Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Promise I Have Been Working On Stuff

So uh... it's been a hot minute, huh.

I have been a bit caught up in my Cozytober prompts, and I've neglected taking pics of anything like the two dragons I'm crocheting, the Autumnal cardigan I'm crocheting, the approximately 7k cups of coffee I've consumed, etc.

In fact the only reason I remembered to do anything relating to this blog today was that I... had a bit of an accident.

See, I have this table easel.

It's not the most robust thing - not like a proper pochade box or a full sized easel, but it's great for holding stuff up and letting me get a sketch down.

I don't have a dedicated place to put it. I don't have a whole lot of dedicated storage, to be quite honest. It generally gets put on top of my dresser or on the corner of my desk. Unfortunately, I stack a lot of things in these areas, including a tiny little squirrel-sized picnic table my dad made for me.

My dumb butt thought laying the easel down on top of the mini table was a good idea.

Gravity and me trying to fish some socks to sleep in out of the drawer directly under the table disagreed.

Somehow something got wrapped around something else and levered the easel in such a way that it launched itself at my face and came down on my glasses. Hard.

Which means that I just essentially punched myself in the nose with my glasses with a bunch of extra steps.

And since I can never ever resist telling the world about the increasingly bizarre ways I hurt myself, here we are.

Like I mentioned, I'm working on a bunch of Cozytober stuff, I've crocheted a few things since last we met, and I've been keeping busy by guzzling coffee and cuddling my cat (she wanted to be held like a baby today and wouldn't stop pestering my folks til I scooped her up and snuggled her in front of them lol). I will continue to do these things after tonight, probably with a stupid bruise on my stupid nose.

Just thought y'all deserved to know about this nonsense lol!

For now, though,

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Have A Very Silly Confession

I... am a klutz. A clod. A total stumblebum.

That last one especially, considering I managed to fall flat on my butt while air guitaring to - of all things - Knights of Cydonia by MUSE.

Yeah.

I'm super hardcore, you guys...

I was wailing away on the ol air guitar, but I'd made a critical error - you cannot air guitar in slide-on slippers, comfy as they are. My foot slipped out at an inopportune moment and I landed hard on my butt. On top of a paperback Diablo novelization I've never finished reading. I immediately got back to my feet and kicked off the slippers, finishing the song and a few more, but uh...

Yeah, it bruised my backside.

And strained my neck and upper back muscles. In fact, it strained those muscles so much that I made myself a little dizzy. The dizziness and stiffness are gone now, but the bruise and some residual soreness remain even now (the tumble was on Saturday night). Today, I am pleased to say that I'm quite comfy and after popping my back (very carefully and during a very gentle stretch) while sorting recycling, my neck soreness is almost entirely gone.

So that's why I needed the heated neck pillow the last couple of nights - my neck muscles were sore and stiff and needed relaxing. Now I'm feeling great.

As for the rest of the news of the week, I'll confess I haven't drawn since Thursday, but the 2-in-1 battery showed up yesterday, so I'll be playing around with digital art tomorrow. If you've got any requests for art, drop me a coffee over on Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you'd like (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word).

I wrote 186 words tonight, which brings me up to 1219 words this week and nearly 8600 words total! I'm pretty pleased with that progress. I'll be working on the shawl some more tonight before I sleep.

Honestly, I'm pretty sleepy, though, so maybe not.

The plan for the rest of the week is:

Art on Thursday

Crochet on Monday

Blather on Tuesday.

I hope you guys have a good night tonight, and that your creative juices are flowing!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which I Got Stuff!

Today's blog is by absolutely NO means a comprehensive "stuff I got for Christmas" list. It is, instead, more of a "Ooh, I will be using these gifts directly for the blog" blog, if that makes any sense.

I loved all of my gifts this year, but the paintbrushes, palette, and paper I showed last week weren't the only things that I got that'll be very useful as I continue my creative endeavors.

My folks were super kind to me and bought a huge kit of rotary tool attachments, which means I'll be able to polish more rocks, put holes in little twigs, and do all kinds of ridiculous things with found objects!

And one of my awesome friends gave me an ENORMOUS jar of buttons that I'm slowly sorting through. I currently have a 10oz mug full of white/pearly buttons and a bowl filled with Huge buttons.

The Goods (Along with an old case that is slowly being filled with the buttons from the jar)

Now, why would I be taking those buttons out of the jar, you may ask?

That's because I wanted to see if I could organize them by color and/or material. See the Micron pen in front of the stuff? That's for scale. Bare that scale in mind for when I tell you that the 10oz of white/pearly buttons is not even all of the pearly/white buttons. And that I have an almost equal number of bone or mother-of-pearl buttons. And that the front of the case will absolutely end up full of black, mother of pearl, and brown buttons (and Things What Aren't Buttons But Ended Up In The Jar).

Some of the buttons had tiny seed beads stuck in the eyes. Some still have metal loops from the cards they were mounted on at the time of purchase. Some are rusted. Some of the "buttons" have turned out to be hook-and-eye sets or snaps or glass baubles or any number of Non-Button Items. Some of the actual buttons have writing on them!

I look forward to properly categorizing my new button collection. Once that's done, I'll be able to put weird and awesome buttons on my finished crochet projects!!!

Unfortunately for me, today is a weird day to be doing all this sorting. I leaned too heavily on my right shoulder on Friday and have been sleeping on it nightly since. It is very angry with me today, stiff and sore and slightly swollen, but with ice and ibuprofen, and RESTING IT, I've gotten it to have a truce with me. Not a fun thing to wake up to, I must admit.

So I might have to experiment with my left hand for today's art.

And I may take a bit longer to write my 100+ words tonight.

And I'll have to sleep on my left side.

My stomach and esophagus will be so happy with me lol! They are constantly reminding me that sleeping on my right side is a bad idea.

I just don't like not facing the door.

And I don't like having my head in front of the window.

In order to keep my face towards the door and my feet under the window, I have to sleep in my right side.

You see my conundrum.

It's a very silly conundrum.

I will sleep on my left side tonight so that I can work on art and writing tomorrow with my dominant hand at 100% (hopefully). If it's still being cranky, I'll roll my eyes and continue trying to work offhanded.

On Thursday, one way or another, I'll post art. If you'd like a say in what that art is, feel free to send me a coffee on Ko-Fi with a message letting me know what category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word).

Next Monday, I will have some progress to show you regarding the shawl I proposed yesterday.

Next Tuesday I'll be back to blather at you, hopefully 100% and full of beans.

For now, though, I am going to sip cocoa, try to draw something left-handed, and type slowly.

I hope you all Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Talk About Tuesday

 

In Which Time Management Is Hard

So.

I've been up since 9AM.

You'd think, with about 10 hours spent awake and active, I'd have written this up already, right?

I... totally forgot it was Tuesday.

Several times.

My bad.

I will say this, though, I had a fairly busy day! Went for a walk and bought some treats for myself, then worked on more crochet projects, stripped my stack of blankets and sent them to the laundromat, worked on digital art!

I also contended with some shockingly seasonal temps! It was all of 36℉/2,22℃, there was ice on the ground, and I had to break out my big red blanket last night. That thing can easily keep me warm even when it's 10℉/-12,2℃ and the heat is faltering. Honestly, I'm stoked. It means I can break out my Star Wars or Buffalo Plaid Fuzzy Pants or my fox pajamas, wear thick socks, dig out my sweaters...

And shop for another winter coat because my plaid wool peacoat is maybe a bit threadbare these days.

We found a fairly affordable parka at the Mart of Walls, and honestly, it's the warmest thing I've ever owned. I put it on for a moment today and had to take it off because I immediately overheated.

Gonna have to wait for a 20 degree, cloudy, windy day to wear that sucker.

I do have one thing to say about this past week, though...

I may be developing arthritis. I say this because the other day, my left leg was in agony. It wasn't the same stabby pain I get when my sciatic nerve acts up, either, it was deep and stiff and it built with every pulse of my heart. I would have worried more that it was a DVT or something like that if it had been in my artery/vein areas. Instead, it was right at the ligaments, cartilage and bone. It felt like I'd wrenched my entire leg.

It was so terrible I had to take ibuprofen and lay perfectly still for 8 hours. The next day, Friday, had my leg fine, but since then, my hands and wrists have ached a bit.

It's mostly been my right thumb, right where it meets the palm. I'm right-handed.

Joy, joy.

I'll be okay. I just wanted to whine lol. 

Anywho, my plans for this week are to finish this digital art, post it on Thursday, and show what else I'm making for Christmas next Monday.

I'll be back to complain about the weather next Tuesday :)

If you'd like me to do something else in addition to the digital art (or in place of, depending on how much time I've got), feel free to buy me a Ko-Fi with a message telling me what category you'd like to see - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Dedbert, Location, Geometric, Word.

I'm going to go run my dinner dishes downstairs and gently stretch my hands and legs and spine before changing into my coziest jammies and cuddling into my flannel sheets.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

Owie

Something you have to keep in mind if you're going to do anything in the fiber arts is this: pins & needles are sharp, and sometimes they can hurt you.

I stabbed myself in the finger today lol.

Now, usually, this isn't much of a big deal. I would just work through it. And this one wouldn't have been a big deal if I hadn't apparently jabbed right into a nerve on the knuckle of my ring finger. Because it felt like I was stabbing myself every single time the thread passed over the wound. It literally only bled for a second, but the ouch remained for hours. I didn't get the next batch of rounds done on the Secret Project.

I did bind off the ends of the zipper, though!!!

End #1

End #2

The Honkin Huge Needle (owie)

The cannibalized ribbon

So here's how I bound off those ends (which were fraying like mad!):

Step 1: Find yourself a binding material. I used a ribbon off of an Amazon gift bag. Feel free to use any fabric ribbon you have!

Step 2: Snip off two sections, making sure they're long enough and also wide enough! This part can be hard. You can kind of tell that this ribbon was maybe a little thin and the pieces I cut a little too long.

Step 3: Fold in the cut ends so they won't fray! This took some finessing because I cut them long, but basically, you just want to make sure there are no raw (cut) edges. I made sure there was a tiny bit of wiggle room so that I could sew through all 4 layers of ribbon more easily (hopefully you don't stab yourself...)

Step 4: Fold in half over the end of the zipper, making sure the end is fully covered. For me, it was a bit of a squeeze, since the ribbon was so narrow, but if you chose 3/4" or 1" ribbon, it'd probably work better.

Step 5: Sew the ends of the ribbon shut so it sits over the zipper like a little hat. This is where I stabbed myself. You are going through four layers of ribbon and maybe even some zipper band if you're being very adventurous. Your goal is to make sure that those folded ends on the ribbon don't pop out and fray, and also to fully encapsulate either side of the zipper. And yes, it'll basically be a little hat/endcap on the zipper at this point.

Step 6: Sew along the bottom of the ribbon, affixing to the zipper. This was the hardest part, despite it only being two layers of ribbon and one of zipper band. The problem is the zipper itself! It's big and chunky and right in the middle. So I skipped it. Literally, I just stitched up to one side of the zipper teeth and then made one long stitch from one side of the plastic zipper to the other. If I was being even more careful, I'd have made that long stitch several times, but I'm lazy and by then my finger hurt (and I didn't want to bleed on the project!), so one stitch it is. Then I finished stitching along the opposite zipper band and ribbon edge until I reached the end. 

Boom. Endpiece sewn. Fraying abated. Repeat on other end.

Now, if I'd found my thimble, the stabbing wouldn't have happened. I have 3 - an antique steel one for pushing needles through thick material, a newer steel one that doesn't fit anything but my pinky (I can't even find it - it's probably in a box somewhere) and another missing one, this one made of silicone and bright freaking green. It may have ended up in a project bag I lost. I'd use the silicone one as a "catching" thimble to stop needles coming out of fabric so fast lol.

I have also been thinking of making a thimble, but I'd need to find a single or damaged leather work glove for that and also I'm lazy.

Stupid injuries and blather aside, I have another fairly easy sewing project I could do a mini tutorial on, if anyone's interested. If you'd like to see me sew up a draft-dodger/draft-sausage/door-blocker out of old towels, drop a comment either here or on the Tweet I post this on (or my FB if you're friends/family ;) ). Let me know if that's something you'd like to learn how to make!

It's shockingly easy, and if you have actual sewing skills, they might even be a durable, affordable option for blocking cold air in the winter!

That'll about do it for me today.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC 

Talk About Tuesday

 

Le Ouch Continues

So I'm still sore as heck.

My left thumb is still very tender where it attaches to my palm. My legs/ankles are still painful, especially when bearing weight or stretching slowly. I didn't sleep well because I could barely shift my weight laying down without leg pain.

So of course I've gotten nothing done today so far.

Hopefully, when I work on writing later tonight, it won't read like a whiny toddler wrote it, which is how a lot of my earlier attempts at the novel read today lol.

At least today has been beautiful - sunny and calm with only one birdur (RIP Pigeon #73) and temperatures of about 73℉ (22.8℃). The yard is alive with a pile of feathers that used to be said pigeon, chipmunks, about a half dozen squirrels, and the whole extended attempted murder of crows we have this year (we're up to 8!).

Aside from physical discomfort, here's some of my plans for this week:

• Gonna paint a little maybe tomorrow/Thursday
• Might check out Blender and see if I can model an egg (a standard simple-shape test)
• I will have to see if it'll actually run on my laptop though
• it probably won't run well
• I also hope to pick up some muslin or other lightweight/soft cotton for a lightweight chemise (preferably with spaghetti straps) because the pattern I have is... stupid simple and really only requires running stitches and backstitches.
• New Snap has an update, so I'll be checking that out!
• I'll try and keep everyone up-to-date on any other eventful happenings :)

I think that might be all I've got going on for now. Aches & pains, plans and dreams, etc.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which Ow

A word from the recently-made-wise: do not knead dough and walk 3.5 miles (5.6km) while dehydrated if you then want to crochet at all.

My hands and forearms ache from the kneading (yes, pathetic, I know, I've never kneaded dough for longer than 3 minutes before). The soft pad of my palm where the thumb connects is especially sore, and any sort of movement at the elbow causes an ache to form along the underside of my arm. This is anti-conducive to crochet, unfortunately.

As for the walking, I managed to make my legs sore from ankle to knee and every time I get out of bed it feels like I've been kicked in both ankles. My toes ache, too.

I need to get back into shape. Thankfully, the discovery that the fabric store, art supply shop, and new bookstore are open now does motivate me to go outside more often and I just invested in a bike lock so guess who might be tooling around the town with a crochet project or a sketchbook in the next... 2 weeks? It said the 10th.

Cue me, waiting as impatiently as ever the second the damn thing ships lol.

So yes, due to ow, I have not crafted at all.

I am thinking up some projects and may actually get around finishing some old ones (we'll see lol).

Tomorrow I hope to talk more about life-stuff, but for today, accept my apology for not crocheting anything lol!

That's all from me,

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk 323: Learning To Draw

In Which I Have Been Practicing

So, I was given an XP-Pen Star G430S for my birthday by my incredible partner (who also got me a yarn ball winder and a mug with our favorite bunny Tato on it but we're talking art today lol). I've been experimenting with it, and I'll be sharing my progress as I learn how to use the Paint.net program. I've never used a stylus-based drawing tablet before this year, and my exposure to digital art-making was almost exclusively MS Paint until recently. This has made for an... interesting learning curve.

I know how to draw. I know how to paint. I know how to do both of these things pretty okay. But I only really know how to do them in the analog pen-or-brush-to-paper world. Drawing with a touchpad, which is how all of my previous digital art was produced, is very awkward, but fairly intuitive and fairly easy for me to do. Using a stylus and tablet is a whole different animal from either pure analog or pure digital.

See, if I'm drawing with a pen or a paintbrush at my kitchen table, I'm watching the pen as much as the work, but... that's not the case with the Star G430S. You watch the computer screen, not the pen. The work is not below you but before you, and there is a definite difference in the way you control a writing implement you're looking at than one you're using on a screen separate from the point of contact. It takes a lot of getting use to.

Add to that the fact that I barely understand the program I'm using and you end up with some frustration.

But there's also the joy of discovery! I'm learning something new every single time I play with the tablet, and today I made a multiple-layered, gradient-backed drawing that, while incredibly childish, is still cute and still makes me happy!

"Bunbun" digital art; 2020

Holy cow, guys! I made that!

It... kinda looks like a NeoPet.

Were the NeoPets originally designed in Paint.net?!

But yeah, I'm pretty happy with how that turned out (though the gradient and flowers are a bit low, and Bunbun looks like he's levitating...)!

Would you believe I did all that while my arms felt like they were going to fall off? Because that's how they feel. I think I have a touch of inflammation in my tendons right now because while typing doesn't hurt, gripping and holding and pushing do. The pain is in my thumbs running down to my elbows, far worse on the right (dominant hand) than the left, and it feels like the time I hyperextended my elbow but much calmer. Like my body is warning me.

I guess this means I cannot play Breath of the Wild today :(

Part of the discomfort could be that I failed to stretch before I moved a large, heavy tent outside the other day, then got myself sunburned because I'm stubborn, but it could also be that I've been making test images every day for up to three hours a day using the tablet. Even with regular art, I try to take a day off between sketches because I developed repetitive motion soreness in my college art classes.

All in all, though, the tablet is a dream come true, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. When I'm not drawing with it, I've been using it like a mouse, because you can actually use it as an input device! I love that! I've been using it to play PokefarmQ and scroll through Facebook. It helps me figure out the sensitivity, the maneuverability, and the right way to hold the stylus.

What a blast this has been so far! I'm looking forward to using this inexpensive tablet literally to death.

How about you folks - are you trying anything out this week? Learning a new skill? A new craft? Trying out sketching or something? Let me know!

Go Enjoy Something!
FC