totchipanda

Winter! I didn't dare move my care all weekend because the roads had not improved at all. Yesterday I woke up to what looked like rain on my sidewalk, but it was SHEER ICE. It was raining, and it had been raining, and it was freezing. The roads were a MESS. In the afternoon, it switched to snow, and then the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped from around 37F to -20 overnight. On the plus side, my walk was a lot easier without having to watch for every little step, and the roads have firmed up, I think I could get my car back onto my driveway. On the down side, I don't know if it's gonna start, or if I'll be able to get it off the pad of snow its on.

Finished a knitting project last night. That felt good! I decided to tackle one set of sleeves, and I picked the plain ones bc they were half started (raglan style) and I could knit them two at a time. Now the sweater just needs to be blocked. I have the PERFECT shirt for it to go over.

And I always think that finishing a project gives me an excuse to cast on a new one. NO! Esp since I started looking at more sweater patterns. Finish your other sleeves, silly! THEN we can cast on one of the TWO sweaters I already have yarn for. I think I will do the lace sleeve next. The cabled ones are terrifying.

My semi-gift to myself (purchased with a gift card I received through a rewards program at work) arrived, and oh, I love it. I bought a LAMY Safari pen and a Sailor Moon notebook. The notebook is plain paper, which will be great for sketching notes and outfits. The pen is *delightful*. It writes so beautifully, and the ink is a pretty blue with a grey tinge (it came with it). I'm really happy with this purchase! Now I just need a converter, maybe a finer nib, and some pretty ink XD

( the panini press strikes back )

Something a little cheerier, shall we?

I found a post on tumblr that was like "what if you and i went to a craft store and bought some supplies to make flower fairies and strung them up on a garland with some twinkle lights. You ever think about that?" and then included a picture of said flower fairies, and they were so CUTE so on our Michael's trip the other day I bought some brown pipecleaners and wooden beads. I have a TON of fake flowers in the sewing room. Later that night I made a few and they are just so cute. No pics yet, at least not in a postable format.

Have been wanting to get back into the sewing room but life has not consipired to help me do that lately. Partly because the room is unfinished in the basement, and it's fucking cold still. LIke it's been -25C or colder for nearly three weeks. That makes the basement cold too. It's supposed to get warmer this weekend, hopefully that will make the space a little more tolerable.

Finished a knitting project on Dec 31, and then another one on Jan 2. I started knitting a shawl on Dec 26 and a hat on the 2nd, and aside from my multitude of sleeves, nothing else on the go. It's almost weird to not have 18 projects started, but also nice. They don't weigh on my mind so much lol.

Still plugging away at my fanfic. I was tagged in a comment today about one I had written during nanowrimo so I've pulled that out of the doc to work on too.

Oh hai friends. It's been awhile :)

Novel: Finished. Well, my words are finished. My story isn't. I could probably wrap it up in another 3k, roughly, but I hit 50k and brain said "ok we're done". I decided this year that what I actually write is very detailed outlines, so I might take this one and work it out "properly".

I didn't do any housework except some dishes over the week I was off. Dance recital was on the 29th and it was SO SO SO GOOD to get back to that. I started holiday work on November 30th, and that was nice too. I just did my last shift there yesterday, and it was a long one. I'm just not used to standing and moving around for so long, my hips and feet were so sore.

Then... lessee. The first day I was due back at work, I woke up with a migraine. I should have stayed home. I got off the bus early because my tummy was NOT HAVING IT. I threw up in a garbage bin, made it to work and then went home. The next day, I was feeling much better, but came home to a notice about a pest inspection at the end of the week, and spent the next two nights just picking up. Between coughing for so long and novel-writing, my place was looking very, shall we say, lived-in. Regrettably, I didn't have time or opportunity to vacuum or actually clean much, and it was pretty horrific. So horrific, in fact, that I came home to another inspection notice, of the "this is really gross, fix it NOW" variety, and I spent that weekend cleaning. But since everything had been picked up, it was the neatest it's ever been, which made it easier to move as much out of the way as I could and really give the place a good shine-up. My wonderful friend, who loves cleaning, came over with her husband and baby and they tackled the kitchen while I did the floors and washed the blinds and bathroom. It must have been OK, because I came home to the bathroom fan on and no further notices.

So now I'm planning to rearrange stuff, and thinking about how to set it up to allow the best use of space for crafting. Soon my couch will be leaving and I'll be putting in a smaller one. I'd like to move the sewing tables to the other side where there is actually an outlet and be able to use them as sewing tables (all of the stuff currently living on them as storage will need a new home but that's another story). Now that my holiday work is done, and I'm feeling so much better, and I don't have a novel to take up my time, I really need to get back to my KonMari process. Since I kinda got stuck on the costumes, I'm going to leave them in the bins I stored them in for the inspection and just move on to the next step.

Last week, during some down time, I wrote up drafts for my blog. I did up the yearly wrap-up and then the things I made last year for CoCo and the very few projects this year. I did so much more knitting than sewing, and I am OK with that. What sewing I did do was enjoyable specifically because I wanted to do it. But that is getting me thinking about the upcoming year and what, if any, goals I'd like to achieve. I sort of joined a challenge on my knitting forum to sew more, and that's going to inform some of my choices. Plus the thing I saw on IG floating around about challenging yourself, so fine, this can be the year I finally learn how to deal with welted pockets, and use the vintage buttonholer I got nearly 2 years ago.

I am going to see Star Wars tomorrow. Very excited for that, and also because I have enough for POPCORN. Yessssss.

I just finished reading the Marie Kondo book and wow. Things in there that I had either thought of but never put into practice, or things I just never considered before. Even knowing quotes like "objects should spark joy" and "I keep 30 books" and knowing that that is something that works for some people, it was laid out so concisely and logically it was like standing underneath a slowly glowing light bulb. I know the internet lost its collective mind about the book statement in particular, but the book is less about "only keep x number of items" and more about "appreciate what you have, and have what you appreciate". It fits right in with my current mindset, especially because when I look at my clutter and piles of things, I see the anxiety and fear of abandonment. I dont need video games I'll never play and books I'll never read and fabric I bought when I was a different person.

I have the book out for another week, so I plan to take notes and create a plan of attack and then... it's time.