First off, I got the first set of my International Diploma in Crochet swatches back this week. Oh my goodness, the shipping time is brutal. They had been reviewed nearly a month ago! I knew that this was going to be a very nit-picky process, and so I'm happy that ANY of them passed on the first try. 5 of my 7 swatches passed with 95% (or higher) scores, which makes me happy as a life-long overachiever. The bummer was that the other 2 were miserable failures and I'm going to have to re-do them. I thought the reviews were fascinating, so I'm going to share the re-do swatches and show you what I did wrong so that we all can learn from my mistakes.
Swatch #1 (a network of chain and slip stitch, with four straight edges): This piece needed to have either a scalloped edge as the base OR is needed to have the side and top edges straight. At the top I should have only put 2 chains between the slip stitches to make a straight edge, and I should have put the hook into the 3rd stitch of the turning chain, rather than the space. This swatch was the one that I felt least confident with when I sent it off, so I'm not surprised that it came back as a do-over. I hadn't been entirely clear as to what I was supposed to be accomplishing with this one, but now I feel confident that I'll be able to pass this swatch next time with no problems.
Swatch #7 (a square of triple trebles): Do you see how the bottom corner curls in the photo? I had blocked it so that it would be straight, but there are just some things that blocking can't fix, and this is one of them. I should have added an additional chain stitch before I turned, which would have caused my corner to lie flat. Other than that I got a delightful comment of 'you handle the tall stitches well'. So, I'll re-do this one with an additional stitch! And then it will pass and I'll be closer to getting my degree!!! Yay school!
Continuing our discussion of school, I'm going to the USC Fisher Museum of Art today to go see an exhibit called A Complex Weave: Women and Identity in Contemporary Art. I am so excited! I have been searching for a museum within 200 miles that had crochet on display to write a report on for my class. I have been sadly disappointed at the lack of crochet in virtually all of our local museums, since I really had my heart set on doing my report on crochet in art. So when I realized that this exhibit had at least one piece that had crochet involved, I had to go check it out. I am not entirely sure what I'm going to see, but it sounds like it's going to be right up my alley. Even if there isn't enough crochet there to write my report, I'm still going to have a good time.
The ebook bonanza was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who went to Amazon and got copies. Over 1700 books were downloaded, which I think is amazing considering you guys had virtually no notice and I did absolutely no advertising. I am grateful to all of you!
I am especially grateful to the Super Dynamos that wrote reviews of the books on Amazon. A gigantic THANK YOU goes out to Teeni, Laura, Jinxed and Nicki! I appreciate your hard work and kind words more than I can express. If anyone else downloaded my books and would like to leave a (hopefully positive) review on Amazon, it would absolutely mean the world to me. And, as always, if there is something you don't like about them, please send me an email at CrochetDynamite@gmail.com and tell me what needs to be fixed. I am still new at self-publishing, and while I strive to put out the highest quality work I'm capable of, I appreciate any feedback that you might have.
The butterflies have been a huge hit! The kids at the hospital and at the homeless outreach have been thrilled with them, so I want to send out a great big thank you to all of you who have donated or have contacted me about donating more butterflies! I'm putting together a batch for Kristy to take this Sunday, along with a scarf 'kit' for one of the mom's at the outreach to use for pattern testing for me. Hopefully it will come out fine, because I can't wait to share that pattern with you in a couple more weeks!! In the meantime, we're always going to need more butterflies to help spread smiles, so if you're interested in donating, you can click on the 'To make a Crochet Donation' button over there on the right.
I need to appologize to you guys for getting behind on answering comments on the blog. I do read everything that you write, and I love it and appreciate your comments so much. I've been volunteering for a couple of hours in the mornings in Mimsey's class, which leaves me about 10 less hours in my week, so I'm going to start designating a day or two a week to answer comments. If there's a crochet emergency, or just something that it would be nice to get a quicker response to, feel free to email me.
Whew. That felt like a Crochet Dynamite: State of the Union! How are you guys doing? Everyone survive the storm? I'm sending all my best wishes and hopes and love to you all to have a wonderfully blessed weekend!
xoxo
You are awesome. I love how you shared with us so we can learn too. It's not easy to be so humble and so generous but you just are. And because you are, you were already a fantastic stitcher and will now be even better if that is possible! I'm excited to learn what you find on your museum field trip to report on! I have been disappointed in my area too about the lack of crochet in art. But maybe I need to keep my eyes more open and be more aware. Sometimes you have to be looking for it to find it. Hugs to you!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, in my knitting decade I noticed knit fine art everywhere. There is so much embroidery in fine art as well. Crochet as fine art actually displayed in museums much harder to find! Most of the crochet that I've found is more of an 'archive for future generations' type of thing, as if future generations will forget how it was done... I suppose that tatting would be even more difficult, so it's lucky I didn't want to do a report on that. LOL!!
Deletexo
*tatting would be more difficult to find on display, I imagine... you know, just to clarify... :D
DeleteIt sounds like you were able to learn a lot from the swatching experience. Thanks for sharing that with us as it's really interesting to see the feedback that you got and what you took from it.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathryn! I thought that the feedback was too good to keep to myself, even though it was kind of embarrassing. But then again, who wants to listen to someone talk about how perfect they are? LOL!
Deletexo Jaime
I wanted to thank you for the books on Kindle -a beautuful surprize that doesn't happen as often as it used to. Us yarnies need to stick together!!! I will leave a review on Amazon for you- I too have had a busy week and so far, I have just looked at the pictures- which are lovely by the way. Keep up the good work and positive attitude and you will do well!!! AndreainTn
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you, thank you!! This has all been an experiment, and so far it's been a blast! I agree, us yarnies (particularly crocheting yarnies) should stick together! But that's only cause we're the coolest people in the room! LOL!!
Deletexo Jaime
I am confident that you will get it right Jaime...besides when you are under pressure and concentrating hard, nervous about a test and all, one is bound and entitled to make a couple of small mistakes. The beauty of mistakes is that they are correctable. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteWell said! Although, I feel a little guilty because shipping is so darn expensive, I hate to waste the postage on messed up samples... LOL!!! Oh well.
DeleteGiant, wonderfully squashy, hugs to you too!
xo Jaime