Fourteen Gat Dang Years

Guess what, y'all?

Robyn and I (Did I mention the name change yet? If not, HEY, THEY'RE GOING BY ROBYN NOW, OKAY???) have been together for 14 years now.

Rather than sit here and gush about them (that's soooo 3 years ago) how about I share our vows we wrote for the vow renewal? Then I'll end with some cute pics of us and y'all can leave nice comments about us below. Sound like a plan?

Mine:

My love, I promise to accept you as you are now and as who you shall become. I put my full trust in you and the commitments we’ve made to each other. I will continue to stand by your side as I have for all these years. I promise to be someone you can lean on, who will offer what comfort and love I can.
I give you not only a piece of my heart, but my joy and laughter as well. I promise to do everything in my power to make you laugh and smile as often as I can, so long as you’re willing to forgive the occasional accidental eye poke from a failed attempt to do so.
I also promise to always give you advantage on your charisma checks because, let's be honest, I'm the talkative extrovert to your reserved introvert.
I will always be the Batman to your Robin, the Luigi to your Mario, the Captain to your Number One.
I promise this all from now until whatever end takes us. I love you.

Theirs:

Eight years ago we promised to always love and support each other, no matter what hardships life threw at us. And we have. But in that time we've also helped each other grow and change so much for the better. And we've come so far. I've watched as you tried your hand at so many creative hobbies and discovered your passions. You learned how to heal from the past and found your unique voice in the world. And together we learned how to love better. So now, today, I promise to always stand by you as we continue to grow. I promise I'll still laugh with you at every corny joke and I'll still hold you when life feels too overwhelming. And I promise I'll always be with you as we continue this adventure together, because I can't wait to see where it takes us.

---------------------------------------------------------
Like my writing? You can help support me and future writing projects directly by donating through the links below!

Ko-fi link: ko-fi.com/blackgoatknitting

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/blackgoatknitting

A Long Road

I seemed to blink and suddenly the event we'd been planning for over 2 and a half years is over.

I'll be posting about the whole thing soon, but for now let's get to what you really care about: the shawl.

Y'all know how long it took me to actually decide on a pattern. I went through every different option for shawls on ravelry (not to mention trying to design my own) before ultimately deciding on... the very first pattern that I picked out at the start.

Despite the odd name, the center of this shawl just screamed "snowflake" to me.

Adding in the picot bind-off was just a bonus that sealed the deal.

The color was the perfect deep emerald green that is exactly what I had envisioned when I was planning our color scheme.

It is proving a little impossible to photograph, so you'll just have to use your imagination a bit.

Or, y'know, just go buy yourself some.

Shoutout to Mikayla and Caitlin for basically strong arming me into buying this yarn instead of letting me continue to fret and change my mind a billion more times.

My whole ensemble made me feel like some ethereal fae being.

I can't even put into words how incredible I felt.

We won't talk about the amount of sweat going on with all these layers, though...

We also won't discuss the fact that I put in FIFTEEN HUNDRED BLOODY BEADS INTO THIS THING!

Because why do something easy when I can be Extra As Fuck?

Let's be honest, it wouldn't have been a properly Ashtan-ed shawl without the beads.

And the dramatic poses.

Okay, I've prattled on enough about literally the best thing I've ever made, so I'll leave you off with one more glamour shot.

Have a happy holidays, y'all.

If you want to get me something nice, my Kofi and PayPal Links are below.

<3

---------------------------------------------------------
Like my writing? You can help support me and future writing projects directly by donating through the links below!

Ko-fi link: ko-fi.com/blackgoatknitting

Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/blackgoatknitting

A Quiet Pause

This is it.

The last breath before the chaos.

I'm sitting here in the library, curled up on the loveseat, with Bee at my side.

Cozy in my Gryffindor sweater, I'm drinking tea sweetened with honey I helped harvest.

It's snowing.

It's so quiet.

Watching the snow swirl through the light from the street lamps is mesmerizing and so utterly calming.

I feel the tension that has been strung through me for weeks start to loosen and fade.

I can breathe again.

All will be well.