Photographs by Jonathan Hokklo and Jake Dobkin
I've always admired the knit group Knitta Please ABOUT , so you can imagine how excited I was when my sweety daughter sent me an article from the leader of Knitta Please, .Magda Sayeg, KnittaPlease - Gothamist: New York City News, Food, Arts & Events... calling for volunteers to knit a parking meter cozy to knitafy parking meters on Montague St in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Heights Blog » Be Part of Knitting Art
We were given a pattern and allowed to make it our own using the colors, green, blue, pink and yellow. I love guidelines/rules because my inner lawyer hungers to find loopholes (and hopefully not stitch holes) that stick close enough to rules, yet stray enough to satifsy the "bad girl" within. Being a huge Eckhart Tolle fan, I chose to make a blossoming flower cozy to represent stillness and the study of how flowers accept the 'isness' of life. (Ever see a flower worry about anything?)
I love that an artistic knit vision can be created within a group. I loved seeing the generous and joyful volunteers who put the cozies up on all those parking meters...such angels! I love that Magda Sayeg and Chelsea Mauldin did such an excellent and thorough job in organizing such a fun and exciting project. Leading several minds in one direction is not an easy thing to do. Everyone involved did a lot of work to make this project materialize. I love being a knitting cog in the wheel of public knit creation! Send me more of that, please! Pretty please. Pretty Knitta Please!
The huge lesson learned from this experience came from the commentary posted about the project. Knitta Please Hits Brooklyn Heights - Gothamist: New York City News, Food, Arts & Events Such a cool project, yet I've never seen so many anonymous readers be so judgmental about such a creative project! It's no wonder many artistic types fear putting their work out there! There's a breed of people who crave attention so much that they don't care how they get it and often the way they get it is through tearing anothers' efforts to shreds. There's a ton of safety in anonymity! Anyone expressing their creativity has to earn the Teflon Heart Award if they ever put their creative expressions out there. What a twist to donate a cozy that represents 'isness' and witness how there are still humans who don't accept 'isness.'
There were kind things said in the commentaries as well and I so appreciate those encouraging souls who understand the intent of the project and the loving care that was put into every bit of that project. (You can see it on the faces of the people who put the projects on the meters.) According to the critical things said, public knitters who express their creativity are all bored housewives who are using their knitting to get attention and should be spending their time knitting for charity instead. One critic even threatened to pee on all the projects...even tho we were warned by our group leader to make the base of the project of darker shades because dogs already will do that.
So to all you brave souls who are expressing your creativity...whether it be through starting your own business, changing your career, starting any new kind of relationship...or just putting yourself and what you do out there....I hope you keep this lesson in mind that when you live your dreams, part of the experience is to know there will be critics, but because you love what you're doing so much that will weigh more than any criticism. So whatever it is you put out there you'll earn your Teflon Heart Award by just staying on the path. Much support to those who are using their gifts to make the world a better place!
Any "bypassing the critic stories" to share? Please do!
