Three Years Ago Today...

...is when this all started...I hit publish on my first post (no link- it just said I'm here).

I had been reading blogs for about 2 months and had a job that afforded a load of down time.  So, "Why not.", thought I, it shouldn't be too hard to knit and talk about it, too.  Well, here I am three years later still in Blogland...a very different Blogland than it was back then. It's bigger, full of celebs, full of designers and more dynamic than anyone thought it would be (don't you think?).  I knew there would be community (we all knit, for heaven sake), but I didn't know the extent to which yarn and needles would connect us.  Many of my 'best' friends, the people I 'talk' to daily are here in Blogland. We are connected throughout the day, easily available to each other and that makes for a strong friendships. My 'real' friends often wonder why I'm not around as much and it's in large part due to having so many friends, true friends here...in cyberspace.  Is that a sad thing or an amazingly wonderful one?  Both, is my answer.

The very best thing to happen during the three years I've had a home in Blogland was Rhinebeck last October.  To visit face to face, spend time hanging, knitting and shopping to with many of my pals was a true highlight...not only by Blogland standards, but a highlight of my 'real' life, too.

I just love to revisit these pictures and think of the friendships that grew stronger with my visit.  I miss you all everyday!

Birdsong (who needs a special hug) and Kim are two more bloggers who live a ways away, but it hasn't hampered the growth of our friendship.  I hope to see you both soon.

Being in Blogland has produced many friendships close to home, too.  I'm not sure I would have met Susan, Miriam, Blogless Karen, Anne or any number of the Ewe-tah Grrls. Anne, who I helped enticed from Vermont to Utah, has now opened a great shop full of fibery goodness. And, what a great name she chose! Congrats on Wooly Wonka Fibers, Anne and may it be very successful.  I'll be doing my part to make sure it is!

There have been some ups and downs over the three years, as Blogland is surprisingly like 'real' life.  There are people who don't understand you, and visa versa, people you can't connect with in a positive way, and people who turn their back and walk away.  As in 'real life' you can hurt someones feelings, cause a rift, or make lasting friendships.  Life is very real here in our virtual world, too.

As a way of thanking you for taking time everyday to come here and read, to spend time with me and share who you are, I am giving away some prizes.  Three prizes for three years.

The fun bubblegum roving from Amy will hopefully become a nice handspun sock yarn...

Fleece Artistsock yarn in Hercules...

and Textiles A Mano 50silk/50 wool skein around 660 yds.

So,  here is the part where you must perform in order to be in the running for prizes.

When at a large dinner party, surrounded with people I don't know well or have met for the first (and perhaps last) time, it has been my ploy to ask each person to reveal a little secret about themselves.  Nothing too daring, dangrerous or shocking, just a little tidbit. Something that will help the rest of us at the table can get a sense of the person.  This technique has started some very interesting, and long lasting conversations. So, that's what I'm asking you to do...reveal a little secret about yourself, something you feel comfortable sharing, something you may not reveal to others often. 

We all have secrets...now share yours!  Everyone who leaves a little tidbit behind will be put into the drawing for several prizes which will be given away on March 14th...another special day in March.

Comments

[jackie]

Three years! Happy Blogaverary!
My little secret that I only share with yarn people is that nice yarn makes me drool. Really nice yarn makes my mouth fill with saliva and I find myself swallowing a lot. You can see why I share this tidbit with yarn people only. Those non-yarner just don't understand. I have also been know to say "Ohhh, I just want to LICK it" when shown a beautiful warp on a loom.

[Annie]

I was going to write anyway to wish you happy blogiversary! As for a secret...every now and then when the kids are out the door for school, (I have four, so it's a huge relief!) and my husband is off to work, (he's been unemployed on and off for two years, and just started his own business, so again with the huge relief), I will get into a pair of comfy sweats and go back to bed with my knitting or a good book. Not to sleep, just to be warm and cozy and doing something I love.(Instead of the housework I should be doing.)
Again, happy blogiversary, and thanks for the contest!

[Tan Summers]

Congrats on three successful years of bringing knitters everywhere together and enhancing the experience. As far as the contest goes, I talk so much I can't think what people don't already know about me. Ummm, how about . . . I play the harp. If you already knew that I'll try again.

[Emma.]

Happiest of blogiversaries ! It's been a pleasure to be invited into so much of your life, and your fibre passion.

My secret is that although I love my cyber fibre friends with a passion I have a bit of a mental block re: e-mail. Maybe that's not so much of a secret, being fairly obvious to those that patiently wait...
My fibre friends truly are ''my people''. Muggles, as Stephanie would say, just don't get it. The passion, the joy, the whole sensual pleasure, and the deep friendships that passion fosters. Stil, I hate writing e-mails. I'd far rather phone everyone, but being in the U.K. makes that a financial no no. The worst of it is that I write fantastic e-mails in my head. In the middle of the night.
I need to hone my telepathic skills !

[Carole]

Congratulations on 3 years! You already know so much about me that it's hard to come up with a new secret. Here's my biggest one, though. The one I hardly ever mention, yet it really impacted the way I grew up. My mom was an alcoholic.

[Karen]

Happy Blogiversary.
I often wonder how my life would be if I'd made a few different choices.

[susan]

Great idea for a contest!

[Carla]

Happy Happy Blogiversary!
Secrets are hard- I talk a lot. How about I spent a lot of my childhood in Rome,Italy.

[Barbara-Kay]

Congratulations on your anniversary. Few people know that I have a dulcimer that was made for me. It's sounding holes are in the shape of eighth notes, and its side walls are made of cedar. Oh, the fragrance when I open its case!

[mama-e]

ahh... secrets. How about my dad was a professional football player for the Philadelphia Eagles in the late 60's.
Maybe that is cheating because it is my dad's story?
Or that I have a huge crush on Lyle Lovett??

Happy Blogaversary friend.

[Liz K.]

My biggest secret among most of the IRL people I know is that I am a knit blogger!

My biggest secret among knit bloggers is my obsession with college basketball comes close to eclipsing my obsession with knitting.

Happy blogiversary and Happy March Madness!

[Norma]

Happy, happy blogiversary, Dear Margene! You are one of the brightest lights in the universe, and part of the glue that holds us all together.

The thing that jumps to mind is something I can't remember if I've told your or not, but they always say go with your first thought, so here it is: I have had a near-death experience, at the hands of violence. It was life-changing, in a good way.

[pippi]

Happy Blogaversary!!!

My seekret... I'm totally petrified that I'm going to fuck up my book... Drop the ball somehow.

[marie in florida]

huh*! you've gotten some surprising secrets here. so, this is one i seldom reveal to others , i'm an agnostic.
happy anniversary; i think i've been reading you first thing in the morning for two years.

[Kathleen]

Happy blogiversary Margene. I always think to your early non-face posting pics at the time of your anniversary. :)

Along the lines of Norma, my first thought was a violent experience too. I was raped when I was 15. And like Norma, it was life changing. It is hard to say good and rape in the same sentence (or comment) but I became a huge feminist afterwards through a series of experiences and events at high school and college.

[Miriam]

I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 11, and I think this is somehow connected to my non-drivers-licensed state.

[ann]

okay Margene, but only for you .......

I'm really a man.

[amanda]

Happy Blogiversary Margene!

And a secret...as much as I love my kids, my husband, my life, sometimes I just want to check myself into a nice hotel, hole up in the room, watch movies, knit, and eat room service without having to have conversations, answer questions.

[ann]

and here's another bombshell ....

I'm the father of Anna Nicole's baby.

whew, that's a load off.

[Anne]

Congrats on 3 years in the blogging universe! It wouldn't be the same without ya! :) And we all aren't just here for the prizes either.

Lessee...Here's a weird secret thing about me. I used to want to be a speed skater. Like Eric Heiden. But I don't know how to skate. Problematic, to say the least.

[Kathleen]

Happy Anniversary!

Many of my IRL friends I met through cyberspace. My best friend is Mike. I met him while posting on a divorce bulletin board. He met his now wife through the same group. I corresponded on line with a group in the "Mid-Atlantic" area for about a year and then just drove up the mountain to someone's house for a party and friendships, started in my dining room on my computer, were cemented on a deck in Carroll County, in July 1999!

[Lizzy B]

Happy Blogiversary! A secret? Ah, I am terrified that I will be a bad mother.

[Stitch-n-Snitch]

Happy Blogiversary, Ms. Got-Me-Into-Blogging!! :)

My secret? When I was in England three years ago I had to pee in a Ziploc bag in my hotel room because there was a scary man trying to get into the hotel and I would have had to go past him (and let him see me) in order to use the restroom!

[Nancy J]

A secret to blogland is that I have the equivalent of a Ph.D. in English but I'd really love to work with Meg at the Schoolhouse.

Happy Blogversary!

[Pat]

Thank you for 3 years of knitting, insight, inspiration, and entertainment!!

In 9th grade, I wrote in my diary..."I touched Dave Quinn's arm today - otherwise it was a normal day" (he was a handsome substitute teacher only 4 years older than me)....23 years later, I married him.

[angela]

Congratulations on 3 years of blogging! I enjoy visiting you daily (even though I don't always leave a comment!), and love sharing a glimpse into your landscape.

Hmmm, a secret huh? Well, this isn't really a secret, but it is something that most people in blogland don't really know about me...I'm a professional storyteller. As an introvert, I can tell you that it's incredibly difficult to get up in front of a large audience and perform! I used to be a professional clown as well, but haven't done that in almost 10 years.

[Kim]

Happy Blogiversary, dear grrl. I hope to see you soon too, and am keeping an eye out on the calendar to see when we can make that happen.

As for a little secret about myself...hmmm. My first, ah, amorous dream as a teen was about a movie star. David Niven, who wore a black turtleneck. Geez, is it suddenly warm in here, or is it just me?

xoxoxo

[melanie]

Happy blogiversary! Those are great Rhinebeck pictures!

[Paula]

Happy Blogiversary, Margene. I really enjoy your blog. DH is disgusted that he "knows who Margene is." My three year one is coming up, I did not think of that until now. Most people don't know that I knit sockies and have a knitting blog. Exciting, huh?

[Wendy]

A very happy blog-i-versary, dear Margene.

A little secret about me -- I can read and (more or less) speak Middle English. :-)

[Jacquie]

Happy Blogaversary Margene, I would never have got to know you IRL without finding you here first and that would have been very sad.

I think Miriam may have something with her theory - I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 9 or 10 and I didn't get my driver's license until I was 36.

[Kate]

congrats on 3 years! I think I am 2 this month. ( I should check)

Hmm... I never tell this secret: I'm smart. Like Mensa-smart with one of the top 100 highest recorded IQs, but I went to a regular high school and a regular college (and I didn't ace all my classes!).

Oh, and I can parallel-park like no-one's business!

[Chris]

Happy blogiversary!! A little secret... Hmm. I hate peeling citrus fruit and I hate eating citrus with seeds. Subsequently, other than orange juice, I'll really only eat clementines (no seeds and very easy to peel) and grapefruit (sliced and eaten with spoon, not peeled).

[Roxie]

Love the bubblegum yarn!

My secret: I have never pumped my own gas. (It's not legal in Oregon. If I drive out of state, I always have to ask some kind soul to do it for me. I don't have a clue about what to do.)

[Beth]

Congratulations Margene! I'm just a couple months behind you. :)

Here's my little secret that a few folks know but probably not Blogland... James Doohan kissed me on the cheek circa 1994.

[Janine]

Happy Anniversary! It must be mine soon I must go and check the archives :-)
A little secret.... mmmm... I'm a bit of a rebel at heart, no one would know to look at me ( apart from the scarlet and gold highlights in my dark hair perhaps) but I have 7 body piercings -and they are not all in my ears;-)

[erin]

Congrats! we are all very happy that three years ago you started a blog that always cheers me up.

[Carrie]

Wow, three years! Thanks!
Hmmm. I have no secrets! If something isn't too personal, everyone knows it, and if it is too personal, I don't tell anyone. Okay, here's one that no one in blogland would know, due to the nature of same - I have HUGE personal space issues and can't stand to be within a couple feet of someone I don't know. You can make me run away just by inching toward me repeatedly, and hugging a stranger causes me no end of grief. I put off a Don't Touch Me aura enough that while I was pregnant, no one ever came near my belly. (If ever I want to go to Rhinebeck, I'll probably have to have valium and beer for breakfast.)

[Margaret]

Happy Blogiversary!! I think I have been a loyal reader from the beginning.

My secret until recently would have been my knitting and the extent of my stash. Now that doesn't seem shocking here. But when an old classmate from architecture school asked me a year or so ago what I was doing to be creative and I said Knitting, there was an awkward silence. I've come to respect my knitting more since then so I care less whether my supposed peers do.

My new semi-secret is the blog.

[AnneMarie]

I've been reading your blog for about 6 months now (just now de-lurking-- bad, I know) and it's just wonderful. You feel like a long-distance friend. Happy blogiversary indeed.

My little secret is a knitting one, that I just told my husband the other day, and he looked at me like I was nuts, then walked away shaking his head (he's a muggle though, so we must forgive him). I absolutely must, at all times, have a sock on the needles. No matter how many other WIP's I have, if there are no socks on the list, I absolutely MUST cast one on. It's my own personal release valve. I can knit a plain sock sick, exhausted, worrying, concentrating on an intense TV show, arguing with my teenaged daughter, cheering her on in basketball, whatever, and it keeps me centered while any or all those things go on in a way that even spinning can't cover (ever try to spin angry or anxious? it don't work, friends).

Socks. I swear, they're good for what ails ya. Or me, at least. And life isn't complete without one on the go.

[Julia]

Happy Blogiversary Margene! We are so glad you are here with us. The only secret I can think of is, well, I was arrested once. And if my mom finds out, I am dead meat!

[Lisa in Oregon]

Now that I'm back to reading and blogging, I do read you daily, but rarely comment...but I'll peek my head out to say Happy Blogiversary!!!

Hmmm, secret or little-known fact about me?
I was kissed by Ginger Rogers as a baby. I secretly believe this is why I have the insatiable need to dance. ;)

[regina]

I'm so glad you're here. Even though we've only met once in person, I consider you a cherished friend.

My semi-secret is that i'm completely estranged from my eldest sibling. Our relationship, which was fragile at the best of times, completely came apart at the seams after my mother's passing. He's never met my children, and I've barely spoken with him at all in the past fifteen years.

[Deb]

Happy Blogiversary!
My secret is that I have taken to not leaving the house for work in the morning until I knit a few rows after my kids leave for school--even if it makes me late!

[Wendy]

I love being a mom. It's the best job ever! But I'm counting down the days till they're both in school 8:30 - 3:00. They never tell you you won't be alone for years. Anyway, that's my secret, for what it's worth. 178!

[Jenn]

Happy Anniversary! Hummmm a secret about me....well, no one knows about my blog but other bloggers...

But a bigger secret is.....well, I just can't share it :-)

[Kate]

Happy blogiversary!!

[Jane]

Hooray! Happy Blogiversary. A little secret about me is that I'm an only child. Only when my dad died, I found out I have a half-brother and sister. Whoops.

[claudia]

It really doesn't seem like three years, but Happy Blogday!

A secret, hmmm? OK, I always ALWAYS have a Kleenex in my hand or pocket or tucked into my sleeve or waistband when no pocket is available. Thanks to mom's genetics for a perpetually runny nose.

;-)

[Dr. Judy]

Happy B-day! Glad you're here.