How Dost Thou Faire?

You know that little voice that always tells you that you have way more time to get stuff done than what you think?

Yeah, it's a real bitch.

And it seems to be plaguing my entire life at the moment.

Take my Fade shawl for example.

I started the bloody thing back in May. I had originally intended to finish it for the Destination Yarn open house in July, but that didn't happen.

So then I moved my goal to done before Ren Faire.

That also didn't happen. 

But surely I could finish it in time for the latest pj party?

Nope.

I'm still on section 11. I'm *closer* to the end. But not quite close enough. So, once again the deadline gets moved.

Ren Faire also hit me like a freight train. I had elaborate plans for my costume this year... want to guess what never magically materialized?

Grandma ended up doing practically everything for us, for which I'm eternally grateful.

I did, however, make myself a giant set of horns because why the hell not?

They were a hit, as I had many people compliment me on them and ask for pictures. Not bad for doing them in less than 24 hours.

I didn't actually take any pics of things at the faire itself, but here are a bunch of pics of me and the friendos.

I also wore a shirt this year that....errrr..... worked better with my corset.

Heaving bosoms... heaving bosoms everywhere.

I bought a few little treasures, too.

I also bought a wee little stained glass star, but I forgot to grab it when taking pics.

But lest you feel like you're missing out, I made a TOTALLY ACCURATE REPRESENTATION for you.

See? You can TOTALLY envision it now!

You are very welcome.

John got me this adorable pair of glass owl earrings.

AND FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN OUR TWELVE YEAR RELATIONSHIP HE BOUGHT ME A DAMN FLOWER

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go faint 'pon yonder fainting couch from shock.

A Few Months Late

So...

Back in July I had knit that utter disaster of a shawl. The one with the little bells on it? THE ONE THAT BETRAYED ME BY RIPPING DURING BLOCKING?!

Ahem..

Anyway, I realized that I never did get around to posting pics of it.

So, yeah. Here's July's shawl, Steam Bells.

Made with Berroco Folio, which is an alpaca blend.

I really hated working with it, honestly. I'm a loose knitter by default, but I was struggling to get my needle in my stitches.

You already know about the disaster that was trying to block this thing.

It's definitely not my favorite thing I've made.

But it is a shawl and meets my monthly goal.

Faire, Weather, Friends

Now that I'm home for more than 5 minutes, I can finally talk about Ren Faire last weekend.

It ended up raining the whole way there, but managed to stop just as we pulled in the parking area. Still the place was a muddy mess. I wisely decided to wear my boots, and if you know anything about me and how much I abhor anything on my feet, that should tell you just how muddy it was.

But we still had a bunch of fun.

We took some pictures.

Some of us took sneaky pictures while we were watching various shows.

I found a goat statue. 

We shot some bows.

 We watched some jousting.

And then we got ready for the ball and tried not to melt.

That fan was the best $5 I've ever spent, let me tell you. The humidity was unbearable.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day. There's already discussion about costumes for next year. Maybe I should start that now...

Steaming Forward

Ren Faire is this coming Saturday. Which means I've been running around like bloody mad over the last few weeks. This weekend was especially chaotic.

So, my weekend(...week?... intolerable number of busy days?)  in a nutshell:

Thursday and Friday ended up being dedicated to cleaning out the garage and backroom since my grandpa has decided that he wants to rent our garage during the winter for his Nova.

I did take some time in the evening to work on this ridiculous last minute shawl.

Well, as much as the cat would let me.

Saturday, I looked cute.

Bought a lace cardigan for $5.

Bought the rest of John's costume.

And knit some more.

Sunday friends came over.

I looked cute again.

We made a mess.

And made our masks.

Then everyone left and I worked on Vi's hat.

And mine.

(Photo from my instagram story, so pardon the text. Did you know I'm on instagram? Go over there to follow me ------->)

And I tweaked my mask a bit more until I was satisfied with it.

Then I took a bunch of selfies of my ridiculous post-bun Hermione hair.

So floofy. :3

Yesterday I was supposed to knit.

And I did... sorta.

I'm on row 9 out of the 30 rows of edging. But working on it is... mind-numbingly boring. It just needs to be done already.

I did do some things yesterday.

I finished a tube of chapstick for the first time in my life.

I took a picture of a cat.

(Wide angle lenses are fun.)

And I remade my hat when I realized that I had stupidly put everything facing the wrong way...

So that brings us to today. And really, the rest of this week.

This is what I still have to accomplish before Saturday.

• Decorate two additional masks
• Finish knitting this damned shawl
• Block said shawl
• Learn how to steam block so I can do Vi's shawl that she's also making last minute for this weekend
• Finish John's accessories for his costume
• Find shoes for myself
• Finish adding crystals and other dangly bits to my ball crown
• Make jewellry for the ball
• Try not to cry too much

Friday I also have to take Al out to get Splatoon 2 and do some shopping with my grandma. 

So really, I have 3 days to get the whole list done. 

Fuck.