AUGUST 2023
August 3, 2023
I wanted to have something actually worthwhile to share next time I wrote here but I don't. I had fun with Art Fight, I got some beautiful art and as far as I know everybody that I drew for liked what I made them :-). I've had my fill of painting for now so hopefully I will get on some pixel art soon.
I don't have a not-awkward transition for this. I feel very off and unwell anymore. My grandfather died yesterday and I'm processing it strange, I think. I live hours from my grandparents and we weren't super close. I visited them recently, in July. I feel awful for my mother. I think the ...cycle? process? is just weighing me down. Last year was easily the worst year of my life and I never fully picked up the pieces (I'd argue I dropped more.) I played dnd tonight, I never mentioned anything to anyone. I feel like I'm in a constant melancholy loop and my friends are sick of it. I don't know what the answer is.
Sorry for the bad update. I know nobody likes to listen to someone clogging their feed with complaining. I'll try to make something soon. PS: I picked back up on the mushroom cat I'm crocheting for my friend, and while I had a very frustrating day (I incorrectly counted the same row 3 times) it is coming along nice. I'll share a photo once it's done.August 6, 2023
Hello! I just wanted to share that I finished the crochet mushroom cat for my friend!
They had trouble deciding which tail they liked most; but it turns out the mushroom topper is essentially a sewn-on hat, so I made one and just left it unattached. My friend bought the yarn (Caron simply soft in white, black, and autumn red) and it was fine for this project, I think. The particular slippery yarn + black yarn + me usually not working this small combo was kind of rough at times but that's very specific. I'm realizing I may have accidentally done an increase on the tail (you can see a bump by the near on the second pic.) The pattern itself was really well written, I liked it a lot!
I'm feeling a bit more determined to get my various projects finished (mostly because I'm cleaning/rearranging and getting frustrated at how much stuff I own lol). I have a giant ramble on containers in my head right now but I'll spare you.
August 13, 2023
Hi! I was on a trip with my friends over the weekend, it was nice to get out of the house. Also! On last Wednesday I sewed my first wearable item ever:
A kind of messy but very comfortable pair of sleep shorts. I ended up using linen from another old sheet set (a significantly less distressed one, notably) so they're very comfortable. This picture is actually of the back, because I ended up mixing up the front and back at the very end of the project. So the front has a particularly un-matched line of thread from putting the elastic inside, but whatever. I didn't care enough to even re-thread my machine with white thread. Then again, I do like the contrast on the hems I think. I learned a number of things, including but not limited to: I pin things the wrong way;I should probably measure things; I should observe my "actual" clothings' construction more; sewing inherently ends in a ton of waste.
I have a few other things I want to get around to sewing at some point -- expanding the pockets of a pair of shorts I own, using old towels to make a sort of post-shower romper thing, a skirt, a blouse. I'll probably end up doing them in that order too!
August 19, 2023
Hello! 1.) I've been working on a new doll base!
It's gearing up to be very large both in size and scope of options. Honestly I'm starting to second guess the size of it, looking at it on this page. Uh oh. I wondered if it would be easier to just make it a dollmaker instead (it wouldn't lol, but if I were to make one I'd probably use this base.) The concept is a sort of universal love/world peace/friendship deal so each doll is posed to hold hands with another doll. I want to give this base a whole page of variants! I'm currently planning to add:
- A few different body shapes/weights
- Sitting poses for those different bodies -- I'll probably make a wheelchair or two just to make sure the heights line up/save others some grief lol
- "End cap" arms -- straight down, on hips, and holding the end of a sign/banner/flag
I have a few other ideas (other eye shapes, for one) but I have a hard time deciding what is "options for a base" and just...doing things that people who would have used the base would do on their own. Best example I can think of is a base with winking options vs assuming people who want a winking doll will just edit it themselves. Am I overthinking it? Yes. Help me overthink it by sending any suggestions for this base to my guestbook!
2.) I spent a few hours on Wednesday scanning all of the "loose" art from basically my whole life. I'm trying to majorly downsize my belongings and being able to throw away 160+ scans worth of paper is a great start. I'm still keeping my favorites (from that box, about 5 things, plus a couple canvas panels that I just want to reuse.) I have a lot of sketchbooks to go through, and I know it's only going to get more tedious as time goes on. I know the more recent times I get, the more random it's going to be if I have scanned those already or not. I'm excited to have those two cube shelf slots empty, but I know that if I think about scanning everything all at once right now I'm going to stress myself out.
3.) I've been thinking more lately just about how much stuff I own, and aaaaaaaa. I'm not in the business of telling people to "declutter" "organize" "downsize" there's a million and a half youtube channels for that. Basically, I'm just going to put effort into using up, or getting rid of my backlog of stuff. Current focus will be skincare/hygiene items and yarn. I have LOTS of yarn scraps that need to just go into the scrap blanket. (I'm still not sure about the "slightly less than one skein but way too much for the scrap blanket" yarn, though.) Skincare/hygiene: I need to better accept that I do not use the items I do not use for a reason. I have great dreams of being that person with their 1 reliable item of every category, and while I'm definitely on the right path I'm not close to done lol.
4.) I did alter my shorts! The front pockets are now about 1.15 phones deeper :-)! It's not very pretty on the inside but they held up in the washer and that's all I can ask for.
Crochet, Sleep, Website Under Construction
August 27, 2023
Hello! I crocheted a blanket in like 3 days and only slightly lost my mind!
I started a baby blanket for my friend at the beginning of this year...and then the yarn I was using seems to have been discontinued. On one hand, I didn't actually get that far into it, but I was using a suspiciously small (it's older than me and plastic-maybe it's worn down?) E hook to make it super dense. I fell into despair and didn't think of it until I found this pattern and this yarn (Lion Brand Mandala "Bonus Bundle" in colorway "Giant") Bonus Bundles are comically large cakes, this blanket is an entire one minus just 2 yards. I had a slight panic when doing the sc border, but to save yarn I switched to slip stitches at the very end where the green had started in the last normal row. It worked out I think! This blanket has more than a few hiccups but I'm kind of like whatever lol. (all aesthetic! -- I would not gift a not-structurally-sound blanket) I gave it to my friend yesterday and she liked it all is well! Also I'm stunned my arms are okay.
I've been very "whatever lol" to a lot of things right now because I'm having trouble sleeping and have been exhausted lately. I don't know what's up, I'm a remarkably unhealthy person and it could be any number of things. _(´ཀ`」 ∠):_
Hey this page looks different! It now has entry "titles" -- I ramble a lot so I figured these could save someone a few minutes. While I'm kind of attached to the ugliness of my website I've decided to do some updating (whatever your expectations are, lower them lol.) This page is the test run, I'll do my best to do everything else at once later on.