Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I'm Cozy As Hecc

I didn't sleep well last night. That's my fault - I had the fan on and only a thin cotton blanket over me. Then I switched to a fleece blanket but it wasn't covering me 100% the way I wanted so I still couldn't sleep. When I got up at 6AM, groggy and cranky, it was a whopping 25℉ (-4℃) and I was more than ready for my first massive mug of coffee of the day.

After curling up in a recliner with my big ol mug of mocha, I played around on my phone for a bit (I've almost finished a game so look forward to a Saturday blog in the next couple weeks!). I finished up the morning grog and bumbled my way upstairs, hoping for a bit of rest before tackling the rest of the day.

I cuddled up under my fluffy red blanket and promptly conked the heck out.

It was 11AM when I woke up again.

It was sunny and breezy, but it's also 44℉ (~7℃)! Fantastic!

You may be able to tell from the caption under the header image that uh... I'm not feeling like moving much now that I'm wrapped in the coziest blanket on earth. I did get up earlier to go get some more coffee, and also some chamomile tea (which I dribbled on my leg like a total slob), and I'll probably get up to go get a pre-dinner snack in a minute (maybe some cheese...) but I feel very cozy right now!

And I'm not sure I don't want a nap...

That being said, I do have plans this week:

• Art on Thursday! No telling what it'll be!
• If I finish this mobile game I'm playing I might do a blog on it for Saturday!
• I made something from Korea and I wanna show it off so hopefully I'll remember to post on Sunday!
• Crochet for next Monday!
• Back again for the ol' blather day next Tuesday!

I also want to write more this week. I might have to start over again on Cherry's story to get it unstuck, but I do want it done by my birthday.

We'll see!

Anyway that'll do it for me for now!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Forgot to Take Photos Sorry

I'm lazy.

That's not exactly a surprise to anyone who knows me.

I'm... not the kind of lazy that does nothing, though.

I'm the kind of lazy that starts to do something, gets distracted, does something else, gets distracted, and ricochets from project to project until something gets done.

I'm told this is common with people who have ADHD. I won't say that's me, though, because I'm not professionally diagnosed and while I seem to hit literally every symptom there is, I'm not a doctor.

Now why am I telling you all this today, on Fiber Monday?

Because I am 90% done on at least two projects and possibly 5% done on another.

And I have 0% photographs.

I usually take my pics throughout the week and upload them the day of the blog, but this week I just never bothered to take any photos. My bad? But also, I feel a bit guilty because I wanted to have way more completed by today.

I have a pumpkin that needs stuffing and a stem attached.

I have a kitty hat that needs finishing.

I have a filet crochet project I started and haven't worked on in two weeks.

I have a capelet that I started working on that I don't know if I'll finish.

I have... no attention span lately.

The weather has not been helping - either the days are warm and I don't want to "waste" them inside, or they're cold and rainy and I can't focus. Today it's sunny but the wind is screaming around the house, forcing its way through every crack and chink in the siding and windows. It's very distracting.

Another unfortunate side effect of these 27-36mph (43.5-58kph) winds is that I couldn't really sleep last night and a nap is not gonna happen as long as the roaring continues.

I'm very tired and very distractible. Hopefully, though, I can get some finishing work done this week and move on to other projects to show off lol!

I hope you're all having an easier time getting creative work done than I am!

Sorry again there's not more crochet on the crochet blog this week!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I have A Rough Sketch To Share!

I'm still learning digital art, so bear with me, but I think I've got a good start going on this drawing I'm doing of a rave cat!

If you're wondering why I'm drawing a digital art piece of a rave cat, uh... it's kind of a dumb inside joke involving the game Beat Saber, a friend, and their cat being very interested in what they're up to. My drawing doesn't look ANYTHING like their cat, though, so just enjoy a silly rough draft of a drawing of a cat at a rave!

"RaveCat 01" digital only!

The shadow you see under the image is my outline/gesture drawing. I just kinda forgot to remove that layer before saving as a jpg to share it on her.

My usual process for digital is something like this: I take my base color and reduce the Alpha to about... 80? Then I start sketching out scribbly shapes, scribbling madly until the shapes begin to look more like actual limbs or heads or whatever. Then I start applying my first layer of color (orange), then more layers of color get added, and eventually I'd get around to lineart (you can see the beginnings around one hand and the rave locs). I'm going to fix her shoes eventually, maybe undo her dress and replace it with uh... a more visible one lol. I might do a few layers on the dress with different colors and different percentages.

I don't have a very good grasp on the language of digital art, so if you're someone who does this, please shoot me suggestions ("get photoshop" isn't the kind of suggestion I'm talking about here - I have a hard enough time with paint.net and I am completely lost so far on Krita, which I downloaded today and 100% botched the first draft of this on). I'm always eager to learn new stuff :D

I might try a version of this with traditional art some time too!

For any teacher out there, btw, who thinks "digital art is easier" somehow, please know that you're wrong. I've been drawing and painting for close to 25 years, and I find a set of watercolors and a nice sheet of rag paper 100000000% easier to control and understand instinctively than digital art. I am having to work a lot harder to figure out how each layer works with the others, and I don't think I'll ever 100% get it. Also, just... remember that art changes over time. If you accept anything other than cave paintings, you understand this.

Alright, that'll about do it for me!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

In Which I'm Doing Stuff I Swear

It has been a truly gorgeous day today and I've spent all of it inside being unproductive. Much like yesterday lol!

It's been holding steady around 50℉ (10℃), and it's been pretty quiet today - unlike yesterday when my neighbor had his horribly loud vehicles out all day revving and rolling.

Much of today has actually been spent enjoying the company of a friend playing Oculus Quest games including "Down the Rabbit Hole" and "Audica". I found Audica to be super hypnotic and cool to watch!

I also started working on a hat - it's purple and might have glow in the dark accents!

But aside from that and spending most of today playing Pokemon Moon, it's been fairly uneventful lol!

I do plan to do art for Thursday! It may have to do with an inside joke my friends and I came up with involving cats at a rave...

As for the rest of the week into next week, I do want to show you more crochet work - we'll just have to see how derpy I am next week!

All in all it's been an off-kilter few days, and I hope I can get back into the swing of things tomorrow.

That'll probably do it for me today, folks!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk - Capra aegagrus

 

In Which I May Learn Ya Somethin

It occurs to me that I missed Tuesday's Talk About Tuesday blog. Sorry about that. I was swept up in a whirlwind of working on crochet and just being sleepy :)

We've hit a brief warm patch here in the Blanket Fort - outside temps today were around 44℉ (6.7℃)! It was cloudy and sprinkling during my walk, so the heavy fleece and beanie that I wore were helpful at offsetting the damp chill (and keeping my unruly mane out of my face - gotta keep my hands off my face!). I went to the shop and picked up some snacks and sodas, and I just enjoyed my exercise.

But enough about that, I promised you art, and educational art at that!

First, though, I have to tell you where the idea for this short three-panel comic comes from:

Ghost Town Living on Youtube.

You may have heard of this guy before - he's a dude who bought a ghost town named Cerro Gordo and is now fixing it up. He lives up there all by his lonesome except for the wild bobcats. And the kittens he took in from a farmer who didn't want them. And some goats.

It's the goats I'm talking about today - specifically the #1 goat, Tofu.

Tofu is adorable. He's this lil brown-and-white turbo-charged latte of a goat who is absolutely adorable and precious and I love him.

He lives in an area where bobcats are not only plentiful, but they're gutsy, too. So I worried at first about the lil dude's chances.

And now I know I won't have to.

Why? Well... he's a Boer goat. Lemme show ya:

Bobcat crouching in the grass "Goat burgers coming up..." as a goat grazes in front of him.

[DID YOU KNOW:] caption. The bobcat notices and is distracted. "Eh?". The goat is nonplussed.

The goat is heckin buff. Caption reads [Adult Boer Goats can weigh around 300lbs (That's ~136kg!)]
The bobcat is in awe. "Heck"
Small caption with an arrow pointing to bobcat: [Bobcat = ~40lbs (~18kg)]

So there ya go. We need not fear for Tofu's wellbeing - he's gonna outweigh literally every animal in Cerro Gordo in the future. So are his bros, Elon and Baretta (at least I think that's the other goat's name?).

Hope this gave you a chuckle! Hope you learned something new!

Hope you Go Enjoy Something!

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Experiment

Anyone remember way back in 2019 when I made a bean-stitch pumpkin for my mom? Well, because I am a masochist, had some leftover orange yarn, and learned a new stitch, I decided to make another lil pumpkin!

This one will be made using something called a "waistcoat stitch", which I learned via this video on YouTube (strongly recommend you watch it - it's so cool!!!)

I had so many false starts it's not even funny. Did you know that it's almost impossible to find the V's of your single crochets using a medium weight wool and an F/5 3.75mm hook? It is! And an H/8 5.0mm hook is too big, leaving unsightly gaps and feeling too loose!

So I compromised with a 4.0mm hook!

I tried a few different approaches to begin with - stitching a flat 60 stitch wide piece (too hard), chaining 2 sts and then putting 6sc into the first chain (looked like a butthole, tbh), and a single loop magic ring (kept falling out) - but I ended up with my usual 6sc into a double-magic-ring (plenty of places to look this one up, and it's so stable!!!)

Not gonna lie - the first couple rounds of waistcoat stitch are almost nightmarishly hard for me. I almost gave up and just single crocheted the first few rounds! But I persisted and now...

It's really cool looking!

It's harder to see in photos than in real life, but it looks... it looks knit! I know it'll look more and more knit the more I go along, but the V's of the stitches are all so nicely interlocked! I do have to wonder if a straight increase would have looked better than the staggered ones I do, though.

STRAIGHT INCREASE:

1. 6sc in magic ring or double loop magic ring (6 sc)
2. 2sc in each sc (12 sc)
3. *2sc in first sc, sc in next, repeat from * around (18 sc)
4. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 2 sc, repeat from * around (24 sc)
5. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 3 sc, repeat from * around (30 sc)
6. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 4 sc, repeat from * around (36 sc)
7. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 5 sc, repeat from * around (42 sc)
8. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 6 sc, repeat from * around (48 sc)
9. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 7 sc, repeat from * around (54 sc)
10. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 8 sc, repeat from * around (60 sc)

STAGGERED INCREASE

1. 6sc in magic ring or double loop magic ring (6 sc)
2. 2sc in each sc (12sc)
3. *2sc in first sc, sc in next sc, repeat from * around (18 sc)
4. *sc in next sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next sc, repeat from * around (24 sc)
5. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 3 sc, repeat from * around (30 sc)
6. *sc in next 2 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next 2 sc, repeat from * around (36 sc)
7. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 5 sc, repeat from * around (42 sc)
8. *sc in next 3 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next 3 sc, repeat from * around (48 sc)
9. *2sc in first sc, sc in next 7 sc, repeat from * around (54 sc)
10. *sc in next 4 sc, 2sc in next sc, sc in next 4 sc, repeat from * around (60 sc)

Regardless of how you increase, you should end up with a 60 stitch-around disc. In my case, instead of single crochets I'm using waistcoat stitches (which are just single crochets that go through the v of the stitch instead of the top!). You can really make a circle with any kind of stitch using this pattern of increases, and by adding rounds of one-new-stitch-per-stitch-below (60 sc rounds), you can build this into anything from a basket to a sphere to a bolster or anything round or cylindrical, depending on where you begin your decrease rounds.

The decrease rounds will, of course, be the reverse of increase rounds, so you'll be single-crocheting in two spaces to form one stitch (or waistcoating in two stitches to form one waistcoat stitch). I'll cover that next week, I think, since it took me forever to a) get up and b) get to work today lol.

It's a rough transition to the ol' Spring Ahead, what with my state observing Daylight Savings Time and all...

And it was freezing today - we were at 50℉(10℃) not long ago, and today stayed around 14℉(-10℃)!!! WTH?!?!?!

Lemme cry ya a river, right? lol.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed today's lil peek into my deranged attempts at crochet :P

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Am Working, I Promise :P

I'm still working on the bonkbubble piece, I swear! It's taking a long time because I do everything pixel-by-pixel, which takes FOREVER when the canvas is a justifiable 10k x 12k pixels square lol. I took a little break today, though, by trying to come up with concept thumbnails (not good ones - these thumbnails are rougher than pumice!) for potential scenes. These are... super undetailed.

All of the thumbnails

I'm not promising to work on all of these concepts (though it'd be neat to see them realized!), and I'm not 100% sure that any of these elements would remain if I did, but I like the idea.

So what's the idea?

Well, what if I did a bunch of limited-palette images where everything was red or blue or whatever? Here's what I came up with for each color of the rainbow (not counting black/white/gray)

A Red Cityscape

I've done these before - but never particularly detailed. They tend to be silhouettes against bright, saturated skies (and I would love to do another black-buildings-on-a-red-sky picture...), but this one should be different - I actually want to use multiple shades of red to form this image. I'd obviously have to use actual reference photos if I wanted it to not suck, but I'd be down for that!

An Orange Fantasy City

If you know me irl, you know I love fantasy. I love how weird things can get, how outrageous, how unnatural. I would love to take an orange color palette and make an amber city in an autumn forest! I just think it'd be neat :)

A Yellow... Fortress maybe?

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of yellow, so the only thing I could think of is the Thieves' Guild of Navarre in Trials of Mana, but... I don't want to do two desert images. Maybe a grasslands fortress? Maybe... maybe not. I don't know. Maybe I'd make a bee city in a grassland. That might bee more fun (no pun intended, but I went back and added that second e anyway).

An Indigo Library

Huh. Not sure why this is out of order, but I love the idea of a library rendered in indigo! Not 100% sure how that would work in practice, though, since Indigo doesn't tend to have shades/hues in digital art...

Regardless, I'd want to try!

Just think, infinite bookshelves leading back to a pinprick of light - the unused exit - while in the foreground, someone's assembled themselves a cozy reading area! Love the concept.

A Blue Undersea Scene

I don't know, guys. I love the idea of an underwater scene, but should it really be blue? Isn't that kinda... normal? I'm not a normal kinda artist, though... regardless, I'd love to draw a scene with some sort of building covered in coral, another made from the skull of a long dead sea behemoth, a kelp forest in the distance... sounds fun! And terrifying. Because I won't be able to look at reference photos very much since I have a pretty unfun case of thalassophobia...

A Green Hut

Y'all know what I'm not afraid of? Swamps and moors and little cottages! I even have a story that takes place in a place like this - a semi-retired bard, who is an ex-adventurer, settling down to try and teach the nearby villagers' children music, but he keeps getting interrupted by inconsiderate dragons. This piece should be really fun :)

A Violet Desert

At first blush, this concept seems... empty, doesn't it?

I really want the land and silhouetted mountains/buttes to give a sense of emptiness and loneliness, drawing the viewer up to the sky and the millions of stars I want to scatter across the violet heavens! I'm really looking forward to this one!

So that's what I'm looking at as future projects. Maybe. If I get around to them. And don't find another shiny new toy.

But they are pretty strong concepts, I think, and I look forward to making them, ya know, look good. Instead of sloppy. Because right now those are so flipping sloppy.

In my defense, they're only about two inches (5cm) across...

And I kinda drew over some really smudgy pencil.

I might also be losing a knock-down-drag-out fight against the urge to nap, which has consumed me all week.

I'm not running a sleep deficit or anything. I'm not even feeling particularly depressed. I just feel like napping all the time. This happens every so often. I'll snap out of it eventually lol!

Anyway, I think I'll go find some more inspiration on the internet and look up some reference photos (if I do end up doing these pieces, I will share my references, I promise!)

That'll do it for me!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC 

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which It Feels Like Spring!

Today it is gorgeous out, and of course, all I want is a nap.

It's warm - about 45℉ (7.2℃) - it's sunny, and there's only occasional bursts of wind. I'm trying to figure out how far I want to go on a walk today and waiting for my hair to dry before I head out. It's just lovely.

But I'm super sleepy! I got a lot of sleep last night but I still have heavy eyelids and I'm feeling very cozy.

Had a tuna sandwich for lunch. Drank some coffee. Read an article about Chief Gates and Sierra On-Line. Considering a walk down to the redemption center and then to the discount shop for a tall can of Coke and a dollar croissant or something.

Maybe after a nap lol.

I have no major plans for the coming week - just gonna toodle around with the bonkbubble, possibly figure out my next crochet project (probably involving the waistcoat stitch!), maybe make some more food, hopefully write, maybe do some sketching practice.

Be kind to yourselves, folks. You deserve kindness.

And Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday: FINALLY

 

In Which I Have Finally Finished the Stocking
(Kind Of)

Despite all of my procrastination, seasonal depression, unrelated stress and anxiety, and just plain not knowing what I was doing 90% of the time, I have finally finished the stocking! Kind of.

The stocking is done! I have the whole body made up, just have an end or two to weave in, but I haven't even begun to think about where to put the name or just how I'll do it. Do I do a 5x5 stitch cross-stitch? 3x5? Serif or sans serif? Lots to think about.

But that's Tomorrow Me's problem because Today's Me is proud of what I've accomplished!

LOOK AT IT!

I'm so pleased with how the antlers came out, and I can't wait to add the name. It was suggested that I put it on the foot, and I may go with that :) Regardless, it's done and it's huge and I know there's nothing there for scale, but I measured it at about 32 inches (81cm) top to toe!

I'm thankful to you all for bearing with me, to my sibling and nibling for their patience, and to my joints, which have gamely stood up to several months of use for this project. I only have a handful of that original skein of blue yarn left now, though both the brown and white are much more plentiful.

I feel like I've earned a few days away from the hook lol

What do you guys think of this project? Is it too big? Should I have made it bigger? Should I have put less space between the borders and the snowflakes? Should I put the name on the foot or do I monogram it around each snowflake in a V formation (one initial to the upper left of the snowflake, another to the upper right, and one at the bottom center)? Whaddaya think? :P

For me? I'm just gonna....

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk (Oops It's Friday)

 

In Which I Have A Minor Update

I've been working on this bonkbubble piece forever, guys. I am really, really making progress (we're a good ways in, I promise!) but it still feels like this project is eternal.

I did, however, add a bunch of new colors! So here they are:

• Cerise (DA3895)
• Anzac (DBA64C)
• Clay Creek (8F8655)
• Charm (D883A3)
• Zombie (D4E193)
• Pharlap (A1807C)

I'm quite happy with these colors (even if Pharlap sounds... inappropriate, vaguely...)!

And poor Bone only has one shape left being outlined entirely in its own color - otherwise it's been mixed with various other tones at this point! And we have our first intersection of Aero Blue and Saffron (which resulted in Zombie)! I'm very eager to see just what the final color turns out to be, too, since everything else is being mixed in... weird quantities, to be honest. It's not as simple as "Colors A, B, & C all intersect, so the final color is an average of the three" - it's more like "Colors A + B bonked first, and their average is now being averaged against C, which they've bonked into while conjoined" and it's a lot of math.

Pretty simple math, yeah, but math all the same.

The averaging of colors is done this way:

(Color A Red Value + Color B Red Value)/2

(Color A Green Value + Color B Green Value)/2

(Color A Blue Value + Color B Blue Value)/2

So for Aero Blue + Saffron, that's:

R (191+234)/2 = 212

G (255+196)/2 = 225

B (241+53)/2 = 147

R 212, G 224, B 147 = Hex code D4E193, and when I plugged that into icolorpalette, it tells me that the common name of this Hex code is "Zombie", ergo, Zombie is between Aero Blue and Saffron.

If that made no sense to you, I apologize lol. It's half past midnight. I should really be asleep right now!

But I forgot that I needed to actually post the blog and not just do the bubbles :P

So that's my braindead art update - I am slowly progressing on this massive artwork (the canvas is currently 10k x 12k pixels), and I like the pretty colors :)

That'll do it for me tonight!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday - The Cold and the Foodiful

 

In Which It's NOT WARM and I Got A Box of Food!

Let me begin by saying that this is not a food review! I have not even cracked into the box of food I received courtesy of my partner splurging on stuff from YamiBuy. This is instead your friendly neighborhood Casual blathering on a hecking cold and windy day.

It's sunny, which is a relief after two days of freezing cold rain, but holy moly, March is 100% roaring in like a lion. The winds are gusting up to about 12-38mph (19.3-61.2kph), and it's a frigid 20℉ (-6.7℃) with a real feel of approximately... 3 to 8℉ (-16 to -13℃). If you are imagining me wrapped in every blanket and fleece I own, desperately stuffing my fingers under my armpits to keep them from freezing... you're not all that far off lol.

It is freaking freezing.

Somehow, it's going to warm up to springlike temps this week? Sure.

But last night, a highly anticipated box was dropped off on my doorstep, and it was almost as wide as my doorway so getting it inside was awkward but WHO CARES IT'S COOL ASIAN FOODS!

Here's what we got:

Four Different Kinds of Self-Heating Hotpots to try!

That Yakisoba we really loved with the mustard mayo!

Mi goreng - one of the most versatile noodz for adding stuff to!

Dried tofu skin?, Squid flavored Lay's, and chicken flavored Cheetos!

Delicious delicious Ramune in both Yuzu citrus and Original flavors!

What I saw when I opened the box and took the air balloons out

I have never had Tteok-bokki before, but I can't wait to try them!

Beef & Sauerkraut Noodz? Alright! Can't wait to try 'em! 

This is how the Ramune were packaged - double-layered bubble wrap scrolls!

In short: We have SO MUCH COOL STUFF TO TRY! I can't wait to get started!

I had one of the yakisobas today for lunch - they're just as good as ever, but with a few differences - the instructions are 100% Japanese on these ones, the cabbage is just hanging out with the noodles and not packaged separately, the mustard mayo packet was easier to open and had a narrower opening leading to really nice coverage, the spices in the spice packet were more tan (garlic?) than green (seaweed?) and had significantly more white pepper, but the overall meal was exactly like I remember :)

Delicious.

I'm doing bonkbubble work and picking away at the good ol stocking today while trying to stay warm. I might go down and grab some lemon tea or coffee to warm up with.

Which means that that's all from me today - it's cold! My plans this week are the same as always:

• Art Thursday
• Crochet on Monday
• Blather on Tuesday :P

Looking forward to exploring these new flavors.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

PS: This blog is not sponsored in any way - we just tried a new way to get snax since travelling out of town is not really feasible right now!!!

Fiber Monday - One Day Make

 

In Which I Made My Mom A Gift

I should be finished with the stocking soon, but I took a wee break to make my mother a birthday gift, since today's the day, y'know?

I used this pattern and an old spool of American thread Co Gem Mercerized Cotton color 176 in size 30 with a 0.6mm hook, and I think it came out well! She certainly seemed to like it, since she put it on the windowsill where she'll see it every day :)

It's fairly small, only about as big as my hand, but it's cute as heck!

I'm pretty proud of the 3D effect of the central flower, and hopefully some day I'll actually be able to do the treble popcorn stitch, but I couldn't get it to work on this project. Instead, I substituted a three-treble-cluster stitch in place of the popcorns. It still looks great :)

I'll be working on the stocking the rest of this week and hope to have finished shots by next Monday!

For now, that's all I've got the energy for - I'm bushed :P

Go Enjoy Something!

FC