Yet another wee rant by the Big Cheese...

Life's been hectic these days for the ol' Big Cheese. Working on sorting through all the fabulous submissions to the Crochet Liberation Front's First Ever Book...ahhhh yum...and having to make the tough calls of what gets in to this book and what gets held over for the next...yeah, no refusals this time (wiping brow)...

Our numbers continue to grow (I know I need to update the numbers here on the blog info...) almost 1800 people call the CLF home on Ravelry....and more join daily! Wow...It's really exciting!

I've even had some fan mail for our podcast! Yeah, how cool is that?!

So what do I have to rant about...well I'm making it crochet related, but I will warn you this type of behavior annoys me no matter what subject matter is at hand...and I don't know how to fix the problem, but I do now that I'm highly annoyed.

Edited for relevance: This has more to do with a gathering that I was at this weekend, and well it just bugged me...cause it happens so frequently I could spit.
RANT BEGINS...

Ok, so I will say something like (no anger involved folks, just an off the cuff comment) "You know I never knew about LYS'es before I started spinning. I mean I saw some stores but since it had knit in the name I didn't even think to go inside...."

And all of a sudden what ever knitter is present (good, bad or indifferent) will often (notice I am not saying always), "Well there are only so many good yarn store names..."

I mean immediate defense... I was making a comment about my personal journey, not a political statement, nothing of the sort...just that I personally, me...myself, and I, had never thought to go into a store that had "Knit...blah, blah blah" in the name because I crochet and I never associated it with knitting. It's not just me, many folks who crochet think in a similar manner. It's not a complaint, it is a statement of fact....

As I have written in past posts, hey I don't go to Boat World to by a car either....

So here's the beef, cause it's not about yarn stores. If someone makes a comment, just a comment about their personal experience or thought process...don't jump into defend yourself or what you do...listen. Listen carefully, are they challenging everything you know to be true and real? Or are they expressing their thoughts?

I mean I just tend to have this happen because I am a candid person. I will express my feelings, and my thoughts, and sometimes it's about crochet and sometimes it's not...

I see this on the board at the CLF, I will make a comment or post something about a crocheters experience, or crochet-centric post, and all of a sudden there has to be ONE post from a person who does both defending the pointy sticks.

I don't know how many times I'm going to have to say, and most days I just get up and walk away from my computer, because honestly it gets pretty annoying to have to keep repeating myself... The CLF is a CROCHET organization. I don't care what other crafts you do, you can do what ever you like, and enjoy it...I do lots of other things besides crochet (gasp and horror)...but the CLF is a crochet group.

I don't care what the perspective of the pointy stickers is when it comes to yarn or crochet, really. I do not get into compare and contrast, it's a silly thing to do. They are both valid.

My goal was, and always has been, and STILL IS to create an identity for crochet. We are valid, we are excellent, we do not need to be an addendum to any other craft, we don't need any other group to validate us, and I do not care what other crafters think of what we do.

What I care about is what we think.

I do not know how to further explain that to stand up for what we want is not crushing or defiling anything to do with any other craft. I am not suggesting we go to a fiber arts conference and shadow other crafters in the hall way and laugh at them and call them names... I am not even suggesting that we criticize them they way we have been criticized, though occasions may warrant it....

What I am saying is that when I say or write something about crochet, that's it...It is about crochet, it's not about anyone else.

And when I speak or write about classical music, or handspinning, or gardening, or what have you I am speaking about that...no one ever needs to justify themselves to me or anyone else... That whole justifying thing just annoys the fuzzy out me...

Crochet Meditation for the WEEK: Find worth in what you do and feel secure in that....