11/30/13

So...

Christmas is coming up, and I really haven't started any knitting. Well, there's the start of a scarf for my grandpa. What you see in the picture is about one days' worth of work, and it's honestly not much more has been worked on this scarf. My brain decided that today was sock mending day, and that I should have at least one a week. Though I always feel weird when I darn my socks, because it's something that I feel is so rarely done, but I know I'll be happier in the long run if I take the time to mend what I took all that time to make in the first place.

I know I can pretty freely talk about my gift knitting at this point because I know all of the people who I knit for pretty much don't read this, and if they do, they don't talk to me about what I write here. (Or I haven't told them about my blog yet, and I don't think of them being very web savy to find me by searching.)

Bright Blessings!

11/29/13

Aine, Daughter of Cormac

That's her full name, give me guff about it if you want, but she's from a time and world where only the rich or powerful have last names.

Aine's only had one serious relationship in her life, a guy named Curtis. After their training as fighters they took a job as part of a security detail on merchant caravans. Not the same one, and when the time of their contract ended, Curtis didn't return. Aine went off to find her own fortune, and could be labeled as a loose woman, or would be if she wasn't discerning in whom she slept with. Plus being the odd woman in a male dominated career, Aine often pushes for equal treatment for herself, which I believe other swordsmen are willing to give after seeing her skill with the claymore. Employers often aren't so kind, which often doesn't mix well with Aine's blunt nature. (If you want, I'll show you an amusing interaction between her and an employer.)

Now, Aine often doesn't have relationships beyond one night stands or flings. Part of this is she fears the loss of her identity that marriage brings in her mind. She would no longer be Aine, daughter of Cormac but Aine, wife of (guy's name), and this terrifies her. Please do note that names often do hold power, to be able to name something was to gain power over it, and names where often changed to signify a major change in the person. I do find it interesting that the loss of her identity scares her when she does often have to risk life and limb in her job.

Bright Blessings!

11/27/13

Warning: mature language, and a need to vent

So one day while I was at work (I don't talk about it much because it isn't relevant to most things I want to talk about here) I was asked three questions by a younger, female coworker. "Do you have children?" "No." "Are you married?" "No." "Do you have a boyfriend?" "No." And in a strange way I felt like I was being judged, and not in a favorable light. Also, to the last question? I suppressed the urge to add "Not from a lack of want." Not that it would change anything. Shouldn't another woman be able to think of other things to ask me to find out about who I am? She already knows I'm silly, I was attempting to tickle her with a feather duster at different times. But also, when was it the most important thing in our society for a woman to be paired off and breeding? (Please don't take this as I'm against children. I'm not, and would like to have at least one at some point, just not now. I don't feel I'm ready for that responsibility.) I don't want to bring in children into this world when I'm not ready mentally or financially, but I also don't think my place on the breeding scale should be relevant to what kind of person I am. And honestly? I remember reading somewhere a show (Ice Truckers, I believe. Never watched it myself) where there was a woman who had a very interesting background, more so than the men, but none of that was put up on the website until after her break up with her current boyfriend. Yet, all the men had full profiles the whole time. That's probably what annoyed me. It was an attempt to label me as "so and so's girlfriend." when I want to be know as me first, and I shouldn't have to defend my lack of being attached to a penis to breed. (Heck, who knows if I'll ever pick up one. Clits are just as fun.) (Actually, somehow I've been reminded of Aine during all this. I'll have to tell you about her some time.) I'm paraphrasing a friend there. I complained to her even earlier than all of this about coworkers telling me I should be married and she's gotten similar guff. Her response to me was, "I'm not going to throw myself at the first penis I see to make someone else feel better about themselves that I'm paired off and breeding." It's something that's highly colors the way I see this, if you couldn't tell.

Bright Blessings!

11/11/13

BoS, The Craft & crafting

I have a messy BoS set up, but in it's own way it's organized as well. I use many notebooks devoted to a subject, though a topic within said subject don't have to be all on one page. In one I'm exploring an idea that I'm not sure others have talked about. The main form of spell casting that interests me is making sachets with stones, herbs, oils, and other items. Granted, that means I need a piece of cloth to tie it all up in. One of my books recommends keeping a stash of wool or cotton cloth in 5 or 8 inch squares on hand for such things. Well, you can  probably guess that I had an idea creep into my head. Why not make the cloth myself?

I wouldn't even stick to the wool and cotton as mentioned above. Oh no, why not align the fiber with the purpose of the spell? Like angora. Bunnies, what do bunnies make you think of? Raise your hand if you didn't, as in did not, think of fertility. (For the yarn and fiber challenged among you, angora comes from the rabbit of that name while mohair comes form the angora goat. That confused my dad too.) Now, I still would have cotton and wool on hand, as they would be my work horse yarns of sort for this. Though, you know what "paper" money is made from here in the States? Cotton.

One thing that I believe lends to my idea of making the sachets or what not myself? A lot of the time, your spell actually begins before the actual casting in the prep. While knitting I can start to focus on the out come of my spell. That energy could be focused and fused early on. At least that's my take.

Bright Blessings and Happy Crafting!

11/10/13

The Prodigal Sock

Actually, it's the auction sock that disappeared for a time. Turns out it was on my bed the whole time. I think I said that it was likely in my laundry basket, and that's mainly because it's right next to me and that tends to be where I throw things when I'm done with me for a time.

Just a little post to say, I'm here, I had some news that I thought you'd be interested in hearing about. Now I need to go back to my other typing and get lots of words written before I fall in bed.

Bright Blessings!

11/8/13

Opps

I didn't mean to go quiet there like I did. Granted, I take most people know that I'm participating in NaNoWriMo, and a lot of my energies are going there to make sure that I'm staying on track. (Even though if I go to Write or Die I can get 2000 words done in an hour. I generally only go there as a last resort.) Lately I've been having trouble getting a story together that holds my interest for the month. (Granted, I've promised a friend one of the coupons I get if I win, so I'm invested in that way in winning.)

I'm not really knitting right now. Mostly because I'm not one who can intersperse my writing down time with knitting. Maybe I'm odd, but knitting takes my mind off the story at hand. (But looking at another screen to deal with an in-game crisis there doesn't, I never claimed to be normal. (Actually, to that point, I take being called weird a compliment.)) My normal set up is I have my little writing laptop on my lap and a different computer on my desk running a game that doesn't take all of my attention. (I have a couple games that work in that respect.) Something about that distracted writing lets the words come easier. I'm sure there's a whole bunch of people who want to yell at me for how I write. That's writing fiction. When I'm working on pattern writing about all I'm doing is sitting there with my little computer (I may have both running, I may not, it honestly depends) and knitting and working on getting that written up. It's a different process that takes more focus, fiction writing for me is more a matter of getting out of my own way to let the words come, and being distracted from the task at hand helps me in that. It may not work for everyone, and it's not something I'd recommend. Mainly because I'd recommend finding what works for you to get writing and get's the words on the page.

If you want to see how I'm doing you can check here. There's not really a place there for cheering on, but if you feel moved to do that, you can always do so in the comments here.

Bright Blessings.

11/7/13

Shielding

I know I've been really lax about talking about my spiritual stuff and magic, but mainly I'm really lax about my spiritual life. Heck, I have a hard time remembering to do my nightly devotions. I blame part of that on my family, we weren't into spiritual practices growing up. (Which is a really weird sentence if you know my dad's job.)

Now, one thing I do try to remember to do at least for while I'm at work (or generally in public, horribly shy in person) is shielding. Part of my shyness is being around large groups of people is sensory over-load for me sometimes. For work? I just feel people's frustration and anger too much and it throws a wrench in my day (and makes it harder for me to focus). Shielding helps me block that all out and focus on what I need to do.

Now, when I shield I generally pick two colors that best fit what I want to do (usually the colors are purple and silver) and visualize those colors surrounding me. I don't claim to know how others visualize this, and I'm actually curious, comment and let us know how you visualize your shield. For me, the colors tend to organize themselves into knitting patterns. A couple of the ones I remember are entrelac and Fair Isle crosses. Granted, when it's fair isle I see the "floats" on the inside. (Is it weird that I have that much detail?)

And seriously, I'm curious how other visualize their shields, tell me. (Please feed the hungry author's curiosity, it's been rumbling for a while now.)

Bright Blessings and safe days!