Yeah, I'm pretty happy with myself.
(Take a good long look at these fabulous spinning creations of mine -on the left, Green Goddess, made with lovely handpainted blue faced leicester from my pal at Spinknit, and on the right, my very own hand-painted Solar System yarn made through the Sheep Creek Weavers annual Dye Day last June.)
At least, I'm really REALLY trying to tell myself I'm really great and happy with what I do.
A peek at my Ravelry page (for Ravelers, I'm "birchblanket") shows SO many WIPs it's a little daunting to think about. After the Christmas Knitting Like Crazy time - which ended in February - I've been working on Objects of Obligation (which I wouldn't do if I didn't want to, but they end up meaning my personal knitted wardrobe suffers) for a pair of to-be-born twins, plus some samples for some classes I wanna teach...
And I'm about to cast on a lovely Mr. Greenjeans in Louet's new gorgeous Foxy Red in Riverstone yarn (awesome quality for the price, I might add - about fifty bucks for a wool sweater that's not scratchy? Wowee. I love Make 1 Yarn Studio for Amy's design and Sandra telling me I deserved it for my birthday, which I did...)
But in preparing for the now-past HWSDA (that's Hand Weavers Spinners Dyers of Alberta) annual conference show & tell, I pulled together some of my Best Work From The Year. Which is also daunting but ultimately rewarding when looking at what I did (like revamping a resume).
I sat back on my heels and said:
"I did THAT?"
(being quite self-approving incredulous, of course, not denigrating incredulous like "what was I THINKING?")
Hm. I spend all this time thinking I'm kinda not very good because I'm in the middle of so much (I'm beginning to think if WIP as "Well, I Protest" or something, imagining some naggy schoolteacher with hands on hips and glasses half-down the nose waggling her finger at my lack of stick-to-itness), and then I go and look at what I HAVE finished (and most of what I finish finds its way out the door to its recipients, not all of them old enough to sit still for photographs).
And it's quite self-validating.
A peek at my Ravelry page (for Ravelers, I'm "birchblanket") shows SO many WIPs it's a little daunting to think about. After the Christmas Knitting Like Crazy time - which ended in February - I've been working on Objects of Obligation (which I wouldn't do if I didn't want to, but they end up meaning my personal knitted wardrobe suffers) for a pair of to-be-born twins, plus some samples for some classes I wanna teach...
And I'm about to cast on a lovely Mr. Greenjeans in Louet's new gorgeous Foxy Red in Riverstone yarn (awesome quality for the price, I might add - about fifty bucks for a wool sweater that's not scratchy? Wowee. I love Make 1 Yarn Studio for Amy's design and Sandra telling me I deserved it for my birthday, which I did...)
But in preparing for the now-past HWSDA (that's Hand Weavers Spinners Dyers of Alberta) annual conference show & tell, I pulled together some of my Best Work From The Year. Which is also daunting but ultimately rewarding when looking at what I did (like revamping a resume).
I sat back on my heels and said:
"I did THAT?"
(being quite self-approving incredulous, of course, not denigrating incredulous like "what was I THINKING?")
Hm. I spend all this time thinking I'm kinda not very good because I'm in the middle of so much (I'm beginning to think if WIP as "Well, I Protest" or something, imagining some naggy schoolteacher with hands on hips and glasses half-down the nose waggling her finger at my lack of stick-to-itness), and then I go and look at what I HAVE finished (and most of what I finish finds its way out the door to its recipients, not all of them old enough to sit still for photographs).
And it's quite self-validating.
I am taking a page out of my eight-year-old's playbook: Hey, look what I did!
(have a peek at my flickr photostream...I have lots of pretty things there, too! I will keep adding...)
This is my Mermaid's Dance, from Fleece Artist's BFL.
This next one is a neckwarmer I spun from Celeigh Wool's very own lovely Shetland, Pearl (who sadly passed of old age this summer - I have the last of her fleece). I love how soft this came out, and this petrified wood button.
And this is another of my hand-painted yarn, a silky-soft alpaca, knitted into a gorgeous shrug, from Glampyre Knits. My daughter decided this will do nicely for her to wear from age 8 to 88 and snagged it to wear as a sweater for now, and growing into a shrug as she grows.
I'm reasonably sure I'm putting these into a show of some kind sometime soon - whaddya'll think? Perhaps the Millarville Fall Fair? Or something else?
3 comments:
you are amazing, and beautiful, and smart, and talented, and creative and.. such a wonderful friend. i'm so glad to know you.
just thought i'd mention that.
Oh...(melting into a puddle). Thank you! I don't know how to follow that...except to say you are an inspiration to me. I'm glad to have you in my life!
OMG OMG OMG - I love love love the 8-88 Grow Into It Shrug! I might have a thingy for brights though. Your spinning is wonderful! Definitely put your work into some shows - after all the worst that can happen is your stuff isn't as good as someone else's (probably some Master Spinner who learned at grandma's knee and prefer to spin cashmere with eyes closed because it makes it more challenging).
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