There are many reasons to start a blog - to share snippets of your lives with far-away relatives, to have a bit of a "show and tell" of recipes or patterns or whatever floats your boat, to find a home for all the thoughts rattling around in your head. I suspect, however, that for many bloggers it was the "Blog Crush" that gave them the push to get started: a rather embarrassing infatuation with someone else's photography, someone else's writing that seems to be the exact words you have been thinking all day but funnier. A hope that you could, in some way, emulate those crushes and add to the conversation they have started with such wit or wisdom.
Or so it was for me, at least. As part of the Pasta & Patchwork Blog Birthday Love celebration, in this post I want to share my biggest Blog Crushes with you.
Or so it was for me, at least. As part of the Pasta & Patchwork Blog Birthday Love celebration, in this post I want to share my biggest Blog Crushes with you.
Free Our Kids
Before this here blog was even a twinkle in my eye, I came across Free our Kids by Hattie Garlick. At the time I was very pregnant, very poor, and very fretful about how on earth we were going to afford the many expensive and absolutely essential essentials that babies seem to require. Then Hattie came along and pointed out that *newsflash* children may not actually need bucketloads of special stuff to be happy. That it's okay to think "this is only going to last us 3 months, I'm not buying it". That something second-hand or cobbled together at home will do the job just as well (if not better).
And so it was Hattie's blog that inspired me to take a long, hard look at all the things baby stores were attempting to lure me in with and reject 90% of it. I started making things for my baby and, as he grew, my toddler. I found the courage to write about my projects here and lo and behold, other parents actually seem to like them.
Free our Kids is still one of my favourite blogs. It's been hugely successful, and deservedly so; I personally love both the premise it is built on but also the writing, the humour, the very British self-deprication (Hattie if you read this, that's a compliment!).
And so it was Hattie's blog that inspired me to take a long, hard look at all the things baby stores were attempting to lure me in with and reject 90% of it. I started making things for my baby and, as he grew, my toddler. I found the courage to write about my projects here and lo and behold, other parents actually seem to like them.
Free our Kids is still one of my favourite blogs. It's been hugely successful, and deservedly so; I personally love both the premise it is built on but also the writing, the humour, the very British self-deprication (Hattie if you read this, that's a compliment!).
Lulastic and the Hippyshake
Through Free our Kids I found Lucy AitkenRead's blog, Lulastic and the Hippyshake. It is Inspiring with a capital "I". Lucy makes me question my parenting (in a good way) and has me shouting YES! THAT! at the screen with posts on why compliance in children is not a desirable thing. Thanks to her blog we go nappy-free as often as possible, co-sleep when we feel like it, and take pride in all that is shaky, second-hand and very much loved in our house.
In my dreams I live a life as hippyshakey as hers (in reality I am too much of an urban chicken). Her blog is the reason I am badgering my husband for a camper van (despite not being able to drive) and one day, ONE DAY I will make this floor. I love Lulastic and the Hippyshake, and I truly think the world would be a better place if there were more Lucies around.
Space for the Butterflies
Carie's blog, Space for the Butterflies, was one of the first I added to my Bloglovin feed once I'd set up Pasta & Patchwork a year ago, and one whose updates I still look forward to eagerly. In my head at least, I feel like I have found a kindred spirit, one as obsessed with yarn, books and babies as I am.
Carie's blog also proves that, despite what the blogging "experts" will tell you, posts need not necessarily be limited to 250 words of SEO punchiness in order to captivate. When the words are as lovely, the photography as gorgeous, and the sentiments behind it all as honest as in Carie's posts, I will gladly get a cup of tea and settle down for the long read.
Carie's blog also proves that, despite what the blogging "experts" will tell you, posts need not necessarily be limited to 250 words of SEO punchiness in order to captivate. When the words are as lovely, the photography as gorgeous, and the sentiments behind it all as honest as in Carie's posts, I will gladly get a cup of tea and settle down for the long read.
Little E and Bean
Steph's blog Little E and Bean is a more recent addition to my feed, after I came across this post written for International Women's Day via twitter. It was a bit of a 'Eureka!' post for me, providing the kick up the proverbial I needed to write down my own thoughts on feminism and children and not be afraid of hitting 'Publish'.
Since then I've fast developed a bonafide blog crush. If I had the skill, I would take photographs as beautiful as hers. My writing would be linger with readers as long as her posts do with me. If I had the courage, I would pour out my heart with the same poignancy, truthfulness and insight. There is talk of a book. I hope so much that it materialises.
Since then I've fast developed a bonafide blog crush. If I had the skill, I would take photographs as beautiful as hers. My writing would be linger with readers as long as her posts do with me. If I had the courage, I would pour out my heart with the same poignancy, truthfulness and insight. There is talk of a book. I hope so much that it materialises.
Hurrah for Gin
Another one of the blogs that I've read since the very beginning of my own blogging journey, Katie's Hurrah for Gin is the stuff of belly laughs and snorted-up tea. It's my tonic for the days when the under-eye bags could house a family more comfortably than your average, over-priced British home, when I'm tempted to lob the blocks aimed at my head back, when the ridiculousness of parenting makes me wonder whether I should laugh or cry. Then I read Hurrah for Gin, and I always laugh:
So there you have it, the five blogs that top my must-read list. Of course, there are many more that I enjoy reading (my Bloglovin' feed has 94 blogs!) and I'm certain there are even more fantastic ones I've yet to come across. So go on, share the blog love and tell me which blogs you love the most in the comments.
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