SEPTEMBER 2023
Art Talk, Wack Feelings, Chili Oil
September 8, 2023
What a strange, yet completely average day I've had. Fell asleep extremely late due to emotions. Slept in later than I would like because of that, but feeling better. Got exposed to BAD (imo) ONLINE CONTENT, which tanked my everything for a bit. Back to average.
I gave myself a daily art challenge for this month, which is going okay minus the fact I definitely lack both creativity and endurance. The art club + daily drawing + other ideas I get + things I do for others feels like so much numerically. But I'm frustrated at the limits of my ability, even though I know building skill takes time and effort. Tangent: I suck at drawing trees, and I'm not a huge fan of drawing them. But I love nature scenes so they obviously come up a lot. In forcing myself to paint trees over and over again, the natural search for more effective techniques; I would say I'm significantly better than I was even 6 months ago. Maybe proud is a strong word, but sure, I’ll say I’m proud of actively working at and improving something I was struggling with. I suppose it’s just overwhelming because I feel like I should get better at everything, and not just in terms of art. One day at a time :-( I haven't touched the friendship base since the diary entry I showed it (It is further along than the image I showed, though.) I’ve decided I don’t like the size of it. I’ll probably clean up what I have and share it, but the friendship base conceptually will move to a different body. As always I want to make more pixel art, zero promises to myself, negative promises to any readers lol.
I’m not going to be a huge bummer, but the TL;DR is I’m sick of bad things happening. Especially to kind people. Death is inevitable, sure, but why are tragedies too :-(
To end on a high note: I made some extremely goofy chili oil and I’m very happy. I unintentionally came into possession of 5 pounds of cayenne pepper; and when asking for any ideas, a friend spitballed making chili oil. It worked! Considering it’s made of random stuff I had around, and only has one fresh ingredient, it tastes great. I am inspired to make pixel art of chili oil in some way lol. I've also decided to officially try to cut dairy out of my diet (I'm lactose intolerant but stubborn :'-) ) Perhaps the oil will inspire different cooking/snacks - please suggest other ways to use it.
Paw Paws, Crochet as Always
September 19, 2023
From last Thursday to today, I was on a trip with my friends. It was fun! We were in a cabin, but not roughing it. It was an air bnb on the same property as the owner's farm. Last night a bunch of us layed on the grass and stargazed. I saw a shooting star for the first time! It was really bright/close too! I got to pet one of the horses before leaving today 🐎! We went to Paw-paw Fest on Saturday and I got a shirt with paw paws on it. This feels notable to me because I almost never buy new clothing anymore lol. While I have eaten pawpaw before, I have yet to accomplish my goal of just buying and eating one whole one. If you're not familar with pawpaws, they're exceedingly rare to find for sale because they spoil extremely fast - less than a week from the second they're harvested. The heat, lack of choice, and long lines make it very unappealing to buy them at the festival. They're also, IMO, very cute. (I can't explain how much I love the two giant Paw Paw photo props at the fest)
I enjoyed hanging out with my friends, but I'm glad to be home. I have a stressy stomach and had issues the whole time, and slept rather poorly from the stomachache/nervousness combo. Also for the sake of complaining, I laid weird on a loveseat for ~15 minutes and now my neck has been stiff -- adding to my nausea for the last couple days >:-( Don't get old, I guess.
Also during this trip! I was able to give my friend that crochet mushroom cat I made a couple of months ago. They loved it and I'm so happy about it. They're insisting on paying me but I feel awkward accepting money. The same friend also, like many who knit/crochet, had over the years acquired tons of random skeins of yarn from gifts/large lot sales/people saying pls take this yarn/etc. They let the whole group take their pick of yarn before just selling the remaining lot (The cycle continues ♥) I picked out: about 1.75 cakes of Lion Brand Mandalas in "Cool", 2 ancient skeins of Red Heart in "Coffee", 3 ancient skeins of RH in what I believe is a discontinued color, "Shaded Browns" (no labels). Plus they found partial skeins of RHSS "Aran Fleck" and "Beige Fleck"; the former is what my c2c blanket is. I'm hoping there will be enough of the latter to make a border, I think it would be cute!
I began the back panel of the Eriu Cardigan over the weekend, and I'm kind of charmed by the pooling lol. I think I'm going to frog it though, none of the skeins are complete so I have my doubts I'll have enough yarn to make the whole thing. Re-winding it will give me a chance to better consider what I want to make. I'm going back and forth on if the dark browns are too different for my liking. FWIW, I don't actually mind the scratchiness of old acrylic yarn, but I do mind the lack of breathability. I'm trying to consider how I usually dress and think genuinely about how much certain items made with non-breathable yarn would bother me. And yes I took the yarn without specific projects solidified leave me alone :'-)
I have another ramble in my head but it contains upsetting subjects, IDK if I'll actually share it. I'd like to at least think through my thoughts and try to better articulate myself; so another day.