Frustration Station

You ever have one of those mornings (okay, well, it was after noon when I woke up, but the point still stands) where you just get flooded with frustrating/overwhelming/upsetting news all in one go?

Yeah, that's how my day's started off, so instead of the more thought-provoking and serious topic I HAD wanted to talk about, you get a list post instead.

1. First and foremost, the guy who was fixing my phone has entirely disappeared. Kiosk is gone. The mall office can't even find him. So... we're out the $160 we paid for the part. At least he didn't have my phone, right?

2. I don't think I ever showed off the second Destination Yarn subscription color I got.

It's called Carnival in Venice. It's hard to see, but there's gold sparkle in it.

2. We went to Local Yarn Shop Day at Harps and Thistles yesterday and my makeup was looking pretty dang good,

3. I came home with two skeins of Malabrigo Mechita in Carnival.

Look familiar? It should. It's the same color from Carnival in the Castle that I made last September.

4. I also went out with Bethany yesterday for a bit of shopping and by far my favorite find was a washi tape organizer.

5. One of the very first cactuses I ever got, Prickles, ended up getting blown over from wind. When I went to put him back into the pot, the plant separated, so now I have Prickles and Pickles.

6. My snowflake aloe are looking super happy and healthy, which makes me so happy. I was worried about them when we first brought them home.

7. All my babies in the bedroom also seem to be pretty happy.

8. I started on the shawl I want to wear to Great Lakes Fiber Show.

Yes, it's something lacey and beaded. Because that's all I know how to do apparently.

9. I really don't have much else to say, so have a pet picture to take us out.

10. Wait, no, I lied. I redid my shrine to Henry, so have a pretty picture with all the candles lit up.

Okay, NOW I'm actually done. Toodles!

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Blobs and Blurbs

Well, we're getting close to the end, y'all.

Just 8 days left until Christmas. And then I can FINALLY show you all the stuff I've been working on!

Not that I've done much in the way of Christmas presents in the past few days...

Yeah, I've just been working on the "I-just-need-a-hit-of-lace" shawl.

I mean, I guess I can show you my progress on it.

I'm affectionately calling it The Blob.

I've got 32 rows left to do, but mah god, they are So. Damn. Long.

And it's a fixed-size shawl. So there's no Ashtan-ing it. Which is TERRIFYING!

But the pattern is gorgeous and winter themed and the shawl's being made with 100% cashmere, so really, I'm in heaven right now.

Also, I *may* have picked up some mohair at the last pj party because I have a cool idea for another shawl that I want to try out.

It'll probably turn into a nightmare, but what's life without a little risk?

In other news, my hair's been regreenified thanks to my lovely Kayla.

It feels good to be my emerald self again.

I also FINALLY got to put up my grandma's ceramic village that she gave me a few years ago.

I'll leave you with this comment I left on a reddit thread talking about knitting. I could have rambled on even longer about knitting and what it's done for me and some of my thoughts on it, but I still think this is a pretty good little blurb.

"Knitting has pretty much been a driving force in the stabilization of my mental health. It's given me an outlet for my anxiety, connected me with a great group of people, and taught me how to value myself as a person. It also drove me to start a blog about all my craft work, which I've been consistently writing and posting on for over 3 years. And that in itself is a huge accomplishment for me. I'm bad about consistency. 

I've learned that it's okay to make mistakes, for everything to not be perfect. There's value in those mistakes. 

I've also learned that there's something to that notion of, "If you set your mind to something, you can accomplish it."  I'm entirely self-taught. I learned crochet first and then discovered a knit shawl pattern called Celestarium. This shawl is a circular one with the constellations of the Northern hemisphere in the lace work. So I taught myself to knit just so I could make it. And I did. 

I'm actually known for my shawls now. And my seemingly supernatural ability to either make them very fast or very large. Usually it's both and it's actually become known as "Ashtan-ing" a project in my circle. 

Lace work speaks to me. It's my meditation and my craft. And the shawls I make become armor for myself when dealing with uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing situations. I'm wrapping hours and hours of work and accomplishment around my shoulders. How can anyone hurt me when I've made such an amazing thing?  They also become a shield of love for the people I gift my work to. My love and care made tangible and just for them. 

I will never sell my knitting. I decided that at the beginning. Knitting was to always be for myself before anything else. Never a job, never because someone demanded or assumed they'd get something. But I am always happy to gift people I love dearly with things I make. The people I know who value what I make and will take care of it. Because you really are gifting a piece of yourself every time you make something."

Ketchup

This furry nightmare seems to finally be over. Which means that I've been released from the prison, along with my poor, long-suffering kitty.

Which means I need to get y'all up to speed so we can return to some sort of normal schedule around here.

So, list post.

1. My favorite little martini glass cosplayer is finally out of her cone of shame. Which, by the way, we had to go get a LONGER ONE because she fecking FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET TO HER STAPLES WITH THE SHORTER ONE!

Damn cat is too smart for her own good.

2. All of the other pets were so thrilled to see me that I have barely been left alone, especially when I'm trying to use the bathroom.

3. I have gotten SO MUCH squish mail in the past month, I'm genuinely feeling overwhelmed.

Christmas present

100% Mongolian Cashmere from a Kickstarter (intended to be a shawl)

Malabrigo Baby Merino Lace for Cobweb shawl by Boo Knits

Bulky weight eco wool from KnitPicks for a circular shawl

More Christmas presents

I actually had to rearrange the stash because of all this.

This is the "Shawl yarn that DEFINITELY has a pattern picked out/too delicate to put anywhere else" drawer.

4. I have started THREE BLOODY SHAWLS in the past three weeks due to above overwhelming feelings.

First is Sugar Maple

Cobweb

And Jörð

Jörð was the one I've worked on the most because duh, it's bulky and quick.

Well, it's supposed to be. When you can actually follow the damn pattern.

I... I apparently could not.

And I fucked it up so badly that I had to pull it off the needles, rip it back to where I STARTED yesterday, and repickup all 288 stitches.

Yes, it's in time-out.

5. The previous event made me sooooo angry that I knit a cat.

Who is being turned into a sushi cat...

No, I don't know why either. But when inspiration strikes, you go for it.

6. I did manage to get one Christmas present done and two others started.

Except, I don't think Al is actually going to care about getting a shark plushie, so I guess I have no Christmas presents actually done?

7. WE GOT TO SEE NINJA SEX PARTY AND TWRP LIVE AND IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE AND AMAZING AND AHHHHHHH!

8. I also went to Columbus with grandma this past Sunday because she was receiving some fancy-schmancy award for her contributions to Special Education.

9. John turned 32 and to celebrate, we went out shopping for new nail polish for him.

We also picked out each others' outfits for the evening.

I talked him into the outfit the previous weekend, and I absolutely adore how he looks. It makes me so happy that he's branching out and trying new things.

10. While getting his nail polish, I *may* have bought myself a new palette just because of the name.

11. We were actually planning on a surprise party for him the day we had to take Bee to the emergency vet, so that got shot to shit.

I did give him is present I had planned on that day, though.

Because everyone needs a GIANT fucking plush chameleon with a hand knit scarf.

This is actually supposed to be his familiar in our D&D campaign, Quell. The letter up there is actually the elvish one for "Q".

I knit this thing right under his nose. It was actually drying on the front porch the day before and he walked right by it.

12. Speaking of plushies, BETHANY GOT ME SOMETHING FROM YOU GOAT MAIL!

SPOOPY GOAT FRIEND!

13. She and I went out shopping last night and got ourselves into trouble at Pat Catan's. See, they had all their Halloween stuff 70% of off the club price. So I bought...

a hat...

some rats...

... annnnnnnd a life sized vulture.

He is my new favorite thing ever. Especially because I got him at a HUGE discount. He started at $66.66, club price $50. I paid $15.  

AND multiple people came out to me, all bummed because they wanted to buy him. Ain't no way I was letting go of him then!

I came home and immediately put this on to unleash my Full Inner Witch.

And I may very well have magical powers because look at how much I spent verses how much I saved.

Yep. Definitely got that money witchery going on.

13. I did some non-knitting crafting and made a few more cross stitch pieces.

Cactuses for my grandma and a Mustard the Wonder Llama for John.

14. And here's a bunch of random selfies because I like feeling pretty, damnit, and deserve to feel nice after all this garbage going on lately.

15. BONUS PICTURE!

I don't know how to make small quantities of soup...

Well, that should be about it. I'm sure there are some things I'm forgetting, but to be honest, the past month has been a blur. I'm surprised I remembered as much as I did.

I am so ready for this colder weather because it *should* mean that THE UNIVERSE TAKES A DAMN HINT AND SLOWS THE FUCK DOWN TOO. But we'll see.

For now, I'm going to go finish this sushi cat. And then freak out over the amount of Christmas stuff I still have to make.

*sigh*