Wow.

OK, so ... last week happened. Probably the less said about it the better, frankly. But I'm trying to use all the chaos and tragedy and drama to remind myself how wonderful my life is, even when it feels like nothing is going the way it should.

In celebrating being alive this weekend, I did some sketching, which I'm too embarrassed to show you (I've never used colored pencil before, and it's kind of disastrous). I wrote a terrible poem, which I'm too embarrassed to show you (angsty angst is angsty). I made a video of myself singing which I shared on a social media site, but I'm not going to show it to you because I'm trying to maintain a modicum of anonymity here.

So, really, this post is just checking in. I'm still here, I'm still up for this. Daily is maybe too ambitious, but it's really good for me to have some accountability.

Something with pictures coming your way soon!

Brief update

Sorry for the silence yesterday! Last night was an evening of knitting (as was tonight -- I managed to get out of my house and visit some friends at my favorite yarn shop for a few hours of knitting), but still don't have much to show for it.

I think I need some kind of plan to keep me on track here. Maybe I'll give myself a 5-post-per-week minimum, with some kind of breadth requirement? Like, not every post can be "Yup, kept knitting on that same big project for another few hours. It looks pretty much the same. Eeyup."

Ooooo, only allowing myself one knitting day per week could be a lot of pressure -- it'd be better for anyone reading, since you'd actually see progress in the things I make, but ... eep! Knitting is by far my most comfortable creative outlet. But maybe that's a reason to encourage the others?

Sorry!

Another evening of not much to share. I wrote another bad song tonight (worse than last night's, I have to admit). Did have a kind of exciting moment on Ravelry, though - I posted the one from yesterday, and someone asked if they could write music for it! So maybe my bad song lyrics will turn into songs :)

Still knitting, but haven't started anything new. Watching Archer. Really ought to do laundry and dishes, but ... tomorrow. SO TIRED. This week has been exhausted exhausting. Wow, I was more tired than I thought.

Whoa, today's only Tuesday, isn't it? Crap.

Later, y'all!

The end of the night

No photos tonight, sorry! My creative project for the day has been writing. But what I've written is a little too private (and embarrassing!) to share, so ... I'm checking in, but that's all you get. Sorry!

But tonight, I knit quite a bit on my 10-stitch blanket (I might need to pick up another skein -- I think two will make an OK baby blanket, but I bet I'll need three for a decent-sized lap blanket), and I wrote a very sappy, sad song. It was maybe cathartic? Or maybe I'm just wallowing, but whatever. It feels good to be writing again.

Quite a day!

I was feeling kind of at loose ends and pining today, so I tried to fill up the day with as many things as I could think of. I mailed out my cookies for the cookie swap; I walked around, visiting lots of shops; I tried (and failed) to find some wires to use in place of my missing blocking wires, some welded D-rings for a pair of mittens I have in mind, new office clothes, nice looking hair combs ... yeah, I found none of these things, but it was a pleasant day anyway.

I did, however, manage to do a couple things -- I picked up some note cards that I'm using as inspiration, painted my nails (a beautiful copper foil, woo!), annnnnnnnnd ... got the cartilage of my left ear pierced! Yay changes!

Anyway, I did some sketching tonight, too.

These are for my back tattoo, which I'm getting started in May:

This is the placement I'm looking at, more or less: 

I'm super excited. My artist is amazing. Also, if anyone reading knows me in real life, please don't tell my mother about this blog. (Also, sorry: one of these days I'll find a way to post sketches and whatnot without taking crappy webcam shots of them, but alas, my scanner, she broke, and has not been replaced.) (Also also: I anticipate that my final tattoo will look more like a peacock and less like a startled goose.)

In other news, I'm casting on a ten-stitch blanket in mini mochi (colorway 103). I've got a bunch of other projects on the needles, but none of them are particularly exciting for me right now ... so I'm just feeling like starting all the things and the hell with followthrough. Eh, whatever; I figure I knit because it's fun. When it stops being fun, there's no point in knitting.

That's the news for today. I might give myself Sunday off - we'll see how drunk I get at Easter brunch tomorrow! ;) Night, y'all!

Presented without comment

(OK, we know I can't resist commenting. Tonight was drawing on the sidewalk with my amazing artist friend. I didn't have my camera on me, so these are shots off her phone. Thank you, dude!)

Little update

Sorry, y'all; I went out to see some improv comedy tonight. So this is going to be a short post!

But here's my creative endeavor for the day -- some finishing! Blocking, as any knitter will tell you, is a vital part of the process. It turns a tangled-up pile of cat-barf into beautiful, intricate lace.

So, I did some blocking!

So attractive, right?

First, the Eleanor Cowl by Audrey Knight, which was a pleasure to knit. I did it with the yarn I had leftover from making a Thendara for my ex-boyfriend; I'm not sure what it was, but it's light fingering, clearly some nice, soft wool (my bet is on merino), and lovely.

(Modifications: I cast off one repeat of the shell motif before the pattern says to stop. It was a good call. I think I was going to run out of yarn, and I think it would have been too long. As it stands, it's perfect!)

Then, my Seigaiha by the utterly amazing Kitman Figueroa. Seriously, I have never run across another designer whose patterns so consistently appeal to (and amaze!) me. She's awesome.

I will update with photos of both -- but especially Seigaiha -- when they're unpinned and in natural light. I might also reblock Seigaiha; I discovered halfway through the blocking process that at some point (somewhere in my last move, probably), a bunch of my blocking wires went walkabout. Disaster! So since I have no patience, I pinned the scallops out into points rather than into scallops.

I'm pleased with myself for having finished this one. It was a tough knit for me emotionally. I started the cast on as a way to distract myself during the argument that ended an almost-six-year-long relationship (I had to do it four times). It sat, untouched, in a project bag for over six months before I could even look at it again -- then I finished the knitting part in the throes of infatuation and new love. It seems somehow fitting that the blocking -- the actual finishing of the thing as a wearable object -- comes after another heartbreak, putting me back pretty much where I was when I started. It's just you and me again, shawl -- me and my knitting, me and my creative projects, just us.

Let's do this thing.