Creatively Untitled: A List Post Project

Do you know what D&D actually stands for?

That would be Dead and Devoid of all energy.

It's been taking up so much of my time and energy over these past two- wait, no three... yeah, three  months (we took that long for character creation, one-on-one starter sessions, and me personally working on the campaign setting) that I really haven't been focusing on much else. But we finally, FINALLY have started and from how well things are going, I think I'll be able to take a breather and  actually work on other things alongside this.

So, to get y'all caught up....

LIST POST TIME

*confetti cannons here*

1. First, let's talk about my knitting.

My intention was to have this finished in time to wear to the Destination Yarn open house later this month. Especially because this shawl would feature two different DY colors. 

But after doing the math and having a heart-to-heart with myself... well, for the first time ever, I'm not going to finish a shawl in time to meet my deadline.

I'm surprisingly okay with it. It had to happen at some point and I'd rather it be something that was more of a "this would be nice" thing than a "OH MY GOD THIS RUINS EVERYTHING" sort of deal.

2. I ended up making another moth.

She's quite a bit bigger than my first one. And yes, she does look a little like the Centipeedle in Steven Universe. It was unintentional at first, but as I went along, she kind of grew into it. 

I adore her and she now lives on my lovely new shelf along with my other plushies.

3. I made a mini dice bag for my miniature dice that I use for my crow companion for my character.

Yes, I know that the yarn obscures the cables, but I REALLY wanted to use only scraps for this. It's made mostly with the teeny little bit of yarn I had leftover from Polar Bear in a Snowstorm.

4. We ended up taking both Bethany and Vi with us to Origins last month and it was so much more fun like that. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

5. I'm SUPER friggin proud of this crow painting I did for Lily.

6.  John and I actually did something crafty TOGETHER!

These are traveler's journals we made. And I do mean "we." He did almost all the work on his own! My little crafty goddess heart nearly burst with joy.

7. I've been meeting real life mothy friends and I couldn't be happier. 

8. We've been playing Pokemon Go again. Vi and I have been painting the town yellow.

9. It's actually been a few days since I've started writing this and I'm now on the 5th color of my Fade shawl.

10. I may or may not be planning out the yarn for like a dozen more of these.

11. Yes, that's highly unusual.

12. No, I DON'T know what the hell is wrong with me.

13. And I TOTALLY didn't go off my cold sheep personal pledge and buy another skein of Rios just because the colors were singing to me.

14. NOPE NOPE NOPE TOTALLY DIDN'T

15. 

16. ..............................

17. Damnit...

Painting Palooza

You would think with all this pressure off me to get a project done every month, I'd be drowning in FO's. Things just flying off my needles, right?

Yeah...

I've all but abandoned my needles at this point. (HA! Point! I kill me.)

But seriously, I've only done a few rounds of Mystic Star (it was heartlessly abandoned last year) and made a lil spidey bro. I do have a MKAL that starts at the end of this month, but in the meantime, I've found that I just can't commit myself to any project.

So, to keep myself from slowly descending into a pit of knitless misery  occupied, I've been working on just a *few* watercolor paintings.

And by few, I mean over a dozen.

So here they are in no particular order.

I'd say I've been a little busy.

And I haven't even shown you the best and my favorite.

For a size reference, this is about two feet wide. It's now living happily in an antique frame that belonged to John's late grandma.

And it's now the centerpiece of the living room.

And because this is a knitting blog after all, I will at least tease you with the MKAL yarn.

Any guesses at the theme? Let's just say, I'll be over the moon with it. ;D

374 + 374 And a Couple More

As is tradition, I've missed my blog-iversary by several days. *coughnearly2weekscough*

I'm sure you're all fed up with the mushy, lovey-dovey posts, so I guess I'll do what I did last year and do a pure numbers post.

Let's start with pageviews.

My most popular post was A Comedy of Errors, which sits at 428 pageviews.

Of course Orchid Thief would be my most popular post, the disaster that it was. Let's be honest, it's more entertaining when things go wrong, huh?

A couple of other posts made it well over 150 views, another awesome surprise.

I'm averaging more than 50 pageviews on almost every post, another increase.

To date, I've had 9,008 pageviews to the blog itself. I was right around 3k last year.

I've managed to double my view numbers. In a friggin year.

Like, holy crap, people.

It still blows my mind so may people actually care about what I have to say enough to come here and read it. Truly, deeply, thank you for that. I can't even begin to tell you what this blog has meant to me.

Sorry, sorry, I promised no mush.

My goal was to write at least one post a week. I've happy to say that not only did I average that, but I BEAT IT! I've written 61 posts over the past year at the time of writing this.

As for projects, I didn't actually knit as much this year as I did last year.

Hats

• Neon Ski Bonnet
• Obnoxiously Cheerful Hat
• Pussy Hat Project

Sweaters

• Autumn Lace Shrug
• Grandma's Lace Sweater

Miscellaneous

• Mismatched Socks
• String Bean Fingerless Gloves
• Owl Mitts
• Deep Sea FLower Dice Bag

Amigurumi

• Prickly Bulbasaur
• Fallbasaur (I actually have two of these done, plus commissions for 5 more!)

Shawls

• Age of Brass and Steam
• Orchid Thief
• Art and Coffee
• Grey Skies
• Rainshine
• Yarn Wife (My very first completely original design)
• Kelp
• Steam Bells
• Gem In Eyes

I did release my first paid pattern on Ravelry, though. The lace panel I designed for my sweater up there.

Normally, I think I'd be disappointed with myself for not knitting more. But this past year I found my definitive Second Craft. 

I started teaching myself watercolor painting in November of last year. And I think I've devoted almost an equal amount time to it this past year as my yarn and needles. A rough count in my head gives me a rough estimate of 30+ paintings that I've finished this year. And that's not including all of the pendants I've done.

This was my very first attempt, if you remember.

And this is the latest.

And I'm pretty damned proud of that.

Well, I tried hard to avoid it, but we're going to have to get gross for a second. I know, but it'll be okay. Just find a cuddle buddy and we'll get through this together.

Once again, I have to thank each and every one of you who have stopped here and taken time to read one (or several!) of my posts. 

I started this blog on a whim after reading a bunch of Yarn Harlot's archive. I wanted a place to share and talk about my knitting. Ravelry project notes aren't really that great for that. So having a blog, I could really get down to the knitty-gritty of things. *sorrynotsorry*

But this has been so much more than that. 

I've undergone so many life changes. Losses, gains. Through hell and back, through battles, through love. 

And I've been able to share that all here. I've been able to put myself out into the world. I've learned how to more effectively communicate with the people around me. 

Jamie told me once that she loves reading the blog because it allowed her to see a different aspect of me. And until that moment, I didn't really realize how true that is. This blog has given voice to the things that I want to say, but never quite manage to in person. 

Thank you. 

Thank you for your support. Your patronage. Your love.

And here's to the next 374 days. 

Total Eclipse of the Art

Yes, I went there. I made that joke. And I regret nothing.

Because what's better than spending the entire day outside, watching the eclipse, and painting something amazing?

That's exactly what I did.

Here's like the one super crappy picture I have of the whole thing.

The painting, however, came out marvelous.

Here's another shot with the colors a little bit more accurate, though it is still much more vibrant in person.

It was an amazing experience getting to sit out there, seeing something so strange and wonderful, all the while making a beautiful thing. I'm already counting down the years until the next one. Maybe we'll make that one an art party. Sounds fun, yeah?

A Change Will Do You Good

It seems that lately, my creative endeavours are shifting.

I mean, I'm still knitting and painting. Let's not get wild here.

But I seem to be branching out and trying new things within those crafts.

For one thing, I'm trying color work again.

It's a bag with the Gryffindor crest on it. (hashtag nerd alert)

Don't get me wrong. I am absolutely loathing actually knitting it. It's a struggle to convince myself to work on it. This is definitely a product project rather than one I'm doing for the joy of making on it.

Color work knitter I am not.

But at least I'm trying.

As for my painting, I finally figured out something I've wanted to do for a long time.

Paint some space, yo.

This was my first attempt. It was based on a photo of the Milky Way that a quick google search yielded.

These have quickly become an addiction.

This one I just did by playing around with colors.

And of course I had to make one for John's desk.

I suppose the biggest news about my painting though is that I FINALLY have my pendants up in my etsy shop.

That's right. You can head right over and buy one of my watercolor painting necklaces.

Black Goat Crafts on Etsy

More will be in there soon, so if you don't see one you like now, be patient!

Lest you think I've completely abandoned all my ways, I did start on a new shawl for April.

Except, it really wasn't scratching the right itch.

So....

This beauty gets to come out and play.

And let me tell you, the change did me good.