Knitting away: the finished Bainbridge Scarf and a Buttonhead

My knitting mojo is in, for the moment, like a tide of creativity. Sometime, it'll go out again, and the shore will be bare, and all those sea creatures that live in the boundary zone will be exposed for a little while, visible to us land-dwellers ... er, where was I? Oh, yeah. For now, the knit stitches are swelling. When they recede, they'll leave behind lots of new knit projects for all to see. Does that make more sense? ;)

Of course, let me ruin my cute little metaphor by prematurely showing you what the waves have brought in. No need to wait for the tide to go back out. It's the finished Bainbridge Scarf!


Is it ridiculous, or what? You really need to see it on me — it can be tied a couple of different ways and it's really ridiculous (in a good way) when worn. But you may have to wait for cooler weather to come down southward before I feel like taking a picture. Or maybe I'll get impatient and snap a horrible mirror photo. ;)

I also cast on a Buttonhead hat with some handspun, for the knitalong on the Leethal Knitters group. This handspun, to be precise:


You can see another view of the yarn here.
This is the beginning of what promises to be a very texturey, colorful, personality-ful hat.


It looks like it's going to be a quick knit, too. Look for the finished hat in the next week or two, depending on what happens with my life, universe, and everything.

Craft or Bust Week 38 Check-In and Roundup (September 19-25)

The holiday season's coming up — where are you, CoBers? Surely you have gifts to make that you could count toward your CoB crafting ... ;) In the meantime, it's back to me and Jessica, neck and neck!

Roundup of Week 37: What We Crafted From September 12-18

Last time, on Craft or Bust...

• Jessica worked on Karl's gloves some more, and witnessed the invaluable power of the lifeline when she noticed the thumb gussets just weren't coming out the way she wanted. She also knit the pieces for a D&D themed bag, also for Karl, and knit some more of That Mitten.

Check-in for Week 38: What Have You Done Lately? (September 19-25)

My crafty gears are a-grinding ... Last Sunday, I was at the Florida Fiber-In in the morning and back here at S&C headquarters by afternoon. We went to the park to refresh our brains after the stressful and sleep-deprived drive home, during which I was uncharacteristically worried about something having gone wrong at the house. (Thankfully, nothing did go wrong. That I noticed. ;)) I took pictures and some video at the park, which I still need to upload. I also baked chocolate cookies. Monday, no craftiness, aside from buying some lobster claw clasps. Tuesday, I photographed some of the first mate's jewelry and sorted ex-trashed belongings. (Does the latter count as creative?) Wednesday, there was more sorting of ex-trash and more chain mail jewelry photos, and I also cast on the Bainbridge Scarf, my first continental knitting project. Thursday, I put together a craft show application (yayyy!) and did a bunch of research on fibers for some handspun yarn. Friday, I knit some more of the Bainbridge Scarf, baked beer bread, and ordered some Cotswold locks. Saturday, I did more research on fibers and dyes for handspun yarn, and sacrificed a thrift store sweater to the Fiber Recycling Gods. Apparently as a reward, I won some yarn from the Grad School Knitter (and that's a link to her blog)! Then I finished the body of the Bainbridge Scarf and added green leaf-shaped ties — done! ;D

Your turn! Share your own crafty accomplishments from the past week in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!

Adventures in Recycling (or, So Begins the Death and Rebirth of a Sweater)

I had a problem: My sense of yarn is not as good as my sense of fabric. I mean that quantity-wise; I tend to add yarn to my stash in increments of one or two balls (or skeins, or whatever), not knowing what on earth I'm going to do with it. Then, when I do figure out what the yarn would be great for, I never have enough yardage.

This is not a problem I have with fabric. I can find a great fabric, buy one or two yards (for probably the same amount of money it takes to buy one ball of yarn — sigh ;)), and know that when I finally decide it should be a skirt (or a shirt or a tote bag or a pillowcase or a sharktopus stuffed toy), I will have enough fabric to make what I want to make.

But notice! The first sentence of this post is in the past tense. I admit that the problem isn't solved completely, but I have found a solution, and occasionally I even remember that it's already in my stash.

The perfect-fit cheap solution: Recycle old sweaters into yarn. I get cool, unique yarn, and it inherently comes in yardages high enough to make, say, a whole sweater. ;)

The one thing this solution isn't? Quick. But you know that saying about fast, cheap and good ... You get to pick two of the three. This is a case where that's true.

And my stashing habit is also easily fed by sweater collection. I have boxes of thrifted sweaters waiting to be transformed, phoenix-like, into cool new yarny things. Meet today's victim:


Rarr! I am sweater ... but not for long!
It's a soft, cuddly cabley thing that I would honestly love to turn into something for me. But the joke's on me, because I can't. And this is why:

Oh, the bunnanity!
CRAP. I am allergic to angora.

Another reason I really meant it when I titled the post "Adventures in Recycling." ;) I'm not deathly allergic to angora (though I don't know anyone who is...), but it's enough to make me itch and sneeze and generally be uncomfortable. The last time I tried to recycle an angora sweater, I did all three of those things. This time will be different ... oh, yes, this time will be different. At least, I'm going to do everything in my power to make it different.

Weapon Number One in the Battle of Fiber Artist Vs. Angora: over-the-counter allergy medicine. Because my allergy is mild, I'm hoping a mild allergy medication will help. Cross fingers.

Weapon Number Two: a bandana. For tying over my face, specifically, to minimize the amount of angora fluff that makes it into my nostrils.

Weapon Number Three: gloves. I doubt I can knit or weave with gloves on, but who wants to bet I can't rip out knitting with gloves on?

Bonus Secret Weapon: sheer force of will! I don't think it'll actually make me stop itching, but if I can wear my pretty angora-blend sweater (which a well-meaning family member gave me for Christmas) all day because I Goshdarn Want To Wear It, I can spend an hour or so ripping apart an angora sweater and another hour or two weaving it ... right?

If I don't post again for a while, let's hope it's not because I've suddenly gotten so allergic to angora that my hands have swelled up too much for typing. ;) (Doesn't seem that likely, does it? I really hope not...)

Learning to knit continental with the Bainbridge Scarf; also, bread

Post-Debacle recovery continues apace. My broken knitting needle cable is keeping me from finishing the last bit of ribbing on my hooded shrug (arrrrgh!), so I cast on a quick new project while I'm waiting for the cable replacement to arrive (or for myself to get impatient enough to just go buy a new circular needle). Also, new project = because I really needed to practice continental knitting before what I learned at the Florida Fiber-In wore off.

My chosen pattern for the First Continental Knitting Project is the Bainbridge Scarf (which you can find as a free PDF download on Pepperknit). So far:


Yelllooooooowwww...
In case you're wondering what the crap happened to the corset project I was working on right before Dragon*Con, I really would have liked to get back to that immediately after coming back from Atlanta, but the pattern pieces and the mock-up corset were among the things that got rearranged and/or thrown out in the Debacle. I actually found the corset mock-up when we dug through the trash last Friday (so THERE to the person who threw it out to begin with!) but it's currently awaiting its turn in the washing machine, so I haven't been able to bring myself to work on that again. Plus, the craft room is a bit of a mess, since the person who rearranged part of the house decided to use that room as a holding area for nearly everything that didn't get thrown out.

Anyway, today I also made bread.


Beer bread, to be specific. It was from a mix someone gifted us a while ago, but after the sad loss of my sourdough starter (yes, another casualty of the Debacle), it helped remind me of exactly why I need to get off my butt and bake more. Besides, it smells just as good as bread made from scratch, and I'm sure it'll taste yummy, too. Maybe I'll go find out right now. ;)

Stash and knowledge enhancement at the Florida Fiber-In and beyond

Fiber, fiber friends, and fun — that's what the Florida Fiber-In is about! And now the cheesy alliteration is out of my system, and we can all move on with our lives.

This weekend past the first mate and I headed out to the Florida Fiber-In, held in Orlando this year. (The earlier part of that day was taken up by our visit to the local landfill to rescue what we could of our Trashed Belongings — but that's a topic for another post.)

Historically, I've been pretty bad about hard-core socializing at the fiber-in, even though that's a large part of what it's about. I just have this separation in my brain between stash/knowledge acquirement and socializing. At Dragon*Con, I socialize while I'm waiting for one of the other two things to happen — I don't go primarily to socialize (any more; arguably, socializing was more important to me when I first started attending). And I treated the fiber-in a similarly antisocial way for the first two years I went, but this year I was determined to be one of the Cool People chatting it up in the knitting/spinning circles.


Wearing name tags is a good way to encourage people to find you accessible. Wearing a knit name tag at a fiber event is an even better way to provoke interest and random spurts of conversation from passersby.
And I win! I did what I set out to do, and there's even a small amount of photographic evidence. ;) (For instance, I am the spinner with her back to the camera sitting closest to the table in the foreground of this photo. You can also see a bit of me in this photo.) I met a lot of new people, hung out, had fun, and learned some new skills: First, how to make a skein on a niddy-noddy (I had until then used chairs, a swift, and been spoiled by my skein winder), then how to knit continental — without twisting my knit stitches. And I even got to spin on a neat Pipy Wendy spinning wheel, which has a crazy metal flyer frame and a lovely, addictive spinning rhythm. I got to see the inestimable Ginger spin on every kind of spindle under the sun, including a trindle, a Navajo spindle, a takhli, and a Russian spindle. And I had two yummy new kinds of tea served up by the knowledgeable and pleasant Pat.

I admit I did a wee bit of shopping as well.


Clockwise from top left: Yellow vintage mohair yarn and tatting shuttle, two balls of Cascade Fixation and a lace shawlette pattern, five skeins of ladder yarn, a skein of superwash Merino, some blue roving (or is it top?), a large cake of rose-colored Merino roving with a skein of bison/cashmere/nylon yarn, and, in the center, most of three skeins of dishcloth cotton. At the far left edge of the photo, you can see the corner of a knit handbags booklet.
The two bits of spinning fiber, I bought from official Fiber-In vendors. The rest of it I acquired at the auction to raise funds for running the event and at the "destash" garage sale on Sunday morning. I also bought some purse handles and other handbaggy accessories that were supposed to go to the garage sale, but that I got late late Saturday night (or early early Sunday morning, depending on how you demarcate your days ;)) from the person who was meant to bring said items to the garage sale.

I imagine I'll make some kind of shawly thing out of the yellow mohair and put it up in the Etsy shop. Come to think of it, I bought something nearly that same shade of bright yellow at the Fiber-In last year, so maybe I was actually compelled to bid on the mohair out of some awareness of a yellow-buying theme. I also now have a tatting shuttle, which will hopefully inspire me to figure out how the crap tatting works.

Oh, and yesterday the first mate and I went to a local thrift store to check out what was there in case some of our Trashed Belongings were actually Donated Belongings (the person who "cleaned" our place while we were at Dragon*Con has been known to donate things to a specific local thrift store, sometimes even with permission ;)). We didn't find any of our stuff, but I did pick up a miniature easel that I'm hoping to use with my triangle loom, and a vintage book of men's sweater knitting patterns that has some wonderfully cheesy photos in it.


So while there has, indeed, been loss this month, there have also been fresh gains. And the space once taken up by the belongings I lost is quickly being filled up by new ones. So there, evil Loss! Fie on decluttering! At least, fie until I decide to do my own decluttering. I do want a clean space in which to exist. I just want to clean it myself, rather like I want to do my own learning and growing rather than having someone else's learning and growing agenda foisted off on me. How weird of me. ;)

Craft or Bust Week 37 Check-In and Roundup (September 12-18)

I have a lot of non-CoB-related stuff to say this week, so watch the blog for more updates (and pics!) soon. As far as CoB goes, let's just get blathering!

Roundup of Week 36: What We Crafted From September 6-11

Last time, on Craft or Bust...

• Lesley has recently started back at university and is thus Quite Busy, but she has indeed been crafting! She's been knitting her Sprout Blanket, has one sock half done, and knit a hemp washcloth for a knitting group member who's moving to Halifax.
• Jessica cast on and ripped out Karl's gloves two more times (no one should ever say knitting isn't work ;)), and finally got the cuffs right, so she safeguarded her achievement with a lifeline. (One of my favorite knitting "tools"!) She also cast on a mitten and knit about three inches during a defensive driving class — a good use of time, huh? (And she has also corrected me on my sloppiness from last week's check-in — she's only actually working one job, but she was offered more than one recently, which is where I got confused. :D)
• Susie knitted a Citron (awesome — I saw someone working on a Citron this past weekend, too), deconstructed capitalism, and ordered a spindle.

Check-in for Week 37: What Have You Done Lately? (September 12-18)

Me? On Sunday, I put together a little guide to the Florida Fiber-In for personal use and preregistered for the fiber-in. Monday, I didn't craft, but I did catch up with my Etsy messages. Tuesday, I went through my fabric stash looking for t-shirts to reconstruct and fabric for making a bag; bought some brown cotton seeds; called a local bead shop and put a chasing hammer on hold; and knit 10 rows on the hooded shrug. Wednesday, I took a bunch of wildflower photos on the way back from the post office and whipstitched together my handwoven one-stripe bag. Thursday, I picked up the chasing hammer from the bead shop, uploaded and organized my Dragon*Con Flickr set, and started organizing a list of craft shows to do in the next few months. Friday was "dig through trash for our lost stuff and, once clean again, drive to the Florida Fiber-In" day. Saturday, I attended a bunch of fiber arts demos at the fiber-in, took some video of the fiber-in on my phone, shopped for spinning fiber, knit on the hooded shrug up until my cable needle decided to come apart while I was doing the edging increases, finished spinning the purple sparkly batt I started a while ago, used a niddy noddy for the first time, and learned how to knit continental. Yay!

So what about you? Share your own crafty accomplishments from the past week in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!

Summer reflections, and the one-stripe bag lives!

It's almost the end of the summer. How was yours? Mine was full of far more trial and tribulation than I'd hoped for (of course, who hopes for trouble? ;)), with golden moments fewer than I'd wish (but that's frequently true, too, isn't it?) ... and yet I still haven't fallen off the Craft or Bust wagon, which is a pretty darn notable achievement. Crafting despite crazy times and negative experiences isn't something I've been able to accomplish in recent years — until this year. So yay. That's my big positive accomplishment for the summer.

There's a smaller positive thing happening here at the end of the season, too. Summer's end is apparently inspiring me to dig out old UFOs (Unfinished Objects, in case anybody's going "What?") and work on them. One of them is the "one-stripe bag" I started last November — and hey, picking it up again before its anniversary is an accomplishment, too! ;)

Here it is on the loom, with various blue stripes of warp and sparkly silver and white crochet cotton as weft:


One of the things that took me forever was weaving the warp ends back into the fabric, which I did because I didn't want fringe, and at the time when I started this, I was still afraid of zigzag-stitching my handwovens.


Weaving in all those ends by hand got pretty tedious, but it does make a nice, clean, sturdy finished edge.
Even after I finished weaving in the ends, I was vaguely afraid to trim them off — as if the handwoven fabric would suddenly unravel if I did. (I know, it won't ... but the first time doing a thing is often a time of uncertainty. ;)) I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted to to sew the stripe together to magically turn it into a bag shape, either; the proportion between the handle and the bag depends on how you arrange the strip. (It sort of "spirals," with the two ends of the strip becoming the sides of the bag, and the center of the strip becoming the front and back of the bag and the shoulder strap.)

But with the Florida Fiber-In looming on the horizon, I kept thinking thoughts of bringing a handmade bag to show off. And so I got off my butt and just loosely whipstitched the thing together, telling myself, "I can always take out the stitching if I don't like the way it turns out!" So here's the result.


It looks a bit better on a person than on a door handle, but you get the idea. It's a little smaller than I wanted it to be, in my head, but that's okay, too. It's a good size for a casual walk — it'd fit a book, a small notebook, and maybe a small knitting project, which ain't bad.

More UFOs coming to a blog near you soon, maybe. And then maybe, in the newness of the new season, I'll feel inspired to start some new projects. :D

Exercise in contrasts: a wildflower walk and a sordid tale

I mentioned in the last Craft or Bust post (conveniently, the last post in this blog, so if you didn't see it, it's not far off ;)) that something traumatic happened, and oddly enough, although I've posted about it on some of my Yahoogroups and on Facebook, I have a strange reluctance to post about it here on the blog. I even have a blog post written (two versions of it, in fact), but I can't quite bring myself to post it. I guess the idea of having my trauma indexed by search engines is a little much at this point — which probably has to do with my natural inclination to avoid putting too many gory details out for just anyone to find, as well as with the fact that the Great 2010 Dragon*Con Debacle was basically a huge violation of my privacy and rights — not something that makes me feel like sharing myself with the public.

But I can't just leave you all hanging, since I've mentioned it — and hey, you lovely blog readers deserve to know about the trials and tribulations of my life just as much as, or maybe even more than, the people on Facebook and Yahoogroups ... I mean, you come here and actively seek out my blather! ;) So let me say what I can.

Basically, when we went on vacation over Labor Day weekend, the person who was watching the house decided to "clean" for us. Which of course means much worse than that.

Imagine coming home from a vacation to find your inside cat wandering around outside, no food in the cat food dish, your garden torn up selectively, and large chunks of your possessions missing — but not just the high resale value stuff; yes, your vintage furniture is gone, and your original artwork, but what's left of your furniture has been rearranged inexplicably and while most of your linens were thrown out, some of them were replaced with "more appropriate" ones, and the not-particularly-valuable-to-anyone-else missing items include your curtains(??), your financial and personal records, most of the decorative/kitschy items you bought to make your house into a home, your mementos, silly cute gifts from friends and family, years' worth of greeting cards, nearly the entire contents of your bathroom and a lot of what was in the fridge, a large chunk of clothing, a box of costumes you made yourself (including some you made ten years ago with your mom before you even knew how to use a sewing machine), and your sketchbooks and notebooks, containing years' worth of ideas and inspiration.

Oh, and the person who removed your belongings left you a morally righteous note that basically says you should be thankful that so much of your life has been thrown in the trash (and it was — in the sealed trash compactor 20 yards from your front door), because it was for your own good, to help you see that you're a horrible, unethical, valueless person — an alcoholic, a drug addict, and a devil worshipper — who clearly has no taste and whose time and financial investments have clearly all been a waste. Oh, and everything missing from your house was a manifestation of Evil and moral backwardness. (My purple vase, my sage plant, that package of white card stock and the first mate's smiling Buddha were so eeeeeeevil! :P)

That's basically what happened to me and the first mate, except that there was no note. We were told those things to our faces by the person who was supposed to be feeding the cats and watering the plants, when we confronted said person about where the heck our stuff had gone.

So ... that's the story so far. Nice, huh?

But it's not over yet. (Why make it quick if it can't be painless? :P) On Friday, we get to cross our fingers that the trash people let us dig through the contents of the trash compactor when they dump it out at the landfill, even though Friday is a busy day for them — and then cross our fingers some more that some of our stuff is somehow salvageable. If you'd like to cross your fingers with us, your added positive vibes are very, very welcome.

I've been pretty stressed out about the possible outcome of Friday. I mean, last week I spent a huge amount of time calling around, trying to figure out who picks up the trash and if they would even let us dig through it, then I was literally one step away from having everything settled so that I could dig through the trash last Friday — an entire week early, which would be one less week of trash piled up on our belongings in the trash compactor — and the property manager at the condo management company said they couldn't give the trash company permission to pick up the compactor early because it would somehow be a liability. Most of the people I've talked to about it, including the person at the waste management company (who would probably know if people were prone to suing each other as a result of being allowed to dig through trash for their lost stuff), one lawyer and one soon-to-be-lawyer, are pretty sure that the company just doesn't want to pay the early pickup fee, which is a massively lame excuse for a hugely uncompassionate act — I offered to pay the fees.

Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me in time to call their bluff and offer to sign a waiver of liability so they can't hide behind that excuse any more; by the time I'd thought of it on Friday, their office had closed. (Stupid me, I had other things on my mind, like inventorying the gigantic amount of stuff I lost...) And our personal schedules would have prevented us from going to dig through the trash until today at earliest this week. That's if the waiver of liability offer worked, and we could get the paperwork done quickly (ha!). So we just decided to wait until the normal scheduled pickup this Friday. Sigh. Which is the day we're supposed to leave for the Florida Fiber-In. Sigh again.

(Side note to the property manager: I honestly think hiding behind a supposed liability is despicable behavior. Every single other person of the many I talked to last week went out of their way to help us get our stuff back as soon as possible. You, on the other hand, appear to have been hiding behind your assistant and overhyping an irrational fear of extremely unlikely legal action rather than choosing to be a human being and to help two fellow human beings in pain and need. I wish this were The Mummy, where "nasty little fellows such as yourself always get their comeuppance." Rest assured that if your happiness or success ever rest in my hands, I will very clearly remember your irrational lack of compassion in what has been the most emotionally trying time in my adult life so far.)

Before everyone starts asking about legal action and involving the authorities, let me say: The person who did this to us is ... a family member of sorts. So ... another closely-related family member — let's say "the Responsible One" — will be replacing as much of our stuff as is replaceable. And since we're reasonably sure the person who did all this to us — let's say "the Righteous One" — isn't exactly ... mentally and emotionally stable ... it wouldn't really help much to drag the Righteous One into court; meaning it wouldn't necessarily prevent future bad behavior. So we're leaving it to the Responsible One to figure out how to set right the Righteous One's emotional and mental stability, if you know what I mean.

...and that was a lot more than I thought I would say about that.

I know this is my craft blog, but oh my heck does this fall right into the "safe space is necessary for creativity" theme I've been harping on for a few months. I mean, my craft stuff was miraculously mostly still here — the Righteous One did this on purpose, claiming the "business stuff" was important, but the effectiveness of this statement is diminished by the failure to remember that handmade costumes and business records are also business stuff — but a lot of it was rearranged, so that I wasn't sure where much of it was. (We did also find some relocated non-craft-related stuff that we originally thought was missing, but a great deal of the missing things are large enough that they would still be visible if they had been moved elsewhere in the house.) And, er, having someone come into my personal space and literally treat my treasures like trash is a huge drain on my emotional energy.

On the other hand, I do have a new source of inspiration: I can now make sure every replacement item I buy is something the Righteous One would hate but that I love. Yes. I can make my house even "worse" than it was before. I could even make sure my new craft projects and knitting designs are as "offensive" as I can make them (that is, creative, nonstandard and interesting — you know, evil!). I'd love to make my home so "morally wrong" (like it might have colors in it, and candleholders, vintage furniture, souvenirs of trips, handmade objects, and gifts from my friends and family) that the Righteous One can't stand to come through the door. Not that that will ever happen again anyway, if I can possibly stop it.

WHEW.

So there it is. You know the story, and I hope you can empathize, or at least not judge me harshly for being angry and hurt and honest (and long-winded ;)). Though my plans for post-Dragon*Con crafting are totally shot, I can't let this defeat me. I have to rebuild, and keep crafting, and put even more of my heart and soul into the business and into creating new treasures and mementos. And I'll start keeping new records, sketchbooks and notebooks. (EVIL!) That's the only way I can heal the gigantic hole in my life.

Which brings me back to that wildflower walk that's in the title of this post. Today while I was walking back from the post office, I made myself take a moment to look at everything that's blooming right now. It's kind of like spring here in Florida in late summer — and our growing season is, after all, backwards from the growing season in many places. (Our organic farm CSA runs from November through May, for example.) Almost everything is in bloom, and I've actually never noticed before today how many different colors of flowers we have just among the (probably) native species. Some highlights are below — I hope you enjoy, and that the sharing of my "roadside nature walk" photos balances out the negative thoughts I shared with you earlier.










More nature pics, including some more from today, in my Florida set on Flickr.

And thanks, as always, for reading along. :D

Craft or Bust Week 36 Check-In and Roundup (September 6-11)

Sorry for the lack of posting, all ... I had a pretty traumatic week last week (and when I say "pretty traumatic" I mean it was possibly the most traumatic week of my adult life so far). I had so much planned — but eh. I'll post some details on what happened once I get my head a little clearer. Now, back to CoB:

Roundup of Week 35: What We Crafted From August 29-September 5

Last time, on Craft or Bust...

Jessica the Steadfast did battle with the back of the house alongside her mom on Sunday, and then took a well-deserved rest from crafting. During the rest of the week, she knit the thumb of one of the Fair Isle mittens, knit some of her dad's sweater, and got a couple of craft books. She started another new job, too, got a huge box of yarn from Knit Picks, started AND finished a trilobyte hat for her friend Alex, and darned one of her handknit socks. Sounds like a pretty good week...

Check-in for Week 36: What Have You Done Lately? (September 6-11)

In the past week, despite Traumatic Events by the name of the Great Dragon*Con Debacle of 2010, I did do a little bit of crafting. Sunday I was still at the con. Monday, I shopped at the con and bought a neat "transitional stone" cabochon to wrap someday. Then we got home to ... ridiculousness at the house. More on that in a later blog post. Most of Tuesday through Friday was taken up by trying to undo as much of the Debacle damage as possible. On late Friday I dug out some gift knitting needles and some gift yarn and started trying to knit a face scrubby to replace the one that got thrown out in the Debacle. Saturday, I tore out, reknit, and finished the face scrub, updated the CoB RAK list and sent it out, knit a few rows of Brian's long-abandoned Duel sweater, and knit and mucked up about half a wedge of my long-abandoned Perfect Pie shawl. Maybe today I'll unknit it stitch by stitch, since I was stupid enough not to put in a lifeline ... sigh.

So what about you? Share your own crafty accomplishments from the past week in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!

Craft or Bust Week 35 Check-In and Roundup (August 29-September 5)

Check-in coming to you from Dragon*Con 2010 in Atlanta, GA! All things considered, it's slightly amazing I'm managing this check-in at all. ;D

Roundup of Week 34: What We Crafted From August 22-28

Last week...

• Jessica finished some socks, started a crafty journal, finished a pair of Fair Isle mittens aqnd swatched for the gloves redo, "reinvented garlic bread" and made macaroni and cheese and a raspberry cream pie, knit several inches of her dad's sweater, and spent time cleaning her bedroom.
• Meredith C. has checked in again after a while, and has since her last check-in been planning her first handspun sweater and working on a pair of Noro striped knee-highs.
• Lesley finished a pair of wool socks — her first homemade Christmas gift of the year. She also played with paper crafts by making "Homemade for You" tags with her knitting-themed stamps.
• Susie wrote up a "non-pattern" and put it up on Ravelry due to Blogger technical obstinacies, started her blog interviews, knit some of her Citron, crocheted, and worked on her Loopy Cowl, an original pattern by her.

Check-in for Week 35: What Have You Done Lately? (August 22-28)

This is what I did this week, interrupted by Dragon*Con, during which I stood in Many Lines: Sunday, I sewed an apron and knit 20 rows of the hood of my hooded shrug. Monday, I tried on a bunch of costume stuff and took photos. Tuesday, I put together a PDF of the costume pics from the day before and sent it off to the approving body at Robot, Monster and Ghost. Wednesday, I did some more costume trials with photos. Thursday I knit some of my hooded shrug during the 8-hour drive to Atlanta. Friday, I did Dragon*Con. What more can you ask? Saturday, I knit some more of my hooded shrug while waiting for the How to Make Booze panel.

So what about you? Share your own crafty accomplishments from the past week in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!

Craft or Bust Week 34 Check-In and Roundup (August 22-28)

I know I said I'd have a corset update yesterday at latest — yeahhh. Yesterday was another one of those days that was supposed to be helpful but that ended up the opposite. SIGH. But anyway. ;) Let's CoB.

We have a new member! WOO! Welcome to Lesley, whose ultimate CoB goal is to make as many of her Christmas gifts as possible this year, and whose mini-goal is to knit every day, which should help with her Big Goal and also help her relieve stress as she begins a new program at school. Yay! Thanks for joining us, Lesley!

Roundup of Week 33: What We Crafted From August 15-21

Last week...

• Jessica the Steadfast wrote up two patterns, one of which went to Knitty and one of which is now on Ravelry. Yes, that's a link to the one on Rav. Go forth and see! She also frogged and reknit 10 rows of a Fair Isle mitten, made it to the toe decreases of the socks she's currently knitting, started writing up two new patterns, and GOT A JOB! Go you, Jessica!

Check-in for Week 34: What Have You Done Lately? (August 22-28)

Here's my li'l update: Sunday, I sketched the "crazy" version of the steampunk Princess Peach costume, researched men's Victorian clothing for the steampunk Mario costume, and did a sketch for the Robot, Monster and Ghost Co. costume (but I'm not showing it to anyone yet ;)). Monday, I picked up some cotton twill for the Peach corset, and a pad of newsprint for drafting patterns. Tuesday, I took my measurements for the Peach bodice sloper (and had the first mate take the ones I couldn't take) and (with some difficulty) drafted the front bodice sloper pattern. Wednesday, I hunted down stash fabric for the bodice sloper muslin, knit one repeat of the ice princess capelet (Rav link) I've been working on forever, rearranged some of the living room to make room for costumey activities, and drafted the back bodice sloper pattern. Thursday, I received some costumey stuff in the mail, knit 15 rows of the hooded shrug pattern I'm testing, and drafted a corset pattern, cut out the pattern pieces, and pinned them to the mock-up fabric. Friday, I oiled and tested my sewing machine; cut out, sewed, and tried on the corset mock-up; and knit 35 rows of the hooded shrug, which got me to the END of the sleeves! Now I just need to do the edging and the hood. Saturday, I went thrift-store shopping for costume pieces and got a fairly good haul of those and some sewing supplies, including some supposedly antique buttons.

So what about you? Share your own crafty accomplishments from the past week in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!

Costume accessories and another Princess Peach sketch

Anticipate a corset-drafting update later — either today or tomorrow. For now, a quick peek into a few accessories I've collected for my Robot, Monster and Ghost Co. collaboration costume. (The RM&G costume, in contrast to the steampunk Peach costume, is mostly collection — meaning that documenting the costuming process would look suspiciously like shopping and showing it off. Here goes! ;))


Handmade bobby pins from Peasant and Raven on Etsy. Arrived today and I'm wearing them as we type! (I have to test them, you know.)


A weird glass bottle I picked up in New York, which might get used as an accessory. Funky, huh?


Another New York flea market find: Some keys for my character. And why deos she need these, you might ask? Stay tuned and find out! ;)
It also came to my attention yesterday that I neglected to post the second steampunk Princess Peach concept sketch — now with more Cute/Quirky and rather less Historical Flavor — so here's that:


Not as fancy and ruffly as the first concept, but I promise I will do a fancy Victorian dress someday.
Now I will bravely go and see if my sewing machine wants to work with me. I basted together my bodice sloper mock-up by hand, but I'm probably going to have to use a sewing machine at some point, so I need to find out if it's feeling well-behaved.

You remember the sewing machine cleaning/fixing extravaganza, right? It was reasonably successful — after that, my sewing machine worked. Mostly. But sometimes still not so much.

Let's try an experiment: Everyone clap your hands like you're reviving a fairy, and maybe it will bring back my Sewing-Machine Sixth Sense, which allows me to tame any rebellious sewing machine on the planet. Ready? Clap! Clap! Clap!

...Now imagine me running off to find a piece of scrap fabric to sew with...

Why things don't always happen on time (or, the tale of the wonky sloper)

On Tuesday, I took my measurements for the Princess Peach bodice sloper, drafted the front and back pieces, cut them out, made a muslin to check the fit, drafted a corset pattern based on the sloper, and with the help of my trusty leftover plastic boning and some hemp cord, I sewed my first corset!

Not.

That was what I was kind of hoping would magically happen, but this is what happened instead:

On Tuesday, I took my measurements for making a front bodice sloper. In case you don't know, a "sloper" is a super-basic pattern fitted to your exact measurements; you can use it for all kinds of stuff, including for making other patterns that you know will fit you, which is what I intend(ed?) on doing. In this case, I was measuring myself for the front half of a sloper for my upper body.

Anyway, when I got to the measurements for the back bodice sloper, I realized I would have to be a contortionist with bug eyes to take some of them myself.


My Special Tape Measure does let me, say, measure my own bicep with one hand, but alas, it does not come with sticky bits that would allow me to measure from the back of my neck to the center of the back part of my waist.
So I had to wait until the first mate got home (and he works the late shift, of course! ;)) to take the missing measurements. If I could have double-checked the measurements personally, I would have, but I couldn't even watch him in the mirror as he measured — if I could do that, I would have the "bug-eyed contortionist" thing down and wouldn't have needed his help.

So I had to trust his measurements, and went forward with the drafting of the sloper pattern. (Again, in case you don't know, that just means I was following the directions to draw the sloper pattern.) While doing this, I realized that the theoretical girl in the pattern-drafting example diagrams was definitely not the same shape as I am, and I started to doubt myself: Would my sloper even come out correctly if I couldn't follow the directions properly? Alarmingly, my across-shoulder and across-chest measurements don't work out so that there's a pointy bit where it should be. Here, let me show you.


On my version of this pattern piece, the Line of Wonk does not do what it does on the above example (image ganked for illustrative purposes from Andy Nguyen's pages on tailoring — meaning I do not claim to have created nor do I own this image).
See that line between points 6 and 9? See how it sticks out past the line coming down from point 7 and forms a little point? That little point is the top of the arm-hole (a.k.a. the armscye), which, in a lot of patterns, curves like that because people have cylindrical arms. And the space between points 4 and 7 is determined by measuring across my shoulders, meaning that that line needs to be a certain length in order for the bodice to actually make it across the front of my body.

But using my measurements, point 9 ends up to the left of the line coming down from point 7. That's right — using the appropriate measurements, my armhole wants to start on the inside of my chest width. Which seemed a little wrong (I swear I don't have arms on the front of my body) so I re-checked my body measurements, and had the first mate check, too. And yes, it's true: If I measure a little differently, I can get a different result. I can make the measurement even smaller. Perfect! You know, if by "perfect" I mean not. ;)

Oh, and just to confuse me a little more, the Line of Wonk, in my version of the pattern, angles UP, not down. After an emergency consultation with my costume buddy of Olde Times, I decided to just draw the dang line longer than it should have been and make adjustments in the muslin (meaning the mocked-up test bodice that gets sewn using the sloper as a pattern).


It's pretty faint in this photo (my pencil lines aren't that dark, since pencil point + too much pressure + newsprint = hole), but if you follow the photo link to Flickr, I've added a note pointing out the Line of Wonk in my sloper.
Tuesday ended with me feeling rather like some kind of genetic mutant, but at least I had a finished front bodice sloper to play with.

On Wednesday, I drafted the back bodice sloper without trouble. Which should really be taken as a sign of trouble in itself. ;) I even found some fabric that would work to make the muslin (that is, a mock-up sewn garment of inexpensive fabric, used to test the fit of the pattern in question), and applied pattern, pins, scissors, more pins, needle and thread to said fabric (in that order), indeed to produce a muslin.

Which fits perfectly from the bust point down, but horrendously from the bust point up. Ha, ha. So the part of the bodice containing the Line of Wonk is, indeed, wonky. I probably should have expected that, considering I knew I was doing something wrong in that part of the pattern. (But part of creating is hope...)

However, I realized late, late Wednesday night (so late you might *cough* even call it Thursday morning) that I don't need properly-fitted shoulders to make a corset, because none of the corset styles I was considering has shouldery bits. WHEW.

So my quest today is browsing my period clothing books and mooshing together what I find there with the information from various online corsetmaking pages.

Then maybe I'll play with other online sloper drafting instructions (like the even more complex sloper instructions at Leena's or the ones on Seamlyne.com), or maybe I'll raid my own closet for items of clothing with shoulders that DO fit, so I can trace them and magically meld the result with the bottom half of my current sloper pattern, a.k.a. the bit that fits.

Or maybe I'll do BOTH. Dangit. Yeah. So there.

If I do all these things, I will have momentarily channeled the spirit that made me name my blog "Quicksilver Crafter" a few years ago. That would be a miracle, so don't expect it ... but do feel free to send good wishes. ;)

Craft or Bust Week 33 Check-In and Roundup (August 15-21)

Tip of the hat to my staunch friend Jessica as we march forward in our weekly crafting together! ;)

Roundup of Week 32: What We Crafted From August 8-14

Last week...

• Jessica made True Blood team t-shirts with her friends, reached the end of the gusset decreases in her socks, cast on a Fair Isle mitten and made it about a third of the way through it, made a pair of baby booties for her former nanny's god-child, went to an interview, and posted photos and a narrative of her latest adventures on her blog — squirrels, climbing, covered bridges! Check it out!

Check-in for Week 33: What Have You Done Lately? (August 15-21)

Still haven't re-taken-up my writing brain, but it will come back soon. It will. Really. Other than that ... Last Sunday I tweaked some packaging labels in Illustrator, put crafty thingies in packaging, made a shawl pin, and knit 10 rows in the continuing saga of the hooded shrug. Monday, I brainstormed & consulted with my friends over at Robot, Monster & Ghost Co. about our costume collaboration for Dragon*Con and ordered some glass jars for the costume. (Can you guess what they'll be used for? ;)) Tuesday, I researched historical costumes for my Steampunk Princess Peach costume, did a preliminary costume sketch, ordered some costume books, made scones, looked at costume patterns, and created a Food set on my Flickr account. Wednesday, I ordered some new business cards (and crossed my fingers they'd get here before Dragon*Con), added a kind of wonky bottom graphic to the blog, and knit 40 rows on the hooded shrug and thus reached the beginning of the second sleeve, of which I knitted 15 rounds. Thursday, I started writing a character sheet to help me with my RM&G costume-building. Friday, I finished said character sheet, bought a set of hair pins for the costume, and read/looked through about half of one of the Victorian costume books that arrived this week. Saturday, despite all good intentions to get an Obscene Amount of Costume Stuff done, I only knitted two rows of the hooded shrug, and made chocolate non-mud cupcakes. (I thus commit myself to getting an Obscene Amount done tomorrow.)

So what about you? Share your own crafty accomplishments from the past week in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!

In which costume hell week (or fortnight) 2010 begins

After ten years' worth of doing it, you might think I'd know better than to start a costume at the last possible moment. Of course, you might also think the Loch Ness Monster exists. I'm not saying it doesn't, but I am saying that there's not a whole lot of hard evidence for it. The same goes for the evidence that I will ever start sewing a costume before the last possible second.

This tendency, of course, is really a subset of "If I'm making it for me, I can put it off a little longer; oh crap, I don't have any longer." So if I were to sew you a costume, I would be fully capable of starting it in a timely fashion.

Since this costume is for me, however, I was required by the laws of my own reality to wait until I only have two weeks to finish.

What costume, you ask? Oh, it's an answer to my personal steampunk dilemma — to the love/hate relationship I have with this neo-Victorian costume and aesthetic trend that combines two things I love dearly (technology and Victorian-era style) but which somehow manages to offend me the way many people do it.

I know. I'm a terrible person for thinking some people's "steampunk" costuming is a horrible, mutant, self-indulgent, Mary-Sue-ish interpretation of techno-Victorian style. It's terrible of me because there's an attitude, in steampunk culture, that steampunk is a bit about uniqueness, and expressing yourself, and defying convention. I approve of and support all of these things — and yet I still think some people's steampunk costuming is more like visually screaming "LOOK HOW F***ING BADASS I AM!" than it is respectful of the Victorian/technological aesthetic and ideals. And that offends me because I love Victoriana and technology more than I like watching people preen and show off.

Hate me for it if you like. ;)

Anyway, if you do, you may be pleased to know my attitude has presented me with an inescapable conflict: Since the rise of steampunk costuming, I've felt driven to make a steampunk costume that I DO like — nay, that I love! And that requires me to research and confront what I dislike, so that I can fail to do those things.

Aside from starting a frickin' costume on time for once, this is probably the hardest costume-related thing I've ever done. It's taken me a couple of years to get to the point where I can even envision a steampunk costume I can bear to wear.

And so, the costume

One of the Things I Dislike is when a costume or character takes steampunkiness Far Too Damn Seriously. (Note that I am not accusing the people in the costumes of taking steampunk too seriously. I am, however, saying that if they don't, their costumes and characterization utterly fail to show it. ;)) At the steampunk fashion show at Dragon*Con last year, the models I loved best were the ones with a sense of humor.

Thus, I was inspired: Why not do a steampunk costume that inherently has a sense of humor? I could even pack a ton of over-seriousness into it and potentially be a walking piece of satire. A self-contained in-joke. But I don't want to be a standoffish in-joke. I want to be an in-joke that everyone can share. Something so ridiculous that people can glance at me in costume and go "OMG is that what I think it is? That is Hilarious! Take a picture!"

So, you know. I could do something like a steampunk version of the video game character Princess Peach. And what's a Princess Peach costume without a Mario to match it?

Yesssss. This is the light at the end of the brass-goggled tunnel. This I can do. This I will do.

...in the next two weeks.

Yes. Laugh at me. Laugh! Your laughter will fuel my own hysteria, and thus give me energy!

And even though I am doing a tongue-in-cheek, video game steampunk costume, my sense of steampunk (which pretty much matches that described in this blog post on the Steampunk Fashion LJ community) demands that I design using real research into real Victorian clothing.

So! Using the evil power of Amazon Prime, I magically made this book appear on my doorstep today! And there are two more that should show up tomorrow.


And after doing copious Internet research, I came up with this not-entirely-satisfactory preliminary sketch:


Steampunk Princess Peach dress idea. Obviously I still need to figure out the hair. Also: Pardon the fact that this is a photo and not a scan. My scanner is currently indisposed. ;)
It needs more insanity. More Peach. More steampunk. More everything! It needs to be more over-the-top in all ways! And really, this is just a structural idea sketch, not a complete costume sketch; this is basically just an idea for the bits that I would need to literally SEW. Accessories and colors will help transform it. A parasol will help. The Princess Peach crown, and the earrings, and the fabric choices will help.

More money would help, too. Turning the crazy ideas in my head into reality seems even more insane on this month's sadly credit-card-dependent budget. (On the off chance that you have an overabundance of charitable feeling toward me and my geeky costuming, and a bit of money you'd like to donate, feel free to drop me a line. Even a small donation would help, and I'd be happy to give you a big fat "This costume sponsored by" shout-out and a link on the official costume info/documentation page — when one exists, on my Web site and/or here on the blog.)

And because my life is meant to be overly complicated — the Quicksilver Crafter reality is driven by stuffing too much productivity into short spans of time — this is not the only costume I'm working on. A collaboration with the lovely Robot, Monster & Ghost Co. will be unveiled at Dragon*Con this year, too.

Imagine me surrounded by sketches, coffee cups, fabric, newsprint-turned-pattern-pieces, and vintage accessories, wherein two fluffy cats and a long-haired boyfriend are trapped, and you have a decent estimation of what my next two weeks will be like.

Piratical homebodying: of purple knitting and revisiting scones

So although I was a slacker and didn't blog almost at all while I was in New York, I did capture photographic evidence of my craftiness. See? Look!


That's the sleeve of a hooded shrug I'm test-knitting. (Right now I'm stuck in the sea of stockinette stitch that is the back of the shrug, but I only have a few inches left. I'll make it out soon!)

And last night I was finally driven to action by the endless march of food shows that the first mate and I tend to watch. I wanted cupcakes, but I made scones:




Date and raisin scones, to be precise. The cupcake avoidance was partly due to lack of ingredients, and partly due to having No Clue about how to make the kind of cupcakes that I really want to make. I crave the irrationally gourmet kind of cupcake — the kind I'd be happy to pay $2.50 for two bites of. I was never a cupcake fan, by the way, before I worked at an office job where someone with good taste, a lot of money, and a kindly heart got me addicted to the uber-awesome variety. But now? Now I NEED to figure out how to make my own. Any book or blog recommendations, me hearties? ;)

Anyway, the scones turned out pretty well, considering I've taken a five- or six-year hiatus between batches. We didn't have any baking soda, so I had to limit myself to baking powder, and dates and raisins were all we had enough of, so in they went. But all in all, they still kick the butt of all the scones I've ever bought from anyone else. And that's a win. :D

Life = Energy: a semi-epiphany about energy and motivation

Remember that "safe space and creativity" theme I came up with a few months ago, that I kept promising to come back to? Yeah, it's perverse how not having safe space often means I don't have the creative energy even to write about it. I'm sure you can hear me laughing about how friggin' funny that is. ;P

Anyway, yesterday I was ranting about a specific type of non-motivation — the kind that comes from spending all your energy on one huge problem, so that you don't have any left to solve the everyday problems that come up. You know, like when you spend all your time trying to wrangle personal drama even though you know you should be thinking about how to fix the leaky washing machine and how to pay the bills this month, or deciding whether to use up the next two weeks of your life on a single project (not that I'm avoiding thinking about that right now, or anything...).

Today it clicked that my rant also applies to creativity. Actually, in my head, when I say "motivation," that includes creativity; I do sometimes think of life as one long series of creative problem-solving sessions. Today's now-elusive moment of clarity left me with an idea that goes something like this:

Problem-solving = energy. Creativity (and its requisite safe space) = energy. You only have so much energy to go around.

So when you use up a huge amount of energy on trying to solve a big, important problem, it naturally drains your "reserves" — the energy that you would use on "luxury" stuff that doesn't immediately contribute to your survival, like painting or sewing or writing or even cleaning the kitchen. If you solve the problem, that drain on your energy goes away. As you generate more energy to live, you slowly "fill up" again, and are ready to do more stuff, whether it's tackling big problems or spending time on luxuries, or both.

But when a big problem doesn't actually get solved, you have to keep putting energy into it, so your reserves stay depleted. Then, you stay unmotivated, in proportion to the amount of effort you spend dealing with the problem. Sometimes that means you neglect luxuries but keep chugging along on the necessities ... and sometimes that means you neglect both luxuries AND essentials. (If the latter happens long enough, the structure of your life starts to devolve into a problem of its own, and that, of course, becomes its own drain on your energy...)

Of course, everyone deals with this big-problem energy drain differently: It depends on how much energy they have, how fast their energy returns (which is related not just to personal resilience and emotional metabolism, but also to the efficiency of the support network(s)), and how their priorities are structured.

As far as priorities, what your brain designates as essential might be something my brain designates a luxury. (Heck, an individual person's priorities change over time, too!) Maybe when you're dealing with a gigantic problem, you stop cooking and start ordering take-out for every meal and you completely stop working on renovating the bathroom, but you keep on driving your kids to school and taking the dog for walks and going to knit night.

And me? Right now when I'm dealing with a problem of epic proportions, I stop answering e-mail and working on anything I'm doing for myself, but I keep on working on anything I promised someone else I would do. (Sigh.) Have you seen the Hierarchy of Cleaning? Being creatively inspired is waaaaay up there in the tip of the "hierarchy of energy usage" pyramid, firmly in the "extras" section.


Sunset over Lake Tarpon, August 14, 2010. Going out and enjoying naturey goodness is one of the things that my brain marks as "luxury" ... but I should still do it more.

I've said for years that the only way to get me to stop being bothered by a problem is to solve the problem. Although I define "solve" relatively loosely, in a way that deals more with closure than with actually making a problem literally go away, that still means that if a problem isn't solved, doing "me stuff" can only sometimes put me back on track for inspiration and productivity. It depends on how big the unsolved problem is. I can only regain so much energy by reading, taking walks, eating noodles, and playing pointless video and computer games, and sometimes those things just aren't enough to bring me back to place where I feel inspired to do amazing, creative things.

And oh MAN does it put me behind when a massive problem rears its ugly, persistent head right when I need to be making crucial decisions, laying the foundations for important projects, and doing things that let me pay the bills. I know a priority adjustment would help remedy this by making sure I spend energy where I need to ... but there are some things I can't change without changing my personal ethics and values. I can't put cleaning the house before providing emotional support to loved ones in need, for instance. But I really, really need to clarify the parts of my hierarchy of energy usage that involve creating new products for the shop, promoting the business, and doing creative things just for myself. Really really. I can't keep shunting energy back and forth between dealing with Problems That Won't Go Away and Things I Need to Do To Pay Bills. They need to have equal treatment. And even if I have to go through Energy Boot Camp to expand my personal endurance to do that, well ... I have to do what I have to do.

I can't keep getting behind on life, no matter how demoralized or demotivated I am. I mean, sheesh. Why am I alive if I'm not going to really live?

Yeah. Time to dig in my heels, grit my teeth, and find a way — a healthy way — to create more energy, or to pare down my energy usage.

That's just that.

Craft or Bust Week 32 Check-In and Roundup (August 8-14)

Oooops! Look at my Shameful Absence of Post! I've had thoughts; they just haven't flowed out into blog posts. Bad me, bad! I will start posting again post-haste (ha ... ha...), I promise. ;) At least I remembered to do the CoB post, even if it's super-late in the day. My mind is just not all here right now.

Roundup of Week 31: What We Crafted From August 1-7

Last week...

• Jessica cast on a new pair of socks, knit about 5 1/2 inches of the leg (by Saturday), baked a strawberry pie, went to a museum and took photos, and knit in public in Canada!
• Susie finished her fish hat (it now has eyes! et voila! See the eyes and the rest of the hat on her blog), made some shopping bags and held her first giveaway (yayyy!), and worked on an underwear pattern (most cute!).

Check-in for Week 32: What Have You Done Lately? (August 8-14)

I've been a bad girl and haven't written for a while — but I'll start again ... I will! In the meantime, I've mostly been knitting. Sunday, I knit about 15 rows of the back of my hooded shrug, and shopped for costume accessories at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market. Monday, I hailed my first New York cab! I know ... not really creative, but can we pretend it was because I really wanted to mention it? ;) I also knit 17 more rows of my hooded shrug and took some NYC photos. Tuesday, I came back to Florida, but before I did, I took notes for creating a new dress (for singing gigs!) and a new Web site for my New York friend Virginia Marcs. ;D Wednesday was pretty nondescript in terms of crafting. Thursday, I sold a Waves of Compassion shawl pin (yayyy!) and made it, and also made some charm pins for a custom order (yayyy again!). Friday was ... pretty much bust, in more ways than one. ;P And Saturday, I knit 18 more rows of the hooded shrug. See? Mostly knitting.

So what about you? Share your own crafty accomplishments from the past week in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!

Craft or Bust Week 31 Check-In and Roundup (August 1-7)

Holy crap, I haven't posted here at all in a week. Well, it's been a busy week, and now I'm in New York City for a little while, helping a friend get sane and running around feeding my creative muse with all NYC has to offer...

Roundup of Week 30: What We Crafted From July 25-31

• Jessica knit another two inches of her dad's sweater back, finished her secret design project and typed up the pattern (COOL!), baked cookies, cast on and ripped out Karl's gloves the third time (alas ;)), and put in a job application. And yes, twelve hours of knitting is quite respectable. ;)

Check-in for Week 31: What Have You Done Lately? (August 1-7)

This has been a brain-altering week; on Sunday I bought a last-second ticket to New York City, and on Friday, I was here — and I still am! I did get a bit of crafting done, though: Monday I started working on a secret costume project. Tuesday, I cast on for a hooded shrug that I'm test-knitting and knit a bunch of one sleeve. Wednesday, I did a lot, but didn't actually make anything. Thursday, I knit some more of the hooded shrug in between preparations for the NYC trip, and packaged up the beaded Waves of Compassion shawl pin finally. Friday, I flew to New York ... and still managed to knit some of the hooded shrug. Saturday, I explored the city! But I admit I didn't actually make anything. I did watch a bunch of short plays and movies, and saw a scene from Wicked in the Gershwin Theater on Broadway, though ... so I watched creativity. Maybe that counts? ;)

My one FAIL has been that I actually missed a day of writing — yesterday. I don't feel horrible about it, since I knew I would probably do that at some point, and being in New York City for the first time in my adult life is a pretty good excuse. ;)

So what did you do this week? Share your own crafty accomplishments in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!

Craft or Bust Week 30 Check-In and Roundup (July 25-31)

Do you guys ever feel like your productivity happens in cycles? I wonder whether, if I graphed my productivity, it would show recurring, predictable trends ... ;)

Roundup of Week 29: What We Crafted From July 18-24

• Jessica knit ~six inches of the back of her Dad's sweater, brought a design project from January back into the light and did about a quarter of it, made paper flowers (any suggestions as to what she can do with them now? ;)), got a box of yarn and needles in the mail, put in some job applications, made Crock Pot macaroni and cheese, and made a bunch of yummy birthday good for her father's birthday party. Hurray! Happy birthday to your dad. :D
• Sarah's back! She learned new things! ;) And she hereby declares this a kinda-sorta July update: She learned to can jelly (in the process of which she learned "to closely monitor overfilled pots of boiling sugar syrup! And further, to wait out small kitchen fires rather than freaking out and also to call and let my significant other know that no one was hurt and nothing was damaged before I begin tweeting about said kitchen fire." There I go with the quotage again, but how can CoB survive without its regular dosage of funny Sarah quotes?) She also learned that watermelon jelly is good, even when it's not super-watermelony. (That reminds me: I think I need to make some lychee jelly. Care to share any recipes or procedures?) She also learned about stamping metal, which coincided with her turning 30, and then she signed up for a silversmithing class — yay for acid, fire, hammers and sharp things! — and made a cute little silver ring. Woo!

Check-in for Week 30: What Have You Done Lately? (July 25-31)

On to my own babblage. The productivity-cycle musings above are partly inspired by my general lack of inspiration in the past few weeks. I know what's behind them, but I still wonder whether this stuff might be cyclical. Why not? I shouldn't disbelieve until I have evidence one way or another, right? ;)

Anyway, this week I continued writing every day. Which is getting harder when I don't know what I'm doing in the middly bits of this book. Need to remedy that. Sunday, I knitted a gauge swatch for a hooded shrug test knit, and made and sent in the listing info for a super-limited-edition Waves of Compassion shawl pin for the Help the Gulf Coast Etsy shop. Monday, I made an end-of-Tour-de-Fleece yarn collage and bought some US size 6 double-pointed needles for further hooded shrug swatching. Tuesday, I made pork bone soup (and discovered that my suspicions were correct about needing more than two pork bones to effectively do this ;)), re-swatched for the hooded shrug and washed the swatch, and downloaded Feedly to help organize all my creativity-inspiring RSS feeds in a way that will encourage me to read them. Wednesday, I took some photos of the world outside when it turned yellow (and then it turned purple, but I didn't photograph that, alas), read someone's novel synopsis and sent feedback, and started using the Read It Later Firefox add-on to save all the creativity-inspiring but computer-killing tabs I usually have open. WHEW. I also started a digital dream board, on a site which I shall fail to share because I haven't given it a thorough enough testing to be sure I want to spread the word about it yet. ;) Thursday, I made a Gulf Coast Compassion treasury on Etsy, swatched yet again for the hooded shrug, and actually SPUN a little bit of yarn from the Gypsy batt that was in progress when TDF ended. Friday, I wrote notes for some costumes I'll be making for Dragon*Con. And Saturday, I read some of Jane Eyre — reading is creative, too! It helps keep my brain's imaging capabilities honed and sharp. ;)

And even though that list looks pretty long, I still don't feel like I spent a lot of time really MAKING things. This week was kind of like treading water. I hope there's a little more creative swimming next week.

So what did you do this week? Share your own crafty accomplishments in the comments here, and don't forget to use the standard check-in format on the rules page!

And as always, if you're new to Craft or Bust, check out the CoB rules page and sign up if you like — it's easy!