A Moment for Self-Appreciation

Last night, a friend of mine introduced me as a "fiber artist" and I immediately rolled my eyes, stammered, and said something to the effect of "well, I mean...I knit". It's not the first time I've pooh-poohed my own creativity, skills, goals, or self, but it was probably the first time that I immediately realised that I need to quit with the downplaying.

Jill's Raspberry Beret (Ravelry link)

Sometimes, when I need to figure out the next right thing for me to do, or if I need to assess a situation I'm in, I'll think of what I'd tell one of my friends if they were in that situation. The first thing I'd tell my friend would definitely be, "stop that! Ain't no-one gonna think you're awesome if you don't!"

I knitted Wolfgang's mini-'Cobblestone' sweater (R). His friend Jacob (L)
served as a fit model while I was working on it.

The funny thing is, though, that I do see the awesomeness in my knitting. Separate from the fact that it's just freaking amazing that a person can take some yarn & manipulate it into a Raspberry Beret, a sweater, mittens or whatever, well, that's kind of awesome in itself.

The (in-)'famous' Wild Thing hoodie

Aside from that, though, there are definitely a few pieces I've made give me little choice but to appreciate my own skill & creativity. Not in a narcissistic way, I think, more in a healthy, "hey! I'm really good at this!" kind of way. Don't we all need a little of that from time to time?  ;o)

The Viking Balaclava I made for Corey, way back when
I had time to knit for other people

So I'm posting pictures of some things I've made, most of them are 'old news', but all things I made. Almost all of them were made either with no pattern, or with a heavily-modified pattern.