Steady On

When we last left off, I was a mere 6 rows and a picot bind-off away from finishing my vow renewal shawl.

I'm happy to report that it is, in fact, finished.

Even though the bind-off did its best to kill me. It took me 15 hours to do...

Yeah...

Anyway, I don't have any finished pictures yet because my skin decided that a giant friggin zit ON MY LIP of all places was what I needed. And I don't really want that in my photos with such a gorgeous shawl. So instead you can just have this teaser of the pre-blocked beauty.

As for everything else relating to the vow renewal, things are steadily moving forward.

We're working on getting the Christmas decorations up, which are also the deorations we're using for the ceremony.

The mantle is done.

Some of the garlands are up.

I've started on the tree.

But I do need to go buy more decorations for it because it's just *slightly* bigger than we anticipated.

Even all this isn't enough.

But I am fond of how the top is shaping up.

Speaking of this tree, this is the one I bought when Pat Catan's was going out of business earlier this year. I paid a whopping $36 for it.

Want to know the original price?

Yep.

A $700 tree for $36.

This is probably my best buy to date.

On the knitting front, I've started a new shawl to wear for Christmas itself.

It's another Sunshine and Pinwheels in Malabrigo Mora. I made one in August for my cousin and I loved how it looked in this yarn so much that I HAD to make one for myself.

This color totally reminds me of antique linens, which is delightful. I think it'll be lovely with my emerald green velvet dress.

I'm considering adding jet black crystal beads to the points, too. Because why make life easier for myself?

I've also knit a couple of hats for John and myself.

No formal photos yet, but here you go.

This is just an improvised design, but I DID write it all down, so I'll probably throw it up on here eventually as a free pattern.

I especially love the giant pom-pom on mine.

I also have some knitting-to-be in the form of the Anthophila Sweater.

It has bees on it. How can I not?

I'm thinking ivory body and gold bees.

Wouldn't that be stunning?

This will probably be my January/February project. An indulgence of selfish knitting after the holiday rush.

Because yes, I AM ALSO KNITTING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS.

I *obviously* don't have enough to do.

But going back to the selfish knitting, I was kinda maybe considering hosting a craft-along around that theme? Some self-care crafting at the start of the year for everyone who needs it. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in? Let me know!

For now, though, I need to get back to work. Today's goals were to write this and finish painting our upstairs hallway. And sadly, I haven't completed my painting robot, so I guess that's on me to do.

So, I'll leave you with our color inspiration for this space.

Cheers!

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Tidbits

I really haven't worked on any sort cohesive projects that require an entire blog post dedicated to it, so I thought I'd just kinda show the little things I've been doing and working on.

I did get one little knit project done a few months ago that I just never shared here.

I made a mini me in a black goat outfit!

I even have a lil tail.

But that's not all.

Afterall, who would I be without one of my signature shawls?

Yep! It's a mini Rainbomb!

And yes, I'm seriously considering making mini versions of all my favorite shawls.


John and I had fun with a quick bit of thrift shopping recently.

My faves were these incredible, brand-new boots.

And these two new purses.

We did our annual clean-all-the-crud-off-the-porch and, damn, it's looking so good.

We also discovered some new residents on said porch when we were cleaning. We're now playing host to a hive of carpenter bees.

If you look closely, there's one on the bricks to the right, as well as one in one of the tubes in the bottom right.

They don't really pose a threat, so we're going to let them do their thing.

We've also been busting our butts on our flower beds, especially the problem one in the front.

I ended up with some new color varieties of marigold in the planter boxes.

The left one is called Fireball and the left is Strawberry Blonde.

I also got these gorgeous petunias.

But my absolute favorite is the coleus we ended up planting in the front flower bed.

This seriously is my new favorite flower bed. Lets just hope that things actually grow like I want them to.


I got a fun new book to read.

I haven't had a chance to really dive in much. I want to take my time and really take it in rather than do my usual C O N S U M E style of reading, which allows me to just get lost in the book and process it all later.

What's that? The project underneath?

Yeah, okay. Teroldego has made it out of purgatory. I've made it to the lace section now. I haven't touched it in nearly a week, though, since we've been working outside so much.

As for Cloud Illusions (the shawl I said I wanted to wear to GLFS)... well, the more I thought about it, the more I kept looking at Rainbomb.

Rainbomb is an absolute spectacle and really friggin impressive. I *want* to show it off. And where better to do that than at a fiber show?

Speaking of fiber, want to see my newest wool pretties?

First up is what I ended up getting at the latest pj party, a pretty skein of TIG Adorn Sport.

I've seen this poor loner on the wall forever and I felt bad, so I brought it home. I just wish I could actually get a halfway decent picture of it. It's absolutely gorgeous in person, but was being particularly persnickety about showing that off.

"But Ashtan! What are you going to do with a single skein of sport yarn? Also... they make sport weight yarn? I thought only bulky, worsted, fingering, and lace existed in your world..."

Yes, yes, I know. But I actually already have a plan in place! There's actually some other TIG yarn in the same weight that is going to pair beautifully with this. So, I got my next purchase already sorted.

The other yarn I got was a Limited Edition color from Leon Alexander Yarns. It was part of their May the 4th collection. It's called Eulogy and it's dedicated to our most beloved Rebel Princess and General, Leia Organa.

I'm kicking myself for not buying a second one. Isn't it just lovely?

And to finish us out, how about I show off the LAST FRIGGIN CHRISTMAS PRESENT I did last year? No, I still haven't managed to send it to Lily. But I at least showed her pictures! So, without further ado, behold! The spider cowl!

This really was a labor of love because there was So. Much. Purling.

But I can't really argue with the results.

I absolutely adore how each spider looks completely different and unique from the other ones.

I actually love it so much that I *may* or *may not* be considering making myself a matching one. Assuming I can convince my hands that all that purling is worth it again.

I think it is. Don't you?
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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*