Monday, August 14, 2006

weekend projects

Soy Bomb Basket:

Tofuzelle, floppy


bits and pieces:

Tofuzelle parts


It will all eventually look something like this. Did you know that wet Soy Silk smells very much like mildewy tofu?



woolly blob:

Harrisville Highland


It's really more orange than that, which I consider a very good thing. (I like red, but love the more orange-y shade of this yarn.) It's Harrisville Highland (an aran weight 100% wool yarn, spun in a mill about 20 minutes from my home), and will become a cabled hat. I got the yarn, still on a cone, at a swap last winter. I could barely believe that it was what the label on the cone claimed it was, but after a bath this weekend, it bloomed an amazing amount. I should have taken a "before" photo, because the difference post-washing is pretty astounding. And the funny thing is that it barely smelled at all when wet, unlike the Soy Silk. I hope that the hat this yarn becomes is as beautiful and well behaved as the yarn is.





Completely unrelated to the other stuff, I thought I'd write a bit about comments and feedback.

I know there is an attitude on some blogs and websites that non-positive feedback is something that shouldn't exist in the knitting or crafting community. I disagree, and wanted to make this clear. I don't want any of the readers of this blog to be under the impression that they're not welcome to express their opinions, positive or negative.

Please, if you have something critical to say, do say it. I'm not complaining about positive feedback (which I enjoy and greatly appreciate), and not inviting flaming. I merely want to encourage a spirit of thoughtful and truthful feedback. If one doesn't want truthful opinions on their work from a wide variety of people, they should not, in my opinion, post anything on a public website. I have a public blog with open comments because I am comfortable with the idea that someone out there might hate everything I do, and might feel the need to say so. I just ask that comments not be anonymous, and that they not be purposefully inflammatory.

But if y'all really love every stitch I ever make, feel free to keep up with the 100% positive feedback. Whatever floats your boat. ;-)

6 Comments:

Blogger LaurieM said...

I am in agreement 100%. But I have to tell you, it's a lot harder to come up with constructive criticisms than it is to be a cheerleader. The fact that you knit so well, and have good taste makes it that much harder.

8/14/2006 1:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Funny you should mention Harrisville. I was inspired to knit Bristow after seeing yours and went looking for the right wool. I ended up in an LYS I'd never been to, which had an amzing variety of good ol' plain wools, from Cascade right on to tiny little companies. I bought (all too much!) Highland Style in a lovely shade of olive, and I'm looking forward to knitting it (though I have yet to swatch, and may need to substitute something a bit lighter - so be it, I've got a too-large sweater stash.

Oh, yes, and yay on the concrit front.

8/14/2006 5:04 PM  
Blogger Theresa said...

I don't know about EVERY stitch you make, but for the most part, I don't bother to read blogs whose knitting and writing I don't enjoy. My life is too short, on the one hand, and, on the other, I don't see much need to engender ill will in my leisure time pursuits. I think constructive criticism has more of a place in knitting blogs when there's a specific question, rather than just random posts.

8/15/2006 8:09 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

In the name of constructive, your blog when viewed in Firefox on WinXP (at least on my machine) lacks any margin on the left edge, making it difficult to read. Even a quarter or half an inch would be welcome.

8/15/2006 10:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm viewing your blog in Firefox on Windows XP and not having that problem at all. It seems close to impossible to ever get a blog to work with every single computer configuration.

I agree with Theresa. I'll offer an honest opinion - even if it's not overly positive - when asked, but I don't go around giving criticism, constructive or otherwise unasked -- in real life or in blog life.

8/16/2006 10:19 AM  
Blogger Rebekkah said...

FYI, I think the formatting issue has been resolved. (Unless someone out there has a really tiny monitor or uses a really wonky resolution, in which case, sorry.) It was actually something I knew about, but was kind of avoiding fixing. (A mild case of denial.) But if anybody using a fairly standard sized monitor at a standard resolution still has issues, please let me know.

8/16/2006 1:21 PM  

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