I'm joining in on Vicki's "Grow Your Blog Party" – because who doesn't love new blogpals and hopefully more comments?!?
As with any good party, it's good to start with an ice-breaker. Vicki says to "Tell about who you are and why you started your blog. If your blog pertains to a particular interest, tell about that also." So here goes.
I began this blog in July, 2006 as an alternative to a website to help market my Shetland sheep and fleece. But it quickly became so much more than that. I have always liked to write and take pictures, and it turns out a blog is a great outlet for both pursuits! So although my little sheep make frequent appearances here, so do the spinning and knitting they got me into, our little five-acre piece of paradise on which we keep them, the other critters that live here, the food we grow, and the veterinarian husband and homeschooled son who help me take care of all of it. I also include places we go and things we do off the "farm," assorted musings, occasional recipes and give-aways . . . in short, the list of what this blog is all about is long! (If you are interested in something specific, click on the appropriate label in the "cloud" at right and all the posts containing that label will come up. I also have another blog which acts as a training journal for one of my passions – training horses in general and dressage in particular.)
How about a little prize drawing? Because my latest FO (finished object) generated so many positive comments, I've decided to give away a pair of these fingerless mitts as a Grow Your Blog Party "party favor." I will randomly choose one person from among all the commentors on this post (be sure your name is an active link, or include your email addy!), ask your preferences on size, color and yarn type, and knit a pair of fingerless mitts just for you. There are no restrictions; I will mail them anywhere, and you don't have to be a follower. (ETA: If you just can't see yourself ever using fingerless mitts, and don't know of anyone to whom you'd give them, I have an alternate idea; just let me know if your name is drawn.)
That's it for now from . . .
52 comments:
I'm a regular reader and I'd love a pair of those mitts, but since you've already sent me a beautiful scarf, I am not entering. Just commenting to let you know you inspire me...
Arggghhh are we to comment TODAY or TOMORROW! I think I saw a mention of the Grow Your Blog day today somewhere... I'm so glad you mentioned it, I'll plan on it tomorrow!
Thanks Jean!
Ruth, of COURSE you're entering! The scarf was something else entirely!
I don't think it matters when you comment, Mary Ann. Vicki said to post late on the 18th so I posted as late as possible before my computer time became sketchy for the weekend.
Hi Michelle... I come over from Pig Tales and Quilts to say howdy! This is going to be an awesome party for all!
The party looks like fun, and wow! a lot of bloggers joined in. I've no doubt you will make some wonderful new friends!
What fun! I'm in England so mitts made with Shetland wool would be kinda fun!
Thank you!
I have been reading Michelle's blog since it started. I don't post much but I look forward to reading all the goings on at Boulderneigh.
My craft blog:
http://machineembroiderycrafts.blogspot.com/
Good Morning from Sunny Santa Clara Valley,
I have to say that I've loved reading your blog. I even went back and read all the previous ones! Of course, I was looking for references to Sarai, but had a whole lot of fun on the way. Your ability to turn everything in your life into an adventure, as well as your amazing photographs, makes every issue of your blog a special treat. It gives me my Rural Life Fix as well. The only problem with your other blog is that I can't bury my nose in Lance's coat. Please arrange to have a horsey smell emanate from the computer. I would even like a sheepie smell from this blog! Maybe not a wet dog smell. I have that at home.
How do I get a picture attached to my post?
Sue Duffield, SF Bay Area
Sigh. I'm a technophobe. Here is my picture.
Sue Duffield, Technically in the Stone Age
What a fabulous blog! You are doing what I hope to be doing beginning this year, only I will have angora bunnies instead of sheep. I'm just now getting ready to take spinning lessons and I couldn't be more excited about it all. I've wanted to learn to spin for years and finally I'm doing it! You are definitely an inspiration and I will most certainly become a regular follower!
Happy blog hopping today,
Hugs,
Beth P
Oh, as to the fingerless gloves, I like natural fleece colors and am a medium size.
Michelle, your blog is one of the few I make time to read often. They are always filled with wonderful pictures and beautiful writing. And I love your other blog as well!!
What a lovely blog full of inspiration and so many lovely creations! I am happy to meet you through the Grow Your Blog party. I would love to be in the drawing for those mittens. As a photographer, I am often taking my mittens or gloves off, so these would work very well. Enjoy your weekend. (Michelle)
Ive popped in too from GYB....and being British can understand your interest in Shetland sheep...and the knitting thereafter.
And such great pictures too!
Whats not to LOVE about fingerless gloves
i'm a new followers. so exciting. oh finger less mitts sound really warm. i'm glad to meet ya. please stop by my blog when you get a chance. have a great weekend. ( :
How lovely. I am also a spinner and knitter, okay, I'm an obsessive knitter. LOL Always have needles in my hands. So glad I found you via Grow Your Own Blog project.
I truly enjoy your sight and recommend it to others. Your pictures are awesome. I love seeing your neck of the woods! I can't raise sheep myself, so I live vicariously through you. :)I'd love to enter your drawing. calvingould@att.net
So nice to meet you and love the pictures
Old friends and new; how fun! Thank-you all for commenting, and I look forward to visiting the blogs of all of you who are new here (I already visit the rest of you). :-)
I found you via Grow Your Blog. We would love to live on a farm with sheep and a whole slew of animals one day. You are living the life, girl! Can't wait to hear more about your day-to-day adventures :)
You have a very lovely blog. I'm a new follower and a 'Grow Your Blog' participant. Have fun at the party!
Evalina, This and that...
Hi! I'm visiting from Vicki's Grow Your Blog, too. I love your different initiatives. It seems a paradise the place where you live...and I love horses and dogs!
Come and visit me http://bogomillahoppkids.blogspot.it
xoxo
Bogomilla
Just found your blog and enjoy your sheep pictures too. Looking forward to reading your posts.
Michelle,
I love your photography. I grew up in southern Oregon and have left my heart there. I love the pine woods and wildlife. So glad I found your blog. I will visit her often!
Blessings,
Fay
faypaints(dot)blogspot(dot)com
First off I have to apologize. You've been a faithful visitor to my blog and and somehow I neglected to put you on my list!!! That has been remedied, of course, and I love it.
No need for fingerless gloves for me, or a scarf or a shawl. They'd get no use here in Florida. And even when I travel to cold country (Iowa), I don't spend much time outside. Take care, Michelle. Please go sniff a ponderosa for me!
Hello, it is lovely to meet you through this post. I love the way you describe your blog and seeing how the original purpose has widened out and become so much more. The sheep photographs are such an added bonus. I make felt so have a great love of sheep pictures.
Carolyn
http://messmuddleandfun.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/grow-your-blog-party.html
Hi Michelle, isn't Vicki's blog party great? I'm enjoying visiting old friends and making new ones; love your giveaway!
Hi Michelle! It's nice to meet you and your sheep - and the rest of the family. I'm enjoying visiting so many new blogs through Vicki's GYB Party. I have always been a bit of a fan of sheep...
Wow, free stuff really gets the blog posts rolling. I better do a giveaway of my own!! I have a bunch of lovely 100% FF Shetland hats, maybe I can gift one of those to someone.
Love you blog Michelle, it's so full of lovely pictures and I like to see what's caught your eye from one day to the next.
Well done my friend.
Great post! I never see so many sheep before.haha... I love your lovely giveaway...
Thanks for the chance to win.
Welcome, welcome! And just to let all you party-goers know of another opportunity to meet/greet/WIN, my blogpal Kelly is jumping on the bandwagon even though she didn't get on Vicki's GYBP listing. Head over to her blog (http://www.okacres.com/2013/01/who-doesnt-love-party.html) for a chance to win a hand knit wool cap in natural Shetland colors!
Oh my.
What a lovely blog and a lovely life. (Must follow.) You are exactly the type of blogger I LOVE to visit. And please include me in your drawing for the fingerless gloves.
I am a knitter who knits for everyone else it seems and the fingerless gloves have been on my list of things to do for myself and never got around to it. Also, this winter I have noticed an annoying development ... achy knuckles! Arthritis runs in my family, but at 65 I thought I had missed that bullet ... until this weekend. And I was thinking that maybe I should finally make those fingerless gloves. Maybe I will be lucky and win them ... hope, hope, hope. :-)
Anyway, if you get a chance, please stop by my blog for a visit. I am also making something for my prize - a hand woven scarf - that I am blogging about as I make it.
Hope to see you there.
Elaine
Retiredknitter@gmail.com
http://mynext20yearsofliving.blogspot.com
It sounds like you lead a fascinating life! Lovely photos. Nice to meet you via GYB!
Hi! I am a frequent follower but have never left a comment. I am new to the world of Shetland sheep and have my own blog at Dakota Shetlands. I'm not entirely sure I know what I'm doing but I will continue to learn and do the breed justice to the best of my ability. I sure love those little sheep! I am not crafty and truthfully have no ability in that arena but I would consider it a blessing to have something crafted just for me. It's a great give-away! Here's to making new friends!
Hi Michelle,
so nice to meet you via Vickys GYBP! And such a nice place you live at- love it! The sheep are just beautiful and your photos too... (I'm sorry for my english)I would love to make that mittens mine :-) Maybe I've got a little luck :-)
Wishing you a rainbow day today
Ines/ E. Blumenstengel from Germany
Oh- I'll be back :-) I'm the newest follower in the flock...
what a lovely blog.
I'll be back for more visits!
I love your blog. Those frost photographs are just gorgeous (as are your sheep).
I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog.
:o)
Rose
pippirose59 at gmail dot com
What a beautiful blog! I am so glad to have found you via Vicki's party. I definitely will be Following and back to read more and enjoy your wonderful photos! I can never pass up a sheep post or two - I see you are a fan of Punkin's Patch as well! Did she draw that just for you? Awesome!
I love fingerless mittens!And wool and sheep!What a beautiful place you live in!I look forward to reading your blog!Come check mine!
What a lovely giveaway you are offering! Your blog so reflects where you live -- I love it. Nice to meet you!
Hi Michelle-
I'm visiting via GYB Party.
You have a lovely blog, and wonderful pictures.
How fascinating your sheep are.
I had a visit to your horse blog too.
Beautiful horses.
I'm really looking forward to being a follower and getting to know you better.
See you again soon.
- Becka @ Girasole Farm
Your world is BEAUTIFUL...and only a few miles away from me (in Portland). Your ice-y frosty photographs are breathtaking! And the beautiful animal in your blog title...gorgeous. I just read about the loss of your precious ram, and i'm so very sorry.
Please enter my name to win those scrumptious fingerless mitts, and stop by my blog and giveaway if you get the chance!
maggie
www.themagrag.com
Dearest Maggie, I am so sorry to read about your sweet little sheep. Sending healing hugs your way.
I have enjoyed visiting your blog and have become a follower. I look forward to visiting you often. :)
Thank you for the chance to win the fingerless mitts. They sound like such a fun and funky prize.
blessings, denise :D
http://tomorrowstreasurestoday.blogspot.com/
Hello Maggie, You live in a very very lovely state. And oh how I love everything wool. Do you do wool felting??? Your farm looks sooo beautiful. Please enter me in your give away. I Hope you will come and visit me too. Hugs Judy
I've been responding to all the new visitors on their own blogs, but thought I should interject here that my name is Michelle; "Maggie" is one of the new visitors. :-)
And I just want to say once again how wonderful this GYB Party has been! I'm visiting new blogs that I would never have known about before, and getting to know new people and places. So many of you are much more productive with your chosen mediums than I am; lots of pretty things out there!
Well, I'm a dork! Look what I started.
So sorry Michelle...not Maggie.
I'm so embarrassed! :}
blessings to you, denise :D
http://tomorrowstreasurestoday.blogspot.com/
Oh, fingerless mittens, Michelle - how wonderful. What a beautiful giveaway. I am going to follow your blog, too. Please stop by if you haven't already and sign up for my giveaway. (I'm tardy because my motherboard died and went to the grave!) But, I have a replacement now! Hugs from Alaska. Karen
www.alaskabluemoose.blogspot.com
Even though I am a regular follower/commenter, PLEASE toss my name in the hat for anything you knit! I love your fingerless mitts, which are way nicer than anything I've knitted!
Oooh, how fun - I love give-aways!! I'm a fairly regular visitor here, and sometimes commentor. Michelle, you know me, and how much I admire your handknits...most anything at all! I love fingerless gloves because most of the time the fingers are too long for my stubby fingers and I have to remove my gloves to do much of anything, but fingerless I could keep my hands warm and still do tasks!! Wonderful idea! Thank you for the give-away!!
One thing (actually two, that I come to think of it) I have and it's cold feet and hands ;) So, please, count me in!What a wonderful giveaway!Thank you!
Hello Michelle
How lovely to meet you via our dear friend Vicki's Grow Your Blog Party!
Isn't she just the kindest person in blogland.
I adore your blog header pic with the sheep wearing their little coats!
I worked in the dairy farming industry for years and at one stage I made PVC coats for calves - unfortunately it wasn't a 'goer' as New Zealand dairy farmers feel if the animal can't survive without a coat - they're not worth keeping or breeding from!!! All cows in NZ live outside all year round - no barns here except to store hay!!
Sorry Michelle for rambling - your woolly sheep are gorgeous, I could give them a big hug!!!
Love the idea of growing wool for spinning - to get back to a simple life would be a dream come true for me.
Alas I live in a city of one million people but near me is Cornwall Park where I do my daily walk. It is run as a farm - they have black faced sheep, I don't know the breed (I’ll do a post with photos of them in the next day or two so maybe you can tell me) and also Charolais cattle that look like creamy/caramel velvet!
From time to time I show photos of them on my blog too. I love photography and spinning a yarn too as you may have noticed!
I’m your newest follower.
I do hope you'll pop over and see me too and enter my GYB Giveaway!
Enjoy the party.
Hugs
Shane ♥
http://roseslaceandbrocante.blogspot.co.nz/
I found your blog last week and just love what I have seen so far. I still do not know much about the different types of yarn but I was thinking that if I won your gloves would be perfect for my daughter (who has been wanting a pair).
Post a Comment