Another Peek Behind the Curtain: It’s all about the Work

This past Sunday I came across this article in the Business Insider – The Most Successful Creative People Constantly Say “No”.   The paragraph that jumped out at me was this one:

“Time is the raw material of creation. Wipe away the magic and myth of creating and all that remains is work: the work of becoming expert through study and practice, the work of finding solutions to problems and problems with those solutions, the work of trial and error, the work of thinking and perfecting, the work of creating.”

In many ways time is what you are paying for when you purchase a crochet (or knit) pattern from a designer.  Not just the time that the designer put into that particular design, but the hours and days of experimenting and perfecting their craft so they could create a pattern that would be clear and concise.

I crochet a lot. I have my crochet with me wherever I can take it, and if I don’t have my crochet with me, I have a notebook that I write down ideas for crochet designs in. A lot of my crochet time is experimenting with ideas in how to make an increase or decrease in a specific stitch pattern, or how to construct a garment that takes advantage of the nature of crochet fabric and stitches.

This means that I also spend a great deal of that time frogging my work or making notes on why something didn’t work. It can be quite surprising the things that work in ways that I hadn’t expected. I’m reminded of how some drug companies research for a medication to treat one condition, but then discover that it is great for treating some other condition.

One of the ideas I had a few years back was for an embellishment on a sweater. The fabric was too dense and fussy for me though. Instead it morphed into a design idea for a bag that I sold to Red Heart. Ruffled Wedding Bag, you can get the pattern for free at the Red Heart Website.

This turned out to be one of my favorite designs so far that I’ve created using Red Heart’s “Sassy Lace“. They also have a “Sassy Fabric” yarn that comes in a variety of colors and prints giving you loads of options for making this little bag. I’m thinking that a fun version could be made in the Teal Chevron “Sassy Fabric” with either Iced Aqua or White “With Love” as the bag color. Would make a great gift bag for mother’s day.

I had planned on this post being something different. But time got away from me this past week. My entire family came down with a stomach bug. I was so ill on Sunday that I couldn’t do anything but read online and sleep. Of course, that is how I came across the article I quoted above. So there is always a silver lining.

Everyone is on the mend now and I hope to have a new pattern (maybe more than one) to show you this weekend.