So I’ve got a problem. In the scheme of stuff, it’s pretty minor but it’s on my mind nonetheless. And this isn’t one of those please tell me I’m right kind of posts – I’ve made up my mind about what I’m going to do and nothing you say is going to change it, but I feel like I’d like to talk about it.
I was checking my stats (because a little narcissism never hurt anybody) and I came across a discussion about my blog happening on a popular knitting chat board. The thread was started by someone who had stumbled across my blog and liked what they saw and wanted to share it. (Thank you so much by the way!) A few people posted that they read the blog pretty frequently, but lately it had gotten kind of boring because all I talk about are these dang mitered squares. There was even some discussion as to whether I’d ever sew the blasted things together. The discussion was very civilized and everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and that’s not my problem.
My problem is that I might kind of agree. My blog is boring now.
I’ve been thinking about it a lot actually – every time I blog a new square. Then I got this comment from Elizabeth: “Cara, for weeks you’ve only knit one thing. You have only blogged about one thing. We’ve only seen pictures of ONE THING.” I was so upset. I KNOW I’m like a broken record. Here’s another square. Here’s another square. Here’s another square. This weekend – guess what I did? I knit four more squares and started a fifth. Thankfully, Elizabeth saved my life because she followed up with: “And yet, you have made these mitered squares interesting for every single entry. “
Honestly, I’m driving myself insane. All I can do is knit these miters. I’m making myself sick with the miters. The only person who is still excited about the miters is G and that’s because he sees the blanket that will be on his bed. (That’s not completely true. I love the miters. Sometimes I hate them, but truly I love them.)
What’s the solution? I’ve thought about it. I could blog about the squares once a week. I could have this super photo filled post and list all the squares. But you know what? If I do that? I won’t be blogging but once a week. This is where my head is at. I’m not going to knit anything else until I feel like I’ve exhausted this project. It’s taken hold of me and it won’t freaking let go.
It’s been well documented (here and in the comments and even on other blogs) that I tend to go overboard with stuff. I’m not sure that’s a fair assessment. I do what I do. If I was knitting a sweater and I kept showing you pictures of the sweater in progress (which I think would be WAY more boring than my squares – but I’d do it anyway) and I knit nothing but that sweater until it was finished – would people say I was over the top? Or would they say I was knitting a sweater? What’s the difference?
I have felt a lot of guilt over this project. G will come home at the end of the day and in between knitting miters and trying to remember to eat I’ve attempted to move the dirty dishes from one side of the sink to the other. I feel like a wasteoid – but I can’t stop. I definitely have OCD tendencies – and this project has tapped right into it. I started out with 20 squares. Then I thought I’d make 25. Now I find myself dreaming about 30. I have yarn everywhere – color EVERYWHERE. It’s giving me a headache. My shoulders hurt and my calluses have calluses and still I can’t stop. You may say to yourself: who is this spoiled rotten girl who spends her whole day knitting these stupid squares when I have laundry and vacuuming and kids and responsibilities? Listen – I’m thinking the same fucking thing. And still I can’t stop.
One other thing. So I knit 100 miters, right, and I decide to NEVER sew them up. I just leave them in a beautiful pile in my bedroom or sometimes I spread them out in my living room to saturate our life with color or maybe I even hide them away in a box somewhere at the back of my closet. SO WHAT. It’s my project. I have learned – am learning – many many many things about myself and about color and about what I like and don’t like and about the way I work and it’s priceless what I’ve learned knitting these ridiculous little squares. I wouldn’t trade it for the world – the guilt and boredom and the wonder of it all.
(For the record, I have every intention of putting this blanket together. I can count the number of projects I have started and NOT finished on one hand and at least three of them are socks. I’m a crazy obsessed perfectionist – I finish what I start unless I have a fantastic reason to do otherwise.)
When I started this blog, the main purpose was to keep a record of my knitting. That’s still the main purpose. So I’m going to blog my squares. On the days that I blog the squares I’m going to talk about other stuff or not. Maybe I’ll talk about the project and maybe not but these days this mitered blanket IS my creativity. It’s the catalyst for everything I have to say here. It produces energy. It transforms me. It’s my spark.
You do what you love and blog what you do…keep going guilt free. We are all just lucky that you invite us in for glimpses.
I agree with Christy. This is your place, your knitting, your creativity. I love getting a peek here and there, whether you make miters or socks or simply talk about life. Continue, please 🙂
Maybe we have the same brand of OCD but I love the squares. I love the process and the colors and reading about how excited [or OCD] they make you. I really want to knit some stripey mitered squares [and I likely would except for the fact that I have other things that I have to be fixated on] which is not something I can say I’ve ever felt before.
I agree with Elizabeth – all these posts may be about the same subject, but they’re still interesting. One of the things I enjoy most about your blog is your enthusiasm, and there’s nothing wrong with being enthusiastic about one thing for a long time.
In fact, your enthusiasm tends to be contagious. I knit Ariann after being inspired by yours, I have a Central Park Hoodie planned, and I’m starting to develop an interest in the Katherine Hepburn Cardigan too. I don’t know if the same will happen with mitered squares, but you never know….
Cara, your posts are always a treat, and no matter how many times you blog about miters I’ll always be happy to see a new post from you appear in my RSS. The best thing about your blog is your voice (yes, even when you post in pictures-only), and it’s your voice that makes the content interesting and keeps us coming back. Keep it up.
I love the miters. Keep them coming.
I’ve just been lurking, but honestly – I love reading about your obsession with the squares. Frankly, I kind envy your obsession with the squares. I sometimes wish I could let go enough to fall that madly in love with something. But since I can’t, because for good or ill I’m just not wired that way, I’ve been enjoying getting the chance to live it vicariously through you.
I love seeing the squares. I love the possibilities they open up. And for me, there’s nothing greater than options. Options are what make my world go round. So if you were, somehow, to decide to knit a squizzillion squares and never sew them up into anything, but instead take them out and arrange and re-arrange them over and over, or just pet them and call them George, I’d be cool with that.
Ahem. Pardon me. Flaked for a moment and forgot you’ve already got a George. Calling the miters George would be kinda freaky and weird, in your case. But you could call them something else, I’m sure. Mitch, maybe? grin.
I don’t really see the problem here… you’re writing for yourself and to document your knitting. Who cares if your audience finds your current project less exciting than whatever you were doing last season? Are you blogging just for us? No! 🙂 Clearly the Miters (and, yes, they do get an M) are interesting and exciting to you right now and that’s all that matters. The project will be over someday, you’ll have an amazing blanket, and you’ll be back to knitting 572 Jaywalkers or a couple of beautiful sweaters or whatever else rocks your boat. And you’ll still have a bunch of readers to bounce your ideas upon. xoxo
It is exactly your devotion and passionately throwing yourself at these amazing projects that keeps me, at least, coming back again and again. And I don’t mind a bit that all I see here lately is miters, because they’re beautiful miters!
So you’re a one project at a time person, and you’re working on a big project. That’s how it is. I am enjoying watching the color combinations you are coming up with. If I wasn’t, so what. This isn’t a performance. It’s communication. This is where you are. It’s going to be a lovely blanket, but you know that.
This is YOUR blog and YOUR life and you have to do what makes you happy. I personally keep looking for updates because I love colors and I love what you’ve done so far. And I would never have the patience to sew up the blankets and weave in all the ends…. I wish you the best of luck!
Delurking to add to the “it’s your blog”. I’ve enjoyed reading a little bit more about your projects as you go, and it’s even inspired me to try to post more frequently about my WIPs, especially the bigger ones.
I don’t really understand why anyone would want to pick apart a personal blog and critique it. With so many knitting blogs out there, why get hung up on one with a blogging style that doesn’t really mesh with ones reading style?
Perhaps I should revise my first post – the readers weren’t really critiquing the blog in general, it’s just that some of them weren’t thrilled with the recent posts. I can understand that, but again, it’s not their blog.
I can’t believe that people were actually taking the time to discuss your squares on a forum! And I can’t believe that we’re all now defending the squares.
But so we should.
Your posts are not boring and it’s not about the squares – it’s about your views on colour, texture and technique. It’s about your passion, enthusiasm and how the squares are taking over your life. It’s a good read. Keep knitting. And writing.
Cara, I love what you’ve been doing with the mitered squares. Your use of color is inspirational and I continue to look forward to seeing how this project develops for you. Please, please keep blogging about it.
Cara, I’ve only started reading your blog and I haven’t had a single negative thought about the miter squares. The only bad thing is that my sad wimpy stash is getting quite envious of your yarn pile. -_^
I love your blog but that is irrelevant. It’s YOUR blog so who cares who likes it or not? And I love color and fiber so anything to do with either makes me more than happy. And at least you are DOING something. How many of us think about things and never get them done?
My problem is that I love too many things. I can’t find just one thing that consumes my energy and creativity. So…I have stuff everywhere! Right now I’ve taken up basketweaving. There’s a whole new closet full of stuff. Quilting, don’t even ask, spinning, knitting, wire work, woodburning, photography, beading, bead knitting, cross stitch, smocking, sewing…this list goes WAY back there! And then there are the books ABOUT all these topics…and I love puzzles…Just think of the garage sale when I die!! And if the projects are not finished…that’s NOT the point! It’s the DOing that is the point for me!!
And for all those naysayers? I have a bunch of old socks that are slowly being replaced with knitted socks…those old socks will work nicely to ‘put a sock in it’!!
You are OCD. You say so. You are not bashful about it, you revel in it. That’s pretty fucking cool. And if it’s the OCD tendencies that give you the oomph to start a project and finish it in record time (I mean, who ELSE would do a queen-size blanket and not take a decade and a half to do it? certainly not I), what the hell. Your photos of even the most mundane thing (a miter? who knew it could be so gorgeous?) are gorgeous; the colors whet our collective appetites. Your enthusiasm might cloy or it might inspire, but it’s yours and it’s real. The realness is the part that is charming. Honestly, if I’m in a bitchy mood, I might say (to myself, not to anyone else), “Oh, god, not another ‘Cara.'” haha. But don’t take that personally in a bad way. It’s reflective of me on that particular day, not YOU. It’s the hermit me, or whatever.
Keep on keepin’ on. As someone said in my comments the other day, and I loved it: “Whatever gets you through the woods.” And be real. That’s the delicious part.
XOXO
I just want to weigh in on this… I have been reading your blog for… 6 months, or longer… and I enjoy it. I don’t subscribe to RSS feeds because I haven’t taken the time to figure out how they work… I just bookmark the home page for the blog and open all the bookmarks at once. I guess that’s my personal control thing… but I love it because everyday out of 50 or so blogs, 20 people might post updates, and I feel very connected to those people. I enjoy watching their progress and seeing the work done.
The same is true for you.
I read your blog because I like what you do, and I appreciate who you are. There are some bloggers that I take off of my list for one reason or another, but I have chosen to continue to read your blog because I enjoy hearing about you and your projects. I love that you do finish projects, it is inspiring. I like that you blog through projects, so I get to see the different stages of your work. I like that you always have something interesting to say, or some gorgeous photos to share.
Quite frankly, I am enjoying the miters posts. I made all the miter squares for a psychedelic blanket in 2000/2001. I never put them together. Never. But watching you go has inspired me… and now I want to.
I agree with those that say it’s your blog. We choose to read or not to read. If we change the channel, then it is us who will miss out.
You go, girl! The mitres may not be everybody’s thing, but they are what you are into right now. You have shared a lot of wonderful information. I must even confess that I, too, am tempted to make some sort of a knitted blanket. We all can become consumed by a knitting project. For me, it’s usually smaller, like socks, but when it happens I cannot bear to put it down and knit the project up in 1/2 the normal time frame. (I’m doing it right now, in fact.) Don’t concern yourself about what others write about you on other sites. This is YOUR BLOG.
Heck yeah, it’s your blog, do as you will. It should reflect what you are doing, not what you thing *we* want to read.
Personally, I’ve enjoyed the squares; even though I’ve no desire to bring miters into my own life, it’s fun to watch what someone else is doing with them. The colors are amazing and inspiring, and I’ve actually looked forward to seeing which you’ll put together next.
And I absolutely understand the obsessiveness. I do it with socks, as projects, and also with rows/rounds/decreases/pattern repeats… Shall we call it OMS – “One More..” syndrome? So far as the housework goes, well, I use my “one more” as a reward-system (and still the laundry towers overhead…)
Good. I like seeing the squares.
Well, I haven’t been around the blog scene for years or anything, but your blog reflects who you are, and to my mind, your unapologetic full-throttle OCD revelry is a huge part of your charm. Besides which, your photography skills make the whole thing a visual feast. Grand projects require over-the-top levels of dedication – why feel bad about that?
Other people’s obsessions have something intrinsically entertaining about them..
I’ve not found myself skipping posts, and I do that quite easily. Absorption, colour, chat, yup that’ll do me!
hey, i for one am loving the squares. i honestly don’t see how that’s boring, but even if it were so what? you’ll be done soon 🙂
I love your miters. I love seeing your miters. I love to read about your miters. I was thrilled when you answered my questions about miters. When I wanted to show my Mom what blankets I was going to be making for my kids, your blog was where I went to show my Mom miters.
Additionally, it is your blog, and it is your place to talk about what you want to talk about, no one else gets to determine what you write about. If they are not feeling satisfied with your blog right now, they can take a break from your blog.
Who cares what other people think! It’s your blog, your work, your world. I personally am fascinated with the squares and if I weren’t stuck on Ripple Lane, I’d be right there with you. 🙂
delurking just to say that I’m loving the squares, is nice to have a splash of color in the day.
Yeesh, for a second there I thought you were going to say you were going to stop blogging. Glad that’s not the case! Also glad to read about other people’s OCD tendencies. Is it so strange that I have every skein of sock yarn cataloged in my brain with a pattern and needle I think will look the best with the yarn? And that I fall asleep thinking, if I just get through the damn heel turn, I can maybe start a new sock tomorrow? And that sometimes (like tonight) I get up in the middle of the night to knit a few more rows? I certainly don’t think so. Have fun with the mitres. If the sale was still on, I would have 4 or 5 grab bags of TCC winging their way to me right now.
It`s your blog, honey. You blog about whatever you like. You`re not some sort of subscription news channel with customers to satisfy and targets to meet. If they don`t like, don`t read.
I like the squares, btw. I mean, I don`t wake up in the morning feeling that I must log onto your blog to look at your squares first thing, but they`re easy on the eye and the colours are fantastic. Knit away!
Stepping out of lurkdom here to add in my two cents. I enjoy reading your blog, whether you are blogging about one project for weeks on end, or you are hopping back and forth between different projects. I think that you have made the miter project interesting with your gorgeous photography, and I admit that I look forward to more photos of the squares you complete. I’m sure that being a blogger with a large readership puts a lot of pressure on you to be interesting, but I say screw that. It’s your blog, and you’re free to write about whatever you want. If you’re obsessed with miter squares, so be it. Honestly, I think your obsessions make reading this blog interesting. I love how passionate you get about your knitting projects, and it shows through in your writing and photos. So, no matter what others say, do what makes YOU happy.
Really, ther’s no reason to feel guilty. It’s your blog, your life, your miters (which are lovely by the way). Your pictures are always so pretty. I feel kind of guilty now because I was commenting about the putting together of the squares the other day. But that’s just because I personally would find the idea daunting. And I do enjoy those comments on my own blog that remind me of finishing stuff. I like that somebody’s asking himself ‘what happend to that cardigan?’. It motivates me to finish my work. But on no account did I mean to suggest that you won’t or have to put them together. As somebody said above, we’re just happy you let us have a glimpse. If we don’t find it interesting, we’re free not to read it. Keep it up!
never explain. It’s your blog; who gives a rat’s patootie if you write about mitres for the rest of your life? As long as it makes you happy, and honours your creative process, mitre away chickie!
I totally understand knitting as many mitered squares as you can bear! There’s something so beautiful in working the same thing until you have exhausted all the possibilities. So I really do not think that it’s boring at all. Go for 100, they are looking great!
Where are the pictures? I need pictures!! (That’s me and my own OCD tendencies when you wrote that you’d done 4 more squares and started a fifth.)
I love seeing the squares. The colors. (I have issues.) The discussion on how you’re picking colors. I love that you’ve picked a giant project and are sticking to it (I have issues). I take great comfort in your OCD tendencies 🙂 I envy your ability to forgo the dishes and the laundry and knit miters. You knit (and write and take pictures) for you. I keep coming back for me. You’re entertaining and inspiring and I love your voice. Thank you for being here.
Everyone’s saying it already – but I’ll add my twopennorth – it’s your blog. You write about what you want to write about.
I can’t believe that anyone reads only your blog – so no-one needs to feel that they are getting an unrelieved diet of mitred squares.
I love your squares, and get excited when I see that you’ve posted again and that there may be more to see – I love the way you are using colour, and I’m enjoying the journey (I’m a great armchair traveller, me) to see the whole thing completed.
Everyone’s said what I have to say… but I was reading about something similar just a few weeks back on a forum, about another blogger who hadn’t posted in weeks, actually, and she was on the receiving end of some very nasty comments. The topic turned toward whether bloggers owed anything (like, er, posts?) to their audience or not.
I say no.
You blog for you – not your audience, though of course, an audience is always a blessing. And if you want to blog about nothing but mitered squares for the rest of your life, do it. Sure, some people may grow bored and move on. But that’s fine. Your creativity, your impulses, your projects… are all YOURS. Even if it is a little OCD. 😉 I could never stick with a project like that, and I find myself fascinated with anyone who has the drive to knit square after square after square. Enjoy them, and forget about everyone else.
And good luck with the dishes. 😉
Like everyone else said, It’s your blog and your blogging for you. I personally like the squares, I had tried knitting this project about a year and half ago and couldn’t do it. So more power to you. keep doing what you do.
I have to admit, I find the mitred squares boring. But it’s *your* blog, *your* knitting, and *your* decision to do what you want to do. I’m here because I generally enjoy your blog, enjoy reading about your knitting projects, and know that it’s my problem, not yours, that I’m not a huge fan of your current project.
You have absolutely no reason to feel guilty about anything. Are you knitting for yourself or for us?
I’ve fallen into the trap of worrying that my project wasn’t exciting enough for my blog, that I wasn’t blogging enough, etc. Every time it happens, I have to figuratively slap myself up the head and remind myself that these projects (the knitting and the blogging) are *mine*. Yes, having an audience does motivate me in some ways to do better than I would have otherwise. Particularly when it comes to photography and writing. But ultimately, your craft is your own undertaking. Don’t let others bully you (even if they don’t mean to) into any other mindset.
I’ve never knit a mitre square so maybe I won’t understand the OCD, but you inject so much humour I’ve ENJOYED reading about your mitre knitting. It’s hard to blog when you start thinking about what your readers might want to read (my boyfriend hates me talking about knitting all the time, for example!), but it’s your blog. Write about whatever you goddam want to!
I admire the ability to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else and complete it to the end. I’ve got about 5 quilts in various stages of completion that I need to get done, and if I were like you they wouldn’t still be sitting around. I’m trying to develop that ability to work on one project at a time. DO YOU. Nobody else. If people find it boring, that’s on them. I’ve been enjoying your journey and am always interested in seeing what color combinations show up next.
YOur blog – have it your way ;0)
India
I admit I’ve only been skimming lately as I’m not so much into the mitered square thing myself, but that’s the beauty of blogging. It’s something you do partly to share with others, but also to document things for yourself.
Devoting yourself to a project like this is a good thing, because it’s the kind of project that could last for years if you worked on it only intermittently and you don’t need to apologize to anyone for that. Even if you never finish it.
This is a really interesting post because it does speak to the vulnerable part in all of us where the blogging suddenly makes us feel beholden to our readers. How much of that is valid? I don’t know the answer.
At least people are talking about you….:-)
Hey, it’s your blog, it’s your knitting, it’s your life; you do what makes you happy! You are not here to entertain us (although you do). Keep being you and doing what makes you happy; that’s why I keep coming back (even though I rarely comment).
as someone who relies on a sense of color for part if her livelihood…. I was thinking the other day that your miters are almost the perfect exploration of color theory. More specifically looking at value.
I have actually become inspired by the squares, not bored by them.
What makes your blog a joy to read is that you are who you are and you share that with us. Right now, you are someone who is enraptured with a project and fairly single minded. How cool is that? If Michelangelo had a blog while he was painting the Cistine Chapel, do you think he’d be writing about his cat? When you are established as the foremost authority on color theory and the mitred square, you will be vindicated. And in the meantime, I’ve enjoyed sharing in your process.
Hey, Cara, I love visiting your blog and seeing whatever project you are working on. The miters are fascinating for numerous reasons all ready stated earlier in the comments. Blog what-ever the heck you want to blog about. I’ve found that people talk about whatever they want to talk about and the only person I can please is me. Does that make sense? Anyway….Do your thing!
As you (and others) have said: it’s YOUR blog. You want to document your knitting, and this IS your knitting. No one has paid to come here; if they don’t like what they see they can move on. People blog about all kinds of things. Some are varied and interesting, but plenty blog daily about their cat, or what they dislike about everyone else, or an endless series of tour de force fair isle sweaters that look identical from a distance. You’ll drive yourself crazy trying to please everyone who stops by for a virtual cup of coffee. Please yourself. Plenty of us like it.
Another delurker popping in to say that I love seeing your miters. Keep posting them please!
Do your thing – your pictures are great, your descriptions are great, I love your honesty and creativity and enthusiasm. There’s plenty of knitting out there, but there’s only one Cara.
Oh good Lord! It’s your blog! Blog about what you want to blog about.
Personally, I’ve been enjoying the squares. Like the colors you’ve been combining.
Go, go, go.
My mom told me once, “Ruth, your hobbies shouldn’t stress you out.” I feel the same about my blog, and your blog. You owe us nothing. Blog about the dang miters! Also, the miters inspired me this weekend as I was thinking about ways to knit cushions for my kitchen chairs that wouldn’t slay me with boredom before I was finished. The miters are interesting for a lot of reasons beyond themselves.
clearly, one can’t please everyone, except for yourself so if what makes you happy are those miters, then post about the miters. because for ever person who finds the miters boring, there’s at least one person who likes them, including me.
I love your sense of color and design. your photos are stunning – honestly who else could make these squares so appealing!!!!! I look forward to them. It’s like reading a chapter everyday and I know the ending with the finale pictures will be so geat because I have already bought into the story….
enjoy the process. i am.
Boo to the miter-haters! I love the miters! Can’t get enough of them! You’re right though — this is your blog and you need to be true to YOU. I’ve found your enthusiasm for this project really inspiring and also really appreciate your willingness to let us in on the process.
I like seeing your squares. Seeing what kind of colors you’ve put together and all.
I like hearing about the miters. I have to admit, it’s making me feel better to see pictures of miters since I haven’t knit a stitch since Wednesday of last week. At least I can see that someone has picked up where I have slacked off right now, even if that is just knitting miters, although miters to me are much more entertaining to see than the same sock I have let sit on the table all weekend. Keep up the mitered work and know that even though it may seem monotonous to some, it encourages others out there!
If you were a painter, and spent each day painting small explorations of color, nobody would bat an eye.
Do what you want.
I’m a new reader to your blog, and am rather uninterested in making mitered squares myself (I can’t really wrap my head around them), but they are pretty to look at. I admit I don’t read every word about them. But I always look.
And when you write about moving that stack of dishes to the other side of the sink … well, that’s when I want to tell you that I love you, because I know that I’m not alone in my obsessive tendencies.
Thanks.
I’ll echo what everyone else is saying – your blog. And, I keep reading? Why? Because I want to see what the outcome is for this project. It’s a big undertaking – I love seeing the progression. And if we can’t follow along – well, what the heck is the point? You want boring – go read MY blog!!! 🙂
Well I love the mitered square pictures and blog-posts! They’re a big part of what inspired me to start my own mitered square project (perfect for when I don’t feel up to knitting large pieces), so thank you! I certainly don’t think your blog is boring…it’s one of my favorite reads, even if I am a bit shy about commenting.
As a blog reader (and blogger myself), I can’t dictate what you write about. I am just pleased to see your work in progress. If miters are your WIP, then I want to see them and then I can see the nitty gritty of reaching a FO. I get inspiration from these blog projects and many times I don’t have a clue of how much work it takes to complete. I’ll start a project that I’ve seen and then lose gusto because it is an enormous undertaking that wasn’t really explained. Keep Knitting and Keep Showing.
But where are the miters? 😉
Seriously, those bursts of color are brightening my days. When you post, admiring them is my lunchtime treat.
When you were spinning obsessed, I didn’t really care, but I have lots of choices. I skimmed and moved on. I discovered new blogs to read.
It’s your blog. You get to decide what to post and I get to choose what to read. Such an internet we have.
please keep up with the miters. they’re great. and what you have to say about your knitting epic of them is a good read too.
What is WITH people? Now, if you were featuring the EXACT SAME square each day, then it would be a bit monotonous, but it’s fun to see what colour combinations you come up with.
BTW – I would much rather look at mitres than lace.
Whew…I was worried you were going to say that you weren’t going to blog the miters! I love seeing them, and I secretly desire to knit a mitered square blanket. I have a hard time with too many choices though (and that whole money thing, due to still being in school), so I like seeing your take on the squares with the one dominant color and all. It gives me ideas for when I (someday) knit one of my own.
You said so yourself that it was “miter madness”. I personally love seeing the various color combinations that you come up with. Although seriously, please don’t hurt yourself by constantly knitting miters at break-neck speed. Be sure you stretch, get up and walk around and all that good stuff! The last thing you want is an overuse injury to delay your beautiful blanket!
I recall another blogger finding herself talked about on lists lately (can’t remember who, though…) and I felt the same way then – this is your blog, do with it as you please. Readers who don’t like it can move on and find something else to read. And everyone should remember that in the ‘net-world, anonymity does not give you permission to say something mean or cruel that you wouldn’t have said in person.
I, personally, have been enjoying your “monotonous” blogging of one subject. I’ve watched you put colors together that I would have never dreamed of putting together – and they WORK! In my boring, non-adventurous color choices, I find each entry on the mitered squares to be a mini-lesson in color theory. You may not have formal training, but you have an incredible eye, and I’m learning from that.
I can’t wait to get home and read some of the comments to this post. I have just one comment: Knitting the BLUES! Do you even know how many people have something to say about that? I just don’t get why that is so interesting to people that they need to ask me about it and talk about it and react strongly when I knit something green, but it’s boring and it is me. Not boring to me. I love reading about your miters. And you are right, if you decide to never ever sew them up, but have enjoyed the process and are happy, you go girl. Of course, you already know all this. That is what is great about you. Mwah!
Go for it! Personally I love seeing the squares and all the different colour combinations you put together – it satisfies my inner colour junkie! Enjoy all your squares and we can’t wait to see them
don’t change a damn thing. i think all bloggers may get a little redundant at times, and find it hard to blog about something one day or the next. OH WELL. just like anything else.. you dont have to read it, if you dont enjoy it. this is your project, your blog.. do what ever the hell you want.. but keep this miter thing going, because I just ordered Tahki Cotton – I want to make my daughter a blanket for her big girl bed.. so keep inspiring me damn it. SCREW THE LAUNDRY. SCREW THE DISHES!
I wouldn’t worry about it. Don’t change anything. I like reading your blog for knitting sure…but I like reading it because you are very much yourself.
So I guess it comes down to a choice between a blog of colored mitres or a blog of constant criticism of others’ work with no valuable knitting content.
I’ll stick with the colored mitres, thankyouverymuch.
I love the squares and I love getting a peek into your thought process and design ideas as you work on them. I really wish I had all of those great colors of yarn and beautiful squares spread around my house, but since I don’t I feel lucky to get to read about them.
Cara, it’s a free country: you’re free to write about miters for the rest of your days, and we’re free to read about them or not, and comment or not, as we choose.
Your passion is what keeps us coming back — even if we may not be passionate about the same things. I’ve never knit a miter, and don’t feel any urgent need to, but if I ever do, I’ll know where to go for ideas.
Now I’m about to get weird on you: I firmly believe that a person’s passion, whatever it is, is their true spirituality, their direct line to God. You’re lucky to be able to express yours as you do without worrying too much about mundane concerns, but that’s all the more reason to live your passion. Another favorite movie line: you were born with a winning lottery ticket, don’t throw it away.
Did you know? I love to you freakin’ pieces — in every color of the Tahki Cotton Classic mitered rainbow. The only reason I’d want the long wave of the mitered square obsession to end is so I can see what’s on the next wave and take another ride with you. It’s always a thrill.
Knit on. ; )
I’m really enjoying all the blogging about your blanket. And if I don’t feel like reading about it for a day, then I’ll skip a day. But you bet I’ll be back because I love your writing, your photos, and the inspiration that your blog gives me. Thanks!
Cara, still loving you. Still loving your squares. Don’t change a thing. *smooooch*
I think the whole joy of our knitting/blogging obsessions (OK – deep breath – we all know we’re obsessed!) is that we can get knitting ADD and either jump from project to project as the newest yarn calls our name (like the Yarn Harlot describes) – or hyper focus on one thing over and over and over again until we’ve gotten it out of our system. I love your blog and I hope you keep up with your voice and at your pace. Remember – you’re knitting and blogging for YOU – not for anyone else and we LOVE you.
; )
You hit it right on the head – so what! Your life, your project, your blog.
It’s a beautiful project anyway, and you have a lot more to say in every post than just “here’s another square.” Your thoughts on color, and the process, and your emotions about the whole thing are completely the point.
And I have absolutely no doubt that you will sew the whole thing up with the same single-mindedness and dedication as soon as you reach the point that it’s “time” in every sense of the word.
Write about what you want – it’s your blog! If the main point of your blog is to document your knitting (I suspect most of our blogs are to document our knitting) I’d much rather read it when you’re keeping it real rather than have you think you have to entertain us. It’s all about you and your knitting – not us. We get to enjoy the journey with you. I for one have found the mitre talk very interesting. I’ve been thinking a lot about color lately. You may be helping me break out of my color safety zone.
There are so many comments, I’m sure someone has already said this … I have felt pressure to zip along with projects to keep things interesting on the blog only to find that it undermines my enjoyment and the project itself. I appreciate the mitre posts because it frees us all from this post and dash approach to knit-blogging and explores the depth and soul of color, stitch, and the art of knitting. Thank you.
So? This is the essence of obsession. What’s wrong with that? You’ll do it until you’re finished and move on to something else. I, personally, am intrigued with what you are doing with color…and with the obsession as well. I do much the same thing.
You have made the mitres fun, interesting and shown just how something that seems simple isn’t so simple. Every square has a story. You passion is amazing to watch. I’ve never had an obsession/passion like you get over almost everything you knit. It’s you, if they don’t like it well, it’s not anyone’s call but yours…and maybe Gs and if he’s OK…well all is well. You could have at least shown a picture or two!
You rock, and if knit or blog about nothing but miters for the rest of eternity, I’ll be checking you out every day, and enjoying the ride! Thanks for letting me tag along.
Cara, darling. It is your blog – do what you want! I happen to think it is very generous of you to share your ideas, your fabulous knitting, and your stunning photographs with the web surfing public. If people are bored by it, they can click on. Bob Dylan got booed for playing electric guitar. People will think whatever they choose and none of us has any control over that, so ignore it! That means you can ignore me too 🙂 Have fun with your mitres and thank you for sharing.
blog away about whatever you want for how ever long you want…its YOUR blog … actually I enjoy thoroughly seeing the squares as they emerge and your enthusiasm is “catchy”….anticipating seeing your cool blanket finished!
please please please don’t stop blogging about the miters – for so many reasons.
i love the miters. i LOVE the colors – i find them so inspiring. i love the obsession. i can’t wait (hurry!) to see the finished blanket. i’ve been obsessed with your log cabin blanket for months, and am thinking of making my own – but the miter blanket is close behind.
and really, don’t stop because the miters are your creative outlet/expression right now, just as this blog is a creative outlet. isn’t that what this is all about?
this reminds me of the conversation about comments – is the blog for “you” or for your “audience?” it’s impossible to ignore the “audience,” but it can’t be all about that, either.
keep on keepin’ on – i’m loving it!
You know, we discussed this on Saturday, myself and the girls I met up with for a knitting marathon (isn’t it nice to be a household name who gets discussed by strangers at knitting marathons??) I commented on how you were really gung-ho on these squares and I wasn’t sure that I was appreciating them properly, and another knitter said, “But don’t you think it’s an interesting color study? I mean, if you really look at them, she’s doing something so new, what with the rules and the specific way she’s putting colors together.” It takes certain knitters, like you, to do something that forces other certain knitters, like me, to admire a different aspect of knitting – it doesn’t have to have lace or cables or intricate craziness to be fascinating – it can just be the way colors come together. Now that I’ve got my eye on it the right way, I could go for another month of these miters, no problem. I have new respect for the miters. I even got home and studied my cotton collection and considered some miters myself – but I have commitment issues, so little things are best – just dishcloths for now, I think. 🙂
I’m enjoying your time talking about mitres. They are something I wouldn’t make (not yet, anyway) but in reading about them and your connection to them has inspired me in my own life. And, besides, this is your blog that I just happened by from time to time to stop in to see what you’ve been knitting or thinking. It is no different than if I stopped by your house once in awhile for coffee and you were showing me your projects. Keep at it. You could always frame each square if you didn’t sew them together. I like stopping in to see your progress so don’t stop.
and all this time I was thinking I was your spark.
~sniff~
Cara, I’m not sure if I’m more irked by the fact that someone took liberty to “discuss” what you blog and the validity (or interest) of it or the idea that you, even for a second, considered what was said.
Its been said above already. This.is.your.blog.. for you to blog about whatever you feel like talking about. I’m just grateful that your blog is public, and I can peek in whenever I have time.
For what its worth, I’ve had a run on blogging about something totally non knitting related (namely, the creepy little voyeur who has been stalking my blog). And I know some people are probably irritated by it, but it is my blog after all. Oh and I’m also a slave to my site stats.. I check them every day. Its how I found out about the creepy little voyeur!
Um, you could post just pictures of miters every day of the week and I’d still come back. Keep on doing what you’re doing!
(P.S. There was a FORUM discussion about your blog. That is so cool.)
Dude. I LOVE the miter posts!
Your photography is one of my favorite things about your blog, and your sense of color and imagery (that word looks wrong, so if it’s misspelled, I apologize, but I think the point comes across nontheless) are one of the reasons that when an update of your blog pops up in my bloglines, I click yours FIRST.
Rock on. Knit what you want, blog what you want. It’s not boring in the least to me, and those who find it boring are welcome to read any number of other blogs floating around out there while they wait for your obsession to move on to the next thing.
I am enjoying reading about your color squares. I am intimidated by color theory and love seeing any excercise that reveals things about color to me.
I am also loving the evolution of this project and could easily see myself doing one in the future.
Knit on!
Hey, stop this nonsense talk. I like your blog just the way it is; it is YOU. I like you! I like that you go on and on about things. But I never think you go overboard. I don’t think you have to sew the mitered squares if you don’t want to. You inspired me to do a random log cabin. I love you for that, and could very well see myself start a mitered square blanket too. It’s just that I’ve sworn off blankets for a while. Sometimes I come to your blog and just look at the heading and hit reload every now and then. Your pictures are the best! Please cheer up, don’t mind what the others said!
Another lurker delurking to say:
Ditto, ditto, ditto!
I love the discussion about the miters and look forward to seeing your new squares. I’m so inspired by the colors you choose, I wish I had your eye. Keep them coming.
And you should absolutely blog what you want to blog (within the boundaries of good taste and kindness, and there’s no problem there). Those who don’t like it can skip the post and come back later.
Cara, this may have already been said (I didn’t read all 94(!) comments before mine, sorry!), but screw ’em. It’s your blog, they’re your miters.
And frankly, you can blog about miters hourly if you want, and I’ll still read. I don’t read your blog to look at what you’re knitting (although I love to do that, too); I read your blog because I love reading what you’re saying about your knitting. I love the way you write, so I read your blog. You could have the most awesome knitting in the world, and if you didn’t have anything interesting to say about it, I wouldn’t read your blog.
It’s your thing–do watcha wanna do!
Onward…this is YOUR blog…I love your posts and pictures both miters and headline…your photography is beautiful. You are an inspiration as Kay is with her miters…do you plan to add a border?
I’m sorry, I have to disagree. I really am very interested in your mitered squares as I have found the posts inspiring me to start my own blanket.
Then again, I never thought you were blogging to entertain me…I figured I was lucky to get the inside scoop on your knitting journal.
I LOVE THE SQUARES! Please note the capitalization and use of the exclamation point. Really, I find the squares so fascinating and inspiring – I’m not sure why but I do. I check your blog first thing every day and I can hardly wiat to see the next square. Love the colors – love the obsession. There is no alternative to being yourself.
Oh and I forgot to mention that there are plenty of us out here who marvel at your ability to have so much steam and gusto about one project that you stick with it to the end. It’s inspiring. (from one often who dithers around with a project for two weeks at a time–yes I’m a middle child)
It’s your blog.
Type what makes you happy.
I’ve been lurking for quite a while and just wanted to add that your blog is wonderful (as are your Mitres). I enjoy the written content as well as the photos. You’ve inspired me to start my own blog and record my knitting life.
So thank you and Mitre on!!
Let me add my voice to the miter-loving, it’s-your-blog chorus. The squares are glorious and I read blogs to find out about peoples’ passions. If I don’t like one person’s current project, then I can skip that blog for awhile. You do not need to choose your projects to entertain us.
Hey, it’s your blog, it’s you knitting and it’s NOT boring. I might not leave a comment every day, but I love watching your progress and knowing that someone out there is working on something 1000 times more interesting and exciting than my boring socks. You put so much passion into what you do that it becomes contagious and inspiring. I only wish my blog were half this “boring”.
I think you should blog about what you want and not worry about it. If people don’t like it, they won’t read it. I think if you try to cater to every interest of the audience, you’ll lose YOUR blog. That’s what I say…
Do what you want – it’s your blog….and say you know what to THEM!!!!
Cara, I have been reading your blog for at least a year, and the only other comment I have left was when I was trying to win some STR in your drawing. Regarding today’s post, I love reading about your miters. Your posts have inspired me to knit miters myself and I am LOVING it. It has been really good for me because I have only been knitting for about a year, and it has been a great project for building my confidence and for increasing my love of knitting. I look forward to reading more about your miters.
What, no picture of squares?
This has been said (please, bear with me repeating): It is your blog about your knitting and you.
I am jealous of your focus. I have far too many things in progress. Lastly, I look forward to seeing the new miters you post for us! Thank you for sharing them and yourself with us.
Delurking to say that I find the miters beautiful and inspiring. A miter by itself may or may not be interesting or beautiful or blogworthy, but what you have done with the miters? Interesting, beautiful, and absolutely blogworthy. Miter on!
Do not stop blogging about the miters! How else can I live vicariously through you?
I’ve been loving every minute of the madness.
Good for you. Do what you do.
I think your enthusiasm for the mitered squares is awesome. And I’m really enjoying seeing more of them every time you put together a whole set of 4, it’s vicarious because I’d love to make that blanket, but time, money, and fear of cotton hurting me are stopping me at the moment 😉
I do worry about blog boredom when I’ve only got one project going, though (such as now), and I think that’s when I do things like take pictures of other people’s knitting or other things like project spectrum that are still interesting to me but something more than “here’s 2 more inches of the thing I was knitting yesterday”. But hey man, it’s your blog! Don’t let the guilt get you down!
Let me first say that I rarely comment on your blog becuase you already get so many comments that I often feel I would just be redundant. But I felt compelled. I personally thrive on lots of color in my world. I read your blog for its beautiful photos which are always bursting with color. Your writing is also engaging and fun to read. You often bring up very good morsels for thought but I think it’s so easy for people to forget that this is YOUR blog. We as readers are simply like the audience at a symphony. Right now, you are working on your opus and we are being treated to a front row seat in the orchestra. There is NO reason that you should cater to the whims and will of others on YOUR blog. Cara, if this is what makes you happy then by all means go with it. We’ll still be reading and looking. If people don’t like it, they can read other blogs. I for one like you and your blog just the way you are, and while that may not matter much in the scheme of things, it is true. If you changed your blog and it’s content just because of one complaint, I would respect you a heck of a lot less.
Shine on you crazy Miter girl! 😉
I look forward to seeing your mitered squares!! I am so glad you post them….I find them incredibly inspiring! Thank you for sharing!
You have to blog what’s interesting to you, and not worry about the rest of us. The comments (and the commenters) aren’t the reason all of us stop by 🙂
Cara
I wouldn’t change a thing. This is your blog and you need to write it the way you see fit. Though we’ve never met except in passing, I love you and your blog just the way you are!!!!
It’s your blog to post what you like. You are not responsible to entertain us and if we are bored with it on any given day, that’s what the little X to close the window is for.
Keep on doing your thing, girl. Obviously, people are still reading 🙂 Take care~
I’ve loved all the posts about the miters – I love to see the colors you pick to make each square. I’m never very adventurous when it comes to mixing and matching colors because I’m always afraid it will come out looking like technicolor vomit, but seeing how you’re mixing and matching is inspiring. (But I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed that there *wasn’t* a new picture of the new squares today.. *blush*)
Cara dear. You don’t blog for us, you blog for you. Since you’ve started blogging about the squares, you’re my first-read every day! I’m a graphic designer and I am endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over in different colours. This mitered square project is ultimately a colour study – how they work, how they don’t, how they mesh and vibrate and speak and clash in a simple repetetive frame. I don’t mean to sound snobbish but not everybody is going to “get” that – especially if they approach knitting as a craft only where the goal is to make something according to plan and never move around in the project.
If it helps, I’ve been obsessive lately about granny squares – same frame, all different colours. Last year it was MDK dishcloths – contrasting colors and I kept switching up the foregrounds and backgrounds. That was for me, to learn another way color works or doesn’t work in knitting.
And finally, let me say you can only go where the mojo leads you. You can’t make yourself knit something you find boring in order to please everybody else.
So hopefully I validate this a little bit on top of the other great comments you got. I see what you are doing, and though I do wish you’d find a way to put some balance into it (like showering), I think you’re fine riding it out. It makes total sense to me. Art means being willing to face the crazy.
:o)
You have an AMAZING eye for color! To have the ability to spread 3 bags’ worth of yarn out and pick the colors you pick is a gift – and if you want to do nothing but knit miters for the rest of your life, go for it! It’s your blog, you didn’t start it to make any of US happy, but to make you happy! It’s no different than NOT blogging but being obsessed with miters – other than the audience. You’re not knitting for an audience, though, but for you. Knit what makes YOU happy, and screw the rest of us!
Follow your bliss! Knit and blog what you love. I love yarn, I love color, and you enhance it with your beautiful photographs. I never get tired of looking at it, and I don’t think most others do, either.
Thank you for sharing your life and art, as always.
Your blog is WONDERFUL! I read it everytime you update. It’s definately my favorite blog to read on a daily basis. The thing about your mitered squares is that I get excited to see what color combinations you have put together for the next square. So, keep doing what you are doing. Update with your beautiful mitered squares, make it into a beautiful blanket, and take lots of pictures of the progress. I, for one, LOVE IT!
I love reading about your mitered squares! Don’t change a thing sweetie – your blog is a treat.
Well, like everyone else is saying, you should blog about whatever you feel like blogging about. But, I love your miters. I might be a little obsessed with them. I’ve been checking obsessively to see if you’ve written anything new about them. That might not be something I should admit to the general public, but I definitely do not find the miters boring.
YOU GO GIRL…. Hey Cara, I love your blog, I read it everyday, I never get bored of it, and when you are away I miss you! I love your miters and you just keep on bloggin’ about them. That’s what blogging is all about. Keep on chuggin, can’t wait to see the final product, whether it’s this week, this month or this year… or in 10 years!!!
Hey, it’s YOUR blog. Go for it.
Hey, it’s YOUR blog. Go for it.
Girl, I LOVE the squares. LOVE. They are not at all my style and wouldn’t match a single thing I own and I would likely never make them (unless all the stripes were matching and came from the same dye lot) but I LOVE your creativity. And jeez, if someone complains about how you can sit on your ass and knit all day, it’s because she’s jealous. (I know I am!)
Mitre on, baby.
good- i’m looking forward to more inspirational work with color. keep it up!
I’m disappointed because I wanted to see the latest pictures of your miters. It’s something I’ve enjoyed … seeing the color combos & what color is dominant, etc.
I didn’t really understand your fascination with the miters until you posted a composite picture of 8 squares next to each other. Suddenly, the connection to Kandinsky’s color studies (Squares with Concentric Circles) was unmistakable. That’s exactly what they are — color studies — and it makes perfect sense to me (given the very little I know about you from reading this blog) that you would be absorbed by that study. It’s not what gets me going in the morning, and I doubt I’d want the blanket on my bed when it’s finished, but the point is what everyone else is saying: It’s yours. It’s your passion, it’s your blanket, it’s your blog. If people get bored of reading about it, they can stop reading about it. Do what makes YOU happy.
Cara,
Worry when your photos of our miters start to stink. When you lose your eye and your enthusiasm. I still check each post to see the colors and the movement and the joy.
and re: thorny’s suggestion to call the pile George… I’ve found Guido is much more appealling to most women. So if we use the name to identify the group…you could have a guido of miters…
OK, I need more coffee.
Are you kidding? I can’t wait to see how all these mitres come together in a finished blanket.
That said, it really doesn’t matter what I think because this is your blog. Your thought space. To be You in. I seriously considered blogging for a while, cause yes, all of my friends (except one or two) are doing it, but one of the things that made me stick with my Blog Free status (which totally works for me) is that I realized if I did blog, I wasn’t sure I could be true to being me, or if I’d get lost in trying to be fun or entertaining and then it wouldn’t be My blog, it would be a persona I’d created who blogs. And that’s not what it’s about. I read for people, not personas. That’s what makes it interesting, and real, and a community I want to be part of.
Congratulations on being able to be you. And thanks for letting us in to share.
i would die if i found people talking about my blog in a forum… but i guess when you make yourself as public as a blog anything is possible! girl, knit on with those miters… just wait and see the counterbreaking comments you’re going to get when we see that goregous finished blanket. and anyway, it’s your blog! It doesn’t matter! I LOVE YOU!
well i was going to say what everyone else said… it’s your blog, blog what you want.. blah blah blah.
but since everyone else said that, i’m going to say that i dont care what you write about… it’s all interesting to me… i like thinking to myself if i would have put those colors together, or if i would have even THOUGHT to put them together and make them look that good. also, i’m here for the pictures! keep the pictures coming 😉
and heck, tell georgie if he wants the blanket so bad, he’s going to have to get a maid to come in. 😀
Cara,
I have never-ever thought that your knitting shows obsessive tendancies…every knitter I know goes through the same crazed-in-love phases with their projects…it’s a sign of someone doing what they TRULY love! People get much crazier for the Red Sox, or stamps or food… If you’re obsessed, than we ALL are! Maybe the difference is that you actually photograph and blog each step, while many of us, when caught up in the lovefest, abandon our blog along with our life!
Thanks for sharing and PLEASE continue to do so!
Oh no, don’t stop writing about miters! You actually encouraged me to give them a try after all my dreaming about them–seriously. I think you’ve made it seem really fun. I bought the yarn online last night. Please don’t worry what others think or say. Just continue to be you and your regular readers will stay.
For the gazillionth time…. it’s your blog, write what you want! People will ALWAYS have something to say… sometimes good.. often not so good. Such is life!
Well, I’m happy you’ll keep blogging about the squares, because I come here to read about your knitting! We all have projects that take a long time, but just imagine what life would be like without them!
I do admit that there are only so many times I can say “I love what you’ve done with the colors!” before feeling like a bad *commenter*, but that’s my own issue.
(And you’d totally better sew those squares together! I can’t wait to see what they all look like!)
Another one delurking here. I’m LOVING your squares, and I’m enjoying seeing every single block and everything along the way. I totally understand having an obsession with one thing and sticking with it for awhile. I personally love seeing each blocks colors & all the posting you have done. Maybe the people who were discussing this, was doing so based on where their interest lie. Maybe it was boring to them because their current interest are more on baby stuff/ sweaters/ socks/ etc. than items that can be used in the home. I look forward to seeing those blocks from this weekend!! =o)
love the squares, love your color choices!! knit to please yourself. i do. 🙂
You should not feel guilty for your readers’ sake, as this is YOUR blog to discuss YOUR knitting.
Um, sweetness, your blog, your rules. You could post nothing but a picture of a mitered square a day.
Actually, that would be amazing, too, because your photos are wonderful.
I LOVE your obsession with the mitered squares. I love seeing the pictures of them. I love reading about them. This is not a project I would ever in a million years knit (sewed together enough crocheted afghans when I was a kid, thank you very much), but I find your process fascinating. Your energy is fun, I love your writing style, and I come here because I enjoy you being you. I learn something, I’m entertained, what more can I ask from a blogger?
Keep knitting !!!!! Your colors alone have me drooling. I love your eye for color and your photo’s. You also imspire to make these miters.
One of the strongest draws I have to your blog is your voice. Over the years I have found that I “think” better when I talk things out, literally (this is the “good” talking to oneself in my opinion). Often, especially when you address a topic like this, your posts hit me in this way. It’s as if we are having a conversation, not a static, flat blurb. I enjoy reading your train of thought, and appreciate your sharing it. and yeah…. ditto what EVERYONE else has said.
I too have vanity with regards to my blog. I want to be a writer and I want people to read my writing and WANT to continue to read my writing. So I check stats frequently, to see what’s working for my peeps, and what’s not; when is my blog “hopping” and when is it not? I’ve blogged off and on for three years, having deleted three blogs before my last attempt, which I created late in 06. When I started my latest (and last) blog, I decided that this was the time to learn to not give a flying fuck what other people think of me, my writing, my life, my decisions. If no one comes back, then no one comes back and I continue to write for myself. I would have gone through the same thought process as you have had I seen those comments about my blog. And I would have come to the same conclusion. If they don’t like, they don’t have to read about it. I’ll be honest, I’ve visited your blog almost everyday for the last few weeks and when I’ve seen that your post was about a square, I might not have always read, but that doesn’t mean that you should cater your writing to me/us and it doesn’t mean I won’t be back to see your future posts. Be your badass self!!
are you kidding me? where were these people during the jaywalker streak of 2006? 😉
i think they should suck it up and get over it. it’s your blog, hell, you can write about whatever you want to, who says you need to entertain people or care what they think of what your current obsession is? i’m sorry, when did they start paying you to do this? if you don’t like it, then don’t read it or come back! sorry, this gets to me, it seems to be happening to alot of the people i read and i’m wondering what the heck these readers are thinking. how rude!
i think your squares are beautiful! carry on!
Cara, I was really hoping you’d end this post with a picture of the four squares you knit this weekend! Show me the squares!!!! Um, I mean, please show us the squares. :o)
I can completely understand how you feel about your squares. When I bought Mason Dixon one of my favorite photos is of the MS blanket. I admire your sticking with the project, although I’m not sure you are in control of the stickiness. It has control of you and that’s ok…….. I’m having difficulty finishing anything because I am continually starting new things. Over the weekend I joined the knitting guild and had to buy a sweaters worth of yarn because that is the project everyone is working on. That sweater, which I’m swatching for, can be added to the fiesta shawl, a lace scarf, a pair of socks, a tank top (just realized this morning I’ve lost the pattern), dishrag, bath mat, I think that’s all that is actually on the needles. I need to focus. So good on you!@!!
The miters rock! Your blog rocks! Do what you want! ‘Nuff said!
You’re all with the meta blogging these days. First with the “blogging is a community” and now with the moments of self-doubt about, essentially, responding to a few critics about your blog content. All put together, it approaches a meta-miter-manifesto. I just think it’s interesting. And I love the miters. I’m actually mitering, too, though I haven’t even managed to post about it yet (I’m a little infrequent with blogging, to say the least).
Blogs like yours, with regular posts, beautiful photos, great writing, start to seem like professional sites, like an online magazine. Especially if one looks at it as part of a group of well-produced blogs. I can cruise down my list of blogs and it’s as if I’ve perused 10 different craft magazines, cover-to-cover, but with more content, mostly better content, links and references and the works. We’re all so used to all media being all professional all the time, geared towards money, money, money, market, market, market, that it’s easy to forget that this really is “grassroots” stuff. You’re a person who lives in New Jersey and knits and puts her personal thoughts and pictures up on the web. We’re lucky to have you and so many other bloggers out there who are putting together this amazing mass of free content.
I was thinking I wasn’t going to turn this into a whole blog post, but mebbe I just will.
Anyway, thanks a million for the million-miter-march as well as everything else. I look forward to you all the time, and I do think of you as a real, live person.
Hey There! I haven’t read the 7000 posts before this one, but my feelings are OMG! People who criticize do NOT have a life of their own. You knit for yourself, you blog for yourself, and if someone doesn’t like it, they can change the channel.
I am thankful that you let us into your life. I feel connected to you through the thread of knitting and obsession. I don’t feel alone in this crazy world, because so much of what you share about yourself, I feel or have experienced also.
And I must say, I am jealous that you finish projects. I have more on the needles than I have completed. It’s frustrating. So you inspire me to finish what I start.
Keep doing what you love. Life’s too short for ANYTHING else.
I’m amazed at the way this happens with blogs- these intensely private, publicaly shared journals transform- in many reader’s minds but also in the minds of the bloggers themselves- as a responsibility to an audience. It’s a tough balance. Square it up! Or don’t. You don’t owe me a thing.
Your blog, your party. We are invited guest and some people just don’t know how to act if they aren’t stimulated to their desired degree!
I’m delurking to say that I absolutely love your blog! I’ve been looking forward to your squares and every other post. I’m trying really hard not to go buy a bunch of yarn and the book myself until my birthday because I am broke, but you’re making it tough!!
With that said, you have no responsibility but to yourself with what you write here. Its YOUR blog. And if people are bored then they can wait a couple of weeks until youre done with the blanket. I don’t think you’ve gone overboard; at least what you’re doing is productive, I mean you could be out drinking or gambling instead…
Regardless of the amount of dishes or laundry that needs to be done, there will ALWAYS be dishes or laundry that needs to be done. So don’t feel guilty.
Just keep doing what you do! Looking forward to your next post!
And where are the photos of this weekend squares?!?!?! I am so disappointed! I love this project, and if you will not sew it all together you’ll be able to arrange them in all sorts of different ways on the bed and change the arrangement when ever you will feel the urge to do it, I think it can be superb and so beautiful, really.
Please don’t forget to show us all the new squares soon. Thank you.
This was a pretty silly post because you basically said, “It’s my blog and I’ll do what I please.” Cara, OF COURSE you will… and of course you SHOULD. Who cares what people in chat rooms are saying about your blog (who the hell reads blogs and then goes into a chat room to talk about them anyway)? I love your blog, your voice, your photos, and your knitting – they don’t bore me and if they did, I just wouldn’t read that day… and I certainly wouldn’t feel the need to go into a chat room to tell someone about it. Rock on, girl – “make it do what it do”. 🙂
well this blog is about you and what you are working on. you are working on miters, so show the miters. i personally love seeing them. and i would say you are far from boring!
Cara, I am coming out of lurdom to say simply this: It is your blog girl! Miter away and be HAPPY about it. I can’t wait to see the finished blanket – but do it on YOUR timeline, not mine!
Your blog is your own blog, you can make it whatever you please. If you don’t knit to only have something to show off to other people, don’t worry about blogging just to entertain.
I like seeing your squares, and most knitters realize the power of the project that grabs you and doesn’t let go.
Miter on!
I am a big ol’ lurker, but I just have to echo all the other people who have been commenting to say that this is your blog, and you should be able to do with it exactly what you want. Post what’s interesting to you! Besides, I like the miters. I think they’re neat and colorful and seeing them in all the wonderful color combinations is inspiring. Keep at it!
All artists go through phases and you are in your “miter phase.” Bravo to you for seeing a project through to the end, discovering new possibilities, and exercising your creative mind!
I don’t usually comment – but I feel like I have to say this. It’s your blog. You should feel no guilt, or obligation. You knit whatever pleases you – that’s why we knit in the first place right? To please ourselves. You blog about whatever pleases you. Miter on – as long as it makes you happy!
Holy Comments, Batman! But really, sometimes our lives have a lot of variety and sometimes they don’t. It is what it is and the blog is the reflection of life, at least some part of it. I feel boring right now too, because all I knit is squares, but it is what it is! 🙂
From Jaywalkers to Log Cabin Squares to Mitres……keep up them coming. If that’s what makes you smile and one of the reasons that gets you out of bed every morning, then so be it. It’s your blog, your life, your obsession. Just continue being you 🙂
I love your blog, OCD and all! I love to look at your pictures and to see what you are making. If there is a little too much of one project, I can always choose not to read for a day or two if I want…so why should anyone think they have the right to be picky? It’s YOUR bolg. That’s what makes it special and unique. THanks for letting me vent!
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and find you quite entertaining, even when you are “boring”! I just don’t understand why you feel the need to justify how you post on your own site!?! Isn’t that just feeding into the narcissism?
I’ve done my own mitered square afghan out of Noro – before the mitered square craze began.
I love reading about the joy(and pain) that this afghan gives you. I think that it
s wonderful that you can explain how you make the colour choices – I either don’t think about it or can’t articulate it.
Your enthusiasm shines through in each post and it’s contagious! If you stop blogging about it I may go through withdrawal.
putting my vote squarely on the more miters side. i think it is great and inspiring that you are so devoted to one idea, and i have been greatly enjoying watching it develop (and considering doing one of my own) i adore your sense of color also. keep going.
First and foremost, this is your blog. Write and show what you want and don’t worry about us. I for one am inspired by all your mitered squares and am propelled to knit more myself.
I like your squares.
Since you’re not changing your mind, I’ll just put in my 2 cents. OK, maybe the miters are just one thing, but it’s ONR GREAT BIG THING-I remmeber the Log Cabin in progress, and I couldn’t wait for more. Same here. I for one, am not bored. I’m just wondering if this one will be temporarily hijacked to be in a book? And like you said, it’s your blog you can blog about the mating habits of Peruvian guinea pigs if you felt so inclined. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it:)
I’ve been lurking for awhile and I LOVE SEEING THE SQUARES!!! I’m doing a log cabin with leftover yarn right now in a square fashion and I love seeing the color combos you’re coming up with… Keep it up!!!!!! Please keep posting about the squares… they’re so pretty and colorful!!!
Hey, even if you posted only weekly or monthly, I’d still check daily for the beautiful photography that rotates on your masthead.
And I come to knitblogs for inspiration. The longer I see your mitred squares, the more receptive I become to doing some myself.
Be who you are, Cara. We’re here for you!
Delurking to say: I love the squares. I’m having trouble convincing myself not to do the same thing. I even like Cotton Classic. Personally, I would spread all the squares out on your bed and then roll on them. Like a cat does on a patch of sunlight.
I love the colours but must finish this stupid sweater for DNiece#2.
Squares rule!
Um, you will never, ever, EVER hear me say a single thing about your mitered squares except that they are BRILLIANT, BOLD, BRASSY, BEAUTIFUL SQUARES. I’M YELLIN IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!
As for anybody giving you the business, well. Just send ’em to me. I’ll superfakeynice them to DEATH.
I am going to join everybody else and say that I love seeing the squares! I am really enjoying seeing the different colors and imagining how the end product will look (whether it is a pile of squares or a blanket) because it’s going to be amazing…I think that your OCD may be speaking to my OCD because I’ve barely been able to stay focused on my own project while the mitered squares tempt me…In any case, write about your spark! That’s why we all keep coming back…
How weird to go onto a chat and see people discussing your blog. That in and of itself would freak me out, like in an existential way and shit. It can get really easy to get knocked off course by such a thing — whether it’s praise or criticism — easy to lose your voice in the face of others’ ideas about what you’re up to. I really appreciate the fact that everyone commenting is in support of you continuing to have ownership of your voice and encouraging you to stick with it.
Rock on with your mitery self, lady. I and the others will be here.
Delurking to add to the support. I am a not so advanced knitter who mostly knits small projects. I find your determination to the squares is insiring. I aspire to have such determination to take on a huge project! Your photos are always beautiful and a lot of your color combinations have got me thinking about how to expand with color. Love the squares! Love that you are going to continue blogging them!
I LOVE your blog, and I LOVE your squares, and gosh dangit, you shouldn’t have to defend it to anyone. I have started my own mitered square blanket because of you, and you have been such an inspiration to me! The colors on March 29th, Square 7, are what really got me going. I think if you want to write about miters, write about miters. And if you want to knit miters, then knit miters. Knitting is a way of life and it’s fun and it’s whatever YOU want it to be. So get a glass of wine (or whatever is your choice drink) turn on some good TV, and knit away!
For heaven’s sake, BLOG THE MITERS! I come here to see your beautiful photos and lots of color. If I want to see a lot of different knitting I can a) check out a bunch of other blogs as well or b) go look at my pile of UFOs and current projects.
Keep on mitre-ing Cara! Love seeing them, reading about them and getting twitchy about them.
precisely. knitting anything and doing it well is an act of dedication, love, and probably a bit of boredom. the very fact that something can be so simultaneously tedious and fascinating is part of why i love this craft, and part of why i love reading about it.
i admire you for listening to what you want out of this, and i’m grateful that you write so well that we get to see a glimpse of it.
*applause* I’m glad you’ve decided to use your blog how you want to, and not for any purpose some other person might think you should use it for. It’s your blog! On with the miters. Also, all knitters must be a little wee bit OCD. How else could we sit through thousands of knit stitches in a row just to end up with a sweater we could’ve bought for half the price and one tenth the time?
Jealousy is contagious,
Kudos for defending yourself.
Let me say, that I love seeing your squares! Keep what you are doing, blogging about what’s on the needles – this is why you have this blog. I wish I could stick with one project instead of having quite a few projects because I get bored with them.
I love the miters! I don’t find them boring or your blogging about them boring – especially because you have so many colors that they’re all different. I find your blog to be very inspiring and that’s why I keep coming back. (In fact I was disappointed today that your post wasn’t about all the miters you knit over the weekend and the pictures to prove it).
Yay! I love your squares – miters, logcabins – your sweaters, your socks that rock, your comments on yarn, your photography, your sense of humor… Keep on keepin’ on!
Not bored.
Look forward to the new squares (what colors will she put together now???)
Laugh out loud at your incredible OCD over the squares.
Drool slightly (OK not so slightly) over how pretty they all are.
Laugh out loud at MY incredible OCD over the squares (coveting them y’know).
Trying to figure out how to fit miters into my knitting but am on yarn diet and don’t have anything appropriate to use. . . . .
Anybody else bored then . . . . .by all means move on to the next blog and leave Cara alone!
The miter obsession is very typical artist behavior – I think it has been interesting watching your creative process. Different people have different processes, and yours reminds me of many people (and even myself at times) when I was in art school.
Well, this is pretty well covered but… it’s your blog, write what you want to write about! And it’s your knitting, so knit what you want to knit!
I’ve enjoyed your posts about mitered squares – I don’t think I’ve commented b/c every time you write about it, I go off right away and start looking at yarns I could use for some mitered squares 🙂 I think you’ve actually made all the posts interesting and your square pictures are beautiful. You single-handedly have convinced me that I need to get knitting on some mitered squares!
it’s still *your* blog. and you can do with it what ever you want.
it’s true that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but really? all of us are lucky enough to be sharing in whatever part of your (knitting and otherwise) life that you are willing to put out there.
do what you want.
do what you feel.
i know that *i* haven’t been bored with what you’ve been doing. i’ve just been associating it with my own obbsessive tendencies when on a particular project that i love.
I’m delurking and chiming in with the “It’s YOUR blog!” sentiment. It’s impossible to keep everyone happy all of the time and you have no obligation to do so; you need to create for yourself and yourself only.
Your squares are beautiful and they are inspiring me to be more create with color combinations – it’s also refreshing to see a long term project that someone else is doing. It is helping me to stick to the miles of stockinette of the Hourglass sweater and resist casting on for yet another project to distract me from finishing!
Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for months and I’ve never commented before. I had to comment on this post, though. I LOVE hearing about the miters! I am interested in lots of different artsy and crafty things, and I think some of the most interesting artistic projects we can do involve repetition and obsession. Just like you said, we learn so much about ourselves, our creative processes, and the individual elements of the project at hand. It seems clear that you are learning a lot, and you are sharing those things with us here on your blog (Thanks!). Not everyone will be interested in everything, but some of us may be more interested in this project than anything else we are reading on knit-blogs right now.
I’m a lurker…I think I’ve commented before. Like ONCE. But I had to comment on this. Dude, about the obsession: I’m the same way. I’m an art student, and while a lot of my peers manage to be in studio classes and still do their own work… I can’t do it. I throw myself headfirst into whatever studio I am taking even if I HATE it (I go to UCLA, which seems to be unusal in that we have to take a bunch of different areas and not just the same one all the time.) As a result, I haven’t done ANY painting since last Spring, and that’s what I like to do most. I can see why people think this is a fault (believe me, I’d love to still have the energy to paint all the time after I’m done making prints or stupid ceramic pots or whatever, but in the end I just go for what I’m ‘supposed’ to be doing.) What I DON’T understand is why people give you shit for being focused. Whatever, we all have our own ways of working, right?
Keep it coming, the colors are enough to keep me coming back for every single square.
Um…it is YOUR blog. People read it for FREE. You have no obligation to please anyone but yourself. People are silly if they think you should edit your blog based on their personal preference. I know you know this but I had to put in my two cents.
And I like looking at your miters. (hahaha, that sounds dirty.)
Will you ever see this comment – it took me forever to scrawl down. . .But I hope so. Because I love what you are doing, I love the color and the focus and the concentration and the actual result of all the angst. The writing is lively and the point of view strong – keep it up, girl. (And now I need to go to the yarn shop and acquire more colors for my blanket.)
Dude, the miters..not really my thing. This blog, on the other hand, totally my thing. 🙂 I love that you are as crazy and neurotic as me (and obsess about whether you are making other people happy too). I read this blog for your knitting and your photos, true, but mostly I read it because I like *you*. (ooo, unintended rhyme!)
So knit what you want and to hell with anyone who doesn’t like it. It bears repeating IT’S YOUR BLOG!!! 🙂
XXOO
You could knit miters from now until 2050 and post about it everyday, and I’d still be reading everytime you show up in my bloglines. I love it that you do nothing that halfway. I love it that you when you get obsessed with something you do it so PASSIONATELY. I love it that G is totally cool and supportive about it. I love to see your pictures, which are always always gorgeous. You inspire me, Cara. Knit on. Blog on.
I love the squares! I love reading what you write about them! I love seeing the pictures of them! Your squares are inspiring me to make my own squares (using my own color combinations and my own rules, of course!)
It’s not boring at all… trust me!
Cara, your blog is so inspiring to me, and I absolutely understand your current infatuation with working on only one project. I’m the same way if I’m excited about a project, I can’t put it down. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Your miters have inspired me to make my own mitered throw. I’m already thinking about the colors I want. I really admire how even your stitches are (or have you already blocked the squares?) It’s hard for me to maintain a consistent gauge with 100% cotton. Keep up the good work, and remember…there are 1400+ of us who subscribe to January One. I’m sure I can speak for all of us in saying we enjoy watching your work.
I’ve been away for a while and read all of your posts prior to today. I’ll try to be as succint as possible…it’s your blog, write what the heck you want! If people don’t like it, if it’s boring to them, they can read another blog. And if you never sew those squares together…that’s your business…you can take them to the nearest dump if you want…you made them, you can do what the heck you want with them. (I’ve never been accused of not speaking my mind!)
I have always loved these miters but couldn’t figure out what was stopping me from knitting them. I bought the book…and I still haven’t knit them. But I love the blankets I’ve seen. Then you came up with a way to inject some order out of the process. I, like you, love order…background color, four colors, etc. You gave me a reason to knit the blanket now…THANKS!
Wooo hooo… Good for you , I don’t think anyone could have said that better. I look forward to your miter updates and I am soooo enjoying your wonderful colours. Please don’t stop and please don’t go to just once a week. That would put a lot of people into withdraws. I can’t wait to see what colours you put together next.
Delurking a moment just to say…repetitive the miter posts may be, but I sure do love just seeing all the pretty color combinations. That in itself is inspiring!
I’m just saying what everyone else seems to be saying, but so what? I love the miters. They are gorgeous. The photos are fucking gorgeous. And the fact that you make it all interesting to read about it just the icing on the cake 🙂
Another jumping on the band wagon to say that you should do what you want. I know how it feels to start thinking about what your readers want you to be. But, we came here and stay here because of who you are. If you try to make yourself into what you think we want, then you are no longer the blogger that drew us in. Be true to yourself. If there are some that don’t like it, so be it. You can’t be all things to all people.
With that said, I am not tired of the miters. They are beautiful and you present them in interesting and thoughtful ways.
I so fucking love your miters. I am mad with envy because my hand is broken and I can’t knit. I want to knit miters, all day, all the time. Please. Allow me to live through you.
I find it fascinating in part because I am at the other end of the spectrum knit-wise. I totally would (in fact I do) have squares lying around. I have two projects in my bag I carry to work, and three more I have worked on in the last few days. So I find your dedication to a single project really fascinating. And the miters are gorgeous.
And I agree, knit squares are a thing of beauty by themselves. Sewn together, even cooler, but still.
Delurking! – this is a topic that tends to make me rave, but I’ll bring it down to 1 phrase.
Its your blog, its your space, write what you want.
I am enjoying seeing all of your color combinations, and I think its *wonderful* fun to read someone who is obviously having such wonderful fun.
I’m coming to this rather late, but I want to tell you that if it weren’t for you and your current miter obsession, I might never have tried my hand at it this weekend. So thank you. I think they’re just the cleverest thing I’ve ever knit and I am now properly addicted.
I don’t care what you blog about. I keep coming back because whatever it is you choose to blog about, I know it will be interesting. I love your writing style and if I could emulate it I would.
So I’m playing catch-up (I was on bedrest after foot surgery and couldn’t get to the computer) and I’m reading through and I’m seeing square after square after square and you know what? I think it’s fantastic! And I’m glad you’re going to keep blogging about them or whatever you’re working on at the time! I love how you get so very into a project! I feel like I’m getting to watch your creativity as it happens and it’s very inspiring! I started my blog to keep track of my projects (not just knitting – everything) and a lot of posts have been the “here’s the sweater with another 2 inches”, “I got a little more cross stitch done on this bellpull” variety and I don’t care because it’s for me. So anyway, I think I’m starting to get sort of rambly and ranty here when all I really should be saying is something along the lines of “rock on” because you’re awesome!