For Episode 3 I will be talking to the love of my life and adept social commentator Mikey Vegas (or as I call him, Honey Bunny.) Mike is not a crafter strictly speaking (though he is a wonderful cook, pretty good carpenter and has been attempting to do something involving rope and knot tying.) but he has lived with me for the last 6 years and has watched me go from non-crafter to owning every possible knitting/fiber related tool under the sun.
So this weeks episode will be devoted to talking about what it’s like to live with a craft obsessed partner and his general observations on topics such as knitting, spinning, yarn stash, my ever growing desire to own a farm full of wool bearing animals and what it’s like to sleep in a bed that may or may not contain DPN’s, scissors and metal gauge checkers at any given point in time.
The reason I’m posting this a head of time is that I would love to get some feedback from other Partners of the Obsessed (support group coming soon). So if you live or love a crafter and would like to share your observations, thoughts or tips on how to survive such a relationship please leave a comment and I will refer to them on the show this week. Be sure to leave your name or pseudonym if you don’t want to be identified and the name/fake name of your crafty counterpart.
In specific I am looking for things that you have ‘learned’ about the craft your partner practices. By ‘learned’ I mean if a friend of yours where to ask you what your partner did in his/her spare time how would you describe it? Are there any specifics that you would feel compelled to mention? Are there ‘rules’ or ‘customs’ that you have observed about this craft?
Example: Mike knows that anything that even looks remotely hand knit stays out of the washing machine and is put aside for me to wash. This is a rule in our house. (One that occasionally gets overlooked and results in the felting of something near and dear to me, and then subsequently tears and/or anger.)
Crafty folks if you are reading this force your loved ones to give me their insights! I’ll be recording in the next day or so so get your comments in quickly, please. Thank you!
It’s been a number of years now, and being a bit of a geek the best way I can describe the transformation of our house is akin to the classic Star Trek episode “The trouble with tribbles”. Yarn that used to fill one basket, then two, then a box, a few bags …. well long story short we now have half our basement and what used to be my office filled with yarn, dying equipment, spinning and weaving equipment.
What have I learned along the way:
- Any yarn, no matter how small a ball is valuable.
- All tags, papers and labels that reference fiber, sheep or yarn are to be kept unless expressly identified for discard by the fiber fiend.
- While ‘I’m too tired’ is a commonly heard excuse for a lot of activities it has never been heard with regard to spinning or knitting
- If I don’t choose something I would like knit for me the default is another pair of knit socks. As the band Rush says – even if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
- If I’m in bed and the light is on downstairs good money says she’s on Ravelry.
- $400 for a sweater at the store would be outrageous, but if you knit it … that’s a different story.
- “I’m heading to the knitting store” anytime after noon means I need to ask what to feed the kids for dinner.
Just a few of the wonderful things I’ve learned in what is just the beginning of a long and wonderful hobby!
- Mr. Colorbug