crafting for it's own sake

sometimes, i feel like my craft work is like a compulsives tic: i simply cannot be sitting idly without my hands working on something. it could be knitting, sewing, crocheting or any number of other hand crafts, but wherever i go i carry a project bag with a variety of options. sometimes i have something specific i'm working on, but these days i'm usually carrying a random assortment of cotton yarns and a set of crochet hooks. 

i've joked in the past that crochet is a gateway craft. at least it was in my case...i started out with crochet because it seemed less intimidating that knitting, but i eventually moved on, following the knitting with spinning and some weaving. for a long time, i left crochet behind me like an abandoned toy and my best friend said in jest (or was it...?) that i had betrayed the craft, become a snobby knitter and now thumbed my nose at my 'hooker' friends. however, in the last few months i've developed a renewed interest and have started to accumulate an increasing number of crochet motif and edging books. i've fallen back in love with the granny square and my favorite thing to do is crank out piles of them, along with various flowers and other shapes.

however, i've noticed something: i've been making them just for their own sake. they don't have a purpose, they aren't intended to be anything in particular. they're all just samples of new technique. one new shape or stitch after another, piling up, becoming default coasters, filling empty bowls and baskets in my apartment. sometimes they find their way onto a pin back or a hat, or i feel motivated enough to make a sufficient number of one shape to create a strand of bunting. maybe they get sewn to a pillow or tossed to one of the cats as a new toy. but for the most part, i'm just making them to do it and i'm finding it to be a very satisfying process.

i guess i'm just a sucker for new techniques. i really enjoy learning new ways to manipulate materials, and it can often be very inspiring when it comes to creating a new pattern. really, the more techniques you have in your arsenal, the more possibilities you find opening up to you. and once again, i find my crafting philosophy making for an excellent life philosophy. the more we study and learn, the more we can see opening up before us and the more satisfying our lives become. when we stay stagnant and refuse to expand our minds we can become very isolated and closed to new thoughts and experiences. 

there is a wonderful sense of fearlessness that comes with learning something new without setting a goal to it. when we try something just to try it. it takes the pressure off and makes the process of learning as fun and satisfying as the outcome. i've heard it said that the journey is often more important that the destination and i believe there to be great truth in that. if we put all of our focus on the end goal, we miss all of the wonderful experiences that lead us there. so i'm going to remember that when i make yet another flower that doesn't have a home picked out yet. and i'll try my best in the journey of my life to smell the real flowers that i pass along the way.