12 December 2013

Not always

I had a sweet letter the other day from a fellow crafter who was praising me for "always making such beautiful things".  I had to giggle because obviously she was not privy to this currently creation that was sitting on my counter.

You see, I wanted to learn something new so I decided to attempt charted color work.  I have never done it - knit or crochet - so this was an adventure.  I grabbed my graph paper notebook that I purchased several months for exactly this and sat down.  Disappointed that I totally forgot to pick up colored pencils, I grabbed a pen and simply shaded in the squares where I thought the color would go.  Pleased with my new graph, I grabbed two colors from my stash and set to work.

The inside looked good, the outside was almost recognizable as snowflake...
I was thinking I was doing okay... then it dawned on me how wonky it was getting the further along I went.  I stuck with it because I figured it would be best to go on, using my limited skills, and figure what I did wrong at the end.  It was just scrap yarn and that is what scrap yarn is there for - practicing.  I also knew that this was going to my mama and she would love it regardless if looked like a snowflake bag or a Rorschach test.  Here is the end result...

Definite Rorschach test result but now it can be a game AND a bag that holds ornaments.
I get a giggle out of it but in a way, I'm also kind of proud of it.  I graphed it.  I overcame my fear of trying it.  I can kind of see where it wanted to be a snowflake and I'm sure with a bit more practice and research, the next one will be closer to being identifiable as what I intended.  So you see, it's not a true statement to say that everything I make comes out so beautiful - obviously, not always.

On the plus side, I am attempting the chart again but this time I am knitting it up as a gift card holder.  There are a few issues here as well but I'm not going to beat myself up over them.  I'm learning and when you're learning, everything is positive... even the creatively rogue moments.  See, I don't make mistakes when I'm creating... I simply go rogue... a lot.

Bet y'all forgot I knew how to knit... yeah, for a few minutes there, I did too!
The best part will happen next year or the year after, when these things are pulled out again and I can look at them, giggling over the silliness of the mistakes I made and the fear I had in creating them.  I can also be proud - that I had the courage to try and that I have learned so much since this first time.

Celebrate the efforts - regardless of the outcome.  Things will not always turn out as you envision them but as long as you continue to try, they have a better chance of success than if you don't even start.

1 comment:

  1. I accidentally un-vented this, but apparently it's *the* way to do crochet colorwork. You have to grab the color you're about to use for the last YO, pull through on the stitch before so that the top loop matches. I don't know if that will get you all the way from Rorschach but it might help? Good luck!

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