The Doctor and I

Okay, so this isn't the epic blog-dump I had intended, which would have covered what I've been up to in these last nine (!) months. That post is coming... eventually.

Instead, this is the "short" version - mainly a post about knitting, crocheting, and crafting, prompted in part by the stream of new visitors visiting here via pixelatedmushroom. (Hello new visitors!)

It wasn't long after I started the #dailysketch project that I realized I'd overlooked a very important downside to my plan - coming up with new sketch ideas is hard. Not that the project was supposed to be easy, but spending more time each day trying to think up what to draw than actually drawing... that just wasn't going to work.

As an alternative, I decided to commit myself to one massive long-term project that (1) I could work on a little each day, (2) would end with tangible results and (3) most importantly, not require a lot of thinking. This was supposed to be therapeutic, gorramit!

The ideal project was obvious: A 12-foot Doctor Who Scarf. And after four months exactly, knitting ten minutes to an hour every day, it was complete!

Easy peasy.
The real question is what to do with it now that it's done!

Following completion of this project, it was pretty clear I was now hooked on crafting. I'd gotten so into the habit of making something each night that it felt weird not having something to work on. Furthermore, after four months of the garter stitch, back-and-forth, back-and-forth...I felt ready for a challenge!

Browsing Etsy and the CraftyTARDIS Livejournal Group for ideas, I stumbled upon pixelatedmushroom's fantastic10th Doctor Plushie pattern. Being very much a fan of the 10th Doctor and finding the pictures of the finished product adorable, I decided to make my first foray into the world of crocheting.

Over the summer, I taught myself the basic stitches (via the magic of YouTube), fought through the hand cramps, leveled up by learning some basic amigurumi techniques and completed my first crochet project. 

I'd say it came out pretty darned well:

The Oncoming Storm

The Doctor loves his TARDIS

Ready for Adventure!

Working on these projects have been great experiences and I've not only learned new crafting skills but the quiet repetitive nature of the work has given me time and space (heh!) to think and draw analogies to process struggles in my "real" work. Therapy indeed!

Moving forward, I know I'm going to continue crafting (I've already started another, non-Who scarf and have been "commissioned" to do various projects by family and friends), and I'll be documenting the process here, on Twitter, and on my Ravelry account. A thought that lingers, however, is whether this is really in the same spirit that prompted the #dailysketch or if it's something else altogether.

A month or so ago, I posed to my hive mind on Twitter the question: "Is crafting the same as making art?" and received no real response. So far, I am certain they're very closely connected, but I have not yet decided if they're quite the same...or if that even matters.

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[P.S. To anyone who is familiar with my pet peeve about object-pronouns and is surprised by this post's title... Blame Barrowman]