Iiiiiiiiiintroduction

Well, I decided to create a knitblog, so I should probably, y'know, start it. FAQ format, go!

Just who the crap are you?

I'm Becky. Or b.mro, as some call me. I'm one of the few people whose fly girl name actually works, so I go with it. I don't have any decent current pictures of me, especially since my hair is at that ugly awkward growing-out stage, so here's a picture of a cow with some stuff on its head:



I graduated from college in May with a degree saying I know my crap about advertising, marketing, public relations, and writing, and am still on the search for a job that will hire someone with just-above-entry-level experience. For now, I live in the Minneapolis area, and I work in food service management at Twins/Vikings/Gophers games, which isn't always as cool as it sounds. But it means I take the train to work, which gives me downtime to knit.

What's this about knitting, now?

Well, that's simple: I knit a lot.

I started knitting in January 2007. I went back to collegetown right after New Years, because I needed money and my two off-campus jobs were whining about winter break being a whole month long... and then I was only scheduled a couple days a week. Very few of my friends were back in collegetown with me, and I was bored out of my mind. Then, one day, I remembered watching my boyfriend's friend's girlfriend knitting while role-playing at the gaming night I was dragged to. I decided, hey, I want to do that! and immediately went out to buy some acrylic yarn and the cheapest set of needles I could find.

I found a learn-to-knit website, picked up the basics like that *snaps fingers*, was referred to Knitty by another knitting friend, and started obsessively looking at patterns. I was in awe with all the cool stuff that could be made by knitting and purling. And, as much as I hate to use a cliche, the rest is history. *bows*

The main things I enjoy about knitting are:

• Stress relief
  
• Creating awesome stuff for myself and others
  
• The weird looks I get from fellow train riders

So why a knitblog?

In my last semester of college, I took a class called Weblogs and Wikis. We learned about blogs and wikis (duh), got a little experience writing for both, then had to pick one with which to create a long-term, focused project. I chose a personal blog. I had great ideas for more researchy blogs, but I didn't think any of them could hold my interest for the whole semester, so I decided that by calling it a "personal blog" I could get away with writing a little about everything. The thought of a knitblog crossed my mind, but I was still new enough to the craft that I was afraid I'd lose interest partway through the semester, and thus be screwed on my project. For a while, though, I was going through some really personal stuff that I didn't exactly feel comfortable letting my classmates and teacher read about, so I was mostly blogging about knitting.

I vowed I'd keep up on that personal blog after the semester ended, but that, um, didn't happen. I didn't even log in to blogger for like, three months. I got bored and logged in recently, and discovered that my teacher had posted a bunch of links on the class blog about freelancing and professional blogging. I read most of it and was inspired to start blogging again... this time, about knitting.

Okay. So you're just another fly on the raccoon carcass, blathering about the things you're making?

Sure. But that's only part of it.

My blog class taught me that focusing is a good thing. So, here's a blog with a few different yet related focuses:

• Knitting on a budget (i.e. finding ways around spending $20 for a few yards of yarn without shopping online)
  
• Doing yarny things without the standard things (i.e. making new yarn without spinning equipment)
  
• Being a decent knitter who still has much to learn (i.e. coming up with my own patterns)
  
• And, for the time being, running a knitblog without owning a digital camera (I seem to keep breaking them, so I have to borrow either my boyfriend's camera or my mom's scanner)

I also hope for this blog to be an outlet to improve my HTML and online writing and marketing skillz, as well as a starting point for a business venture. I wouldn't mind making scarves/hats/etc. to sell, and I hope to get into dying and spinning, so I can make yarn like crazy and sell that as well. And maybe branch this blog out into a full website with techniques and patterns and such. We'll see what happens.

Why "squishyknits"?

Um... I don't know. I was trying to think of names that were random and amusing, but could also work as the name of a professional company (read: something I can put on a resume). The name "squishyknits" randomly came to me one day, and it just seemed right. So, there you go.


If you have any more questions, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email (milliebmro[at]gmail[dot]com). Happy knitting/reading!