Yarn Fanfic, Haha!
Posted on November 17, 2008
Filed Under yarn philosophy, personal, yarn, general, writing | 5 Comments
The following is a convo I had with Drakonlily while watching a series of how-to spinning videos on YouTube. In them, the teacher predrafts every single bit of fiber BEFORE spinning–which has its place, IMO, but once done, that’s it. There’s no finesse, no adjustability, and it’s extremely limiting. When pressed, I suppose I couldn’t find fault with the argument that yes, she is creating yarn, and she is actually a clear teacher. After talking with Drakon, though, I think I figured out why they bother me so much.
Warning: IM logs and chat language ahead. I LOL and XD a lot.
ChocoboNoMegami: So I am watching a video series about spinning that pissed me off bigtime
krayxlidlon: …huh?
krayxlidlon: how?
krayxlidlon: were they evil?ChocoboNoMegami: This chick is talking about how she’s doing the ancient craft when she’s actually just cheating. TECHNICALLY MAYBE she’s spinning yarn, but it’s kind of like…uh…hmm
ChocoboNoMegami: Take Picasso. He painted disjointed forms and it was art, but only after having years of education and practice and understanding the rules before he broke them.
ChocoboNoMegami: imagine someone who saw one of his paintings, then started copying them but had no idea about the story, theory, or reasoning behind them
ChocoboNoMegami: and then THAT PERSON STARTED TEACHING
ChocoboNoMegami: that is what is happening with this chick’s vidskrayxlidlon: … so how can you spin wrong
ChocoboNoMegami: it’s like the artists above
ChocoboNoMegami: the product might be similar
ChocoboNoMegami: but there’s no understanding of how you got to that product, and no way to improve because you have no basis for the technique
ChocoboNoMegami: you dig?krayxlidlon: yeah, so you’re lucking into it
krayxlidlon: like yarn fanficChocoboNoMegami: exactly
ChocoboNoMegami: LOL
ChocoboNoMegami: it’s like [CC] suddenly started teaching writing to college students
ChocoboNoMegami: yeah, her fics may have been passable copies of JKR’s voice
ChocoboNoMegami: but she doesn’t have the framework beneath themkrayxlidlon: XD XD
ChocoboNoMegami: so yeah
ChocoboNoMegami: that’s why I’m mad
ChocoboNoMegami: because this chick has like 1200 subscribers who think she’s amazing. “learn how to draw! trace this picture!”
ChocoboNoMegami: XPkrayxlidlon: XD XD
krayxlidlon: she’s a fanfic writerChocoboNoMegami: AHAHAHAHA yes
ChocoboNoMegami: a yarnfic
Yarn fanfic. :D
In other news, it snowed flurries for exactly ten minutes here before they stopped. I am incredibly sad about this.
ETA: Moira’s comment made me think about clarifying where I’m coming from on this. I liked the fanfic analogy because it reminded me of a similar attitude that I found in that community, back when I was a fic writer and reader.
Please don’t get me wrong–fanfic is certainly a valid form of writing, just as the yarn created in the videos is still real and usable yarn. My problem was with the message: “This is how you make yarn–don’t bother with all that tough draft-as-you-go stuff” sounds terribly like “This is how you write–don’t bother with all that dumb grammar and punctuation stuff”. When I edited a fanfic ‘zine a few years ago, I heard that sentiment over and over until I was ready to hit someone with the Little, Brown Handbook.
Just wanted to clarify what I meant. Not that her yarn equated to fanfic in that she was making crappy yarn as opposed to crappy writing. It’s that her reasoning was dismissive of actual technique in the same way writers of fanfic often (though not always) were. Furthermore, this isn’t an attack on HER–it’s on the mindset of product over process and that results are the only important step.
Does that help?
Some of You Know What’s Coming…
Posted on November 17, 2008
Filed Under general | 6 Comments
…
SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!
That is all. :D
The Difference of Years
Posted on November 14, 2008
Filed Under personal | 4 Comments
Hanging out on FaceBook has put me back in contact with a lot of people I haven’t seen or spoken to in probably 10 or 15 years. While a lot of the time, it’s fun to see how they’ve changed from the teenagers I remember into adults with families, jobs, interests, and causes, sometimes it’s disappointing or even disturbing.
Case in point: there was this one guy I knew from high school. We were in the drama club together, and I was friends with his girlfriend at the time, too. We even went to the prom together since I didn’t have a boyfriend. Back then, I didn’t have any real political beliefs or stances (seriously, I was pretty introverted at the time), so maybe I never noticed that there were fundamental differences between us. We just hung out and talked about school or the drama club or whatever.
After finding and then friending him on FaceBook, I started getting his updates, and only then did I see just how different we are. I’m talking about opinions and deeply-held beliefs so radically disparate from my own that I don’t think I would ever speak to him in a social situation and would never, ever go out of my way to hang out with him. The only thing tying us together is our shared history of the early 1990s.
I have a core set of beliefs that I hold dear, and it’s my nature to keep them fairly private. I have never been a great debater or activist, instead quietly supporting my personal causes and simply avoiding the ones with which I disagree. I have learned that fighting about something doesn’t change anyone’s mind. But in the case of this friend, and as may be the case with others as I rediscover them online, I fear that the changes in us have become too great to ignore. When I see a person’s name and feel only anger or disgust at what they’ve posted, it’s time to put that part of my life behind me. It saddens me because my friend group was so limited back then, and I am losing a piece of something that is already small.
Thankfully, I haven’t had this reaction to most of my old friends and acquaintances. Perhaps it wouldn’t have bothered me so much if I didn’t have such a fondness for this particular person in the first place–I had very few people I truly liked as friends back then, and he was one of them. Maybe this is why I have avoided reunions with my old classmates: I want to remember them as I knew them once, and not see how different they are now. This is a silly sentiment, I’m aware. *I* certainly am not the same person I was in 1993. But the fear is that I’ll discover that someone is SO different, SO opposite of what I remember that I won’t recognize them.
I think I’m going to open this up for comments and discussion, both here and on FB. Go for it.
A Winner Is–YOU!
Posted on November 11, 2008
Filed Under organization, personal, yarn, admin | 3 Comments
Yesterday was November 10, and as promised, I have drawn the winning names for the second set of prizes, as well as the Grand Prize in my first-ever Comment Contest!
Before I announce the winners, I just want to thank everyone who played. I know the stream of comments will probably slow down now, but still…it was so much fun to open my email and see all the responses to stuff I’ve written and shared. I hope most of you stick around!
And here are the winners:
Stockinette Note Cards: shellie (blogless it appears)
Stitch Markers: Lynn
Begonia Yarn: deidra
and our Grand Prize of the Monet’s Garden yarn: Jill
All winners have been notified by email. Thanks again for playing!! I’ve got the Part 2 of the Gathering to talk about, as well as some new yarn, and with luck, I’ll be adding another video soon. Hope you check back again!
The Gathering, Part 1
Posted on November 9, 2008
Filed Under yarn, general | 9 Comments
I have been home for about 3 hours now, and still I can’t quite articulate how amazing this weekend really was. I am dazed and rocked and my head is spinning (no pun intended…ok, fine, it was totally intended). To give you a little bit of an idea, here’s a sample of how the weekend looked to me:
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There were wheels EVERYWHERE, whole flocks of them along the walls, in corners and alcoves, and huddled together for security. Handknits abounded, too, from modest scarves to insanely complex and delicate lace shawls. I saw tools that I had never seen before. I got to meet people who until this weekend had been simply names and blogs on my laptop screen. There were lifelong spinners and newbies, teachers and students, friends, family members, and mentors.
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Please click on the pics to embiggen and to see descriptions, because I put them all on Flickr and I just don’t have the brain power to code & caption them all here. Tomorrow I will post about the classes I took and some of the things that blew my mind. And don’t forget–tomorrow is ALSO November 10, the last day for the comment contest! I’ll be picking names for prizes as promised on November 11, so tune in to see if you won! :D
Hey, Look! Yarn! Knitting! Soup!
Posted on November 6, 2008
Filed Under Brown Sweater Project, weaving, personal, yarn | 9 Comments
I’m sure you were all wondering what happened to all the fibery stuff that’s supposed to be on this blog. Here you go:
First, the hat I made a couple of months ago and have been wearing but just got around to blocking:
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I bought the fibers for this hat at Rhinebeck 2007. Those fibers became the basis for a textured, colorful yarn experiment that I called “View From My Window”. The yarn became this hat. I had intended to knit a scarf, to be honest, but it just wasn’t working for me no matter what I did. I love this hat.
In more recent knitting, I was working on the project for The Gathering’s Fiber Challenge. I didn’t get much yarn out of the pack of fiber they sent me, but it was enough to make something small. The original plan was to be a pair of fingerless mitts with stranded colorwork on the hand. I got about halfway through the first one and realized a) I had made it too small and b) I wasn’t having fun while knitting it. Any knitter will tell you that it’s bad mojo to think unpleasant thoughts about your project. So on our bus ride up to Salem, I ripped the whole thing out and started over. The result was this hat:
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Yep, another beret. I have a total thing for this style of hat. Besides, how can you resist such a perfect canvas for multiple yarns? I should definitely do another one out of some small amounts of yarn hanging around in my stash.
The things they’re pinned to are foam tiles intended to make a floor mat for a dorm room. You could also use the ones made for kids, but I like these as they’re solid. The puzzle pieces fit together to make whatever configuration you need, so it’s great for anything from a very long scarf to a sweater to a triangle shawl. The tiles also happened to be exactly the right size for these berets. I picked up this set of 24 for about $20 at Target, during their College 08 sale.
To amuse myself spinning-wise, I’ve been working through some silk hankies from Spunky Eclectic’s Rhinebeck meetup. Hankies are great because you really can’t mess them up no matter what you do! I gave a few to my class on Monday, which was the last night of our session. It was a great way to end the class!
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BSP, Spin-along, and angora spinning are also kind of progressing. I’m holding off on playing with the Loom of Doom until after I return from The Gathering. I need to put some time aside to learn how to warp and all that; time I just don’t have at the moment.
One thing I hope to do a little of over the weekend is…NANOWRIMO. I’m off to the slowest start I’ve ever had: 0 words and here it is already the 6th. Ugh. I’ve been working so hard on finishing stuff for deadlines that Nano has fallen by the wayside. I plan to get something down on paper very soon.
OH! And I cooked! I made soup this time: a beef, leek and barley soup that totally hit the spot for us on Tuesday. I have enough of everything but the leeks & beef to make another pot, so I might go out and get more ingredients so I can make some to freeze. It reheats really well.
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| Doesn’t it just look YUMMY? |
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Tell me about some of your favorite recipes for Fall! And don’t forget–the comment contest is still on until November 10! :D
An Historic Occasion
Posted on November 4, 2008
Filed Under personal | 3 Comments
That’s right.
It’s the first time I ever voted for the person who won the Presidency.
And because I normally don’t discuss my politics with anyone, I’m leaving it at that.
Uh, Duh
Posted on November 4, 2008
Filed Under general | 5 Comments
Get out there and vote today. If you have to work, tell your boss you need to do your civic DUTY and will need time to run to the polls. You can report them if they try to stop you. You have the right, the privilege, and the duty to vote. I went out with Bunny first thing this morning and did it–it takes 5 minutes once you’re through the doors. Bring your knitting if your polling place has long lines. Just, for the love of all that is woolly and good in this world, please vote.
Otherwise, don’t complain later. :P
An Uncanny Town
Posted on November 2, 2008
Filed Under personal | 6 Comments
Sometimes it’s fun just to go on a bus tour to a nearby locale and do the tourist thing. This weekend, it was Salem, MA.
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We hit the Salem Witch Museum, Pickering Wharf, the House of Seven Gables, and at the end of the day, a walking story tour. Total and utter fun, even if my feet hurt like crazy now.
There may be a secondary effect of this day trip, involving yarn, but I’ll talk about that later if anything happens. :) I WILL say that I had a really nice experience at Seed Stitch on Front Street. I needed a circular needle for the hat I was working on, and though they didn’t have a circ I could use (They had Addi Turbos, which I can’t touch) but they DID have extra Brittany DPNS which worked just fine.
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We’ll definitely be going there again sometime, just to hit all the museums. There’s the Pirate Museum and the Wax Museum and so many more. It was a perfect Autumn day, and the perfect way to start November!
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Sometimes It Just Falls Into Your Lap
Posted on October 31, 2008
Filed Under weaving, general | 17 Comments
The title of this post works on many levels. On one level, I was looking for something to talk about tonight since I’d covered my ribbons, my recent yarn, and I didn’t have any new things to show off. Another level is…well, take a look at what unexpectedly came into my life today:
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I know, right? When it rains, it pours, and all that? Yes, this is a loom. Yes, it is a terribly serious table loom. Yes, it does in fact fill up my hallway. It comes with accoutrements as well:
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It was a gift from someone who knew this is something I wanted very much. I’m still reeling a bit because I didn’t expect it or ask for it, but I am very happy to receive it.
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the Loom of Doom.
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It appears this loom was made by Lily or Dryad (?) in the mid-1960s. The letter’s postmark is 1964 and the books are also from that period. Below, you see the only markings on the loom, and it appears that everything included (except maybe the warping pegs, which are by Schacht) is original to the loom as well. Any info or ideas about this would be appreciated.
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