Monday, July 23, 2007

WANTED: Originality

I really love Ravelry, really I do. I love seeing the ideas people have for using certain yarns that I love, or yarns that I've never heard of, or how they modify patterns that I love, or patterns I've never heard of...you get the idea. Part of the reason I love the idea of hand knit items is that not everyone and their sister will have my sweater. Now I wonder, is that true? I mean, 942 people on Ravelry have knit a Clapotis - do you see my point? In the big scheme of things I guess having 1,000ish Clapotis, or 10,000, or even 100,000 in the whole world is just a fraction when you compare to my favorite sweater from the Gap. Right? Sometimes I just feel like I get caught up in the latest knitting trend and I turn into a sheep. I like wool & I've turned into a sheep - what is wrong with me?

All of that to say this - tonight I got sick of looking at my Monkey sock (743 pairs on Ravelry as I type this, in case you were interested). I decided that I needed something new, something different, something that NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD HAS. Why do I feel this way? Huh? I am not a designer. I am not creative. I'm a total copy cat, really I am! I want something that is mine & only mine. I don't want to bring it to a meet up & have people ohhh & ahhh over it (no, I'm not ill & I realize how irrational that statement is coming from me, bear with me). I don't want approval from anyone else. I want to make an original SOMETHING that might just turn into the biggest, furriest monstrosity you have ever seen in your whole freaking life. So I cast on for said original creation tonight with original yarn that someone else lovingly hand spun - and then abruptly sold at a yard sale for 10 bucks. My $10 monstrosity - I haven't been so happy about anything since my unoriginal Clapotis!

Stay tuned.....

5 comments:

Liz G. said...

Oh I can't wait...

Jennifer said...

This will be fun!!!

Way to go though!!!

Anonymous said...

hey, there ya go! Are you brinign it to Dunn Bros??

Auntly H said...

Very intriguing.... (I have some special handspun I need to find a special project for. not that I want to steal your idea, but maybe I could contribute to the monstrosity?)

What's different to me about Clapotis or Monkey (not that I've actually knit either) compared to [insert mega-chain of choice] is that they are handmade and in yarn selected by the knitter so even though they are from the same pattern, they are not identical, massproduced, low-quality throw-aways.

Manda said...

i awarded you something! check out the end of this blog post for details :D