No need to be talented.
I'm trying to make a hat. A hat to make a pattern for a secret squirrel mini project that I'll announce very soon. But I need to finish the pattern. Need to. Not want to.
And so I'm trying. Pick it up, put it down. Pick it up again. Rip and rip and rip. And any one of the versions I'd made would probably have looked lovely I'm sure, but they weren't what I had in my mind's eye and so I'm ripping. Cause I want it to be really good.
As I was making this hat though I realised that I had a working demonstration of how practice, and trial and error, are the things that are getting me to the destination. Not some innate crafty magic. I've written quite a few blog posts talking around this topic like "I'm not creative" and "You're so talented - and other malignant myths" that talk about the fact that in order to create something beautiful you do not need to be talented. You just need to be making. Practice is key to how you get good at anything. And at the risk of stating the obvious, this hat is a case study around these ideas. I'm practicing and trialling and practicing and trialling getting my colour choices to where I want them to be.
The other thing this hat is proving to me is the old "Planning only takes you so far" truth. That post shows you another version of this very same hat.
So here it is. The story of a half-finished hat.
Version #1 was too contrasty - the navy too navy.
Version #2 - thought maybe the blue was too blue for the garter round so I tried the mushroom. This was too blah.
Version #3 - tried a grey garter row which was too soft - and again the navy was too navy.
Back we go again.....
Version #4 was closer but the mushroom and pink were too soft/light so the star motif was lost.
Version #5 was again too contrasty and had nothing to tie the pink/mushroomy colours in with the lower part of the hat.
Version #6. Still not sure the bright orange should be bright orange so am going to trial another colour. The pink in the star feels a little "little girl".....but we will see.
Where it is at right now.
I'm sure in five years time after doing a lot more colourwork and making many more choices about colour that I will be faster at it and it won't take so many versions to get it right. I hope so anyway.
Felicia x