I’ve finally had the chance to upload all the photos I took while away on vacation. I hit the ground running, once I arrived home, and haven’t had too much time for anything… It’ s been that busy.
Eventually I’ll catch up with comments left, blog visits, etc., And I’ll be sure to post some of the pictures I took while in South Carolina.
You know… I completely forgot to take pictures of the dishcloth until we were leaving at 2:30 am Saturday morning, so please excuse the blur. I’m knitting up some more, so I’ll be sure to “proper photos.”
I had plenty of downtime while I was away, during those times my hooks and knitting needles stayed in my hands. Why? I like to keep my hands busy. I did manage to gift the condo with one of my traditional knitted dishcloths. It was nothing fancy, and only took less than an hour to knit. I made this while visiting at my grandmothers old house. She now resides in Florida, but she and her children, normally come to South Carolina, twice yearly.
My four-year old cousin watched most of the dishcloth making process, while my circular knitting needles clicked merrily along the short rows.
What I do love about knitted cotton dishcloths is their absorbency, since it’s knitted, the fabric is stretchy, which I believe enhances its absorbency. Bottom line, they do an amazing job of scrubbing the gunk off cookware. And I thought the brightly colored dishcloth added a bit of pizazz to the dishcloth drawer.
When I returned home, I did email the condo owner to tell her that I left a token dishcloth. I also thanked her for making her condo awesome. We’ll be back later in the year. She responded late yesterday, and thanked me for the dishcloth. Although simple, it triggered fond memories of her grandmother making knitted dishcloths for her mom, when she was young.
And while I made that dishcloth for the condominium “just because” … I did get a knitting request from the owner. These days, I rarely sell any of my creative designs or take on commissioned work… I really don’t have the time, and some people don’t have a clue about the price when it comes to quality hand crafted items. But, this lady isn’t like that, she gets it. So, I’m working on a commissioned knitted item.
While the language makes me cringe, might I refer my readers to Harlan Ellison’s rant about this topic? It’s called, Pay the Writer! Of course, this concept doesn’t only apply to writing, there are plenty of people that are eager to undervalue your hard work… if you let them. I don’t! 😉
Oh, my. He does have quite the potty mouth. I laughed when he threatened to burn the office down. Reminded me of Milton in Office Space. 😉
My husband is prone to do that, but I don’t like to work for free. He was kind of taken aback when I told him how much I thought our handmade coffee table was worth. I told him the material cost me $200-250, and my labor was another $250. Oh, man, now I want to build something… lol
DragonLady recently posted..Beautiful Blogger
He definitely does @DragonLady, I started reading his books when I was about nine-years old. I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, was the first one I read by him. Science fiction + futuristic setting + amazing story = Masterpiece (at least in my opinion).
I love his writing style. He’s sold numerous scripts to a variety of TV shows, and while politically our views are vastly different that doesn’t stop me from reading his writings. 😉
While I don’t agree with the language, or the threats, I can understand his frustration. I’ve been there too, when I did a lot of freelance design (haute couture). But I never undersold my work.
The sad thing is you have people that constantly undervalue themselves too. I see it in the writing community and I see it within the artistic world too. It’s everywhere, but of course I see it more, where I’m active. 🙂
I see it a lot in the crochet and knitting world. For example, talented designers constantly churning out patterns for free. Uhm, ok???
Sometimes I want to virtually shake some of them, and say hey wake up! If people keep seeing you giving it up for free, they will expect this from those trying to make a living. I don’t though, occasionally I’ll offer suggestions, such as bundling their work and selling it as an ebook. Sure keep offering the patterns for free (if you must) but if a person wants them all in one place, add a fee. I only make those suggestions to people who I know want to make money from their creativity.
You’re right, the time worked on a project needs to be factored into your price too. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve ran into that thought their time spent working on a project was “free”. /sighs
You should post some of your work, I love woodworking, but definitely a noob, in that department. Doesn’t stop me from playing with my tools though. For some reason, for me anyway, woodworking and cool months go together. 😉
Aynaria recently posted..Home, owls and cables….
[…] past Saturday, I returned home from vacation in South Carolina, once everything was put away, my circular needles were steadily clicking away at new […]
I enjoyed the video. Although you are right about the language, you can see that he is passionate about what he is saying and he has so many great points! I thought I had read his interview somewhere before but seeing it on video was much better. He comes across very well. And I’d love to see some of DL’s woodworking too. Due to a glitch in my junior high school curriculum, I never had the opportunity to take that wood shop class which is a shame because I think I would have thoroughly enjoyed it and I think I might have been good at it too. Your dishcloth came out great! It’s nice to see that someone really appreciated it and that your little act of kindness was rewarded with an order!