Non-knitting blogs (and I don't mean this one...)

I’ve intended to blog about four times in the last week, but here’s the absolute truth: Given the choice between blogging and making something to blog about, I choose the making part every time. Which I suppose is a good thing. If you think this blog is boring when it’s just Show and Tell, imagine how boring it would be if there wasn’t even that. Yeah, I thought so.

So I’ve been working hard, but I don’t have anything to show for it at the moment. I spent several weeks cranking out beautiful things I’ve wanted to make for awhile (and there are more of those, never fear!), but it’s made my brain start blossoming with all sorts of ideas. So I’m doing some designing. I said last year that I wanted to design two snowflakes and maybe something larger. Well, I designed one snowflake and that’s it. Still, one snowflake is better than no snowflakes, and I feel that it was my best design yet (even though it wasn’t really creative in that it was copying nature). But I’ve been lurking (and not lurking!) about on a new crop of blogs I’ve found, and I’m full of new inspiration. Most of the design process so far involves swatching. Lots and lots of swatching. New stitches, how they like to lay, how they work with different yarns and hooks, increases, decreases, the whole shebang. Not glamorous, and not ready for prime time. But I think the results will be worth something.

In the meantime, Ten on Tuesday is accomplishing its task as a blog fodder generator. I actually like the topic this week although I had trouble locating ten non-knitting blogs that I regularly read and enjoy and are possibly new to you. Yes, I read LOLCats but I didn’t think that was really list worthy. Silly is fine, but I tried for at least not silly and ubiquitous.

So here, in alphabetical order (I really hate ranking things), are my ten favorite non-knitting (or any crafting, for that matter) blogs:

• BibliOdyssey: This blog contains the most beautiful collections of art and curiosities. Primarily it showcases recently digitized collections of illustrations, etc. from libraries and museums around the world. When this one comes up in my feeds, I’m always very excited!
  
  
• BoingBoing: An overwhelming amount of pop culture, politics (primarily net-related), and geekdom. So many posts a day that there’s no way I can keep up with it, but when I do have time to sit and scroll through, I always find something I want to know more about. Also, more than once I’ve known the answer to the Bluff the Listener challenge on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me! because of reading this blog.
  
  
• Club Jade: Home of the Star Wars fangirls I used to run with. Snarky, geeky, genre-specific fun.
  
  
• Criggo: Their motto is, “Newspapers are going away. That’s too bad.” This is a site in the grand internet tradition of holding the world up to a scrutiny that we, ourselves, could never, ever pass, and then making merciless fun of it. In this case, newspaper copy editors, classifieds buyers, police blotters, and local admen get the brunt of it. But really, some of this stuff is just pretty darned funny.
  
  
• The Different Drummer Soundtrack: The Different Drummer lives an interesting life full of choices I wouldn’t make for myself and that’s what makes it all so very readable. He lives in a co-op (he’s lived in several, actually) in Madison, WI, he’s joined the Baha’i faith and he moonlights as a DJ. He’s introspective and willing to share so much of his life with his readers.
  
  
• March of the Platypi: A big city ER nurse tells tales that don’t break the HIPAA rules. I like to think that venting on his blog allows him to make it through one more shift doing the work I could never do in a million years. Updated sporadically, so it’s easy to keep up with, but I miss him when he’s gone.
  
  
• Mystagogy: Eastern Orthodox lives of saints, theological essays, current events, and sundry, Churchy stuff. More than I keep up with regularly, but it's a good resource.
  
  
• Smitten Kitchen: I’ve never once made any of the mouthwatering recipes on this site. But I always, always intend to. The photography of the food makes me drool, and I think they love mushrooms almost as much as I do. Oh man, I’m salivating just thinking about it.
  
  
• The Time Hack: An interesting year-long experiment testing the idea that we perceive time differently in different situations. Specifically, the gentleman is doing something he’s never done before every day this year to see if we really perceive time “more slowly” the first time we do something. Also, a growing list of 365 things one person has never done before that they are A) willing to do and, B) willing to talk about in a public forum. Granted, some of the things are kinda lame.
  
  
• WWdN (Wil Wheaton dot Net): You may remember him as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation or you may remember him as Gordie from Stand By Me, but Wil Wheaton is all grown up now and he’s really open about his life, his career, what a gamer geek he is, and how fortunate he feels for the life he has. Also, he’s just a big ol’ dork like me. And I totally respect that.

That's all for now. Next time, an FO. No, really. It's already finished and received and cuddled and everything. :)
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