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Archive for August 26th, 2005

A Gift of Art

Friday, August 26th, 2005

My sister in law, Diana, sent me the link to Robert Genn’s column entitled “A Gift of Art.”

Mr. Genn is a painter, I’m a socknitter among other things. Both of us are asked to do creative work for others, sometimes free, sometimes for a very low wage. Most of the time, the person asking has no idea what sort of gift they are really asking for.

Folks who know me well are less likely to ask for a pair of socks (for example). The waiter who waits on me frequently at a favorite restaurant, asked for a pair. People in computer classes ask. Complete strangers ask, offering $20 for a pair.

I tell them all that the yarn starts at $12 and then it often takes about 10 days (or more, depending on my schedule) for me to knit them. Actual knit time depends on size, style and yarn weight. Fast Florida Footies in a small size/fat yarn take me the least time, and that takes a full day of focused knitting. So I am being offered less than a dollar an hour at best.

I tell them I teach knitting and I sell patterns. I can help them find a class where they can learn. I’ll help them make their own pair, but I don’t sell my knitting.

I tell people I am a selfish knitter, that I knit because I love wearing socks I knit just for me. I have tiny feet and I like bright colors and wool. It’s near impossible to find commercial socks in my size, in wool, regardless of color. I’ve been obsessed with colorful socks since the 1970s. I had 82 pair socks in my sock drawer before I picked up my needles again. I’m just convinced that nobody can appreciate the custom socks I can knit, more than I do.

I sometimes knit for my Mom, sometimes for Brian, rarely for anyone else. Well, now that I’m a professional instructor, it seems I’m always knitting single socks and other items for display in the yarn shops where I teach. But when I knit pairs of socks, I like knitting them for myself! And I don’t apologize.

Robert Genn has a twice-monthly newsletter containing “inspiration and information” for folks with an “artistic career.” Perhaps some of you would like to check it out.

I Can’t Help Myself

Friday, August 26th, 2005

OK, I lied… I made the changes as soon as I was able to think straight this morning. I knew what needed doing and couldn’t stand it the other way. Most of you won’t have even seen the first version, but trust me, this one makes more sense to a visitor.

If you are one of the few who came by when it was on “beta” version 1, and you see my face twice (all squished up) at the top left corner, please refresh your screen and it should make things look right. To refresh, either click the refresh/reload button at the top of your screen, or hit the F5 key at the top of your keyboard, or hold the Ctrl key while you tap the “R” key (for refresh), if you are running Windows.

This site has needed good navigation for a while. I know that some of the images are less than obvious, but there are word links/buttons for anything you can’t find easily as a photo. I hope you enjoy the change.

A New Look

Friday, August 26th, 2005

I’m sure those of you who come here often will notice, but I’ve created a new look. This is mostly for the sake of those trying to navigate between the different parts of my website.

Until now, it was pretty hard to find your way from the weblog to my patterns, to my yarns, to my classes, and so on. Each section of the site had its own navigation (or not), and since I kept adding things, it was getting impossible to get around.

I have been trying to retrofit all my mini-sites so that they look more alike. The SockTour and my Polymer Clay pages are the oldest of my pages, and they have black for a background. This is a real hassle for those who are visually impaired and I do not plan to repeat that look again. However, each of the images on those pages required that I “airbrush” the background out in black, and I just do not have the time or the heart to redo all those images in white. So those remain, with a different look than my newer pages.

My yarns, classes, patterns, and even some of my more hidden pages have now been updated with this new banner. I hope it creates a simpler experience getting around my site.

So here we go… I will definitely be changing the new banner a bit again in the next month or so… I already have plans for tweaking it. However, right now I’m on a non-computer deadline and so will leave that for September.