Fear of Failure

One thing I hear a lot is, don’t be afraid of failure. I recently had a couple lessons in that. At night, I like to watch TV or a movie and craft at the same time. One of my TV projects was a bead crochet rope. Bead crochet is painstaking work and I had been working on it for several months. One night, the thread knotted up. I tried and tried to undo the knot. In the process of doing that, the thread snapped and the project was ruined. I lost months and months of work in a minute. I was incredibly upset and angry. I almost cried. I wondered why even bother making things. I wanted to throw something. Of course no one was home when I wanted some sympathy and I felt very alone. I shamelessly asked for sympathy on Ravelry’s forums and called it a night. After I got some rest and calmed down, I realized I had been lukewarm on the project. Looking back I realized that working on it had been feeling more and more like an obligation rather than fun. I was relieved in a way that it wasn’t sitting on my desk. I also realized I couldn’t let this failure keep me down or from moving forward on other projects. I disciplined myself to work on another beading project and felt better.

A few weeks later, I had made this pendant. I was very blocked on how to finish it. I kept thinking of ideas and rejecting them. In a flash, I realized I was afraid of failure. I realized that I was fearful that my ideas wouldn’t work. I was nervous that I would finish it and it would fall apart. I realized I needed to just do it and not worry if it would come together or not. I decided to go with an idea I had and I finished it that night. I am very happy with the finished project and I learned something. I am realizing that, in order to be more productive in my creative life I need to move past this fear of failure. Losing months of work on that bead crochet project wasn’t as bad or as scary as I thought. Also my fears of how potential projects could fall apart usually don’t come true. If a project does fall apart, I will learn something and I will try another way.

Freeform Peyote Stitch

Recently I finished making this cuff using a technique called the peyote stitch. I also included a picture of a pendant I made earlier using the same stich. I did it in a style called freeform peyote. Freeform peyote is beadweaving without a set pattern, color theme uniform bead size or design. When I first starting beading, one of the main techniques I used was peyote stitch. I was fairly conservative in my design and color choices. I would often base my project on a pattern I saw in a magazine. After I had been beading a few years, I took a class in freeform peyote.

In the class, I realized how conservative I was in my color choices. The teacher encouraged us to use color combinations that we ordinarily wouldn’t use. She also encouraged us to use several sizes and types of beads in one project. She told us to not plan the design and how to work past any irregularities. In fact, she showed us how they could be used in the design. If you put in a large bead among smaller beads, she taught us show to bead around the larger bead.

I found the class very freeing. I enjoy working on freeform projects. It is a relief to work on something and not have to worry about if I am doing it right. The class made me less afraid to try new combinations and techniques. If you are interested in learning more, here is a page with basic peyote stitch techniques. The page shows instructions for two techniques called odd count and even count peyote stitch. I used even count. If you have not beaded before, I would recommend starting with even count. Odd count is a little more complicated. Here and here are a couple of links to other examples of freeform peyote stitch.

Current Projects

By coincidence both of my current projects use the same yarn. The past week or 2, I have been knitting this scarf. I have had 2 half skeins of Lion Brand Homespun for a few years. It was leftover from a scarf I crocheted a couple of years ago. I wanted to use up the yarn. However, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the yarn. I would look up patterns but nothing looked right. I thought a ribbed scarf might work so I decided to try it. I wasn’t sure if I had enough yarn so I bought a skein of purple yarn. Fortunately, Michaels had a sale on Homespun. I am not sure if I will have enough yarn. I am already running out of the beige yarn. In my yarn stash, I found a skein of Bernet Bamboo that I can use if I run out. It is the same weight but it is slightly lighter in color.

I also started the Seraphina Shawl. It also uses Homespun and is a stashbuster. When I first started crocheting I had made a scarf out of this yarn. I lost the scarf in a move. I liked the scarf so I bought more yarn to make another one. The scarf was a very simple pattern using one stitch. I realized I would be bored making this pattern so I decided not to make it. The yarn sat in my yarn bin for years. I could never find a pattern I liked that much. I liked this shawl but it called for 4 skeins of yarn and I only had 2. I bought 2 more skeins to make it. I haven’t made much progress but I like it. I think it will be nice to have this shawl when I am done.

Crocheted Flowers and Edgings

Lately, I have been working on crocheting flowers. I have been experimenting with how the same pattern looks with different weight yarns. I made these flowers using DK weight yarn. It is yarn leftover from a shirt a crocheted. Earlier, I had made the same flower patterns using worsted weight yarn which is a little heavier. Here and here are pictures of those flowers.

I like how the rose in the top picture turned out. I am thinking it would be a cute flower hair pin. I haven’t gotten around to making into pin yet. I also think smaller flowers might be a good addition to a choker pattern. I still need to come up with the choker pattern.

I also made this edging. I had wanted to try making this edging for a long time but I never got around to it. I really like how it turned out. I am thinking it woudl make a great choker for the summer or spring. I used two different colors of sport weight cotton for this edging.

Sh*t Knitters Say

I found this video from a Twitter follower. I thought it was funny and I can relate to what it says. I have said most of the things in this video.