The Anonymous Blueberry Muffin Thief Sews...

I just want to hibernate. Do you have those days? I do, a lot (thanks depression). I'm upping my vitamin D intake and cranking up the sunlight lamp, but it takes a lot longer for me to get going in the mornings this time of year. I feel like I never have enough time for anything at the moment either. I get up, I work, I go home, I do not enough crafting and then go to bed to repeat it all again the next day. I'm slogging through a couple of commissions at the moment that aren't quite catching my attention the way that they should be. They're slow and complicated and more than my tired brain can handle in the evenings. But they're getting there. Before I get to the good stuff, I have a wee cheeky favour to ask... if you enjoy this inane rambling, could you throw a couple of quid at my ko-fi ? I had to buy a new washing machine and new glasses last month, and that kind of ate through any spare money I had, and then some. (alternatively, go have a peruse of my shop...

It's that time of the quarter, where I realise that I've not actually blogged half the stuff I've finished, so you get a flurry of short and grumpy posts! Next up this quarter is the Sapphire Dragon plushie. He's not actually sapphire, but it's a thing. Don't ask! He was a very belated birthday present for a friend, to go with the cushion cover, and he is very much loved! This is the Water Dragon, from Choly Knight's Floppy Dragon Plush pattern, and like all their patterns, they're really well written and well designed.

I've got to that annoying point where I've ended up with LOADS of stuff I feel I should blog, and no enthusiasm or time to actually blog them. But, since I am trying to keep track of these things, and since some of them are Finish-Along projects, I should probably get my arse in gear. So... first off, some xmas catch up! First project was a plushie bat. I love bats, most of my friends do, and my bff's housemate/landlady has recently had a bit of a time of it. So while she's not someone I'd usually gift to, I found her a really cool gothy print, and made her a bat.

I made another squid. I'm sort of wishing I hadn't, because these things are a bastard to do (although hopefully now I've made a couple of pattern modifications, future ones might not be) This was a commission for a friend of a friend as a present for his wife, so the first drama was working out what to charge (I didn't want it to be too cheap because that devalues the work of other people, but at the same time, I didn't want to over charge); in the end we agreed on £40 + fabric.

Someone has just agreed to pay me, nay, asked to pay me, for a squid! Colours and price have been agreed, now to order fabric and get going. I'm also considering making one in 'realistic' colours. I'm also trying not to pad the fabric orders just so I can get free shipping, unless it's stuff I actually need. I've got a Wurm on my knitting needles at the moment, a bag full of knitting needles that need sorting into sizes, and this weekend, along with trying to clean my kitchen after 2 evenings of manic baking this week, I'm hoping to finish the skirt muslin, work out what size it NEEDS to be (rather than what it currently is) and cut an actual skirt. I found some fabric that I think was supposed to be a draft excluder many years ago, but which is actually really nice cotton, and it would make a really cool skirt (that hopefully doesn't need a lining). This is just the front piece. While I am somewhat large in the hip department, this goes all t...

 This was the big one. The one that was going to the person whose opinion as a crafter I care about, and a person who has had a bit of a rough year. Thankfully, by some miracle, it all came together, although this was NOT without disasters.

November was a bit of a fail. Let's just leave it at that. Work has been pretty horrific of late, and I'm not getting as much crafting done as I'd like and xmas presents have started to become a pressing issue. The squid suffered some setbacks last weekend, when it became apparent that the long thin tentacles were going to be problematic to stuff. It turns out (so shockingly) that the fleece has a lot more stretch than the quilting cotton, and so as I was trying to stuff one of them, the cotton started splitting. No matter. I have plenty of fleece, so the long tentacles will just be all fleece. We'll call it a feature? Maybe? I've spent the afternoon sewing up the shorter tentacles and the fins. They now need stuffing, and then once the long tentacles are done, assembly can commence. Other than the squid, the main thing I've been working on is the Fibonacci sequence scarf for R. He knows about (he had to ok the colours, and I work on it during g...

So, current projects. There are plenty of them at the moment... Knitting 1. This is a shawl for me, using this pattern - Less is More from Ravelry. I'm about halfway done I reckon, and I'm really loving the texture that the yarn and pattern is creating. It got put on the back burner for a while as I was working on other things, but now it's getting a bit chilly, so I'm going to start working on it again so I have a scarf thing I can wear (to go with the billion other scarves and shawls I have). Knitting 2. This is a Christmas present for my best friend (he knows about it because he had to pick the colours). I've called it the "Pathfinder Fibonacci" as the colours match the colours we use for Pathfinder LARP, and the pattern is this Fibonacci sequence scarf , although I've added an extra step, so I'm going from 55, as he's a tall lanky bloke (this is causing some issues as I'm burning through wool at a rate of knots). I'm ab...