It would be an improvement if I could throw off this darn cold*! Particularly as I'm supposed to be rather busy just now but find myself with barely enough energy to boil a kettle. A duvet day beckons; what a blissful thought! I shall bury myself under warm blankets and sleepy whippets, and do nothing but read books and magazines. Just as soon as I've written this post!
I've finally managed to come by copies of the first two issues of The Simple Things, the monthly mag UK blogs have been buzzing about. Have you read it? What did you think? I'd say it's definitely an improvement on sister publication Mollie Makes, but as the latter really isn't for me - understatement alert! - that's not much of a recommendation. I shan't be subscribing to either title - although the recipes are worth having - but don't let that put you off, I'm not part of the 'new community of mindful young consumers' they're intended for. Just beware the assumption that a simpler life requires you to 'consume' more and you should be fine. And if you're balking at the £4.99 cover price of The Simple Things, try 91 Magazine, it's free on Issuu!
Picture me, if you will, tossing The Simple Things aside, rereading Thoreau instead - "Our lives are frittered away in details ... simplify, simplify" - and contemplating how little I really need to be content. A warm, dry home; a plentiful supply of hot and cold water; a comfy bed with clean cotton sheets; simple food, simply prepared; books and yarn, music and conversation; a wood to walk in, or a shore to wander along ...
Not that one could easily 'do' a Thoreau in 2012. The man could make no more than "a little pile" of his "whole household effects" while living at WaldenAfter "food, and clothing, and shelter" he required only "a few implements, a knife, an axe, a spade, a wheelbarrow, etc., and ... lamplight, stationery, and access to a few books". I, on the other hand, require half the gizmos and gadgets that make 21st century living viable ... jeez, just the blogging is impossible without a camera, a laptop, and a heap of networking hardware! Poor Thoreau - a man who declared "inventions" such as the "magnetic telegraph" to be "an improved means to an unimproved end" - he must be turning in his grave!
I'm** a 'make do and mend' gal. Grandma Eva taught me how to sides-to-middle sheets, patch fabrics, and darn socks (eugh!), and my darling Dad taught me how to glue and solder and nail stuff back together. And suddenly what I've always done is fashionable. Improving what you already have, whenever you can, that works for me. I should blog more about it. And I plan to apply it to knitsofacto.
I am forever being advised that as this blog is becoming increasing successful I should switch to my own domain - I do own knitsofacto.com - on a different platform - WordPress.org for preference. But I really like Blogger. So I'm staying right here. Maybe it's a decision I'll come to regret, even be forced to reconsider, but for now I shall risk Google's whims and caprices and challenge the assumption that a blogspot url is not for the serious blogger***. And I shall be blogging about what I learn along the way.
Which brings me to another improvement, she types tentatively, hoping that it will be. I mentioned a pending blog revamp a week or two ago and in addition to tweeking knitso's style elements I'm hoping to quite radically reorganise the content. In part I want to have somewhere more logical to share knit related stuff that isn't quite post material, like the hilarious and totally off the wall video below. Not a static page but something akin to a tabbed category. I won't say more just now because I'm not absolutely sure that what I want to do can in fact be done, but if you arrive one day and things are looking a little odd around here please stick with me, it will hopefully not last long. And I have a question for you: how would you feel about on-topic guest posts popping up here from time to time? I'm not sure myself - this is so very much my space - but I do know one or two folk I'd trust to add to the knitso' conversation, if you'd be interested in hearing what they have to say?
For the non-knitters, that's Stephen West, awesome knitwear designer and all around crazy guy!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Many, many thanks for your comments on my last post. I'm inclined to agree with Liz, I'd be wary of anything that came from the Satis House kitchens, but dry, crumbly, and probably quite cloying seems to be the consensus, and lots and lots of wedding cake. There were a lot of m's - Proustian madeleine's, macaroons, meringues, and marshmallows - to which I shall add peppery mustard and cress sandwiches. Did you know that sewing mustard seeds into the hem of her wedding dress is reputed to protect and empower a bride?
Thank you too to new commenters and Google Friend Connect followers, Selena at Oh, the places we will go, Emily at Fern and Flora, Ilix at Up late ... always, Meike at Gebreidesjaals, who knits the most beautiful lace shawls, Nessa, and Ans Herz Gelegt.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
* Which, plus a birthday, has been responsible for the brief hiatus in posting. It was a good birthday ... I'll tell you more soon.
** I had an interesting conversation with a newbie blogger the other day about the rights and wrongs of writing in the first person, I should have quoted Thoreau then: "I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience.".
*** For a site already doing well on one look no further than Poppytalk.
I've flicked through Mollie Makes and The Simple Things at the newsagents but haven't bought them because I can read blogs that are just as beautifully photographed but give more detailed and advanced instruction. But then I'm not a mindful young consumer. Looking forward to the revamp.
I love your blog as it is, Annie, but will be fascinated to see how you choose to change it. I'm with you on staying with Blogger, despite all its idiosyncrasies. I have a private back-up of my blog on WordPress, but find the free version of WP much less easy and more restricted to personalise than Blogger.
Many thanks for the quote from Thoreau. It's what i'm trying to do more and more as I get older, but it isn't easy.... Hope the cold gets better soon.
Annie i bought the first copy of "The Simple Things" and enjoyed it somewhat more than Mollie Makes but then again I am not prepared to spend a fiver each month on a magazine reminding me of what i already do. I get rather het up over my everyday obvious living being put in a magazine to make it look cool, mindful and trendy!!! OK I'm becoming grumpy, please forgive me :o) Look forward to seeing your newness xox Penelope
Hi Annie As always a fabulous post and I know exactly what you mean about The Simple Things. I love the magazine for its pictures and recipes and utterly lovely things I feel the need to get my hands on..... but a £25 plate to adorn my walls with an artsy design, is absolutely not what I think revelling in the simple things is about and I kick myself after for having that...ooh I must have one of those moments. I am genuinely trying to make my life more simple, to live in the moment and enjoy the simple pleasures life has to offer - your post really reminded me of that. Thank you.
I was a bit rude about Simple Things a couple of weeks ago. I didn't buy it but I had a good flick through in WHSmith's and I came to exactly the same conclusion as you have; to simplify you must buy. I'm so glad I'm not alone in not liking Mollie Makes. All magazines are selling something.
I've always been happy with Blogger but I have wondered whether I should have my own domain-thingy (see how expert I am). I'm inclined to think it unnecessary though.
Fab post Annie. I've yet to take a look at 'the simple things', it's the price that puts me off and hubby saying 'not another magazine' :) maybe I'll get a copy and hide it on the bookcase :) am definitely with you on the make do and mend ethos too. Victoria xx
Happy belated birthday! I've flicked through said magazine, looks good but can't afford the price! I try and keep my life as uncomplicated as possible these days, not always easy! It's an aspiration really! It a One Day...... Guest blgs, fine with me! Hope you feel better soon! Ada :)
Dear Annie It is nice to know that I'm not alone in not really liking Mollie Makes. I did look through it so that I knew what I was missing, but felt I could live without it. The Simple Things seduced me with its rather lovely layout and photos, but I haven't yet sat down and looked at either copy we've bought, so what does that say? Yet another magazine to add to the precarious pile in the corner? It probably won't stop me adding to that pile in the future. Hope you are feeling better - my cold has been dragging on for an age. Even the echinacea isn't shaking it off. Good excuse to snuggle up and watch a lovely film, read a book and/or eat chocolate. Sounds like a plan... Best wishes Ellie
I love your posts and often agree with everything you say. I have seen the mags and my immediate thoughts were rather along the lines of yours ie why do we need to buy a mag at £4.99 to be shown how to consume more in order to live the simple life. I must admit that my blog post Joy in the simple things was a reaction to the magazine. I think it is the photography which sells mags like this one as there is nothing in it that we didn't already know really is there? I'd be happy to accept your judgement on visitors adding their input to your blog.
PS I meant to say I do hope you will feel better soon - colds are such miserable ailments though I guess a good excuse to cuddle up with your dogs and a magazine!
I cancelled my subscription to Mollie Makes as I simply got bored with it, it never really varied much from month to month I found and as The Simple Things was a sister mag I assumed it would be more of the same. Vivienne x
Thoreau supplies the best quotes, doesn't he? Every day I realize that the internet is just another "improved means toward an unimproved end", except as it makes blogs like yours possible. We needn't feel so bad about not living Thoreau's supposedly simple life, however, when we remember that he visited town regularly, and that his mother regularly brought him well-cooked meals and other treats.
It's true that many things we think of as simple pleasures - hot and cold running water, cotton sheets, books - are products of life in an industrialized society, but perhaps the point of a "simple life" in any culture is to recognize what good things one has close to hand, without endlessly fretting for something more/better/else. -- stashdragon
My budget doesn't stretch to buying a monthly magazine but I find blogs are the best source of ideas, inspiration and information and they are so much more personal too. I hope you shift your cold soon - it's hard to be rid of the sniffles at this time of year with the cold and damp encroaching into the days. Glad the birthday was a good one x
Hope you feel much better soon. I must admit I love writing in the third person, it seems somehow less self-centred. As to Wordpress, it is good for building websites, but Blogger is pretty easy to use, most readers seem to be using Blogger, and so many people like to follow through GFC, and I am pretty indolent about moving. But then I don't think that I have ever claimed to be a serious blogger or really had aspirations that way - I like to be a no obligations, keep it simple amateur blogger! Have you looked at Beach Cottage? Sarah started out as an everyday blogger and is now one of the big players - she has a proper domain name. You can get Blogger to point at your own website/domain name, so you could always do that - which would enable you to be knitsofacto.com without any blogspot, yet still use Blogger as your platform.
And after that ramble, I will go back to sleep - lots of things to think about in that post, which is why I am wittering on - or maybe I am just a witterer!
Hello there! Does that sound as if I haven't seen you for a while? I agree with you about Blogger BUT I am more than a little peeved that I have been robbed of your previous post! Imagine Annie my dismay when I arrive here all giddy with excitement at the thought of reading your thoughts after a week's absence to find that I have missed out! I simply must go and pour myself a glass of red wine.
I hope you shake that cold off Annie although, others will agree with me I'm sure, your post's excellent quality does not betray your weakened state!
A glass of good red, the perfect cure for a disappointment ;) Perhaps you should risk an email subscription, that way you will be miraculously notified within hours of a new post going up. I promise you won't be spammed!
Such a lovely post! I too was (un)surprised how many *things* the Simple Things mag made me want to buy. I do have an internal dilemma often that my very existence relies on persuading other people to buy more *stuff* (even if it is beautiful yarn ;-) ) Loved the Stephen West video - thanks for the giggle...
I don't know the magazine you mention but I am not a magazine reader anyway. Magazines are stylish themselves and want you to do things in a particular style. So you can't just do things, like bake a cake and put it on a plate and eat it. If you do so (instead of a complicated icing, decoration, ornated plate, putting the piece of cake of a rosy plate with napkins), it's called style of Simple Things. I hate this! I like your blog (the photos, the writing) because it is beauti- and meaningful. Hopefully, you are getting better soon. Stay in bed! :-)
Where do you find all the pictures to illustrate your posts they arw always so wonderful! I find I don't have much time any more to read magazines apart from my favourites. I prefer picking up new ideas and inspiration from blogs. I much prefer the second magazine of the two that you have shown. Hope you have a good week. Sarah x
I did buy Simple Things and quite liked it but no I won't be buying it regularly. As you say there are so many lovely online mags and wonderful blogs to read that I find I don't have the inclination to buy £4.99 magazines. I sometimes get my Mum's thumbed magazines and I often pick up a free Waitrose magazine but I'm ashamed to say that they sometimes get recycled without a proper read. I too am looking forward to your revamp, I'm sure whatever you choose to do (on whatever platform you like) will be gorgeous and interesting.
I totally agree about The Simple Things and Mollie Makes... they seem to be all about a rather contrived way of living and I don't really understand all the fuss and hype about them... and I'm quite content with blogger too. Is it just because it is free it is not considered "serious"?
I do appreciate the Thoreau references! Hope you're feeling better too. What better place to recover than one's own bed?! I like blogger....and you can host on your own domain, it's very easy to do! I've just switched, but am failing to blog. Hey ho! Diana (formerly known as Pebbledash!)
Hello Annie, sorry to hear you're ailing and I do hope you are in fine fettle very soon. I am very happy with Mr Blogger, particularly since he's free, unlike the mags you mention which are both outrageously priced. Give me my Country Living any day of the week. Kate xox
Poppytalk is one of my favourite sites. And I am a big fan of Blogger - other blog platforms might be more slick and all that but Blogger is user-friendly and comfy.
The Simple Things is nice, yes, but not good enough to justify the expense - I much prefer the online mags and really like 91. I also like looking at Covet Garden but will add that I don't like the feeling I get that I should be buying all those cool things in order to be on trend, cool, and happy. Like you, I need very little to be content. Less and less as I get older. Books, hot showers, coffee, warm socks, homemade bread, my cosy bed....hmmm...and yes my camera, computer and iPod. :)
It is true that the small, simple things often bring me the most joy. And I am learning to embrace them and recognise them more often, and slow down a little and take the time to appreciate them. A very interesting post all over! xxo
I do hope that you are feeling much better, Annie. I am a bit befuzzled by the new magazines, and living in the US they are very expensive. I never have lived a "Thoreauean" life, but did grow up in the 40's..gasp. Remaking, mending, and making do is what was. Honolulu just after Pearl Harbor marked our lives. I have to say that I would give my eye teeth to have been able to connect with other women when I was young, a mother without a mother to others...a young and struggling family so very far away from our families. It is a blessing to have you in my life and to have others like you..truly it is ten times ten. Simplicity right now means lighting the wood stove because it is rainy and gloomy, cooking dinner and knowing that there are so many lovely and beautiful people out there such as you and your readers. I can drop words here, letter by letter, word by word, thought by thought and phrase by phrase. It's a blessing. Love to you as always, Ellen.
I am like you and enjoy blogger and hope it does not change. Sorry to hear you have a cold and hope you feel better soon. Glad that the birthday was a happy one. Darning socks and turning the sheets and collars was something my Mum did when I was growing up.
Happy Belated Birthday Annie! And I do hope you feel better soon, although your description of how to spend a sick day is making me think I may be feeling a cold coming on myself... (cough) :D
I am not a consumer of magazines I'm afraid, as I find I am able to find lots and lots of creative inspiration on the internet, for which I am already paying to access. Looking forward to seeing some of your changes, although mainly out of curiosity as I love your blog just as it is!
I hope you're feeling much better and that right speedily! And if the birthday was yours, belated greetings and best wishes to you. :)
Here in the States we have a magazine called "Real Simple" which seems to consist mainly of suggestions for expensive things to buy. It's quite funny, actually ... I'm never been able to see where the Simple part is supposed to come in.
I look forward to whatever tweaks you see fit to make. (Your excellent taste will be your own best guide.) And guest posts might be very interesting.
Writing in the first person ... a thorny issue for me. It does feel so very self-centred to be saying "I" all the time - but then I fear that writing in the third person may sound pretentious. (I don't mind when others do it, but question my own ability to carry it off.)
P.S. Do you still sides-to-middle sheets? I have patched them but never tried this.
I for one am delighted that you are staying with blogger! I love to see you popping up on my reading list and I really enjoy reading your posts. Enjoy your revamp. Change is always fun isn't it. Although I think that your blog looks very cool just the way it is!
Once upon a time I had to edit a book on changing to an organic lifestyle and the author just hadn't got the whole concept of sustainability. Her idea was that you just replaced all the things you'd buy with ones that said 'organic' on the label. Struck me that the same was true of that mag. Nooooo. I'm moving further and further away from liking so much overt consumerism.
I must admit I'd move from blogger (but then I'm with WP and couldn't get on with blogger at all, plus I'm not a huge fan of Google's world domination plan), though you've really made it do what you want it to do - so why change?
I won't be subscribing either. Yes, I too shall be cutting out the middle man. My money is simply going into an allotment this year: a plot has just come up after three years on the waiting list. I suspect I'll learn most from my fellow allotment-holders, and from some well chosen blogs and books, this one included.
First off, I blogged about the likes of Mollie Makrs a few months ago - along the lines of it being very style over content - lovely to pick up and hold but actually very little to hold the attention. I bought first issue of Simple Things as a treat to read on the ferry going to Ireland, and more or less came to the same conclusion about that. Marginally better than MM but not worth the fiver, I fear.
No idea why 'one' should up sticks and change bloggin platforms when 'one' becomes more successful (and how does 'one' guage that, 'one' wonders?) (No it's no use, I can't do other than first person, it sounds so pretentious, and after all, we are blogging about our own experiences and lives.) I suppose if you blog in order to sell stuff it becomes rleveant, but why would chnaging to type-pad or....erm...wordpress or whatever, change your blogging experience? What would it do for you? What are you even wanting to change about your blogging? (I'm using 'you' in the general sense here.)I'm writing from a position of total ignorance here, do let us know what the advantages would be in moving, I'm intrugued! Honey and lemon and cinnamon, every four hours, boost your immune system. Hope your cold soon leaves. Lx
I'm so sorry Annie - can't begin to count the typos in that comment! Am feeling very jittery about a last-minute-BT-delivery-change which has ruined the arrangements of 5 people in one fell swoop. I'm still shaking with rage!!! Still, no excuse for not checking post first! Lx
I haven't come across The Simple Things, but I've tried to stay away from magazines this year and have done well so far, though I'm going to treat myself to a Christmas edition, just not sure which one yet.
Ha, ha...I've had a good giggle at the hand knit wearing challenge....and couldn't help thinking that if I were to begin his fitness regime, I may just be better ;-)
Great quote about not knowing others as well as yourself, I wish I had a brain that worked to remember these things.
Looking forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve....always interesting to hear your take and learn from your seemingly bottomless font of knowledge.
happy belated birthday...hope the cold didn't take you down for the celebration! I've managed to eliminate most magazines from my life----can't give up the British Country Living, but for now, that's it. I tried to like MM--it seems like it should be "my kind of mag" but I don't. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say, my crafing inspirations come more from Pinterest nowadays than a magazine. So thanks for the warning about Simple Things---it sounds somewhat like the US Real Simple; when it started years ago---I immediately subscribed, thinking that it was about living the simple life. oops. once again, can't tell a book by its title! I love everything about your blog---just the way it is now; but you are the creative one here, so I'll trust that somehow your vision will have me swooning, too. (How's the new "room" coming along?? Anxious for a glimpse)
I hope you had a great birthday (and hadn't yet come down with your cold!). That video was crazy. I found myself feeling worried for all those hand knits being stretched and tugged on over so many others. :-)
I think having a guest blogger once in awhile would be interesting. I hope you feel well soon, and that you don't have the same cold I caught in Korea. Three weeks later and I am still recovering.
Happy belated Birthday Annie! I think the guest blogger thing is totally up to you, it's your blog. I'm sure you'll do it in such a way that is true to you and knitsofacto. (I'm starting a scarf in cream merino, pure garter stitch perfection, long and tasselled and easy, on huge needles...so if you need a stand-in/guest...just saying...) Only joking. ;-)
Mollie Makes isn't for everyone, it's true (Lord, you must hate all the Mollie Makes stuff on my blog!) but I love the tutorials. I thought The Simple Things was a bit style over substance to begin with but it really grew on me and now I'm quite taken with it. xx
Personally, I like blogger and am really quite clueless to anyone's snooty opinion of where bloggers should blog ... it really is just a platform - it's what you build on it that makes it a beautiful blog - like you! I love your blog :)
Firstly, a very happy birthday to you Annie!. My 2 favourite Annie's celebrating birthdays in the same week!
I'm looking forward to any developments you have - someone guest posting in your space from time to time on 'your' topics would be really interesting.
Hope you shake the cold off soon. I'm indulging in some similar duvet-reading-knitting-whippet cuddling behaviour only without the excuse of the cold - the latter weeks of pregnancy are a bit overrated :-D
I have to admit that when I first started blogging, I tried writing in the third person...it just sounded less "me, me, me" but then as I kept up the blog, I realized...it is just me. I'm not the type to be knowledgeable, or witty, or creative enough to add links...and then I couldn't get that nagging grammatical rule out of my head that writing should not be passive!
And, I know this doesn't matter, but I would have commented sooner except my iPad doesn't like the Select profile button on the screen, and won't let me type in the pop-up box, so I have to drag out the old laptop just to say my piece! The iPad seems just to have an issue with blogspot comment boxes!
Thoreau did take his laundry home for his mother to do...
I like the first person. This blogging community (of which I am so lax a member) is all about connecting. It wouldn't be the same without it. (One knits ones stitches?)
I meant to also add that I learned those skills as well, except soldering. Turn a collar and cuffs? Why yes I can. Mend zippers? Of course. My depression era mother made sure I had all the mad skilz for survival.
Yes I find I am both attracted and repelled by the Mollie Makes/Simple Things phenomenon. I can't say I don't like the look of it all, but it is somehow rather ridiculous to be promoting a simple make-do and mend kind of life, through an absolute consumerist channel and marketing. I live in Italy though, so I can't buy a copy, phew! :)
Where to start ....best just tumble in here,there's a lot to consider....firstly tuck yourself up and get rid of the cold....lots of hot honey and lemon...the natural stuff not the lemon sip pack.... and then thank you for the sheds. In case you're not quite sure what the dickens I'm on about I'll explain I can't buy Mollie Makes or Simple Things here in Spain and as the word Free practically jumped out at me and hit me in the face I popped into the 91 Magazine, on skipping lightly through the publicity I came across the shed article! There I stayed to drool over the sheds and read. It is a dream of mine to have a shed/place of mine to retreat to, that is in a garden,that has a big window overlooking a garden; a very private place.The images accompanying the article more then fitted in with my habitual daydreams.
Thanks for the link to 91 magazine, it's lovely. If only I wasn't so untidy and also had a smidge of artistic talent, I'd love to redecorate my whole house in white with splashes of colour.
And that video just cracks me up every time!! I didn't realise it was Stephen West, is he the "athlete" or the "trainer"?
Comments are the best bit! And I always read them, every one, so do please join the conversation. There's no silly word verification either, so go on, say hello :D (Please note that due to failings in Blogger's spam filter I can no longer allow anonymous comments, but if you don't have your own URL you can use Google, Yahoo, Flickr, or a.n.other OpenID. Read how here. Or email me, I'll always reply.)
After "food, and clothing, and shelter" he required only "a few implements, a knife, an axe, a spade, a wheelbarrow, etc., and ... lamplight, stationery, and access to a few books". I, on the other hand, require half the gizmos and gadgets that make 21st century living viable ... jeez, just the blogging is impossible without a camera, a laptop, and a heap of networking hardware! Poor Thoreau - a man who declared "inventions" such as the "magnetic telegraph" to be "an improved means to an unimproved end" - he must be turning in his grave!
I'm** a 'make do and mend' gal. Grandma Eva taught me how to sides-to-middle sheets, patch fabrics, and darn socks (eugh!), and my darling Dad taught me how to glue and solder and nail stuff back together. And suddenly what I've always done is fashionable. Improving what you already have, whenever you can, that works for me. I should blog more about it. And I plan to apply it to knitsofacto.
I am forever being advised that as this blog is becoming increasing successful I should switch to my own domain - I do own knitsofacto.com - on a different platform - WordPress.org for preference. But I really like Blogger. So I'm staying right here. Maybe it's a decision I'll come to regret, even be forced to reconsider, but for now I shall risk Google's whims and caprices and challenge the assumption that a blogspot url is not for the serious blogger***. And I shall be blogging about what I learn along the way.
Which brings me to another improvement, she types tentatively, hoping that it will be. I mentioned a pending blog revamp a week or two ago and in addition to tweeking knitso's style elements I'm hoping to quite radically reorganise the content. In part I want to have somewhere more logical to share knit related stuff that isn't quite post material, like the hilarious and totally off the wall video below. Not a static page but something akin to a tabbed category. I won't say more just now because I'm not absolutely sure that what I want to do can in fact be done, but if you arrive one day and things are looking a little odd around here please stick with me, it will hopefully not last long. And I have a question for you: how would you feel about on-topic guest posts popping up here from time to time? I'm not sure myself - this is so very much my space - but I do know one or two folk I'd trust to add to the knitso' conversation, if you'd be interested in hearing what they have to say?
i told you even before, but I really enjoy reading your clever and simple posts!!
ReplyDeletexxxx Alessandra
I've flicked through Mollie Makes and The Simple Things at the newsagents but haven't bought them because I can read blogs that are just as beautifully photographed but give more detailed and advanced instruction. But then I'm not a mindful young consumer.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the revamp.
I love your blog as it is, Annie, but will be fascinated to see how you choose to change it. I'm with you on staying with Blogger, despite all its idiosyncrasies. I have a private back-up of my blog on WordPress, but find the free version of WP much less easy and more restricted to personalise than Blogger.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for the quote from Thoreau. It's what i'm trying to do more and more as I get older, but it isn't easy.... Hope the cold gets better soon.
I do so need to simplify but where to start. I am presently at the 'piles of things' stage.
ReplyDeleteAs you know I love your blog but can't wait to see the new additions, good luck with the revamp.
Annie
ReplyDeletei bought the first copy of "The Simple Things" and enjoyed it somewhat more than Mollie Makes but then again I am not prepared to spend a fiver each month on a magazine reminding me of what i already do. I get rather het up over my everyday obvious living being put in a magazine to make it look cool, mindful and trendy!!! OK I'm becoming grumpy, please forgive me :o)
Look forward to seeing your newness xox Penelope
Hi Annie
ReplyDeleteAs always a fabulous post and I know exactly what you mean about The Simple Things. I love the magazine for its pictures and recipes and utterly lovely things I feel the need to get my hands on..... but a £25 plate to adorn my walls with an artsy design, is absolutely not what I think revelling in the simple things is about and I kick myself after for having that...ooh I must have one of those moments.
I am genuinely trying to make my life more simple, to live in the moment and enjoy the simple pleasures life has to offer - your post really reminded me of that.
Thank you.
Your
What an enjoyable and interesting post Annie.
ReplyDeleteI was a bit rude about Simple Things a couple of weeks ago. I didn't buy it but I had a good flick through in WHSmith's and I came to exactly the same conclusion as you have; to simplify you must buy. I'm so glad I'm not alone in not liking Mollie Makes. All magazines are selling something.
I've always been happy with Blogger but I have wondered whether I should have my own domain-thingy (see how expert I am). I'm inclined to think it unnecessary though.
Looking forward to the new look.
Fab post Annie. I've yet to take a look at 'the simple things', it's the price that puts me off and hubby saying 'not another magazine' :) maybe I'll get a copy and hide it on the bookcase :) am definitely with you on the make do and mend ethos too.
ReplyDeleteVictoria xx
Happy belated birthday! I've flicked through said magazine, looks good but can't afford the price! I try and keep my life as uncomplicated as possible these days, not always easy! It's an aspiration really! It a One Day......
ReplyDeleteGuest blgs, fine with me!
Hope you feel better soon! Ada :)
"I shall bury myself under warm blankets and sleepy whippets, and do nothing but read books and magazines."
ReplyDeleteYep, that'll do for me.
Dear Annie
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to know that I'm not alone in not really liking Mollie Makes. I did look through it so that I knew what I was missing, but felt I could live without it. The Simple Things seduced me with its rather lovely layout and photos, but I haven't yet sat down and looked at either copy we've bought, so what does that say? Yet another magazine to add to the precarious pile in the corner? It probably won't stop me adding to that pile in the future. Hope you are feeling better - my cold has been dragging on for an age. Even the echinacea isn't shaking it off. Good excuse to snuggle up and watch a lovely film, read a book and/or eat chocolate. Sounds like a plan...
Best wishes
Ellie
I love your posts and often agree with everything you say. I have seen the mags and my immediate thoughts were rather along the lines of yours ie why do we need to buy a mag at £4.99 to be shown how to consume more in order to live the simple life. I must admit that my blog post Joy in the simple things was a reaction to the magazine. I think it is the photography which sells mags like this one as there is nothing in it that we didn't already know really is there? I'd be happy to accept your judgement on visitors adding their input to your blog.
ReplyDeletePS I meant to say I do hope you will feel better soon - colds are such miserable ailments though I guess a good excuse to cuddle up with your dogs and a magazine!
ReplyDeleteI cancelled my subscription to Mollie Makes as I simply got bored with it, it never really varied much from month to month I found and as The Simple Things was a sister mag I assumed it would be more of the same.
ReplyDeleteVivienne x
Thoreau supplies the best quotes, doesn't he? Every day I realize that the internet is just another "improved means toward an unimproved end", except as it makes blogs like yours possible. We needn't feel so bad about not living Thoreau's supposedly simple life, however, when we remember that he visited town regularly, and that his mother regularly brought him well-cooked meals and other treats.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that many things we think of as simple pleasures - hot and cold running water, cotton sheets, books - are products of life in an industrialized society, but perhaps the point of a "simple life" in any culture is to recognize what good things one has close to hand, without endlessly fretting for something more/better/else.
-- stashdragon
My budget doesn't stretch to buying a monthly magazine but I find blogs are the best source of ideas, inspiration and information and they are so much more personal too. I hope you shift your cold soon - it's hard to be rid of the sniffles at this time of year with the cold and damp encroaching into the days. Glad the birthday was a good one x
ReplyDeleteHope you feel much better soon. I must admit I love writing in the third person, it seems somehow less self-centred. As to Wordpress, it is good for building websites, but Blogger is pretty easy to use, most readers seem to be using Blogger, and so many people like to follow through GFC, and I am pretty indolent about moving. But then I don't think that I have ever claimed to be a serious blogger or really had aspirations that way - I like to be a no obligations, keep it simple amateur blogger! Have you looked at Beach Cottage? Sarah started out as an everyday blogger and is now one of the big players - she has a proper domain name. You can get Blogger to point at your own website/domain name, so you could always do that - which would enable you to be knitsofacto.com without any blogspot, yet still use Blogger as your platform.
ReplyDeleteAnd after that ramble, I will go back to sleep - lots of things to think about in that post, which is why I am wittering on - or maybe I am just a witterer!
Pomona x
Dear Annie,
ReplyDeleteHello there! Does that sound as if I haven't seen you for a while? I agree with you about Blogger BUT I am more than a little peeved that I have been robbed of your previous post! Imagine Annie my dismay when I arrive here all giddy with excitement at the thought of reading your thoughts after a week's absence to find that I have missed out! I simply must go and pour myself a glass of red wine.
I hope you shake that cold off Annie although, others will agree with me I'm sure, your post's excellent quality does not betray your weakened state!
Stephanie
A glass of good red, the perfect cure for a disappointment ;) Perhaps you should risk an email subscription, that way you will be miraculously notified within hours of a new post going up. I promise you won't be spammed!
DeleteWell that was a chatty post! I always enjoy Thoreau's words. Look after your cold, there's nothing like a duvet and hot drinks and some good reading!
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely post! I too was (un)surprised how many *things* the Simple Things mag made me want to buy. I do have an internal dilemma often that my very existence relies on persuading other people to buy more *stuff* (even if it is beautiful yarn ;-) ) Loved the Stephen West video - thanks for the giggle...
ReplyDeleteI don't know the magazine you mention but I am not a magazine reader anyway. Magazines are stylish themselves and want you to do things in a particular style. So you can't just do things, like bake a cake and put it on a plate and eat it. If you do so (instead of a complicated icing, decoration, ornated plate, putting the piece of cake of a rosy plate with napkins), it's called style of Simple Things. I hate this!
ReplyDeleteI like your blog (the photos, the writing) because it is beauti- and meaningful.
Hopefully, you are getting better soon. Stay in bed! :-)
Where do you find all the pictures to illustrate your posts they arw always so wonderful! I find I don't have much time any more to read magazines apart from my favourites. I prefer picking up new ideas and inspiration from blogs. I much prefer the second magazine of the two that you have shown.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a good week.
Sarah x
I did buy Simple Things and quite liked it but no I won't be buying it regularly. As you say there are so many lovely online mags and wonderful blogs to read that I find I don't have the inclination to buy £4.99 magazines. I sometimes get my Mum's thumbed magazines and I often pick up a free Waitrose magazine but I'm ashamed to say that they sometimes get recycled without a proper read.
ReplyDeleteI too am looking forward to your revamp, I'm sure whatever you choose to do (on whatever platform you like) will be gorgeous and interesting.
Thoreau plus my gizmos please.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about The Simple Things and Mollie Makes... they seem to be all about a rather contrived way of living and I don't really understand all the fuss and hype about them... and I'm quite content with blogger too. Is it just because it is free it is not considered "serious"?
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate the Thoreau references! Hope you're feeling better too. What better place to recover than one's own bed?! I like blogger....and you can host on your own domain, it's very easy to do! I've just switched, but am failing to blog. Hey ho!
ReplyDeleteDiana (formerly known as Pebbledash!)
Hello Annie, sorry to hear you're ailing and I do hope you are in fine fettle very soon. I am very happy with Mr Blogger, particularly since he's free, unlike the mags you mention which are both outrageously priced. Give me my Country Living any day of the week.
ReplyDeleteKate xox
Poppytalk is one of my favourite sites. And I am a big fan of Blogger - other blog platforms might be more slick and all that but Blogger is user-friendly and comfy.
ReplyDeleteThe Simple Things is nice, yes, but not good enough to justify the expense - I much prefer the online mags and really like 91. I also like looking at Covet Garden but will add that I don't like the feeling I get that I should be buying all those cool things in order to be on trend, cool, and happy. Like you, I need very little to be content. Less and less as I get older. Books, hot showers, coffee, warm socks, homemade bread, my cosy bed....hmmm...and yes my camera, computer and iPod. :)
It is true that the small, simple things often bring me the most joy. And I am learning to embrace them and recognise them more often, and slow down a little and take the time to appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting post all over!
xxo
I do hope that you are feeling much better, Annie.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit befuzzled by the new magazines, and living in the US they are very expensive.
I never have lived a "Thoreauean" life, but did grow up in the 40's..gasp. Remaking, mending, and making do is what was. Honolulu just after Pearl Harbor marked our lives.
I have to say that I would give my eye teeth to have been able to connect with other women when I was young, a mother without a mother to others...a young and struggling family so very far away from our families.
It is a blessing to have you in my life and to have others like you..truly it is ten times ten.
Simplicity right now means lighting the wood stove because it is rainy and gloomy, cooking dinner and knowing that there are so many lovely and beautiful people out there such as you and your readers. I can drop words here, letter by letter, word by word, thought by thought and phrase by phrase. It's a blessing. Love to you as always, Ellen.
Hi Annie,
ReplyDeleteI am like you and enjoy blogger and hope it does not change.
Sorry to hear you have a cold and hope you feel better soon.
Glad that the birthday was a happy one. Darning socks and turning the sheets and collars was something my Mum did when I was growing up.
Happy week
Carolyn
Happy Belated Birthday Annie! And I do hope you feel better soon, although your description of how to spend a sick day is making me think I may be feeling a cold coming on myself... (cough) :D
ReplyDeleteI am not a consumer of magazines I'm afraid, as I find I am able to find lots and lots of creative inspiration on the internet, for which I am already paying to access. Looking forward to seeing some of your changes, although mainly out of curiosity as I love your blog just as it is!
Janine xo
I hope you're feeling much better and that right speedily! And if the birthday was yours, belated greetings and best wishes to you. :)
ReplyDeleteHere in the States we have a magazine called "Real Simple" which seems to consist mainly of suggestions for expensive things to buy. It's quite funny, actually ... I'm never been able to see where the Simple part is supposed to come in.
I look forward to whatever tweaks you see fit to make. (Your excellent taste will be your own best guide.) And guest posts might be very interesting.
Writing in the first person ... a thorny issue for me. It does feel so very self-centred to be saying "I" all the time - but then I fear that writing in the third person may sound pretentious. (I don't mind when others do it, but question my own ability to carry it off.)
P.S. Do you still sides-to-middle sheets? I have patched them but never tried this.
I for one am delighted that you are staying with blogger! I love to see you popping up on my reading list and I really enjoy reading your posts. Enjoy your revamp. Change is always fun isn't it. Although I think that your blog looks very cool just the way it is!
ReplyDeleteI did look at Simple Life, very very briefly...
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time I had to edit a book on changing to an organic lifestyle and the author just hadn't got the whole concept of sustainability. Her idea was that you just replaced all the things you'd buy with ones that said 'organic' on the label. Struck me that the same was true of that mag. Nooooo. I'm moving further and further away from liking so much overt consumerism.
I must admit I'd move from blogger (but then I'm with WP and couldn't get on with blogger at all, plus I'm not a huge fan of Google's world domination plan), though you've really made it do what you want it to do - so why change?
I won't be subscribing either. Yes, I too shall be cutting out the middle man. My money is simply going into an allotment this year: a plot has just come up after three years on the waiting list. I suspect I'll learn most from my fellow allotment-holders, and from some well chosen blogs and books, this one included.
ReplyDeleteHi Annie, wow, what a meaty post!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I blogged about the likes of Mollie Makrs a few months ago - along the lines of it being very style over content - lovely to pick up and hold but actually very little to hold the attention. I bought first issue of Simple Things as a treat to read on the ferry going to Ireland, and more or less came to the same conclusion about that. Marginally better than MM but not worth the fiver, I fear.
No idea why 'one' should up sticks and change bloggin platforms when 'one' becomes more successful (and how does 'one' guage that, 'one' wonders?) (No it's no use, I can't do other than first person, it sounds so pretentious, and after all, we are blogging about our own experiences and lives.) I suppose if you blog in order to sell stuff it becomes rleveant, but why would chnaging to type-pad or....erm...wordpress or whatever, change your blogging experience? What would it do for you? What are you even wanting to change about your blogging? (I'm using 'you' in the general sense here.)I'm writing from a position of total ignorance here, do let us know what the advantages would be in moving, I'm intrugued!
Honey and lemon and cinnamon, every four hours, boost your immune system. Hope your cold soon leaves. Lx
I'm so sorry Annie - can't begin to count the typos in that comment! Am feeling very jittery about a last-minute-BT-delivery-change which has ruined the arrangements of 5 people in one fell swoop. I'm still shaking with rage!!! Still, no excuse for not checking post first! Lx
ReplyDeleteI like the mag! But I DID enjoy reading this post - it made me smile!!! You're totally right, of course! :-)
ReplyDeleteCarly
x
I haven't come across The Simple Things, but I've tried to stay away from magazines this year and have done well so far, though I'm going to treat myself to a Christmas edition, just not sure which one yet.
ReplyDeletethanks for my morning smile. I will be sharing that it will some of my friends in need of cheer today.
ReplyDeletexo
Ha, ha...I've had a good giggle at the hand knit wearing challenge....and couldn't help thinking that if I were to begin his fitness regime, I may just be better ;-)
ReplyDeleteGreat quote about not knowing others as well as yourself, I wish I had a brain that worked to remember these things.
Looking forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve....always interesting to hear your take and learn from your seemingly bottomless font of knowledge.
happy belated birthday...hope the cold didn't take you down for the celebration! I've managed to eliminate most magazines from my life----can't give up the British Country Living, but for now, that's it. I tried to like MM--it seems like it should be "my kind of mag" but I don't. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say, my crafing inspirations come more from Pinterest nowadays than a magazine. So thanks for the warning about Simple Things---it sounds somewhat like the US Real Simple; when it started years ago---I immediately subscribed, thinking that it was about living the simple life. oops. once again, can't tell a book by its title!
ReplyDeleteI love everything about your blog---just the way it is now; but you are the creative one here, so I'll trust that somehow your vision will have me swooning, too. (How's the new "room" coming along?? Anxious for a glimpse)
I hope you had a great birthday (and hadn't yet come down with your cold!). That video was crazy. I found myself feeling worried for all those hand knits being stretched and tugged on over so many others. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think having a guest blogger once in awhile would be interesting. I hope you feel well soon, and that you don't have the same cold I caught in Korea. Three weeks later and I am still recovering.
Happy belated Birthday Annie! I think the guest blogger thing is totally up to you, it's your blog. I'm sure you'll do it in such a way that is true to you and knitsofacto. (I'm starting a scarf in cream merino, pure garter stitch perfection, long and tasselled and easy, on huge needles...so if you need a stand-in/guest...just saying...) Only joking. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMollie Makes isn't for everyone, it's true (Lord, you must hate all the Mollie Makes stuff on my blog!) but I love the tutorials. I thought The Simple Things was a bit style over substance to begin with but it really grew on me and now I'm quite taken with it. xx
Happy Birthday!!! I hope you feel better soon!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I like blogger and am really quite clueless to anyone's snooty opinion of where bloggers should blog ... it really is just a platform - it's what you build on it that makes it a beautiful blog - like you! I love your blog :)
Firstly, a very happy birthday to you Annie!. My 2 favourite Annie's celebrating birthdays in the same week!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to any developments you have - someone guest posting in your space from time to time on 'your' topics would be really interesting.
Hope you shake the cold off soon. I'm indulging in some similar duvet-reading-knitting-whippet cuddling behaviour only without the excuse of the cold - the latter weeks of pregnancy are a bit overrated :-D
Right, off to google "sides-to-middle sheets"!
Mel x
I have to admit that when I first started blogging, I tried writing in the third person...it just sounded less "me, me, me" but then as I kept up the blog, I realized...it is just me. I'm not the type to be knowledgeable, or witty, or creative enough to add links...and then I couldn't get that nagging grammatical rule out of my head that writing should not be passive!
ReplyDeleteAnd, I know this doesn't matter, but I would have commented sooner except my iPad doesn't like the Select profile button on the screen, and won't let me type in the pop-up box, so I have to drag out the old laptop just to say my piece! The iPad seems just to have an issue with blogspot comment boxes!
mmm not sure about the guest thing Annie, personally i find them often diluting............but perhaps you are the person to pull it off.
ReplyDeleteKaren
I don't have the budget for magazines at the moment so I'm very glad I can read as many blogs as I want for free!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes you could get knitsofacto.com to forward to this blog, then give out either address. No need to move from Blogger.
Thoreau did take his laundry home for his mother to do...
ReplyDeleteI like the first person. This blogging community (of which I am so lax a member) is all about connecting. It wouldn't be the same without it. (One knits ones stitches?)
I meant to also add that I learned those skills as well, except soldering. Turn a collar and cuffs? Why yes I can. Mend zippers? Of course. My depression era mother made sure I had all the mad skilz for survival.
ReplyDeleteYes I find I am both attracted and repelled by the Mollie Makes/Simple Things phenomenon. I can't say I don't like the look of it all, but it is somehow rather ridiculous to be promoting a simple make-do and mend kind of life, through an absolute consumerist channel and marketing. I live in Italy though, so I can't buy a copy, phew! :)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Annie! Hope you had a lovely day despite your cold. Get well soon!
ReplyDeleteHello there
ReplyDeleteWhere to start ....best just tumble in here,there's a lot to consider....firstly tuck yourself up and get rid of the cold....lots of hot honey and lemon...the natural stuff not the lemon sip pack.... and then thank you for the sheds. In case you're not quite sure what the dickens I'm on about I'll explain I can't buy Mollie Makes or Simple Things here in Spain and as the word Free practically jumped out at me and hit me in the face I popped into the 91 Magazine, on skipping lightly through the publicity I came across the shed article! There I stayed to drool over the sheds and read. It is a dream of mine to have a shed/place of mine to retreat to, that is in a garden,that has a big window overlooking a garden; a very private place.The images accompanying the article more then fitted in with my habitual daydreams.
Hope you get better soon
Amanda :-)
Thanks for the link to 91 magazine, it's lovely. If only I wasn't so untidy and also had a smidge of artistic talent, I'd love to redecorate my whole house in white with splashes of colour.
ReplyDeleteAnd that video just cracks me up every time!! I didn't realise it was Stephen West, is he the "athlete" or the "trainer"?