Friday, March 23, 2007

TOD

No, that doesn’t mean what it does on shows like CSI — it’s The Obligatory Disclaimer. You know, when you’re showing someone your latest FO and you say something like “Well, it didn’t turn out quite like I’d hoped.” or “There’s a mistake in the 14th row.” We can’t help ourselves. Nothing is perfect especially something we’ve made ourselves. We aren’t perfect so why should something we’ve been involved with be perfect either. We forget that that’s not the point at all! If it came from our hands and minds, then it’s very special and should be treated with the respect it deserves flaws and all. I mean, we expect our parents, children and spouses to love us anyway flaws and all, don’t we? Then we should love our crafty “children” too, no matter what. So either we have to stop with the TOD altogether or we ought to get it out of the way right away and then allow others to have their own opinions. Instead we should talk about what we loved about the piece, what turned out right and how it makes us feel good to have made it.

On the other hand, if we really aren’t pleased with something we’ve made, we should let others whom we respect see and comment on it. Lots of times they have a different perspective from ours and what we thought were flaws were really invisible to others or made the piece more “human” and hand-made. One person’s trash is very often another person’s treasure. Really! Show them everything even the stuff that didn’t turn out. At the very least, your fellow crafty types can help you figure out how to fix what you didn’t like or give you suggestions to make the next piece come out more in line with your vision. Or someone might just love it despite what you think is a negative. And having positive comments on your work can make you feel better about the direction you’re heading in. Show-and-tell is a great ego-booster.

I’m more than halfway up the second side of the Cherry Leaf Shawl’s edging. I’m really happy with the lighter lacier Walnut Leaf edging contrasting the denser Cherry Leaf centre. The garter stitch-based edging blends into the wide garter stitch edges on the shawl’s main part and contrasts with the mostly stockinette cherry leaf motif. Though the p2tog decreases on either side of the centre stems mimic the garter stitch with their texture, bringing it into the centre of the shawl. Amazing how I can spend time knitting something with no deadline instead of working on all the things I need to do that have definite deadlines, hey? Such is the power of procrastination at work. Maybe it’s the dark and rainy weather. Sure.