The Shadows on My Wall Don't Sleep

I managed to get a shot of it today between spats of rain. This one is a full sized shawl on me, though at 80" across and 40" down the spine I know that's a large shawl on most people. I could drape is over my shoulders and catch the points in a belt, the sides rest on my elbows worn that way.



Strictly speaking, this has not been blocked. It's acrylic so as long as the lace doesn't distort the fabric much you can get away with just tossing it in the washer and dryer, so that's what I did. If I figured out somewhere I could pin it out to a larger size and steam it I could make it a bit larger still, but it's big enough and flat enough that I'm happy with it as it is.

So other than works in progress and that even older shawl that does need to be blocked (OMG, where??) I think the only things left needing photographing are the assorted balls of yarn I reconstructed and the spinning wheel that is still wood bits and bolts in the back of my Jeep.

So this is definitely not all that I have done since the last update, but at least I got some pictures of some much older projects for a change.

First, my best shot with my iPad mini and Mom's afghan out on her lawn:



The grass did not allow me to get it all nice and squared up, especially after the wind kicked up and blew on corner over and made me have to lay it out again. Trust me though, it's all nicely straight and rectangular. I had to so some easing on the first round to get everything smooth but I did manage it.

( Now onto the older stuff! Newest to oldest for a change. )

Things I do not have photographs for:

• The big brown shawl.


• Lots of re-plied yarn.


• The wood and parts for my spinning wheel (I bought them Monday).

The craft output of the last year has not been up to the usual level due to life events. I know I mentioned my mother's valve replacement surgery that was scheduled for last summer and ended up being last fall. What I didn't mention is the reason for the delay; my Dad died. I spent late summer and fall with Mom and my brother and didn't get home until early November, which is also why you didn't see any hints of NaNoWriMo last year. I wanted to do NaNo but there was just nothing for me to work with, not even enough to really get a character or setting started, and absolutely no energy to write with, especially not with nearly a third of the month passed already. It hurt a bit to skip a year but not as much as trying and failing would have.

Anyway, I did actually get some crafty things done in the second half of last year. ( Many photos behind the cut. )

And knitting, of course. A lot of it for dolls.

Things have been... not that great, for the last couple months. Things will continue to be not fantastic for the next couple months at least. With that in mind, let's just focus on what I have been doing/can do that I enjoy.

( Photos. So many photos. )

And outside the cut for being recent and pretty (in my opinion) some more crochet doll shoes.

I sent these to Kris for her MSD sized girls. I wanted to know if they would fit Planetdoll minis since I only have Resinsoul and Dollzone (old b45-002 body) dolls to fit things on. The answer is yes, but they could fit a bit better, so I have some tweaks in mind for my next attack of shoe making. Since you can't judge the scale here, the shoes are about 5.6 cm / 2.25 in long.

 

That's five pairs I've made, a prototype and four test pairs with different sole styles (flats, wedges for flat feet using 3 and 4 layers of cork, and a 4 layer wedge for high heel feet). All that testing went into writing up a pattern up for sale.

Well, not really, but I sure did increase my output there for a bit at the end of May. There was a doll meet/party at Mint on Card, a doll store in Traverse City, and I wanted my girls to look their best so I went a bit nuts for a week or so beforehand.

In more or less chronological order... ( Photos under the cut. )

I love this shot. Therefore I am leaving it out of the cut. ( Back to the photos and stuff. )

One last thing finished before the party and not photographed, a new case for my camera because the original one is all icky nasty with age. I knit one of out cotton in linen stitch with a velcro closure on the flap.

Tin Can Knits has a special going on until January 1st where you can get any pattern on their site/in their Ravelry store for free with a coupon code.

I opted to get the Photosynthesis shawl pattern, but the Sunflower shawl was a very close second. :)

After due consideration, I think I need a name for a small starship. ( Writing stuff under here. )

On other subjects, I survived the summer trip to see the family, though I had the lovely adventure of having the exhaust drop on the Jeep while traveling the NY Thruway. Thankfully my AAA membership was current and I was able to get a tow to a muffler shop in Canandaigua that was able to get me a new midpipe and catalytic converter (ouch!) and have me back on the road with only two and a half hours of delay.

There's not really a whole lot to say about the last few months.

I read a lot and despaired for the amount of romance crammed into otherwise interesting books. I read a very good original fiction novel by a fan author I enjoy and wished she had written more in that universe. Tanya Huff got me hooked into another series of hers.

I knitted some, but nothing that interesting since I focused on finishing a pair of socks identical to the last pair I knit except for being half an inch shorter in the foot. I'm currently juggling a few doll projects. One is finished and needs to be dyed and blocked, the others are all still in progress. Since one of those is destined to travel to Utah with the one that needs to be dyed I'm trying to focus on that one. Unfortunately the last couple days have been very, very bad with my hands so the 00 needles aren't fun.

I got an awesome haircut that I need to go have trimmed . I should have about two weeks ago actually. Wish me luck in getting it cut the same way again by a different stylist since the one that did the original is back in Massachusetts. There is one stylist I am pretty sure can do the cut, but I can't remember her name (I only had her cut my hair once before) so hopefully she'll be working and I can get her.

I lost a bit more weight, just enough that the awesome jeans I bought on clearance for $3.60 require a belt. I'm very glad I didn't spend more on them or I would be ticked.

And I think that gets everything caught up. Get ready for the NaNoWriMo spike in postings. :)

Massive catch up post is going to be massive.

On the knitting front, well I have a lot of works in progress and not that many finished ones. And it took me a while to get photos for those so there's a pile up. ( Knitting )

I think that caught up my knitting, other than the fact that I finished knitting my sweater months ago and have procrastinated so long on sewing it up the weather has become too warm to wear it. I'll have to sew the sleeves in and seam the sides and find out once and for all if I knit the sleeves too long. I think that's a big part of why I haven't done it yet, I'm afraid I'll find out I need to fix the sleeves. I keep telling myself I'm skilled enough that should the worst happen I can cut the cuffs off and reknit them shorter. If I cut the right spot it will be like grafting ribbing to reattach them. Slightly tricky, but possible.

Onto other things! I saw a video about making a bead ring and had to try it. ( Rings! )

The ring shots show off the white nails I was sporting for about a week. ( I had a couple other nail styles since my last post too. )

On the crafty front, I'm pondering Kindle covers. My birthday is today and my present from Hafoc needs a cover. :)

I really should make a point of posting something on a regular basis outside of the month of November.

Looking back, my last post was in mid-July. Well since then I went and visited family for most of the month of August. There isn't much to say about that other than I figured out that setting up a wireless router with Verizon's DSL is not as straight forward as you would think. But I did it, and after that point I had a nice connection to use the laptop with and did not have to borrow my brother's PC to get online.

Mom waffled on getting herself a laptop again. I told her my first day there that if she wanted one we should pick it out early in my visit. So of course she decides to seriously consider it the day before I planned to leave. Ultimately she opted not to, but I half expect a phone call where she says she bought one and needs help setting up everything (and I do mean everything, the closest she's come to having a computer is an electronic typewriter).

So I guess this is where I bore all of you with knitting. ( Cut for images and length. )

I really do need to post more often. *whew*