The Life of Fangirls (and Fanboys)

I am a passionate, empathetic human being so when I feel for something I feel it COMPLETELY. 

My emotions can be seen as 'too much' sometimes and my friends and family have been subject to my intense passion for something...... As a popular tik tok voice over says "I can't like things in a chill way..."

I am also a fangirl. 

And that requires a whole new level of passion. 

Fans get a bad rep.... "fanatic" is a dirty word thrown around for someone who is over exuberant about something. Usually the term fanatic is used in a negative connotation with things like terrorist attacks or political associations ('left wing-fanatics'). That's probably why you wouldn't hear a casual fan of something called a fanatic openly...you usually say they're a fan of [insert tv show/movie/comic/music/etc here].

Fandom is something that you either get because you are apart of the fandom, or you don't unfortunately. A lot of 'nerdy' fandoms are looked down upon because outsiders can't possibly understand the reason for others obsessions in something as 'childish' as comics or collectibles. Most people, though will get fandom on SOME level because it can be used to describe everything from a fantasy genre TV show, to a football team...or from commemorative coins, to cars.  

Personally I have way too many fandoms. It would take far to long to name them all...

I just read a book on fandoms based off one of my passions--The TV Show Supernatural. It's a wonderful collection of stories from fans of the show and those involved in it's production. It details how the supernatural fandom is more like a large community or 'family' than 'just another following of a Sci-Fi show'. 

I was so engrossed that I managed to read it in 3 days. It's not a particularly long book (just shy of 300 pages) but it's the fastest I've ever read a book in my life. Some of the stories in it's pages made me well up with tears of happiness as well as tears of sadness and compassion for the trials its storytellers have been through. 

It's a book that, while keeping on the theme of the Supernatural fandom, explains how one tiny interest can fully capture someone's life and become their whole world. It perfectly explains how fandoms are and how they can be for many individuals. 

Being a part of a fandom means that you can let your passion for that subject fly unabashedly. Being a part of a fandom means finding like-minded people who you can talk about your passions with for hours on end. Being a part of a fandom also means the likelihood of you spending your life savings on Conventions, Collectibles, Autographs and photo ops have increased 500%.... but being part of a fandom is pure happiness. 

"I'm a leader, Not a follower!"

 

"I'm a leader, Not a follower!"

Accurate for most things...unless it comes to new craft obsessions. 

Lately I've noticed the following pattern....

Friend: Here's a craft gift. 

Me: I've never tried this craft before, but okay! I'll give it a try.

 *One craft project finished later* 

Me: MORE! MORE! I NEED ALL OF THE STUFF! 

*plans the most complicated pattern to do next*

Yeeeeeeah. I jump in there FAST. 

It started at my baby shower. One of the gifts I was given was a Crochet Kit from my friends Simon and Lucie. It was to make 1 octopus/jellyfish Amigurumi for the little one. The whole idea is that the crocheted tentacles mimic the umbilical cord in the womb so it's a comforting toy for babies to hold on to. 

I had never crocheted anything in my life before, let alone a stuffed toy, but I gave it a go Luckily my mum, who's a crochet fanatic herself was here visiting so she was able to talk me through it. Crochet is so confusing at first but I picked it up fairly quickly and completed the following little stuffed toy: 

But one wasn't enough... and I had extra materials. So I made another one. Better, tighter stitching on this one seeing as how I did the project once before so I got my practice round in. But oh no....there was still more materials left over, so I decided to use the pattern that was given to me, adjust it slightly, to make my own pattern for a bigger jellyfish. So now I have a family of jellyfish. 

The obsession didn't stop there though. Coming up to Christmas, and seeing my mom crocheting a baby blanket (what she's KNOWN for) for Henry I decided I wanted to have a go at a bigger project. So I bought yarn and made 2 blankets for Christmas presents: one tightly woven baby blanket & a looser stitched (so it would take less time) full sized adult blanket. 

Since then I have overbought yarn from sales and aldi's bargain bins and crocheted ALL OF THE THINGS. Some were from direct patterns online that I followed to the letter, while others I combined different patterns/stitches/ techniques from several patterns and made up my own pattern for a project (ie my Hexagon drawstring bag). 

So far I've made: 

• 2 baby blankets
• 1 adult blanket
• a baby yoda hat and little yoda booties/socks
• several baby hats ranging from newborn to 6 months
• teething biscuits
• 2 pairs of mittens
• baby headband
• a hexagon drawstring bag with pockets
• crochet 3D hearts
• An over the sofa/arm chair organizer (for remotes, etc to tidy up our sitting room)

aaaaand I'm currently working on a 2nd over the sofa arm organizer for a few friends of mine.

The second mistake I made was starting Cross Stitch. 

My friend Stacey gave me a Peter Rabbit Cross Stitch Kit for my birthday as well as a gift card to Hobbycraft (yes, feed my obsession why don't you! lol). Although the kit was lovely, the pattern had some missing components and me not having done cross stitch ever before was like...uh...I'm gonna eff this up if I attempt it. 

So that cross stitch kit went back and I exchanged it for a tiny little owl cross stitch kit that was only about 3x3 inch. I figured...new hobby...I'll start small and see how I get on because the instructions on the bigger kit blew my mind anyway. Tedious and hard, cross stitch had a few challenges that got me frustrated, like trying to create a 'curve' in the pattern (the eyes) when stitches are a straight line. I kept having to pick out stitches and try the same section over and over again until my perfectionist side was satisfied.

And although it didn't seem like much, that little square took me a fair few hours to complete (I work on it for about a week, but only in short bursts of a few minutes each day, or a few hours in the evening while I got time to listen to my audio book). 

Naturally, I bought another kit....that's probably 50x the size of the owl. 

I'm a martyr when it comes to crafting I swear. 

I saw this Mr. Men/Little Miss Height Chart Cross Stitch Kit and I thought it would be a great idea to make for Henry and any other kids we have in the future to mark their height on a chart (as opposed to the traditional destructive 'marks on the wall' growth chart). But it is a full sized height chart, roughly about 60inches tall, and 8 inches wide. 

So I went from doing Cross stitch for the VERY FIRST TIME, doing a 3x3in square, to my SECOND project of a 60x8 inch banner. 

For reference, I laid the little owl cross stitch on top of the Height Chart Pattern....that is only 1 of 3 pages of pattern for this project. 

Yep. Definitely crazy. 

I'll probably still being cross stitching this by the time Henry goes to Reception (Kindergarden) at age 5, but whatever. It will be an achievement when it's all finished. 

Moral of the story: Don't let your friends give you new crafts....you will slowly spiral into obsession and bite off more than you can chew. 

(Just kidding Stacey, Lucie & Simon...I love your gifts and I love that you gave me new craft hobbies, otherwise I wouldn't have bought so much stuff, would I?!).