Still knitting for christmas

First up is Matthias' thing. It's grown quite a bit since you've last seen it. Yet, I'm still not done with the thing. I honestly don't want this to be stretched too much so I'm going to make it nice and long. Even though Matthias has said that he doesn't care if I say what it is, I still don't feel like it. It's private and that's that.

Next up is my dad's present. A wine bottle cozie. Not much to talk about there. They like their wine, and I thought it'd be fun to make them both cozies. Not like it's that hard for me to figure out what I need to do. This isn't completely done yet, I'm going to add something to it but I likely won't show you because, again, personal info and all that jazz. Soon I'll likely be starting the one for my mom. So you'll likely get to see that one grow.

And sorry for the silence, there's been things happening around here that make the knitting progress slowly. One of those was the furnace had a broken wire, and apparently a mildly cold house leads to not that much knitting. Anyhow, that's been taken care of, and I should be able continue knitting as per usual.

Bright Blessings!

Dang

One would hope that at some point I'd just get used to this whole posting regularly thing. Part of it is that I had a possibly fun new idea to post around once week. Basically would be a vlog, but you get to watch me knit while I talk. Granted, I had this great idea at the same time I got sick and had a bad cough that threatened to make me lose my voice. I likely was more sick than I wanted to admit, too. I hardly knitted for that couple of days I was really down with whatever crud. Then I kicked myself in the rear because I don't have time to goof off. still balked at knitting the second cuff, and there was at least one hiccup while knitting that, I forgot to yarn over and had to go back and fix that, but otherwise it wasn't that bad. Well, other than I just realized that I forgot to go pick up no-rinse wool wash. So either I try and see if the one yarn shop here is open or I write an i.o.u. for grandma's present, I'm leaning towards the latter.

Then Matthias' thing has been my main go to project for the past couple of days. The little green marker shows today's progress, which probably could be better, but I'm not all that worried about getting lots done on it right now. (Given that I'm not even going to take it to my aunt's house should say something.) But, I've got a good ways to go for that, because it's just at the length it could be pinned and used for it's purpose, but it's not supposed to be pinned so longer it's gotta be.

Bright Blessings!

So, lately I've been trying to spend as little time as possible just "doing nothing." Granted, most of my job is just to be at the slowest register in the building to ring up people if they want to eat the store or similar. So that several hours and not having much to do some days. (Honestly, it depends on the time in the day, and it's for offering any specials. Some days are crazy, and you can't get a break it seems.) Sometimes I write to keep myself entertained, but how much I have to write on any given day varies and so at times I'm still left with time that I don't have very much to do. In these times I do my best to remember to practice looking for auras.

Granted, I haven't been able to see much lately. At the best of times, it's mainly just the etheric body. A couple of things that I've noticed are that it easier to see such things without vision correction (and if you know anything about me, I horrible vision without correction) and that there seems to be a golden distance. Too far away and it just blends and everything around it, too close and I'm looking to see if I can distinguish details of the person, or at least my brain seems to be doing that even though I may not be. I can't really to find the distant indeterminate number. I just know when people are in that as I start seeing I guess it's kind of a clear bubble or distortion that isn't how my vision just fusses out after a certain distance. (I only have about 12 inches from my nose of clear vision.) I do welcome any tips or tricks for being able to see auras better. Lately, I've just been doing practice practice practice.

Bright Blessings!

Despite some difficulties

So, that cuff got ripped back twice, once because I wanted to add that hidden ribbing. The second? Because I gained a stitch and couldn't figure out where it came from and didn't really feel like spending the energy to find it. I tried knitting on, but the pattern didn't line up, and so I ripped and starting from the start of the cuff. Then I lost a stitch, but I found it and fixed that. Probably messed up the gauge for that part of the sock, but I don't even remember where that was other than it was in the 4th row of the pattern.

And if we're talking about all the goofs I had on this cuff, we can't forget the two times I lost the rhythm of the lace pattern (yes, it's lace.) while knitting one row at work. Granted, my full attention wasn't on what was going on in my hands. But despite all that, I got the sock done today, and since my grandma has weird feet, the second one will go a lot faster than the first. Yes, I've started it, but I'm kinda wanting to stop thinking now since I've coughed myself a headache. (Went to bed one night without a cough, woke up coughing the next morning. I think it's just the dry winter air being mean.)

Bright Blessings!

Well, I lied, but it's all good

So, apparently the inner knitter has be silent, which is actually good because she slows down my knitting. Which is bad because I'm knitting on a deadline, and I actually spent most of yesterday knitting, and you can see that I got a good deal done on the sock. Actually, that's a bit deceiving on how much I actually got done yesterday. I got up to the hidden ribbing. In the picture to the left that would be about where the needles are sitting. Yeah, it appears that when I actually work on something it actually grows a bit like magic, or maybe hair. You don't notice that it's growing and then you turn around and it's time to do something different.

One thing that doesn't seem to be showing up all that well in any of the pictures is that the yarn isn't actually solid. There are little stripes of a little bit darker blue. You can kind of see it around the shaded part of the toe up above. I decided that since these are for my grandma that I'd make and extra special folded over cuff. Part of that is she does have a swollen leg/foot and isn't suppose to be wearing anything constricting on that leg. I figure if the bind off is a few inches away from the leg that there's no chance for binding. Though I actually have no clue if they'll actually stay up. I guess that would have been something good to figure out before now. I'm hoping that little bit of ribbing will help. (Also? This is probably one of the few times these socks will see snow. That grandma is basically wheelchair bound, so I'm not too worried about her wearing through them.)

Also? As I was heading out to get those pictures I remembered that I have another present that I wanted to make. I really should make a list of these things a few months ahead and figure out how long it'll take me to make things, then I wouldn't be rushing towards a deadline. Granted, I'm glad that I've been introduced to the gaming community on Youtube because that gives me something to help me entertain my brain while my hands go. But I should probably get back to knitting, got music going now because I'm working a lace pattern and that takes a bit more attention. Oh, well, I'm sure my grandma will love these, until my grandpa felts them...

Bright Blessings!

gauge arguments

So, you remember the other day when I said that I was shunning my grandma sock? Well, hopefully that's over, unless a gauge to decide to be a dirty rotten liar again. I gauge was off, and the sock was close to being 10 inches around.
<.<
>.>
And someone may have forgotten to figure in the slight negative ease that socks have. I'll have to have a stern talk with whoever that is. Maybe dock their pay for the transgression. All silliness aside, I've restarted the socks and for now that pesky Internet or is being quiet, we'll see for how long that lasts. (I have no doubt I'll be battling her for a while as the little painful to knit through that mentally.)

Bright blessings!

okay, maybe an actual update?

So, yeah, it's a short scarf. I remember when I made my dad's first scarf it was short, but really short (granted, the concept of gauge had not been discussed with me at that point.) It was just long enough to fold in front and seal any cracks and let out any warmth, so that's what I was aiming for here sure I could have worked another couple of rows eeked out each every inch I could out of that yarn but meh it soft and cuddly. (Watch my grandma steal it.)

Okay, so this is the last bit of knitting I need to do for Matthias' present, and then maybe I can send it off for him to get it. It's a thing, and that's all I'm going to say about it. Mainly because it's not my place to talk about his business, unless it's with him. You're free to guess what you think it may be. I was highly entertained the time that it can hold a fold. I'm not wrecking my wrists, but I'm using a stitch pattern that makes a tight fabric, mainly because too many holes to make it kind of pointless.

Bright blessings!

Shorty Update

Sorry for a lack of pictures, but I've completely one present, approaching some semblance of done on another, and currently shunning grandma's sock.

I'm shunning the sock because my head keeps going "Don't you think that looks a bit big?" when it's probably not, it's just larger than my own feet. I've gotten my needle gauge out of hiding and will likely commence arguing with it in a few moments. (So far, if anything my gauge is too tight.)

Bright Blessings!

Progress? Um, Well...

So, mending is a slow process, and when I thought I was done with one sock, I found another worn area that should be tended to. Doesn't help that I don't have a good bright lamp or light to shine on my work. That made it a little hard to see where the needle was suppose to go at times. And it was rainbow yarn I was mending, so it's not like it was overly dark or anything. So I need a lamp, or a good book light at least.

And then there's Christmas knitting, which would be moving along nicely except I need to finish the stuff for Matthias, this scarf, a pair of socks (at least 13 hours), and two wine bottle cozies. Granted, the scarf and the socks are about all that need to be finished "on time." Poor Matthias is still waiting for last year's presents (they're done, I just need to get them in the mail). The cozies and Matthias' stuff needs to be mailed, and it's not like I'm known for a paragon of being on time for this. (I can manage miracles sometimes, but well, you'll see.) And my parents can wait for theirs, and I asked them some pretty specific questions so the longer it takes me the less they'll remember about it. And I probably shouldn't have spent most of yesterday playing Terraria. I don't really regret it, it's a fun game, but I have better things to be doing with my time right now. Though one good thing about this scarf is it's 20 stitches, not all that long. Brioche stitch might mean it'll take a few more rows to complete than usual, but I want something nice and thick for Grandpa. We'll see if I can stay off Terraria any better today.

Bright Blessings!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, I plan to take the day off in a sense. As most likely know, tomorrow is Samhain, and a holy day for many pagans. So, I'm planning on spending the day working on things geared towards remembering those who've passed and such. If there's something moving that happens during the day, I may post about it tomorrow, I may just write it down and then put it up later. We'll just see how that goes.

Unfortunately, I didn't do much knitting yesterday, so I don't have much to talk about on that front. (Though I think I should go through and organize my folder of blog pictures so I can quickly tell what I've posted and what I haven't.) I guess I should get on that, but I have new bright green nail polish and want to play with that. (But nail polish and me generally means a day of not knitting.)

Bright Blessings!

Missing Sock

So, I mentioned that I couldn't find my usual traveling project yesterday. This is the project I can't find. I'll give my laundry basket, that seems to be my catch-all place for random things that don't seem to belong there. Don't ask me, it's just how that seems to work right now. But as you can see in the picture that I'm getting close to finishing the first sock. But that's about all I can say about it right now. I might have more to say if I can actually find the thing.

Bright Blessings!

Took a Walk

So, I'm talking about this now is because I walked down to the DMV and couldn't find the normal sock that I would normally take when I'm expecting to be waiting (who doesn't expect to wait at the dmv?) and so took the sock to the left with me. I also have a knack of knitting while I walk. I did manage to get one comment of "If you can walk and crochet, she has it made." I did mutter to myself "It's knitting." Mainly because she had walked past and I likely won't be seeing her again, so what's the point of creating a scene? And then there was practically no line at the DMV, who would have thought that?

Bright Blessings

Holding myself responsible

And getting work done. So, if you can't tell, I'm working on a dragon plushie. I've been meaning to getting patterns typed up and ready for sale, and to do that I need to knit up all of my plushies again. I know how to knit them but to be able to put that into some sort of intelligible written form without actually working on it again is a little bit like staring at a blank page at the start of the story when you have no clue where to start. So, yeah, I guess I have a start on my council of dragons. A start, anything beyond this one probably would be personal knitting and is a step down in priority.

Honestly, I was just being lazy and slacking on getting things done, and something TB said in one of his q&a videos. Basically, it was "If you don't hold yourself responsible, nobody else is." So, I'm going to do my best to get this all done and up. Right now, I'm thinking that I'm going to be just selling my patterns on Raverly, that is unless there's enough out cry for me sell on Etsy as well.

Bright Blessings!

More Shirt

Okay, so I have another strip down on the top. I'm probably going to be flipping through projects currently. I don't remember what all you've seen, but I'm just going to show you a bunch of things. But now it seems like it's going to get confusing because I'm about to start on the strip that goes up into the underarm. Yeah, I stopped and took a picture when I was done with the strip. That seemed like a good point to move from my little computer nest. (It's not completely common knowledge that I actually have two computers, and I have a habit of writing on one while the other is running something that is minorly attention grabbing.) I'm also finding that even though I do want this top done, I'm finding the playing with the balls of yarn every second row a bit tedious and so I get tired of working on it after a while. But that's about all I've got right now.

Bright Blessings!

I want

So, I'm bad about going to back to check things like Knitty and Twist Collective regularly. But on the latest issue of Twist Collective there's a blanket I want. Also, do you see it? Do you see why I would be interested in this blanket? I think in it's own way it's subtle enough that most people wouldn't see what I see unless they're of a similar mind as I am. The pattern name is Penta, and that there probably tells you what I see in this. Probably at some point I'll actually get around to buying the pattern. But this is something that I could see taking out to an outdoor concert and if I left it along not many would probably see why I like the blanket. I does look very much like a flower if you take the whole thing in. Though I am curious how many other knitting pagans or wicca are going to see this and want to make it.

Bright Blessings!

A bit more progress

This is probably going to get boring until I decide to pick up something else to work on for a little while. I got several squares done. Probably a less than I normally could get done in the amount of time I had. (I might have been stalling with the sock talk yesterday to cover the lack of progress I've been having.) I might have said that I wouldn't adjust colors so that colors wouldn't go matchy-matchy. Well, I lied. That's part of why I have a lack of progress. Or at least it feels like a lack of progress to me, but I see my progress and when I pull back because I'm not happy with whatever. It happens, and you should know by now that I'm a fickle, fickle knitter and will go back on my word because I'm not going to spend hours on something I'm not happy with. I'm horrible at that, anyhow.

Also, am I the only person noticing the vertical lines in the knitting? And is it weird that I think it's weird that there are vertical lines on it?

Bright Blessings!

Well...

So, as of right now, this is where I am in the sock. As you probably already know, I've been watching a bunch of youtube videos while I'm knitting. This in theory is not a bad thing. In theory, it's a very good thing because my mind is being entertained and informed while I'm working away on whatever I've picked up. (More working on my top right now, I want that done, but I do pick up the sock now and then.) (Also? You can see that I'm trying to magnetize my sewing needles in the back ground.) But you see, sometimes theory doesn't always translate well into real life. It appears that sometimes that I actually need to pay attention to what I'm working on instead of a screen somewhere in front of me. Want proof?

I have two pieces, two holes in the heel. Part of it was that was that the stitches kept slipping off my needle and then losing their wraps. Which normally would be a problem, I can pick up stitches, and have put wraps back around the stitches. This time? I couldn't tell which was the stitch and if I could, I couldn't find the wraps. You know that I'm not making this pair of socks for myself, and even if I was, I wouldn't stand for holes in the heel. That just feels like a really bad place to have holes, even if they don't affect the structure, but maybe that's just me.  But if, you can't read the dates on the smaller pictures, that was about three days ago. So, I didn't lose much time, all in all, but I should probably work on it more. But, cold weather is coming, I want my top first.

Bright Blessings!

Fishy Rainbow Top

Even without the picture, from that title you probably know what project that I'm working on. Yeah, it's my Carp that I'm working on in the rainbow yarn. I was further along at some point last night, but I decided to see what would happen if I flipped the primary and secondary yarns. So, that's about where I am now. Sucks that I had to do the triangle at the bottom twice, maybe three times. (I suck at remembering which side is the right side and the wrong, sometimes.) So, instead of being on block three blocks in this strip, I'm at the first block of this strip. But I guess that's just how it goes.

Bright Blessings!

sock?

So, I've been trying to knit as much as possible while watching TotalBiscuit's first impressions. So maybe I should work on all my family reunion stuff and get a good head start on all that. As you can see, I have been working on this sock. Probably could have done more if I thought about it. But sometimes I want something a little mindless while I'm trying to pay attention to the videos than on my knitting. I know that may seem weird to some, but I'm watching to learn if some of the games are something I'd be interest in playing and spending money on. So, yeah, I haven't even measured to see how long the sock is yet. I'm aiming for 7 inches before I start the heel, then I'll make the leg long enough to for the top of the cuff to reach the toe when you fold at the heel, which is what I usually do. I don't often picture it like that because I'll likely look boring.

Bright Blessings!

In Planning

So, the planning going on behind the scenes here. You probably saw that when I accidentally posted my thoughts on why seeing others fail feel so good for us to watch. I'm actually in process of building buffer for what kind of posts I can so that I can still post for you somewhat regularly to November. As you know, I can't fall off the map to November. While I focus on writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Yeah, that and work takes up a lot of my time during the month.

Now, I knew how to get the words slowpoke, which may help in getting the words down. I'll do my best to post knitting as much as I can, but that can't be really be written ahead of time. So, this is an open call for topic ideas. If there's something about paganism or Wicca that you're interested in, let me know. I'll write about it as best I can, and if I don't know, heck, I have time to research right now, and learning is certainly not a bad thing. Who knows, it may even help with my story.

Bright blessings, and bring on those ideas!

I've been thinking

And this post brought it to the fore again, and I may have talked about this before. What is it about someone else's failure that is so entertaining for others to watch or read about? I think some of it is comfort. Seeing that someone who is far more skilled than ourselves at whatever it is (Or maybe not, that blog I linked? I was laughing at it, laughing hard) who messes up or is unable to complete something that they are usually good at makes us feel not so bad about our own failures. Seriously, go read that blog and see if that particular post doesn't make you feel as bad about your own horrible mistakes. I'll wait.

For another example outside of knitting or crafts in general, as I've said, I've been watching a lot of TotalBiscuit's "WTF is..." videos on youtube. (this is actually part of a lot of the knitting time I've been having lately) My main reason for watching is to see what games I might find interesting, getting a free first impression for myself in a way, but sometimes there's a game I'm not interested but I don't skip over the rest of the video to the next one. I don't because even though the game isn't my style, TB is not doing so well with the game, either because it's not something that he thinks he's good at or the game mechanics just aren't that good and it's a struggle to do anything well. Those, though they seem far and few between are very entertaining for me to watch, because I don't always see myself as being very good at a lot of games.

Maybe just something to keep in mind the next time someone starts having trouble with something.

Bright Blessings!

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13

So, the pattern is based off of the golden rectangle which is a visual of the Fibonacci sequence. I started the small "1" squares with 10 stitches. The largest finished block is 80, and you can see that I've started what would be thirteen. Likely my progress will slow down greatly now, one is just the length of the rows and two is that I'm making blocks, and I just have to knit more to make a square. This is the main project I've been working on lately. The main part of that is that I've been marathoning TotalBiscuit's "WTF is..." videos. So until I'm done with that (I'm on 101 of 196, you do the math)I'll probably be working on this nearly exclusively.

As I said, one friend said this sounded painful because there would be a lot of math. I'm still not sure that's there's going to be a lot of math. Actually, I think I should probably work out the sequence a little further along than I am, just for knowing how many rows I need to knit for each block, but that's not very hard math.

Bright Blessings!

A Blanket

So, why is it that when I get an idea in my head that I can't get it out until I start working on it? I don't know, but if you look at the picture maybe you can figure out what type of pattern I'm using to decide the size of the blocks. I had one friend say it sounds painful because it would involve math. I really should have told him that all knitting involves math, because in some sense it does. Other than this really hasn't. You can call me a lier if you want, but picking up stitches off the side of an already worked piece isn't really a lot of math. That and I've already worked out to a fair point how many stitches/ridges I need for a fair bit a head of where I am. Granted, you can probably guess that the picture right there is a little old. A few days, I am further along than that shows.

Here's about where I am now. Yeah, and a cat decided to show up today to help me show you how much it's grown. Though it probably doesn't help all that much since the first picture doesn't have all that much of a sense of scale in the first place. Also, this new picture probably gives you a better idea of what I'm doing for my "pattern." There are actually two answers I'd consider right, but I want to see if anyone wants to guess. Though I do wish that the pink, black, and blue yarn would have flashed more, I find it pretty for some reason. Maybe I'll have make this kind of afghan again and use it on a smaller block or a larger one later on. Also? Kitty says that row counters are fun cat toys.

Thinking Ahead

This is one of those things that I have down pat for knitting, but for other parts of my life I kinda fail: planning ahead and acting on it. This year on my mother's side with our family reunion we added an auction to help raise funds to cover up front costs of getting a place set up for said family reunion, but they only allow either local or handmade goods. (Given that this is the side of the family that taught me knitting, crochet, cross stitch, and sewing, not to mention that my grandma on that side is teaching me quilting. Not a hard thing to manage.) The reunion is held once every two years, and our last one was this June or July. Yeah, I'm thinking ahead on this one. And from what's running through my head you'd think that I'm trying to fill the auction table by myself. This is the start of one of at least two pairs of socks. Then there's going to be plushies or toys of some form, a set or two of dish/wash cloth sets, knit or crochet patterns of mine, and now I'm also thinking of making a couple of hats. That last one will take about about a day per hat, but yeah, if I got this planning ahead thing to work in other parts of my life I'd be set. ...I should tell Skidge about this, she'll think I'm even more magic.

Bright Blessings.

My dream of a council of dragons

I'm an ambitious knitter, and most regular readers have probably already figured that out about me. One of my wishes for eventually getting to is having made several of the dragon plushies (not that I wouldn't keep other dragons out) and kept them on my bed, or just carry them around. They would be my council, because who wouldn't want to be surrounded by dragons? (Okay, stupid question. I'm sure that some people on witchforum.com would disagree with that.)

Well, that's about all I have right now. I'm awake because work is being mean again. Anyhow, a little shorty post.

Bright Blessings!

I'm a bad blogger

It's not that I haven't been crafting, I have been. On multiple things even, I just haven't been getting out my camera to mark my progress. Did that today, though.

I'll start with the last thing I showed you. I actually finished it. Which probably isn't that much of a surprise. Though I did have to fight through some disinterest in the project since I had to rip out everything once. If I were to make this again I would adjust the size of the cups and the length of the back piece. I am glad that I made the cups the way I did so I can go back and shorten the straps as it gets stretched out. That's one thing I know will annoy me as time wears on. I also think I'd have been happier with it if I flared the skirt part of it a little. Oh well, live and learn.

I am still working on the crazy pants Afghan. and as you can see, I'm actually starting to sew the blocks together. This is the second strip, actually. Seeing as each strip will be 15 blocks long, or 14 if I have a double sized block in one, that means I do have a few sewn up as it is. Though the pins I use for knitting have seemed to go missing, so I'm having to pin blocks together with pins that are far too short for the thickness of the fabric I'm working with. I've looked through some of my stuff where I think they could have gotten off to, which has had no luck. Seems like I'm missing a good deal of things.

Though I'm not missing this, and I'm still plugging away on it. Really, I should settle down on all the projects I'm working on and make this my main one and I would probably get farther along on it by the next time I gather up everything for a photo shoot. We'll have to see what happens. I have a couple of late shifts coming up so I won't have evenings for knitting, really. (Honestly, all of those early morning breakfast shifts have gotten to me and I don't really mind since they still do give me some mornings.) One thing is that the colors are so close now it's hard to tell them apart and I'd probably be lost if I cut them, which I rarely do for the knitting. That's probably a saving grace on this top.

And it feels a little silly to be working on this right now. I'm making mittens or gloves or whatever to wear over the long gloves I made a few years back. This was an idea rattling through the back of my head for a while. It just feels weird to be working on something that I don't need as I'm working on it. But maybe that means that I'm actually starting to think ahead a little bit. (Now, if I could apply that to things other than knitting I'd be set.) I do have the idea rattling through my head to try and make these into the dragon claw idea I had a while ago, but I'm not sure if that'd work or not. I guess I could try, no harm in that.

And finally, my altar cloth, which kind a looks like it's made out of scales of some sort. At least that's how it looked to me when I laid it out and saw it in the picture. granted, you can see where I'm going to knit the next part because I've already picked up the stitches for it. I should probably kick into gear on that. I am making it out of left over yarn, but I doubt that there will offence taken to that. It shows that I'm respectful enough of the earth to not want to throw out everything.

There is another thing I'm working on, but it's not very far along at this point. Nox von Luminari, another member of Chimental. I know that he suggested that I do Hunter and Crystal next. But something about Dr. Nightlight called me. Probably the glow in the dark yarn for his shell. Oh, I should probably tell you that he's a hermit crab. I have a basic idea for the shell, but I need to go do research on what hermit crabs look like without their shells. because I can easily make a shell to size, but I want to be able to fit Dr. Nightlight in it, so I need Dr. Nightlight.

Bright blessings!

My lastest top

so this is what I have of the project I've been working on for the last week or so. So the wind got knocked out of my sails a little bit when I tried it on as I was actually planning on wearing it and everything was the wrong size. The two pieces on top are for--well they're kind of like bra cups. Those were both too small. The bottom chain was for the back of the band that would go under the cups. and that ended up being too long. There will be a skirt for on the top where the skirt like section. I'm trying to pick up some of the enthusiasm and the momentum that I had for this project before I had to basically rip everything out. That part hasn't been so easy. I'm working on it slowly but I'm not making the same time I did the first time. Last time I worked each cup in about a day and a half. I'm far past that mark now. I'm still trudging along on it though, so I guess that's something.

On a related note, one of my co-workers keeps telling me that I should get into selling my patterns. I'm thinking I may. Granted, all of my patterns are in my head at this point and I need to get them written in some point, and possibly test knit (or crochet in some cases). I'm open to suggestions and helpful comments.

Bright Blessings!

Sometimes...

There's just a project that gets in my head and that's all I want to work on. Or I find it important to work on it, and want to work on it all the time. I'm kinda there right now. I'll see if I can't get pictures for you after work.

(speaking of work, that's kind of why I went silent. sorry about that.)

What I've been working on

So this is the bottom of a bag for a friend. It's part of the birthday/christmas present that I make for him (I actually make two things, this is part one). What it's a bag for, well that's for him to say. I know I can show this without being stealthy 1) because he basically already knows what he's getting and I talk to him about it a lot just making sure that I'm making it big enough 2) he doesn't check blogs. I still have at least two inches to add to the diameter before I can actually turn and start the sides. That will go faster once I can figure out what's going on with my wrist, as it's knit. I'm being as careful as I can with it. Part of that would be what else I've been working on.

Which I'm just testing to make sure that I have an actual circle. I adjusted a different chart to make this one. Granted, it's smaller than the original one I made, but this chart is bigger just smaller fabric. Which, putting this in that hoop gave me the idea to make this one images of the symbols of each of the elements for room decorations. Would make being closeted about that be hard, but given that I'm not trying very hard in the first place, doesn't seem like that big of a problem too me.

Bright Blessings!

bah

I woke up a couple days back and my wrist wasn't really painful as I knit, but during on of the stretches it was going. "No." I've decided to not knit for a week and see how it feels then. (And I should probably go visit a doctor.) So I've been working on other things to keep my hands busy like cross stitch. I'll get you a picture of what I've been working on shortly, but you may have to excuse a lack of knitting for at least a few days.

Bright Blessings, and take care of yourselves.

That darn inner knitter again

So I've been working hard on the top. I'd like to get it done soonish if I could. I mainly stopped today because of work. But there's been this little voice going off in my head that the final piece is going to be too big. Well, more too long. I've tried holding it up to myself to see where it will fall. From that it's mid to lower hip. Which isn't a bad length for a top, but I'd rather it be a bit shorter. Odd thing? When I measure the blocks to get an idea of my gauge, everything come out about a quarter inch smaller than it should. Also? I've not actually swatched (okay, we crafters know that's a word, we should teach spell check a thing or two) and washed the yarn yet. Maybe I should do that.

Yeah, I've taken a block off the top too. Mainly because that's when I first "tried" it on and it looked like it was going to be plenty long then. We'll see where I am when I get around to posting next.

Oh, and part of the reason I'd like it done soonish is because there's a family reunion next weekend and will likely be family pictures. I'd love to have a nice knitted top to wear for that. We'll just have to see how things go. (Yes, I'm aware that I'm probably very crazy for setting that deadline and will likely kill my wrist in the process. Leave me alone.) Any suggestions on what to do are welcome.

Bright Blessings!

Sometimes I am weak

A couple of days and I get that far on a new project. According to the pattern and the picture here, I'm working on the 11th block and will have one more to knit before starting on the second row of blocks. I am enjoying seeing how the colors shift and change together, though I'm thinking color b will start to lag further and further behind color a. I may be wrong I may be right, we'll have to see. Also, I recently bought sims 3. I've been meaning to get it for a while, but I wasn't willing to pay the amount they wanted for the game when it came out. (Then I forgot about, then a friend introduced me to Steam and I found it again, but was broke, then I had money and contemplated getting other games, so on a so forth until I actually go it.) So I may get more knitting done in the evenings now when I play. We'll see, as this top does require some thought about it while I'm knitting. Also, any suggestions for good games that you can knit during as well? (Mine, other than Sims is Wild ARMs 1-3 and Alter Code F, wait until the battles to see what I mean.)

Bight Blessings and happy gaming!

I finished something else

Just haven't been in the mood to pull out my camera and take a picture of it. (That and I may not completely remember what I did with my camera.) It's a dish cloth, made with some king something pattern. According to my book it's one of the patterns on a sweater that he wore when he was executed. I don't have a real lot to say, it's hot here and I'm doing my best to not over heat. Probably should make sure I'm staying hydrated and all that fun stuff.

Bright Blessings and cool nights!

Another FO!

To bad the flash washed out most of the detail. (Seriously, I should be more timely in taking pictures, what with all the daylight hours I have now.) I have one other of these done, and I'm hoping at some point to make a couple more at least. For now I think I'm going to let it fall of the list until I have other things taken care of on the list.

Speaking of that, I think I've decided what I'm going make with the rainbow yarn. This. I'll do my best to keep the colors from lining up, but I'm not going to be so anal as to start up a new color section if it does line up. That's life. I looked up everything, and I should at least be able to swatch and start now, but I'd like to see if I can't get some more things knocked off that dang list. We'll see how long that lasts, what with the Miss Fickle Knitter who lives in my head. She'll probably have all the arguments like it'd be a nice top to have for summer and such. Not like I change sizes all that drastically. That and it's a pure wool yarn, I'm sure it'll be fine for fall or spring when they come around. (Though I heard rumors that we might not get a winter this year. I like snow.) And that's about all I have to say.

Bright Blessings!

A little show and tell

So, after work today I decided that I should stop by a lys and pick up some yarn for a couple of things. I don't doubt or condemn the shop owner for trying to get me to pick up more than I was there to get, that's part what pays his rent. I was just in there for a couple of nice things and was going to be on my way after a standard look around at everything they have anyhow. The top yarn is for socks, the bottom yarn is for gloves. Which I'm going to go into without a pattern really. I've done it before, so I'm not all that worried about that. Any left over yarn will probably go to my altar cloth project. (Hey, that's what I was using anyhow, if people couldn't tell.)

Now, this is the yarn I got on vacation. I'm planning to knit up a shawl with it. I haven't seen this floating around in Omaha, and that's something I look for in yarn that I'm going to buy from a place when I'm off on vacation. I want something that I can't usually get here. Or maybe I'm just being too particular about it. I was thinking of using this for another shawl that I want to make. (I do have a plan for having lots shawls, I gave myself a crazy number but can't recall it right now, probably somewhere in the thousands.) And I doubt anyone would say that a shawl in those colors you see right in that picture wouldn't be pretty. I found a bonus when I came home though.

It's rainbow. If you're astute (which I'm sure all of you are), you'll have noticed that the last pair of socks I finished were made with rainbow yarn. I had another pair of rainbow socks made with Blue Moon's Pride color way, but they got a mysterious hole and I had no spare yarn with which to mend them. I also have another ball of rainbow sock yarn sitting in the wings. Let's just say I have a thing for rainbows and rainbow colorways. This pleased me no end to find. But now I'm wondering if I shouldn't work a different shawl from what I was planning. This might require some research, and I'm always open to suggestions!

Bright Blessings and many pretties to you!

The progress

I know you were all waiting with baited breath (not) to see what I could have possibly done while I was off in the far away land of North Dakota. My sideways socks. I also got a block of the Crazy Pants done, but I'm too lazy to get a picture of that at the moment. Maybe tomorrow, we'll see. I'm somewhat tired from a long day given that I was fuzzy brained at work from lack of sleep. I'm also just going to work on whatever I feel like when I feel like it. That may mean you get to see a bunch of random projects that I do have in the works but really don't get much blog time because they will take forever it feels.

Bright Blessings!

Whoops

I didn't mean to go silent when I went up to visit family. I did knit some while I was there and actually finished a project while I was there. I'll get pictures and do a real update tomorrow, for now I'm just trying to get caught up on everything I'm suppose to do and plan a weight loss thing.

What Progress I Made

So, what I worked on mostly was the disk you see to the left. Often times even when it hurts for me to knit, I'm still able to crochet. He wanted a bag like one that i made for myself. He got lucky when I started it early because the the base is crocheted. I just haven't felt up to any of the other crochet projects I have, and I wanted to get a start on this because it's going to be fairly large. (He doesn't read this so I'm not too worried about him seeing this and ruining the surprise. Not that there's a whole lot of surprise in the first place.) Also? there will be a progression of cat in each picture, Whiny-butt was interested in what I was doing.
Because I'm putting something in my usual day to day knitting spot, I felt it was only fair to put my sideways sock (which is about a third done now) in the traveling sock spot. The one I had been talking about only a maybe a needle full of stitches worked on between the last time you saw it and now. Mainly the choice was influenced by I still want to move projects out of the queue. It's easier to do that with the sideways sock as I have one done than with the current traveling sock, which is still on it's first. So, that's something to keep an eye on. I'll be keeping the timed sock in it's current place. That's not going to be long to finish now anyhow.

Finally, the Miss Fickle Knitter part, my day to day project is a bag to help me keep track of some things. Probably isn't a great shot of the the knitting itself. I think I was just wanting this photo shoot to get done with. What with the cat becoming more and more interested in playing as I moved and arranged items in what I hoped would be somewhat visually appealing. That and I should have gotten closer here. I'm using a stitch pattern that's causing that scalloping on the edge. Not saying what I picked, but I picked it for a reason. You may be able to guess once I get a good picture of a finished repeat or two, and I'll say, my choice may have been influenced because I know what's going in the bag.

Bright Blessings and Happy Knitting!

My Reasons (Excuses?)

Quick version of what caused my silence? Campnano and shinies.

Honestly, I haven't been doing much crafting at all. There's been creativity, it's just been coming through as writing instead of yarny goodness. Which is probably good and bad for my wrist. Honestly, I should go see a doctor about it... (It hasn't really been bothering me lately.) Just don't want to be told to stop knitting, or crocheting, or cross stitching or all of the above. I'm going to at least brace at night, even if it's not acting up. Will keep me from doing something stupid while I sleep. I have plenty of chances for that at work.

I'm also being Miss Fickle Knitter again, I have the second sideways sock started, but really feel like they've lost their appeal for blogging right now. I mean you've seen one get made, the second one probably going to pretty much the same, yeah? Might talk about something else for a time. Mainly because it seems more interesting than the second garter stitch sock. If anyone disagrees feel free to tell me either here or on G+.

Bright Blessings!

A Little Snippet

A knitter had a friend going through a rough patch in her life. She knew her friend was lost and confused, and she gathered a few gifts and went to her friend.

"I don't completely know what you're going through," said the knitter. "But I'm here and I care for you. Here's some things I hope will help, I know they help me. First, a journal and pen, write every day, just anything that's rattling around in your head. Second, yarn and needles. Even if you're not away of it, the focus of knitting allows your brain to process what's going on. Come on, I'll teach you."

NOTE: This is not indicative of anything going on in my life. The silence was caused by life happening and general not knitting (some of it wrist related). My mind wanders as I knit if I don't give it music or tv, this floated to the surface recently. I'll give a proper update after work.

Bright Blessings

Rawr

Sock monster says hello.

...Well

I'm basically done, I just need to graft the sides together. Yes, I did a lot of knitting today. No, my wrist doesn't feel too much worse for wear. Most of the knitting happened during battles while I was playing games. Which means I knit for a few minutes, picked up the controller and went back to wandering around trying to figure out what I need to do to save the world. (What video game doesn't have you save the world? Though right now I know what I need to do, replaying though I've never actually beat the game.) Which means that I really wasn't knitting for long periods of time, unless you count boss fights. Also? in the interest of showing the most blob like pictures of this sock look below.