Here are a couple of views of what we saw on entering the warehouse area:

Bins full of wool

Way more than "three bags full"!

Wool expert Alex McClure explained how shipments arrive from all over this part of the country and are tracked for each individual grower, then graded for quality and sorted…

Our guide, Alex McClure

Where the grading is done

One of the grading criteria - staple length

Baler

… then baled and sent on to processors.  He was very patient, and answered all of our questions.

He had even set out a number of fleeces of varying fineness and quality for us to look at, handle, and ask even more questions about!

The whole happy group

Then, best of all, we were able to pick out and buy any fleeces we wanted!  Laura (Sugar Bunny Boulevard yarn shop proprietor) and Marsha scored the reserve champion fleece, splitting it 50/50.

A pair of happy fleece owners

One of the advantages of being the tour arranger was that I got dibs on the grand champion fleece!

My lovely, lovely wool

I think it would satisfyingly complete the cycle if I spun and knitted something from this fleece, then entered it in next year’s fair, don’t you?

* * * * *

It’s called a QR code.  QR stands for “quick response”, which isn’t actually too helpful in explaining anything.  It’s really just a code meant to be read by a smart phone that will send you directly to a website (among other things).

They can hold a whole lot more information than a simple barcode, and are said to be accurately readable even if 30% of the code is obscured.

So what does that mean for you?  If you have a smart phone, presumably with a camera, and you have a data plan, all you need to do is install a free QR code-reading app, and you’re ready to go.  Just find a handy QR code, open your app, and center the code in the viewfinder square on your phone display.  You’ll probably see some little blinking dots reading the code, and then it will jump to a display with the website’s URL.  Tap it, and there you are!  The one above goes to my Delicious bookmarks.   You may or may not be interested in them, but I figured it was a safe place to send you.  Of course, it’s ideal if the target website is mobile-friendly!

QR codes can also send a text message or email message, share a phone number, open a map, display some text, and any number of other little tasks.   How about this one?

QR code for sample text

And since they’re readable even if incomplete, they can be ‘branded’ with a small graphic image…

Love this juxtaposition of old and new technology!

This one goes to my LibraryThing catalog.  Obviously, I made my own QR codes here.  It’s ridiculously easy.  Just go to a QR code generator like QRstuff or BeQRious and choose the kind of code you want to create.  Click the button and your custom code will be ready to download!  You can save it as-is, or open it in photo editing software.  The next big decision is what you’re going to put it on… some people have even knitted readable QR codes!

Seriously, though, what could this possibly have to do with knitting or fiber?  Well, I’m just waiting to see QR codes on yarn ball bands – instead of wondering if a yarn I have in my hand is available in other colors, how about scanning its QR code and going straight to the manufacturer’s web page for that yarn?  I could SEE any other colors, and decide about special ordering something my LYS didn’t carry – even if they didn’t happen to have a color card for that yarn!

Or maybe next time you give a knitted gift, you could attach a tag with a QR code for the care instructions… or maybe a personal message for the recipient.

Like knitting, the possibilities are endless – so go explore!

The original version is about a year and a half old, and this one is actually very similar; the main difference is in the details of the chart itself.  That turned out to be more interesting than I expected – trying to figure out how to chart a cable cross, knit though the back loop, different color stitch all in one little square of the graph was not easy!

I used Microsoft Excel, and after playing with a few knitting fonts, settled on my favorite, Aire River Knitting Font, for the symbols.  Excel’s cell formatting provided the color and borders.  Tweaking the column width and row height brought me to a reasonable representation of the stitch/row proportions; stranded knitting like this results in nearly equal stitch and row counts, unlike most other stitch patterns.  Then it needed to fit on a single page, but still be large enough for easy reading.

Ithilien Brocade chart image

Finally, wanting to offer it in pdf format, I tried a couple of free online file conversion tools, including my old standby, Zamzar.  I’m always mildly annoyed at Zamzar’s ads, but so far (knock on wood), they seem to be harmless.  However, these tools have apparently never heard of knitting symbol fonts, so after all my hard work, the resulting files looked pretty funky, with non-English letters or little sunglasses instead of  knitting symbols.

Sigh.  So I went to CutePDF to download and install their free pdf creation utility.  I simply opened the Excel spreadsheet and ‘printed’ it to CutePDF, and the symbols came through just fine.

Time will tell whether or not it is a success.  I’m making the chart available here with some trepidation, since I have no idea whether other knitters will ‘get’ the instructions.

Therefore, I hope there will be a few knitters out there who are willing to test drive the chart and let me know if they have suggestions for improving either the chart itself or the (minimal) instructions.

Open the chart file, then save a copy to your computer.

And here’s what it’s supposed to look like (envision your own color scheme):

Ithilien Brocade stitch pattern

One of the many facets of my work life includes computer troubleshooting and answering questions, so this is something I address frequently.  I am dismayed to realize how many people give up on their computer, send it off to a repair place, and agree to pay a lot of money to lose everything on their hard drive.  Granted, sometimes a format and reinstall IS necessary, but many times, there are tools they can use to solve problems on their own.  And when that doesn’t do the job, it’s not that hard to save your stuff before you send it off for the big rebuild.  (Actually, reinstalling the operating system on a computer can be pretty straightforward as well, but there are so many variables, I’m not touching that here with a ten foot pole.)

Bear in mind that these are all things you can do on your own personal Windows-based computer.  If the computer you use belongs to someone else, or to your employer, it’s their responsibility, so don’t go messing with it without their permission!!  And you’ll have to be logged in with administrative rights to do most of this stuff.  Also, you bear the responsibility and the consequences of any actions you take.  I have never had any of these tools cause problems for me, but I can’t guarantee that there might not be some issues for you.  Got it?  End of disclaimer.

Preliminaries:  I am assuming (yeah, I like to live dangerously) that you are familiar with the usual procedures of downloading and installing software.  If you aren’t, surely you know someone who can help you.  It’s not rocket science, but it’s good to be cautious, and read before you click!  If you are uncomfortable with some procedure, stop immediately and back out carefully.  Then again, you’re probably better off than the person who rushes in where techies fear to tread.  But I’m not sending you to any of those places!  I am using Windows XP, so if you are running a different Windows version, the details might be a bit different for you.

So. Cleanup and speedup.  Start with Ccleaner. This is an excellent, reliable tool that is way better than Windows’ Disk Cleanup.  Download, install, and run the cleaner.  Besides the file cleaner, it can also clean up your computer’s registry.  They also offer a couple of other applications that I haven’t had occasion to use; Defraggler, a customizable defrag tool and Recuva to recover lost/deleted files.  I’d trust them, though, based on my experience with Ccleaner.

Be aware that you want to clean up all those unnecessary files before doing any scans!  There’s no point in scanning hundreds of megs of temporary files.

Next up, MalwareBytes AntiMalware.  ‘Malware’ is a general term that covers many types of malicious and/or annoying software that you probably never asked for.  Download MalwareBytes, install, update and scan.  This one is first on my list because it was the only one that removed a nasty browser hijacker for me a while back.  A couple of other well-known and reliable tools I would happily recommend are Spybot and Ad-Aware.  Unlike antivirus programs, you can safely install more than one anti-malware product.  So if you’re a belt-and-suspenders kind of person, have at it.  Again, download, install, update and scan.  Next time, remember to check for updates before you scan.

Defragmenting your computer’s hard disk can help speed up and optimize its performance.  You may or may not notice a difference, but it’s a good thing to do from time to time, especially if you’ve been deleting or uninstalling a bunch of stuff.  I frequently use Auslogics Disk Defrag.  It’s much faster than Windows defrag, and does a better job.  If it’s important to make sure you free up contiguous space on your hard drive (say, for example, that you need to create a new partition) go for JkDefrag.   Be sure to read the installation instructions – this one is not quite so automatic, but it’s very thorough!

If you don’t already have an antivirus program running (and if you don’t, you will soon be in BIG trouble), run, don’t walk, to get your very own AVG Free for your personal computer (not your company’s computer).  Again, download, install, update and scan.  It will automatically check for updates, so you don’t have to remember.  They also make a paid version with additional features that I like better than the other big-name antivirus programs that you buy off the shelf.

In conclusion, there’s one more built-in Windows tool that you should know about.  Click Start > Control Panel to see the ‘Add or Remove Programs’ utility.  If you see things in this list that you KNOW you are no longer using, and you KNOW WHAT THEY ARE, remove them.  DO NOT just remove stuff because you’ve never heard of it!  That way lies madness.

Now, after you’ve done all that, restart your computer.  Doesn’t it feel all nice and clean and safe?

iPod Sock

I got an iPod recently, and since I read that the video screens can scratch easily, wanted to be sure to keep it protected. I realized that some of the demonstration yarn I spun during the Kansas State Fair would be just about enough for this little project, so I grabbed some double-pointed needles, knitted a 2×2 rib tube, and sewed it shut at the bottom. I used the tail end of blue yarn to crochet a little loop, and voila! had an iPod sock! I found a wonderful button that just matches the grape Kool-Aid color. Obviously, the yarn was spun from the Kool-Aid dyed Merino top that I spun and chain-plied into a substantial little 3-ply. I feel like I have to apologize or explain… it’s lumpier than my usual handspun, because I was paying more attention to the people than the fiber most of the time.

Anyhow, having the iPod meant that I had a few new things to learn about audio files. I try really hard not to get on my soap box about proprietary file types and software, because I don’t want to put anyone off exploring this great option!

So where do you find audio books? My favorite place is the OverDrive site in my state. As I’ve said before, “free” is well within my price range! OverDrive is a company that contracts with various libraries (city, regional, or state) which then create collections that registered borrowers can check out for free! Each contracting library decides on its own policies, but basically, you check out titles for a certain loan period, download the files to your computer, and can then listen to them on the computer, transfer to an mp3 player, or in some cases, burn to CDs. Go to this OverDrive search page, click on your country’s name under the “Search Libraries” heading, and see if there is a participating library in your area. Then contact them to find out how to get signed up.

Other places to download free audio books are LibriVox and the Gutenberg Project. These sites specialize in public domain titles, so you won’t find the latest best-sellers here, but you will find some great classics. The Gutenberg Project lists titles in an amazing array of languanges, including Maori and Sanskrit, to name just a couple!

You can, of course, purchase your audio books. I finally decided to go for a minimal subscription with Audible.com. There are many others out there, but I only have experience with Audible.

iPod in sock

Will all of these audio books play on my device? Ah, there’s the rub! Maybe, but maybe not. You know about the Windows/Apple war? If you have a Mac, you can’t run a lot of Windows applications, etc., etc. That conflict over market share rears its ugly head here, too. Apple’s iPods currently dominate the mp3 player market. But iPods don’t play Windows Media Audio files (.wma file extension). There are plenty of other mp3 players that will play .wma files, but they may or may not play nicely with proprietary software.

Here’s where I am really tempted to climb up on that soapbox, but let me just say that my suggestion is to look for audio books that are compatible with your device, and forget about the rest. Or, if you haven’t bought an mp3 player yet, do a little homework and find out what you really want to listen to, what your audio source will be, and let that be part of your decision-making process.

Any of these portable devices will play mp3 files. That’s the major ‘generic’ audio file type. There are a bunch of file types out there; I was annoyed to find that Audible uses a different one (.aa extension, presumably Audible Audio). OverDrive was, until recently, offering only .wma files, so iPod users were out of luck. But they have started carrying some mp3 files now, and I look for the list of titles to grow very quickly.

Be prepared to download and install free software to manage your new audio files. The vendor website will tell you if you need to install any software, and should have instructions. I currently use OverDrive Media Console, Audible Manager, and iTunes. See? I told you it was annoying. However, I am willing to put up with a bit of annoyance to listen to hours of lovely books!

Your new software should direct you through downloading audio files and transferring them to your device. A word to the wise: if you are paying for a subscription service or purchasing individual titles, try to find out for sure beforehand if your mp3 player is compatible with their files and software!

Ripping and burning… Of course, if you already have music or audio books on CD, you can rip them from CD and transfer them to your mp3 player. Some audio books, like selected titles from OverDrive, can be burned to CD so you can listen any time in your car. The software you downloaded to manage your audio files OR the software you got with your mp3 player or your computer should be able to do the trick.

Speaking of CDs, there’s yet another file type wrinkle. *sigh* Audio books on CD now come in mp3 versions. The standard for CDs has long been .cda (compact disc audio??), which is what your CD players know and play. New mp3 CDs don’t work in any but the newest CD players that are made to handle them. The advantage is that they have a much higher compression rate, so the same audio book would fit on fewer mp3 CDs than standard CDs. Of course, your computer knows how to play them, even if your CD player doesn’t!

Who knows what the future will bring? My take on this whole thing is that we’d better plan on flexibility. Changes in technology and format are coming faster all the time, and there’s no end in sight.

Oh, yeah, one more piece of advice. If you have some especially precious audio files (or any other kind of files, for that matter) be aware that as time goes by, you may need to convert those to newer file types and/or formats before it’s too late! Those 8-track tapes my husband still has in the closet aren’t doing him a bit of good.

How much yarn??

http://www.woolfestival.com/articles/WPI.htm You’re at the yarn shop… this luscious yarn is on sale and you know you want some for a sweater! But you don’t have a pattern yet, so how do you know how much to buy? Check the wraps per inch (WPI) and refer to these charts.

Here’s another yarn estimating chart: http://www.fiber2yarn.com/info/how_much_yarn.htm It includes not only sweaters, but hats, socks, mittens, even afghans.

This one is an interactive, online calculator. It’s a little harder to carry around with you than the above charts (I’m assuming you printed them out), but is fun to play with, and great when you are reviewing your stash to see if you have enough for that pattern in the new magazine. http://www.knittingfool.com/pages/yards1.guest.cfm For this one, select the general style and size of the sweater and plug in the gauge (3.5 to 6 sts/in) for the yarn you want to use.

How much should you buy?

And for those pesky conversions of yards to meters and ounces to grams… http://benefitslink.com/cgi/fiberlinkmanager/measurement_converter.cgi

Whole patterns and parts of patterns

Arachne sock calculator: http://www.panix.com/~ilaine/socks.html Just plug in your gauge, a few foot/leg measurements, and it spits out a custom top-down knee sock pattern.

And a versatile sweater pattern calculator… http://www.knittingfool.com/pages/sweater_wheel.guest.cfm The Knitting Fool has recreated the old classic Sweater Wheel, in interactive online format. This was an eye-opener for me in more ways than one. I HAVE one of the old Sweater Wheels!! (And I even found it, thank you very much.) This will create a basic pattern in either raglan or set-in sleeve style, in a range of yarn weights, from infant through adult size 48.

And here’s a great jumping-off place, with a whole bunch of calculators and generators:http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lucia/1939 It includes multiple sock, shawl and sweater pattern generators, conversion utilities, several sleeve shaping design tools… well, you really just have to go look for yourself.

By the same person, http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lu-calculators.php includes bust darts, yardage estimators, sleeve shaping, button spacing and more.

Several knitting calculators can be found here...

Do you have a great pattern with a cable design written out, but no charts? Perhaps, like me, you do better with visual aids. This is an amazing tool: http://sweaterproject.org/visiknit/ Type in the text instructions, and it will print you a chart!!

The magical cable graph generator

Hypotenuse calculator. What?!? You have expunged the term ‘hypotenuse’ from conscious memory? Get acquainted again. It’s not so bad, now that you have an actual use for it. So you’re decreasing X number of stitches over Y number of rows. If you need to know how long that finished edge will be, you need this tool!

And here’s a bonus link: The Girl From Auntie’s articles from Knitty (one of my favorite online knitting magazines) on sweater design.

Just a couple of quick updates:

Ithilien is growing before my very eyes. Half an inch, and I’ll be binding off / steeking for the armholes!

It’s official. I will be spending Saturday, Sept. 6^th at the Kansas State Fair. I will be the spinner-of-the day, hanging out in the sheep barn along with the sheep shearer. Swing by for both our demonstrations and say hello!

News flash

As I am writing this, my daughter tells me that Kia’s new SUV is called the Borrego. Borrego = Lamb!! Do you think the advertising and automotive industries have finally acknowledged the number of knitters, spinners and crocheters out here, and are targeting that huge market?

Simply go to a photo sharing website and create an account. Many sites offer free accounts for limited services, with a paid upgrade for more storage space and additional options.

Then choose your photos and follow the easy instructions to upload them to your account. Organize them into albums, then write comments on each one and assign them topical tags. Ta-da!! Email your friends and family members the link to your photos, and you are in business!

Stuff you need to know, if you don’t already

There are basically three ways you can get a photo in digital format, so they can be transferred or saved to your computer:

1. Take the picture with a digital camera of some sort.

2. Take film to a processor and ask to have the photos put on a CD when you have prints made.

3. Scan existing photos, old or new, with a flatbed scanner.

Be aware that digital photos can vary widely in quality. “Resolution” is the magic word! Higher resolution = more detail = capability to print enlargements = higher file size. A photo with 75 dpi (dots per inch, or ppi, pixels per inch) will display okay on a computer monitor, but doesn’t have enough detail to make a sharp print. 2400 dpi will give you excellent large prints, but takes up lots of space. It would be HUGE to email, and take forever to download. On top of that, when that email attachment finally finishes arriving at its destination, the recipient will have a great full-screen view of someone’s nose hairs! They’ll have to scroll waaay across and up and down to even see who it is. Please, spare your dear ones this agony. It’s more than they really need to know. If you don’t already have some photo editing software, download a free application like Paint.NET and resize any humongous files to a more manageable size. (Keep the original, but use the smaller copy.)

Getting up to speed

As you upload pictures to your Flickr account, they will automatically be resized (possibly to several sizes). Then you, or others if you choose, can download those pictures, too!

“As you upload”… sure sounds, easy, doesn’t it? Actually, it is! Flickr offers several options, but I usually just go to the upload page:

This walks you through the process; find the photo(s) on your computer – you DID organize them into folders, didn’t you?!?! – click to upload them, then do your describing! That really is all there is to it.

More stuff you can do

Now that you have your account, photos are uploaded, and you’ve shared the link, is that all there is? Not by a long shot! If you have a blog, create a “widget” to display pictures from your Flickr account on the sidebar (as I have done).

Want to see one or more favorite photos on, well, anything you can think of, and lots of things you haven’t thought of? Like… books, mugs, shirts, sticker books, frameable prints, cards, postage stamps… the list continues to grow!

Flickr partners with a bunch of third-party companies to offer you custom products. Tell them what pictures to use from your Flickr photostream, place your order, and wait for the cool stuff to show up on your doorstep!

That’s still not the end of the story… I know I haven’t even SEEN all the options. But if I’ve made you curious enough to go looking for yourself, my work is done.

]]> http://prairiespinner.com/2008/05/25/flickr-your-pics/feed/ 0 prairiespinner Prairiespinner\'s Flickr photostream Upload photos to Flickr Do more with your photos http://prairiespinner.com/2008/04/16/getting-raveled-in-washington/ http://prairiespinner.com/2008/04/16/getting-raveled-in-washington/#comments Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:53:33 +0000 prairiespinner http://prairiespinner.wordpress.com/?p=78 ]]>

My conference in Arlington, Virginia was a very good one on several levels. Overall, my expectations for conferences have nudged downward over the years, in spite of some very beneficial experiences, but I’m always willing to be pleasantly surprised. This was one of those times. I attended 14 regular sessions over three days and took tons of notes. I also attended a half-day postconference that I enjoyed very much – and was able to make at least one contribution… Ravelry.

Before the session started, as we were waiting for others to show up, I decided to ask presenter Steven M. Cohen (his blog) something I’ve been wondering about for a while. So I approached him, and the conversation went something like this:

Me: “Do you know if there are many specialized websites that combine lots of ’2.0′ social software functions and resources in one place?”

SMC: “Oh, yeah, forums have been around for a long time.”

Me: “No, I know that, but this one has a whole bunch of functionalities like messaging and groups and LibraryThing and projects and, well…”

SMC: “Maybe it would be easier if you can show me.”

Me: “Definitely.” I type in ‘ravelry.com’. Login page displays.

SMC: While I am logging in, “Oh, that’s nice!” (This guy can spot good stuff on a website in microseconds.) Then, as I click on the drop-down for my notebook…

“Wow, this is great! My wife is going to love this. I’ve gotta send her an email right now!” Sending message to her as we speak…

Me: “It’s still in beta, so she may have to wait a little while before she can get in. There are over 100,000 people who have joined so far.”

SMC: “That’s a LOT of members!”

Actually, I never did get the answer to my original question, but I’m thinking that Ravelry really is as unique as I think it is. I never did get to show him some of the great resources like the pattern and yarn search features, project tracking and sharing, etc., etc. But I figure his wife will clue him in to the fine points before too long.

Ravelry also connected me up with a number of other knitters in a couple of ways. I got to meet several of them because of a thread I started in the RaveLibrarians group about the conference – so we hooked up over lunch and got acquainted a little. AND I learned a new technique for left-handed purling. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but think it may be just the thing for me. (Thanks again, literatec!)

One of the group members also mentioned a Stitch ‘n’ Bitch group in the DuPont Circle area.The conference used to be held in that part of Washington DC, and this get-together was the perfect excuse for hubby and me to make the trek back over to familiar ground one evening. So I met still more charming local knitters!

Any knitters or crocheters out there who have not had a look at Ravelry really NEED to go there! You may not use all of its offerings (or you may get addicted), but I guarantee that it has plenty to offer, and you have things to offer your fellow fiber folks as well. Trust me on this.

The skies cleared for our free time after the conference, and the cherry trees were in full bloom. We walked our legs off, and had a lovely time, but were definitely ready to head back home!

There are a number of different audio file types (we won’t go into that here) but mp3 files can be played by your computer’s software or transferred to a portable player. My Dell Ditty mp3 player looks like this:

It’s been around for a while, and you can’t buy them any more, but it’s tiny (BIC cigarette lighter size), and holds plenty for my purposes. I can get 20 hours or more of spoken audio on this, but less music. I like the fact that it has an internal battery that is recharged by plugging in to a USB port. No replacing of batteries for me!

Okay, back to podcasts. Knitting podcasts feature interviews, instructions, book reviews, “what’s-on-my-needles”, KALs (Knit Alongs), music, or ANYTHING that can be talked about or played. You can find a bunch of them at Podcast Alley . Today, I find 51 listings, and ranging from “Musings of a Peaceful Knitter” to “Insubordiknit”, so you should find something there to your liking! Other ways to find podcasts are through iTunes, or links from your favorite blogs. Better yet, go to the Knitting Podcasts blog for an updated listing.

One that I listen to often, and like to send beginning podcast listeners to, is at KnitPicks. This weekly podcast is relaxed and informative. (The fact that Kelley Petkun used to work in the library world, learned to spin at about the same time I did, recommends Jacqueline Fee’s “The Knitting Workshop” and Elizabeth Zimmerman, and has similar reading tastes to mine, creates a real sense of connection for me.) Have a look at the instructions at the bottom of each show’s summary:

Great, simple instructions for users who need to know exactly how to download the files.

If you will be listening at your computer, just double-click on the downloaded file to start playing it! Your media player software will open, with controls for start/stop/volume, etc. If you have an mp3 player, transfer the files from your computer according to its instructions, than take it with you to listen while driving, or when you take a walk, or just sitting in your comfy knitting place.

Once you find some podcasts you like, you’ll probably want to go to the companion blogs for ‘show notes’ – links to websites mentioned on the show, pictures, or other stuff.

Just a few of the podcasts I like are:

KnitPicks

Ready, Set, Knit!

Cast On

Stash and Burn

You can also subscribe to most podcast feeds using your feed reader (see this previous post). That way, you don’t have to go looking when you think of it – just log in to your feed reader and see what’s new and waiting for you.

KnitPicks…

…and Ready, Set, Knit! in my feed reader.

From here, I could just click on the > arrow to play one without saving the file.

Now, go create your knitting radio-on-demand!

NOTE ADDED 03/25/08: Wouldn’t you know it… the “community” part of KnitPicks’ website has been restructured, and the podcast area looks totally different today! But if you click on the link above (in the short list of podcasts), you’ll see the page I’m familiar with… unless they are still working on the update!

That’s when I learned about feed readers. Well, actually, I’d been hearing about RSS feeds for quite some time, but it didn’t seem to have anything to do with me back then. Anyhow, I signed up for an account with Bloglines (one of many free feed readers out there), and now all I have to do is log in from any computer with Internet access – home, work, library, whatever – and I can see AT A GLANCE if there are any new posts on any of my favorite blogs! See?

I am subscribed to 47 feeds at the moment, almost all knitting blogs. I guess this wasn’t a very good time to get a screenshot for you; I didn’t leave any unread to show you what that looks like!

All you need to do is:

1) Sign up for your own account, on Bloglines, or Google Reader, or another feed reader (also called an RSS aggregator, but feed reader is easier to remember). It’s as easy as it gets.

2) Go to your favorite blogs and subscribe. Look for an orange RSS feed icon , or a button something like this and click on it. You may be prompted to log in to your feed reader account, then pretty much accept the default settings and okay the subscription.

OR, while you are already logged in, click the Add link (left side, right under the Feeds tab). Open another browser window to any blog you like, then copy the address (starting with http://), paste it in the blank field “Blog or Feed URL:” and click the Subscribe button. It’s easier than purling! Repeat for other blogs, podcasts, or anything else that offers RSS feeds.

3) Log in once a day (or whenever you darn well feel like it) and see what’s new!

4) Try not to get addicted. This is the hardest part of the whole deal.

In a future post, I’ll show you some of the features I use the most on my Bloglines account. Now, go have a try at it for yourself!