4KCBWDAY 2: A Mascot Project

Shadowscapes Tarot

                              4KCBWDAY2


 Your task today is to either think of or research a project that embodies that house/animal. It could be a knitting or crochet pattern – either of the animal itself or something that makes you think of the qualities of that house. 

Alternatively it could be a type or colour of yarn, or a single button. Whatever you choose, decide upon a project and blog about how and why it relates to your house/creature.

  
Well, in a lot of the House of Bee posts yesterday, people were saying about bees having a short span of attention and flitting from one thing to another. Which is kinda true, I guess.

But to me bees are also highly organized and structured - there is a Plan, a bigger picture, behind everything they do; and everything they do has a purpose. Their society and hive living are examples of this: the mathematical perfection of the hexagonal honeycomb, for instance:

 And this is reflected in our crafting lives too - I have just recently bought this book:

For when I have got bored with Granny Squares, my next 'thing' will be hexagons. Which also exist in knitting - a couple of years ago there was a mad trend for the Beekeeper's Quilt, made from Idunnamany 'hexipuffs'. Great for using up leftover odds and ends of yarn (no waste, like bees) but that's what I use for crochet.

So let's talk Bee Queen activity: she's the boss, everyone else lives and dies according to her needs. Yep, I can see the similarity already, can't you ? And as a Boss, I plan. 

I have a queue, recently mostly re-organized, and I have allocated stash yarn to at least the first 6 items. I do trade up and down, and to a lesser degree, swap things out, but it's now largely in order of preference. I have committed to the 'Knit the Queue 2013' concept, meaning that I will try to make things from only my queue, as opposed to some random spontaneous way of selecting a project, but I don't beat myself up too much if I deviate down the scenic route occasionally, as bees do buzz from one flower to the next: not because they are bored, but because they have taken all the nectar that one flower had and need to find something new to satisfy their appetite.

I hope I have managed to convince you that bees really do have Order and Purpose and are no mere grasshoppers, but are closer to ants.

The Ant and the Grasshopper, Aesop's Fable

Enjoy yourself like the Grasshopper by putting 4KCBWDay2 into Google and reading what everybody else has to say.

4KCBW Day 1: The House Cup ...Bzzz

Victorian Romantic Tarot

   

            KCBWDAY1 The House Cup.

 



A bit like Harry Potter, but not quite, this year’s Knitting & Crochet Blog Week is split into 4 houses. Don your favourite knitted or crocheted hat and let it guide you to which house you will be in.

The House of Bee: Bees are busy and industrious, but can flit from one interesting project to the next as bright and shiny things capture their interest.

The House of Manatee: Manatees are gentle, calm and cuddly. Relaxed and unflashy they represent the comfort and soft side of knitting and crochet.

The House of Monkey: Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting.

The House of Peacock: Peacocks take something good and make it brilliant. Buttons, embellishments and a bit of sparkle prove that perfection lies in the details – like a Peacock's Tail.

So choose your house. You may be a combination of more than one of these noble beasts, but think about which house best embodies your qualities and declare your place. You can use one of the graphics above to display your house crest, if you like (though this is totally optional).

You could of course decide that you are so unlike any of these creatures in your style of crafting that you set up a rival faction and adopt your own house, though whether you get invited to the end of term disco remains to be seen, you rebel.

Well, really I guess out of that choice, I am a Bee with maybe the tiniest hint of Peacock: I do loves me a bit of sparkle. Although that may be rather more of my jackdaw traits coming through ....

But I am a Bee mainly because I have something doing nearly 99% of the time. And 99% of that time it's knitting, the 1% is crochet - I tend to use crochet as my fallback, when knitterly mojo has legged it. And then - in spite of my promises to the contrary - I find that deadlines (usually family birthdays) pop up on such a regular basis that I am forced, forced, I tell you, into actually planning things and going straight from one item to the next without so much as a breath of fresh air and relaxation in between. I am quite challenged by the idea of spontaneity, natch.

In fact, most of my FOs have been for other people; I have recently made huge strides in selfishness by completing 4 items for myself, and they were 'proper' projects ie. not just hairbands, as well:

Spring Green Lace Cardigan

Slice of Berries (with Sparkle!)

Fitzroy

Sienna

And there are plans for more - especially since an American friend is just in the process of enabling me with Knitpicks yarn .... oh yes, you can see my grin all the way over there. It's quite dazzling, isn't it ?

I really have chuntered on, and wandered off topic a bit, when instead I should be buzzing over that Glam Shells Shawl I ripped back a little while ago. But in my coffee break, I shall be putting '4KCBWDay1' into Google to find the other House Cup posts for today - and read as many as I can. Join me !