New look

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There is a second column on the sidebar with room for sponsors. If you'd like to sponsor the Needle Book blog, just email me at needlebook(at)clairelouisemilne.com. The introductory rate for a picture and link the size of the Needle Book image is only $25/month. I am able to design an ad for you for reasonable rates, just ask if you need help. If you own a fabric or wool shop I'm happy to trade!

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So the first new thing, as you will have noticed (and thank you so much for the nice comments about it) is the new look for the needle book blog! It really wasn't as much of a headache as I thought it would be. It's very easy to find blog templates for free online (there's a credit for mine at the bottom of the page) and you can just update the template with your own materials, such as the picture at the top of the page.

I was using html to make updates to my blog (I took a course at George Brown ages ago that got me started). But with the new Layouts version of Blogger so many things are automated. But you can still edit the html if you want to fine-tune something.

After I uploaded my new template (always save your old one just in case!) I changed the image at the top, made the whole thing narrower, removed formatting I didn't want such as underlining on links and titles, changed some of the fonts and colours, then added the elements I wanted on the sidebar. I also put back the Navbar at the top since since I figure Blogger is free and I do actually use it quite often. And luckily the colours actually match.

In case you're interested (anyone like me that's been blogging for ages without upgrading to Layouts) here are the new features I love:

• when you click on my blog titles there is now a link to that specific post
  
• I can easily add widgets from other websites, such as the RSS feed button
• it's easier to move elements around on your blog such as sidebar lists and graphics
  
• a blog roll is so much easier, just type in the url and Blogger adds the name of the blog, the link, alphabetizes it, and indicates when there are new posts (saves going to a reader to see updates)
  
• you longer need to upload extra images (such as your header or images on the sidebar) elsewhere on the web then link to them - now you can upload those images directly to Blogger
• there are more formatting options when you write posts
  
• and last but not least I finally have the "older posts" links at the bottom of the page!

There's probably more things that I'm forgetting, but in any case it turns out the work to upgrade was well worth it.

I also have a second column on the sidebar with room for sponsors. If you'd like to sponsor the Needle Book blog, just email me. The prices are low as I'm just trying it out, and if you own a fabric or wool shop I'm happy to trade!