I showed off all the toques at both knitting groups. There were ten hats in all. Nine are in the above picture with the last two in front. I was really pleased with how they turned out and glad to be moving on to something else. My thumbs need a rest from knitting in the round. Last night, I started a sweater in straight knitting using a bamboo yarn. It's gorgeous. I'll show you pictures when I'm further along.
Something interesting happened at one of the groups. I was knitting and talking when a woman interrupted to say that she wanted one of the toques. When I said that they weren't for sale, she said she was serious to which I replied again that they weren't for sale and added that I was giving them away to needy people. She then said consider me needy. I repeated that no, I wanted to give them away to people on a particular road in our city and got up to throw some scraps in the garbage thinking that would finish the conversation. She then said something to the effect of no, no, you're not doing that, I want to buy it for my daughter. WELL....
... I tend to get annoyed when people tell me I can't do something I want to do that is perfectly within my right AND... I was insulted that she thought I'd change my mind about being generous if offered money and about the implication that needy people didn't deserve such nice hats. If all they ever get is a toque, I hope it's a really nice one. I used to have this same reaction to charity quilts. So many people would say "it's just a charity quilt" as if that's acceptable justification for using inferior supplies or techniques. To me, that should be motivation to do your best. One day we might need charity and if it's true that what goes around comes around, what kind of charity will be coming your way?
I looked at her, said fine, I'll sell it to you, I work for thirty dollars an hour, it took three hours, plus yarn, so 100 bucks and you can have the hat. She looked at me with a bit of a pause and then said I guess I'm not needy. Ever since I started knitting these toques, I've been pushed and prodded into selling them so it wasn't just this woman but a series of comments that triggered my reaction.
Why is there such resistance to being generous? Why is it assumed that if you create something and especially more than one something that you want to sell your product? I had an absolutely wonderful time knitting those toques, putting the color and texture combinations together, seeing each one finished, and imaging who would wear it. I'm also thrilled to have accomplished my goal of knitting up all the bits and pieces of yarn in my drawer and I'm excited about going downtown and seeing the toques on heads and knowing it made a difference for that person. I'm hopeful that some of the people who receive my toques are the same people that I've been seeing along that road for years. They've become very familiar. The timing is perfect. Our weather has turned quite cold. I'm will take the toques down to community policing later this week and ask them to give them out.
The toque yarn filled a basket much like this. They are 8" wide, 13" long, and 7" deep. I had four of them filled with yarn to be recycled. One is now empty. This one is filled with a combination cotton/acrylic yarn that I mentioned it earlier. I'm not sure why I bought it since white is so not me. I started a sweater and then changed my mind based on the color.
Instead, I'm using this knitting mill to create a big long tube to overdye. Originally, I was going to use my friend's knitting machine but I wanted to do this quick not spend the whole month figuring the machine out so I picked up this tool. IMHO - it's a hugely overpriced gimmick. All it does is plain knitting and it has some serious issues with dropped stitches. That little lever to the front is a tension gauge. Unless you get the tension exactly right, you'll be picking up stitches constantly. In this next picture...
... you can see how bad it was. Since my purpose is to overdye easily, all I did was pick up the stitch and loop it in higher up so my tube is a bit of a mess at the beginning. Three balls in, I've got the tension mostly correct. and it's more even. I thought I'd be able to use the mill to make toques in the future or to knit up some fuzzy yarn into a boring to knit throw or for those imaginary grandchildren to play with at some point but I'm not at all impressed and...
... it's boring. My son walked in while I was cranking away, asked what's that, and when I told him, said what's the fun in that? Exactly. However, it is doing what I wanted it to do at the moment. I knit up three of the balls in less than an hour. I'll finish the rest of the balls this morning and start dying the yarn. Since this is summer yarn, I'll put it back on the yarn shelf when I'm done and consider it a new project. My goal of knitting up all the recycled yarn will be a lot closer. The bamboo yarn I'm working with now was also from this "collection". After it's knit and the white stuff is dyed, I'll have one basket to go.
AND... I'm going to cut out the pants and start sewing them today. This purple linen-look was bought years ago. How strange that purple is in this year and that I've been working with it so much. I'd like to think it's coincidence but we're so influenced by what's around us that maybe I'm just following the crowd.
Just as I didn't have many pant patterns, I don't have a lot of suitable pant fabric. This one is a bit light-weight so I'll underline it, which means - LOL - a trip to the discount section at Fabricland to check out purple lining fabric. On darn!
Have a great day - Myrna
Grateful - priorities are not for sale
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Personal Growth - That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming. - 2 Corinthians 5
Am I living with good cheer? Am I thankful? OR... am I getting annoyed with people and whining and complaining and dragging not only my feet but others down? That wouldn't be my goal. What is my reality? Am I too earthly minded to see the temporariness of this life? Is it causing me to do less than my best? Questions for me to ponder.
Why are you so inflexible? The money made from the hat sales could have been donated to shelters to pay for meals/utilities an endless list of needs for the homeless. No, you wouldn't be able to see the homeless wearing the hats you made, but think about what you are really giving. Are you giving your ego a boost,are you giving with strings attached, is that what you really want, or do you want to learn to give selflessly? Go where God wants your talents to go, let go of the preconceived outcomes of your efforts. If your priority is to help the homeless, then let that take any path, not the only rigid path defined by your mind. God is limitless, let Him take you to the places you haven't thought to go before.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I have to disagree with Anonymous. Yes, whatever (small) amount of money you would have got for the toques could have been given to a homeless shelter or whatever. However, YOU chose to give your time and knit them for a purpose that you had thought of (possibly put in your head by God!)and it is your right to do with them whatever you want! Ten homeless people will be warmer this year, due to you. How much does anon. think you would have got anyway? I bet that if you had asked what the woman would give, instead of giving her a price,, she would only have offered you a small amount of money - in our country, I am thinking in terms of £5 - 10 (if that!) as people are so used to cheaper goods. I think you were right,not inflexible, Myrna, and I also think it is a wonderful idea and one that I am thinking of doing next year. You have used your talents in a way that God would be proud of!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Annonymous - I have zero respect for critical and unfounded comments made by people who refuse to sign their name. If you can't own your words, don't write them. This type of comment would be the hipocrisy associated with Christians I referred to earlier. READ my posting. My thought had nothing to do with my ego.
ReplyDelete- Myrna
The comments were not meant to be critical nor hostile, but thought provoking. I am sorry if insecurity may have prevented anyone from seeing that notion. Wishing all a warm, and Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteA toque sells for about $5.00 at the local big box. Even if I received double that because the toque was handmade, ten dollars donated to a shelter will go how far as compared to a hat on someone's head for the entire cold winter? I see that as practical logic.
ReplyDelete- Myrna
A new topic, practical logic: sell you handmade hat for $20.00, then buy 4 hats at the big box store. Again, what is the real goal here, keeping people warm (as many as possible) or seeing them in your hats? Don't get defensive, that is not what is meant. Seed money (think your leftover yarns as seed money)grows in ways out limited thinking cannot imagine.
ReplyDeleteShelters make pleas that they can feed a person on $2.65 a day. That's probably a stretch in an effort to get people to donate $5. I am just throwing out ideas for you the get the biggest impact for you talents, not trying to agitate you.
I am of the same headspace as you, Myrna... I like to give things away that I would like to get. And I like quality stuff - so I think the same of what I gift. I wish you many warm invisible hugs as you see your creations on heads around you in your neighborhood!
ReplyDeleteBrenda
I am wondering why folks such as anonymous feel they have to criticize a decision you've made for your own good reasons. It doesn't matter how else someone else may choose to do a similar project..... it's your project- you get to decide. I don't imagine they would appreciate someone else second guessing decisions they make and sitting in judgement on them.
ReplyDeleteI got the point you were trying to make about the woman who figured she "needed" that hat. Making her realize how much you put into each hat $wise may have made her stop to think before getting so into your face or someone else's about selling their work in the future. And, that NOT EVERYTHING needs to be done for sale.
On a practical note, those $5 hats from the box store are generally nowhere near as warm as a handknit one. The fact that someone took the time to MAKE the hat for the homeless person also lets them know that there are folks who DO care about them, often when they don't/can't care about themselves (whatever their reason for being homeless).
sorry to go on for so long but anonymous seems to have pushed a button for me.