{"id":744,"date":"2015-01-12T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T10:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/?p=744"},"modified":"2015-01-09T18:39:47","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T18:39:47","slug":"containers-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/?p=744","title":{"rendered":"Containers of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

So many finished projects I need to tell you about. And the first one is this:<\/p>\n

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A dragon-scale inspired blankie for a friend’s new baby boy.\u00a0Since said friend is our DM and a great lover of all things fantasy, I though a draconic blanket would be a fitting gift. While Webs sent me a different yarn than the one I ordered, the color was perfect and it only turned out a bit smaller than I was hoping it would… ah well.<\/p>\n

As simple as it is, I really enjoyed working on this blanket. At the same time, I was also working on a commissioned project for another friend, this time for pay. She found the sweater on a blog and posted a plea on Facebook asking if someone could make it for her. I took up the gauntlet, and produced this:<\/p>\n

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Despite getting rather disenchanted with it (and having the baby gift hurdle tossed up during its production not once, but twice), I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It’s a big, cuddly sweater of epic nerdy proportions, and from pics the owner has posted on FB, it seems to fit her great.<\/p>\n

I’ve been wondering for the past couple weeks why something so mindless and boring (blanket) should be more enjoyable and compelling to knit than something nerdy and challenging (Wonder Woman!). I tend to have a hard time with things I’m making to sell, even when (as in this case) the item is going to someone I know and love. And after reading a post from the Yarn Harlot<\/a> today, I think it has a lot to do with my frame of mind:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s love. The things we make are beautiful, cozy, portable containers for love.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gifts, even when made on a deadline, just feel like what Steph calls “containers of love.” The whole time the work is in progress, I am thinking about the person it will eventually live with–how\u00a0 much the item suits their personality, how they will use it, and whether they will (hopefully) love it. My “products,” as I tend to think of the things I make for pay, I’m usually totally consumed with the potential problems–“what if it doesn’t fit? What if they hate it? What if they want to send it back?”<\/p>\n

I think I need to practice some meditative change: when I’m next working on my for-pay project, I’m going to consciously try to put the recipient’s happiness in the front of my mind and see if it makes the making more fun. But first…<\/p>\n

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More baby gifts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So many finished projects I need to tell you about. And the first one is this: A dragon-scale inspired blankie for a friend’s new baby boy.\u00a0Since said friend is our DM and a great lover of all things fantasy, I though a draconic blanket would be a fitting gift. While Webs sent me a different yarn than the one I ordered, the color was perfect and it only turned out.. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19,16,18,17],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-knitting","tag-finished-objects","tag-gifts","tag-navel-gazing","tag-products"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":751,"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions\/751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/missaudrey.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}