Hello again, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? If you noticed there should have been a post three between this one and the last one, very perceptive of you, congratulations. I sort of forgot to do one and got a little lazy. Nevertheless, not a lot happened to comment on has happened since my last post so hopefully you don’t mind too much.

I finally finished my hat! It was more wide than long for what a hat like its kind should have looked like. I must have doubled when I should have halved or something along those lines.  It looked more like a beret than the toque shape that I had been planning on. I spent more time pondering over how it would look and how to fix what I had already done than actually crocheting which you can see based on my sloth-like speed. However, I folded over part of the hat and stitched it together making the whole hat a little bit skinnier and more well-fitting. Nevertheless, it’s done and I’ll be handing it in to be delivered very soon.

As much time as I’ve had, I have been neglecting to crochet a little bit. It’s still fun but a routine that I had woven it into collapsed and it got harder for me to slide into my schedule. Once this project is completed I hope to start on a little stuffy figure, you’ll see next post what I decide on making.

Some semi-related news, someone in my class tested positive for Covid and I have been isolating for the past week. I am fine but that doesn’t detract from the fact that I have not been able to leave my house. Where this ties in is that I already do the majority of my meeting with my mentor online, but one of the few in-person meetings was planned for last weekend, just as I began to isolate. I still connected via Zoom, however, it is always nice to meet face to face and allows for more in-depth questions to be asked and conversations to be shared. This is a shame, but not a drastic one and I hope that I can have a face-to-face meeting sometime soon.

 

What new information are you getting and what questions did you ask to probe further into the topic?

Most of my questions are used to further increase my ability to crochet rather than learn new techniques. Crocheting is not a complicated subject per se. Its difficulty lies in the technique, speed, and accuracy needed to complete a project and how to improve them.

I told you in my last post that I learned how to do the half double stitch. Lately I haven’t been learning anything new, instead, I have practiced and tried to perfect its technique.

Discuss any new points of view you developed while in conversation with your mentor.

The only differing viewpoint I developed because of my mentor is our way of tackling projects.  Her method as much as I’ve seen is very much to go by a pattern. I wanted to experiment with other options, letting my eye try to make its own decision on how to make it. It works sometimes, such as just now when finishing my hat in an unorthodox fashion. However, that fix was only required because I messed up using my eye in the first place. I can now see the benefit of going by the instructions and following word for word.

 

How do your mentor values differ from yours?

I don’t believe I can answer this question. The only ways that my mentor’s values differ from mine are so minuscule that I can’t pinpoint them. Being that she is my grandmother and I was practically raised to follow similar values I can’t accurately answer. Our values, motivations, and even parts of our personality are quite similar so much so that a few of our conversations have gone off-topic purely because of that.

 

What questions did you ask to check on facts and details? Elaborate.

Going back to a point I made earlier, I asked if I could try using my own judgement with my upcoming project. Since I plan on making a little stuffed figure next, and patterns for the specific character I had in mind were few, I asked if I could fabricate my own pattern of sorts. I questioned if it would be possible given my limited expertise and ability and she answered that it would be best to either find another character or look harder for a pattern. I eventually found a usable pattern, but asking to clarify facts and details even for seemingly unimportant questions is a simple but unused help that your mentor can give you.

 

I think that about wraps everything up for this installment of what’s Nathan taking so long to make? I hope that you were brought up to date on some of my work and I hope you have a good rest of your day. Until next time.

 

All the best,

Nathan