Are monsters creative?
After the excitement of getting some suggestions for creative projects, I ignored them all. I made a monster instead. Here he is:
(Not very threatening, is he? I’ll take name suggestions. Giles, maybe?)
I made the monster because it was cute and because it wouldn’t take very long. I had the wool and the right sized crochet hook, so off I went. Then I realised something. For me, the overall project of crocheting or knitting something isn’t that creative. The creativity is in choosing a yarn and matching it to a pattern and maybe a person. The creativity is in the purchase, choosing and decision. After that, it’s just following instructions. I want the thing to turn out they way it should, and I’m not massively skilled in these techniques, so I have to do as I’m told. That’s not all that creative.
As further illustration. Today I happened to be passing iKnit London (a wool shop of infinite variety and colour, by Waterloo station) between some meetings. I had a little time to spare, so I popped in, as one does. Ahem, sorry, as *I* do. And I fondled many a skein until I found some yarn I couldn’t leave behind. Look:
The top one is a beautiful, soft, Merino sock yarn that might be made into a present for someone. The bottom one is berry purple silk and feels incredible. I only bought one skein of each, as they were rather expensive. So now I have to find a pattern to fit them. But then, the thrill will tail off (until I wear something I make from them, perhaps). I think with this kind of project, it’s the thrill of the chase, the initial phase of the process, that’s exciting and creative, and the next bit is almost dutiful.
So, I don’t think it really counts towards my weekly creativity.
(I have to come up with another knitting or crochet project, because it’s my knitting group tomorrow and I haven’t been for ages. And I can’t turn up without a project. That would be akin to walking in there naked, smearing myself in mayonnaise and setting fire to a sheep. Sick and wrong. Okay, maybe that’s a teensy exaggeration. But bad form, anyway.)
So over the weekend, I started something else. I’ll show you the WIP (work in progress) soon.
Comments
Comment from Alex Andronov
Time 21 October 2009 at 8:52 pm
I am not sure I agree about the creative process. But it is hard to know. I write in two different ways depending on the context. Sometimes I just keep writing sentence after sentence with little idea of where I am going and hope that will get sorted in the edit. And that works fine in a short thing, and you imagine that when you are going to go and write a novel you are going to do it properly – come up with a plot and fill in the details.
However… That doesn’t seem to be the real truth. Sometimes I write and I find myself coming up with the whole story. Sometimes I know I want to write, but I have no idea what is coming next. The sense of painting oneself into a corner is hugely exciting and motivates you through the slog of writing, and it is a slog. I would say that I always find writing less exciting when I know the end before I get there. But the question is – does knowing make the end result a better or worse thing?
It is hard to know whether the excitement of keeping you guessing distracts you. Does it stop you from seeing the wood for the trees? Do you end up with something hideously unbalanced? And yet the question remains – does it matter if, on the other hand, you enjoy the process so little that you can’t get to the end?
The issue with this is that the process of creation is somewhat mechanical. This is like parts of the edit for me. The sad news is that you can’t have creativity without hard work and a bit of boring mechanical processing. Other people don’t do it because of the hard work, and that’s part of what makes it worth while.
Just think, you could imagine monster, would that be as good as holding monster? I make up a story with every spare five minutes I have. But it is the ones I turn into reality that satisfy me.
Sometimes, you have to overcome your enjoyment of the process to achieve results. My novel, when it is in my head, is perfect, writing it reveals the faults. In my head, nine years ago, it was a perfect story I told myself one rainy evening. I loved it, and now as people read it, I’ll realise the faults and I’ll have to be told about them, because, at the end, the achievement is worth it. Maybe we will see more of monster around the house than your collage?
That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do collage, of course, but that part of all creative work involves the horrible difficult part where you have to learn all the new things, create rubbish, fail and learn. And part of that is challenging yourself. Making a collage out of materials you’ve never used before, knitting with a new material, writing a much longer story.
In some ways, if the impending sense of doom and failure are absent, the process isn’t going to be exciting. That’s why to me, here, the collage is more interesting because you had to do something, and publish it, and that’s scary for you. Maybe the next thing is constructing a knitting pattern for yourself, or maybe it’s just pushing the boundaries of the scary and knowing that whatever you did, four things are true:
1) You did it
2) Not many people do
3) You started, which is hard enough
4) You finished
Proud isn’t enough of a word, for what I feel about you. Now keep starting and finishing.
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Time 21 October 2009 at 10:54 pm
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Comment from Alison
Time 21 October 2009 at 11:26 pm
I would find it highly entertaining if you turned up at knitting group and smeared yourself in mayonnaise and set fire to a sheep. But sheep are hard to come by in Brixton. Maybe you should try going off piste on the patterns? I do that to keep myself interested, though in fairness it mostly just ends in me having to undo and redo things over and over, and then still losing interest when the bulk of it is done. This weekend I am dedicating to ‘getting shit finished’
Comment from Christine
Time 22 October 2009 at 8:55 am
I’m not sure about the knitting/crochet thing, as I can see what you mean about following instructions and just getting to the end.
Monsters, though, are very creative in themselves. There are no rules with monsters like there are with humans. They don’t have to have two eyes and legs and arms. They can be green and purple and blue, and a triangle shape if desired.
P.S – Is there anywhere we can order the cute monster you made? ;)
Comment from Kat
Time 22 October 2009 at 2:09 pm
@Christine
That’s true. I was also going to sew some fabric monsters, for which I have no pattern, so that would be more freestyley.
I would consider taking a commission for a monster, but I have limited colours left in that wool. I have yellow, blue, green, beige, some pink, maybe some red and dark turquoise left. Otherwise I’d have to buy more yarn, and that would be bad. Ask Alex. He’s see my yarn box.
Comment from Kat
Time 22 October 2009 at 2:14 pm
@Alison
Sheep are hard to come by in Brixton. I found a pattern for a felted alpaca on Ravelry though – very cute!
I think I’ll extend myself in knitting and crochet by trying new techniques. This steel scarf involves decreasing and felting, which are new. And the silk neckwarmer involves passing stitches over etc. So they will be new and challenging things to try.
Comment from Kat
Time 22 October 2009 at 2:17 pm
@Alex
Oh I see! It’s been about starting all year, now it’s all about the finishing! ;)
You are right, of course, that the important thing really is stretching myself. I will try new things (see reply to Alison, above), but I needed to start too. And cute monsters and easy collages are a good way of getting in. If I did a monster or a collage every fortnight for 3 months, I’d soon get bored and seek something else to engage me.
Pingback from Katherine Hall » Monster II: it’s back, but still not scary
Time 9 February 2010 at 10:08 pm
[...] may remember Giles from a few months’ ago. He’s the light turquoise monster that I [...]
Comment from Alex Andronov
Time 20 October 2009 at 1:55 pm
I love monster :)