ishkabibble: 2017

2017 Recap: Books

Hi! It feels weird to be posting so many times but I wanted to squeeze in a timely recap of books for the year. I won't give you any book reports, though.

image via Google image search

Italicized is a book I have never read before.
Italicized and bolded is never read and a new-to-me author.

Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Little House on the Prairie (Wilder)
Farmer Boy (Wilder)
On the Banks of Plum Creek (Wilder)
On the Shores of Silver Lake (Wilder)
The Long Winter (Wilder)
Little Town on the Prairie (Wilder)
These Happy Golden Years (Wilder)
The First Four Years (Wilder)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J. K. Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Rowling)
The Color of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
The Light Fantastic (Pratchett)
Equal Rights (Pratchett)
Mort (Pratchett)
Sourcery (Pratchett)
Wyrd Sisters (Pratchett)
Pyramids (Pratchett)
Guards! Guards! (Pratchett)
~~Faust~~ Eric (Pratchett)
Moving Pictures (Pratchett)
Reaper Man (Pratchett)
Witches Abroad (Pratchett)
Small Gods (Pratchett)
Lords and Ladies (Pratchett)
Men at Arms (Pratchett)
Soul Music (Pratchett)
Interesting Times (Pratchett)
Maskerade (Pratchett)
Feet of Clay (Pratchett)
Hogfather (Pratchett)

After unpacking our books post-move, I felt the need for familiar, easy books that I love and that would serve as a pick-me-up. The Wilder books were given to little-me as a boxset from one of my father's college professors. My copies are very well read at this point. I've always particularly loved The Long Winter.

It was past time to do the almost sort of annual reread of Harry Potter. At least these are hardcover and can stand the abuse! No Cursed Child, never again, boooo hisssss.

And then, after joining the new local yarn group, they roped me into a summer reading challenge, which I'm pleased to say I not only completed, but also won the drawing for a gift certificate to a local restaurant! The Discworld series fit in nicely with some of the options, and after a spectacular enabling essay from Jo, I dove in! I decided to stick with publication order as it was easiest for me to keep track of where I was. All of our local libraries function as one and we also have the option to request books from any library in the state. Because I often had to wait for the next one(s) to come in, progress slowed as the year aged. I didn't quite make it halfway through though I started reading the series in June. So far, I've greatly enjoyed Equal Rights, Small Gods, and all the Witches and Rincewind books. (Rincewind may or may not make me an oddity in the Discworld fandom but I just loved his personality and timing haha.) There were a few I didn't really love, at least not as much as the others (such as Moving Pictures and most of the Watchmen series). And it was a bit fitting to be reading Hogfather at Christmastime! I promise that wasn't planned. It took this book for me to fall head-over-heels for Death. :)

I did not include any manga. After thinking about that, I might try a separate list for them in 2018, at least for completed series. I'm sure this year I was well over 200 for this genre alone! I read a lot of manga, though many are one-shots (basically one chapter) and almost all of them are online. I do have a nice collection of my own on my "geeky" bookshelf. I will keep track of them by completed series, not a separate line for each individual book (volume). I'm not sure how to go about including ongoing series. Perhaps I should just omit them or I'd really wind up with a plate of Spaghetti-Os.

You know, I guess I did pretty well on books this year. :) No new-to-me authors but that's okay. Sometimes familiar favorites make things better.

And that's it for this year's posts! I'll see you all on the other side. :D

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* HAPPY NEW YEAR! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

2017 Recap: Do All the Crafts

Hello, howdy, and hi! I always like to do a recap post so here is 2017's little collection. I've copied the list from my finishes page and created a small collage for each craft, including a few images of stuff I hadn't yet shown on the blog due to various present restrictions.

2017

February - Casserole Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here, modified by me
February - Small Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here
May - Mock Honeycomb Dishcloth #1 - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
June - Little Cowboy Afghan - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
June - Mock Honeycomb Dishcloth #2 - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
June - August Gladiolus - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
July - Rubber Ducky Washcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
September - Sunflower Coaster - crochet, pattern cobbled together by me
September - Zinogre - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
October - All Hallow's Eve - 14-count black Aida, pattern by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
November - Star Stitch Dishcloths (4) - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
December - Fan Bookmarks (6) - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
December - Snowman Mitten - 14-count brass ornament, kit by Bucilla
December - Clothespin Angel #4 - crochet, pattern from Leisure Arts leaflet 2518
December - Creeper Hat - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry), modified by me

Knitting

knittin's

I felt like this turned into a year of dishcloths! Apart from the hat, that's all I knit this year haha. The final count was seven (two of each color of the variegated yarn). The purple and green ones are done in a "mock honeycomb" stitch which makes a delightfully dainty-looking cloth.

The hat was a Christmas present for my husband! It was my first time doing Fair Isle knitting which I'm pleased to say wasn't difficult at all once I figured out how I was most comfortable holding the second color. I did make a rather silly mistake though. The pattern calls for size 6 needles and I accidentally used size 9! My needles don't have the little underlines to denote those two sizes apart haha. I didn't realize this until I went to put the needles back in their case after the hat was finished. The gauge was close (mine was 5.5 stitches per inch to the called-for 5) using them, though. The pattern idea came from here, along with a modification here. I changed the look of the face to fit the in-game creeper. Also, it had to have a pompom. :)

Crochet

hookin's

Crochet was a bit more varied! The potholders were finished early in the year as a sort of therapy for the move. Next up was the star baby afghan and sunflower coaster. Lastly was the thread clothespin angel. What a fiddly little pattern! I had to pay close attention to the pattern reading as commas were VERY important haha. I changed the called-for colors, giving her a bright red dress and a metallic sheen halo (FYI metallic crochet thread behaves much better than metallic floss). She was fun and I hope to make more in the future. I certainly have enough thread to crochet an army in a rainbow of colors!

Cross-Stitch

stitchin's

Like last year, this was again a bit sad for cross-stitch finishes. I am happy to have made my first flatfold for a Halloween stitch, as well as stitched my first Frosted Pumpkin piece! And the brass ornament was a fun idea. I did manage another one of my Flower-of-the-Month huck towel finishes, and another Monster Hunter side for the cube. I even managed to work some on Final Fantasy III (last shown on here for last year's recap!).

It went from here

to here.

Not much of a change but there is a little difference, most notably the right side of the picture with his cape and sword. I found a new (to me) floor stand that allows me to sit back more comfortably to work on these larger pieces so I have been grazing on it. The goal is to have it finished in February as the local framing shop runs a special on free museum glass. I would like it and FFVIII framed at the same time and possibly explode from the excitement. Even if I just manage FFVIII framed, I will probably still explode from the excitement!

Goals

That's it for 2017's crafty endeavors. It wasn't as much as last year but still more than previous years so I'll count it as a win, especially with how rough the start was!

As far as "goals" for next year, one item of interest is the 2018 Ravellenic Games. I enjoyed working on projects during the 2016 Ravellenics where I finished a hat and a pair of house slippers so I'd like to challenge myself again for the new one. I'm still trying to decide what I'd like to "compete" in. Cross Country Living is a strong contender since I've already a project in mind. Toy Bobsled also sounds fun and perhaps a way to get me to actually try my hand at amigurumi! Or perhaps Sock Hockey. I've attempted my first pair of socks which has ended in total disaster (wrong yarn, waaaay wrong yarn) but I don't want to be defeated.

I was out of all SALs this past year. I know I'll be rejoining Gifted Gorgeousness (this is 2017's link). Other than that, I'm not sure what I'll be doing. I don't enjoy facebook or flosstube as a medium so that knocks out a few. I've never stopped collecting my ORTs though I no longer take pictures of them for TUSAL. I'm considering WIPocalypse (2017 again) as it would fit in with my posting style but because I have very few projects ongoing at a time WIPs are actually scarce! Plus I don't think I'd link up because of the facebook thing.

It seems I like to stick to broad-spectrum SALs where I can work on whatever rather than ones that have a specific theme. Maybe I should see if there are any KALs or CALs out there that could help broaden my horizons. I would love to hear your suggestions!

Thank you all for helping my 2017 get brighter. Here's to 2018!

Advent Calendar Blog Hop: Day 21!

Hello, hello~ Are you here for Jo's Advent Blog Hop on this fine Winter's Solstice? Sure you are!

Ooo we are so close to Christmas; are you ready?! I can safely say all the Christmas cards are mailed and so are all the cookies! I am now working on the "local" cookie batches, mostly the cookies that I love to make but would never survive mailing (decorated sugar cookies, etc) or that my husband loves and I have to make another batch of (thin mints).

Here is what I've created for you behind door 21! I can assure you it took an awful lot of work to assemble this intricate piece.

almost staying still

Wait, that's not a craft...

Okay, okay, enough with the silliness and on to the Real Stuff. Every year I've been trying to make something for the tree and this is 2017's contribution.

baby, it's COLD outside

I bought this little kit in a thrift store. I really like brass ornaments so finding a cross-stitch one was awesome! There doesn't seem to be any images of this particular kit online, but there are stockings and wreaths out there somewhere. I enjoyed the easy finish of it but it was a bit rough "seeing" the beginning stitches; I simply couldn't process the squares! I just started at the bottom and worked my way up until it made sense. Plus the 3-over-1 was remarkably tough despite the the large holes. Back stitching required a thimble just to stuff the needle through some places!

Technical Details

Brass Stitchables "Snowman Mitten", a kit by Bucilla.
3 over 1 on 14-count brass.
Finished Size:
Started: November ?, 2017, Finished: December 8th, 2017. Unknown hours.

I added a bit of red felt to the back to ~~hide~~ protect the stitches. I thought I'd get all fancy pants and attach the felt with gold metallic floss to match the brass. Trying to do that blindly and neatly....... Nope, not happening! Glue gun to the rescue hah.

And because I felt this was a pretty sparse post, I will share two previous ornaments I don't believe were ever on the blog.

naughty or nice

delicious house

Both of these little kits were picked up in thrift stores (of course). I believe the gingerbread house is the first Christmas ornament I've ever made in cross-stitch; I scribbled a date on the back of August of 2009 which is the year I started. It was a fun stitch, although I obviously needed a bit more practice centering in a frame! Santa was stitched closer to Christmas that same year and was finished by being glued to cardboard, and then of course that looked ugly on the back, so I cut another piece of cardboard and used Christmas wrapping paper and a fat ribbon for hanging. I do remember designing the M and C myself because the plain font looked too, well, plain!

Christmas... worm?

And this little guy was made when I was a tiny Rosey in kindergarten. Our teacher cut out the little pieces of felt and we assembled them into these ornaments with glue. Then we "sewed" around the edges and stuffed the bottom with a bit of fluff. Such trust with a needle! I'm sure nowadays someone would demand that children are too young and would eat the needles or some other disaster.

Jo asks: How do you plan to spend Boxing Day? Do you have any traditions associated with this day?

Welp, like a few others on this hop, I'm also American and have no specific traditions associated with this day! My husband does actually have off the day after Christmas though, but this is more of a fluke of the days lining up just so. It's a day for lazing around, eating cookies (and I guess leftovers), and playing with any new toys that Santa deposited under the tree. Although after reading all the hops so far, I feel this might actually fit in haha. I could pretend to be a milkgal and you could slip a note under the door on the way out. ;)

Okay, that's enough from me. Thank you for visiting! Your next stop is a Double Delight. Please knock on Craftartista and A Snapshot of my Life's door tomorrow~

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* MERRY CHRISTMAS! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

As usual with these blog hops, I've scheduled this post to appear overnight here so the people in the future (read: the rest of the world) can have the post in a timely fashion.

An Eclectic Ensemble

I did!

Howdy, y'all! Thanks for all the interest in the blog hop post. I'm glad you guys like Frosted Pumpkin cuties too! I figured I'm well overdue for a crafty recap that doesn't have to do with holiday stuff so let's take care of that, shall we~? :D

before

after

First up, I finished the next side to the Monster Hunter cube, Zinogre the lightning doggy! I rather like how this guy turned out. (Have I said this about all of them? ;b) I was worried about the lightest color blending in too much with the fabric but it turned out to have just enough texture to make it subtly pop.

Technical Details

"Zinogre" glyph from Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, pattern charted by me.
2 over 1 on 20-count light tan jobelan fabric.
Finished size: 3.50 x 3.50" (9 x 9 cm).
Started: July 6, 2017, Finished: September ??, unknown hours.

I'm pretty sure this is a hunt

Four sides down! Next up is Nargacuga, the hyper catbat. I haven't started him yet; I'm not even done tweaking the chart for him! He will be a rather dark stitch as I'm trying to keep to the main species and not the subs (this will present a problem for the last stitch).

I promise this is a flower

I have also started the next Flower of the Month -- September's Aster. I'm still not enthusiastic over this one but it's not too terrible to stitch. I snack on it on occasion but that has tapered off with all the holiday crafting. I do not like that jarring orange center. I am leaving it until the rest of the flower is stitched to see if it becomes less InYourFace but I am not hopeful! Luckily it's only a few stitches that will need replaced if need be!

sunflower coaster

I'm kind of proud of this one. I couldn't find a crochet or knitted sunflower pattern to suit my needs, so this was my first attempt in cobbling something from nothing! I had to learn how to crochet the crocodile stitch (which, if you're interested, consumes a LOT of yarn), plus learn how to do it in the round. For a first attempt, it turned out fairly well. It's made of cotton yarn so it should work well as a coaster, though I'm not sure the recipient is using it as such! I do wish I had written down ANYTHING about what I did for this pattern haha. I'm not sure I could recreate it, though I think I'll give it a try at some point not-Christmas time.

front - front, back - back

I feel like I've been doing an awful lot of knitting lately too. These are "star stitch" washcloths made as part of a Christmas present! YAY I AM ALMOST TIMELY. Also it is a good thing I started these rather early as the star stitch is torture for us poor tight knitters and these take me quite a while to make. It does lovely things to variegated/ombre yarn, though, and that is why I chose this particular stitch pattern.

close up of the action

I have two more I'm going to make in "winter" colors. I might make some for myself, but they can wait until after Christmas! I did both a crochet cast on and bind off which have quickly become my favorite ways to start and end a knit project! My tension is a bit better with them so they are looser, creating the slightly scalloped border on both edges. Very much would recommend!

There was a minor annoyance with this yarn. I bought the first skein at Michael's and it was 2oz. This was enough to finish one cloth, plus about 7/8ths of the next one. I bought the second skein at JoAnn's and it was 3oz! Ugh. 3oz would've been enough to finish both, in the same dyelot (you can't tell the join on the second cloth though), with only a bit left over. Now I have almost a full skein left to do ???? with. I was a little grumpy over this.

Technical Details

"Star Stitch" cloths, knit, pattern found here (free!) on ravelry.
My ravelry project page found here.
Cotton yarn: Lily's Sugar n' Creme in coral seas ombre.
Size 9 (5.5mm) needles, plus a crochet hook for cast on/bind off.
Started: October 28, finished November 10, unknown hours.

Lessons Learned

Crochet bind off.
Better tension control for purling! (!!!!)
Where to buy yarn, bah.

I think that's all with crafts that I can show right now. I have some small projects on the crochet hook which are turning out quite fun and really cute. Plus I have another Christmas present on a different set of needles. Plus plus I have some holiday cross stitch in the works. Plus plus plus it's almost Cookie Time!! I'm so happy to be excited about Christmas this year. :)

nyaa-p time

And even though it has nothing to do with anything I made but LOOK AT MY NEW PAJAMAS. I don't impulse buy very often but I had to have these instantly, pink or no pink. How can I ignore sleepy kitties and yarn balls! These are seriously adorable and very comfy too. They were brand new with tags, in a thrift store no less, so I got them for a whopping $6. :D

helping

This entire post could've counted for Gifted Gorgeousness, haha. I look forward to joining in again next year! I hope you all have a wonderful time and those of you in the US, have a Happy Thanksgiving! I don't have to cook for it this time. \:D/

Spooky Hallowe'en Blog Hop

Hello there, blog hoppers and minions! It's that magical time of year for Jo's Hallowe'en (look I put the apostrophe in) Blog Hop. I've scheduled this post to appear in the wee hours of the morning here as many readers are from the future... Or at least from over the puddle. If you're stumbling onto the game from my blog, please head on over to Jo's blog to start!

Google-y Oogley

This year I have a Shiny New Finish, full of firsts! It is my first time stitching on black fabric (I've done black perforated plastic), my first flatfold finishing, and my first Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery (finally)! So much YAY!

not a whole lot of border fabric -- whoops

Technical Details

"All Hallows Eve" pattern by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, found here.
2-over-1 on a 14-count black Aida.
Backing material: Holiday Showcase™ Halloween Cotton Fabric 43" - Candy Corn Dot, remnant purchased at JoAnn Fabrics, and stash black felt.
Finished stitching size: ~3" (7,6cm) square.
Started October 4, 2017, finished October 15, 2017, unknown hours.

🎃💀👻🎃💀👻🎃💀👻🎃💀👻🎃💀👻🎃💀👻🎃💀👻🎃💀👻🎃💀👻🎃

small kine goodies

Because I stitched on black, I made a few adjustments to some of the charted colors. Ms. Witch is in a fabulous navy dress, and Sir Mittens, her trusty familiar, is a dark grey gentlecat with dainty white paws. The stars were stitched with E940 which is the wonderful glow-in-the-dark DMC. I was surprised how... fluffy? this floss is. It's in the light effects line so I guess I was expecting something more stiff. But the coverage is great, even for 14-count! Other than that, there were a few other tweaks, mostly involving the charted black floss. I was not overly enthusiastic about stitching black on black and then not having it show up!

cell phone didn't like pretty glowing things

The tutorial I used can be found here on Meari's blog! I am also big on recycling and using what stash I've accumulated/inherited. I do not have any batting so I used some of my ample felt stash, in black. This doubled to provide a dark background so nothing shows through the 14-count fabric holes! Of course, since it was my first attempt, it's not quite perfect. Mostly because my "flat" fold is not very flat at almost an inch thick lol. Lesson learned, use pasteboard thickness! What I used was not corrugated cardboard but more like two pasteboards pasted together... Still too thick apparently!

help yourself to healthy(?) snacks

I found the finishing fabric on sale in the remnant bin. It is partly responsible for the choice of black Aida. I was waffling between it or a navy. Can't say I much like to eat candy corn (says the sweet tooth) but they do look cute~ I left one back piece as exposed felt because it wouldn't really be seen at any point. The "cording" is three pieces of yarn twisted together. Orange, black, and some really strange hairy black stuff (like eyelash yarn but... hairy) that is rather creepy all on its own haha.

And here's what you've all been waiting breathlessly for: The letter!

the letter B - more Google-y Oogley

Your next stop is Le Coeur Celtique so keep on hopping (ghosting? zombie-ing? witching?) your way along!

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!

Great American Eclipse 2017

Hello again~

You may or may not have heard of the eclipse that happened in North America, specifically coast to coast of the USA. If you were anywhere near the path of shadow, it's all you've been hearing about for about six months! We live in the path of totality so we had a great show to look forward to... without having to deal with traffic (and thank goodness for that -- 30 minutes after was nuts). My husband took off because he knew how excited I was for this.

We ordered a solar filter for my little telescope early because I knew there'd be issues the closer to the date. It safely arrived with plenty of time but ONE WEEK before the eclipse, I got an email from the shipper saying it couldn't be verified to meet the safety standards! At that point, there weren't any verified items in stock, even assuming they could ship quickly. So that meant we wouldn't be able to (safely) watch the eclipse through the 'scope after all. I was so disappointed. At least we were fully refunded for it and allowed to keep it. We set it up with the telescope anyway so we could get pictures with our cell phones with no risk of blinding ourselves.

Our local libraries were giving away proper solar glasses like candy so I picked up two pairs of those so we could watch safely. I modified them slightly by punching holes in the temples and stringing a piece of elastic through. This made it so the darn things actually stayed on our heads! For future reference, the solar glasses are very annoying if you have to wear regular glasses to get through life.

find the sunspots!

How exciting to see sunspots! We were lucky to have a beautiful, though hot, day for viewing. There were some concerns about incoming clouds, but they behaved themselves until after the eclipse. Just a few stray cirrus once in a while.

so close

I loved watching the sun get eaten away by the moon!

the diamond ring

Totality was so amazing! It was my first time but my husband's second (he was a small fry on the Big Island in Hawaii for the eclipse in 1991). We had a good two+ minutes of it (2 minutes, 28 seconds) and it was worth every moment. It was so dark and the temperature dropped rapidly at that point. We didn't have any birds freak out but the "evening bugs" started to sing. My mother told me her cats gathered at the door and stared at her thinking it was time to be fed! Since it's safe to look at the sun without the filters during totality, we took our glasses off and the one off the telescope and got to see solar flares and the ring of fire and everything; it was wonderful!

receding

The clouds held off for the end too though we had to hurry and get our grill ready before they moved in with rain in the evening! I mean, what's an eclipse without some grilled ribeye? According to my husband, a wasted eclipse ahaha.

edible sol and luna

And of course I had to make my sugar cookies! The icing was a little weird for these; a bit too runny. They still taste like a million calories each though. :D

This was such a fantastic experience and shall be going down as one of my favorite memories ever! We are also close to where the 2024 eclipse will happen so assuming nothing changes in the next seven years, maybe I'll get to see another totality! For further fun, NOAA has some great images and videos of the shadow crossing the US here (I am not sure how long this link will stay active).

I will be fixing the images on my blog shortly. Photobucket went off the deep end and has decided to charge FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS for 3rd party hosting. Lol, no thank you. Please forgive the mess until I can get the images moved!

I Picked Up a Small Needle!

Hallo, world!

After the ceaseless whispering from my project bag, I finally succumbed to fishing out a cross stitch piece. I have not stitched since October of last year, before all The Happenings happened. Getting a flower out let me make the "2017" folder in my cross stitching photo album... halfway through the year!

before

after

Yay, a finish! (I've omitted the bees.) Of course, there wasn't much left on this piece so it was fairly easy to achieve victory. But a finish is a finish and always a morale boost. I even braved washing it (held my breath as it submerged) to remove the fabric ink and hoop marks and to give it a bit of freshening up. I probably should have ironed it!

Technical Details

"August: Gladiolus" freebie pattern by Ellen Maurer-Stroh, found here.
2-over-1 on a 14-count ecru huck towel.
Finished size: 4.5" x 4.5" (11,50cm x 11,50cm).
Started September 2016, finished June 25, 2017, unknown hours.

Next up will be September's Aster. I feel a little unenthusiastic about this one and I'm not sure why. Perhaps I just prefer fluffy flowers. Most of the colors are kitted up, minus one that is frustrating the heck out of me. My inventory says I have not one, not two, but THREE skeins of this color. Where are any of them?! They must have become victim to the move and will pop up in some really obscure place a year from now.

aroooo

I also kitted up the next MH3U side after setting my husband loose with my floss collection. He has a much better eye for color than he gives himself credit for! Plus, if no colors are acceptable, we go "string shopping". What a terrible travesty that is. ;) I started stitching at the last meeting with the local "yarn & yak" group. They're more of a craft whatever you want group instead of strictly knitting or crochet. This picture is about two hours worth of work, with plenty of yakking in between!

weird angle

I've also managed to squeeze in a knit washcloth with the Little Cowboy Afghan. It felt weird not having anything else to send with it and washcloths are fast and hopefully useful. I went up a size on the needles since I'm SuperTight. It gave it a slightly more loose gauge which should allow water to actually soak into it (yes, I've had water run off my cloths). I did not like the three-stitch seed/moss border. I think if I make another of these, I will adjust the border to be slightly wider. It wanted to curl whereas the dolphin one did not and I think that will help.

Technical Details

"Rubber Ducky Cloth", freebie pattern by Jessica Worthig, found here.
#4 needles (3.5mm).
Yarn: Peaches & Creme Solids in gold.
Finished size: ~8" x 8" (~20cm x 20cm).
Started July 17, 2017, finished July 21, 2017, unknown hours.

That's all! It's been super hot lately so crafting and fangirling over new anime has been A Good Time.

Flowers and Afghans, Oh My

Hello again! Poking my head back into the blogging world for a quick(?) ramble.

We are mostly settled in our new place. There was a terrible lot of rain over a few days and while the basement didn't flood, it certainly oozed. Last weekend my husband and I ripped out the drywall in one room to see just what the extent of damage was -- luckily, not too bad! And we got the pleasant surprise that the wiring down there is actually grounded, but the outlets had not been updated. That is an easy fix; I am comfortable swapping outlets and it means less than half the house will need updated. We will tear out one more wall, and probably a closet, to see if there are any more suspicious spots and to remove moldy drywall. Renovations are kind of fun but I am so tired of being surrounded by boxes that had to be hastily moved and spread out to dry.

I have no vegetable garden this year, and the flowers already planted have been mostly disappointing. I was hopeful the iris blossoms would be lovely... they were black. A washed-out deep purple black. Yuck. They will be finding new homes with people who can appreciate them. The daylilies turned out to be yellow and sort of scraggly due to lack of light. No daffodils. This will be remedied next year. I cannot live in a world without daffodils. There are also clumps of what I suspect are going to be "naked ladies" (surprise lilies, or whatever you know those goofy things as). The leaves have died back and I expect the flowers to pop out of the ground overnight within the next month or so.

almost worth it

We also have a small "water feature" that has some beautiful water lily blossoms. I really love the flowers but I do not want to take care of a water garden, nor invite mosquitoes to take care of it for me! It is also in pretty rough shape; the liner is torn in places so it's not as full of water as it should be and there are weeds everywhere around it.

pink "evening" primroses

These guys are taking over the backyard. I rather like them but they can be very voracious spreaders. They are native wildflowers here and I am contemplating getting them started in the ditch in front of the house. There they can spread to their little blossomy heart's content and I won't have to mow that (very difficult) area.

Then the lone rose bush bloomed. It was in sad shape when we moved in. I gave it some fertilizer and a haircut and it had a few blooms. At first I thought it was going to be yellow, which was okay with me. Then they blushed! I think these are actually Peace roses (or possibly Garden Party) and I am gonna try my hardest to spread them all over the flower gardens as they are truly beautiful (even after a rough life) and have a wonderful aroma.

Corelle salt shaker vase

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Well, enough about my gardening woes. I have been a bit slow on the crafting front. I have an item on the knitting needles, but no picture of it, and it's, like, way over there, far too far for me to move and snap one. Instead, here is a crocheted small baby afghan for a family member who is expecting their first. The father is a Dallas Cowboy's fan so this was a fairly easy choice to make. The star afghan is quite popular on ravelry and I scoured the projects page(s) for notes and ideas for color placement.

little cowboy afghan

Technical Details

"Little Cowboy Afghan" pattern by Beth Parsons, found here on ravelry (free).
G hook
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft, dark country blue, grey heather, and white.
Started March 17, 2017; finished June 14, 2017; unknown hours.

I have no idea how big or small a baby blanket should be! A friend suggested I wrap up my largest cat and then make it a bit bigger, so that is what I did, to much amusement of my husband and much confusion of my cat. It wound up being 39" from point to point, unblocked. I suppose this is a little small. Babies are a little small too, right?

a very confused purrito

It's done in (US) double crochet with a crab stitched edge for a bit extra strength. I would love to make another one of these in rainbow colors, or all blues, or a Mario Star, just for us. I was happy to make this one as a gift, but the colors are very drab for me to work on for long stretches of time. It's not entirely mindless because it required counting or the points would spiral.

The yarn itself was nice to work with too, so very soft, until the second skein of blue. What a yarn barf mess that was! I don't mind untangling yarn but that was the closest I've ever come to snipping off the offensive part. Yeesh.

Still no cross-stitch, though while I was crocheting the blanket, I was sitting next to the bag containing my few WIPs. It was whispering to me. :) When projects start talking to you, that's a good sign, right?

2016 Recap: Craftiness

Hello there. Thank you to the lovely ladies who messaged me over my long absence, and especially those who ferreted out my email after my last post. Your kindness and concern was really, really appreciated though I couldn't bring myself to reply to you. Things are starting to fall back into place again. Routines are a good thing for me even if a bit "boring."

Though 2016 didn't end on a particularly high note, I still wanted to do a crafty recap post for it because it wound up being one of my most productive crafting years to date. Rather than a large assortment of pictures, I will put the list from my finishes pages here and a collage of each craft.

February - Uno - knit fingerless mitts, pattern found here (ravelry)
February - June Wild Roses - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
February - Lemon-Lime Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here
March - Speaker Cozy #2 - crochet, pattern from Star Book No. 78: Television and Radio Scarfs
March - Shamrock Dishcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
June - Dolphin Washcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
July - Rathian - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
August - KitKat Hat - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
August - House Slippers - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
August - July Delphinium - 14-count ecru huck towel, freebie pattern found here
September - Brachydios - 20-count light tan jobelan, pattern by me
September - Mittens - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
October - Kitty Prints Scarf - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry), modified by me
October - Fan Bookmarks - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
October - Jack-o-Lantern Bookmark - crochet, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
October - Haunted House Dishcloth - knit, freebie pattern found here (ravelry)
November - Yellow Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here
November - Green Potholder - thermal crochet, freebie pattern found here

Totals: 7 knit items, 7 crochet items, 4 cross-stitch

the knits

I'm glad I completed the "kitty set". They came in handy this winter and the hat especially got a lot of smiles and comments. The fingerless mitts taught me how to do cables which, at the time, was very exciting. And then never again for the remainder of the year. And the washcloths are plain ol' fun. I like themed items obviously.

the hooks

Lots of thread crochet this year, which is good, I am very fond of it. After finishing the two thermal crochet potholders in November, I started a third, very large potholder (think 9x13 casserole dish) in a combination of the yellow and green and a couple skeins of white. This is the only project I had out as all my yarn/floss/notions/life/sanity was packed away. I finished it February 3rd (though as it's 2017 it's not a 2016 recap but more of a catch-up). Of course, I still had a small bit of yarn left over so I made one more smaller potholder, again with the white/yellow/green combo. I finished it February 10th. It felt nice to have some new things to unpack for the kitchen and it made me feel good to ~~make space for new yarn~~ use up stash. The collection is the (small, I know) picture on the far right.

the stitches

A fairly dismal year for cross stitch though. I finished two of the lovely huck towels and two more sides to the husband cube. I still love how Brachydios turned out. I have yet to fish out my cross stitch stuff. The mojo just hasn't been there.

I also managed a lot of progress on FFIII but it wasn't a finish like I had hoped. It went from here...

before

...to here.

after

So it's getting there, slowly but surely.

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

Also, I read a few books. I had originally intended this to be its own separate post but for reasons, it's getting tacked on here. I like to read but am not a very avid reader (gee, I wonder if all the other hobbies take up too much time). I tend to stick with old favorites, rereading them as many times as I please. I did not include any manga I have read although several series were sprinkled in throughout the year.

Italicized is a book I have never read before.
Italicized and bolded is never read and a new-to-me author.

The Diamond Throne (David Eddings)
The Ruby Knight (Eddings)
The Sapphire Rose (Eddings)
Domes of Fire (Eddings)
The Shining Ones (Eddings)
The Hidden City (Eddings)
The Redemption of Althalus (Eddings)
Hyperion (Dan Simmons)
The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
The Two Towers (Tolkien)
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (Terry Pratchett)
The 5 Love Languages (Gary Chapman)
The Return of the King (Tolkien)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Rowling et al.)
Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery)
Anne of Avonlea (Montgomery)
Anne of the Island (Montgomery)
Anne of Windy Poplars (Montgomery)
Anne's House of Dreams (Montgomery)
Anne of Ingleside (Montgomery)
Rainbow Valley (Montgomery)
Rilla of Ingleside (Montgomery)

I received both the Elenium and the Tamuli series by Eddings for Christmas 2015, and then just felt like rereading Althalus because he's fun. Yes, I had never read a Terry Pratchett book before! It was in our library's book sale for 25¢ and I took a liking to the ridiculous title. 5 Love Languages was interesting. I found both my husband and I "speak" the same language: Acts of Service. I hated Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was like a horrible fanfic with none of the magic of the original books. I put it in bold because surely Rowling did not write such a jaded view of the adult magical world. I was fully intending to purchase this book but after reading it through the library it will never find a home with me! strong feelings One cannot just read one Anne book. I can never pick a favorite of the series. Maybe 1-3 and 5.

And then all my books were packed away for the move that felt like it was never-ending.

Okay, I think that is enough for this recap / catch-up post. All of those items seem so far away, from a different life. I'm not even going to do goals this year and just take things as they come and enjoy life outside of boxes. Eventually. The boxes are never-ending as well.

An Update

Hello, friends. It has been a while. Since my last post, a lot has happened, and most of it has not been that great. This is hard post for me to write but I hope writing it will help, somehow.

It took us four months to move due to so many things happening at once. My anxiety reached a new level and I basically stopped eating and sleeping until my husband and friends strongly encouraged me to seek therapy. I was recovering. The blows have not stopped raining down and I am exhausted but I am eating and sleeping again. We skipped all the major winter holidays.

We are now moved... mostly.

February 28th was to be the last day in our old rental. My mother came up to help me with a few last items and to clean the house. Because it was so breezy that day, it took longer than expected to strap items to our trucks. We decided to just spend one more night in the rental and let the landlord know in the morning.

That night, I was using the carpet cleaner on the living room floor. I paused to refill the water when we heard the sirens faintly going off in town. We went to the basement. Twitter reports from the National Weather Service made me realize we were directly in the path. We retreated to steel beams in the center of the basement.

So much wind. I do not understand the train reference. It just sounded like wind. A lot of wind. Breaking glass. We thought it was hail. After, neighbors came to help us get out of the house and find our purses.

My beautiful, beautiful farmhouse. Gone. We were unhurt. We are alive. Everything was out of the house and in our new one. Our kitties were safely in the new one, too. I cannot explain my grief. I was already having a very hard time leaving this house because I loved it so much. It is gone. I was scared the next renters would be awful and neglect the house, or not appreciate it, or let the beautiful daffodils I coaxed back to life die back again. It is gone forever. I planted a grapevine. A rosebush. Peonies. Hostas. Lilies. Gone, all of them.

This is so so much worse.

My mother's truck was flipped and deemed totaled. Our truck was in the garage which basically exploded. $11,000 of damage which I am grateful to say my insurance will fully cover.

We are alive.

My heart is broken.

I can't look at the stuff in our new house without remembering how well it fit in the old house. The shower curtain matched the beautiful blue tiles in the bathroom. The polished flooring upstairs and the glass knobs on every single door. There isn't a single daffodil planted at our new house, and all the ones at the old place were crushed by the debris.

It was our landlords childhood home. I think the brother is the only one who can fully comprehend my grief. They will not rebuild it. They thanked us for being such good tenants; I knew they were sorry to see us go. We took care of the place, made sure it was clean. Kept the yard and flowers tidy. They joked that they were going to hold back the deposit because we obviously didn't do a good job cleaning.

So many people here lost everything. Houses gone. All their stuff, gone. People lost their lives, their loved ones. Gone, gone, gone. We were lucky. I know we were. But it hurts so much now. I feel selfish for having this much pain when I lost nothing. Nothing!

I just... can't anymore. These past four months have been torture for me. I have to keep smiling and pushing on. This is not what I wanted my next post to be.

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