Not Everyone is a Picasso

So where are all the crochet bloggers and Twitterers, I’ve been wondering? Kim Werker postulates:

“If there were more riveting crochet blogs, more crocheters would blog. More people would want to participate in the conversation. More people would be inspired to share their own stories.“

Was I the only Project Runway fan who instantly and quite fondly thought of  Tim Gunn’s use of “riveting?” when Kim said it?

And I can’t argue with her. But I wonder if her expectations are too high. I don’t say that from my point of view personally. Certainly not. I’m one of those people who will only do something if it can be done the best way possible the first time (It’s why I started NexStitch in the first place). My expectations for myself are generally high, for crafting, teaching, and even in my lounging (I get excited to jump into PJ’s and hit the couch with good munchies and beer with my Better Half to watch a good show on a Sunday night!) But how I perceive things for myself doesn’t necessarily transcend to what works for other people.

I’m going to explain my point of view from my experiences as being a teacher, since that’s what I know best.

Spring is Blooming

When Kim mentioned this about crochet blogs in general in her recent blog post:

“They’re the blog equivalents of Bubba listing all those kinds of shrimp. Kids, that’s just not interesting.”

I instantly thought of Benjamin Bloom. No, not Benjamin Button. I knew you were thinking that’s what I meant. Bloom was a psychologist who helped develop classifications for learning, six in fact. Think of these as relating to learning objectives. At the end of a lesson I have to ask myself, “Do I need my students – and this applies to you crochet teachers amongst us – to be able to list facts, understand art processes, apply painting techniques, distinguish between Minoan and Mycenaean art works, formulate their own opinions, and finally evaluate their own and other cultures art works? As you work your way up the pyramid, more is required of you as a learner.

 

Starting at the bottom and working up, each has pre-requisites.

You can’t comprehend something until you have knowledge of what you’re studying/talking/learning about.

You can’t apply information on topics you know little or nothing about.

You’re not going to have the ability to analyze articles on crochet until you have knowledge on what crochet is at its fundament roots, and so on.

Blogging Hookers

With that in mind, what Kim was saying about “listing” falls right in line with the domain of knowledge (arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state) and a little with comprehension (classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate). Yes, a lot of crochet blogs are indeed about mentioning what pattern the crocheter is working on, making lists of patterns they’re working in currently, and recalling and expressing all the details, the trials and tribulations about that particular pattern and why it’s so freakintastic! or why it sucks. The highest the average crochet blogger attends to on the pyramid is application (apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write). They show how they apply their knowledge of crochet by posting pictures of their crochet projects.

It isn’t the average crocheter who is dying to express how they calculated the increases in the yoke of their latest sweater pattern – that’s analysis (analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test). Nor are they interested in sharing how they planned the color changes in their latest blanket project, if they in fact, planned it themselves – an example of synthesis (arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write).

But isn’t it interesting – and my students do this all the time – that there is always a rush to judgement, to evaluate the work of others without understanding the process by which the crocheter/author arrived at their final product – and that’s evaluation (appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate). And by judgement I mean, “Ohhh, what was she thinkingggg with choosing that yarnnnn?” Oh don’t be shy. We’ve all done it. It’s human nature.

Blogging is an Art Form, BUT…

Keeping in mind Bloom’s Taxonomy, I have a few thoughts to throw into the mix in response to Kim’s comments:

1) Not all crafters are the best writers. Certainly that doesn’t mean they can’t be. That’s not the direction I’m headed in with this comment. I just mean some people are all about the craft, or art, and have a harder time communicating the intentions behind their work. I mean, it’s their whole reason for crafting in the first place. These people don’t set out to have a blog to write endlessly about all the trials and tribulations of their craft. The expression of what they’re saying is in the physical craft, and not the crafty words on their blog. The blog format, by nature, might not be the best format, but for many, it’s all they’ve got. I think if you’re a writer reading a crocheting blog you might indeed be disappointed because they don’t perceive the writing portion to be the art form.

2) Not everyone has the same intentions and motivations in writing a blog. Some are not trying to share “big” ideas because quite frankly, they don’t have any. I say that without judgement. They’re still operating on the domain of knowledge, regardless of how many years they’ve been crocheting. Years doesn’t equate to experience. You can be a painter for years and not know other painting techniques that could elevate your own work, for example.

3) Not everyone is comfortable sharing more about themselves than their craft. Boundaries are important for some people, myself included, which I stated in my previous post.

4) Not everyone is a skilled writer because they aren’t keen readers. How ironic that during parent/teacher conference, I overheard a Literacy teacher saying to a parent, “You have to be an avid reader to become a better writer.” I never thought of it that way, but he is in fact onto something. And to that end, I’d say an avid reader of many types of blogs indeed has a better chance of being a more engaged reader and therefore a more interesting writer.

So then how do we get crocheters to understand that the blogging portion is an art form that needs to be treated as such, if indeed we, as the crocheting community might feel it deserves elevating? Certainly we’re in a better position than the knitters, perhaps, because our craft is so young. We have a chance to better shape and document its upbringing. What do we do about it?

More to come in Part 4.

Tags: Crochet, microblogging,