Tag: knit

Posted on

The Name Game

The Name Game in creating patterns can be a stressful thing. One never really knows what to call a pattern. Could I actually get away with hat pattern No. 43 as a name as opposed to this?

It became so bad I had to create a work around so I wouldn’t get stressed out. My solution: name patterns in alphabetical order. Boy, girl, gender neutral; didn’t matter. I picked the letter and started reading the meaning of the names and if one struck me with what I wanted that pattern to convey, then that was the name.

Even if I am using an established pattern, if it doesn’t have a name, I will rename it on my design board and give the item that name when I sell it. The original pattern is given full credit when I do write about it publicly. Ain’t stealing nobody’s work.

I suppose I could go through the dictionary and find a word that works for a name. I might try that the next time and see what I come up with. Right now, the next item will begin with N. Instead of going to the baby name sites, I will open the dictionary and just start reading until something clicks with me. It would be funny if the next item was called the Nomenclature.

Posted on

It Relieves Stress

During the lockdown, knitting and crochet had a resurrgence in the middle of their resurrgence because it relieves stress. There was already an uptick in knit and crochet and that tick multiplied itself many times over with 1. The pandemic. 2. The new VP crochets. 3. The second gentleman’s daughter, Ella, exploding Instagram with her crochet and knitted goods.

We’re in a cycle now where half the folks in the US are going to be stressed. The pandemic is still top news and it’s not really clear how the states reopen and politically, it’s now the other half’s turn to feel as if we’re in the hands of a madman.

Knitting and crochet can only do so much.

For those of us who knit and crochet for a living, this has been something of a good period. I normally slow down in February but the beginning of the year turned out pretty great for me. I am hoping it continues in the fall but I am a little late in getting out spring/summer gear and fall is coming round the bend like the anchor in a relay race.

But because knit and crochet are such a part of my existence and because I aready work from home, the lockdown was pretty much what other folks had to do. My life didn’t change that much except we couldn’t go out to dinner. I was taking the lockdown in stride until the people around me went off into a different mode and until I found myself with orders in the beginning of the year. 

I did experience a little stress. And I had to turn to other places to find some relief. I discovered audiobooks and podcasts. I could turn on one of those and combine it with knit and crochet and be educated and entertained.  Audiobooks can be hit or missed based in who is doing the reading but podcasts are a great source to take a breather with even if it’s about Etsy shop success.

I listen regularly now to something that peaks the interest and keeps the stress level down. It relieves stress for me. I hope everyone finds something that helps them out.