honestly yeah, fiber arts is magic. you cast spell of warm gloves, spell of nice hat, spell of stuffed animal.
material component: yarn
wand: single hooked wand or double pointed wands, depending on caster's preference
mechanical component: specific motions repeated in a particular pattern
time component: a while
look seriously the first step in a knitting recipe is "cast on", and then it's a bunch of letters and numbers incomprehensible to anyone not versed in the arcane art. that's a spellbook. yes it's a book of knitting patterns but also. it's a spell book.
idk who needs to hear this but if you knit or crochet you do not need to stress about it all of the time. that defeats the purpose of having a hobby. yes sometimes i do projects that require learning new stitches and making several runs to the craft store and searching for a specific brand of yarn and counting stitches and recounting stitches. but i also have a blanket that i call my "idgaf blanket" and it's literally just a giant gloriously repetitive chain stitch blanket made of a conglomeration of whatever yarn i happen to have scraps of. my rules are no undoing for dropped stitches, no overthinking color patterns. for just this one project, i simply crochet it because i like the feeling of crocheting. sometimes i just need to work on my idgaf blanket and that's okay and when it's done i'm sure i'll appreciate it a lot more simply because it never gave me anxiety
You! Internalize that you do not always need to "improve your art/craft" now! It's great to learn and develop your skills, but you do not need to come from a place of hating where you are now! You certainly do not need to force yourself to improve if it is coming in between you and enjoying the things you do. Improvement for improvements sake does not have to be the only goal, nor the only one that "should matter"
You are allowed to have motifs, enjoyment, ameturism, and "less skill." Kill and devour the capitalist in your head that dictates that you must always improve for everybody else's sake and your "productivity."
Knitting a freehand bag and started wondering how often people even use patterns, anyway. So--how often do you use a pattern when you make things ? This include knitting/crochet/sewing/weaving/nalbinding/bobbin lace/tatting/etc but also things like woodworking, cooking, and baking. If you want to just pick the thing you do most often that's fine.
I personally do not use patterns as I find them far more confusing than just figuring out the construction of an item and simply making it. I do very occasionally browse ravelry for inspiration but have downloaded maybe 2. In the 5 or so years since I joined. And have followed exactly 1, which I modified every single aspect of. In my defense, dyslexia.
If you're interested in textile art, please understand it will not end at one of the arts. Interested in weaving? There are many different types, so now you're learning about the culture these styles come from, and with that comes learning about their clothing. Now you're interested in learning how to sew clothing, and much of it has some kind of embroidery. So you do research and see how beautiful it is, and different types of embroidery exist. You decide to learn embroidery and get curious about lace because often they're seen together.
Prepare for a journey and get real good at organizing. You'll soon lose space because of supplies and tools.
Blessing of the knitter/crocheter: may your hands never have cuts, bruising, sores, hangnails, or any other nuisance that would make your craft painful. May your hands and wrists never ache 🪷💛
Crochet, fiber arts community, and artists come in real quick for a sec.
So I’m crocheting this bag and I’m getting a point where I can see myself selling my pieces, and I’m purposely making this bag to sell. I might keep it for a small bit to make content with it and show it off but I want it sold and I want to make more like it to sell. So I decided to look around to see what a bag like this might sell for online.
Im thinking about selling it at markets but this is a pretty pricey bag. To sell this I would also have to have cheaper items to sell and that requires more planning. Also, the big thing to note here is that while most crochet would be expensive because of the time you put into it, this bag has a pretty pricey upfront cost on top of the time. We’re talking $40-$60 in upfront, something you only see with like blankets or maybe a dress.
Anyway, I decide that the type of person who might want this kind of bag may be on Etsy, and I know there are people selling this kind of bag on that site and so I went over.
Tell me why most sellers are selling the exact same bag for $60 🥴. Also mind you, it takes about 6-8 hours to make depending on your energy and skill.
I included both upfront and just the minimum wage (in FL) for the amount of hours, then rounded up to get a minimum cost of at least $150 if I were to sell it. Close to $200 if I have to add different colors and accessories. You also have the concept of selling for twice the amount that you paid for to be able to get double the materials to make more and thats over $300. I’ve seen one person selling for $400 (marketing was on point for it but still…). And Etsy sellers are only selling it for $60 🥴🥴🥴 that’s not even enough for the labor!!
I know we want to make art accessible for everyone. And yes, an artist can sell their art at any price point. But damn, at least put cost and labor into it 😭 it really hurts my heart to see people undervaluing themselves selves. Like yes the recession is technically here for consumers but it’s also so for artists too. Artists will forever deserve to get paid, and we as a society gotta do better with paying them and showing that appreciation.
actually, you don’t need to understand the complex ways in which Cecil and Kevin operate within their narrative as both reflections of each other and opposites, both identical and antithetical, doubles but not truly doubles— all you really need to know is that Cecil crochets, and Kevin knits.