:: March 2001 
Advice
Wearing Your Stitches
There are two occasions when perfect strangers will come up to you as if you have extended an invitation to them to do so. The first occasion is when you are visibly pregnant, and strangers feel drawn to you to inquire of your due date or offer you well-intended advice and best wishes for a safe delivery. The second occasion is when you wear clothing that is clearly a fiber work of art. Even people who do not practice any kind of fibrework themselves exclaim when they are in its presence.
When our daughter was a toddler, she wore a jumper of crocheted squares made for her by her paternal grandmother. As our daughter grew taller, my mother-in-law added row after row of crocheted panels to the bottom of the jumper, and the jumper continued to be worn with delight. I wish I had kept a count of the strangers who stopped and commented with pleasure at the sight of that colorful hand-crocheted jumper and the active little girl constantly twirling in it.
If you do not do so already, consider using your fibre talents to embellish your own clothing. Whether you start with a store-bought garment or construct your own garment from the beginning, decorate yourself and enjoy the unsolicited praise your efforts are likely to generate.
As a fibreworker, you are part of a long tradition of human adornment, and you are all the more valuable in an age in which your skills are no longer common