The Virtual Knitter

Unfortunately, it looks like there isn’t any way I’ll be able to import the comments from my old blog.  I didn’t have many of them, but I’ll miss them anyway.  I tried to use the RSS Feed method to import them, but they came into Wordpress as blog entries.  And there’s no way to create a comment in the Admin panel.  Oh – I have an idea (I need a little lightbulb emoticon!)  I think I can just visit my blog and recreate them by using the comment function and then going into my Wordpress dashboard and editing the time stamp!  I’ll try that and see how it works.

 Meanwhile, I’m not having much luck editing the CSS to fix the bullet issue for muliple line items in a list.  I may just have to work on a work-around.  Or get rid of the custom style for bulleted lists completely.  Anyway, back to the move!

Well, I’m almost moved into my new blog.  If you read down, you’ll see the post called “Wordpress Here I Come” which is actually the last post on my old blog before the move.  I have successfully moved all the posts from Kitty’s Knitterbox over to The Virtual Knitter. There are still a few things I need to do before I’m completely settled including:

1. Manually move the comments from the old blog
2. Resize a few of my photos
3. Physically move some of the photos and update the code in any affected posts so I can completely shut down the other blog – several of them are hosted on that blog’s platform
4. Figure out what to do in the top area of this blog where I have the eyeball picture right now.  I might add a plugin that allows me to put in a random rotation of photos in that spot
5. Change the color of the sidebar type since I’ve changed the header and other colors in this theme.  The redish orange was great with the theme’s original scheme but not the one I’ve got now.  However, the little carrot symbols are actually pieces of art, so I have to do some extra manipulation there.  Maybe I’ll change it out to a different little bullet intead.  Hey, maybe even a ball of yarn!  A really tiny one.  Hmmm.
6. Update the blogroll and some other things in the sidebar that are just left over from the theme I’m adapting for my own use

Migrating my posts from their old location to the new one turned out to be pretty easy once I figured out how to do it.  Simply because it is recommended on on the Wordpress site, I purchased “Wordpress for Dummies” by Lisa Sabin-Wilson.  I was quickly able to learn there that my only real choice, other than manually copying all my entries and pasting them here, was to export them via an RSS feed and use the Wordpress tool for importing from a .txt file created from the source code of an RSS feed.  It actually worked really well.  There were only two problems, one of which I was aware of going in.  The one I knew about was that the comments would not import using this method.  The 2nd was that I had a few posts from my old old blog (Kristi Knits) that I had manually migrated over when I started Kitty’s Knitterbox.  Even though I had edited their date stamps so that they reflected when I had originally written them, the came into the RSS feed with the date of when I had moved them.  Fortunately, it was very quick for me to open each of them in Wordpress and edit back to the correct dates.  Otherwise, it worked amazingly well.

So far, I’m pretty impressed with Wordpress. I have a feeling that I’ll be a great Wordpress evangelist!

Stay tuned for more as I move things over from my old blog, Kitty’s Knitterbox.  Happy surfing!

Hi – just a quick note to let folks know that I am in the process of moving my blog over to a Wordpress platform.  I’ve been using the blog software from my hosting company, and I’m not completely satified with it.  I’ve been testing out Wordpress and decided to make the switch. 

Also, I’ve changed my plans for www.virtualknitter.com.  Instead of building out a site, I’m just going to move my new and improved blog to that site.  I’ve started the transition already.  See you there in a few days!

Well, my good intentions of keeping on top of my Blog have fallen by the wayside once again!  Anyway, lots of updates are long overdue, so I’ll attempt to catch up now. 

First of all, I really owe everyone an update on www.virtualknitter.com.  As it stands now, I’ve come to the realization that I just can’t do as much as I had hoped with that site.  In typical Capricorn fashion, I set my ambitions very high!  But I’ve reached a point in my life where I’m wise enough to know that sometimes I have to scale back on what I’d like to do.  Since I’ve taken on some additional commitments that are very important to me, I’ve decided to just let VirtualKnitter.com evolve very slowly.  You might say it’s just incubating right now, and I’m not sure what form it will take upon final birth.  I do know that I am not going to pursue creating the worlds best guide to LYS and fiber arts related stores.  Why?  Well, simply because right after starting to gather info for my directly, I learned of a fantastic one that’s recently been published.  A directory pubplishing company has created a guide specific to LYS and has also created an online version.  I checked it out and found it to be very good, so there’s absoulutely no reason for me to pursue that endeavor.  My sole reason for wanting to do it anyway was because I hadn’t found any guides I liked.  Now that one exists, it just doesn’t make sense for me to try to create one too, especially given my limited resources and time.  I’ll track down the info for that site and post it here shortly.

You might wonder what other commitments are going to be taking up my time.  Well, specifically – WALKING!  I signed up for the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk taking place in September.  I’ll be doing a lot of walking in preparation for the event, when I’ll be walking 60 miles over 3 days to raise money for breast cancer research and detection.  Visit my personal page to learn more (and make a donation, if you’re so inclined.  I haven’t really personalized the page yet, and our team name is still a bit up in the air, but for now, we’re the Glamour Pirates.  My friends Barb and Naomi have signed up with me.  We each need to raise a minimum of $2200 in order to participate.  Having done oen of these before (in 2001), I’m hard pressed to say whether raising the money or training for the event is harder.  They’re both challenges, that’s for sure!  I did my first official “training walk” today – just a little 4-mile jaunt.  However, since I’ve been rather slug-like this winter when it comes to fitness, it was plenty long enough!

And in my fiber life, I’be been spinning away.  I continue to be very active in the Eastside Spinners.  I also took several spinning classes at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival last weekend.  I ended up spending way too much in the market place – I’ll post some pictures later of the scruptious goodies I bought there.  Right now, I’m spinning a Merino Silk blend from Fleece Artist that I picked up at one booth. 

Well, as usual, I have lots to do, so that’s all for now.  No pictures this time!  I’m breaking in a new computer (a wonderful little Tablet PC) and don’t have everything transfered over yet.  I’ll post more later in the week when I’m feeling a bit more organized.