A Blog and a Book

I've been meaning to update this blog for the last three days, but I keep getting distracted, primarily by this: www.GirlonaShoestring.blogspot.com. That's right. I've got a new obsession--enough of an obsession that I started another blog about it.

GOAST is a blog about art nails and fashion, so if you want to see more of my funky manicures (like this one and this one) then head on over there. For writing, books, typewriters, and knitting, stay put.

In other announcements, I have a few more details about "Birds of a Feather:"

• While at first I thought it was going to be included in an anthology, it will not. It will be available as a single download (known as a "sip" on the Torquere website) for $1.99, if their current selection of standalone sips is any indicator.
• The release date is July 11.
• It will be available in electronic format only, but you can read it on your computer, Kindle, iPad, Nook, or whatever piece of kit floats your boat.

Once I hear back from marketing, I'll share the summary and blurb with you guys, and of course a link will be available in the sidebar once the story is released.

I do have more stuff I want to share with you, but that needs to wait until later in the week.

Annual Blogroll Rundown

It's been a few months since the last time I shared the new additions to my blog subscriptions with you all (Don't mind that list in the sidebar. It hasn't been updated in a while, and the actual list is far longer). So, if you're looking for something extra to read, here are my suggestions:

Knitting/Design:
Five Cats from Crazy Knitting and cats. Need I say more?
Pink Lemon Twist More knitting and the occasional kitty. Also, water balloons.
Knitting to Stay Sane 'Nuff said.
Stefanie Japel Knits Because I'm not just an author stalker. I'm a design stalker, too.
Ridiculous Knits The newest addition to my blog reader, this one has some great knits and a whole lot of sarcasm.

Art Nails:
Paint All The Nails! Mostly just inspiration shots.
Nails by Kayla Shevonne Inspiration as well as tutorials--and some downright amazing manicures.

Conservation/Art:
Ohio Archaeology The blog for the Archaeology department of the Ohio Historical Society.
Inside the Conservator's Art Because I'm a freak who thinks piecing together a shattered, crumbling, 3500 year old copper ewer sounds like fun.
Restorient While the project is now finished, this blog chronicles the conservation of two Japanese scrolls by the Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin, Ireland (well worth a visit if you're in the area!).

Writing/Authors/Publishing:
Angie's Desk Written by one of the Torquere editors, this blog was pointed out to me by Missouri Dalton (whose writer and personal blogs can be found here and here), this blog features a monthly post of open anthology markets, and great information for writers the rest of the time.


Other:
Texts from Dog Imagine that someone taught Marmaduke to use an iPhone. Yeah, it's kind of like that.
Single Dad Laughing I don't like children. I have no intention of ever having them. But the daily posts on this blog are usually humorous and almost always touching. Share the love, man.
Reasoning with Vampires Tired of Twilight? Dana breaks down both the grammatical mistakes made in this book and why Edward Cullen is creepy and why no teenage girl should ever use Bella Swan as a role model.

Knitting and Typewriters

If you have been following this blog for any period of time, then by now you've probably figured out that I tend to do things in phases. Sometimes, this blog is all about writing, or typewriters. Sometimes it's all about what I'm reading or drawing, sometimes sewing. It seems that lately, it's knitting.

As promised, I have pictures of some recent acquisitions:

This is the Malibrigo Lace I picked up last week at The Yarn Shop in Clintonville (I would link to their site, but it seems to be down for a revamp). I don't go up that way too often, since I have a difference of opinion with both the owner and most of the regulars, but the last time Missouri and I went in, there were several new people sitting around the work table and they were all very lovely to talk to--enough that I'd love to make another trip in the near future.

I do apologize for the poor photographs. My camera is driving me up a wall right now, but a new one is not in the budget. I have no idea where the glare keeps coming from, but it seems my camera has a very low tolerance for imperfect light.

The colors are Whales Road and Saphire Magenta, though honestly, I'm not sure which is which since one has blue (saphire) and the other has the magenta. I'll have to look that one up.

My second yarny purchase in the last couple of weeks was some spinning fiber from Fiber Optic Yarns. I wanted something brightly colored and easy to spin to take with me to Steampunk Symposium, and decided that as much as I prefer to use fibers like silk, I wanted something a bit grippier and easier to work with while at the busy convention, so I settled on some superwash merino. I usually don't spin or knit with wool unless it's in a blend that is at least 50% something else, but I can use superwash. I suspect that whatever chemical treatment makes it superwash (i.e. removes or "glues" down the follicles on the individual fibers so that it can't felt) also removes the lanolin or whatever it is that gives me problems with it. I might not be able to rub my belly and pat my head at the same time, but it is a very good thing to be able to spin and breathe at the same time.

Again, the colors didn't come out as true in the photograph as I would like--it's much brighter and leans more on the red/orange side of the fence than shown. The colorway is "Hot and Spicy."

I've been meaning to write more about typewriters on here (since it's been so long since I have), but since I live in something of a typewriter vacuum, that hasn't happened. Budget cuts have prevented new machines from coming home, as well as the purchase of the supplies I need to continue working on the Royalite. I've also been attempting to come up with a way to combine knitting and typewriters, and ended up resorting to Google, where I found this, a typewriter that knits, and then I found this page, which is a collection of knitted/sewn/crafted retrotech.

While I haven't gotten that ambitious yet, I have been combining typewriters with my knitting in another way:

I've got the ribbon color selector, caps lock, and (on my right hand, which did not photograph as well) the tab and semi-colon keys. In retrospect, I realized it would have been cool to use Magic Margin instead of the caps or tab keys, but maybe for next time. This is more of a dry run, anyway. I'm not crazy about the base color, and I need a larger color pallet before I can attempt the glass keys I originally wanted to do. I also had to redo the lettering. The first time, I asked Missouri to do it but it rubbed off before I could apply the clear coat. Once I get the chrome/metalic I need, I'll try again in more detail.

Knitting Status and the Manicure of the Week

It seems that I've spent the bulk of the past two months waiting on people to get back with me about various things, mostly job related, which has lead to a lot of anxiety knitting. Mostly, this has been on the livingroom afghan, which has had several rows added this week as Missouri and I work our way through season two of The Murdoch Mysteries. Of course, being that it is a massive project done almost entirely in stockinette, you can't really tell.

I've also been attempting to finish the Christmas socks, but have hit that point of knitting purgatory where they don't seem to be getting any longer, no matter how much I knit on them. I've decided that they have until April 1 to reach the desired length, and then regardless I'm doing the cuff, casting off, and then going back for the afterthought heel. Really, four months for a single pair of socks is far, far too long.

Since I've been concentrating on the socks, I haven't been working as much on the cardigan as I would like. I did start over, and have finished the three-ish inches of ribbing around the hem (I actually don't remember how much ribbing the pattern calls for, but it was in that neighborhood) as well as the first cable repeat. I'm staring at it right now, fighting the desire to work on it some more before I have to leave for my day job.

The Mario nails seem to have gotten me hooked. I've been giving myself decorative manicures every couple of days. Currently, it's a deck of cards inspired by watching Missouri play Alice: The Madness Returns. I did these a couple of days ago, so they're not as fresh and clean as they could be (my sock needles rubbed off part of the thumb). I also discovered that my clear coat seems to cause the other colors to bleed. It's not as noticeable on a darker base color, but you can really tell on the white. I do have a typewriter themed manicure planned in the future, but I'm sure I can do lettering with my left hand. I might try a stencil of some kind. Maybe contact paper would work.

____
Anyone know anything about Photoshop? I keep getting an error message every time I try to save, and it's the only software I have that will let me resize images.

Pretty Stuff

Remember this?

Well, it's finished now.




In the comments for my last post, Bill M. asked what the difference between embroidery and needlepoint is. Embroidery uses a variety of stitches to create a single motif to embellish a piece of fabric. Needlepoint uses a single stitch type to create an image on a canvas, covering the entire material (which is usually much heavier than the fabrics one would hand embroider on). This is an example of what needlepoint looks like, and in some of these macro shots you can see a few of the stitch types I used to embellish the fabric Missouri provided.



Think of it this way: Embroidery is like pinstripes and decals on a typewriter, while needlepoint is more like going for full on silver surferdom (is that a word?).
















Another thing I finished this morning:



Mario Manicure! Because I am just that much of a geek. And no, I did not do the above needlepoint myself, but since I know someone will be wondering, I just had to use it since it was the first image that popped up when I Googled "needlepoint" for an example.