Update – Mostly Craft related… – January 22, 2019

Wow… okay… so there hasn’t been an update here in ages. I’m mot going to make any grandiose promises of weekly updates or anything like that. I am going to just to update more frequently. Yes, more often than waiting 2.5 years between posts.

I’ve made a few things here and there, learned that I love diamond dotz, or diamond painting (cross stitch meets rhinestones lol), and tried to make time for crafts. On the other hand I’ve had work schedules that are rotating and full of hours, so, I haven’t had, or to be honest, haven’t made the time to be as creative as I’ve wanted to, or should be.

New year is here, and I’m working on slowly making changes. Trying to go to the gym more, and making time to craft, both for pleasure and for listing on my Etsy shop. So, you will get to watch a few things going, mostly though the things I plan on making to list. Here are some “artful” (as artful as possible with an iPad camera) pictures of the first project I picked.

It is a piece titles “Coffee Break” and its a cute little piece showing different types of coffee.

I picked up this over the arm holder thing on clearance at my local Walmart. I’ve always had a bad habit of sticking my needles in the arm of the chair or couch I’m sitting in while I work, and while not a big deal with cloth upholstery, not the best plan when you have a leather couch. It has a pin cushion, and pockets for scissors, etc., handy little thing, if I do say so.

Last but not least, some tools of the trade, lol. The Aida cloth that came with the kit, my favorite type of “hoop” ( snap frame actually, I like it better and it doesn’t stretch the cloth as bad), the pattern, and painters tape. I get questions on that one a lot, I know most people say to just use masking tape, but I find that painters tape holds to the cloth just fine, and leaves less adhesive behind when removed.

That’s it for me tonight. I have some edges to tape and a center point to find!

Happy Anniversary Star Trek!

Hello my lovely readers!!

I know, I know, it has been absolutely AGES since we chatted. I do have good reason though, and I’m sure you can guess what it is! BUSY!! The summer flew by way too fast, and here we are again, September! School has started, dance has started, and I am generally doing my usual running around like a headless chicken. Especially now that DD is attending our local Technical College (going for her AA before transferring to a 4 year), as well as she has a part time job in a local shop! My car and I are becoming close and personal friends, that is for sure.

I will get you all a crafty update soon, but since I have a gift I haven’t given yet that I want to show off, I will wait until the new mama is ready for a visit before I share what crafty things I have done.

I wanted to take the time to update you on a few things going on, and then get to the true reason behind this post.

School is going really well for me, As of today, I have 12 weeks left. Two weeks in my current class, and then two more five week classes after then. Then I can get my certifications, and hopefully go back to being at least somewhat gainfully employed! I am still maintaining that 4.0 GPA, I have been working very hard to keep. I thought Anatomy and Physiology were going to be my downfall, but I still managed to finish both with 4.0s. Let that be a lesson to you all, don’t be scared to go back to school. I’ve managed it, even with everything else going on, so you can too!

I have also become slightly involved with a few other projects, one very Trek related, and one slightly so. I will do a separate post for each of them, but please, check out these websites for me, sign up, etc etc. I will talk more about both of them soon. First is The Circuit, a rather fascinating project coming from the mind of Manu Intiraymi (Icheb on Voyager, as well as many other projects). The other is one of my favorite podcasts Women at Warp, they are a great bunch of women, and talk a lot of great Trek on their podcasts. Sign up on the websites, join the WaW’s patreon, get ready for The Circuit’s kickstarter, and of course, just share, share, share! Social media is such a powerful tool! Like the Facebook pages, follow the Twitter feeds, etc etc.

Okay, I’ve babbled enough. I am writing this a bit ahead of time, but it is scheduled to post on the morning of September 8th. To me, and millions around the world, that is an important date, because on that date, 50 years ago in 1966, our science fiction world was changed, for the better, forever. Yep, I am being THAT geeky, and saying, Happy 50th Anniversary, Star Trek.

The reason, for me anyway, that I am so happy about this date, is because Star Trek actually means quite a lot to me. To go WAY back (early 80s here people, I’m OLD don’t ya know lol) I remember watching the re-runs of The Original Series, with my dad. I have vivid memories of the movies (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home still my favorite to this day), and I remember being curled up on the couch next to dad when The Next Generation PREMIERED. I remember introducing a friend in middle school to TNG, and well, lol, she’s been to more conventions than I can ever DREAM of going to. Now, for me, especially as a girl in the late 80s and early 90s, you didn’t talk about being a Trek fan unless you wanted a black eye and your lunch money stolen. Especially when I changed from the small private school I attended 7th-9th grades, and started at the (in my perspective at the time) HUGE public high school in 10th grade. I actually worked SO HARD to fit in there, that I gave up Trek. I stopped watching TNG, DS9, and didn’t even SEE an Episode of Voyager or Enterprise, until…

About 5 years ago, I was let go (downsizing, yay -.-) from my part time job. After much discussion with my DH, we decided it was time for me to do what I’d always wanted, and stay home for the kiddos. It was really great, let me tell you. Laundry was caught up for the first time in YEARS. The house was clean, the kids were always at school on time, and picked up on time. But. Especially the first few months (before DS started doing school at home, virtually), I was BORED. Like, I had NO CLUE what to do with myself. I did all these projects, and once I finished, I was like “crap, now what?” Sounds silly, but when you’re as introverted and socially awkward as I am, it’s not like I had a huge circle of friends to go and do “mom stuff” with while the kids are at school. I of course turned to my love of crafting, and you all have watched my progress on that here, but I’ve never been one to just sit and craft. I like to watch TV, or movies, or listen to a book, or something! So, trusty Netflix, here I come. And then I realized, while scrolling through and making my personal watch list, they have ALL. THE. TREK. And so I think to myself, “hmm, might be fun to re-watch the TOS and TNG, and maybe see what these others are about.” I mean I hadn’t even really HEARD of Voyager, and had no CLUE Enterprise even existed at this point. None. Seriously. I had pushed myself away from all things “geeky” so hard, that I didn’t even know about it. So, added them all to my list and dove in.

Now, I’ve kind of danced around it, but I’ll be completely honest here. I was DOWN. You could even say depressed. I’d worked all of my adult life, and I didn’t realize until after I wasn’t working that it was a huge part of my identity. I had not been without a job, (minus 6 weeks, but I was so busy looking for a job, that it felt like a job), ever, since I was 17. I really had no clue what to do with myself. I did stuff. It’s not like I sat around, but I gained 20 pounds, and was somewhat going through the motions of life.

So, I decided to watch ALL of the series (I mean all, even the Animated), as well as the movies, in kind of chronological order of release. Yes, I know that’s not the “best” way to do it, because it’s not chronological according to the Star Trek timeline, but it worked. So, I dove in. I went, to the best of my recollection anyway (see “translation” of abbreviations below) TOS, TAS, Movies 1-6, TNG, Moves 7-10, DS9, VOY, ENT. Now, I started all of this when I was first home. It was great to have in the background as I cleaned out closets, and de-cluttered kids’ rooms, and things like that. By the time I got to VOY, most of that was done, and I was pretty much at my lowest. Feeling lost, and down, and lonely. Don’t get me wrong here folks, I had purpose in life, but it was at this point my initial excitement of being a stay at home mom was wearing thin. I still loved it, I still do to this day, but once I tackled all the big projects, I was lost. It was around this time that I started really sitting and crafting a lot all day. Crochet and cross stitch mostly, although I dabbled in jewelry and a few other things. Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is since VOY was completely new to me (I had seen bits and pieces of DS9 over the years) it was the one that I really sat and WATCHED. Not just “have on in the background” but really paid attention to it. It gave me… I don’t even know, but it unlocked something for me. That is where I really regained my love of all things Trek. To this day VOY is still my all time favorite, as a whole series.

BUT

You know even as a 30 something year old woman, I was still almost ashamed of my love of Trek? I didn’t go to websites, I didn’t talk about it in public, I didn’t really tell anyone what I was so into and loving so much. It really wasn’t until this past year or so, as I re-watch again (this time in kind of chronological order, and I’ve skipped some of the movies, and the animated, at the time of this writing, I’m in Season 6 of DS9), I’ve really dove in. I am listening to podcasts (mostly the aforementioned WaW, and EngagePod, but some of the Trek.fm stuff too), I am following just about everybody I can think of on Twitter, and some on Facebook. I read articles, I post stuff, I “talk back” to the podcasts (no I’m not insane, I’m just weird), I get weirdly excited when I get a reply or like on Twitter from these actors and actresses. I am planning to (once school is done, and work is happening again) on saving up to actually GO to conventions, things like that.

I’ve talked about it before, but Wil Wheaton’s “nerd speech” from Denver Comic Con a few years ago is STILL something I watch regularly. That speech, has helped me more than I can even begin to explain. Trek has helped me even more than I can explain. Yes, my wonderful husband and awesome kids were there when I was down, but Trek has become my “comfy” place. I read an article a few months ago about how re-watching TV shows or movies, or re-reading books is actually healthy because of the familiarity can be calming. That is a great explanation. Trek for me has become that comfy chair, with your favorite blanket, and softest pajamas.

So, thanks for reading, my lovely readers. Happy Anniversary, Star Trek. Thank you for all you’ve done, and will continue to do, for at least another 50 years.

*EDIT* Forgot about the abbreviations!
TOS: The Original Series
TAS: The Animated Series
TNG: Star Trek: The Next Generation
DS9: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
VOY: Star Trek: Voyager
ENT: Star Trek: Enterprise

Craft Update – June 29, 2016

Okay. It’s been a long time since I’ve updated crafty stuff. In my defense, there have been other things in life taking priority for me lately. 

If you’ve been keeping up here, you know I’ve written a few posts about T1D. Trying to advocate for change, and also trying to educate a few of the masses. 

But, this is a crafty post, so let me get to that.

For my local SC people, I am actually putting myself out there and going to a market on July 9th. It’s the first time I’ve done this, so I’m a little nervous, but there is a first time for everything, right?

I’ve been posting about it on my Etsy Facebook page, and have been teasing about pictures for a week or so, and since I am keeping up with school well at the moment, I took some time to snap some pictures. 

First, something that will not be for sale, this was a project I made for myself. There was a problem at first, I teased you all with a WIP picture a couple months ago. Well, I was about halfway through the first panel when I realized that my gauge was WAY off. Not just a little off, but it was about half the size it was supposed to be.  So, I ripped it all apart, made gauge swatches until five (yes FIVE) hook sizes later, it was there. But, in the end, this wrap turned out lovely, truly. 

I learned several things with it, including how complicated it can be to carry yarn up the side and how tangled it can get. 

Now, on to the preview for the market…

Scarves. Double knit on a loom in a lovely light weight yarn that stripes beautifully.

Another scarf, also loom knit, I found in a bag, presumably that I was going to list on Etsy that I never got around to.

Two grocery bag holders, a fun project I learned, they have elastic on both ends, and a tie at the top to hang.

Lastly, different styles of dishcloths. This is the main focus the past week or so, they are fairly quick and easy to make, and are made in cotton yarn. My favorite pattern is the top middle, it is a waffle stitch that feels very nubby so it will be good for scrubbing. 

Still more to do, and finishing touches to do (yes I have ends that need to be run under) but all in all I’m having fun prepping for this market.

Keep smiling everybody!!

Weekly Craft Update – February 22, 2016

Happy Monday my lovelies! 

Okay so I’m trying to be more cheery than normal. Because here we are, yet again, in South Carolina with cloudy skies and rain in the forecast for the next few days. Again. We have barely had a week without rain since September. It’s kinda getting old. 

It does leave time for crafting supposedly, but, I didn’t seem to have a ton of time for it this week. Saturday was a good crochet day since we were out of town for ballet again. I also didn’t have to drive thanks to the other male dancer momma so that was a very nice change. 

Updates!

A tiny bit of background done on and off this week. Never seemed to find the patience this week to sit and stitch though so not much. BUT every stitch is progress, so we will stay positive. 

  
Like I said last week. I wasn’t sure if I was happy with the gauge on the newest blanket, so I did frog it and start over. But, I wasn’t too upset since with this super bulky yarn, it works fast. The pattern is easy to keep track of since it’s pretty much all in threes. 

  
The other thing is… Well I may need advice. Michaels had mill ends on sale a couple weeks ago, but they weren’t balled or skeined. So of course I untwisted and started to ball it myself. Let me show you…

I started with this…

  
And now at the moment I have this disaster I’ve been working on off and on for a couple of weeks…

  
So, my question for all crafters out there. When I untwist I basically get a big loop/circle of yarn. Obviously I don’t want to work from this, and need to ball it first. What is the best way to go about this (without having to buy a bunch of stuff) so when I move onto the next “twists” of yarn I don’t have this problem. Should I be hanging it from something? Is this when I should have someone with their hands inside the loop for me to wind from? I’ve never had this before so I’m a little confused. I will keep working on my disaster and will eventually get it balled, but I don’t want to have to go through this every time. I have three more twists for this color and a couple more of another. Thanks in advance for any help!

Okay thanks for getting through my wordy post today folks. Happy crafting and keep smiling!

Weekly Craft Update – February 15, 2016

Totally dropped the ball last week. Sorry about that!

Good news is I have two projects going on now lol. Michaels sent me a lovely 30% off your total purchase coupons, and so I grabbed some yarn for some projects I’ve been drooling over. The first one I’ve started is with Bernat’s blanket yarn. Sooooo soft! Now I may end up frogging this one. Gauge has always been an issue for me. So normally I always go up a hook size to stay in gauge. Well, I’m 6 rows in and already though my first skein. If I’m reading the pattern right I should get close to 10 rows per skein so, I may have to frog it and go back to the original sized hook. It works up super duper fast though, so if I do, it won’t take long to get back to where I am. But here is what it looks like so far…

    
I have gotten a lot of background work done. Or at least it feels like a lot to me. 🙂 I won’t babble on about it. I’ll just give you a picture…

Have a great week everybody! Keep smiling!

 

Weekly Craft Update – February 1, 2016

Wow. February already!?!? Where has the time gone? 

Well just a quick update from me this week. I did get some stitching time in, which made me very happy. I also bowed to the masses (here and on Facebook) that have kept asking about her eyes. Hopefully she’s not as creepy as she was before. More background done as well, and some more work to the flower in her hair. 

Here is your picture:

  
Keep smiling everybody! Keep crafting, keep doing what you love. 

Weekly Craft Update – January 25, 2016

Well…

Last week was definitely not a good one for steps. Not to give too much TMI, but I was just feeling blah and really didn’t want to move. Somewhat it was the weather, some was hormones, and just one of those weeks. 

But…

It is a new week, the sun is shining again and no point in dwelling on what I didn’t accomplish. Time to focus on what I can do this week. 

One thing about being lazy… Lots of bum in chair stitching time (way more than I should have probably) but, I’m also at the frustrating, there are no big blocks of the same color part of the background. For new readers, I stitch a little weird. I start in the middle (I do read directions… Sometimes). But, I tend to pick a color, and do everything I can reasonably get to (I don’t like to skip a bunch, yes I know it’s counted cross stitch, but mistakes tend to happen more the more squares counted) and then I switch to another color and do the same. So, when there aren’t large blocks of color together, I tend to get frustrated and annoyed. But. I also love the way it looks with all the detail in the end so I know it’s worth it, doesn’t stop me from wanting to chuck it out the window though. I also have a slight obsession with finding edges, especially in the big pieces like this. Also, I do all single color stitches first, and then the blended. Told you, I’m weird. Times like these though, the weekly pictures are a huge help, so I can actually see that I did make progress lol.

Okay, enough rambling. Here is your picture…

  
On a personal note. Well a few things. I have been online gaming some again, and I have my friends (who I will call Banana Man and Slippers) to thank for making it loads of fun. And I want to wish a happy birthday to Dr. Fox… An old friend who hasn’t been around much, but when I put the date at the top, I remembered that it is tomorrow. ❤

Keep smiling, keep crafting and most of all, have fun!

Weekly Craft Update – January 18, 2016

Happy Monday everybody. I hope you had a great weekend. 

Busy week as always, and not as much stitching time as I would have wanted, but I did get some done. Trying to get my 10,000 steps in every day has gone fairly well, only day I missed was Sunday, and I think I might declare that my official lazy day of the week. We all need at least one of those right?

Progress has been made, mostly on the background this week. It has to be done, but it is a bit tedious as there aren’t many large blocks of color. 

Here is your picture for the week…

  
Have a great week everyone! Keep smiling!!

Weekly Craft Update – January 11, 2016

Look at me, second Monday of the year and I am actually remembering to post. Considering how crazy busy life has been these first eleven days of the new year, I’m pretty proud of myself. 

A bit of a non-crafty update first…

Back for my birthday my DH got me a Fitbit. He had received one from his best friend for his birthday back in July, and so it was time for me to get in on the action. I love it. The watch itself is fairly accurate at counting steps, and since the model I have also tracks my heart rate and sleep patterns, it is thankfully very comfortable to wear nearly 24/7. Obviously I don’t wear it in the shower and it does need to charge occasionally (which I have found works best if I just toss it on the charger whenever I am getting a shower or bath, since I can’t wear it then anyway). The default setting is 10,000 steps a day, plus 10 flights of stairs. I took my DH’s advice and bumped it down to 5,000 steps and left the stairs where it was. I soon found that I was averaging between 6,000 and 7,000 steps a day and close to 20 flights. So, within the first week, I changed my goal to 8,000 and 20 flights. I did not manage to hit that daily, but for the most part, I did well. I knew I weighed in at about 150ish pounds when I got it, and I know I was snugly fitting into a US size 10 jeans. Not terrible I know, but, to put into perspective, before kids, I was maybe 110 pounds and fit into a size 3. I knew I wouldn’t get back there quickly, so I set my weight goal for 130 pounds and just paid more attention to keeping moving more throughout the day. As of a couple days ago, a few things have happened. I am comfortably into a size 7 jeans, and to date have lost a total of 13.4 pounds, putting me at 136.6. My goals are now tougher. Upped back to 10,000 steps a day, and pushing it to 25 flights. Since I am a bit of a Netflix junkie, I have found the best thing I can do, is start an episode (usually around 45 minutes give or take), strap 5 pound ankle weights on each leg, grab my 3 pound hand weights and walk in place on our mini trampoline. I like that since I do have a few joint problems, and so walking on the tramp gives me a softer service to walk on. Then I’ve added doing stuff with my arms to start toning them up too. I’m less than 3 years from the big 4-0, and I think 40 is gonna be pretty. 😉 

Okay! Enough bragging. 

I have also made time to stitch. I say made, because it is important to me, and I find it very soothing. Not many changes this week, but as I’ve always said, progress is progress even if it is just a few stitches. So, here’s your picture. 

  
Also, I got a lovely present in the mail. A dear friend of mine, Sady, knows how much I adore owls. So, she colored this for me, full of purples (my favorite color), and just full of love and light. I had to share it with all of you. I will get a frame for it soon, and put it somewhere I can see it often. 

  
That’s all for me today. Happy crafting, keep smiling!!

Happy 2016!!

So here we are, new year has begun, the holidays are over and we are off and running.

2015 was an interesting year. It brought lots of changes. Some good, some bad. But, change in general is a good thing, even if you can’t see it right away. I am happy to report that we all survived another nutcracker season, and in the process I managed to loose 10 pounds or so. I am putting that to now being in a two story house, and the Fitbit that I got for my birthday back in October. 

So, here we are, the first Monday of 2016. I am going to try to get back into my weekly craft blogs as well as writing other things. I do have English comp this semester at school so I will do my best. 

Here is my (now annual) post holiday crafting roundup as well as update on the fairy. I have actually gotten some work done (started the year off right, with lots of butt in chair, Netflix watching day of stitching)

Gifts that were given that haven’t been posted are as follows. Two double knit wraps in my favorite yarn I found last year (see last January’s post holiday blog), and another ripple afghan in lion brands homespun. 

  
  
  
And last but not least. The fairy. Most exciting thing is, I found the top!! I was thinking I’d never get there. Only a couple of stitches, but it’s there!

  
I think that’s everything today. Keep smiling and craft on!