Remember the Neil and Amanda blanket? I was stuck in a bit of a creative rut a month ago, so I decided to jump start my brain by doing another portrait blanket. Surfing around some of my friends facebook photos, I found one of Maiden America, photographed by Dave Wood.Facebook Page
I started with the photo:
Then I pixelated the ever loving crap out of it, and made a graph! Sometimes when graphing from a photo, certain things can warp out a little bit, so I had to fill in some parts of the chin and jaw to keep her face from getting distorted.
It's always a little scary to start this sort of thing, because when I'm working on it, it just looks like a blobby mess. Even when I lay it out and step back, it looks like a wreck. I always have to take a photo to make sure it's coming along the way I want it to.
This was about the point I realized how epically I had messed up. I was so eager once I made the graph to start on the blanket, I didn't really take a look at all that black space next to her face. If I were smart, I would have cut ALL that black off to the side. It not only would have made the blanket more square, it would have saved me hours of work. Unfortunately, I have a stubborn set of bones in my body, so I decided there was no way in hell I was ripping out and starting over.
Finished product, still needs fabric put on the back:
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I really regret leaving all that black space in. It added DAYS to the project.
Overall it was over 37,000 stitches, and ended up about 6 feet wide! Massive!
I'm hoping this will be a series. You know, something I can do with all my copious amounts of free time! (ha!)
I've been kind of wishy washy about getting another dog since Ernie passed. My animal loving side said, "Hell yes! You have room! Save another!" We tested the waters by fostering a dog, and it was just a complete disaster. The dog sweet, but bananas (He was around 6 years old and apparently had NEVER lived in a house. Tore our place up, howled and scratched and cried 24/7 to be outdoors) but every time I looked at him I burst into tears. He made me miss Ern too much.
We got him fixed, shots, and sponsored his adoption, (making him totally free to anyone who wanted him) so within two days of us decided not to "fail foster" (adopt our foster) he had a new home. With a fenced in yard, where he could be an outdoor doggie.
Finally, last month I decided that it was time. Contacted corgi rescue here in Indiana, went out, met a corgi puppy, fell in love. We were told to get a name tag with our phone number for the dog and to have a check ready. (Made out to the woman running corgi rescue as an individual, not to an organization, which... red flag). She put the puppy in our arms, looked at our back yard and went, "Guys, I'm just not comfortable with you not having a fenced in yard. This puppy doesn't know how to walk on a leash." Plucked the dog out of our arms, and left. I was totally heart broken, and for the first time in my life, understood why people just decide to BUY dogs and puppies. Some of the people that run rescues are nutters.
Then last week, found out that All Herding Dog Rescue had a corgi. I decided you know what? Let's try this thing ONE more time. Then I was going to be done with rescues. (alright, knowing me, done with rescues for a week or two before I tried again. But seriously, I was emotionally exhausted by this point.)
They contacted me, asked if I could come up Saturday and meet Willie, a corgi puppy. My Dad offered to drive me up, since it had been ages since we'd had a road trip together, and Dill was going to be busy that day, so we grabbed Sassy and headed out.
This rescue was an amazing place! Saturday was obviously a busy day for them, I saw two adoptions go out, then two intakes come in. (Isn't that always the way???) There were horses, dogs and noise everywhere, the occasional cat streaking past, and... out came Willie.
A cute, bouncy bundle of corgi energy! He jumped, pulled on my boots, Sassy's leash, my tights, a piece of straw, etc. SUCH a cute puppy. Couldn't do anything except take him home!
It took him about two seconds to pass out in the back seat.
By the time we got him home, he was ready to PLAY!!!
(My favorite bit is around the forty second mark, when he starts bouncing)
We're only on day two of a full day, but so far we've only had two accidents! One in the kennel, and one by the front door. (Pro tip, when puppy is by the door, it isn't because he's curious about the door, it's because he has to pee!!!) He's doing so well already! We have to watch him like a hawk though, as everything goes in his mouth. Rubber duckies, pen caps, shoes, socks, EVERYTHING. Puppies are cute, but goodness they're a lot easier to handle when they're adult dogs!!!
There you have it, we are once again a 2 dog family. Big adjustment, trying to fight my feelings of guilt about getting another dog after Ernie. It's especially difficult to open up for that kind of inevitable heartbreak again but I think that, in the long run, I'm going to be happy that I did.
I'm currently working on a new project and have some questions for you curvy and/or plus sized knitters! One complaint I heard about Knits for Nerds was that there weren't enough patterns that were made for plus sizes. Acknowledged. I am NOT a plus size designer, and I didn't want to just add larger sizes without considering shaping! However, I don't want to leave any knitters out in the cold, so I'll be hiring someone to help me work in some plus size patterns for the next project. That being said:
If you're graced with a little more up top, which sort of neck do you prefer? Scoop? Square? V-Neck, or ????
Skirts! Yes? No? Go screw yourself Dark! Knitting skirts is the devils work?
What frustrates you the most about patterns that are plus size? What do you hate/love about a plus size design?
This is one of the moves I'll be doing, we call it the Candy Cane. It's almost embarrassing to post this video, as I do this one SO much better now! I think this was the second practice where I'd attempted it, so you'll see me struggle a bit. (I'm the one in the pink tights at the end)
Whoa. You know how sometimes you take a little break from cardio? But it's okay, you're still working out right? Weights? Or in my case, Silks! Climbing for a couple hours is a darn good upper body workout. So what was the big deal about skipping run or 20 because of the cold? Right? Right?
No. Bad, bad Dark.
When Dill and I popped out to Castle Gaiman for the weekend to celebrate Lorraine aka Quiche Me Deadly's birthday, Kyle mentioned running, so I packed my shoes. My foot was a little sore from silks, but I figured a run would be lovely out in the snow.
Instead I came to the harsh realization that if I'm not skating, I need to be running. Because I could NOT keep up with the slow and steady jog that Elyse and Kyle were doing. Lovely people that they were, they kept turning around and coming back to run with me, but oh my goodness... I need to get back on the cardio!
My new pledge is no matter what thermometer says, I'm doing a 5k every day! Tonight it will be on the treadmill, since I can deal with cold, but I don't want to run on the road in the dark. Tomorrow it'll be outside before silks. No matter what, I'm running. No more lagging behind!
Nothing will be as beautiful as the view our little arctic running club had though...
That's me and Kyle. I'm the one in back obviously. Photo by the lovely Elyse Marshall.
Oh! And I need a way to make my vibrams warm for winter running. I tried to run in "normal" running shoes because of the cold temps, and this is what happened:
Photo by Kyle Cassidy
So I'm thinking regular sneakers just aren't my friend. They felt WEIRD to run in, like I had pony hooves for feet. Maybe I can just wear the weird toe socks with the vibrams. Because gross bloody toes are gross.
If you haven't read the following books, you should swiftly remedy:
I devoured this thing in just a few hours hours. It's impossible to put down once you start!
I'm a little ashamed that to admit that I hadn't read the Graceling trilogy until recently. Once I started I had a lot of trouble stopping to do things that suddenly seemed unimportant. Like going to work, eating food, doing laundry. I admit to getting a bit snippy with anyone who attempted to interrupt me while I was reading these!
If you have not read The Fault in Our Stars, drop whatever you are doing and read it. This was literally, the only time I have ever laughed and cried at the same time while reading a book. I thought that crap was just said in book reviews, not something that actually happened in the wild. But it does. This book can cause it.
Proper blog post to come about an exciting weekend with the ever Fabulous Lorraine for her birthday party(ies) and all the fun we had with slow motion snowballs!
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