Fiber Monday

 

In Which Today Was Too Nice To Stay On Task

Yesterday, it felt like 100℉/37,8℃ at times, so I was largely just plunked in front of a fan, staring at a screen and wishing the temperatures would drop.

I got my wish today!

The high was around 76℉/24,4℃, and despite the higher humidity, it felt glorious! I actually went outside for a while and had to change into an actual tee shirt! I haven't worn a tee in over a week - it's been to hot and muggy! Yes, tomorrow's going to be a little warmer, but it felt so nice today, guys.

So of course I was 1000000% scatterbrained and couldn't focus on the crochet-along we've been doing under the #secret project tag here.

Instead, I worked on a few creamy thread lace projects!

Some Lovely lace gloves from 1943

Which I keep tangling the thread on...

And a cream-colored version of the infamously unfinished Lady Sibyl shrug

I like to walk out to meet my boyfriend on Fridays, but it was so blisteringly toasty while the sun was out that I didn't make as long a walk as I prefer to. Instead of walking the 3.4 miles (5,5km) to and from one bookstore or the 2.2mi/3,5km to the bakery and back or the 1.8mi/2,9km to and from the other bookstore, I walked a paltry 1.4mi/2,3km to the local library and back. 

Why the library? It's a short walk, there's a lot of shade coverage, and it has the most powerful AC in town.

Also it has books.

And I love me some books!

So I picked up this book, Designer Crochet by Shannon Mullett-Bowlsby, and let me tell you, it is one of my favorite how-to books in that library. This may be the fifth time I've taken it out, and I desperately want to make everything in it.

For myself.

And also to sell, because they are Fashionable and I am 100% for getting these garments into the real world.

Which brings me to the next point.

I want to start making things for sale. Mostly crochet, but also eventually original artwork. I'm not going to get into a cost benefit analysis of Etsy vs Facebook Marketplace this week, but I am actively looking for sites to sell through, preferably ones that handle sales tax and don't charge me extra for a buyer using a credit card vs PayPal or whatever.

Or charge me for a listing. That would not be good for me.

If y'all have any suggestions, please do leave them in the comments (which I'm the sole moderator of, so I have to read them ;) ), along with any suggestions of what exactly I should make to sell!

I'm currently looking into what good pricing practices would be, so keep an eye out for any fiber additions to the How To Commission Me page in the sidebar!

Also, if you want a say in what I paint or draw this week, send me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you're choosing (also in the Commission Me page), and come Thursday, you'll see what I come up with!

I think that'll about do it for me tonight, those gloves have exhausted me!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

Tired Sounds

I am so incredibly sleepy lol.

There's no excuse for me not writing today's blog on time. Well, kind of, I was trying to be available online to my boyfriend who had his birthday today!

So I'll make today's blog brief!

Q: How is my finger doing after stabbing it yesterday?

A: If I didn't have written evidence, I'd never know it happened lol. Honestly, the scratches I have from my cat being indiscriminate with her claws while kneading are more painful than the jab is.

Q: What are my plans for the blog in the next 7 days?

A: Some kind of art for Thursday, hopefully more Mystery Project next Monday, hopefully coherent rambling next Tuesday. Anything else is gravy.

Q: How's the weather?

A: Cold. Sometimes. It got up to 50℉ (10℃) the other day, but right now it's about 8℉ (-13,3℃) and tomorrow it might be around 32℉ (0℃) but it'll feel like 22℉ (-5,6℃), so there's that.

Q: Cat update?

A: Poor Evie hasn't been feeling great and I'm pretty sure the antibiotics gave her a bad stomach ache until recently. We let her eat whatever she'll eat (as long as it's non-toxic) when she is off her feed, and she has yet to become overweight. Unfortunately, she doesn't like peas, hates to drink water, and will not touch eggs (unless they're cooked in bacon fat, which we have done exactly once because a coronary doesn't sound fun), so we just slipped her some oatmeal & water and she decided between that and her actual cat food, she'd take the cat food and like it lol. Also, she demanded to go out today. Again, it's cold, and she hates the wind, so I told her "you aren't gonna like it" and scooped her up. I stood on the deck with her in the cold wind until she threw a look at the kitchen door and started squirming. She pouted the rest of the night because we cruel humans have clearly turned the good weather off and stolen her grass.

And that's about it for burning questions on the blog.

I will say this, though.

My guy has an author friend whose book just came out. The author is Jonathan Evison, the book is Small World, and it's brilliant. If you're looking for a book to read right now, regardless of what your usual genre is, give it a try, because it almost certainly has something for you in it. I am too sleepy to do justice to what the book is and what it's about but think of this:

I am someone who almost exclusively read fantasy, horror, and Sherlock Holmes until fairly recently, and I fell in love with Evison's previous book, Lawn Boy. From what I've seen leafing through the gorgeous hardcover my guy bought on Sunday and from descriptions around the net, Small World blows Lawn Boy out of the water, and I am obsessed with Lawn Boy, so...

You're probably gonna love it.

Especially if you love history, trains, the American West, and rooting for the underdog.

So yeah, go check out Small World by Jonathan Evison.

That's my plug for the night!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Swear I'm Working Hard
And Not Just Hardly Working

It's been a Summer. Quite a Summer. Some days I feel like I'm endlessly floating in a humid pool of nonsense and others I feel like I'm hurtling towards some uncomfortable future at lightspeed.

Who knew...

Cereal makes me philosophical.

Today has been another hot and humid day (80℉/26.7℃ with 51% humidity). I woke up to cicadas outside, which I only hear when it's disgusting out. We don't get the constant summer scream where I live, and I truly feel bad for anyone with sensory issues who lives with an abundance of cicadas. Yikes. Sorry bros.

I think I mentioned yesterday that I tore up the backs of my ankles walking around town in the rain (worth it - that bookstore is loaded with sweet sweet literary goodness), and as of today they're still stiff and painful. Which means my plans for a walk were once more thwarted. I can't even use the treadmill. Wah.

I can, however, do crunches and situps (though not pushups, sadly), so I did those today. I also ate a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats for lunch, which was awesome and gave me some nice clarity and focus that lasted 3 whole hours! For reference, the focus hit I get off of coffee lasts maybe 15 minutes tops. I'm 99% sure it's psychosomatic, but that's fine because I also haven't snacked since the cereal. Win?

I'm also 99% sure that the latest birdur (murder-of-bird-by-bird) in my yard was perpetrated by a redtail hawk! I heard what sounded like a FURIOUS catbird on testosterone and went to the window and an enormous reddish brown raptor was sitting on top of a flattened pigeon under the bird feeder (RIP pigeon, sorry you got smooshed). When he saw me, we locked eyes and he SKRAAAAA'd at me one last time before taking off. For whatever reason, my phone blows at taking photos through my window (USA = window screens = focus issues galore but also less cat escapes and bug intake) so I do not have any photos worth sharing, but what an encounter!!!

Besides the big bad birdle borg not much has happened since Sunday's bookstravaganza and blisterpalooza. I almost went back to the bookstore today but needed my shower and so did not end up going. Maybe next Sunday if it's not pouring?

I'm hoping to do some sketching later today, maybe prep for another watercolor piece and test out my new erasers and pencil sharpener. Hopefully I also get to cook this week - I would like to try making bao! I'll let y'all know how it goes if I succeed. If you hear nothing, I did not succeed :P

I'm also hoping to get to work on some old crochet projects and maybe also start a gag gift for someone... we'll see if I can get that to work. I don't know if it will.

Anywho, that'll about do it for me! I'm riding that cereal high and about to go supplement it with coffee, despite the heat lol.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Made A Sketch

Thursday again, and all I wanted to do today was sleep. I think I've had enough coffee to kill a small yak, but I'm very sleepy. I've been in relatively good spirits, however, so I managed to will myself to make a fun little sketch of the Four Pillars of Casual:

"Four Pillars of Casual"

The Four Pillars are, of course:

• Coffee
• Tea
• Snacks
• Books

That's supposed to be a book the coffee (left), tea (right), and English Muffin (center) are on top of lol.

I'm planning on expanding this idea in other mediums (markers, crayons, pencils, maybe even paint, digital) but for now it's just a little scribble. I even had the date wrong at first lol!

Despite my lack of motivation, I've gotten a little writing done today, too! Not... not much, but about a paragraph isn't too bad for someone who wants to sleep and eat popcorn.

I'm going to go back to my manuscript in a moment, but just wanted to update you on the bonkbubble piece I'm doing digitally!

I'm up to 22 colors now from my original 16, and my secondary palette may be limited, but it's still kind of pleasant to look at... except the first color which is a combination of Arylide Yellow and Purple Navy...

Secondaries:

• A7A25E (167, 162, 94)
• E48888 (228, 136, 136)
• DB984A (219, 152, 74)
• ED5A6C (237, 90, 108)
• 34333E (52, 51, 62)
• 777C47 (119, 124, 71)

I'm gonna go back to writing now, folks.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday 252

In Which I Try To Blather

It's December 17 - one week from Christmas Eve (really, you're not expecting a Wednesdaymania on Christmas, right?) - and we just had a rainstorm and temperatures near 60℉ (15.5℃). Then it immediately fell back to about 30℉ (-1℃) and today it's 27℉ (-2.8℃). As you might be able to guess, my family is having issues adjusting to these rapidly fluctuating temperatures, so basically everyone's sick right now. Boo.

Also, my poor sinuses have no clue what's going on, and their solution is to feel dried up while simultaneously spewing mucus like there's no tomorrow.

Yay Christmas.

So what do you do when you're having your face leak and your family hacking and coughing like a children's ward in Victorian England (ooh, black lung joke!)?

You read.

And I read Jonathan Evison's Lawn Boy.

And what a wonderful book!

Lawn Boy is the story of Mike Muñoz, a young man trying to survive the world actively taking a dump on him while also struggling to find his place and learn just who exactly Mike Muñoz is. It's a journey of self-discovery, but unlike most literary explorations of someone trying to find themselves, this book is about as navel-gazing as a trip to the grocery store. There's introspection, sure - it's a first-person narrative where the narrator is constantly having the rug pulled out from under him - but it's not some twee little tale of a wealthy white blogger wandering around for 300 pages until they meet the right sexual partner and run off to Bali.

It's the story of a struggling artist who knows what art he wants to pursue in a world that just sees him as yet another Mexican to exploit (he's a born-and-bred Californian, his dad just happened to have Mexican heritage). Mike just wants to mow lawns and trim hedges for work, but his art is topiary, and the world just seems to crap all over him. Everything that could go wrong in this guy's life seems to (though thankfully it lends itself more to humor than tragedy!). His truck breaks down. One of his bosses gets arrested. His lawnmower gets stolen. His mom's tenant pulls the wrong tooth.

This isn't a book about socialites, it's a book about the guy mowing the lawn out back, so expect some snark that isn't founded on the idea that somehow people who live in big houses are the best people and that somehow the people who work hard to get things done are somehow inferior. It's not even the opposite, either. It's a book about complicated people and complex feelings...

And topiary.

And Disney.

And revolution on a very, very small scale.

And bespoke delis.

Basically, this book rocks, and if you're looking for something to remind you that the sun exists, that heat is a thing that can exist outside your house, and that dreams come in all shapes and sizes, this is definitely the book for you.

Heck, even if you don't think you'd like a story about a dirt poor guy struggling to survive in an inherently racist society, you should pick it up. At the very worst, you'll learn a thing or two about landscaping :P

So yeah, go read the Great American Landscaping novel and let me know in the comments what you thought of it, because as you might be able to tell, I loved it and I'll absolutely be reading Evison's other books! And by the way, if his name seems familiar, I've done a review of a Paul Rudd film based on one of his books! Does the title The Fundamentals of Caring ring a bell? Yeah. That's him.

So that's it for my book review this week!

Now what am I doing on this week before Christmas?

• Tomorrow we'll get our final Wednesdaymania for this month because I'll be busy opening gifts and eating good food with people I love next week.
• Thursday, I'll be doing my final Christmas Sketch!
• Friday will be about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, because I'm not going to talk about Christmas movies this year, lol.
• Saturday will be another video game, possibly one that's a fusion of Poker and Dungeons and Dragons...
• Sunday will be a very interesting noodle bowl...
• Next Monday I'll have a finished Purrmaid to show you!
• Next Tuesday, I may be a little busy, but not too busy to shoot you a quick lil message on this blog!

Thanks for hanging out with me today, guys!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Survival Sunday 239: A Very Vintage Library

Looking through my collections

So, I have a couple of wooden chests in my room. One of them is my old pine toybox, which has my GBA and some old art in it (as well as a couple of childhood novels). The other is my Hope Chest, a very thoughtful gift from my parents on my 18th birthday where I keep most of my home-making supplies until I have my own place. This is where I've been storing some cookbooks from the 1980s - including a very, very weird box of recipe cards that used to stink of musty cigarette smoke.

It's also, unfortunately for me, where I keep my huge bubblebutt TV and VCR (and my partner's N64).

It's so, so heavy. This picture was taken after I'd moved the TV off of the chest and put it back up.

So I moved some stuff around, put some things deeper in storage, and brought out my box of cards, a stack of McCall's Cookery magazines and a binder called McCall's Cooking School, and I'm going to share these with you today.

Here's my box of recipes!

As we all know, the 1980s were all about making food look as unappealing as possible. It's one of the reasons I love looking at old cookbooks and recipes. Not only are you going to get a devastating dose of gelatin-based foods, you're also going to be slapped in the face by weird photography where they black out the background and cast heavy shadows over your food.

It's very unsettling...

I got the nasty musty odor out of my cards by storing a baggie of coffee grounds in the box inside my Hope Chest (which is lined with cedar). That eventually ditched the stink. Then I was just left with the weird recipes.

Some seem very nice, at least.

The magazines... I'm not entirely sure where they came from? All I know is that, in person, their covers are haunting.

The meat substance in the lower right hand corner, for instance, is upsettingly shiny,
and I have no clue what that white stuff is supposed to be.

And just to prove it's not from some ancient, bygone era, it's just from 1983.

The binder is in amazing shape, especially when you take into account the fact that it's older than I am. I don't think anyone ever used it.

And it's a very heavy-duty binder!

See? This one's just from 1986. Which was 33 years ago.
Oof.

Some of these things actually look pretty good, even if I don't like pecans.

Other things...
Not so much.

And the writing can be downright weird at times.

The "some seem really good, some seem terrible" trend continues in the box of cards, too.

Probably tasty, but doesn't look very appetizing for an appetizer...

And yes, for some reason, they have a tiny section on the proper preparation of game, like venison and pigeon...

Which brings me to my reason for bringing any of this up and nearly herniating my spine rather than just asking for help like a normal person.

I want to cook from these books.

Really, really want to.

And I want to make some of the weird stuff, too.

So I was thinking that maybe I could start making up a spreadsheet of what's available, then I could maybe roll for it? I feel like mastering these foods (obviously, I'd have to cut out the game dishes unless someone wanted to provide me with fresh game meat, which I'd, obviously, be very intimidated by...) would make me a better chef.

Also, I kind of want to make weird stuff and watch people eat it.

Because I'm a weirdo.

So let me know in the comments if you're interested in seeing what I can do with some fairly dated and occasionally borderline-racist cookbooks and bizarre recipe cards from yesteryear?

Because I'm down for that.

That'll do it for me, guys.

Go Enjoy Something!!!
FC


***


PS - I'm sorry about that video in the link there guys, but I couldn't not share that after I sat through it. What even... what?