the blue blog archives: blogging about talking about blogging about knitting

Earlier this week, I went over to MIT to give a little talk about blogging. Now there's something I never thought I'd do. (Especially with my GRE math scores!) But Katie, fellow weasley-alonger and MIT instructor, invited me to speak to her class, which has been looking at blogging all semester long. (Now doesn't that sound like a fun class?!)

And the audience: some very smart students (it's MIT, what do you expect? Wanna read some student blogs? Check out the links from this admin blog. Man, I wish I could have gone to MIT!) and a few knitters as well, including Katie, fellow holiday-knitalonger Danielle, who was knitting red sox socks (you've got to check her blog to see what her husband did to his pants!), and Kathy, who was knitting on a cutie-patootie little weasley.

I talked about how I started blogging (I actually started my first blog in the fall of 1997 when I moved to Germany and before there was any blogging software. I posted monthly.), why I love blogging (what's not to love? keeping track of my knits, meeting other knitting folk, watching my boys get bigger in the background), and my woefully inadequate knowledge of HTML, PHP, MovableType Template Tags, RSS feeds, and anything remotely technical (Katie offered me the Unix machine to demo my blog. Uh, Unix, with like command lines and everything? Me no can do the command lines.). It was a blast!

(I'm sick today and so have treated myself to a little extra computer time. So far, I've spent the whole morning reading MIT student blogs, like this one. These kids are just so cool!)

posted by alison at 10:46 am | in just blogging 05

Comments

Now I'm hooked on the MIT student blogs, too. I love the internet!

Posted by: Amy Jo at November 16, 2005 11:28 AM

We're glad you came! Hope it was fun and thanks.

Kathy

Posted by: Kathode Ray Tube at November 16, 2005 11:41 AM

What fun you have! My daughter wants to go to MIT to study aerospace engineering. She's going to love reading the student blogs. Thanks for posting the links.

Posted by: Karen at November 16, 2005 12:10 PM

Thanks for visiting MIT! It was great to meet you in real life. Now I appreciate more than ever the amount of time you put into hosting these knitalongs. Thank you, thank you, thank you, since they are such fun for those of us who participate :)

Posted by: Danielle at November 16, 2005 12:11 PM

Thanks for the references! I read the latest entry in Turkey vs. Span and fell off my chair laughing at their Musical Star Wars performance. And congratulations on your speaking engagement!

Posted by: Jen at November 16, 2005 1:02 PM

Wow, that sounds amazing! I am glad you had a chance to speak and I would have never known you had that blog while you were in Germany!

Posted by: Dani at November 16, 2005 5:48 PM

Wow,how cool is this? Congrats Alison, who better to represent "our" world to the brightest of the bright?
Well done :)

Posted by: Debi at November 16, 2005 6:38 PM

*sniff* You're making me homesick (in a weird, twisted sort of way). Why didn't we get to take cool blogging seminars with guest lectures from knitters when I was a freshman?

Posted by: seltsame at November 16, 2005 8:52 PM

Thank you so much for having me to your knitting blog talk. I thought that i would never again feel like a college student and it was a pleasure to feel that young again. I just may have the courage to make use of that " second needle".

Posted by: lalalalady at November 16, 2005 10:13 PM

MIT - tres impressive, and definitely a feather in your knitted cap, Alison! Congrats! Don't get me started on reading any more blogs, though - I don't have enough time as it is! Hey -- when are you going to set up a Frappr map for your blog? It'd be cool to see how far and wide your readers spread out geographically!

Posted by: Mary at November 16, 2005 10:16 PM

That is so neat :).

Posted by: Isela at November 17, 2005 1:12 AM

Wow, that's crazy! How fun! (I second the Frappr map idea!) Can I use any more exclamation points? :)

Posted by: Amanda at November 17, 2005 2:15 AM

Congratulations on the talk. It must be so cool to be called in as the blogging expert. To get two comments into one, the hats on the boys today are also super cool. It's good to be a mom who can knit things that kids actually like.

Posted by: Brynne at November 17, 2005 12:29 PM

Oh, I wish I had known, I would have loved to see you speak, especially since I read your blog every day. (I'm a grad student at MIT.) If you ever make it back here, let me know! :)

Posted by: joanna at November 17, 2005 12:59 PM

My SIL got her MSc and Phd from MIT. LOL!
Love your blog and I couldn't agree more.

Posted by: Orli at November 17, 2005 2:44 PM

My SIL got her MSc and Phd from MIT. LOL!
Love your blog and I couldn't agree more.

Posted by: Orli at November 17, 2005 2:45 PM

So you are a fellow Fulbright alum! I was in the Philippines from 1999-2000 doing a Fulbright. I always knew knitters were a cool bunch. :) Rebecca (the one in China now).

Posted by: Rebecca at November 17, 2005 6:58 PM

:) As an MIT Grad, I think it is fantastic that you had a chance to talk there - and thanks for the links to the student blogs :D It certainly brings back memories!

Posted by: Stephanie at November 17, 2005 7:07 PM

Hi Now i understand how you wound up with a german husband:-) looking forward to reading the rest of your blog from back in 1997.. i think that xmas was the last time i was there. my grandfather passed away the following january.. toodles.. karola

Posted by: Karola at November 18, 2005 3:34 PM