mostly from last May

The blackwork bag mending is going slow, but at least it is still going. I think this part of the mending will be finished this week, so next weekend I'll get to cut up an old umbrella for the patches. Hopefully. Maybe. Well, it could happen. I know I'm really slow at getting stuff done, but there is only one, or maybe one and a half, more rows of the green blackwork, then I think I'll only add a few lines of pink thread. It could get done in a week of commuting.

Also, it dawned on me after leaving my phone at home again, that my reason for having only one bag is wrong. When I was finishing the woven bag back in May last year, I thought I would never use it because it would be confusing, and I would leave my wallet or phone in the wrong bag. But that happens anyway.

And another follow up to a project from last May: I'm trying to work on that comic every day, trying to get tidy drawings done for all the pages. The plan is to get into the habit of drawing a bit every day, and just keep going. It's going to take ages.

Getting back to it

I completed the weaving back on the 7th, but by then all enthusiasm for it was gone.
The good: It survived the washing machine just fine. The thick texture feels lovely.
The bad: Not loving all the colours in it. The sections made of crochet chains of thinner treads pinch in, probably a tension issue. I really don't know much about weaving.

The biggest problem, and possibly the cause for the growing lack of enthusiasm, is that I have no idea at all what to do with it now. It will live with my other scraps indefinitely, and adding to my scrap pile isn't really what I want to do right now.

After the weaving was done, I tried to start on another writing project but gave up. It seems that without an external deadline, I just couldn't keep writing. Discouraging. I'd like to write the story, but I felt like I was just wasting the time on the commute.

But now, I've got a new project: mending my Make do and Mend bag. It had been my daily shopping/crafting/lunch bag for ages, but then the holes got too big. I've replace it with a bag that says Parsnips, but it's just not the same. So, inspired by a blackwork workshop at the guild, I've started reinforcing the less-ripped side with a strong cotton weaving yarn. Usually, I'd say embroidery on the bus is a literally bloody mess. But the bag is a loose weave hessian with plastic backing, easy to use a nice round tipped needle with. Plus, the blackwork pattern is easy to follow, and feels like meditation when it is going smoothly. Anyway, I'm not worried if it ends up a bit wonky. The plan is to do some free-style darning stitch on the more ripped side, and reinforce the bottom of the bag with some denim.

Not sure if it's the change of the seasons, or just getting over a bad mood, but I feel like the mending project is making me happy.

Shopaholic, me?

I'm a scrounger, always after something for nothing. When I browse a website, I'm never thinking about what I can buy in someone's Etsy shop. I feel a bit guilty about this. In a lot of ways, I am one of the richest people in the world, so there's no excuse for me to be such a penny pincher.
Anyway, when I saw that a blogger I follow had an unexpected vet bill, it prodded me into finally buying something from her. I love her attitude towards recycling, and I've been interested in how to use old t-shirts as yarn. Must say, I'm very happy with the basket. It feels so nice and well made, and so washable as well. So much cuter than the old cardboard box that yarn had been in. And I'm happy that her cat is doing well.
The little rat toy was a surprise gift from P. Evidently the crafter's in Chorlton use them as pincushions. Barbaric! But it would make the rat into a hedgehog.

My current weaving project is still coming along. The thick texture is lovely. Hope it survives being laundered. I'm already thinking about my next project though. Yoda would be so disappointed in me, always thinking about the future.

After a bad start

The weaving didn't start well. First, I mis-counted and ended up with 9 rather than 10 strands to weave on. Instead of starting right away on just 8 strands, I added another day of doing nothing much because I had decided on 10, and 10 it would be.

The next mishap was losing a ball of yarn on the bus. I had taken off a piece to weave with, and then instead of putting it back in the bag I must have just dropped it. It was only a small bit and I was reluctant to crawl around on the floor of the bus looking for it.

But last week the weaving came together and I now have about 6 inches of stripes done. It's sort of a sampler, testing how different yarns work. Once it's done, I'll put it through the washing machine. If it survives, it may end up on a quilt. Maybe.

Starting the year

I'm having a very slow start to 2010. Just not feeling energized, organized or enthusiastic. But yesterday on the train home from the Martin Mere wetlands centre, I did doodle for a bit. Tonight, I'm going to try getting a weaving project started. Maybe finally getting the year started right.

The youth of today

For the most part, I’ve been enjoying the snow. I’m not a fan of cold weather, but I love it when the big fluffy flakes are coming down. But the accumulation is making for slippery surfaces. I’ve not become an NHS statistic, but yesterday as I was out last-minute-shopping, I had that dignity shredding experience of falling flat on my bum. I’m not sure what sort of noise I made, but the young man, a teenager, just crossing the street ahead of me took out his in-earphones and turned around to ask if I was o.k., bless. He didn’t move on until I was standing up again.
Why does this episode get a blog entry? Because it occurred to me that I could use it in a story sometime. Yes, it would seem contrived to have characters meet because one of them slips on the ice, but it would also be realistic. Even though I’ve not made any progress in editing my nanowrimo novel, I still seem to want to write more. How can I use my time on the bus to do this? I’m not sure. There’s no reason why I couldn’t edit the novel on the bus; it’s just that I find it hard to do, and hard to want to do. It’s tempting to try to crochet snowflakes instead. But it doesn’t matter either way at the moment, because I’m off work until the new year.

Tap-a tap-a tap-a

I finished my nanowrimo novel on the 30th! My total word count was just over 50,000 and I haven’t worked up the energy to read it yet, but I did hit that deadline, see winner decal to prove it. I made P a “Support Staff” decal for all the help he gave me. He even told me at the end that what I’d written was the size of the Ice Schooner by Michael Moorcock, and that made me feel quite impressed with myself.
The organizers are correct in saying it is possible to write a full rough draft of a small novel, but it is a big task. I’ve neglected other interests and even stuff like shopping for boots. Plus I’ve not been getting enough exercise. Sitting and typing leads to a flabby bottom. If I do more writing, I will have to exercise properly, too.
Was it worth it? I am proud to have done it, but the novel will take a lot more work before it’s even in a state where I could ask someone (probably P again) to read over it. At the moment, it makes sense to me, and I still like the overall story, but I have a feeling it isn’t going to be readable until I put in at least the same amount of time editing it. My previous experience at editing on the bus tells me that it’s not as easy as writing. At the moment, I’m having a rest. I didn’t have time to plan any other activity for after writing on the bus, so I’m just watching pigeons and seagulls on my commute.