Less than Motivated, and a Detour.

While things hat Chez KnotMagick are slowly returning to normal, I'm still not feeling myself. I've not been very motivated to do anything, but I've still be getting a lot done--lots of cleaning (but still not all of it or even "enough"; I've kind of gone into clean freak mode where every little bit of mess drives me nuts but I can only find the energy to deal with about half of it), and a fair bit of writing. I've been working on an outline for the last two weeks. I'm trying to outline an entire storyline (which will probably encompass 2 books) before I start work on the book itself. I've been handwriting the initial draft while I'm at work with all of my notes and other information, and then coming home to type it up on the Sterling.

I love using the typewriter for outlines, almost as much as I hate using Microsoft word for the same. I particularly hate the 2010 starter version that came on my laptop. It has all of these autoformating options that I can't turn off, and they're usually wrong for whatever I'm working on. The typewriter does exactly what I want, every time.

The outline itself is beginning to look like a novel. I'm only about halfway through and it's already seven pages long (I write pretty detailed outlines).

I did not work on the Steampunk typewriter yesterday the way I had planned to. Hopefully I'll get to it some time this week. Instead, I was working on a quickie knitting project for the house (more on that another day) and marathoning Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood on Netflix.

It appears that going to see Pacific Rim last week triggered something in my brain. Half of the movie is your typical American action flick, but it's mixed with spot-on mecha anime.

If you haven't been here all that long, then you might not have seen my obsessive anime "phase." I started really getting into anime and manga (Japanese animation and comics) in middle and high school. I loved (and still love) just about everything about it: the art, the storytelling style, the music, and the cultural influences. Yeah, I was one of the girls who ran around in cat ears and dropped random Japanese words into conversations with fellow geeks, but it was a lot more than that for me. I studied the culture and history of Japan and the way it affected the art style and storytelling mode to the point that when I wrote a paper on it in college, my teacher accused me of plagarism until I dumped a stack of research, an award winning paper (okay, it was a 4-H award, but still. I was in high school) and a list of character references in her inbox.

She very quickly changed my "F" to an "A" with five extra credit points.

When I started art school, I wanted to be a comic book artist. That eventually got derailed, and then I forced myself to back away from anime completely because I couldn't afford it anymore and I didn't have a powerful enough computer or internet connection for streaming/downloading.

This was about eight years ago. I do still love anime, but I'm so far out of the loop that I'm not even on the map anymore.

Watching Pacific Rim brought all of that back. I started thinking about Gundam Wing and Neon Genesis Evangelion, both of which bear a strong resemblance to Pacific Rim. Then I started thinking about other anime, and my journey down that candy-colored rabbit hole started again. I've been watching it. I've been reading it. I even started sketching a little, and let me tell you what a huge deal that is--I've had so much anxiety regarding my art since art school that I've basically only sketched knitwear designs since then. I'm not doing anything great or intricate or even anything that should ever see the light of day, but it's reminding me a little of why I was so interested in art in the first place. I'm keeping it to myself for the time being. Maybe I'll come out on the other side and just be happy for the break from my every day. Or maybe this rabbit hole is actually a tunnel to Tokyo and it'll spark a renewed passion--It's already giving me way too many ideas. I don't know. But it's a bright spot for me and I'm going to enjoy it. It's been far too long.

Random Three

I keep missing my blogging deadlines.

Nothing wrong, this time around. I'm just behind on almost everything (still. Always).

Mostly, I'm just glad that last week is over. I'm just trying to make up for all of the stuff I missed because of all of the crap that was happening.

so in the mean time, you get a list of three random things, since that is all I can manage right now.

1. I've been using the Sterling to draft an outline for....version eight? of I novel I'm working on. So far it's up to eight pages and is looking more and more like a novel in and of itself.

2. Tomorrow I'm planning on finally sitting down with my steampunk typewriter. It arrived just before the convention back in April (as in, the night before we left), but with everything that's been going on I completely forgot about it until in the madness of cleaning I found it in the living room. How pathetic that I can't even remember the make and model at this point? Anyway, tomorrow it goes in for surgery and hopefully I'll be able to repair the damage to the carriage that it endured during shipping.

3. Sketches, swatches, and yarn lists are in to my editor, so the real work on the book should begin shortly. Just waiting to hear her thoughts on what I sent her.

be back on Wednesday. Let me know if you find my brain laying around between now and then....

The Health Benefits of Knitting

So in the last few days, I've (re)discovered something: I'm an anxious person. I get depressed easily.

I knew this before. I was under treatment (counseling) for a while, and when the issue came up we decided that since it's primarily situational depression, and really only gets bad a few times a year and then for short bursts, that it was something which could be managed through diet, excercise, journaling, and other non-chemical treatments.

A big part of that for me is knitting. My friends from high school can attest to the fact that if I don't have something to do in my hands, then I kind of go stir crazy. I don't have to actually be doing it, it just has to be there. The act of holding a pen and having a notebook or sketchbook in front of me is much more calming than just sitting there with nothing in front of me.

For the last few years, knitting (and sometimes crochet or embroidery) have been my constant companions. I never leave home without them, and if I have to, I've usually got a little notebook so that I've got something.

I don't know where this twitch came from. But the last few days I've been on detox, as it were, while my yarn is decontaminating.

At the end of last week, we discovered that we had bedbugs. So on top of the hives and the heat rash, I also had parasites living in my bed. Which meant cleaning everything, including all of my yarn and craft supplies.

Now obviously, a ball of yarn or a half-knit scarf can't go in the dryer like everything else we've been washing. A friend suggested bundling everything up in garbage bags and sticking them in the back of my car on a hot day. If it it's 112F, then the bugs die.

Brilliant! I thought. I loaded up three garbage bags of craft supplies and costumes too fragile to be washed, stuck them in the car with a thermometer and went to work.

Three days later, and I'm still waiting. So far, 110F has been the maximum.

Three days with no crafting at all, and it's supposed to be cool here for the next week.

I am not handling this well, let me tell you.

I have been doing more writing in the last few days to try to compensate. I've been playing video games and finally gave in to Missouri's urging and joined Tumblr (you can find me there as PerilousProse--I've been posting kittens, history, and writing related stuff. And typewriters), but I won't be myself and this blog won't be back to normal until I can knit again (I've been cheating a little and knitting in my car before work. I figure that if it's there, I might as well).

In the mean time, cross your fingers that I don't go off the deep end before this is over.

My handle on life broke.

Every time I start to think I'm get a hold on things, getting my finances in order, the house cleaned up, health problems kicked to the curb--something always decides to swoop in out of the aether and knock my down a step or two. Or a whole flight.

The last couple of days have been like that. This weekend was rough. More than a little. Nothing life threatening or permanently damaging, just one of those weekends where crap just kept happening and I couldn't catch a break. Things are starting to even out, but it's going to be a while before we're back to "normal" and in the mean time I'm frazzled, exhausted, and pretty much at the end of my rope.

On the bright side, as I'm writing this, our house is cool enough that I've turned off two of our fans for the first time in ages. I'm enjoying the (relative) quiet (there are still at least three running, plus the dryer). I'm celebrating...by drinking my favorite English tea. I'm nothing if not contrary.

Today, I needed some comfort. How about you?

Typecast #11: Health Benefits of the Typewriter

Sent from my Smith Corona Sterling

Don't Mind the Ice

Ignore that frost over there in the corner. It's just hell freezing over. Do you know why?

I've got a finished object.

With pictures.

How often does that happen?

I started this super-basic shrug about 2-3 weeks ago at the Ravelry/Pride meetup, and finished it up this afternoon. It was such a lovely, sunny day that I took my mannequin outside for the photoshoot.

The yarn I used is a mystery yarn that I picked up in Italy a few years ago. The ball band is long gone, but I remember that it was 100% linen. To date, this is still the only linen yarn I've ever worked with, but I love it. I bought two or three balls of it (I think it was something like 2-3 euro each; a steal) and used the first one to make a Turkish rib scarf for my mom while I was away. Somehow, it never got entered into Ravelry. :/ I feel like this is a gaping hole, somehow.

At any rate, I do know that it was purchased here, and if I remember correctly, it was the house brand. If you happen to be in Firenze, though, don't go expecting to find this exact yarn--it was on clearance and I grabbed the last two balls, so it's probably discontinued. Do check out some of their other yarns, though. This one was great to work with and I swear each ball has about a billion yards in it. The scarf I made for my mom was rather massive, and a single ball made this shrug--with some leftover.

Oh, did I mention? That yarn shop will also let you buy bulk yarns by weight. I did not take advantage of that when I was there (that would be a dangerous rabbit hole for me) but if I ever go back to Florence, I will.

The shrug itself is extremely easy: yok2tog all the way around the first round, then knit the second round. Repeat those two rows for about an inch, then split and work flat (substituting a purl row for the knit round) and work for 18". Rejoin in the round, and continue for another inch before binding off. For a finishing touch, I picked up stitches to add the ribbing. If I'd had a little more yarn left over, I would have added ribbing around the shoulder/neck/hem area, but I was about two rounds short of what I needed. Missed it by that much.

The conclusion of this project means that I'll be buckling down in earnest to make samples for the book soon--as soon as I nail down the final yarns and relay them to my publisher. At the moment I'm using some of my samples to swatch a couple of patterns that may or may not make their way into CENSORED. Right now the big challenge is that all of my yarn support yarns are much thinner than all of the yarns I worked with originally--by about half, if not more. Writing the patterns with the yarn held double would, I think, make most projects prohibitively expensive for the average knitter (at $32 a pop, who wants to buy eight skeins for a scarf? I feel bad enough asking for four...). At minimum, this means going back and reworking all of my charts and the thus-far-completed patterns...for a third time.

But, considering that last night the cat and I were fighting over who got to use the sample skeins as a teddy bear...I don't mind too much. Hey, when it's THAT soft, who can complain?

Something to Do in My Spare Time

This past weekend was the GoodGuys car show in downtown Columbus. As I do every year, I went on Saturday with my parents (Dad shows a '53 Chevy pickup). And as usual, I dressed for the occasion. (Photos coming soon; they're on Mom's camera.)

My motto is that if you can wear a costume, you should. I love costumes. They're fun! Fun to make, and fun to wear. I love going out "in character".

It never fails to surprise me, however, that even after all these years and the hundreds of car shows I've been to, that I still am usually the only non-vendor to dress up (sometimes at Hot Summer Nights a few girls will dress up, but I think they are with a theater or dance group, so it doesn't really count).

I just feel like car shows could be so much more than what they are. You show up. You look at cars. You buy car-related stuff, and listen to music from a bygone era. Usually this consists of the hits from the 1950s-1970s, but sometimes there's a little broader variety (sometimes not. Hot Summer Nights plays almost exclusively the Beach Boys).

There are vendors. usually they sell jewelry, tee shirts and hats with cars on them, car parts, and reproduction advertisements from the 1960s.

I want to go to a car show that takes the theme of these historical vehicles and expands on them. These cars can be from anywhere from the early 1920s (sometimes before!) up through souped-up contemporary models. What if there was some kind of costume competition, or a masquarade/costume dance? There's always great music at these shows, but I'm always the only one dancing. And why is it that there's almost never live music?

Opening up the vendors to include antique dealers--of all kinds--would also be great. Vintage books, clothing, and household accessories. Some drivers create mini displays or themes for their vehicles. My dad has a fake dinner tray for the driver's side window and a set of drive-in movie speakers. A lot of classic car fans have rooms or even decorate their entire houses around the era their car is from, but mostly those things have to be purchased elsewhere. They are never available at shows, even at GoodGuys--the largest in the midwest.

And for the kids and grandkids that come: Why not educate them on what times were like back then? Have toys and games, but maybe also some mini classes or lectures, something fun and interactive.  An yes, I do think that there should be typewriters.

Part of me would love to put this together, but the greater part of me just sees flashing dollar signs and faints at the thought (not that I have time for something even half this involved. I'm lucky if I make it to two shows a year now, where I used to be at car shows every weekend from May to September.

I guess I'm throwing this out there in the hopes that someone else might take the reigns on it. I love car shows, but sometimes they just feel...lazy. Especially when I see the same cars at all the local shows, over and over. Why not spice things up a bit?

UFO Sightings

I made a few small dents in the UnFinished Object bin over the weekend. On Friday, I cast off the dish mat that I started just before we moved into our current house--back in November, I think. It's been languishing for a while. First because lack of yarn, and then because I just plain forgot about it.

When that was done, I had some scraps leftover. Not enough for a new project, but enough that I felt bad about throwing them away. I remembered seeing several small balls the other day when I was organizing the stash, so I laid them all out on my bed, grabbed a couple of crochet hooks, and started work on some more squares for my scrapghan (afghan made of scraps). It's been well over a year since I made any progress at all on it; partially because of my wrists (the main reason that I don't really crochet anymore) and the fact that I've been concentrating on other things.

I finished Missouri's socks, too. No pictures, since they are currently wadded in a ball under her desk. :/

I've got about six inches and then the trim left on the work shrug. Hoping to finish that up today or tomorrow.

Lastly, my first batch of yarn for the book came in last week. One of the blends is a superwash merino/cashmere blend that is DIVINE. More details once I get the rest of the yarn and can really start to play around with it.

Quick Review: Nefertiti

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

I have discovered something: Archaeologists make really excellent novelists.

Michelle Moran worked in Egypt for several years, inspiring her to write a total of three books about Queen Nefertiti and her family. This book, a stand-alone novel, is told from the perspective of Nefertiti's younger sister, Mutnodjmet, or Mutny, as her family calls her. It begins when Mutny is barely a teenager, and her sister is only fourteen. Their aunt, Queen Tiye, chooses Nefertiti to be the Chief Wife of her son, Amunhotep IV, after his older brother dies (under mysterious circumstances). The hope is that Nefertiti's strong personality will reign in the impulsive young heir, and prevent him from doing harm to the Egyptian empire once he becomes Pharaoh. By placing the ambitious Nefertiti on the throne, she sets into motion the destiny of a family that will forever mark Egyptian history.

This book starts off really slow. I won't tell you how long it took me to read the first portion of the book. Covering a total of about twenty years, the girls early days in the palace are entertaining, but not gripping. Gossip and petty backstabbing get covered up as political intrigue and jealous grabs for power as Nefertiti fights for her place as Amunhotep's favorite against his first wife, Kiya. As Amunhotep takes power, however, and begins to acheive his own goal--first by renaming himself Akhenaten, after the sun disk, Aten, and destroying all of the old temples of Egypt, taxing them into ruin to build a new city in the middle of the desert, Amarna, Mutny and Nefertiti and those around them must walk on egg shells to avoid angering him, meanwhile making secretive moves in the shadows in an attempt to keep enemy nations from invading, to placate angry coutiers and civilians who do not like the sweeping changes being made.

The final third of the book, however, tumbles out in excitement: Mutny's lover, General Nakhtmin, is sent to the Hittite front, a sure death sentence. Suspecting treachery on her sister's part, Mutny leaves the palace, swearing never to return. Unrest grows throughout Egypt and her territories, and it all comes to a tipping point when Akhenaten, believing in a treaty with the Hittite king, invites their nobility right into the heart of Amarna. As the death toll rises, Nefertiti and Mutny must make difficult decisions in the hope of not only saving their own lives, but those of their families and their people.

This book gives a great insight into the customs and lives of people 3500 years ago. It has an engaging story, and once the ball starts rolling it doesn't stop.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 skeins

Odds and Ends

I've done a little bit of shuffling around on my projects this week. I usually try to keep no more than 3 active knitting projects going at any one time, since that seems to be the limit of my attention span.

My nook cover--which you'll hear a lot more about once it's done--is on hold at the moment. I need something stiff, sturdier than cardboard, to use as an insert, and so far haven't been able to come up with anything. Book board would be ideal, or perhaps a really heavy matte board, but I'd rather not buy a full size sheet when I only need two 6x6" squares. I'm hoping that among my many artist friends, I can find someone with some scraps lying around that they'll let me take. If not, I may break down and get a full sheet once I've knocked a few other projects off of my list. In the mean time, it's hibernating in a storage bin on my new yarn shelf:

Last weekend for Pride and the Raverly meetup, I decided that I needed a new project. I've been tripping over the same hole in my wardrobe for the past couple of weeks, so I pulled some really old yarn out of my stash (it's been marinating since spring of 2008) and cast on for a really simple shrug to wear over tank tops at work. We're not supposed to wear tank tops, but I don't have any sleeveless tops (basically, a tank top with a 4" strap) so at least this way I can be a little cooler and not show my shoulders.The yarn matches about 75% of my work clothes.

Another need that I've discovered--or rather, rediscovered--is for another dish drying mat for the kitchen. I started one just before we moved into this place, but never got around to finishing it. I fished it out of storage while my hand was bothering me, since it's plain stockinette and uses much larger needles than all of my other projects. It's moving right along and I'll probably finish it tonight or tomorrow, provided I don't run out of yarn first.

My last project is the socks I'm working on for Missouri. No pictures of those just yet, but they should be off the needles this week and I will post pictures then.

I know it's a little early but for those in the US--Happy 4th!