orange – Such the Like…

Mundane? Yes.

Plain? Never!

No two are alike. No, it’s true. I love the juicy enthusiasm of that orange cotton. I love it so much that I couldn’t stop with just one- so the second one was a little different. More knit stitch-less garter. It jacked my stack. The negative impact to the glorious uniformity I sought is a little painful for me to behold…but that’s life isn’t it. Sometimes you have to let go of uniform perfection and just follow your bliss. And if bliss takes the form of chain knitting seven different painfully simple dish cloths because your brain is fried and you just can’t deal with any more decisions-even if that decision is simply what to make next? Well, so be it.

They’re pretty and I love them. Not only are they pretty, but they really are better than your run of the mill terry dish cloth. They do a bang up job. I know this isn’t exactly a newsflash for anyone, but you know how it is. You read lots of stuff about how old school domestic products really are better, you try a few, and then you face facts that although you may feel better about them, they don’t actually work better. You know what I mean? If we’re honest with ourselves, we know Mr. Clean Tub and Tile really does work better than vinegar or baking soda or bleach water. It is what it is. But these sweet babies put our old dish cloth to shame!

Scrub-a-dub dub, baby!

I think we can all safely say that there’s a lot of less than attractive crochet out there. Just take a look at the sundry afghans littering any thrift shop. If you take a moment to be rational, however, you know that the person who created that item didn’t set out to make ugly crochet. Their intent was probably just to make something useful out of the materials they already had available to them. And in that moment of utilitarian craft, some really ugly articles were born.

I feel like I can talk about this, because I have made a couple of really unattractive items. I only have pics of one of them. See exhibit A:Here’s what I can tell you. This yarn wasn’t ugly. It was actually a really cool kind of deep burnished orange. I have a lot of the color in varying shades in my living room, and it rocks.As you can see, it’s clearly a color I like. The yarn was chenille and soft in an awesome lumpy sort of way. It even created a pleasing effect when I crocheted it with this single, front loop stitch. And yet…despite all of it’s good points, it exited my hook this neck warmer kind of icky thing. Textbook ugly crochet. Ugly in a very 80’s kind of puffy way….

It happens. Don’t feel sorry for me. There’s someone out there who will appreciate the cozy, soft warmness of this neck wrap. Fly and be free little ugly thing….Hopefully, when someone finds you in the thrift store, they’ll know that you were handcrafted with love and forgive the homeliness of the creation….

So here’s the wisdom imbedded in my little tale of woe, you’re probably going to make some ugly things when you’re learning. It’s up to you be self-aware and identify them as ugly before you unleash them on an unsuspecting world. It’s a plea for awareness people. Know ugly when you make it. Know your audience before you gift it. 😉