Before I Get Too Cocky

hubris
    noun
        excessive pride or self-confidence 
Pride breeds the tyrant violent pride, gorging, crammed to bursting with all that is overripe and rich with ruin—clawing up to the heights, headlong pride crashes down the abyss—sheer doom! -- Chorus, from Oedipus Rex, Sophocles, Section 4 Lines 963-967
So here's the thing: I was an excellent student. I have always learned things quickly and I was always at the top of my class, honours student, Dean's List, scholarships under my belt, all that high-achieving stuff. It's probably the reason why I have never been afraid of trying new things: I am good at figuring stuff out, and even when I fail I am quick to take it apart to figure out where I went wrong. In short, I know what I am good at, and I know when I am good at it.

And sometimes, this makes me just a LITTLE too comfortable. Case in point: A couple of years ago, I attended a clay workshop with some friends. We made mugs using a slab technique where you roll out a slab, add the details, and then wrap it around a piece of pvc pipe to create a mug. It was tricky, but it was fun, and I got a cool mug out of it:


Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I decided it would be fun to take the same workshop again, this time with a couple of different people. Having already taken the workshop before, I had a better idea of what I was getting myself into. Heck, I considered myself a pro... a one-and-done practically professional potter by this stage.

Oh, pride. Hubris. See definition above.

I sailed along for the first little while, decorating, planning, scheming for the final result. And then, I got it all put together before I got ready to do the handle. I mean, what's a handle? It's a piece of clay that you stick on and shazam, it's done.

Except it wasn't. It was floppy and flaccid and wonky. And then, just as I was about to finish it all off, it fell off with about 15 minutes left in the class. 

So, I decided it was going to be a vase. And there it is:


It looks like a vase and it works like a vase, see? It doesn't even leak. Yep... lesson learned. "One-and-done" is not the same as "pro potter:"


Meanwhile, back in the realm of stuff I actually know how to do...

I've been picking away at this crochet project using some cotton thread by Scheepjes called Maxi Sugar Rush in the Rust colourway. It's the first time I've ever crocheted anything using a 1.5 mm hook. The pattern is called Calla, by Zoya Matushenko. So far, I'm loving the colour of this: rich and deep and orangey-red, the colour of autumn, vibrant and lovely:


I am somewhat nervous that this is going to turn out smaller than I wanted. I was hoping for something about 12 inches in diameter that I could stitch onto a dark denim jacket that I bought specifically for this purpose. I'm also wondering if I actually needed the three balls I bought to make this thing, as others who have made this doily seem to have used quite a bit less. I did briefly consider using a larger hook before I started, but I don't crochet enough to really know what my gauge is like, and knowing my luck I would have run out way before the end:


I'll just have to keep plugging away at it. While I am somewhat inexperienced in these types of crochet projects, I do know that it's usually around this point when the project starts to eat up yarn exponentially quickly, like a hungry dog confronted with an overturned bacon truck.

Wow. Wonder what that would be like?


I am relieved that we got a bit of rain yesterday and that the summer seems to be behind us. I am all geared up for cozy evenings and sweater knitting and baking and stews. I'm off to make some cornbread to go with the turkey chili I made for dinner. Roll on, autumn.

Have a great week!

Comments

casey said…
"Thinking I'm an expert and then banging up my next attempt somehow" pretty much sums up so much of what I do, haha. For what it's worth, even if it didn't come out as you expected, I think that vase is beautiful. :) Ditto for Calla - beautiful crochet work, and that color is gorgeous. I will have to check out that pattern. I'm picturing it done up a little bigger, and stitched to a contrasting cushion cover...
AdrieneJ said…
I still have quite a few rounds to go with that Calla pattern. I think it might be close to the size I want after I block it, but every round is taking forever now!