Balls Of Yarn

This evening I was sitting down to make some bonnets to fill several new orders I've received when I started thinking about small business taxes. Without getting too into the rabbit holes I traveled down to get to this point, I began to think about how much a ball of yarn costs and how much a bonnet costs and which of those numbers I should use as a write off if I donated bonnets.

Sounds like the start of a pretty awesome blog post to me! Taxes, supply and demand, intrinsic value. I might as well bring up religion and politics and bore everyone to death.

But really, the price of a ball of yarn is negligible compared to what some people are willing to pay for an ear bonnet. Somehow, through some skill I don't feel like is all that special, I turn a ball of yarn that costs a little bit, into a "work of art," for lack of a better word, that people will pay a lot more for.

Of course that got me thinking of the rags to riches dream we all chase. Getting a cheap horse, a "diamond in the rough," and turning it into a 1.50 m jumper or an Advanced eventer. It's a horse. You can get them for free if you look in the right spots.

Then there's the rider. Anyone is allowed to ride a horse; yay American Dream! There are plenty of instructors and lesson horses available to teach most people how to start, stop, and steer a horse.

So how in the world do we go from Buck Davidson who rides 15 horses in one event with broken ribs to my sister, who has never even sat on a horse? Aside from the sheer will power that one obviously possesses more than the other, I think the difference isn't that easy to define.

I see a ball of yarn, and I think of a useful equine accessory, while my dad sees a ball of yarn and thinks kitten toy. It's the ability you possess that makes that ball of yarn more useful than just a plain old ball of yarn.

"Ball of yarn" here can be the horse or the rider, or the pair together. If I hand my best friend a ball of yarn and tell her it's not that hard and I'll help her out in learning to make ear bonnets, she may agree to try. But if I only give her half the instructions, or zone out when she asks questions, she'll probably give up.

If I buy a ball of yarn and tell it to make itself into an ear bonnet, that really doesn't work either. Even if I give it a good shove to get the kinetic energy going, it doesn't often roll itself around into the shape of anything useful.

The same with aspiring equestrians. Almost every 4 year old in this world has the potential to be the next Reed Kessler. But if they don't want to, aren't given the opportunity to ride, don't have a good horse, don't get connected with the right instructor (you see where I'm going with this), they may never even sit on a horse's back in their life time.

Same with the horse. Who knows how many horses, with the right rider, instruction, training, life circumstances, etc. could end up at Rolex.

Both can rise above. Both "balls of yarn" can beat their circumstances and become something of value. It's just incredible to me, using this ball of yarn analogy, how many circumstances have to be just right. It' amazing to me how much goes into making it all work. The horse, and the instructor, and the money, and the shows, and the practice, and will, and health of everyone involved has to line up ever so perfectly.

The more you  do it, the more of a process it becomes. There is a definite skill to it. The term of endearment we have for my first attempt at an ear bonnet is a face blanket. It was huge, and not proportional, and kind of silly looking. Now I can make one in under two hours if I have the time. Same with professional horse people. The first time they sat on a horse they probably couldn't post and were scared to go faster than a walk. Now they can run a 9 year old horse Intermediate after having it for less than 3 years.

Some balls of yarn become kitten toys, and some become ear bonnets. Their value is determined by what you can make of them.