Wild thing...oops Library Thing!

I like the idea of Library Thing so I searched for some NZ children's authors but wasn't very successful. There were a few entries for Margaret Mahy but anyone else that I tried didn't produce any results. Being short of time I decided to look for well known childrens books and that was alot more successful. As usual I got carried away and ended up saving more books than required.

Tasty

Wow, I love this site, Image Chef is such fun. I know we were only supposed to get one image but I couldn't resist these three. The Generator Blog was the one that appealed to me the most, it had so many different interesting sites. I found Letter James ok but FD Toys didn't appeal at all. I've discovered that I love personalising things and could have kept going for ever - coffee cups, number plates and suprisingly nothing crocheted was available!

Glitter crochet hook?

Neon light

wetpaint coat?

coat of many scrumbles
Originally uploaded by freeform by prudence

I enjoyed finding out more about wetpaint. I love the easy edit button it makes adding things so simple. If only everyting was that straightforward! Again, another excellent video explaining the basics of wiki and wetpaint. I thought this picture looked a bit like a coat of wet paint - think how much wool it must have taken to make it, and imagine how heavy it must be. I've finished knitting and crocheting a Queen sized blanket for my daughter's bed in purples, now I'm working on a blanket for my second daughter in citrus colours. I'm not at all tempted to make a coat like this one.

crochet faces

free crochet faces
Originally uploaded by ketutar

Recapping about using del.icio.us, I've found it great as there's so much to look at. It has taken me to lots of crochet sites that I haven't previously found. I don't think I'll be crocheting faces but these ones certainly cheer you up. I found it interesting to see how many people had tagged different sites, I presume they are tagged because they are popular but I wonder if people are good at removing tags if they come across something better? I read somewhere that tags are similar to where we use keywords in our catalogue system and that does seem to be true. I do like the video's that we are encouraged to watch to demonstrate, they make everything seem so simple.

Wiki

misio diary - Oct07
Originally uploaded by mymisio.com

I think it's interesting that the name Wiki comes from the Hawaiian word wiki wiki which means something fast. That sums up what this has on offer - sites that can be added to and updated very quickly.

Some of the technical sites seem very wordy and quite daunting but I loved the Book Lovers Wiki developed by Princetown Public Library. It has great reviews and I read some of books that I know and they were all appropriate. I also found some titles to reserve on our system. I would like to think that we could use this sort of review on our website, perhaps with the reviewers identifying themselves with an alias so that if you've read and enjoyed books by one reviewer you know that you will probably enjoy other books that they've reviewed favourably.

I also think that we could use a wiki to prompt discussion of forthcoming author events that are to be held at North Shore Libraries. So often we struggle to get publicity prior to events but with this we could build up interest and enthusiasm for a visiting author. And it wouldn't cost anything!

Library 2.0

Football
Originally uploaded by eyeball jello mold

I think this photo of retro crocheted clothing shows that no matter how wonderful we think things are, time moves on and so do tastes, skills and needs. What may seem brilliant today may well be out of date tomorrow.
There were two comments that stood out in the perspectives that I read. The first was that Libraries 4.0 will not replace Libraries 1.0, it will absorb them. They listed archives and treasures as being important. We only have to look at the use of our stack books to see how that is true, no matter how wonderful the on-line resources are in our libraries there is still the demand for our good, out-of-date old fashioned books.
The second comment that I liked was that libraries are human and this is where we have the advantage over the home computer. There is still a human who the borrower can talk to and get guidance and advice from. While many people enjoy the anonymous situation of a computer there are many who prefer human contact.
Looking at North Shore Libraries' vision I realise that despite all the developments and changes we are going through our aims remain timeless. We still prioritise reading,information,learning for life and the library being a safe place. Somethings don't ever change!

Technorati

I found this all a bit technical. The actual site sort of tempts you with snippets of information but it seems to take a lot of chasing to get any more information. The screeds of information when you type in a search are overwhelming and it's almost overkill. This has been the least useful exercise and I wouldn't use Technorati again by choice. Having said that I'm glad to know what it is, and sadly not much I can link to crochet!

Crocheted cupcakes

ami cupcakes 28/365
Originally uploaded by staceyboo2

As good as these look, they just don't seem as exciting as the edible cupcakes below. What is even worse though is a crocheted cupcake with a face on it - eek.

Del.icio.us Cupcakes

Razzle- dazzle
Originally uploaded by lorijohernandez

While searching for crocheted cupcakes on Del.icio.us I found this photo of edible cupcakes. I'm sorry but even I have to admit that they look alot more appealing than crocheted ones! Aren't they superb.

Things you shouldn't crochet....

It was a bit daunting looking at all the suggested RSS - they all seem so busy. I have subscribed to a few including the shopping one but when I found that it included Cher's house which is for sale for $45m I unsubscribed as I felt it was alittle bit beyond my means. I enjoyed using my own search for crochet and have subscribed to a feed for 'Things you should never crochet' - this includes a photo of a crocheted dead fox fur!

Technology Skills?

I remember when I started texting and thought I'd never be proficient with it, what a long way I've come - if I accidently leave my mobile phone at home I feel as if my right arm is missing! The same with e-mailing, working through it step-by-step initially I felt as if I'd never master it and now it's secong nature.
I love using a digital camera but am still coming to grips with loading photos onto my computer, I'd rather use photos off Flickr.
I'm hoping with all the skills we're aquiring that blogging and all the associated exercises will soon become second nature too.
Another thing that I have improved on is learning to include a title for each posting - or I hope I've improved on it, previously I've been too keen to publish it and have omitted a title. This time I've remembered - it looks a bit naked without a title!

The best part of this exercise was browsing through the flickr photos and finding all sorts of inspiring pictures. The hard part was limiting it to eight for the mosaic I wanted to create. I originally wanted to display ten photos but two of them weren't available for public use. I'm grateful that the other eight photographers are generous with the use of their photos. Being a novice crocheter I can't believe what some people achieve with wool and a hook - quite different to the peggy squares that I feel so proud of producing. My crocheting highlight has been crocheting a plain square in cream that has ten bobbles crocheted onto it in varying shades of purple. The blanket that I'm making is predominantly purples but a few reds have crept in, I thought it was going to be a knee rug but my daughter has requested a queen size blanket. I need 100 squares and have now done 80 but the majority of them are knitted with only a few crocheted. I'll count and see how many are crocheted.