Crazy crafter?

Thanks so much for your stories and responses to my Made with love post, I loved reading them so much.

So I was wondering if you'd indulge me in taking the handmade question one step further.

I am pretty obsessive about my creating, as I know a lot of you are too. I am always walking around with bits of over-locker thread stuck to my clothes, I would always rather make something than buy something and there are often strands of wool dangling from my handbag and yet I still assume that I'm pretty normal.

But in the last few days I've had so many strange interactions that I'm starting to wonder.

If you are not a maker yourself, do people who hand make objects that can be bought in shops seem weird to you??

• Last week a woman at the fruit shop told me she loved the twirly skirt I was wearing. Thanks, I replied, I made it myself. Oh did you? she answered. How very Sound of Music of you.

I wonder what she'd have said if I told her that I do in fact make my some of my kids' clothes from curtains and table cloths.

• Last weekend at a playground with my kids, I cast off the cardi I was knitting. Realising I had enough wool for a beanie I asked the woman next to me how many stitches she had cast on to start her daughter's ribbed hat. You would have thought I was speaking another language by the look of confusion on her face. Yep, you guessed it, she had bought it from a chain store. For $12!! Why ever would you make something you could buy for 12 bucks?? she asked me. But in my defence, it did look like a chunky hand knit.

• Yesterday the woman who made my takeaway coffee said she loved my red skirt. She said it was the type of skirt that makes people look twice. I thanked her, paused, and then added that I'd made it myself. Oh, she replied slowly, thaaaaaaat's nice.

It's silly because that's nice is a completely acceptable response, but if someone told me they had made something I had just said I loved, I would most certainly keep the conversation going a bit longer. Wouldn't you?

• A couple of days ago I got a message from someone I once knew saying something like: I'm flicking through a baby fashion mag and there's a vintage looking floral dress in it that costs $98 and I finally get what you do.

Get what?

Don't get me wrong, for every confused comment about my crafting, there are many, many more complimentary ones. Just this morning a little boy at library time asked his mama if she could ask Knitting Kate to teach him to knit a cool hat too.

But was I so wrong in thinking handmade was making its way into the mainstream?

Do you have stories like these that make you feel a bit out of touch and alien like?

Anyway, it's almost time to get the girls from school I must go and pop my bonnet on and hitch up my wagon.

See ya. xx

ps. Farmer Bren's beanie Raveled here, even though I could have probably have bought it cheap.