Sycamore Grove

New Year's always strikes me as a time of potential. There's a whole new year out there without any record if fucking up. Of course, I know I will, but it never seems to matter when I'm standing outside watching my breath fog and freeze in the cold darkness of the first few minutes of the new year.

I don't really believe in making resolutions. I generally break them and then feel terribly guilty over the whole affair. Instead, I've compiled a list of things I'd like to do, or change, without the impetus of having to do them.

1. Blog more. I'd like to blog two or three times a week this coming year. It always seems like a giant ordeal to blog something, though. I have to download pictures from the camera, convert them from .raw to .png, resize and edit them, upload them to Flickr, and then write the entry. Usually, I just sigh and read my blogroll again. To prevent this, I'd like to take a day, like Sunday evening, and do all that. Not blog or anything, but just get stuff ready for the coming week of blogging. Maybe it'll help.

2. Change the layout. Blame Eponine for this one. I don't like using pre-made layouts anyway, and this one was supposed to be a stopgap until I managed to make one for myself. I also hate that this one isn't wide enough to deal with the width of Flickr's standard horizontal picture width. So, a new one is in the offing, even as we speak.

3. Draw every day. Even if it's just sketching a girl's face or two. I miss doing it, and I'm afraid that after a semester with no drawing classes, I've backslid.

4. Get my art-site up and running; I need a digital portfolio. And I've paid for all that stuff, so it's dumb to waste it.

5. Knit every day. I have been knitting, of course, but I haven't really been documenting it, and I hate that. I'm halfway through a pair of Clessidra knee-socks and I have. no. pictures. Must remedy that.

6. Wash my face every night. I don't know if it's because my mom's accident happened before I really needed to start washing my face, or if it's because I've always been lax about bedtime rituals (sometimes I forget to brush my teeth, don't hate me!) but I almost never do this. I have been, for about ten days, though, and I can really see a difference. My skin is softer and less prone to get spots (I think; it's still a bit early to tell). Concurrent with this goal is the next one:

6a. Wear makeup every day. If I don't, it's to easy for me to justify not washing my face. "I didn't wear makeup, I don't really have to..." And, makeup makes me feel pretty and special, and I kind of love experimenting, so. Makeup every day.

7. Do more tea reviews. I liked them, and it gave me an excuse to buy different teas, so I want to do that some more.

8. Figure out what I'd like to do with my life. I know this sounds huge, and it kind of is, but I only have a year of school left, and I need to make some decisions. I've felt for a long time that it would be a toss-up between art (freelance illustration) and yarn (owning my own store, eventually) and I need to flip that proverbial coin. I don't feel like there's enough room in my life to do both professionally, and I need to figure out which I want to do. The other will, of course, remain a hobby, and there's no rule, even in my head, that says I can't change my mind down the road, but I feel like I need some direction in my career-life.

9. Make some hot cocoa. Like, right now. My poor widdle fingers are freezing!

And, so as not to leave this post image-less, here's a picture of the cats' Christmas present to me: suffering me to put ribbons on them and then letting me take five or six pictures before they freaked right out.

ps: I got all A's this semester. Cumulative GPA: 3.43, semester GPA: 3.916. If I keep this up, I could graduate cum laude. Far cry from graduating 140th out of 200 in high school, eh?

My birthday! I'm twenty seven today. Or, technically, yesterday, since I'm posting this at god-awful o'clock. I'm currently trying to rid my stupid website email of a crap-ton of unwanted emails so I can have my server space back.

It's funny, though. I don't feel twenty-seven. Mostly, I still fell like I'm a lot younger than that. Although, looking back at how I was when I was eighteen, or twenty-one, I'm a lot more confident and happy. It doesn't bother me at all, it's just funny.

The semester's almost over, for which I'm extremely grateful. Three finals in one day? Not something I recommend. I'm just trying to finish up the stuff for enameling class and I'll be done.

In honor of my birthday, I present a piece of art I made for no reason in particular, but just because I wanted to. When is the last time that happened? This is Katie, a character from the LARP I used to play. (Used to! Ha! Eat it, Camarilla!) She the 2387540945th albino vampire character out there, but she may be the only albino librarian vampire. Possibly. Not gonna bet on that one.

I had high ambitions of updating the blog every day in December. But about the only time I sit down in front of the computer is during my computer art class. The computers in that lab are set up to reject anything with a field and a "submit" button. So I can type all I want, but when I try to submit it, it's all "screw off."

So I'm trying to make up for it now. Today's Eye Candy Friday is brought to you by family Thanksgivings. This adorable little guy is Brenda's nephew. I'm not really comfortable with posting his name here, but homg, those cheeks! I couldn't resist.

So. Knitting. I'm currently making a pair of Clessidras in a cranberry heather yarn. They're lovely. I'm on the ankle decreases of the first sock. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, or time to actually knit them. The end of the semester is pretty freaking nigh, and I have less than no time. In fact, I need to finish this up so I can go into the metals lab and get some shit done.

I'm also working on a commissioned hat, black with red skulls, to match a friend's favorite scarf. Again, no actual pictures, but I'll make sure I get at least one before I hand it over.

Planned projects? More than I can count. Finish Clessidra, make some leg warmers from my gray handspun, actually make that purple cloche I've had planned for freaking ever, start that periwinkle sweater, black handwarmers (I seem to have terminally misplaced my other ones), striped handwarmers, blue and brown striped socks.... The list goes on and on.

And, because one baby picture is certainly not enough, I'll leave you with this one, with his mama in the background.

Eye-Candy Friday, that's what.

Yesterday was the annual ArtsWalk, which is a yearly celebration of the arts in downtown Muncie. There are a disproportionate number of galleries and people involved in the arts here in Muncie. It's weird.

The BSU Fine Arts Club had made arrangements to have an area where members could set up gypsy booths and blankets to sell their artwork. So my friend Mary and I grab some of our stuff and set up on the sidewalk in front of the Chase building, which has tinted glass windows. Later on, our friend Candace comes and sets out some stuff on our blanket.

I ended up selling a bunch of my enameled jewelry and making about sixty bucks. Needless to say, I bought dinner.

(Why yes, yes I am wearing the Chocolate Twist. How kind of you to notice.)

Another post? Within a week? That's just crazy talk!

I realized, upon reading my last post, that I'd left out the reason for my enforced hiatus. About three years ago, I bought a laptop. Three years later, I started having massive problems with it. Honestly, I think old age just happened to catch up with it. I started noticing a lag, and then it got a huuuuge virus and was never quite the same. Three hard-reboots later, I noticed some, ah, pinstriping on my monitor. Vertical lines of pixels were beginning to die on me.

So, I continue on with my poor, limping computer, trying the best that I can. Then one day, I turn on my computer to find that half my screen was dead. Literally. I could see nothing on the right half of my computer. Do you have any idea how very frustrating that is? Terribly, in case you wondered.

Enter my friend Zach. Zach used to own a computer gaming cafe, and has lots of computer experience. If anyone can tell me where to get a cheap (preferably free) monitor that I can hook up to my laptop, it's him. So I call and ask, and he does me one better. He still has most of the old (but very serviceable) computers from the cafe and he's willing to sell one to me. Cheap.

So tonight he came over and set up my lovely new computer (which needs a name. I don't think she's a Serenity, really.) and I made us all dinner. Tomorrow the goal is to go get a connector cable so I can transfer all my files from the laptop to this behemoth (she's got an older tube monitor. takes up lots of space) and I'll be all set.

I'm so jazzed. Soooooo jazzed. I have no words.

In other, completely unrelated news, the November Rain socks are almost done. I really want to work on the Colinette socks, and work them into something that won't eat up two-thirds of the yarn in one sock. I'm not confident, however, in my ability to rip back the one almost completed sock I knit frantically on my last visit to the NY family, soak the yarn, divide it into two reasonably even balls (to avoid later disaster) and work out a toe-up sock patter that will yield two not-anklet socks. Tonight.

Instead, I'll just play dress up. Or rather, introduce a new category for the blog. Daily Outfits. I'll post a picture (not always guaranteed to be an accurate depiction of what I'm wearing on the day the picture is posted) of an outfit and a breakdown of it. I'm not the best person at documenting what I make (no picture of the finished Chocolate Twist? wtf?) especially when it comes to sewing. So, consider this my way of making up for that. So, first up.

- White eyelet lace tank top I've had approximately forever.
- Blue handmade skirt, gathered in the back to create a bustle illusion
- The Wedding Shawl
- Watch necklace that I kind of adore

There's a thousand things a day I want to stop and blog about, but I always forget. So, I'm totally gonna distract you with a massive knitting update!

First up, a project so super-secret that it can on;y be revealed now, in it's finished entirety! Actually, it just got lost in the cracks of my blog, so I don't have in-progress pictures. These are the Long Long Lacy Gloves from Lace Style.

And, a shot of them being worn. In real life. I was wearing this outfit at Goodwill (because I *heart* Goodwill) and there was a lady there who stopped me and said that I had "a unique style," but that she liked it. And I was all, "Thanks?" It was kind of weird. Like she liked my style inspite of it uniqueness, not because of it. Eh, whatever.

And something I've been threatening forever, but hadn't started until very recently.

So I was working on it, and after I took these pictures, I started in on the shaping for the neck. And kept coming up short on the stitch count. And as I looked at the pattern again, I realized that I'd increased for the bust shaping incorrectly. What else could I do? I ripped it all out.

Ad that's what it's supposed to look like. I just have to finish the bits around the arm and neck holes. And then I'll be done! This is the Back-to-School U-Neck Vest from Fitted Knits.

We all know how I'm incapable of not having any socks to knit, so it shouldn't come as any kind of surprise that I have a pair on the needles. They're the Raindrop Lace Socks from Fiber Trends, and I'm making them in Knit Picks Palette. I can't remember the colourway. Rainforest? Marine? Something wet.

So, I had this beautiful sock (not my favorite, I think, but very pretty, regardless) and the directions told me to, whilst shaping the toe, decrease to ten stitches. So I did. And ended up with a toe that looked like this:

Not being an incredibly pointy-toed person, I found this turn of events highly unsatisfactory. So I ripped back until I had eighteen stitches and grafted them together. The result?

Unmitigated success. And any way you slice it, that's a good way to end a blog entry.

Wow. Long time between updates. I hadn't meant to let things go for quite so long. In fact, I had a few entries on automatic update, so I wouldn't be a slave to my computer whilst sewing madly for both Con season and ensuing school. Unfortunately, it seems my server. or database, or whatever, is lacking the necessary component that makes auto-updates possible. Oops. I'll be posting those as I get the chance and inclination, and will probably be backdating them, so I apologize in advance if it screws with anybody's RSS readers.

So. GenCon. It was good this year. Nick and I wrangled to four day passes for the price of a two-year subscription to the dubiously relevant Indianapolis Woman magazine. Yeah, I don't get it either, but whatever.

We decided to forgo Thursday. There wasn't anything we desperately wanted to do, and the hotel reservation wasn't until Friday night. So I ran around the house like a crazy person, finishing costumes (though, curiously, not any of the ones I discussed before) and packing. I didn't get to sleep until, like three in the morning.

Friday we woke up early, considering the late night, and after picking Mary up, made our way down to Indy. After we figured out that we were going to miss the Changeling game (mildly disappointing, but s'okay) Nick took us to the Goose for sandwiches. oh, my goodness. I had a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich with fresh basil on home-baked baguette. I think I died and went to heaven. Then we went off to the Con.

That's the Inara costume I wore. Not bad, I think, for a last minute kind of thing. You can't see it, but underneath the sari, I had on a one-shouldered tank that was nothing but clear elastic in the back, so it looked like I wasn't wearing anything underneath. Pretty smexy.

We met up with Ben and Mel and skipped the Vampire game for Nicky Blaine's. I had a dirty martini and hung out with a bunch of awesome friends (hi, Jim!). After, we tried to go to a party, but the people ended up not letting us in, even though we'd been invited. Whatever. So we went back to the hotel to sleep.

On Friday we dressed Steampunk. Doesn't Nick look so dashing? We got to the Con and couldn't go fifteen feet without it being paparazzi time. I'm not even kidding. Once, we had about twenty people around us, and with the flashbulbs and everything, I knew exactly what the red carpet felt like. That being said, I've found exactly two pictures on flickr of the three of us (that I didn't take). Makes me wonder what people are doing with les pics.

We went to the Vampire game long enough to bellydance a bit, get lectured by the local Lancea Bishop, and bug the fuck out when things got dicey and Elysium was broken. We changed and then went to the White Wolf party, which was held at the Ice Lounge (warning, music on the page) this year. It was much fun, except when I though I'd lost Nick. Some guy was so drunk that, when drunk-texting his friend, he couldn't spell 'here.' Really. I spelled it for him twice, and he still had to double check it with me afterward.

Then we went home and slept. I don't have a picture of Sunday's outfit but it's pretty much the same as this one. But my hair wasn't in braids. We didn't do much on Sunday, just walked around the dealer's hall and left. Oh. I bought a book from Stephanie Pui-Mun Law. Who is awesome. It's a tutorial kind of book, on how she does her watercolors. Since I'm always looking to get better at that, I picked it up. *heart*

I know what you're thinking. "Man, that was a lot of words that I don't want to read." Don't worry! I have the abridged version all ready to go, complete with pictures:

Got there, saw a stormtrooper in a kilt. Was mightily tired of Jack freaking Sparrow.

Looked totally hot. And was recognized. Weird.

Saw awesome costumes. *heart*

Kids in costumes are possibly the cutest things evar.

More awesome costumes. *want*

Steampunk!

Lederhosen, wtf?

(Courtesy of a_skopik)
Looked great again, got lots of pictures taken.

Got tired and went home. What, you wanted more?

So. Convention season is coming around. GenCon Indy is obviously the biggest one, but we're also going to InConJunction this year. Con season means costumes, and I need to get off my ass if I'm going to get any done this year.

I'm being pretty ambitious this year; just take a look at my line-up:
*Sabriel from the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix.
*Lucy Pevensie, the rust-red dress from Prince Caspian.
*Lisa Hayes from Robotech. I want to make a Rick Hunter costume for Nick, too.

I've started gathering everything I need for the first two costumes, as they are the most important to me. I'd like to get Sabriel done for InCon, which is the first weekend in July, and then have Lucy for GenCon.

I bought some 100% cotton velveteen for Sabriel:

and have started embroidering it:

You can see a close-up of one of the keys here:

Sabriel Costume rundown:
*White Linen shirt
*Scalemaille armor (I'll be faking this with muslin and paillettes)
*Black Breeches
*Leather lag armor with riveted plates (I'll be skipping this, thanks)
*Leather bandolier with bells (I'm not sure how I'll take care of this one)
*Sword belt with sword (I'll probably skip the weaponry, but wear the belt)

As promised, here are some shots of the SeaWool I bought from Creatively Dyed Yarn. First of all, it is so soft. Seriously, it's the softest stuff I've ever worked with, except maybe silk, and it practically spins itself.

And a close up of the singles:

There's eight ounces there, and I'm spindle spinning it up into something that'll be laceweight when plied (two strand; three's a little thick for what I want). For all that there's some really saturated bits, most of the fiber is light enough that when I spin it, it comes out this lovely opal-ish color. I think when I ply it up and knit it into some shawl or another (I haven't decided yet which one), it's going to be freaking gorgeous.

There was knitting this week, too. Sort of. See, there was a disastrous occurrence. That I documented in gruesome detail so as to be able to share it with you. Let me preface this by saying that I finished the back of the Chocolate Twist a while ago.

I was knitting on the fronts (both of them together, to prevent total nervous breakdown later when trying to match not only the fronts to the back, but also to each other) and things were going swimmingly. And really fast. To get up to the armscye bind-offs, I needed to finish three cable repeats plus a little bit.

I got to that point and thought, 'Wow, that went awesomely fast. I should probably check to make sure the fronts and the backs match. I'm not so worried about it, since I've been slavishly following my notes and everything, but sill. Just in case.'

So I did. The fronts were a good inch and a half shorter than the back. When I started breathing again, I tried to figure out why. As a fun exercise, I'm going to put it to you, gentle readers; what did I do wrong?

Didn't get it? Look again:

That's right. Those bits where there's two cable side by side, they're meant to have two twists each. Not one. About three minutes after I stopped beating my head against the wall for being such an idiot, my poor sweater looked more like this:

And now that I'm seeing these pictures, it looks like I'll have to rip back to the ribbing, as the cables there should have an extra twist, too.

Sigh.

My girls and I went to the < href="http://www.ewetopia.net/UpperValleyFiberFestival.htm" target="new">Upper Valley Fiber Festival on May tenth. I brought my yummy camera and took lots of pictures.

This is Jen, getting us lost. Well, it was more of a little detour, really. We got back on track.

This was what I was knitting on the way there. I love my husband, but seriously? No more ribbed socks for a while. They take forever.

This was a restaurant or store or something, with a giant freaking bronze buffalo out front.

Seriously. Experiment Farm Road. No lie.

Hippie sheep! They didn't smell like patchouli, though.

This one was so pretty, I love that black nose.

These are the wool/seacell rovings from Creatively Dyed Yarns. I got some, it's really pretty.

This little angora goat was playing peek-a-boo with me. Only the hypothetical wrath of Nick stopped me from goat-napping him.

This lady was carding and spinning cotton from vitamin and medicine bottles. She had the most beautifully woven cotton place mats. They felt like silk.

This would be the 'after' shot of that adorable brown sheep above.

And the sheep shearing. This guy took fifteen minutes to shear the sheep from start to finish. It was crazy.

(This one's my favorite shot.)

And that's the brutal aftermath. A whole lotta wool.

There were Border Collies, too, that were herding ducks. I love Border Collies, they're so awesome.

And then we came home.