B is for... Blogging!

An obvious choice of topic for today!

I was never really one for writing diaries or journals when I was a kid. I tried it a couple of times, but even the day after I’d written stuff I’d be cringing about what I’d put on paper, so you can imagine I wasn’t altogether thrilled with the idea of revisiting my thoughts years down the line. I did once uncover an old diary of mine, and I was utterly mortified. I may have burned it.

Of course, I grew up with the internet. Being online somehow seems to make people more willing to share information about themselves, as if the internet affords some anonymity and protection. But not until University did I really get into the idea of putting myself out there on the net, when I was introduced to Livejournal – at the time, still rather shiny and new, I remember needing an invite code from a friend – so I signed up and started keeping a diary. I’ve had my LJ for coming up on seven years, starting just as I graduated Uni. It’s a very handy record of most of what I’ve been up to since properly becoming an Adult. Although I do still cringe, sometimes, when I have to go back and read old entries. I like having it there though, because my memory is atrocious, and often I need to check back in my journal to remind myself when something happened.

With the advent of Facebook, though, my LJ is much less used. Facebook is so much more convenient for keeping tabs on my friends. Plus, I quickly get fed up of the pervading sense that unless what you’re writing in your LJ is filled with emo angst and woe, nobody ever comments or seems to care!

This blog is somewhat newer. I only started up at Christmas last year, in a fit of “wouldn’t it be exciting to do this”, after discovering so many of you on Ravelry do it too. I’d started reading other blogs, for inspiration, then made the snap decision to start one of my own. Its title, Master of a Thousand Things, is a play on the well known phrase Jack of all Trades, Master of None. Both those names were taken already, so Jamie and I hunted on the net till we found the right version of it, in this case the English translation of the Hungarian Ezermester. I felt it was appropriate because I like to think of myself as being fairly good at a lot of different things, crafting or otherwise, but I lack the concentration to focus solely on one or two and ignore the rest.

It is true that since starting my blog, I have been more involved in the Fiber Arts community than any other, so my blog has mostly focussed on knitting and crochet, with a few side trips into photography and art. But that’s a true reflection of how my time has been spent – crochet in particular is a new skill for me, so I am putting a lot of energy into it right now. Soon I will run out of steam, and pick up my other hobbies again, and the blog will become more varied.

I suspect, also, as my use of LJ drops (I haven’t posted there in weeks!), more real life might creep in, but only the bits I’d consider interesting were I to read about them on someone else’s blog!