Maybe I Needed To Hear This

I've been getting reminders from my own sense of indignation at the words and actions of others that anger is not the best medium to react from. Therefore, this will be my mantra:

Act so as to encourage the best in others, and by so doing you will develop the best in yourself. - Felix Adler

With that reminder to myself, I still want to know how the creativity of one person, while being similar, can be threatening to another when they themselves feel secure in what they are doing? Creativity is not insular in a highly virtual world, as demonstrated by the necessity of the Creative Commons Copyrights. Someone is bound to do something like mine, sooner or later. To think that that person owes me a debt of deference is absurd, egotistical and unrealistic. Prior knowledge would have to have occurred, and that's just to begin with.

I want to encourage others to express their creativity. If what they do happens to mimic mine because what I do inspires them, fantastic. I would be hurt by being directly referenced without credit, as might happen if someone used my yarn photos to stash a yarn I dyed in Ravelry and called it their own. But if the world can be a better place with my work in it, all the better. There is more than enough room for us all, and to some degree the market will determine whose work continues to grow.

I can be hurt, feel anger and pain as well as any. I am not always the kindest with my words, either (see Sara Mosle post for embarrassing examples). We are all human. And I will continue to do my work the way that suits my sense of personal expression. Along with my mantra of encouragement, I will also do my best not to engage in or create drama. Felix, buddy, help me through this rather frustrating time.

Between the Actual and the Virtual

A fourth dimension has developed between the true color of the yarn I'm trying to post and the color picked up by the camera and then displayed by my computer. Into that nebulous place goes all the light, life and variation of a skein of yarn and out the other side comes something considerably more drab and unimaginative than I like to believe I'm dyeing. To say this process is frustrating to me would be the grossest of understatements.

I have studied much in the way of science my whole life. For me the comfort of science is that when you have a clear understanding of the right process, you can repeat that process over and over with the same result. This is true of chemistry in the most reassuring way, and cooking and dyeing are chemistry. Which means I can mix the same amounts of flour, cream, butter, sugar and salt and I will get scones consistently.

Photography is not a science I excel at. It feels more like a lottery, where I put in time, energy, money, and I get back something very flat. Granted, the real yarn is still around and I can keep trying. But in the end, I eventually have to pick the least bad of the end product photos and use something to post new things on Etsy. I want my work represented to the best of my ability, and in this I am sorely deficient.

It has been pointed out to me, with examples, just how deficient I am. That wasn't a fun moment for me, as I'm very conscious of my own lack of talent and knowledge. I like being good at something. Which I think means investing in photography classes and another, more powerful, digital SLR camera and some lenses. I'll get a better set-up eventually.

Thanks to all my customers that have bought my yarn in spite of my crappy photography. I have only had one less-than-positive feedback and I feel I have done what I can to address it. As with all things, there is a learning curve, and right now I'm feeling it. If I suddenly disappear off the face of the earth, it's because that black hole between the yarn and my camera has finally swallowed me up.



The dude. He doesn't care what comes out the other end, as long he's in at least one shot.

Sara Mosle: Clueless Anti-Feminist

It was bound to happen. Somebody was going to find a way to piss all over Etsy and label it "feminism". There are so many holes in this article, it might be better posted on Safeway.com as "swiss cheese".

Why am I so annoyed? Obviously, I fit the suggested demographic of the article's primary "argument". But unlike the author, I believe my choice to be a stay-at-home-mom is a perfectly valid option that doesn't violate feminist principles. I've been to college, I've traveled and lived abroad. My husband didn't tell me to stay home with the kid. He'd tell you he'd switch with me any day of the week. And his ego isn't so fragile that my making a better income would destroy his self-image. I certainly don't have an investment-banker father that expects a proper capitalist offspring to tout the ways of money. I'm an uber-liberal who believes that feminism is about the ability to make your own choices. Being pigeon-holed by a rich bitch who's big worry is her next book deal pisses me right the hell off.

Okay, so I'm ranting.

It seems a bit anti-feminist to me to suggest that men would "have evaluated the [Etsy] site on purely economic terms and found it wanting" while women could be lulled into believing they can gain meaningful income from hobbying. As many yarn dyers can tell you, their Etsy sites are nothing like a hobby. The concept that women can't evaluate pro's and con's on sheer economic merit is a numbing mind-fuck of false stereotyping being perpetuated by somebody who values money over thoughtful content.

Nothing about Etsy promises that if you sell your wares through them, you'll be magically transported to a world free of toil and unfairness. No, that belief fits more clearly into post-modern feminist canon than anywhere else. A high-power career is the only gateway to enlightenment? You've just lost me entirely. Work ethic, not sensationalism, is the ethic that enables me to reap the unique benefits of listing on Etsy.

I should probably apologize for the personal attacks on Ms. Mosle's character. I might, later. I would really have appreciated a little more of a two-sided perspective, you know, a couple good interviews with Etsy shop owners or something. But in digging around the internet on Sara Mosle, I find only things that support the idea that this woman knows nothing about real work. I can't devalue her choices in motherhood - they are her choices to make. I wish she could return that view.

Hum

I can't seem to shoot fast enough to get a head shot, not that they don't peek around the feeder often enough to eyeball me and make sure I'm not going to come any closer. I've been at this for two years and this is the best photo thus far. Enjoy!

My Hero

I love doing these bright colors. But I don't much care for space dyeing. Still, want to keep this one. See Superhero here.

Meriamboo II Comparisons

Blush, Ginger, Mocha

Mocha, Shy Violet, Ginger

Glacier, Ginger, Mocha

Lahki, Ginger, Mocha

Earl Grey, Ginger, Mocha
Bella, Ginger, Mocha
Ginger, Mocha, Casey
Ginger, Mocha, Corona
Dirt, Ginger, Mocha

Sock Summit Mania

After months of build-up and tense announcements, the class registration went up for Sock Summit. The rest is history - crashed servers, violently disappointed knitters, emails flying, chat threads extending into the sunset. I may not do this very well, and be warned I am not a kind person by nature, but I think there is some evidence that this could all have been a little less nutty.

The facts are these:

1. Check the stash listings for Socks That Rock. With more stashes and projects listed than any other sock yarn, I think that says something for the popularity of Tina's dyeing. From my own experience, the amount stashed on Ravelry is about one tenth of the actual yarn sold.

2. Two years ago at Blue Moon's annual "destash" in Scappoose knitters were fighting each other to get to the yarn. I wasn't there, but I surely won't be going in the future if that's the atmosphere. The Blue Moon booths at events like OFFF and Madrona are bad enough.

3. Every time the Yarn Harlot does a talk or a signing, the event is obscenely over capacity.
Two years running, Powell's here in Portland was inundated, so finally Tina helped get Stephanie booked at World Forestry Center's 300-person hall and it was still packed beyond fire code.

4. When the Yarn Harlot tries a new sock yarn and blogs about it, that dyer gets inundated, becoming a star overnight, though sometimes only for just a few days. This phenomena has its over verb: getting Harlotted. Examples: Fiber Optic, Sereknity, and Crash Into Ewe, to name a recent few.

This, I think, begins to demonstrate the power of Tina and Stephanie. Not the power of the sock. Let me say that again - it isn't really just about socks anymore.

The pressure in the air has been building about the Sock Summit since the idea was first introduced. When the list of teachers went up, I think it occurred to all of us that SS09 might turn out to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There are yarn dyers out there that believe that getting a booth at Summit will be the thing that transforms their dyeing "hobby" into a full-time job.

The combined popularity of Tina and Stephanie seems to have brought some folks to the point of hysteria. Are they The Beattles of the yarn world? Either way, I am sad to find that people were downright nasty when they didn't get the classes they wanted. Seriously, folks, we're knitters, we know better. Apologize and GET A FRAKKING GRIP.

If there is a next time, ladies, please, Please, don't let anybody talk you out of what you should know by now is true. Over prepare, if you can afford it. And then redouble your efforts, just in case. Neither of you seems to do things by halves anyway. Just saying. From my perspective it seems that none of the organizers should have been shocked by the response, although they didn't deserve to get slammed by crazies for making a simple mistake.