Done but not quite done...

Although this will be the last blog posting required for this assignment, I was hoping to have had the cross stitching I had been working on for the past couple of months completed and framed but unfortunetly I’m only about half way though. It has been an amazing journey learning about how everything interlinks and that there is way more to an activity that meets the eye. Cross stitching is more than just sitting down and threading some colours onto a canvas. I have discovered that it can lend itself to communicating and connecting with others,  with aesthetic and spirituality aspects. Diving deeper to discover why I actually do this craft to meet some needs means that I have learnt a lot about myself, the qualities and skills I have learnt from and have been able to bring to the activity, the art of cross stitching...This has been my journey and it’s been a pleasant one with lots of learning and reflecting.

References and Comments

References:
Aethetics. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aesthetics

Atkinson, K. & Roberts, J. (1999). Graphics and visualization within cross stitching. Retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.33.7307&rep=rep1&type=pdf   

Bowden, T. (2003). The craft room: what’s going on there?. In Caulton, R. E. (Ed.). The best of the occupation 1993-2003. Dunedin: Rogan McIndoe Print LTD.

Caulton, R. & Dickson, R.  (2007).  What’s going on? Finding an explanation for what we do.  In J.   Creek & A. Lawson-Porter (Eds.), Contemporary issues in occupational therapy (pp. 87-114). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Christiansen, C. & Townsend, E. (Eds.). (2010). Introduction to occupation : the art and science of living: new multidisciplinary perspectives for understanding human occupation as a central feature of individual experience and social organization. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson

Collingwood, R.G. (1958). The principles of art. London: Oxford University Print

Ergonomics. (2011). Retrieved from http://ergonomics.about.com/od/glossary/g/defergonomics.htm

Essence. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/in+essence

World Health Organization. (n.d). Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/aboutwho/en/
    definition.html

Comments:

Rachael Watson’s Blog:
Nicole Knofflock said...
    Hi Rach, Great pictures! Your blog has some really great details. Have you considered that moral properties are more than what others feel about getting their pictures taken? Keep up the great work :)
    October 19, 2011 12:30 PM

Matt Janssen’s Blog:
Nicole Knofflock said...
    Hey Matt. Loving your blog. It has a lot of depth and personality. Have you thought more about other aspects of the activity requires such as the demands and where/how you get the music material. Keep up the great work :)
    18 October 2011 16:42

Heather Robertson’s Blog:
Nicole Knofflock said...
    Hey Heather, loving the blog. For me the story sounds more descriptive than reflective. Perhaps a bit more about what you are feeling during the whole planning and executing of the meal is needed. :)
    25 October 2011 11:21

Jasmine Moot’s Blog:
Nicole Knofflock said...
    Hi Jasmine, Great blog about boardgaming. Apart from it lending itself strongly to communication have you thought about how connections and moral properties can also be seen through the use of boardgaming? :)
    25 October 2011 15:01

Ambience and defining craft

Ambience, in this case, is more or less the essence of the activity. Essence can be described as ‘The intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something” (Essence, 2011). The ambience of cross stitching is that I make them either with the intention of having them to decorate my room or to give them away as gifts that relate to a given situation. Having them placed around my room also implies that they are going to be viewed by other people that visit me.

Craft has been defined as “...the power to produce a preconceived result by means of consciously controlled and directed action" (Collingwood, 1958, p. 15). Collingwood also went on to say that there are some important characteristics that are essential of a craft, one being that “craft always involves a distinction between means and end, each clearly conceived as something distinct from the other, but related to it (p.15). For cross stitching you start out with different resources such as material and thread but once combined in a certain way in a form of a particular pattern it becomes something different, however we are still able to see the original resources used and the relationship between them. Before selecting the pattern and other resources one must have some idea as to what they are wanting the end product to be or turn out like. When I’m doing a cross stitching for decoration it is of something that I like or am passionate about. I have a couple cross stitchings of dolphins and other animals that I am passionate about. This is my way of being able to express who I am and what I like.

Identifying my need for cross stitching

There are a lot of needs that can be met through doing cross stitching. For me some of those are: expressing my creative side, taking time out of the busy lives we live, relaxing, feeling grounded and as though I have some control over something in my hectic life, creating them as gifts or decoration and so forth. One of the main ones is the ability to express my self within each cross stitching.

Tessa Bowden (2003) stated that “ I love the raw materials, the excitement of imagining the end product long before it gets started, and then discovering ‘how to make it work” (p. 17). This is predominant in the cross stitching I do by me selecting the pattern that is expressive of my creative side or has meaning to me either from a crafts store or online. I love how the canvas and thread feel in my fingers, concentrating ever so hard while doing the cross stitch making sure that it’s absolutely perfect or it just won’t do and I will unpick the imperfect stitches. I believe that the cross stitch can not be fully completed unless I am fully satisfied with the outcome in all aspects. Being able to visualize how the end product will look when completely finished and in a frame with a border is exciting and gives me the motivation to complete it quicker. Most of the time there isn’t a deadline to work to unless it’s being made as a gift in which I would have put a lot of thought in what it will be of, how it will fit with the person it is for and envision the overall outcome of the product. Creating a piece as a gift, makes me feel connected to the person/persons that it is for. I feel competent in being able to select appropriate patterns for gifts and can reflect the person well in them. It also adds more meaning for me being able to give them something that I have worked hard on and that it can be kept for years, bringing back the memories each time it is viewed. Cross stitching also connects me to the origins of the tradition that has been past down from my grandmother to myself. This also makes me feel feminine in the sense that its usually women that create these sort of pieces and it most likely be something I will pass down to my future daugther(s).

Affordances Continued...

This blog will be a continuation of affordances from last time looking at a few more aspects: Aesthetics, Spirituality and Health.

Aesthetics is “a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste and with the creation and appreciation of beauty” (Aesthetics, 2011). Spirituality is the “beliefs and practices that give a person transcendent meaning in life” (Puchalski, 1996). Health defined by the World Health Organization (n.d), is “the complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease” and the effects things can have on it. 

“Cross-stitch could be seen as representative of the general leisure industry; an industry that is establishing its development and design cycle with the growth of the personal computer market. Cross-stitch is a hobby that is based on a traditional approach [Gui98]- a time-honoured activity with cross-cultural interest. It is widely used as an inexpensive method of therapeutic relaxation which has the added advantage of creating a visually appealing outcome that may be given as a gift to a friend or loved one!”. (Atkinson & Roberts, 1999, p. 2)

Aesthetics
Cross stitching is quite a tactile and hands on activity acting on a couple of the body's’ senses - sight and touch. The patterns chosen and the use of the variation in colours is important in bringing a pattern to life and can be aesthetically pleasing to the individual viewing the piece.
I am a perfectionist when it comes to doing the cross stitching and believe that the cross stitch is not completed unless I’m satisfied with the outcome.
I use the finished products to decorate my bedroom and so that I can view the remarkable work I have created. I have also made a couple of cross stitches as gifts.
This activity can also lend it self to communicating with others on different levels from sitting in a room with others while creating the cross stitch to having people viewing them once completed asking about why I did it.

Spirituality
Memories can be preserved within the craft and as years go by I can look over the completed cross stitching that are hanging up on my wall and reminisce on all the effort put into it and where I was at that stage of my life. My grandmother taught me how to cross stitch passing on history of the craft from her generation to mine. This will probably be something I will pass down to my children.
There are many lessons that I have learned from cross stitching such as patience - sitting down for a couple hours at a time, following something though to the end and seeing the slow but steady progress that I’m making. Also that the end product is a reward in itself as it shows all the long hours and creation that has gone into it especially in the selection of the  frame and the color of the border.
Celebration and the sense of caring can be seen through the effort and thought that goes it to selecting, creating and presenting a cross stitch that it is given to someone as a gift. The latest one that I created as a gift was for my brother and his wife for their wedding. I chose to make on for them as it adds more of a personal meaning to both myself and them being something that has been made for them rather than something store brought.
When I view other people’s cross stitchings I can relate to them on a more personal level knowing exactly how much time and effort goes into creating such a master piece.
Doing cross stitching is a way to uplift my soul as well as being a way to express myself, making me feel less stressed about the busy everyday lifestyle. It also defines who I am and some of the things that I like can be projected through the patterns and colours used.

Health
Cross stitching is an activity that doesn't require a lot of energy thus can be done any time of day even when feeling a bit lethargic. For me it is a way to relax and De-stress from a busy day. It also gives me a sense of well-being in that it’s a product of my own individualization and all the long hours that I have put into creating the piece. It also requires a high level of vision to see the holes in the cross stitching canvas. Having a high level of dexterity and fine motor skills of the fingers are also very useful to maneuver the needle and thread through the canvas.

Setting the Scene

It was about 615pm last Tuesday night when I last did some work on the cross stitch. I firstly had to make the decision as to where I would do it, the lounge at the flat or my bedroom. I decided to do the cross stitching in the in the lounge as this would mean I could be sociable and watch the T.V. I then proceeded to gather the cross stitch from the chester draw where all my cross stitching resources belong. I grabbed the scissors from the pencil case in my back pack and went to the lounge. Seeing one of my flatmates sprawled out on the 2 seater couch left me with the only option of the 3 seater. I took a seat on the left hand side, as it gave a better view of the T.V., and grabbed a cushion placing it next to me in the middle seat. This still left a place for another flatmate to come and sit down later. I asked the flatmate if it would be alright to turn the T.V. on as he was on this laptop, he didn’t mind. The next decision was to find a channel we both wanted to watch, once in agreement I then continued to set up my area. I put the scissors, colours and chart on the pillow. I chose to used the brown coloured thread that I had been using last time and tied a couple knots in one end so that when I did the first stitch with this new thread on the canvas it wouldn’t come all the way though or pull out at a later date. I licked the opposite end of the thread as to make the two strands stick together as this made it easier to thread it through the eye of the needle. I threaded the needle then looked at the chart to see where I was to continue on. I work in a certain way to ensure that all the crosses run in the same direction. Each cross consists of using four holes on the canvas, Bottom Right, Bottom Left, Top Right, Top Left. To make each stitch I put the needle through the Bottom Right corner coming through from the back on the canvas, then down through the Top left, back up through the Bottom Left on the back down through the top right corner, creating just one cross. I continue this following the pattern of the Bears’ forehead until the thread has almost ran out. Before this happens, I flip the canvas over and thread the needle through some of the other completed threads as to "tie" it off. This ensures that it won’t come undone later. Then cut the thread. The needle is then ready to be threaded again if I choose to continue on. I work on the cross stitch for about an hour, while watching T.V. and chatting to the flatmate about how our day had been. During the time doing the cross stitching, another flatmate had returned home and came into the lounge taking a seat in the only spare seat on the 3 seater couch. She asked what I was doing, so I showed her the picture of the completed cross stitch to give here an idea of what the finished product would look like. I also showed her what I had completed so far and she said it looked "awesome". At this stage I was starting to feel hungry so I packed up my things, putting the cushion back the way it was and putting the scissors and cross stitching resources back in their rightful places before making my way to the kitchen to make dinner.

Affordance aspects of cross stitching

According to Christiansen and Townsend, 2010, affordance is “the particular arrangement of objects in the environment” (p. 255). It is also the "interaction between an object and a person; the object's design suggests its purpose, function and usability and the user determines the object's affordances” (p. 255). There are several aspects of affordances some of which are communication, connections, and moral properties.

Before I explain the different aspects let me first tell you about the last time I did some work on a cross stitch. It was a few days ago. I collected my stuff from the bedroom and sat in the flat lounge. The flatmate had the TV on which was fine with me. I sat on the three seater couch as the flatmate was lying on the 2 seater, this still gave plenty of room for the other flatmate to sit down on the 3 seater when she came home. I used one of the cushions to spread out the threads, pattern and scissors in the middle of the couch.

Communication 
Communication can be send through doing this activity and interacting with other around me.

Although this activity is one that can only be done individually, its still allows me to communicate with others. Being in the lounge meant I was able to talk to the flatmates about how our days had been. They also asked what I was doing so I was able to share with them what the finish product would look like and what I had done so far. They complimented on how good it looked.

Connections

I chose to do my cross stitching in the lounge so it would enable bonding time with the flatmates as one hasn't long moved in. there are personal rules that I follow when doing my cross stitching in terms of where on the fabric I start and the direction of the crosses. I have make a couple cross stitches for family but this one I'm working on is one for myself. This skill was passed down to me from my grandmother and could be something that I can pass on to my children.

Moral properties

Doing the cross stitching is my way of expression who I am and what I like. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to see the progress and final products especially when they are framed. This activity is something I can easily follow through to the end no matter how long it takes. Working on the cross stitch doesn't affect others around me in terms of what they want to do – i.e. they can still watch TV and chat to each other in the lounge when I'm there. I also respect the other flatmates by not making a mess in the lounge and cleaning up all my stuff afterwards.