Thursday, April 12, 2007

Unfailing

When I was in 3rd grade I failed art class. (I think I've probably mentioned this before.) It turns out I suck at macrame (because, really, who cares about succeeding at that?) and crocheting. I remember my parents being somewhat befuddled as to how to treat my abject failure at the finer (or perhaps duller) arts. I come from two parents who always did well in school, and with the exception of that big old F, I always did, too. Usually effortlessly. Thankfully, my parents apparently found themselves unable to make a big deal out of it, and even though I thought that perhaps this failure should shame me, I couldn't get it to really bother me because deep down, I knew it just didn't matter.

But in the back of my mind, for almost 30 years now (cringe), I've also felt that, ultimately, I couldn't let the yarn win. So tonight I made my first Granny square. It took several different web pages of instructions, but I did it. And it really wasn't all that hard.




I also uploaded a bunch of pics tonight that I'd been putting off cropping and uploading, so tomorrow should finally be a photo-heavy post.

This afternoon I finished Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife (yes, I cried) and I started The Colour of Magic. (My library even has the proper English version -- hooray!) I'm about a third of the way through. It's very amusing. I've bought other Discworld books but then put off reading them for fear of wrecking them by not doing them in the right order. Now I've got my hands on #1 there's no stopping me.

I know that Wednesday is supposed to be Anti-Procrastination Day, but I guess I put it all off until today. ^_^

14 comments:

armalicious said...

That's excellent! I was never able to knit until I made myself do it 2 years ago! I haven't tackled crochet yet...

hmmm...I seemed to have put off yesterday's "holiday" as well. Can't wait for the pics!

egan said...

My mom does those granny squares. I need to encourage her to teach her craft to my daughter. You did a great job Candace. Any reason for those colors? Yes, I'm eager for all the posts too.

Anonymous said...

I believe that at this rate C, there will be nothing that you cannot do by 2009.

This would certainly apply to the realms of needlecraft and textile management.

Bon weekend.

Logophile said...

I may learn to knit or crochet or something someday.
It looks so useful and yet, you cannot do it while you read, chat, or blog so I've been prioritizing other things :p

I flunked business math.
:p

~d said...

(scratches head...did you really get an F?)

I am CRAP-ASS at art, but...and F?!
(~d heart Candace!)

Anne said...

Hey, that's a nice granny square. I can knit o.k. but I can't crochet worth a darn.
...Anti-Procrastination Day, huh? I guess it would do me some good to go check out that link...
(Nice blog.) :)

Anne said...

LMAO! I missed Anti-Procrastination Day! It was 2 days ago, wasn't it? Well, isn't that just a fine kettle of fish? The site (Flylady) is pretty cute, though.

tshsmom said...

That was a GREAT granny-square, for a first try. Now you just need to work on your gauge, but that comes naturally with practice. ;)

Trundling Grunt said...

I came 30th in a class of 34 when it came to art. I gave it up, but to be honest I think it gave up on me.

I look forward to seeing you wear the granny-square bikini.

Glad you're enjoying the Colour of Magic - it's probably the clearest parody of various authors but funny as all hell. I'll wait for your review of Mort...

C said...

Amanda - if you can knit, crocheting will be easy. :) LMK if you need websites sometime. I need pictures to figure this stuff out, LOL!

Egan - you should definitely encourage that! It' much easier to learn from a real person, I think. (unless she's senile like my art teacher, and shows you a different way each time ^_^)

The reason for the riot of pastels is that I was lazy and grabbed a skein of yarn Prawnie had chosen to use with her knitting bee. ^_^


Winters - oh that it were so. ^_^ I appreciate your confidence in me, even if it is misplaced. ^_^

Logo - yes, it sucks to not be able to do other things whlist attempting the hand arts. BUT, you can always listen to an audiobook. ^_^ My mom's tree skirt (which I made) brings back memories of Wuthering Heights (barf) and The Blue Sword (yay!) among other things. ^_^

~d - Yes, a big, fat F!! I am crap-assier that you at art. ^_^ (((~d))) (hug)

Anne - Hi, and thank you. :) Yep, that Flylady is a smart woman. Don't worry, Anti-procrastination Day comes every Wednesday. ^_^

Tshsmom - I definitely need to work on keeping it even. It looks a slightly less even in the pic than IRL, too, because it was taken at an angle so the flash wouldn't wash it all out. But, yeah, gauge will take some practice. ^_^

TG - You make me feel better. ^_^

You and MuNKi are of one accord re the crocheted bikini. His first words upon seeing it: "you just need one more for an HNT." ^_^

The book was great! I've got #2 on hold, and Mollusc is enjoying #1 now. I kept reading bits to her and now she keeps reading her favourite bits to me. ^_^ I think my favourite part was when Twoflower was talking to the dead guy (the one poisoned by his daughter) and he (dead guy) couldn't get his timeline straight and kept asking had he already told Twoflower such and such, or does that happen later? ^_^ Oh, and the re-annuals that come up the year before you plant them!

And Death totally cracks me up.^_^

egan said...

And when you said "skein" I didn't get lost. Yep, I spent too much time in her yarn store.

BlondeBlogger said...

That looks awesome! I taught myself to crochet years ago and have been hooked ever since (sorry for the pun!)

I love the colors in that square, too!

C said...

Egan - your mom has/had a yarn store? My knitting friend would be orgasmic. ^_^

Dawn - Thanks. :) Oh, and never, EVER be sorry for a pun here. ^_^

Jacob said...

Skeins are egg sacs that we use to knit salmon out of the river.

Nice square. Three of those per day and you will never be hungry.