Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Blog As Muse

Last night I read a question at InTatters about how bloggers felt about setting up a tatting blog. 

I wrote a response, getting somewhat carried away.  Ahem... 


This morning, when I re-read it, I kinda liked what I had written, so I am posting it for anyone ambitious enough to slog through some of my - sigh - gushiness...


*************************************************************************

Well - I can get wordy, but here goes!

I started tat-ology in 2009, after I had been tatting for only about 5 months. I was a novice about all of it, but I must say it was the best thing I could have done - to start tatting and blogging simultaneously.

I have made wonderful on-line tatting buddies, exchanged tatting treasures with tatters all over the entire globe, had fantastic advice and lots of laughs, received unexpected snail mail from far, far away and experienced an insanely obsessive personal challenge to tat better - to be the best tatter I can be.

Through these experiences I surprisingly find I have tons to write about on tat-ology. It astounds me that after nearly 5 years(!!!) I can still find enough to compose a few posts per week.

There is also a colourful record of my progress, for I have used an online company to make books of all my posts, from the very beginning. I love having the history of my work and I hope the books inspire my grand kids or their friends to pick up shuttles and play some day.

Tat-ology is a way for me to keep pushing past barriers, as I share my ups and downs, constantly striving toward mastery. Truth is, I am very shy and private, yet the blog provides readers, comments and support galore. It makes me feel so acknowledged if I read just one friendly comment.

At the start I felt I had absolutely nothing to say! Go to my first post and see that I was just like every tatter who wants to start a blog, feeling scared, shy and very uncertain. It is confronting; I know.

Tat-Land, found online, mainly through blogs, is a wonderful community. There it is possible to talk to one another over vast distances, so we do not tat alone. Many of us, myself included, tat in a vacuum, with no in-the-flesh tatter to share tea and a tat, except through our keyboard and the desire to belong to a lace-minded group.

Blogging is the conduit to that world where we can share our passion with one another. Blogging is a doorway to the many wonderful things that do indeed happen between strangers with nothing in common sometime except a simple knot and a shuttle, or a tatting needle and thread.

We connect, we learn, we support, we challenge; sometimes we even argue! Blogs are an amazing tool to be able to share this obsessive addiction from which we all derive such pleasure. It is just so much fun to have knowledgable and talented tatters just a few keystrokes away!

Blogging is definitely not for everyone. But if you have the thought that you might find some satisfaction and pleasure in the vehicle of a tatting blog; should you feel excited and have a little flutter in your chest when you think about it, I urge you to just dive in, pick a heading and let your fingers type a hello, whether on Blogger or WordPress - it doesn’t matter which. Just do it! We will be watching to hear from YOU!
Fox

18 comments:

  1. Very well said. I also started a blog because I tat in a vacuum. This is my only connection to others who share the same passion. Thanks for saying it so eloquently.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Fox

    I also replied to this thread on intatters, I think you hit the nail on the head and your piece is well written.
    Love to Gian
    Margaret

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fantastic, awesome, brava! What encouragement for anyone thinking of starting a tatting blog! Thanks so much. You give us so much inspiration each time you post - whether it's tackling a difficult, twisty pattern or encouraging people to have a go at blogging.
    StephanieW in NC

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dearest Fox, your comments are very encouraging.You are so sweet. I hope that you will continue to tat and to blog, otherwise we will miss you terribly. I say this because I'm selfish. There is a great writer inside you and I I hope you will not release her.
    Although,.. you can work so hard that you can be a tatter, novelist and blogger at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well put! I talk about my tatting to my kids and husband, who listen and make suggestions or show approval (or not) which is great!, but it's not quite the same as doing that with another tatter. Having a blog and sharing tatting with others who also tat has been a great experience to me, too, and you have done a wonderful job expressing that. *clap*clap*clap*

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love reading your blog - and all the others - but I am one of those for whom blogging would not sit comfortably.
    I think this may be because I don't understand "online"- no control over who would see it, and would I want them to - I admire everyone who is brave enough to trust these waters, as I am not.
    I still correspond on Basildon Bond, using a Waterman fountain pen. And have no desire to abandon those.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like I said, Maureen, it is not for everyone. I gave up my fountain pens and coloured inks for my Commodore 64 in 1987! So, the online world us very comfortable for me. : )

      Delete
  7. Very cute motif there!! :) I wasn't sure about a blog, but I am so thankful that I started one, because it has helped me to find patterns, learn techniques, "meet" wonderful tatters online and in person, and encourages me to continue tatting!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you Fox, very well said, you've your great style also as a writer. I should say thanks to you if I opened my blog, it's true.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hear hear Fox. Very well said and just how I feel too.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wonderful words. I am still at that point of thinking I have nothing interesting to blog about :/ Or I haven't enough discipline to stick with just one topic ...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fox...you said it all. Beautifully and with full heart. I love reading your blog, I love looking at what you tat and seeing your progress when I look back at some of the old posts is wonderful. You have come a long way in talent and confidence and I am proud to call you a friend. One I would not probably have met without the internety thingy...lol.
    Keep it coming cos it is great!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very well said!!! And I am very happy you included tatting needles in there too!!!
    Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love your blog! It inspired me to start one too (although I'd hesitate to put my nonsense in the same category). You've helped me find TAT-land and you are the official ambassador! You've opened my eyes to new techniques and patterns and books that I wouldn't have considered all on my own. Your gift of blogging is so generous and wonderful, I appreciate you every day- thank you for spurring me on! (and helping me find others!)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fox, you've put down most of my sentiments about tatting and the reasons why I'm in such an awesome lace community too! I totally agree and enjoy the company of the like-minded people from all over the globe, learning and creating our favourite art together. It's more than just a blogging community here, it's like a family who goes through life -- the thick and thin -- albeit the distances. Tatting tied our hearts and minds together.
    It's great to see you making a chronological progress of your tatting for the next generation of tatters. Good job!

    ReplyDelete