I follow some knitwear/crochet designers on Twitter, they talk about their new designs and pattern writing exploits.
A lot of them seem to publish new patterns every few weeks
I want to do that too, I wish I had the time, but I don't
I can't publish patterns every couple of weeks for two reasons.
The first is because most of my designs are blankets which take weeks and weeks to make.
I could get them made for me so I could design more, but to me they are like pieces of art and I don't know what they are going to be until I have finished them.
I change my mind about colours and stitches and shapes designing and refining as I go along.
So blankets are my first stumbling block.
The second is I'm too busy.
My mornings are spent running NDS and dyeing, in theory my afternoons should be spent designing.
But most day's my mornings finish at 5 pm and thats only beacuse we have to go back down the hill to the post office to catch the last post.
If it wasn't for the last post they would probably finish about midnight.
Occasionally I manage a whole afternoon and very very occasionally I manage a whole day.
So all my designing and crocheting is done in the evenings, we tend to stay up late, Phil knitting and me crocheting.
Not because we want to stay up late, but because we want to cram as many hours of playing with wool in as we possibly can.
I love my life and wouldn't want to do anything else.
I live the dream even though its hard work, every second is worth the fight.
But even still I get slightly jealous, every time someone talks about their latest pattern and shares photo's.
Wish I had more time.......
Why does this sound all so familiar? Lots of empathy coming your way. It is the lot of the artisan. I'm thinking of going for 'bigger vats = more spare time' but something tells me that that kind of equation doesn't always work in real life. Enjoy your woolly work, it looks fab, all of it.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, what I love about your patterns is precisely the amount of time which they have taken, that they are not patterns but keys to works of art. When I invest in making one of your blankets it will be precisely because of the time investment you have put in so that I can trust you to have got it right, not to waste my time (and yarn) in creating something mediocre. Excellence is not an overnight success but a long, slow road of one step at a time.
ReplyDeleteThe simple answer is to get over comparing yourself either to others or to some ridiculous ideal. If you want to share and share some more, simply take more photos of all the different parts of your masterful work and give us a new angle on your chef d'oeuvre. It reminds me of that story of Michelangelo when asked to apply for the job of painting the roof of the Sistine Chapel. He was so busy that he simply painted a perfect circle in five seconds and got the messenger to take it. He got the job. Why? Because everyone has the ability to be mediocre and crow about it, but few put in the hours to be masters of work which stands the test of time.
Your blog, your lifestyle and your dedication to mastery through natural dying and crocheting granny squares to make them extraordinary bring so much happiness to my day.
We all have 168 hours in the day. That you love your life, doesn't that tell you that you're investing wisely?
with love, blessings, gratitude
gracefully
Guru Kaur