Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
This year I've been thinking a lot about how lucky I am to have so much love in my life. So many people in this world are alone and forgotten, and while I may have bad days there is always someone to cheer me up or make me laugh or show me that it's not as bad as I think it is. Friends and family are what make life worth living, and my life is filled with truly amazing people. Thank you for being a part of my life.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
I Hate the Term "Crafting"
In fact, I hate the term "crafting" so much I threw up a little in my mouth just typing the above. I hate reading about anyone who classifies themselves as a "crafter," I hate the idea of "crafting," I hate "crafting events" and "crafting communities." What is it about this word that works like fingernails on a chalkboard making me cringe and barf at the same time? Let's explore...
I associate "crafting" with shoddy workmanship and inferior materials. It makes me think of the scary camphor smelling craft fairs held at community centers all over the US, yes, the ones where little old ladies sell their oddball creations made out of acrylic yarn and twigs...But wait, I don't want to be mean, once in a while you can find something well made or artistically interesting at these fairs...once in a great while.
I also find the term "crafter" demeaning. It doesn't have the nobility of craftsman or artisan, somehow it seems to connote uselessness and frivolity, a mindless occupation of time that results in nothing good.
Maybe I just don't like the people who call themselves "crafters," maybe I think they're a little arrogant and silly and they should just make good things and not worry about what their friends call their hobby of making plastic Christmas ornaments decorated with spangles and yarn.(craft can also be defined as skill or ability used for bad purposes as in cunning, deceit or guile...hmmm..)
Maybe I just hate the idea of being lumped all together with the acrylic twig grannies and the weird hippie DIY kids in some "crafting" box.
Maybe I just like to make nice things by myself or with nice people and don't like to call it anything but having fun. Fun is a good word. I think I would be far more likely to go to all of those weird craft fairs if they called them "Fun Fairs."
Imagine you saw a sign that read something like this: FUN FAIR!!(with an arrow pointing towards a community center, high school gym, or library) I would probably go, wouldn't you? Who wants to say no to fun?
I associate "crafting" with shoddy workmanship and inferior materials. It makes me think of the scary camphor smelling craft fairs held at community centers all over the US, yes, the ones where little old ladies sell their oddball creations made out of acrylic yarn and twigs...But wait, I don't want to be mean, once in a while you can find something well made or artistically interesting at these fairs...once in a great while.
I also find the term "crafter" demeaning. It doesn't have the nobility of craftsman or artisan, somehow it seems to connote uselessness and frivolity, a mindless occupation of time that results in nothing good.
Maybe I just don't like the people who call themselves "crafters," maybe I think they're a little arrogant and silly and they should just make good things and not worry about what their friends call their hobby of making plastic Christmas ornaments decorated with spangles and yarn.(craft can also be defined as skill or ability used for bad purposes as in cunning, deceit or guile...hmmm..)
Maybe I just hate the idea of being lumped all together with the acrylic twig grannies and the weird hippie DIY kids in some "crafting" box.
Maybe I just like to make nice things by myself or with nice people and don't like to call it anything but having fun. Fun is a good word. I think I would be far more likely to go to all of those weird craft fairs if they called them "Fun Fairs."
Imagine you saw a sign that read something like this: FUN FAIR!!(with an arrow pointing towards a community center, high school gym, or library) I would probably go, wouldn't you? Who wants to say no to fun?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
If you have a six year old foot I have a pair of booties for you.
I found a really cool pattern for booties and I decided to make them for my friend's cute new daughter. I chose not to make a gauge swatch because, whatevs they're just booties. Well....
Notice the pen for scale? Yeah, not quite what I intended.
Notice the pen for scale? Yeah, not quite what I intended.
Who I am
I've wholeheartedly given up on my plan to not start too many projects. The more the merrier is my new philosophy, and I am willing to accept the fact that some of the projects won't get done in a timely manner.
I've decided to not push myself to be something that I am not. I am what I am and trying to change my basic nature is difficult and fruitless. I'm trying to pay more attention to who I am and less to who I want to be. I may want to be a finisher but really I'm a starter. A starter who starts something and then gets distracted by some nice yarn or a need for something and then jumps into something else.
Like a wash rag.
I finally went to JoAnn Fabrics to get the reinforcer stuff for my bag and since I was there I decided I should take a look around. They had spangles and glitters and buttons and fancy papers, it was pretty spectacular. Plus weird things that made me think of ladies with 30 cats. I found myself wandering around the yarn section generally making faces at all of the acrylics, when I saw the Sugar 'n Cream. Mmmm...Sugar 'n Cream. This stuff is cotton yarn that makes the best wash rags for doing dishes. Truly it's amazing. You've got to try it, the dishes get so clean with much less elbow grease than you would use with a normal 52 cent dishrag from Target. Plus it comes in a fantastic array of colors, some pretty and some not very. AND it only cost 2.75 per ball. DEALS!!! I couldn't resist. I managed to stop myself at three balls of it which was kind of amazing because I had 7 of them in my hand at one point. Great restraint Katie. Then I went home and instead of working on my bag I made this:
Mitered Wash-a-rag:
Yarn: Sugar 'N Cream 100% cotton
Needles: Size 10 1/2
Cast On 51 Stitches
Row 1 and all other odd rows: Knit
Row 2: Knit (K) 24 Slip 1 (sl 1) Knit 2 together (K2tog) Pass slipped stitch over (psso) Knit to end
Row 4: K 23, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K to end
Row 6: K22, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K to end
Continue decreasing like this every even row until you have 5 stitches left.
Second to last row: K2tog, K1, K2tog (should be the end of the row)
Last row: sl 1, K2tog, psso
I've decided to not push myself to be something that I am not. I am what I am and trying to change my basic nature is difficult and fruitless. I'm trying to pay more attention to who I am and less to who I want to be. I may want to be a finisher but really I'm a starter. A starter who starts something and then gets distracted by some nice yarn or a need for something and then jumps into something else.
Like a wash rag.
I finally went to JoAnn Fabrics to get the reinforcer stuff for my bag and since I was there I decided I should take a look around. They had spangles and glitters and buttons and fancy papers, it was pretty spectacular. Plus weird things that made me think of ladies with 30 cats. I found myself wandering around the yarn section generally making faces at all of the acrylics, when I saw the Sugar 'n Cream. Mmmm...Sugar 'n Cream. This stuff is cotton yarn that makes the best wash rags for doing dishes. Truly it's amazing. You've got to try it, the dishes get so clean with much less elbow grease than you would use with a normal 52 cent dishrag from Target. Plus it comes in a fantastic array of colors, some pretty and some not very. AND it only cost 2.75 per ball. DEALS!!! I couldn't resist. I managed to stop myself at three balls of it which was kind of amazing because I had 7 of them in my hand at one point. Great restraint Katie. Then I went home and instead of working on my bag I made this:
Mitered Wash-a-rag:
Yarn: Sugar 'N Cream 100% cotton
Needles: Size 10 1/2
Cast On 51 Stitches
Row 1 and all other odd rows: Knit
Row 2: Knit (K) 24 Slip 1 (sl 1) Knit 2 together (K2tog) Pass slipped stitch over (psso) Knit to end
Row 4: K 23, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K to end
Row 6: K22, sl 1, K2tog, psso, K to end
Continue decreasing like this every even row until you have 5 stitches left.
Second to last row: K2tog, K1, K2tog (should be the end of the row)
Last row: sl 1, K2tog, psso
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Diversions
Lately I have been trying to limit the number of projects I'm working on at a given time. I have a tendency to start projects and not finish them, and at one time in the past I remember counting way too many unfinished projects in my little basket, none of which seemed to be making any progress toward completion.
In the hopes of improving my completion to start ratio I pledged to myself to only work on one or maybe two projects at a time. This was going quite well until I reached the bottom of my bag which requires some kind of plastic-y reinforcer. I'm not exactly sure what they are talking about although I have an idea, the pattern calls for "plastic mesh canvas" and the only thing I can think of is that poky plastic stuff that I practiced sewing on when I was a tiny tot. Being a natural fiber girl, the addition of plastic to my beautiful wool creation does not sound appealing. Plus that means I have to go to JoAnn Fabrics or Michael's or an equally overwhelming and sometimes appalling "Craft" store.
As a healthy and well practiced procrastinator, I came up with a different solution: Start a new project!! It's just a small project. A pair of socks. It's getting cold and I need some more nice warm wool socks to keep my toes happy. No big deal. I'll finish the bag soon, I just have to go to the store. I can't not knit, just because I haven't had time to go to the stupid store. Yeah...that's it...
In the hopes of improving my completion to start ratio I pledged to myself to only work on one or maybe two projects at a time. This was going quite well until I reached the bottom of my bag which requires some kind of plastic-y reinforcer. I'm not exactly sure what they are talking about although I have an idea, the pattern calls for "plastic mesh canvas" and the only thing I can think of is that poky plastic stuff that I practiced sewing on when I was a tiny tot. Being a natural fiber girl, the addition of plastic to my beautiful wool creation does not sound appealing. Plus that means I have to go to JoAnn Fabrics or Michael's or an equally overwhelming and sometimes appalling "Craft" store.
As a healthy and well practiced procrastinator, I came up with a different solution: Start a new project!! It's just a small project. A pair of socks. It's getting cold and I need some more nice warm wool socks to keep my toes happy. No big deal. I'll finish the bag soon, I just have to go to the store. I can't not knit, just because I haven't had time to go to the stupid store. Yeah...that's it...
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