Excitement even as we grow older
When I was new to blogging (and knitting), a new skein of yarn was enough to create a blog post. A quick photo of the purchase (often thrifted yarn because I was a poor student back then) and an explanation of what I might create with it in a distant future. That was enough to open the browser and share. I think it was because I could not contain my excitement for it. And of course, the rules of blogging were non-existent in my mind back then.
Back then I hadn’t read anything about SEO or the importance of giving your readers real value (or answering a question they needed answered with your blog post, advice often given to new and upcoming bloggers back in the day when I read such things), so posting a skein of yarn or a thought was of no importance. I could do things I’d never do today, like share a blog post with a few links of things that I’d just found and nothing else, blog without at least one photo (the horror!) or felt that I could take up readers’ time just because I’d bought a skein of yarn.
Back then I did not care about my poor English spelling (because I wrote directly into the browser and were never alerted to the fact that wool was not spelled whool and always doesn’t have two Ls!). I overused exclamation marks to the point that I can hardly read those early blog posts today without feeling sick. These days I try to never use exclamation marks (if it is not absolutely called for!), mostly because in school (and in later writing classes) we were taught not to. If you read any articles, books or printed materials from any reputable publisher, you will notice that exclamation marks are scant, yes actually avoided. It is not seen as good practice to include them in a text because the sentence itself should be enough evidence that what you are sharing is exciting to you. No need to use an exclamation mark at the end every time. I’m sure one of you will think to yourself: “I love exclamation marks and I will keep using them everywhere!” And of course that is fine. Your text, your decisions. I’m talking about what I learned, and how exclamation marks now seem juvenile to me, a bit over the top and most of all, not necessary.
Anyway, the excitement was real back then, exclamation-marks everywhere. The rules non-existent. The freedom bigger and the world expanding daily.
But the excitement is not dead just because we are growing older, is it?
I think anything can be fun and exciting whenever you allow yourself to feel the excitement rice within. Maybe it’s the joy of something very small that you see, taste, experience, make, buy or document, to give just a few examples. Why not, really? It might not be as exciting to everyone else, but if you share it, maybe it will fill you with even more joy and excitement? I’m sure your joy will find at least one person that feels the excitement over the interweb ether. Maybe your excitement will become contagious and spill over into someone else’s life… I think that is part of the magic of blogging, really. Then as well as now, if we allow it to be.
If anything, excitement is genuine and direct, and even though it does not last you might discover, if you document it on a blog in a few words, that you will have an easier time remembering it in 2 months or 2 years. Is that a reason to start a blog of your own? Maybe. It was for me, I think.
I wanted a place to share my new skein of yarn, my many internet finds of knitting patterns and blogs about sewing softies and articles about planning your life, so I created a place where I could do that, for myself.
Today I started this blog post calling it “A skein of rainbow yarn” but it developed into something else, so the title changed. But still, look at this skein!
It’s the first sock yarn I’ve gotten in years and I love it. I have been wanting to knit myself a pair of rainbow socks for quite a while and this winter I might just do that, finally. I really planned to buy skeins in all the colors and do the striping myself, as an experiment, but for now this will be a good get-back-to-some-knitting project I think.
Updating past blog posts because of reason I found that I actually did already knit something rather similar once, but that skein was a softer rainbow blend. When I picked up the new skein that old pair of socks slipped my mind… but it’s okay. I hope this new skein will knit up to be something a bit brighter. In any case, today I’m simply enjoying the look & feel of a new skein of sock yarn. I’m excited about the possibilities and a near future where I will knit using this yarn.
* Click on if you want to see more of my knitting or my crochet
This post is part of NaBloPoMo where I write 30 blog posts in November. Thanks for reading and leaving me a comment, it encourages me to keep going. To follow along subscribe to blog posts via email or RSS. I also have a sweet Substack Newsletter about art, craft and creativity that you might want to sign up for so that we can keep in touch in the future. I’d love that. On instagram I’m @ihannas and on YouTube Studio iHanna. Take care and stay creative friends.
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I’m not in it to make money on my blog, so SEO doesn’t matter to me. And I use exclamation points with reckless abandon because that’s who I am!
Knitting socks sounds so very complicated to me. I admire everyone able to do that.
That reminds me… maybe I should ask my aunt for a pair of sock for Christmas. She is really good in doing that.
I bet this yarn will make beautiful socks and the socks will then spread lots of joy with their pop of color on dark days.
Reading through your post I agree that back ten years ago and at the beginning of blogging we shared it all. New magazine up on the blog it goes. A fun photo made on the way home, let’s share. A discovery in a store why not share it.
I have never monetized my blog so I am not caring much about seo and answer questions and fixing pain points. I just hope someone stops by enjoys what I would tell over a cup of coffee. But as I also write blogposts for a living it’s a whole other story.
I think I might be a bit of a perfectionist with the blog, but also, I enjoy looking back at old projects and photography – it’s a record of my creativity so I want to be able to find and enjoy older content myself. I doubt that many others care like that.
I love how you’ve woven the theme of skein, colours and art throughout this post. I remember looking into SEO and all that back in the day, trying to figure out what to do in the internets space. But for me the best part was community, and meeting bloggers IRL. The beauty of NaBloPoMo for me is the excitement, for new blogs and connections.
Thank you for “getting” this blog post and understanding what I meant to say.
Have you met many people IRL from your blogging?
Knitting does sound complicated but I can also see how it could be relaxing once you learn how to do it. And knitting is important! After all, the greatest wizard who ever lived, when shown the deepest, most desperate desire of his heart, saw a nice warm pair of woolen socks.
LotR, yes?
Knitting is great, and in a link love post this month that I shared there was research on how nurses who were encouraged to knit on breaks reported feeling less stressed just a few weeks into the experience. Amazing benefit, right?
Actually that was a reference to Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series. That is an amazing benefit. I do know one fellow computer systems expert who did needlepoint, though.
That rainbow sock yarn makes me happy just looking at it. And for the rest? I think it depends a lot what your ultimate goal with the blog is and that might change over time. For me right now it’s a way to share a little (and may it be only a skein of yarn) and get back into writing a little. I think until my life gets a little less busy that is all it is going to be. Would I write/organize things differently if I had more time? Yes, definitely, but for now I just take it as it comes.
That is a great approach Meike, and just reading that makes me calmer. :)
I’m here for anyone who is excited about pretty yarn! If someone whose native language isn’t English writes their blog in English, I feel incredibly grateful and honored – and I’m not going to fuss about spelling and grammar. Those details give an insight as to how their native language works, which I think is so interesting.
Thanks Michelle. I think grammar errors are of putting for many readers unfortunately, but I don’t do it on purpose of course, hehe.
That yarn is so pretty! It makes me wish I could knit, haha.
I work in SEO and I don’t really bother with worrying about SEO for my blog. I’m not really writing for people to find my blog through Google – if I wrote a blog that was more informational, maybe I would. But it’s nice to have my work life separate from my personal life.
That really is a nice skein of yarn! (exclamation point!) My aunt used to make us socks every year and I did love them, but although I grew up in the cold mountains, I moved to the ocean where it does not get as cold, and I did not wear them as much anymore. She also took up new hobbies and did not make them as much anymore. So now, there are no more socks. She would love that yarn though.
Exclamation points yeeees girl, in comments or emails or what ever. I was more talking about them for articles or books. And my own over usage in long blog posts, where most sentences ended in one. Hah!
Haha, blogging and blog writing has definitely changed… but I still do it just for fun, so I don’t pay attention to SEO. Grammar however is somewhat important to me and I use exclamation marks sparingly ! LOL
I’m just imagining what a happy pair of socks this skein is going to make. I blog just for fun and some of my posts are really more for me, but I do try to intesperse that with something that might be of interest to my readers. I do try to minimise my exclamation marks as well, but often use them more when I am commenting.