Top Left: Garth, mid yawn
Top Right: Amazing Shrimp Pad Thai that Lancelot made us for dinner last night
Middle Right: The completed Granny Vest
Bottom Left: Completed crocodile stitch flower
Bottom Center: I’ve got paperwhites blooming again
Bottom Right: Home made dryer sheets
It’s been another busy week around here, but a good week. The boys had their annual vet visit and everything was good. Garth did his usual trick of trying to hide inside the trash compartment. They both got a clean bill of health.
Lancelot has continued to amaze me in the kitchen. The pad thai last night was absolutely to die for, better than I’ve had at a restaurant. He continues to amaze me, and himself I think. I’m truly a lucky girl.
The home made dryer sheets are an experiment, and I’m almost excited enough about them to want to do a load of laundry. Almost. This is born out of my desire to create less waste and not spend so damn much money on something I can make myself. I had all of the components already on hand and the setup was minimal, basically just the time it took to cut one of L’s old t-shirts into square-ish chunks and then measure my few ingredients. I’ll be sure to let y’all know next week how it goes.
I’m really rather excited about the paperwhites. Mom had gotten me a kit before Christmas so I had little flowers over the holiday. I went to one of the garden centers right after Christmas and got another set and those are what is blooming now. I have even higher hopes for this batch. And the fragrance in the sunroom right now is heavenly. We’ve had some nasty, gloomy weather lately and the flowers are definitely helping with that.
I’m also extremely pleased with how the vest turned out, so pleased that I posted pictures of it on Facebook. (which I should know by now is a mistake) Within an hour I received a message from a “friend” that contained a pattern and the message, “I need you to make two of these for my great-granddaughters. I’ll buy the yarn and pay you for your time. I’d be forever grateful!”
Let’s have a small chat about why I don’t do commission work, m’kay?
I’m pretty fucking picky about the things I make. I prefer to work with materials that I’ve selected, particularly when it comes to yarn-related projects. Projects for charity are an exception – those are made with yarn that I know is both soft and can withstand being thrown in a washer and dryer.
My time is extremely valuable to me so I prefer to spend it doing things that bring me joy. I have a full time job where I earn enough money to meet my financial needs, I’m fortunate enough to not need to supplement that income. So I don’t. I do not ever sell the things I make. I have done that in the past and found the entire process to be woefully soul sucking.
Let’s ignore the fact that knitting or crocheting an item requires TIME and loads of it. No, let’s not ignore that. It takes a considerable amount of time to create something with sticks and string and have it turn out well. It’s an art form. I don’t create art to sell it. I create gifts of love for the people closest to me, and I create gifts of love for people who need something soft and warm to help protect them from this cold world.
My time is precious to me, so if what I’m doing isn’t a creation of love, it’s a job and I expect to be compensated accordingly. Which is why I thoroughly expect her to change her mind when I tell her I charge $75 / hour, and the project she wants will likely take me four hours to make. And she wants two of them. Plus it uses seven different colors of yarn; you can estimate those at a minimum of $6 / skein. And the pattern isn’t free; that adds another $5.99. I can kind of see what the pattern will involve just by looking at the picture of the finished hat, but I have no idea how well it’s written or what a pain in the ass it might be, and it involves several pom-poms (which I loathe making, so I rarely do) which might even make them take longer.
So these two hats will cost her approximately $650, plus shipping since she lives a considerable distance from here.
Want to ask again why I don’t do commission work?
randomly erin 