A Renaissance Canuck

The Sucktastics rise again!

2015-10-10T09:17:00.000-04:00

I really do play with more than string! I also play with fake plastic instruments. :)

Initial Rock Band 4 thoughts. (Of /course/ we unpacked it right away, in spite of making more mess to be tidied by dinner time today. Duh.)

NB: This is not a 'new to the game' perspective. We've been obsessing on RB since the first one, so the basics are well familiar.

Off the top, the one thing that we both loved that's such a stupid little thing.. if there's a significant pause for your instrument, you now get a count down on how many bars 'til you come back in. No more 'surprise! You just took a bite of cookie, but now you're singing!' Love. It. Love it.

Game play feels about the same. I don't play guitar/bass much at all (makes my arm hurt very quickly), and for the sake of everyone, I don't play drums. So I'm back to being vocals only. I miss the keyboard, but as I'm probably amongst about 50 people worldwide who actually loved that damn keytar, I get why they dropped it. When we get the adapter to use 360 instruments on the XBox One, then I can at least use the keyboard to play bass.

There's a bit more wiggle room in vocals in some songs (not all) with vocal freestyle, but it'll take me a while to get the knack of that. My scores were about on par with what I expected for being wildly out of practice, so the grading engine for vocals at least is about the same on Expert. The new microphone is perfectly adequate and doesn't suck like the old wireless ones did. (This one, also wired. I'm telling ya, wired is the way to go for microphones.)

The voting system for party mode (or just building a set list) is brilliant and I really like that. We sent The Sucktastics (currently drum and vocals) off on tour to get the story side of the game going, and there's a few more choices, but its basically the same as ever. Which is fine, same as ever was enjoyable enough. (We've a van! Which has already broken down. But we've a whole 300 fans already! And a stylist!)

It seems that in story mode, you make money to buy your stupid outfits (stupid outfits are de rigur in this game, it's not a band unless someone is dressed like an idiot, usually Penn's char), and that money is shared amongst the band. The decision to buy the drummer a gas mask, or the vocalist a plague mask could also benefit from a voting system. (Seriously? How do you sing from under that! Still, it looks cool.)

We're still missing a lot of songs that we had in the old game.. we had just over 800 songs in RB3 and we've about 300 in RB4 currently. More are slowly trickling in (we gained a lot of songs in the last week, for example), as they work out licensing agreements and porting them over from the 360 marketplace. It will be disappointing if that doesn't change, there's a bunch of old songs from RB 1, 2 and 3 that were favourites and I miss them.

We currently only have 3 instruments (drums with no cymbals, vocals and a single guitar), but that will change when the adapter gets here next week.

It does feel a bit rushed out the door (Songs still in progress, adapters not quite ready), but all of the RB games have been a bit thin on release day and really grow into their own as time progresses.

It is good. There will be more rocking out again, and my voice is about to get back into shape (for values of 'in shape' that are comparable to too much singing in the car). Rock on!

Loved and well loved

2015-09-01T10:09:00.001-04:00

A blog that I read touched on an excellent topic this morning. Laura Fry is a production weaver who noted in the post I linked to there about how her textiles are meant to be used. Tea towels and table clothes, designed to be used and loved, spilled on and used for wiping up.

I love to visit and find my knitting on a table, perhaps with a little stain, or a spot where something caught. To know that it's out, being admired and used every day rather than a hurried toss on the table when I'm coming to visit? It makes the hours worth while. My knitted socks too, my shawls. I use them. I wear them out, I shove them in my bag to have if there's a chill. They get /used/. Life's too short to keep for good. I need to remember this with some lovely glass and ceramic cups I have. Life's too short /not/ to use them, they're precious to be for sentimental reasons, but that same sentiment says I should appreciate the hell out of them even if they might break.

My creative life has been a smattering of scattered samples, testing and poking and not doing any projects, per se, but this that and the other. Some dye work, some knitting work.. alright a lot of knitting stuff. The big doily is done save for one seam.

Now I just need to decide what, if anything, I'm entering in Lady Mary (I've nothing wow.. samples are not wow), and then what is for QPT and what is for pent.

Slogging along

2015-08-05T09:21:00.002-04:00

In every larger project, there is a spot where the novelty has worn off, you've still got a bazillion hours to go and it feels like you're getting nowhere.

The doily commission has firmly hit that state. With 560 stitches in every round, just getting through one round is a quest, let alone the next 30 that still remain to be done. (Every other round adds about 10 more stitches.. give or take a few, so it'll be more by the time I'm casting off.) It's finally gotten moved onto a 36" needle, so it looks a bit more like lace and less like a lot of squished cotton.

I didn't get nearly as much of it done at GenCon as I'd hoped. We spent more time walking and looking at things than sitting where I could knit. Which isn't a bad thing, over all, other than for my sore feet. :) Onwards and outwards!

Fian challenge

2015-07-15T10:52:00.000-04:00

So finally, after a couple of mis-starts, I've presented my challenge in court and it was accepted and all that good stuff, so I can start nattering about it here.

White Wolf Fian, for those who don't keep up on esoteric A&S groups in Ealdormere, (And why don't you, really? ;)) is a challenge order who aims to basically prod folks into pushing their own artistic / craftsman boundaries. Self directed, about a year long project that is one of those that's just outside your reach when you start, or so the theory goes. (Sometimes the evaluation of what's a suitable challenge for someone gets a touch intimidating to read. Yow, but I digress.)

I'm a lacemaker, even if my lace of choice is not pre-17th century. (Yes, I still call myself a lacemaker, even for my first lace love being the red headed stepchild of the lacemaking world. Suck it, traditionalists!) Since turning up at the SCA, I went and bobbled around with bobbin lace (enjoyable, still in the learning queue, likely now and forever), and wanted to poke around at the other main early lace, needle lace. Which is a big broad term that means many things to many people, but that's a whole different kettle of fish.

So I presented a challenge to look at two main needle lace techniques found commonly in Venice in the 16th century, Punto en Aria and Reticilla. The first has no fabric foundation, you build up from threads, and the second ostensibly starts with a linen base, but by the time you've done all the cutting away, you seriously just have threads and a lot of embroidery left.

The final aim for this, is to make myself a needle lace flag fan, inspired by this piece.

16th century flag fan in the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts

I am so not making an exact replica of this fan. Not even in a year do I think that my skills will be up to /that/. I hope to make something inspired by this fan, which doesn't suck. Not sucking is a high priority here. :)

I've started a punta en aria bookmark tutorial, so you can see where I'm starting from in trying to get towards that. Behold, I have a long long way to go:

Needle lace bookmark

2015-06-26T09:08:00.000-04:00

I finally took the deep breath plunge and actually started a needle lace bookmark that I've been hauling around the directions (A handout by Mistress Meadhbh ni Dhubhthaigh, thank you!) for in my folder for months. MONTHS. Seriously brain, this is not that complicated or even all that exciting. It's string and some card and more string. If it's awful, you're going camping next week and can throw it in the fire.

It's a super beginner little bookmark, basically spending more time learning how to couch threads down onto a pricking, how to work over threads, how to hide ends. All the basics that one really needs to know. The pattern suggested starting with size 5 cotton, but as I'm already well familiar with small threads, I grabbed a scrap ball of size 30. (That and I have an entire ikea box of size 30 in stash and I'd have to go buy size 5. It's like ROPE to me. Size 30 seemed giant enough. Ahhh, perspective.)

I shrunk the pattern down a bit to be more pleasing to my eye (oh yeah, and cause I'm using smaller thread), and then couched down the border. Now its a never ending stream of button hole around said border. I had thought my tension on the border threads was pretty good, now that I'm working on it, it could have been tighter. I think it'll be fine in the end, but its fairly floppy before I get it covered. Also, I need to work on my button hole stitch consistency. Story of my life.

Faery fest and spinning

2015-06-24T13:12:00.000-04:00

It was a lovely, if warm by the end, day at Faery Fest. Rumour has it that it's the last one, but we'll see how that shakes out over the next year. A work colleague took a picture of me spinning, and I continue to rock the utterly not photogenic side of my world. I was plying the turquoise random wool at the time, you can see the Andean plying bracelet on my wrist.

As part of the demo, I always have a spindle along with me so that I can show the similarities and differences between wheel and spindle. I had my never ending silk, but I also brought along a spindle and soy silk to give it a go. I mean, how hard could it be? I'm an experienced spindle spinner!

Yeah. Right. Soy silk and I didn't get along at all. It manages to be sticky and slippy all at the same time, and wants to undertwist and snap and run off on its own little way and bah. I am very grateful to have brought the silk, as there's only so many times you want to do the drop and swear thing in front of people you're pretending to be an expert to.

I did a bit of reading up about soy silk (nothing like research after the fact) and tried a bit of spinning from the fold and spinning a bit thicker than my norm. Apparently we have come to some sort of tentative truce, although it also seems to require that I spin standing up. I didn't even ask on that one.

Procrastination

2015-06-18T10:21:00.001-04:00

Procrastination is my bane. It is why there's a month between blog posts (even though I've had things to say and things going on.) It's why there's not as much done at home as there should be. Its why the last minute exists in my world. Sometimes, there's a whole lot of scared behind it.

I've a couple big projects on my horizon, and both of them are intimidating as all hell. There's a lot of learning curve, a lot of potential failure.. a lot of expected fail as part of the process, honestly. Which is why I dont want to start. If I haven't started, I haven't arsed it up yet. I haven't wasted materials and time, because that's all my brain clings to, rather than the wealth of experience and learning I do get.

So rather than pattern drafting and teaching myself needle lace, I've been weaving. No, I don't know why I'm content to work on /that/ new skill and not others, but plain inkle weave is basically the weaving equivalent of an endless stream of garter stitch dishcloths. My loom was cheap from an estate sale, and has an obnoxiously short warp (60 inches if I weave long past easily woven), but makes for a quick, mindless, relaxing way to use up cotton scraps.

My first warp was all about the Miami vice colours:

My second one was chosen to match my felted bag with the awful strap:

And then instead of dishes last night, I warped up the loom with a collection of blues out of the scrap bag:

Inkle weaving needs to come with a warning label: May be addictively relaxing in its simplicity.

A moment of pause

2015-05-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

Apparently more than a moment of pause in my posting, but I can be a touch on the scattered side. (Just a touch, stop laughing. Fine. More than a touch.)

The last month has been a glorious whirlwind of stuff, from A&S in early April (which I did post upon) to Fool in mid-May. I taught beginner bobbin lace on the cheap (hello Imposter Syndrome, how nice of you to come out to play), met awesome people and feel really content with my choice to not commit to a lot of classes, but rather drift in and out as social and whim caught me. One of said new friends commented on his blog about a gaming con that he knew things were good when he missed panels because he was too busy enjoying the conversation, and therefore wasn't bored and watching the clock, waiting for the distraction. That was Fool this year for me. I'd realize I was 20 mins late for a class I was interested in, because the company and conversation was too enjoyable to leave, and then decide to arrive late, or not go at all. Such a difference a year makes, when last year we knew about 4 people on site when we arrived and there was a lot of lost drifting.

With no more teaching/speaking obligations facing me 'til the Fall (huzzah!), my warm wooly knee high stockings done (just in time for summer!) and my fian challenge not yet started, I decided to a) take up a new to me skill and b) enjoy a bit of a handwork palate cleanser.

The first? I got an inkle loom on the cheap, because apparently looms really /are/ like pringles, you can't have just one. It looked a bit different than most of the pictures, but through copious stalking of weaving groups, I found another that looked the same and got it warped up. 43 threads of crappy but ubiquitous size 10 cotton. (I think it breeds in my house, I keep using it and I keep having MORE. I may be weaving with crochet cotton forever.) I think my tension is settling in, but wow am I slow at this. It'll come with practice, but this is not going to be knocked out in a blink.

The second is my palate cleanser piece. My first lace love was knitted lace, and it's a familiar comfort to settle back into tiny thread and needles and a nice chart. I've had this super tiny Dandelion doily on my ravelry queue for ages. Its a modern designer (few of those doing anything that's not a shawl), and so I figured I'd give it a go. Size 30 cotton here, and 2 mm needles.

Ideally I get this little guy finished up before I face a year's worth of needle lace. (What was I thinking? Seemed like a good idea at the time!)

Fred

2015-04-24T11:49:00.001-04:00

A new pet arrived at the house last weekend, and his name is Fred. Clearly I am comfortable enough to use my pets in food, as this pet is all about the food producing, and the 'him' is a little bit of overkill, to be honest.

Fred in his jar

As you can probably guess, Fred is a sourdough starter, and has been named after the last sourdough starter I had years ago. Somehow, giving him a name makes me more likely to remember to feed him. There were offers to pick up starter at A&S and I was so caught up in Pent, I totally forgot. However, someone (Thanks E!) in the neighbouring canton was kind enough to share some of hers with me, and so Fred is slowly taking over the counter.

As much as I adore sourdough bread, I decided to branch out and baked up some quickbread with a chunk of Fred. Cinnamon quickbread (a muffin recipe baked in a loaf pan.) Turned out pretty well!

Where to next?

2015-04-16T14:03:00.002-04:00

Other than a forgotten chunk of sewing and a class to prep for FOOL, I am at a glorious crossroads. I have no big deadlines for handwork. There's nothing that HAS to get done, for this or that. I get to plot and consider, dream and muse. I'm in that happy neverland where projects are quick, easy, stunning and without any snags. They don't get tedious, you dont run out of yarn, you still love the colours.

Do I pull one of the many items off the UFO list? Knitting? Spinning? Embroidery? Modern? SCA? A&S worthy? There is always something in the backpack to work on. Currently it's the second sock from my Pent entry, and a little cutwork piece. So always there's something small in the bag, but what else?

I'm musing on next year's pent (yes, already. Researching first, how novel!), and next year's QPT, but I think perhaps for a little while, I'll get a few more things out of the UFO pile.

Pent 2015

2015-04-12T10:16:00.002-04:00

Well, it probably should rightly be titled A&S 2015, but as I entered pent this year (apparently that's not normal in one's first big A&S event.. seemed reasonable to me!), this year was All About Pent.

Pentathlon is hard! 5 entries, 6 presentations (one overview and then a period of judging for each piece). You're talking about your work /all day long/. Which is at once awesome and amazing (and throat rending.. NB: bring ricola next year), and a smidge rattling when you get near the end of the day and you look at a simple entry and look at the judges and go 'yep. It's .. er.. lard. There's not much to say about lard.'

The final slate of entries ended up being the aforementioned lard (rendering pork fat into lard), knitting stockings, a carved drinking horn, pysanky and the tape lace bobbin lace hanky.

See? Lace hanky. It and the eggs were the pieces that made people pause and go 'ooh!', which is fair. There's few people who do either. Socks are socks, a beginner horn isn't exciting, lard is /really/ not exciting, but eggs? What's up with the eggs!? And lace? Most comments on the lace involved variations on 'you're crazy'.

Which is not inaccurate. ;) I came away from the event with nothing but warm fuzzies. My judges were helpful and enlightening, people were interested and respectful, everything went smoothly (the bumps of forgetting two of my pieces at home, and having two pieces judged in the same time slot were minor hiccoughs, we coped. My husband is a saint.)

I loved it, I am delighted by the winner, her stuff was amazing (both other entrants had great work, losing to either of them was no hardship whatsoever.)

I did manage to finish Secret Project #3 (I'll make a whole post about him soon). A little crowned penguin for Her Highness.

Doesn't every almost queen need a knitted penguin with a crown?

In just an hour a day!

2015-03-25T09:54:00.003-04:00

That really does sound like an infomercial that I'm about to try and sell you the ab stuffer, or something equally absurd.

No no, my hour a day is that hour after I get home and before my darling spouse gets home. When (these days) its finally daylight, it's just me and the cats, and quiet. I work in tech support, so I spend my day helping humans, and there are more than a few days when I don't actually like people by the time I get home from work.

I've been working on a giant (for me giant) lace piece on a deadline. (Apr 11 soft deadline), and these days the only way I will make that deadline is by working on it Every. Single. Day. I can't sit at the lace pillow for epic marathon sessions (at least not and still walk afterwards), so there's no making up for it later if I miss a day. Every. Single. Day.

I usually hate that sort of thing, as soon as I /have/ to do it, generally I hate it and kick and scream like a toddler being dragged away from the all you can eat candy. I'm really enjoying this, though. I'm enjoying that pause to be quiet, to sit in the sunshine and sometimes listen to a podcast, and sometimes just listen to the quiet click of the lace bobbins. Hopefully once this current project is done (I'm 3/4 of the way!) I will find something else to fill that hour in the sunny back room. My loom lives there, soooo. ;)

Secret project #2 was finished just in time, and was a knitted ram as a thank you for our Baroness for coming out to College Royal. He's been christened Ramsey, and looked like he settled in Penda's chair quite well in Penda's absence. I'm really pleased with how he turned out. I love the pattern, and the addition of wee horns just added to it.

Ramsey's glamour shot on my lace pillow, complete with mood lighting

The List

2015-03-20T10:41:00.000-04:00

Doesn't everyone have a list? Or a bazillion lists? In my case The List (yes, even saying it the capital letters are there) is the collection of things I'd like to try, projects I'd like to do. Generally it is wide ranging in interest, sometimes downright delusional in scale, and more wish than reality.

For a long time The List lived only in my absent thoughts and memories, but I've moved on to actually writing it down (and reserving the right to change it at whim, because it's a living thing, a moving target, a reflection of my current capricious interests.)

In the interest of full disclosure, currently The List looks like:

Soap making
Indigo vat
Blackwork collar and cuffs for a smock
Leather shoes
Canton banner
Work through Le Pompe patterns
Needle lace
Halva
Tatting
Cutwork

Have you got a list? Do you try and keep it in your head?

As reward for getting this far in my ramblings, have a picture of Dalla 'helping' with my lace.

Fleeting thoughts...

2015-03-11T11:24:00.000-04:00

Which probably should go on twitter, it's the usual spot for random bits of thought, but as I've neglected the blog, they're coming here. In no particular order:

- Sooper Sekrit project #1 is done. His name is Charlie.

This is a terrible picture of Charlie, but I was an idiot and neglected to get any glamour shots before he went to his new home. He is a merpegacorn (aka all terrain unicorn ) who now lives with Orla in the Shire of Trinovantia Nova. Careful what haphazard comments you make to a knitter at QPT.

- Sooper Sekrit project #2 is finally in progress after some hiccoughs. Oddly enough, more on that later when it's no longer a sooper sekrit project.

- There is value in writing out everything you need to do and by when. There is terror in writing down everything you want to do and by when.

- The real challenge in enter Pentathlon at Kingdom A&S is not the doing of five projects. I'm ADD enough that five projects is a question of picking which five. No, the huge challenge is working out what level I am at various things, (Beginner? Intermediate? Arrogant / confident enough to claim advanced? Nawww. Not advanced. Maybe advanced knitting? Dammit!) and documentation. Which I have some mental block against and want to either throw my half assed notes towards, or write up a dissertation about. Middle ground? Bah! No middle ground.

- It's been a long time since I did teaching that required more than 'hey, we're going to do this now. Lemme show you how!', and erk. Oh dear. What was I /thinking/!?

- I am really stunningly spectacularly bad at asking for help / info. I look at other requests for things and info and I go 'hey, I wanna know that too! I've been wondering that for a while!' and avidly follow the conversation, but somehow never manage to be the one to ask first, as if there's some merit badge in floundering.

- Between the gamers I know, the SCA people I'm getting to know, the wide and diverse collection of people in my life (even just peripherally), I am eternally astounded and in awe at the beauty, creativity, wisdom, skills, knowledges and sheer volume of omg awesome that I get to peek at every day when I shamelessly live vicariously though others' posts. It boggles the mind, and makes me smile. (And feel a bit like a fraud, hoping they don't find out I'm here. Shhh.)

Plans

2015-01-30T13:15:00.000-05:00

I am terrible for never putting plans out there, or not until they are mostly a done deal. If I tell people, then when I don't manage to get them done, I dont feel as if I look the fool. (I'm very very good at making many many plans, most of which dont come to fruition.)

So while I might fail, here's my aim before Kingdom A&S in April (early April. Oy.)

I'm hoping to enter the Pentathlon. Cause I'm dumb like that. (Much like my second race was a triathlon when I took up fitness, again with the dumb like that.)

Five entries, five categories (again, dumb like that.) Knitting, bobbin lace, horn carving, calligraphy and a research paper.

Bobbin lace entry is done (unless I get another spool of silk, and then it's 4/5 done.)

Knitting is eternal. (Seriously. Tiny needles, tiny gauge, big leg. Eternal.)

Horn carving is 1/3 to half done.

I'm not sure /what/ I'm entering in calligraphy. (I'm brand new at it. As I am most things on this list.)

Research is into medieval sheep breeds. (Why yes, yes I am a fibre geek.)

It might work out, I might just enter a couple pieces and do pent next year. Hopefully admitting it will help it come true! (or have people tell me I'm nuts.)

Burn the candles

2015-01-20T10:54:00.001-05:00

I understand that this has been mostly a maker blog (food, textiles, stuff!), but as I'm really writing for an audience of one (me! Hi me! Nice of you to stop by!), it'll end up wandering off.

I shared a post on FB not so long ago titled 'Burn the Candles' which most took literally to burn candles they haven't used, and I took more generally. Burn the candles, but also use the good china, the fancy hand creams, the new pretty undies.

As I sit here using the nice hand cream (formerly being saved, now sitting on my desk at work being used many times a day), I realize how nicely that post dovetails with another post I read recently. It was on the other side of the coin, of getting rid of stuff. Only keep what brings you joy. Use the good stuff, the gifts, the pretties, but it's OKAY to get rid of the hand cream that you kept putting to the back of the cupboard because you hate the smell. Share it with a friend who likes it, or just get rid of it. It doesn't need to clutter your space, nor your guilt.

I've some throwing out to do when I get home tonight.

Chilly fermentation

2015-01-12T10:29:00.001-05:00

To judge by my posting regularity, the holidays ate me. It's not wrong. I also suck at New Years resolutions (as in I dont make them, I tend to prefer to alter behaviours all through the year, not just at a calendar enforced time) so I didn't start posting again on Jan 1. It's Jan 12 now, and hey, a post! :)

It's admission of a duh moment. We keep our house cool. Cold even. 18C when we're home, 15C when we're not (or asleep.) I'd rather enjoy blankets (and the creatures that are there during the day have both fur /and/ blankets and sunbeams) than pay the gas company.

I also habitually fail at fermentation. Sourdough starter? Nope. Sourkraut? Nope, soggy cabbage. For whatever reason, we've worked out that bread needs to proof overnight in the oven with the light on, so clearly we realized that short term it's cold. So in a discussion with friends over how to make kimchee (while enjoying pulled pork made 3 ways for comparison, cause yes.. we are all foodies.) he noted that the house was cool. Oh yeah. Beasties rather prefer not to be half frozen while eating. Whoops!

Now I'm thinking of setting up a box in the back room lined with tin foil that catches the afternoon sun to warm it up. It seems to work for the calico (who thinks that's the best side of the house to spend her afternoons.)

Preparation

2014-11-13T11:28:00.001-05:00

I am not good at the preparation stage for a project. I get an idea, I get enthusiastic and I want to DO RIGHT NOW! Swatches? Practice bits? BAH! That's for other people.

Arty shot of the warping mill

I'm learning. Weaving is forcing me to change my ways. So is bobbin lace. There's a lot to be done before you get to the fun stuff. There's warp to weave, there's pricking to prick, there's bobbins to be wound. I'm finding this is extending to my knitting too, I knit more swatches. I accept it as a part of the project, not a waste of time. Or at least, I'm trying.

Winter is here, it's time for a new sweater.

Time sinks

2014-11-03T23:58:00.001-05:00

Most of what I do is a terrible time sink. MUSHes, WoW, everything I do in terms of handwork. Today's time sink was WoW. A free week, and I can guess where I'll spend much of my free time. And then feel horribly guilty for how little I've gotten done. Today's photo to distract from a lack of content is a very sleepy Malkie.

Oy weekends

2014-11-03T00:05:00.002-05:00

Good busy is still damn busy. Party, SCA event, larp.. oh my! A trio of dress up occasions in a trio of time periods. Victorian esque, Norse esque and then modern. I understand that modern isn't much of a dress up occasion, but when for a larp, it vaguely qualifies. Not a lot of writing this weekend, not a lot of brain for blog posts, but a good creative weekend none the less. As I don't have photos from party, larp or SCA event, I will distract you all with a photo of a cat in a laundry bin.

Na.. whatever.

2014-11-01T23:40:00.001-04:00

While many of my friends are attempting to write novels this month, I'm going to go the shorter route (And I'm not much of a writer) and blog every day this month. It'll be short, what I was up to, what I was working on, something of that ilk.

Today was Lady Mary Memorial Tournament, an SCA event in St Catherine's. I'm realizing that the more I go to these things, the more I enjoy them. You start to get to know people enough to be comfortable enough to chat, and not spend /all/ of your time standing around looking lost. Someday, perhaps the packing for an event won't be a blind rush. Someday. The phone was dead today, so no pictures from the event. Instead, I provide for you a photo from the Woodstock Fleece Show back on Oct 18th. Llamas!

Jack of all trades...

2014-10-31T10:08:00.000-04:00

and master of none. That's how the saying goes. I lament on a semi regular basis that I don't focus very well, and so I dabble. Eternally dabbling. I do a bit of this and that, sampling, starting and not finishing.

Periodically, I attempt to change my nature and focus. Okay. THIS time I'm going to just buckle down and do exclusively.

It never lasts.

My poor self esteem would appreciate it if I did, this being a beginner eternally is hell, but there's something to be said for being able to learn and explore everything from cooking to weaving. I speak just enough of many jargons to find myself able to listen in all sorts of places.

And that, that is a good thing. So I'll just embrace the knitting, spinning, weaving, cooking, dyeing, embroidery, lacemaking, preserving, sewing, costuming, singing and so on and so forth.

It might never make me 'awesome' at anything. Or known for being an expert, but my self esteem is just going to have to cope.

I do sometimes finish things, and its cold enough to appreciate a lovely new scarf. (Adapted from Kinzel's Rose leaf curtain pattern, Malabrigo lace yarn)

Elizabethan

2014-10-29T09:59:00.003-04:00

I decided (I also change my mind about every couple of days, so don't be surprised when this lingers. I get back to things eventually, but attention span is for other people.), but I decided that early period is just unflattering on me. It doesn't make me feel pretty, I prefer a bit more structure in my clothing, and so late period appeals.

Venetian will come, but for now I'm settled at mutt middle class Elizabethan. There's more hand holdy info for Elizabethan, and my sewing confidence is fairly terrible at the moment, so hand holding is important. If I was sane, I'd shell out the money for patterns, which would only need tweaking, I'm not good at sane. (I generally need to do it DIY the hard way first and /then/ enjoy the fruits of others' labours and wonder why I didn't do it this way in the first place!)

To this aim, I figure I need some basic layers. Chemise/smock. Petticoat (skirt). Bodice (pair of bodies, corset). Sleeves. Coif. Those are, as best as I can determine, the absolute bare bones of dressed enough to be seen in public.

Then we get into the nice to haves. Doublet or Kirtle or Petticoat bodies to go over that whole shebang. Knit stockings (or sewn hose, but I'm a knitter). A loose coat to further go over that previous whole shebang. Hat.

I keep having delusions about how fast I make things. (hint: Not at all).

So I might be wearing the poor old brown tunic for some time to come. I do, however, have the chemise (basically) finished! Just hemming, and I'm 1/3rd done that!

Look! A cuff!

I also have started swatching for stockings. I haven't entirely decided on yarn / needles or design, but I'm giving this combo a try.

If all goes well, I might have stockings to enter in Spring A&S. :)

Perfection

2014-10-22T11:51:00.001-04:00

If you can't do it right, you shouldn't do it at all.

That's that mantra that my brain runs through on a constant basis. It changes, fairly frequently, what 'right' is. Perfect, for a fluctuating and nebulous version of perfect. Perfect materials, perfect fit, perfect execution. Perfect.

I plan out projects, I write out details. I start (sometimes), and it doesn't look right, feel right and then I ball it up and stick it in the closet for months (years.)

This has to stop. I have to embrace imperfection, live with it, accept it as the learning experience that it is. Enjoy the fruits of my labour even flawed as they are. It's the only way to progress.

And perhaps, just maybe, quit it with being so damn stubborn. :)

Up next, the blue dress from hell gets a remodel. (Blue dress, not previously mentioned, as it wasn't perfect. Well, tough, it gets to live /anyhow/.)

Down the rabbit hole...

2014-09-19T10:42:00.000-04:00

Somehow, I end up thinking more about posting than actually posting. Or settling down to do things rather than type here. I really do need to remember that quick little updates are /fine/.

So what have I been up to? I'm glad you asked.

Weaving and knitting and eventing and baking, oh my! With some embroidery and basically an attempt to do ALL THE THINGS, and failing.

There's a loom in my life now.

45" Leclerc Fanny

And looms make cloth.

I went to an event in Toronto (Feast of the Bear) and finally started to feel like I was almost mostly sort of getting the hang of relaxing into the social, not feeling completely overwhelmed with new people and things, and perhaps even enjoying myself. I did a dozen embroidered pincushions for the largesse derby there.

Next up, a sextet of things for the largesse at the barn party, and making some final choices on my QPT. More on that later.