Moving Out Into The World

I mostly think of the projects that I make as singular: I make one, move on and make something else.

Sometimes, though, the process of making includes writing up the pattern, and in those cases, the projects move out into the world and can show up again. I'm always surprised, and very pleased, when someone likes what I have done enough to make one of their own.

Several months ago, on Ravelry, I saw a photo of this bag:


I did a double take. My first impression was that someone had altered a photo of the colors of my bag from Woven Treasures:



But no! This was Donna's bag. She wove it from the instructions, changing the colors, adding her own embellishments. It was so nice to see how the design and instructions had made their way out into the wide world :).

Then Donna wove several more bags, changing the colors and some of the construction.
Donna's:


My bag colors:


Donna also used her own design for the soumak bagfaces:
Donna's:




Mine:




It's gratifying and exciting to get independent corroboration that the instructions work, and work well enough that Donna could alter them to suit her own design and color choices!

Then the other day at knitting, Dee held up a bag and asked if I recognized it? No, I said, but I wanted it:





She then told me it was a variation on my design for the New Homespun Handknit:



The color choices change things so very much! There are a few construction details that each of these women changed, too, which is one of the best parts of this whole process: they are not following a pattern, but they are using the instructions or charts and making something new.

Last, also on Ravelry, I saw another version of the Lace-up Mittens from Homespun Handknit:


Jen's in her handspun Spirit Trail cashmere.

Everyone who uses handspun yarns in a pattern knows the next person who makes the project will change it somehow: handspun is necessarily individual. This was a very fun pattern for me to make up, and to knit, but I am jealous I did not think of using cashmere yarns: I may just have to make up another pair..... :)

There are at least two kinds of creators: those who wish to keep all of the details of creation to themselves, making their projects unique in the world, and those who send out the patterns for others to use, make things with, make personal, and change. I've been both, at different times and for different projects.

For me, now, the pleasure of seeing how things evolve is far greater than the pride in having made something one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-repeated. The pleasure of the shared community, the shared effort, and the common goal: the work of our hands, to keep us warm, to keep us entertained, to make things that are useful and ours and yet are part of the greater community, all of this is very gratifying.