Lupie has very kindly nominated me for this award! Thank you so much Lupie! This comes as a wonderful surprise here in the midst of a time when when my knitting, and blogging are both suffering terribly at the hands of my little basement renovation project. 

Passing along an award like this is an interesting exercise as my blog roll is very fluid - a few core sites but the rest change frequently.  (That's why I don't list my blog roll in the sidebar) My "Favourites" list  includes blogs I currently enjoy as well as those I used to frequent but generally don't visit any more but which I might want to catch up with later. (Designers like Brooklyn Tweed who maintain their blogs as on line pattern stores where they once were bonafide blogs are filed here as are blogs I enjoy but whose focus has shifted from knitting to quilting or kids etc.). The time I have for reading blogs is finite. I'm careful about where I'll spend it so as not to eat into real live knitting time!

So I subscribe only to the knit blogs I want to keep up to date with. These are my must visit blogs so I think its appropriate to pass this lovely award onto bloggers from that list.  

Reading the blogs listed below is like having a pleasant visit with the bloggers themselves. They are generally about knitting I find inspiring, have a  pleasant atmosphere and are updated regularly. Sometimes they also feature the likes of spinning, beading or weaving. I love such posts as they provide vicarious thrills via things I'll never find time for in my actual life.

So here they are...

Acorn to Oak - Visit this blog and you're transported to sunny California -  the mountains, the ocean and beach, the desert, Californian cities as well as knitting, spinning, the occasional recipe and peek at adorable pooch Salsa . 

Brenda Knits - A "neighbour" from Ontario, I enjoy Brenda's wit and the weekly reports from her knit group who produce a wide variety of FO's with a rapidity that makes me wonder just what's in the local water!

Laine de Bergere - a blog I've started following fairly recently. Lovely photography that takes me out of the city and into the countryside.  I'd visit just to look at the photo of colour work knitting that tops her blog! 

Made by Rae - Rae knits but generally posts about her sewing pursuits. To be honest I generally don't find sewing to be an interesting topic (Don't get me wrong I've spent more time sewing than knitting by a factor of at least 10, I just don't enjoy reading about it) But I love this blog. Its lovely to look at, Rae's writing is the clear and concise stuff of a busy, creative, young mother. A visit to her her blog feels like stopping by the sunny yard of a friendly neighbour.

Curlerchik - my first commenter - perhaps first visitor to by blog but hers is a favourite blog as she often provides those vicariously satisfying posts about weaving and beading - her knitting is pretty awesome too!  We also live close enough to each other that her occasional posts of sunrises or hot air balloon sitings feature exactly what I just saw out my window - shrinking the knit blog world down to size a bit!

Bottom line - I know some bloggers reason if a blog is theirs it is for them.  I rather think a blog should be of the blogger but for the readers. All the blogs I'm nominating offer me something I value when I visit! Thanks to Lupie (I can't nominate her since she nominated me) and the blogs listed above, your posts so often brighten my day - I know that justifies an award for sure!