december 1st , 2004
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10:39pm

i finished another hat.
it turned out way better than my expectation of it, which is always nice :)
i call it either "hat to the infinite power" or "good fortune hat"
i don't know why i name my hats.
it's just something do.

i can't believe i'd ever say i love minnesota, being that i have been here all my life and for most of my life was sick to death of it. but right now there is a butter factory which is on fire here.
i know that is tragic and sad, but to me, it just seems so david lynch's "twin peaks".
butter just seems some harmless and wholesome. even at the state fair here, it is tradition to carve the likeness of whoever wins the butter maid or dairy maid or whatever on earth is that title...in butter.
someone sits in a freezer made of glass, and they carve the busts in butter and it's a huge tradition and crowd draw.
i love stuff like that.

and now all this butter, ablaze, in the middle of the darkness of minnesota...

im going to listen to yesterday's c2c now which is about life after death.

i love my life.

i love the thought of butter on fire, milk maids, and i need to get up to the potato festival that is up north here, next season.
"spud days" or something.
i want to wrestle someone in the mashed potato pit.
life is good.

3:07pm

 

2:42pm

i hate waiting for soup to cool.

from verukazalts lj :)

2:35pm

i don't know if i will make it to the bank today.
i thought so much about my book.
and now i must eat.
ramen and eggs.

another thing to add to book.
to just leave a project for months or more if you get stuck on it.
how little pieces of unfinished projects can become something later or be combined into other things.
if you hate something you've made, let it be an opportunity for you to furtherly experiement on it. felt it, dye it, shrink it, paint on it, embroider on it. or just leave it alone and what it wants to be will come to you later.
how some of my most hated pieces have become some of my favourite pieces even as much as a year later.

1:18pm

thoughts on book

i think this crochet book is going to be more difficult to write than i 1st thought.
because it's all about inspiring people to let go of their preconceived notions and it's about getting people to trust thier intuition to let their artist side come out. that is really difficult to teach in a book, i think.

i think i might really focus on what a person can do with just the single stitch, which is what i use mostly.
people get so hung up on fancy stitches and the right way and wrong way of doing things.
also people get really hung up on making the idea in their head come out EXACTLY as they envisioned it.

i want people to get into the process of things, not just focused on what they want the end result to be.

i'm asking people advice on this crochet book and some people just want to know "how do i make the thing i see in my head?"
and it's not as simple as just giving them specific instructions on how to make that.
it's a journey. they might have to make 50 or 100 things that don't look like the thing the see in their head before they can make the thing they see in their head. you have to experiment. there is no easy way there.

i really don't know if any artist ever gets their art out EXACTLY the way they see it in their head.
i know i sure don't. i sort of 50% get it out and it 50% takes on a life of its own.
more or less.

i think i am going to have to write this book just how i am going to write it.
it won't be the book for everyone.
it might not even be a book that peole will like or get if you are not already an artist to some degree.
i don't think i can just take a person with rigid thinking who wants their idea they have in their head to come out exactly to be all of a sudden happy with results that are NOT what it is their head.
if you aren't an artist, you aren't an artist.
if you're not into the process, you just aren't.

i'm just going to have to make this book from my heart in all it's hippy trippy way and then throw it out there for the people who are going to get it and like it and who need it.

i'll throw in some fancy stitches at the very end of the book and give reference material to other books that show "exact" ways of doing things.

this is going to be a book about intuition, letting go of preconceived notions, getting inspired, loving the process for the process and not getting hung up on the result, learning to love your mistakes and incorporate them in (a VERY important and essential thing), letting the yarn take YOU on a journey instead of vice versa.

just some ideas i am throwing around in my head.

you don't need to know any fancy stitches to begin to freeform crochet. there are infinite possibilities just with single stitch.

i think if i get into other stitches blah blah blah, then it's going to bog down the the core idea i want to get across with this book which is just to let go and let your imagination and intuition take you somewhere unexpected. i don't want this to be a book about technical things so much. screw that. there are tons of crochet books already for that. but i will show how to make 3 basic shapes: circle, square, tube.

but i will throw some of that in at the end.
but you can do SO much with just the single stitch.
and then increasing and decreasing.

ya, i'll try to get people to just be comfortable freeforming with singlestitch FIRST. because if you get hung up on the correct way to make fancy stitches while simultaneously trying to "let go", then that gets too complex right off the bat.
get comfortable letting go with single stitch.
THEN, at the end of the book i will show some other stitches.

these are just what i am thinking about at this moment.
subject to change minutely.

and i think i will have instructions on how to make a duct tape dressform of yourself so you can lay pieces on it and pin them on so that you can make outfits that fit yourself. and advice on how to get a rubber head mannequin to pin hats on , if you are making hats. those kind of things really help to get things assembled correctly if you are working on putting different pieces together and trying to figure out where would be the best places to put these pieces so they look right on yourself. 'cause it's pretty impossible to always use yourself as the dressform to gauge where you are at with certain things.
etc...

i will also try to get people not to be so befuddled about what to do with tiny amounts of yarn. and not be so scared of novelty yarn. novelty yarn is not just for edges and accents! :)

and i will also talk about cutting up fabric and crocheting with that.

i would like to make two of everything for photos for the book.
one would be a really arty "crazy" example, and one would be a more subdued example for those who don't want to make anything "that wild".

things to make:

hat
scarf
armwarmers
sweater
skirt
dress
purse/bag
bedspread
pillow
stuffed animal/figurine
sculpture
wallhanging
mittens
coat
rug
container/box
ring
bracelet
necklace

what else should i make?

 

oh and also that you can crochet almost any type of material..wire, paper, cord, telephone wire, rope, saran wrap, plastic bags cut into strips, etc. etc etc.
and of course how to add things like beads, toys, spools, toys, whatever you can get your yarn through and string like a bead, etc.