Fiber Arts Friday: Watchman Hat, part 2 - Product vs Process

I was listening to a Podcast recently where the host asked the guest whether she was a product or process knitter.

The discussion was interesting.  They talked about it being a continuum and that they would move up and down the continuum depending on the purpose of the project, but that they also primarily worked in the same area of the continuum.

I am definitely a process artist... most of the time.

The product is important to me, but the process is more important as much as 98% of the time.

I raise the animals.  I shear and brush them.  I process the yarn from raw fiber into roving or batts.  I spin them into yarn... this often happens after I've decided on a particular project.

I love the planning part... thinking about the project construction, what materials or colors I could use, and how best to make the yarn.  So there's a good chance I've been thinking about a project for more than a year before I start the actual making of that project.

Of course sometimes I start with commercial yarn, but it is still about the process... what yarns and colors will work well together, do I have enough to complete the vision?

Then as I make mistakes, I almost certainly do what I need in order to make the correction.

I am constantly learning.... be it a new technique or stitch, a new fiber, or even a new tool.

In fact, I was correcting mistakes on this nearly-complete project while listening to this podcast about Slow Knitting only to rip it out because it was the just a little too tight.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!