The difference between admiration and appreciation

There is a fundamental difference between admiration and appreciation.

Do you ever hear applause in your head after you've made something really, really awesome?

This has only happened to me maybe 5 times in my craftlife (which has spanned approximately 3 years; I'm in my craft-toddlerhood at present). I finish the last stitch or seam, finish cutting the last bar of soap, carving away the last bit of linoleum, pick up the finished object, hold it up so I can see, and then I hear applause and the roar of a crowd in my head, snapping of pictures with flash photography, feet thumping against the floor in appreciation. The last time this happened I actually said the words,

"... and the crowd goes wild..."

I said the words quietly, just to myself, but it made me smile in much the same way baseball players smile after hitting a home run.

I feel like my family plays the role of the fans as I round home base: they smile with me, give me Fonzie style thumbs-ups and high fives. However, they don't sew or knit or crochet or othercraft; therefore, even though I know they truly admire the final product, they can't know the work that went into it.

I think the thing I love the most about my knitting group, my penpal Jemimah, my Kilkarians and my workfriendcrafters (and about SAW) is that, instead of fans, I feel like I am surrounded by teammates. We stand (or sit) side-by-side, working together, problem-solving together, and- when the day is done and the project is finished- we each intimately know the work required to get from A to Z and can truly appreciate the end result.

There is a knowing in appreciation that isn't there with admiration.

That stated, I still really like it when the crowd goes wild.