Miscellaneous: March 2007 Archives
Today's post kind of snuck up on me. I think it's a pretty big milestone for me. It's my 1000th blog post. Ten to the power of three. A cool grand. My own millenium.
I've never really celebrated any of my "blogoversaries", in truth, this is because I don't really know when to mark the beginning. My very first post was on August 24, 2002, inspired by Julie who had told me about these interesting new knitting blogs. I've always liked the idea of having a journal, but I wasn't sure what to do with a journal that got published in a public place. Like most people's first post there's not much useful in it. I had just set up my Blogger account, and that first post was mostly one of those Testing.... testing... 1...2...3... things. I didn't make another post until the beginning of October, when I finally decided that I was going to talk about both bioinformatics and knitting. Needless to say, the bioinformatics didn't stick around very long, though, of course, my blog name "The Keyboard Biologist" which is completely derivative of my corporate life, stayed in place. I guess it was my way of saying "look out! crafty scientist in the house!"
But reaching 1000 posts, no matter when I started the process, is something easily defined. 1000 posts in 4.5 years -- it surprises even me to think that I've come up with over two hundred posts a year since I started blogging. I "went daily" sometime in 2003 after being inspired by bloggers like Wendy and Bonne Marie. I loved how every morning with my coffee I could open up their webpages and find something new to start the day with. Posting daily was a real jolt to my own creativity and inspired me to do and try new things. This blog started as mostly knitting with the occasional paper craft. Since then I've tried spinning, dyeing, sewing, braiding, tatting, crochet, quilting and even a little bit of rubber stamping, not to mention playing around with HTML and digital photography and some pattern publication. I've knit more socks than I ever imagined were possible, I have a veritable wardrobe of handknit sweaters and tops, and I can't almost even believe that I am about to embark on an unspun fiber to sweater kind of project. In 2002 I would have identified myself as a "geek girl", now I think of myself as a "crafty girl" -- even though I'm probably getting too perilously close to 40 to really be in the girl category much at all.
What's a little funny about the whole thing is that when I started, I was almost always convinced that I would get bored and give it up or just simply run out of things to say. Even though I love to write and love to journal, I figured that there could only possibly be a finite amount I could say about knitting or other crafting projects, and that people would just get bored with hearing my voice. Instead, 1000 posts later, I find myself wondering how I could ever stop doing it. I love going out on my balcony to take pictures of my latest project. I love talking about some "new to me" discovery that fascinated me for an afternoon. I love connecting with people from all over the world who talk to me through comments and email. I love learning from other people who inhabit the community. I love blogging -- it just makes me happy to see my words on electronic paper, to read the comments I get. To know that I might be someone that other people share their morning coffee with. I don't know if I'll always be daily or I'll always be talking about crafts, but I suspect that I will always be blogging.
From my desk to yours, a round a virtual lattes from the Keyboard Biologist to all of you who stop by my little corner of the internet every now and again. Thank you to everyone who has made this a worthwhile and lasting experience. I'm looking forward to seeing where the next 1000 posts take me.
