What is my unique offering to the crochet world? My own perspective, perhaps. Fans of my opera blog Taminophile, and even the opera singers I've written about, have shown appreciation for my writing, my viewpoint, my understanding. There are many crochet YouTube channels I like very much, but sometimes when watching I think to myself that I might have explained a certain point differently. And, of course, it's always fun to show off finished works and works in progress.
I considered creating a totally new blog, but since I've had this one for a while, and many of the early posts feature crochet pics, I thought I'd repurpose this one. And I still like the name. I've also considered a YouTube channel, but my presentation in writing is more upbeat than my rather deadpan oral presentation. I still might do it.
There was a list of 20 questions that went around to yarncraft YouTubers, but I'm too lazy to go back and find them, I wouldn't answer them all, and I'd prefer to make up my own questions. So here goes:
Taminophile comes from Tamino, the lead tenor role in the opera The Magic Flute, which I believe is the first complete role I sang. I've always loved Magic Flute. "Phile" refers to a lover or afficionado of anything. So Taminophile means lover of Tamino. My ex and I have a Facebook page called BeardedYarnDudes. I don't think that requires explanation. Goods and chattels refers to my original intention of writing about topics that aren't easily categorized.
What do you do for a living?
Right now, nothing. Because of the current health crisis I'm sort of in quarantine. Even before this I had been searching for something. Most recently I'd been a temporary marketing consultant for a friend's employer, mostly doing social media posts, but that employer ran out of money and let me go. Before that I was a licensed real estate agent in two different states, and failed miserably in both. I'm not good at being an entrepreneur. Before that I was a business analyst, and my analytical and writing skills got me through in that trade, and redeemed me when my project management skills were not up to snuff. So you can see I've had a mixed background professionally.
What are your other passions?I love dogs. I'm fortunate that the friend I'm living with has two of his own and many temporary fosters. I also love cooking, but I find I don't do it much nowadays because said friend doesn't seem to like what I cook and definitely doesn't like leftovers. I once sang a lot, but any attempt now brings up the old maxim, if it hurts, don't do it. I like to see opera and write about it. Currently, of course, it's impossible to see live performances, but there are many recordings online I could see that I haven't yet.
What are you working on now?
Well, I've done 19 of the 20 HatNotHate hats I pledged somewhere to do (I think in a comment to one of Bag-O-Day Crochet's videos). I will do the 20th tomorrow and continue until my blue yarn runs out. I am also working on a chunky v-neck sweater for myself, converting what turned out to be a photocopied clipping of a 1980s British craft magazine, and converting the sections that are to be knit into crochet of the same dimension and function. (Be careful when purchasing anything online!) I'm thinking of writing up my conversion and making the pattern available, but I don't want to ignore copyright law. Watch to see whether I actually do that. I have a bunch of dog sweaters for an upcoming auction that a nearby pet rescue is organizing.
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| One of my dog sweaters |
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| Four of my many #hatnothate hats |
Also, a bunch of mitered granny squares I made and photographed for the Instagram and Facebook pages BeardedYarnDudes turned out much larger than expected. (I was making up the pattern based on a photo I'd seen.) I pieced together half of the squares to make a single afghan. The rest will make another.
I also have two different graphgans--afghan designs to turn out specific images. One often sees them with sports logos or cartoon characters. Both of mine are dog related, of course.
So I can keep in busy in quarantine. I have sufficient yarn for all of these. What happens when I run out might appear in the evening papers.
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| One of the graphgans I mentioned |
I'll admit I don't read that may blogs, but I follow some YouTube channels faithfully. First and foremost is Bag-O-Day Crochet (already linked above), where the lovely and talented Crystal offers excellent tutorials for her own patterns, yarn reviews, yarn shopping trips, and unboxings. Also some lovely live streams.
I also really enjoy Jeanne of On the Hook Crochet. She offers lovely works in progress and finished objects, as well as tutorials on her own patterns. I have to confess that, although all of her patterns are for women, I'm constantly looking out or patterns I can adapt for use by a man--namely, me!
I very much like The Stout Stitch. Zach Stout and I met through a men's crochet group on Facebook, and quite enjoyed chatting. I regret that I've never met him in person--this was something I was quite looking forward to at the DFW Fiber Fest, which has of course been cancelled.
Another one I follow faithfully is Fiber Spider. I've made a few of his patterns, to great results. He has an Etsy store now, but I'm not sure he has his patterns there. I've just made my own notes on his tutorials to make his objects.
If there is any stitch you want to learn more about, I recommend Nati Crochet. She has some very basic tutorials and also advanced stitches.
There are many, many more. I couldn't possibly name them all.
What do you plan to do with this blog moving forward?
At the bare minimum, I plan to post about finished objects/works in progress. I'm undecided about tutorials and my own patterns, but that's primarily because of my current video setup, which is extremely modest. I don't write many of my own patterns, but I often make modifications to others' patterns. I would never post those as my own patterns. I am open to suggestions.
This is quite an adequate first post of a new blog, or, as it were, a repurposed blog. I invite you to send me ideas, as well as to scroll back through all my posts, especially to find my old crochet posts.
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