The C Side

This is part of the third annual Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week

I knit and crochet all year round.  I just make different things and I use different materials.  It is actually a great opportunity to try things you wouldn’t normally do.  Summer makes me want to crochet or knit beach bags, sun hats and toys.  The colder months make me want to knit shawls, cardigans and little mittens.  Of course I want to knit socks all the time but hey you can wear them all year round too.  I also knit baby blankets any time of the year too.  Cotton for summer babies and wool blends, acrylic or superwash (because they need to be machine washable) in the winter.

Edited to add: The bag above is my Carry Me Away Market Bag.

This is part of the third annual Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week

This was a lot harder than I had expected. I love taking pictures. I do it all day long. I take pictures of everything. All. The. Time.
But to tell a story with my pictures is harder. I don’t take pictures to tell a story, I take pictures to capture the moment. And with yarn I take pictures to showcase the depth and saturation of color, texture or just beauty.

Then there are the works in progress pictures.

These are always fun for me because they remind me of how far I am on a project or how much I still need to do. I think they also show people how much work goes into creating anything handmade.

Then of course there are the finished items. I think FO pictures can be broken down into to categories. The FO not being used kind of picture.  A knitted piece just lying around.

And the action shot. This type of shot is near and dear to my heart. Because at the end of the day when I knit a cardigan or crochet a bag or even make a plain old washcloth, I want them to be used. I want my daughter to jump up and down in her cardigan and I want the friend of a baby to be swaddled with love in that blanket.

This shawl was never made for her but she claimed it from the start.  She says it is too small for me and it is more of a shawlette or a scarf on me.  She wears it at home like a little old granny completely unaware how inappropriate on her.

And the rainbow mittens that make the cold go away from her hands, while still giving her fingers the freedom to do what little people do best.

I have to confess that when I first read the today’s topic, I wanted to take a stunning picture.  Something with amazing lighting and  the perfect accompanying story.  So I cast on and knit a little cardigan for my wooden fashion dummy.  The dummy felt really naked, so I made her a skirt.  Her bald head annoyed me so I crocheted a hat.  All the time I thought how will all this tell a story, so I thought of using capital cities as backgrounds and make it look like the dummy was visiting the world and going to all the places I dream about going.  And then I realized that I didn’t need it.  The pictures I already have tell their own wonderful stories, even if no one understands them, I know their story, I know how I bought the yarn, had an idea and executed it.  Looking at the dummy in her full outfit, I realize she tells a story that was not intended to be told.  The story of a girl, who had dreams, who became a woman and got a totally different life and used what she had on hand to make beautiful things.  Even if no one gets the story, I understand it because I have lived it.  There will always be stunning photographs of amazing white sandy beaches and canyons and Tokyo at night or Paris.  But only I can take pictures of a messy living room because we spent the whole day building blanket castles and having pretend tea parties with imaginary friends.  Not every story is meant to be written or read by other people.  Some stories are just to be lived through and enjoyed for the moment they are being created.