Preparing for Nanowrimo

It’s been more than a decade since someone suggested I try out NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. Every year since then I have sat down with my laptop on my knees and poured out a fifty thousand word story from somewhere inside my soul.

The last few years have been different. I have been growing in confidence and though I always win (minus one year), now I really feel as thought I’m writing something with substance. Usually I shut the novel on December 1st without finishing the story and never look at it again, pleased to have written so many words in so little time. I don’t think about the content.

The last two years I have basically written the same story but from scratch each time. This year I’m going to do the same; it’s a story that is itching to get out of me and I am going to have to go to drastic measures to ensure I follow it to its conclusion this time.

Yes, that’s right. I’m going to outline it.

I’m not much of a planner. I pick up projects, knitting included, and don’t think about the consequences. It has given me oceans of false starts but also worked out well on occasion. This year I need to change the way I face it or I will end up writing the same fifty thousand words over and over with no resolution and no chance of it turning into a book rather than a large and ignored Word file.

Writing is a lot like knitting. It is satisfying to watch a project grow, whether written or knitted, stitch by stitch and word by word. Unfortunately I am not great at getting to the equivalent of the cast-off edge in my writing. Somehow I am going to change that this year.

Is anyone else writing a speed novel this November?

The Coffee Fiasco

Normally I am one of those obnoxious morning people. I wake up perky and ready to go. Last Friday I didn’t find it quite so easy thanks to the cold weather making bed seem like a much better choice than anything ever so by the time I got to work I was barely alert.

When I’m tired I get clumsy. I really should have known better than to put my (large) coffee next to my handknit fingerless gloves.

You can see where this is going.

Thankfully the impressive amount of milky, sweet caffeine avoided my kindle and my work computer but it soaked my headset and the gloves. I spent the first ten minutes of my day mopping it up. Because I was at work I couldn’t dump the gloves in water so by the time I had the chance to clean them they had been stewing in coffee for hours and hours.

Best thing is I don’t usually take much milk in my coffee and very rarely take sugar. Of course I had to spill it that day.

It has taken three separate washes in Soak scentless to get rid of the smell. Fortunately the Manos Del Uruguay I used for the gloves was already a deep brown/red/purple so if there’s a stain it looks deliberate. I can’t tell the difference. Imagine if it had been my pale blue shawl or my sparkly pink cardigan!

Please tell me I’m not the only one this happens to – share your spillage/ruined knits disasters with me below. We can commiserate in our clumsiness together.

FPC: Captain Marvel

 

Welcome to the Friday Pattern Collective where I gather up a few patterns from around the net (well, Ravelry mostly) to present them to you.

See previous weeks.

This week we’re going for Captain Marvel who, as every good Marvel fan knows, is about fifty million different types of awesome.

Glorious art by Pryce14

The latest run of Captain Marvel is written by Kelly Sue DeConnick who I met (along with her amazing husband Matt Fraction, writer of the recent Hawkeye series) last year. She’s an incredible writer and brings us Carol Danvers as a strong and interesting character full of depth and great plots.

Also… her costume is really great.

At the moment we’re not following the comics due to funding issues so since I’m starting to seriously miss my monthly binges on comics, Captain Marvel was the obvious choice for this week’s FPC.

Captain Marvel Gloves

By Maratini Knits

How can we not love Captain Marvel when aesthetically her outfit is so pleasing? And for once it’s not in a yay-boobies kind of way but because it’s three primary colours looking amazing side by side. These gloves are on my to-do list for the autumn.

Captain Marvel’s Lucky Hat

by What The Hell Am I Writing

If you’ve read the series you’ll remember Carol’s lucky hat from #9. Here it is, crocheted in all its glory. Now the Jayne hat has nothing on this for proclaiming fearlessness.

Stars in the Evening Sky Socks

by Cindy Craft

Carol Danvers is badass. Carol Danvers doesn’t need any of this oxygen nonsense. She’s happy enough to fly out into space past the vivid colours of the setting sun and out into the black, no matter who she’s leaving behind. It’s just something she needs to do.

And now for something completely different…

Baby Groot

by Alexandra Chmiel

Baby Groot narrowly missed out on being including in the previous Rocket and Groot Guardians of the Galaxy-inspired post and he is disappointed in a very friendly, forgiving way. Which means he’s going to be tacked onto the end of this. I’m 100% sure Cpt Danvers wouldn’t mind for a second.

That’s it for this week. I hope you enjoyed my little round-up of patterns. If you have any on theme to share, please do! The more the merrier.

 

 

Wonderful Things

There are many reasons to be happy these days. I am finally living where I was always meant to be with the woman I have loved my entire adult life (and a large chunk of my teens, too). We are surrounded by fantastic animals who brighten up my day with cuddles and long walks. I have access to two brilliant yarn stores even if I can’t really afford yarn right now (which is okay because I still haven’t used my Wollmeise). Marvel is spewing out movies and comics left, right and centre which makes me a happy bunny.

Point is: life is pretty good.

It helps that the internet is so full of interesting things lately. My complete and utter obsession with Welcome To Night Vale has been the highlight of that and I’ll be writing a post on just why you should be listening to it if you’re not already, especially if you’re queer and/or a surreal horror fan like myself.

Art by Elicadragon

One such wondrous thing I have discovered is that Jasika Nicole, the awesome and adorable lady who played Astrid Farnsworth in the epic series Fringe, not only voices Intern Dana on Welcome to Night Vale but also is an amazing comic artist. It’s heavy on queer representation and is totally sweet in the most glorious way so go read Closetalkers immediately.

Times like these make me wonder what I would be like without the internet being around as it has been. I would never have met my lovely girlfriend so would (presumably) still be living in England. Deeper still, I might not have realised I’m gay for a lot longer. Willow and Tara’s kiss gave me a slight clue but without furious internet searches about homosexuality as a result, where would I be?

Of course I would still be a complete geek but without easy access to other fans of similar things, would I feel like a freak for getting so obsessed over things like podcasts and comics? Not that podcasts would exist!

And knitting. Would I have taken to it so strongly without a community and pattern database like Ravelry to egg me on and push me forward? Without knitting blogs to read? Without youtube to teach me how to do a long-tail cast on?

I know people still managed these things long before the internet came around and I know I would have managed fine anyway. It’s just strange to think how differently I would have found my path if I had grown up in a time where we didn’t have the internet. Especially since I almost missed it, generationally speaking: I still remember the dial-up creaking and blipping!

The world is full of wondrous things and the internet reflects that. I guess today I’m just feeling especially glad to have this community. So thank you, people who read and comment and post their own awesome stuff. You make my path much clearer.

Friday Pattern Collective: GotG-Inspired, part 2

When I was three my aunty presented me with a choice. She put two well-wrapped gifts in front of me: one was thin and a little taller than the other, while one was plump and wider. I chose the taller one and still remember making that decision so my younger sister, then eighteen months, could have the bigger one. This turned out to be my first memory and it’s one I remember vividly.

I mention this because the tall thin gift was a Steiff raccoon who bore a tag on his belly proclaiming his name to be ‘Raggy’. I still have him in the bed right now. He began a lifelong adoration of the maligned creatures.

Rocket may not know what a raccoon is but he steals the show nonetheless. Even seeing the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer made it clear we would all love him. More surprising was Groot, the pure-hearted tree creature who is a surprisingly dazzling dancer. Between them they took our hearts and in return I give them patterns.

As ever I don’t own these patterns and all the photos come from the Ravelry project page for illustration of their loveliness. Go peruse. They’re gorgeous.

Raccoon Scarf Crochet Pattern

by Bees Knees Knitting

The first time Rocky sees someone wearing this he almost fell straight over onto the fugitive he just caught at the pizza place. When he saw the same item later he was flattered and a little disturbed. I mean, who does that? Really big fans of Rocket, that’s who!

Rocky Raccoon

by Sweet N’ Cute Creations

Want your very own Rocket to hug? Yeah, me either; that sounds potentially painful. But maybe we could keep one of him at a safe distance. It’s easier to keep an eye on him that way. The only thing this cute little crocheted raccoon needs is a massive gun and maybe some blood stains.

Magischer Baum

by Regina Satta

Groot cares. He may not have the words to say so but he protects those who are close to him. Honour that protective nature with these socks with beautiful leaves and winding vines. Sure, Groot wouldn’t be able to wear them, but he’d like them anyway.

Tree of Life Mittens

by Janel Laidman

Considering Groot’s role in the film (trying not to be spoilery here…) he definitely deserves the title of Tree of Life. These mittens, aside from representing Groot in a very elegant way, are thoroughly gorgeous.

While typing up this post I got the mental image of Rocket sitting down to knit something using needles created from Groot’s wood. This image will stick with me.

These two characters made the movie for me so I hope you enjoyed some patterns representing them. Stay tuned next week for some Captain Marvel-eque patterns, purely because Carol Danvers is freaking amazing!

I Just Really Love Cotton Okay?

Maybe it’s the summer heat, maybe it’s just how my moods roll. Whatever it is I am one again totally smitten with the very existence of cotton. I bought some more recently whilst having a very enjoyable day out with fellow knitter and friend Ashley who is currently embarking upon her first sock.

In a previous swap I ordered some of this yarn for someone who had a total thing for it and now I understand why. It is glorious. It is thick and crunchy but still soft and the colours are just lovely.

Since I also bought some cheap bamboo straight needles to make small projects a little easier (all my circulars have really long cords), I immediately cast on another dishcloth. What? They’re useful, they’re quick, they’re ultimately satisfying and you can use oodles and oodles of cotton! What more could you want?

The purple cotton will be a Welcome to Night Vale dishcloth for reasons that need not be explained at this juncture. Uh. Did I just accidentally (or not) make a Due South reference when talking about Night Vale? That’s just too much semi-obscure awesome for one sentence. I’m abandoning this paragraph before it self-destructs.

Anyway, discloths are go.

And other projects but we don’t talk about that when they’re for a secret swap. It’s all hush hush. Just like the dog park.

Don’t look at the dog park.

Thursday Follow pt 2

There are so many wonderful blogs out there, how do you even know where to start? Well, if you’re looking for some awesome knitting and craft themed blogs to peruse today, look no further. I’ve been harvesting the grooviest of folks since I realised it’s quite selfish to keep them all to myself.

Also my knitting progress is woefully unexciting. All sock all the time. I am really close to abandoning them; I don’t even like the yarn! But I do adore the pattern I’ve written and will be publishing it. Since that requires a finished object to photograph, I doggedly knit on.

Anyway. Awesome people coming right up.

Erin of Crosstitchery is a charming person. Our exchanges have been minimal but she made an impression. On top of that her blog is freaking adorable and she is talented in a varied and interesting way. I love clicking through her posts.

All She Wants to Do Is Knit is such an apt name. Who can’t relate to that? On top of the catchy name, she also posts photographs of her very impressive knitting skills and some really nice introspective stuff once in a while. I’m a big fan.

Another lovely knitter is Ways to Knit Forever. One thing I have to say about her is that she is SUPER productive compared to my slow pace and I’m always impressed and happy to read her posts. It’s another name about constant knitting too – I sense a theme!

So go check them out, they’re worth it.

In geekier news I just have to add that I am super excited about Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend and may in fact do a themed pattern collective next week. I am genuinely considering a post entirely consisting of raccoon patterns… because Rocket.

And also because of a lifelong fascination with the creatures, but mostly Rocket.

What are you guys looking forward to at the moment?

The Uses of Knitting

Knitting doesn’t always need to be pragmatic. We love a good soft toy shaped like a hobbit or a keyring shaped like a cat butt. Oh, and all those lacy shawls. The majority of my life was spent not knowing shawls made it out of the Nineteenth Century alive so I’m fairly certain we could do without those if pushed. Part of the joy of knitting in modern times is that we can indulge these faintly ridiculous urges to create superfluous things and it’s a part I love.

Sometimes, however… sometimes you just want to make something simple and useful.

On that note I knitted a couple of dishcloths last week as a way to avoid knitting my socks, despite the fact I am greatly enjoying my socks. Logic! It’s fine though because after a brief fling with this dishcloth cotton the alpaca blend sock yarn in the ugly colourway has squirmed its way back into my Moomin bag to be hauled around with me as much as possible.

Anyway. Dishcloths.

You see that big dollop of something on one? That is a sign of a well-used object. Well, it’s the sign of an alien invasion at best since I have no idea what we were eating that could cling to a dishcloth so tightly it survives a hot wash in the communal laundry room, but there you go. These dishcloths are happy knitting. They are knitting with purpose. They are also a very cheerful colour and satisfyingly crunchy.

God, I love cotton.

Also, assuming I’m not the only knitter who is late to the podcast party, I thought I would say a bit more about my recent fixation. Knitting podcasts are totally useful and a brilliant idea. Reading whilst knitting is possible but not easy so being able to listen to the audible version of a blog post is a perfect way to sit and spend some quality time on your current WIP.

There are times when you cannot knit, shocking as it may sound. It’s completely impossible to knit with an in-training dog’s leash in one hand, so knitting podcasts can feel like you’re indulging your fibre craft hobby (read: obsession) when actually you’re walking down a path that smells slightly of sun-baked dog poo.

Never Not Knitting is sweet enough and I enjoyed the gentle tones. It was just the thing for an evening walk and the theme tune is funny. However I’m going to try a few older ones because the newer seem to be primarily advertising patterns with the only real content being stories from other people so I’ll check out if that’s true further back too.

The Knitmore Girls is a mother and daughter chatting about knitting. These two fabulous ladies are the ones who made me realise just how interesting and fun a knitting podcast could be. They’re charming and clearly talented. I just love their passion that bleeds all the way through their discussions. I’ll be listening to more of them. Thankfully there are extensive archives!

And since I made my way out of the knitting podcast world and got totally sucked in, there’s one more podcast I should mention as my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE.

Welcome to Night Vale. Stay away from the dog park.

On a more charitable non-knitting note my friend Ruth linked to this wonderful fundraiser. Now thanks to a mix up at work I have 48 cents left in my account so I’m not much use at the moment but if you want to fund an interesting and innovative way to detect malaria, click on through and check it out.

Thursday WIPs (Part 2)

This week has been intense. Starting a new job is always a stretch for the mind so I have spent most of my free time trying to chillax enough to manage the next day. It’s not a difficult position but it’s a lot of information to take in all at once.

All that means is that I haven’t had nearly as much time to knit as I would like.

Still, I’ve been inspired by talking about knitting with the people I work with who are all totally fascinated that two of us (my friend Ashley is a knitter) both knit and crochet when it’s clearly a thing only the Olds do. I brought in my sock to prove them wrong today.

 

These are my projects right now.

1. The sock is going well – I’ve just successfully turned the heel. I’ve been writing the pattern out as I go but didn’t write instructions for the gusset so I’ll have to do that on my next sock. I hate how the yarn is playing out on the sole but since the stitch pattern would be uncomfortable underneath I’m just not looking too hard at it.

2. I bought some cotton from The Little Green House which was my first ever LYS and now will be once more. I’m knitting some dishcloths in moss stitch despite hating knitting moss stitch because logic! *jazz hands* Still, moss stitch is pretty once it’s done I suppose.

Hopefully next week I’ll have at least one of the socks done. I don’t work the weekend at the moment – although I have enough plans that it won’t make much difference in the long run. 

A dishcloth or two should be manageable at least.

What’s on your needles/hook this week?

A Late Post! Socks etc

Yesterday I started my new job. All that training apparently got to me since when I finally made it home I ended up falling asleep on the sofa whilst listening to Gregory and the Hawk‘s original demo album and after a nap I am useless.

In other words… I forgot to write a blog entry. Sorry! I am doing my best to stick to a posting schedule which is actually really difficult for me. Hopefully this is a minor glitch in the system.

Tomorrow is my girlfriend’s birthday. She has developed a startling tendency to wear pink a LOT. Thankfully she also looks really good in it so I have knitted her some socks to go with the general attire.

The yarn is Lang Jawoll, that fancy stuff with the little spool of thread tucked away in the inside to reinforce the heel and toe. I had to rip one of them back – the first one – since I made it too big and she has tiny feet. Hopefully these will be a good fit. They fit me but uncomfortably tight which is a good sign.

As for the pattern, anyone on Ravelry is likely to recognise that one. It’s the gloriously simple yet beautiful Hermione’s Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder. This pattern is perfect for when you want to watch some TV or talk while you’re knitting since it requires minimal thought and is lovely and intuitive. The only thing I changed is the cuff because I don’t like the look of 1×1 ribbing. I made 2×2 instead. I like how bold it looks.

These are not socks I would wear myself. Usually I don’t even like knitting with pink. Of course anyone who read my recent post will know why I made these. There were some really interesting comments on that – weirdly they didn’t get emailed to me to approve so they all went up a few days late, sorry about that! I was really interested in what everyone had to say.

That’s one of the great things about the knitting world. All you sparkly interesting knitters/crocheters/spinners out there with unique thoughts on topics!