Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Have Been Playing More Video Games

That's right I'm obsessed with Stardew Valley again. I've made it all the way to Ginger Island, now! Krobus is my roommate, which made for an interesting time while I was unlocking the Witch's Hut on the mainland and confirms, for me, that no, Krobus, Rasmodius has no friggin clue you're now his northern neighbor. In fact, my lil shadow-bro roommate has been super helpful! He makes me fried eel and strange buns, with the occasional lucky lunch, and he even brought in a couple of houseplants and an end table! What a cool dude!

I've found Professor Snail, helped Birdie (that's a fun quest!), and I've even done a few of the minigames on Ginger Island for golden walnuts - turns out I'm better at Simon than I ever thought I was.

And... yeah... I think I've maybe been spending more time in the game than I probably should - I haven't done art since Thursday, for instance. And I really wanted to do more today. Like... I wanted to actually work on the modesty fishnet top I'm planning to wear under my Torvi top from Holy Clothing. It's lovely, don't get me wrong, it's just... a very open neckline, shall we say.

And I don't like it when my chest gets sunburned.

This does mean that I'm going to have to get some black dye, though, because the choker I have is black, so the undershirt should probably also be black. Dye is less than $4, and the cotton crochet thread I prefer to use is anywhere from $5-8 on any given day, so the dye is the better option for me, sadly. The hard part will be finding an appropriate Dying Receptacle. Possibly a 5 gallon bucket no one's using, or a couple cheap dish pans (one for the pouch, one for the top). The things I'm planning to dye will be small and light-weight, but I'll probably use the whole dang bottle just to be safe.

Now I'll be honest, one of the other reasons to make a mesh top is that the embroidery on the Torvi top's neckline is horribly scratchy, and I want to have something between it and my skin to minimize irritation.

It's my only complaint about my dear Torvi.

It has pockets!

Anywho, I've got silk to spin, a mesh top to create, and a week to plan out.

I'm not 100% sure what I'll be doing for Thursday's blog, but it'll be art of some sort!

Next Monday I'll show you all the progress I've made.

Next Tuesday I'll be back to blather :)

If you'd like a say in what I draw or paint on Thursday, hit up my Ko-Fi and send me a donation with a message telling me what category (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Food, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) you'd like to see, and I'll do something based on that prompt!

Other than that, it's back to work (or just as likely, more Stardew lol) for me!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Am Fried

I spent the last week or so out-of-office, as it were, cat-sitting for my sister & her husband as they honeymooned abroad. The apartment was delightful, the cat was a precious hauspanther with the cutest white spot on his chest, and the town was marvelous. Z & I had a blast! But...

Tiny, the cat, prefers to get fed at 3am.

And neither Z nor I are morning people, naturally. So today was a recharge day.

Not that I slept in - I got up at 8 and was out the door by 9:15 to run some errands.

You would think, that, having not slept for 7 or 8 nights, I'd have gone to bed early last night.

Lol no, I was playing Tears of the Kingdom. It took until this afternoon for me to reach the surface and I just got my paraglider.

I did get to keep Chonkers the Giant Horse, though, so that has been fun!

Also I do keep falling to my death. Shocker.

Also I suck at Recall.

While Away, I did actually figure out how to write part 2 of my wrestling story! I will keep writing the other story, too, but it felt so good to figure out where I was going!

I'll get back to doing wordcounts next week, but for this week, I'll just get on with writing and resting and arting.

I do have at least one finished piece that I'll be showing next week, and I'm making progress on a hilariously oversized piece. I may also try to do some fanart this week, but we'll see.

For now, I'm going to change into pajamas because it's basically bedtime, and hopefully wake up early enough tomorrow to actually do things.

The plan for this week is to write a bunch, read a bunch, have art done for Thursday, and take some pictures of the small progress I made crocheting for Monday. It's a weird project and I don't know if I can actually make it work, but I'll try.

If you'd like to have a say in what I draw/paint/pixel this week, feel free to go over to my Ko-Fi and send me a coffee with a message Recommending one of the following categories: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Geometric, or Word. I also take commissions as seen in the sidebar!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which This Has Been A Week

So, I have to be honest - I'm running out of space to keep my physical art. Sometimes I give art away to friends or family, I've even sold one piece for ten bucks before (which was a physical exchange, so I didn't have to consider shipping), but the pages are starting to collect, and I have finite space. This means I should probably figure out a way to sell this art, right? Would anyone else be interested in that? It'd help me out on multiple levels, to be honest.

I'm just tossing ideas around, but if there's interest, I'd get more serious about it. Maybe I'd introduce a second tier on Ko-Fi where you can pay a flat fee to get either a digital file (if the art is digital) or a hardcopy of the category you request? So if you request an Animal image via Ko-fi, you'd include the category (ANIMAL) and a way to contact you (probably e-mail or Twitter because I don't understand Instagram and I'm not on most other social media), and I'd let you know when the art was done. If it ends up digital, I'd send it to you online. If it ended up being a physical painting, I'd send you a message asking for a mailing address. Most of what I use for paper is fairly small, so it would probably fit pretty easily in a mailbox.

Does that seem like a good idea? Any better ones? I don't currently have the funds to make prints, and clearly my scanner is... not the best for making copies, so I cannot offer prints yet. I do have a Redbubble but with the advent of their new price gouging (they get to keep up to 50% of what was originally my profit), I'm reconsidering letting them have my art, so I haven't uploaded in a while.

I'm also considering having a thing where, if someone asks me via a Ko-Fi donation using "Haiku" instead of an art category (as well as including their email or Twitter handle), I'd write them a random little Haiku and send it to them.

Here's a sample Haiku I'll call "Feline Wakeup Call":

Raspy chirped hello

a warm fuzzy good morning

demands must be met

I don't know, man, I'm just trying to branch out here.

I'm not 100% sure how, but I'd like to start selling crochet projects as I finish them. I'd love advice, because Etsy fees and shipping costs mean that's not a very viable place for me to sell right now, sadly.

Now, all of that aside, I should mention that the haiku was based entirely on the way my cat acted this morning. She greeted me with a raspy little chirp and was doing her best Velcro impression until she fell asleep in a sunbeam.

Hard to believe that it was so pretty this morning when it's drizzly and wet now.

Anywho, that's all some stuff I'm considering.

As for this week, I've got some art to work on! In addition to my guaranteed Word, there's been a Request for a Dedbert! If y'all have any other requests, feel free to step on over to my Ko-Fi and buy me a coffee with a message letting me know which category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word) and I'll make it for Thursday!!!

Next Monday I should have something crocheted, though I'm still a tiny bit lost as to which thing I should make.

Next Tuesday, I'll be back here to blather a bit more.

As for my wordcount, today's was 147 words. This week's total was 1151 words. The document total is now a whopping 16.7k words! I'm pretty pleased with this week's progress despite missing a day or two here or there as exhaustion set in.

On a final and unrelated note, I'm finding myself missing Dungeons & Dragons, a bit. I was really into it in the 00s-10s, but I fell out of it and have fallen far behind all these new editions. I started in 3.5e, and honestly, I'm weirded out by all the ways things have changed since those halcyon days of my idle youth. Stereotypical Grown Up Stuff, I suppose.

I might start looking into writing up a campaign at some point, though, just to clear the rust off.

Alright, I think that will probably do it for me tonight. I'm pretty sleepy and I have a lot of art to finish up tomorrow!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

Happy New Year, Folks!

It has come to pass that I am now... completely unsure of what to make. I've started three different projects - a coaster (complete), a bag, and a washcloth.

But I don't really think they're what I want to make this month.

I think what I want to do is make another shawl.

I have a nice one - made it from a cheap baby yarn I picked up at probably a Jo-Ann's with a friend of mine - but I don't want to wear it to death.

And I have another big skein of worsted weight yarn that I'd like to wear in some way.

So I'm probably going to try and turn that into a shawl in some way.

This poor skein, too.

I've started so many projects with it - a Victorian vest, a hexagon cardigan, a lap blanket...

And now a Shawl. 

Perhaps this is the project I finish it with?

Top to bottom clockwise: The coaster, the bag, the washcloth

There is one other thing I'd like to do, crochet-wise, that I forgot to add in my New Year's blog... I want to make a scrap sweater.

Basically, my plan is to create a top-down sweater using only leftover scraps of yarn that remain after various projects this year. I have a lot of small scraps, so that should help. Do any of you have interest in seeing such a project? As for what I'd do after it was done, I'm not sure. Maybe I'd give it away as a gift. Maybe I'd keep it. Maybe I'd finally have an Etsy shop or something and sell it.

I'm thinking of calling it my Goblin Sweater. We'll see.

Anyway, that I think will do it for today - I still have a sketch to make and some story writing to do!

I'm very excited about this year's creativity quest ;)

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

New Year's Eve 2022

 

It's the Last Day of 2022.
So here are the plans for next year.
Tentatively.

I don't tend to do New Year's Resolutions. The world and my body are both unpredictable, so I'm quite hesitant to make promises of any kind.

This year, as I watch the fog roll in on an unseasonably warm evening and listen to the dogs bark, I feel even less inclined than usual to make major commitments.

But I really should write something down, shouldn't I? I should have goals and dreams and things I want to do!

So here they are - my plans for 2023:

• Write every day!
• Maybe I should post a wordcount for my daily totals on Twitter (or somewhere else, if the bird dies)
• Draw every day!
• I'd post the best on Thursdays, but ideally I'd post everything on Instagram?
• Also I should upload more designs to RedBubble.
• Take at least one picture every day!
• Probably gonna be a lot of cat pics, probably will upload most to my Insta.
• Make more videos
• Ideally, I'd make a slide show every so often to show what my total progress, arts/crafts wise, is with a MegaCompliation at the end of December? I have no clue.
• Cook at least once
• I'd love to cook once a week, but that's a rough commitment in a shared space.
• finish everyone's Christmas gifts before December 12th
• Unlikely, but an idea. I have... thoughts on what to make for everyone.
• Crochet every day!
• I'd love to finish a snowflake and work on a larger project every day.
• Figure out a way to sell original artworks and/or pictures.

If I even hit half these goals, I think I'd be doing amazingly. The most important goals are the Daily ones - Art, Writing, Crochet. Everything else is gravy.

I'll be honest - the idea of selling commissions terrifies me. I've seen the horror stories. I've heard of the chargebacks, the fraud, the people with unrealistic expectations. It's why I do my Categories (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Location, Dedbert, Geometric, Word). You can't be disappointed if you don't have final say over the end product, right?

An idea I have had in the past was to offer Blind Boxes/Bags of art or crochet. You don't know what you'll get for a specific price that never changes. The problem with that, of course, would be shipping.

In order to turn even a tiny profit (if there is such a thing as profit in art...) I'd have to charge way more than I'd be comfortable with. And I just don't really feel comfortable doing a digital-only sales. Not only do I not trust PayPal to not be a turd about things (they're notorious for screwing over artists), but I don't know enough about digital art sales to be comfortable selling an image to someone else when all I'd know how to do is send them a jpg or png via email...

I'd love some suggestions and ideas.

In fact, if anyone has anything they'd like to see from this blog, please oh please comment on here and let me know! Since I have to moderate comments, you'll 100% know I saw your comment lol.

What kinds of hopes do you all have for 2023? And how weird is it that 2023 is upon us? It feels like yesterday that I was whining about August heat or March snows...

So that's my thoughts on the last day of 2022. I hope the new year brings good things and wanted change.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which The Letdown Has Been Let Down

I'm sure at some point in your internet journeys, you've all come into contact with the term "Holiday Letdown", but in case you haven't bumped into it yet (a phenomenon I'm quite used to, since I get lost in the tubes quite easily and miss much more important info than this), it basically is a term to describe that feeling of being bummed out or sad or depressed after a holiday.

And it's hitting me like I'm the piñata and the post-Halloween Blues are a hyped-up toddler with a stick.

So today I didn't want to do much of anything. Instead, I just took a shower, crawled into my owl pajamas and my orange witch sweater, and went back to bed. I played with the cat a tiny bit, read random stuff on the internet, chatted with my boyfriend, and made some taquitos.

I also ate some leftover candy because we had zero trick-or-treaters last night.

I feel frustrated with myself because I haven't been as creative as I want to be. Yes, even after 31 drawings in 31 days, I still feel... uncreative.

Honestly a large part of this is probably that my room is a disaster area again, and I haven't been able to clean it up. Motivation is lacking.

I'll get around to it.

So since I'm kind of stuck in my own mopes and grumps, I'm going to try to pull myself out by making plans for the next 2 months - the last two in 2022, if you can believe it.

This month, I hope to make some crochet projects, finish the stupid mushroom bag, and teach myself to sew something by hand that doesn't look like a child made it.

I also want two make a finished digital artwork that looks good. Not just adequate, but I want to get one image to a point where I'm really very happy with it. I'm not picky about which program that happens in, Krita or Paint.net, but I'd like to get it done.

Finally, this November, I'd like to play more Stardew Valley. I haven't played in months, and I've missed that world. Also I've never unlocked everything. That'll be my goal.

My goals for December are more utilitarian.

I have people to make things for. I have ideas. I just have to actually 1) commit, 2) create, and 3) complete. That's only three steps. If I think of it that way, then I think I can actually get my work done. I will be working on some of the things I'm planning this month as well, just because 24 days is not enough time to get everything in order.

I am hoping to try a few more watercolor paintings in December, especially.

And of course, the annual Snowstorm for Fiber Mondays...

Maybe.... Hm...

I might do something silly.

And try to do 1 snowflake every day from December 1st to Christmas Eve.

It sounds hard, right? But the trick is... most snowflakes take maybe 2 hours total.

I can do that before bed or during my morning coffee.

As for this week, I don't know what the plan actually is beyond this:

If you'd like to influence what I draw, paint, digitally attempt, etc, I have a button for my Ko-Fi account where you can send me a little money along with a message telling me which category you'd like me to work from. Those categories are:

• Animal - I'll make something with an animal of some sort in it. Animals include humans and monsters, too, so you really never know what you'll get!
• Vegetable - I'll make something plant or fungus-related. Will it be a broccoli? Will it be a stand of oak trees? An artist's bracket fungus?
• Mineral - Listen, I like rocks. I like crystals. I like pebbles and dirt. This category means I'll make art with something rock/dirt/crystal related in it!
• Dedbert - My lil green owl buddy is a muse of mine, so if you pick this category, he'll appear in what I make!
• Location - Landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes... basically this category means I'm making art with a real sense of place!
• Geometric - I love abstract geometric art, like Mondrian. I also sometimes like to make bubble art. And stained glass is fun to play with, too! This category has a lot of potential.
• Word - You pick the word, I make the art!

Every time I've received Ko-Fis with art prompts, I've had a lot of fun, so please don't ever feel like you'd be bothering me if you want to try this!

I might also make a blog post of various things that I think artists/crafters might like, if anyone would be interested in that?

If there's anything y'all would like to see from me in the next two months, please let me know in the comments!

That'll about do it for me.

Go enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Am Blob

For the last couple of days I've been taking advantage of the cool weather and just popping outdoors at the slightest excuse. I saw the hawk yesterday, watching out for tasty pigeons in my yard, and I've been holding scintillating conversations with the savage little hummingbirds who keep throwing beaks at the feeder my mom put out. I've also been a bit racy by watching birds bathe in the bath we put out.

But I haven't just been luxuriating in the springlike temperatures!

I've also been trying to figure out what good pricing would be for crochet projects!

Obviously I can't compete with Fast Fashion, they've got some vastly underpaid children working 18 hour days in a sweatshop to make their crochet goods, but I've been trawling Etsy and other handmade sites, looking to see what the average prices for things might be!

I've been surprised by some of the prices, especially considering what the materials costs must be, but it also does my heart an enormous amount of good to see craftspeople really valuing their time and efforts! I haven't seen a single major garment under fifty dollars! How cool is that?

I may be somewhat alarmed, however, at how many women are apparently comfortable with the idea of a crocheted g-string. Then again, I'm just alarmed by g-strings in general, because I am a Square.

In any case, I'm going to keep working on my pricing guide, and then I'll start figuring out how to make enough projects to support selling them!

As for the rest of the week til next Tuesday, these are my plans:

• Art for Thursday - feel free to Ko-Fi me your suggestions for this week's piece! You have until Thursday morning!
• Gonna see what I can get done for Monday, crochet-wise, but no promises sorry
• Gonna blather more on Tuesday.

If I seem distracted tonight, I am! My brain is doing that whole "why can't I hold all these ideas?!" thing, and it's very annoying.

I hope you're all doing well, and I look forward to any suggestions, comments, questions, or random thoughts you may have!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Am A Bit Scattered

Since I'm starting this at about 10:30pm on Tuesday, it'll probably be a Talk About Wednesday, for most of you, but hey, I'm trying lol!

Today has been a day of chasing my cat around, experimenting with yarn (new project? Maybe after the Mystery Project is done...), chastising deer, and eating delicious leftover boiled dinner. Doesn't sound like a lot when I say it like that, but trust me, today was a long one.

Now, I usually love hanging out outdoors with my cat - especially when she's chasing leaves and stomping them into crispy submission - but today was a surprisingly cold one. It was one of those days where the sun feels warm, but the wind is whipping around so hard that you end up being sandblasted by road salt and gravel. It may have been about 40℉/4,44℃, but it probably felt like maybe 32℉/0℃. And it wasn't even that sunny. It was mostly cloudy with a few moments of warmer sun. And Evie was... uncooperative when it came to wanting to go back inside. My hands are still a little chilly, and that was around 1pm!

We have had a lot of critters in the back yard lately, too! The deer have been... awful. They're raiding the bird feeders and they have zero fear of me, which is probably not healthy for them. They're heckin chonkers now, too. We've seen the hawk a couple of times, and it has probably been feeding better closer to Main Street, since that's where the pigeons congregate when they're not in my yard or copulating on the roof above my bed. Please stop that, pigeons. Please.

The ducks have been by a few times, and we have had two confirmed sightings of a chipmunk! Unfortunately, the chipmunk may be wearing out their welcome, because I found some awfully suspicious holes next to my house's foundation today when I was walking Evie around. Chippy, please stay outside. Evie did tumble you last year and if she catches you indoors, you will end up battered.

My dinner tonight was a rehash (badum tss) of the corned beef dinner we had on Sunday. It was kind of a deconstructed bubble & squeak, since my mom stir-fried the cabbage & onions together, but she used three frying pans total! She had one for the cabbage & onions, one for the mixed veg (rutabaga because there were no turnips left, carrots, and potatoes), and one for the slices of corned beef. They were truly just as delightful for a Tuesday dinner as they were for Sunday's dinner.

I have some idea of what I'm going to do this week, but we'll see. I also need to start planning out how I want April to go, so there's that, too lol!

Tomorrow/Wednesday is gonna be a day of me just scrambling around like a squirrel on a pallet of Red Bull, figuring out what to draw for Thursday.

Thursday will be me drawing and doing art. I have ideas, though I don't know if they'll work yet, that's what Wednesday is about lol.

Friday - Sunday will be me working on the Mystery Project, getting it to a point where I can share a new section of the pattern! (We shall see if that red thread actually works - sometimes it looks right by lamplight and then I take a photo and it's suuuuuuper different!)

Next Monday I'll have more crochet to share!

Next Tuesday, hopefully, I'll remember to post the blog before midnight lol!

Anyway, that's it for me today. I should go brush my teeth and go to bed so I'm not useless tomorrow!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Have Plans...

I'm kind of wobbly on a lot of projects I had in the works, to be honest, and I apologize for my rampant inconsistency. I haven't been crocheting a lot, and it shows. I do still plan on finishing some of the things I've worked on, but... I have been bitten by a bug.

You see, I recently discovered the Art Doll world, and that has me fascinated. If you know me at all, you know that fascination almost always leads to some form of action, so as you may have guessed, I kind of want to start learning how to make art dolls. This means I've dragged out some of my old jewelrymaking supplies to use the wire and experiment with armatures.

I haven't made anything yet, but I do want to!

So what do I want to make?

Well, I have a love for dragons. I've loved them since I was a wee lil one reading Patricia C Wrede and watching the D&D cartoon on reruns (much to my mother's chagrin, since she hated that show). I also have a fantasy story I'm plotting out with the intention of writing it, and in that story, the main character has a dragon for an ally, but not just any dragon.

It's a special kind of dragon and I'm going to be experimenting to figure out what that looks like!

And if I can figure this out... I may have to start making a lot of these dragons!

So stay tuned to see if I can get beyond the brainworm stage and actually create this cute lil guy!

I have no pictures of the process yet, since, again, just in the brainworm stage, but as I plan and plot and experiment, I hope to take enough pics to satisfy you all!

So this is just a nice lil written update to keep me honest on this story, this idea, and this blog :)

That'll do it for me today!

Go Enjoy Something!!!

FC