Best Quote I Heard All Day
"The engineering is secondary to the vision."
--Cynthia Ozick

OK, time to return to the subject at hand.

I need a cyber plunger to Roto-Rooter the comments on Sunday's entry.

Somehow we went from the definition of KnitDweebs to music. I let Michael speak for himself. Heh.

Let me just say, sotto voce, that he's a real sweetheart. As Joe accuses me of being much nicer in person, I must make that same accusation about Michael.

Tech v. Creative...Tiny Diva: Pick One
I was semi-inspired to think about this by a post that Joe sent to the MenWhoKnit List. One of his points was that, although he doesn't care for Lily's designs, he thinks she's an excellent technician. And that she's pleasant, outgoing, clean, thrifty, reverent, etc. And that some people who dislike her, do so because of her connection with Knitter's and XRX, both of which she promotes.

Or words to that effect.

Well. I'm sure she's not a bad person. I think that she's pretty much one of those obnoxiously Tinkerbell types, an Asian-American Southern Belle, who never has a public PMS day.

La-di-da.

But I would agree with Joe--she's most certainly a good technician. Not the best--there are better.

It's just that she takes her technical know-how...and it all comes out ugly. I mean, are there any of her designs that are close to aesthetically appealing?

I've written about this before but I think it bears repeating: As a rule, the knitting technicians are not artistically creative. And the artistically creative designers are not generally the ones who are known for their arcane garment construction.

I am most definitely not a technician. I am not interested in designing a cleverly executed pattern that looks like shit on the wearer. I am a color/texture person, a frustrated watercolorist who can't draw, and I use knitting as my canvas. To that purpose, I use the garment shaping that will convey my design the best and will fit the wearer comfortably.

As with our discussion in the last Comments about Debbie New, it seems pointless to me to develop techniques (or knit tea cups) for the sake of saying "I did it." Yeah, so?

So fucking what.

Does it look good on the wearer? Are the colors/stitch patterns harmonious? I've seen some incredibly engineered garments that look like shit when worn...and in the most hideous colors imaginable.

The engineering side of knitting can be fascinating. And I can think of some brilliant knitting engineers who frequently sucked as designers: EZ, certainly. Susanna Lewis, who is an unbelievable technician but whose designs were strictly from hunger.

There are some designers who are successful at both. But not many.

And to throw another thought out: As far as I am concerned, my knitting is not art. It is a craft. If I could have painted, perhaps then I would be an artist. I consider myself a craftsperson.

I am not opening this up for an agonizing discussion in the Comments of knitting as art/craft because that would be ever so Knit List-ish of you.

And I will just get bored with it and have to ban you. I came within inches of banning someone yesterday.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

And go off and be handy this weekend. I will be quite busy...and handy...and busy. Heh.