WOYWW 556

The current state of my workdesk : D. I spent days looking for this box of Altenew stamps... days.

It was sitting nicely exactly where I had left it, hidden in plain sight.This is why I have multiple projects lol.

Head over to Julia's Stamping-Ground for more crafty peeks : D.

WOYWW 555

It's been a minute : D. But my desk is still the same-ish. Different project, but some of the same bits and bobs. This is a put aside from my Happy/Magical Poop series. In the end I wound up stitching "Happy Pooping" on perforated paper in a glass enclosed frame, because bathrooms. It was for my friend's son who loves toilet humor. But really, a good poop is such an under-rated good thing. I've also been doing quite a lot of knitting.

I am still quite devastated by the passing of Gertrude, my companion for 11 of her 15-ish years back in August.

I have been shifting from Mother to Crone and it's been a bit awesome overall. Sorting through pretty much everything, but not on the same day, because that is the way of madness lol.

I had a mini-stroke back in November, but had very very very minimal damage. I'm still a big fan of Grumpy, but now with an overwhelming dose of cheerful on top of it. Also a heaping side of "If not now, when."

So head over to Julia's Stamping-Ground for more crafty goings on. : D

WOYWW 508

Still organizing the house. My current crafty space is me camping on the sofa. My current knitting project, the Dracenfels shawl in its project bag. Camping because

Gertrude is totally freaked out by the noises upstairs. She's great with fireworks and thunderstorms, but not prolonged wind. Nope. Not one bit.

Head over to Julia's Stamping Ground more crafty peeks : D.

WOYWW 506

Dreaming of beachy days. The project bag is from Mothy.and.the.Squid who also dyes yarns fabulously. The shawl (Drachenfels by Melanie Berg) is chock full of blissful garter stitch, but lacey stuff is in the next on the list. This was supposed to be my first full sized shawl, but I succumbed to the siren song of all that is WestKnits, and made one totally out of my depth. I am a slow and persistent knitter lol. Also I am reorganizing the entire house, so there is chaos except here in my knitting bag and a few spindles.

About last week, when I said I'm learning to sit in my discomfort, I should have been more specific. I'm learning to just listen to things like other people's anger and pain even though it makes me uncomfortable. I do it so they know they are heard. I was raised with the expectation that people, especially women should make people feel better by saying things like, "it'll be better" or offering "solutions" which can make the people speaking feel shut off and unheard. Just wanting to be clear, I'm not wearing a hair shirt or anything.

Head over to Julia's Stamping Ground for more crafty peeks.

WOYWW 505

Not a lot has been happening at my desk lately, mostly I have been knitting. And surprisingly, I have become a monogamous knitter lol. I finished knitting Briochelicious (but I still have to weave in the ends and block it), then I started a shawl that was above my paygrade, and could not figure out a bit, and since I love the yarn so much (from Wing and a Prayer Farm) I unraveled it and will try again after I gain a bit more lace / keeping count experience. Now I am knitting Drachenfels which has lots and lots of wonderful garter stitch. So the bag has some things that need to be put away, there is also my handy dandy woodburner, some Distress Oxide Inks, Tim Holtz Ideology Roses ready for their project, etc.

Also, there have been some very important conversations on Instagram in the yarn/fiber/knitting/crochet community about the importance of representation and inclusion. It all started when someone wrote a very uninformed post about going to India, and "othered" the shit out of it and the people who live there. When she was called out, she did not take accountability and apologize at first. Her initial response was to become defensive and paint herself as the "victim". People of Color wrote about all the times they have been ignored or worse while participating in yarn stores and other fiber places. Then came the "can't we all knit together" posts and videos or worse the "I am a white supremacist who does stuff with yarn but I'm really vague about so I'll add links to racist videos but still not say the word 'race' ". Even today a prominent knitting supply company asked people to talk about their crafty problems, and then blocked and deleted the comment of a person who said racism in the knitting world.

The book White Fragility (available as real books and digitally) breaks down why these discussions are so hard for so many people. It is a really good read. And there is a workbook by Layla F. Saad called #meandwhitesupremacy which is chock full of good information.

I've learned to sit in my discomfort more comfortably if that makes sense. The biggest roadblock for me to overcome was getting over the "but *I* am not racist" to understanding there is a system of white supremacy in place which is more insidious than burning crosses on lawns. It is all about stifling all discussion that doesn't prop it up. For the sake of brevity, I'll just say we as crafters need to be on the right side of this. We are more likely to twist our ankles when we sweep things under the rug : ). There is room for everyone. We can grow from discomfort. It is a great opportunity, I hope it is not wasted.

For more peeks into crafty spaces, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground.

WOYWW 496

With the exception of Candy Cane Christmas being put away, my desk looks identical to last week. Most of my crafty doings this week have been knitting, sometimes with Archie Cat on my lap lol. I am a persistent knitter, and usually knit in bits of time. I started this Briochelicious shawl in May 2017. I very rarely knit in the summer. In part because I am easily distracted by crafty things and in part it is just to warm for me to touch in summer. And this year I have zero Christmas Knitting to do, so it's leisurely knitting for myself : D.

Brioche is a lovely soft knit fabric after the fact. But it is fraught with ways to fuck it up lol. In this example I managed a new mistake which created a peep hole. It will bother me, so I am going to fix it the next time it comes by. I did not have enough coffee in me to watch the numerous how to fix brioche mistakes videos on YouTube the first time I saw it lol. Like I said, I am a persistent knitter.

I also started perusing this book. And in addition to instructions on making paint, paper, pigments, and prints... It has ideas for making BRUSHES!! Process crafter me is just giddy : D.

Head over to Julia's Stamping Ground for more crafty peeks.

WOYWW 495

The current state of my desk lol. The cardstock is what is left after cutting a Papertrey Ink Favor It Box: Star. I found Alcohol Lift-Ink and Distress Resist Spray at AC Moore in time to use a 30% off total purchase. The stamp and die set is from Papertrey Ink (quelle surprise lol) called Candy Cane Christmas.

It was used on this (deets on the previous post for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop).

Most of my crafting has been out of this pencil box though. The octopus finger puppet is the bit of knitting I did a couple of years ago to learn the magical cast on (which I have to relearn if it's longer than a few months lol). In the back are some Christmas gift coasters I stitched up (also from Papertrey Ink). The octopus will go into the star box I mentioned at the start of this post (it's alllll a circle round here). To the left are single ply hand spun natural brown cotton, 2 ply wool (from top), and 2 ply silk (bombyx top).

Needles are like spindles in that just one sort just will not do lol. For stitching things with holes already in them I prefer a large eye and a blunt tip (it makes it less likely I will stitch in the wrong place or stitch through the thread).

The snow last night was heavy and wet and fell pretty much without wind, so everything was covered including the chain link.

And the windshield wipers (I try to remember to lift them so they don't freeze to the windshield and thus last a bit longer).

I've put off clearing the car long enough. Head over to Julia's Stamping Ground for more crafty peeks : D.