Making Macrame

New Occupation Participation This week, I have had a slight deviation in my new occupation. When I chose to create macrame at the beginning of the semester, I bought the half-circle macrame wall hanging kit from Hobby Lobby which I completed as my first project during weeks one through four. At that time, I also bought what I thought was another macrame project. After completing a couple projects and coming back to the second kit, it looks like the other project kit I bought is actually a stitch embroidery kit instead of macrame. I hope this is okay for the purposes of this course, but this week I decided to switch gears and start the other kit I bought at the beginning of the semester. I've never attempted a kit like this before, but I think there are some similarities between macrame and this new embroidery kit. These similarities are that both are creative projects which require the use of similar materials and include a specific pattern to follow. I'm excited to get going o...

New Occupation Progress This week I have had "Pinterest versus reality" moments when it comes to my macrame projects. I was still struggling to find small wooden dowels at the local craft stores, so I asked my husband if he could 3D print a 3-inch dowel for my project. He was able to print this for me so I could attempt my project of a mini macrame Christmas ornament. I finished the project within an hour, but I didn't like the overall look with the 3D printed dowel, and I didn't line up the macrame knots quite right. After this attempt, I again enlisted the help of my husband to 3D print a circular ring so I could begin my next option of a snowflake-inspired macrame Christmas ornament. This started off going well (see image below), but after I finished the project, I decided I don't really like the final product of this project either. So, I think I have officially decided against my idea of gifting macrame ornaments for Christmas this year. My task for this upco...

Transactional Nature of Making Macrame During lecture this week, we discussed the transactional nature of occupation and the self. Namely, this idea refers to the ways in which the self and occupation shape and influence each other. Your sense of self impacts the occupations you choose, and engaging in these occupations then in turn shapes who you are as a person. This idea has also been described by Carlson et al. (2014) who have concluded that "occupation does not emerge out of the individual, but is a transaction that joins the individual and the situation" (p. 119). For my new occupation of making macrame, the transactional nature of occupation applies because I view myself as being a person with creative interests and hobbies. Since a young age, I've always been interested in creative occupations and took classes in high school on drawing, pottery, and mixed-media art. This led me to wanting to choose a new creative occupation to engage in for this course, since I fe...

 Macrame Update Since I finished my first project last week, my goal for this week was to decide on a new project and to gather materials so I could start. I initially planned on starting Christmas ornaments, but when I was at my local Hobby Lobby store, I wasn't able to find the correct size of wooden dowels. I think I will be able to order this on Amazon, but in the mean time I decided to work on another wall hanging project (instructions found at https://youtu.be/BhyEFHddhvM ). On this Hobby Lobby trip, I purchased pink macrame cord and a package of 12 inch wooden dowels. I also ordered a macrame board and pins from Amazon, so that way I don't have to try to hold the wooden dowel while at the same time tying various knots in my project. It has been a huge help! So far, I have used the same knot techniques I used in my last project, with the addition of a new knot called the square knot. I have included a picture below of my progress on my new project so far. Flow and Person...