Around the World in 100 Posts

It's my 100th blog post. Who'd have thought? Not a whole lot of writing as the blogging world goes, but enough that people in some pretty faraway places stumble across my musings.

How do I know this? A few weeks ago, I signed up for a free account with a web tracking service called StatCounter. Mostly, I wanted to see how many hits I was getting. I know that most blog readers are like me -- lurkers. We read, gather information, get ideas, and move on. So I wanted to find out a little more about what kind of traffic I was getting. I was just looking for a counter, but this service is pretty cool. It shows places that hits came from, the actual search that someone used to find your pages.

My favorite so far was from some anxious soul in London who typed into Google "How do you know if you have got crabs?" and was pointed to this post which pops up at number 6 in the search! Someone else also found this search by typing "What is Kosher yarn?" Come to my blog for all your questions about STDs and religious dietary laws!

Another cool feature is that you can get a map of the places your hits came from. I'm all about maps. When I'm trying to decide if I'll enjoy reading a book or not, discovering that it has a map in the front (or a genealogy chart) will often make the deal. If it's got both, look out. If you're a fan of maps too, check out this blog -- it's always worth it. Pictured here is a map of locations from which I've received hits in the last few weeks. Who knew?

I've been holing up at home, watching the last bit of the landscaping transformation happening in my yard, and catching up on the knitting. I realized with some concern the other day that I had tightened up gauge-wise on the sweater at some point. I'm back on track, but I'm afraid the middle of the sweater might get a little hour-glassy. I'm going to put my trust in the miracle of blocking on this one. Not too far off, but I'm going to need to watch myself. I've completed 6 of the 16-row pattern repeats. I've got 3 more before I divide for the front and back and start the adventure called stranded flat knitting.

Also, the Mocha Mint Latte socks are coming along. I finished the first one and per tradition, weighed the sock and the remaining yarn to make sure I'd have enough. The sock weighed 2.3 oz and the remaining yarn weighed 2.4. Yay! But when I pulled off enough yarn to get the same part in the striping pattern so the socks would match, I had 2.3. That's cutting it close. I kept the part I pulled off since it has some of the latte color that might well end up being used to finish the toe.

Since it's dry today, I'm going to try and make some divinity. I haven't made any in a couple of years. My grandmother and great-grandmother always made fudge and divinity this time of year and it just makes Christmas seem more like Christmas to me when it's around.