My latest yarn

I am always encouraging people to enter their creative work in a show. And this year I entered several things in The Black Sheep Gathering’s fiber arts show. I want to share my experience this year.

I was not able to see the yarn judging, which I was sorry to have missed.  I only got to read the judges’ comments here. I freely admit that I tend to suffer from moments of grandiosity, and I was disappointed to realize that the judge thought that my skein of yarn was not the most astonishing thing she ever saw.

But then I looked more closely and realized that she did have a point: my yarn was not even. Really I think I did an admirable job of being consistently inconsistent. That sums me up in a nutshell — consistently inconsistent! I have come to accept this about myself.

I think that the yarn is not uneven enough to be a problem in my design, as it will work in my granny squares. But notice how I defend my yarn! Which brings me to another interesting thing about entering your work in a juried show. It can tend to open a Pandora’s box of thoughts and emotions that you didn’t realize were there. Aside from disappointment, you might be facing ideas like jealousy, inadequacy, failure, or even rage!

But I think that we are making progress here. This is good. Because you don’t have to own those feelings. Those voices are not you. I believe that barrage of voices is a part of the collective unconscious. Some may even be the voice of your mother or teacher from the past.

The important thing is to choose the ones that you agree with and own now.

So I chose to keep: acceptance of my flaws, appreciation that I can learn from them, and thankfulness that the judge did favor my use of color. I will let the other voices disappear down into their cave.

Your creative work has significant value as the momentary expression of beauty as you see it. There is no need to defend yourself.

 This experience can serve to make you stronger. To solidify what you are all about. What other people (even experts) think about what you create is not as important as what you think.

We make stuff to please ourselves. For me, color is king. If the color turns me on, I am thrilled and inspired. I do desire to have good technique. And I will strive for that but at the same time not let it keep me from creating all the flights of fancy in my mind.

There were many things in the fiber arts show that inspired me and I just had to make something! And so, happily, I went home and made some more yarn.

I will continue to exhibit my work for others to see and to judge. Who knows? Maybe something about my work may inspire a fellow fiberista to create something! You never know.

Thanks for stopping by ~ Karen