Blog Review: Owl & Acorn

Owl & Acorn
http://owlandacorn.blogspot.com

Description of site:
Melissa from Seattle discusses the major happenings in her life and her number 1 hobby – knitting.

Appearance:
It's our old favourite blogger template again – browning paper on top of the horrible brown and yellow flower pattern. With so many colourful templates to choose from, I can't image why anyone would choose such a dull option.

Organisation:
Short entries interweaved with photos of Melissa's handy work. Neatly organised.

Navigation and Functionality:
Sidebar links and blog archive.

Advertising:
No obvious advertising apart from a small RSS feed button and Site Meter mini banner. Certainly no monetisation. A hobby blog instead of a money spinner – nice to see.

Comments:
Melissa hasn't requested this review – I stumbled on Owl & Acorn by accident and thought it had interesting niche content. I was drawn to this blog because of the creativity of the author. When I was younger I tried some knitting myself – at school we were forced to knit scarves for Romanian orphans, but sadly I never got past the first few rows of (dodgy) stitching. My knitting skills were very poor – I just didn't have the co-ordination or the stamina to see it through to the end and, dare I say it, it wasn't particularly trendy to be good at knitting if you're male!

Luckily Melissa has the knitting bug and she seems to do it well. One of the very early entries in the archive shows a picture of her first sock. She has used the Jaywalker pattern. I imagine knitting something as complicated as a sock – especially a multicoloured sock like this one – takes considerable skill. Roll on October and we have a list of 10 interesting knitty facts about the author. By the end of the month I'm beginning to detect that Melissa likes sock yarn a lot. I can kind of see the attraction – some of these yarns are a kaleidoscope of colour and quite therapeutic to look at. I'll also draw your attention to the Squirrel and Oak mittens in early November. Melissa has family in the UK (extra rating points) and she goes over there (here) to visit the in laws in late November and early December. This provides the ideal opportunity to network with some of the UK knitting fraternity and enjoy cream teas on the Norfolk coast. It also allows them to stock up on British sweet treats like Jaffa Cakes and Quality Street. Mid December brings seriously bad weather to Seattle. The wind blows out Melissa's window and a fallen tree narrowly misses her car. On a positive note a power failure does mean she gets the day off work – every (storm) cloud has a silver lining!

This blog has captivated an audience of loyal comment leavers and return visitors. I like the raw creativity of the subject – there's no fancy technology to let you down, just commitment and skill. The author is also commended on the regularity of her blog entries. The only suggestion I make is that the template be changed to something more colourful, just like the sock yarns on display. Despite this being a specialised blog with limited appeal to most people it warms to me - this is reflected in the rating I award.

Rating:
7/10

Reviewer:
Tom