humbled, and it makes me want to be a better blogger. I've got to be honest and tell you that it's not likely I'm going to get my blogging act together anytime soon (again with the probabilities... I could be wrong!), but knowing you're actually out there is pretty nice. So thanks for reading.

And if you're a reader from some non-USA country, please drop a line in the comments. I may or may not be able to respond in a timely manner, but I will appreciate knowing where you're from! And I'll try to respond eventually. I have done a bit of world travel (mostly Europe, several times) and it's great fun to learn about new places and new people. So say hello! Bonjour! Dobra dyen!

...And, um, if you are from the Netherlands, can you please tell me how to say "hello" in Dutch? This is apparently a hole in my education.


(Yes, Mom, I'll be sure to show you the stats stuff when I'm home. I know you want to see it.)

5?th Blogiversary

Holy knit! I can't believe I've had a knitting blog for 5 years. How in the world can this be? 5 years? 2006 to 2011? Anyway, whatever the number is, happy blogiversary. Thanks for reading. I'm terrible at responding to comments, but I appreciate them anyway!

Not-an-update

I have been knitting, I just haven't been taking pictures or writing blog updates. But I will soon, I think. Stay tuned.

I made a pretty shawl and a kitty toy. And went to Boston. And my parents visited. And I've got, like, a job and stuff. Lots of real-life going on, very little blog-life as a result. But still a knitting life! (Always a knitting life.)

The Language of God

In case anyone was wondering what kind of a church I serve... it's a pretty awesome church. Check out the United Church of Christ!

End-of-Summer Update

I have been knitting a ton this summer. I have not been blogging equally as much. The real obstacle to blogging has been putting down the needles long enough to take pictures! Um, that and all the actual working I have done. My job really cuts into my blogging time. Funny how that works.

It has seriously been a "Startitis Summer." And I'm okay with that. Now that I have a moment to breathe (and to blog), here's a bit of an update:

Minimalist Cardigan is 70% done. The back and both fronts are done. First sleeve is started, just barely. I only have one skein left of the Lamb's Pride. Will I have enough to finish two sleeves? Stay tuned.

I have not worked on the Kiki Mariko Rug at all. It's huge and heavy, and I needed something lighter that I could carry with me in my gadding-about.

I really did quite a bit of traveling this summer, more than I have in the past, and it looks like the trend is likely to continue and I will become a prolific airplane knitter when I'm not using that time to do some undisturbed church-calendar planning.

Started on another pair of stranded mittens -- that's another post for another day. We also went on a two-week road trip, wherein I attempted to make three BSJs in one week, and failed miserably. That's also for another post. The point of this post, really, is to let you know that I am alive and well and knitting away... I'm just not writing much about it, but will pick that piece up again soon.

Holyknitter on Vacation

I'm away for a week, visiting some girlfriends and playing on the beach when it's not raining, and possibly doing a bit of yarn tourism. I'm bringing several knitting projects (a whole week with no sermon to write! I can get so much knitting done!), some of which are surprises. Hooray for surprises!

I'll be back to posting sometime later next week. Peace, yo.

BLOGIVERSARY!

I cannot believe I've been knitblogging for three years. I missed my 2nd blogiversary altogether, and celebrated the first a couple of months after the fact. But now I've done year three, and, frankly, I'm amazed that I've stuck with it this long.

I think that knitting is a bigger part of my life now than it was when I started the blog. Thanks for reading, and sharing this journey with me.

Post #1 -- The KnitBlog Experiment, Introduction, and anticipated FAQs

I've been telling myself (and my partner) that I'm going to set up a knitting blog for months now. Months, I tell you! I may have been considering it for as long as a year. But probably not quite that long.

So here I am, humbly submitting my voice to the cacophany of knitting-and-whatnot blogs out there. Finally. I'm doing it.

But what can I contribute to the knitting blogosphere, you ask? Who do you think you are, my senior seminar professor? Screw you. I may or may not have anything new to say, but we won't find out until I say it, now will we? In the mean time, I need a more appropriate outlet for my knitting enthusiasm than my current options provide. So here I am, the Holy Knitter.

How did I pick this name/persona, you ask? Well, first of all, after months (months!) of trying to think of a good blog name that hasn't been used, I lit upon HolyKnit.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, that one was already taken. By somebody who's not even using it. Grrr. So I tried a derivative, and this one was available. And so, the Holy Knitter was born.

Who the heck is the Holy Knitter, and why are you being all mysterious, you ask? The gist is this: I'm a minister without a pulpit. I graduated from seminary this past May, but have yet to get an actual job in an actual church. I'm working on it now, but had taken a break from the long-term job search process because of some short-term life stress and therapeutic needs (i.e., seminary is hard, and will make you crazy!), and because I opted to do a continuing education program certificate that made my life hell for four months but is now finished. I am certified! (note: that is different from being certifiable.) Anyway, now I'm looking for real jobs, in real churches. And because of the nature of the job search in my denomination, I find it prudent to stick with remaining more-or-less anonymous at this point, at the risk of someone on a pastoral search committee somewhere finding this blog and it influencing (positively or negatively) my chances of getting the job. This blog, after all, is only one part/one expression of who I am, not the full picture. Of course, anybody who does figure out who I am is really really smart and, um, I'm sure they wouldn't be influenced by a silly thing like a knitting blog!

Actually, I'd like to expand this blog to talk about knitting as a ministry (also not new, I know), and how my knitting and my ministry impact one another. I'm sure that will all happen in due course. For now, I just think it'll be fun to have a knitting blog.