It’s been almost a year since I wrote here, and a lot has happened and changed, and some has stayed the same, like things are wont to do. We are, amazingly, still living in the same house we were living in a year ago. Granted, we’ve had two dishwashers break, a tub that needs repair work, a bathroom that needs the wallpaper stripped and then repainting, a kitchen floor that has a few tiles that need replacing (gotta love laminate, it’s easy to fix if nothing else), a kitchen drawer face that just quit on me and came off, and rugs that STILL need replacing. We still can’t reach the contractor who has a grand of our closing costs to get that last part done, and I’m getting pissed, but one day at a time, right?
(Still, I really do not like those carpets – they are blue-grey and well over 10 years old, so you can imagine why! I want them replaced!)
I’m still knitting and still not finishing projects, though to be fair I did actually finish the Combat Boot socks. And I did finish a pair of red bamboo fingerless gloves for my oldest son that my middle son now wears instead.
(They are a modified Fetching, ok, heavily modified Fetching, but rather cute on a boy all the same)
So I am finishing projects, just not any major ones. The lace shawl is still sitting in my knitting purse, with a bit done here and there, and the wool Moderne Log Cabin blanket I’m working on get some love once in a while too. I’m finding myself missing knitting socks, which is crazy, considering how sick of socks I was when I finished the Combat Boot socks. Yet I find myself looking over at my yarn and missing knitting socks, so I may just pull out one of the balls I have saved and hunt down my size 1′s and cast on yet. For what or whom, I have no idea. Maybe I’ll just make it up as I go along, and not finish them for another two years. At least I have made headway on David’s Sweater. Slowly inching along on the last sleeve. Very slowly.)
You’d think I’d have gotten more stuff done in the better part of a year, and really, I have… just not much knitting. What did get done?
(Deep breath…)
In the middle of last year I closed the shop down, and will probably keep the online version of it closed. I’ve found that as much as I love knitters, I really do not enjoy retail. I enjoy wholesale work, so if a yarn shop wanted to sell a few hanks here or there, I’d be thrilled to bits to dye yarn again (and fiber, yum, fiber), but until that day, I’m just going to dye for myself and family.
Over the summer of 2009 I went back to school, and began work on a certificate in Game Art. Digital 3D art type stuff. I had been making decent headway on that when my husband deployed to one of the giant sandboxes over in the Middle East late last year. The kids and I saw Avatar in December, but keeping up with the kids and the house did a number on my free time and, consequently, my mental state – I got next to no homework done, and ended up hitting an emotional rock bottom around January. Things are better now, but it’s taken a heck of a lot to climb back up.
My sister came for Valentine’s Day and my 27th Birthday in late February, and we had entirely too much fun shopping for shoes… and then we all got REALLY sick for a few days… and then we dyed yarn, and then she went home. It was an awesome visit, as not awesome as it sounds put like that. I ended up sick for most of February anyway, so bleh. Nothing like running a fever on your Birthday! But we had pretty yarn to show for it, though I didn’t take pictures before it left here for Texas. However, she took a few pictures when she got home, and one is up on Ravelry. This one is called Sasha:
It’s the Lil Squish sock yarn base done in pink and purple, with a nifty little technique I loved to use to get my semi-solids. It’s even prettier in person. If I hadn’t made it just for her, I’d so have kept it. (And stared at it for months, since we all know I don’t actually knit that often, as much as I do love it.) It’s being made into very pretty gloves as we speak and I’m just dying to see how she pulls it off. She says she adores the yarn – color and base – so I am a happy camper as is. <3
The rest of what I’ve been doing has been artsy, but not of the yarn variety. It’s been 3D art. Most of it can be seen over on Deviant Art. In February I ‘created’ an image called ‘Saving Grace’ for a contest a dA group I am a member of was running, and surprisingly it took second place out of 30+ images. It’s not a bad image, really, even if I’m not fond of angels. 
You can see a larger version over on Deviant Art by clicking the image over there.
As far as ‘real’ 3D art goes, actual 3D modelling things from scratch, not just putting things others have made together and lighting them and making them look pretty… I don’t have much to show for myself. I’m slowly getting there. Best thing I’ve done so far would be this:
Yeah, I AM that much of a nerd. It’s actually a really simple model, just made of pre-made primitive (cube, sphere, pyramid, torus, etc) shapes put together. Like a kid playing with blocks, just digitally. Still, it’s how many full 3D models begin, so I’m not knocking myself for it ‘only’ being made of primitives – and I do know that I kinda went above and beyond what they assignment called for. But if I can, why not? Isn’t that what excellence is? Isn’t that how you grow and improve, by pushing your limits? It’s worked out alright for me so far. ;)
Anyway. I’m thinking about redoing the theme of the site again, or at least adjusting the navigation links at the top there. Those are a few years overdue for it anyway. But one day at a time, one thing at a time. Right now, I really need to go clean the kitchen and get laundry going while the kids are watching a movie, now that their homework is done. Hopefully, not that this is more of a personal blog and not so much a business one, I’ll be around more often, but we’ll see – a lot depends on homework. However, if things work out and I do get to write here more and read blogs more often, I’ll need to update that blogroll. Any good suggestions?
/love
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An Overdue Wall of Text
It’s been almost a year since I wrote here, and a lot has happened and changed, and some has stayed the same, like things are wont to do. We are, amazingly, still living in the same house we were living in a year ago. Granted, we’ve had two dishwashers break, a tub that needs repair work, a bathroom that needs the wallpaper stripped and then repainting, a kitchen floor that has a few tiles that need replacing (gotta love laminate, it’s easy to fix if nothing else), a kitchen drawer face that just quit on me and came off, and rugs that STILL need replacing. We still can’t reach the contractor who has a grand of our closing costs to get that last part done, and I’m getting pissed, but one day at a time, right?
(Still, I really do not like those carpets – they are blue-grey and well over 10 years old, so you can imagine why! I want them replaced!)
I’m still knitting and still not finishing projects, though to be fair I did actually finish the Combat Boot socks. And I did finish a pair of red bamboo fingerless gloves for my oldest son that my middle son now wears instead.
(They are a modified Fetching, ok, heavily modified Fetching, but rather cute on a boy all the same)
So I am finishing projects, just not any major ones. The lace shawl is still sitting in my knitting purse, with a bit done here and there, and the wool Moderne Log Cabin blanket I’m working on get some love once in a while too. I’m finding myself missing knitting socks, which is crazy, considering how sick of socks I was when I finished the Combat Boot socks. Yet I find myself looking over at my yarn and missing knitting socks, so I may just pull out one of the balls I have saved and hunt down my size 1′s and cast on yet. For what or whom, I have no idea. Maybe I’ll just make it up as I go along, and not finish them for another two years. At least I have made headway on David’s Sweater. Slowly inching along on the last sleeve. Very slowly.)
You’d think I’d have gotten more stuff done in the better part of a year, and really, I have… just not much knitting. What did get done?
(Deep breath…)
In the middle of last year I closed the shop down, and will probably keep the online version of it closed. I’ve found that as much as I love knitters, I really do not enjoy retail. I enjoy wholesale work, so if a yarn shop wanted to sell a few hanks here or there, I’d be thrilled to bits to dye yarn again (and fiber, yum, fiber), but until that day, I’m just going to dye for myself and family.
Over the summer of 2009 I went back to school, and began work on a certificate in Game Art. Digital 3D art type stuff. I had been making decent headway on that when my husband deployed to one of the giant sandboxes over in the Middle East late last year. The kids and I saw Avatar in December, but keeping up with the kids and the house did a number on my free time and, consequently, my mental state – I got next to no homework done, and ended up hitting an emotional rock bottom around January. Things are better now, but it’s taken a heck of a lot to climb back up.
My sister came for Valentine’s Day and my 27th Birthday in late February, and we had entirely too much fun shopping for shoes… and then we all got REALLY sick for a few days… and then we dyed yarn, and then she went home. It was an awesome visit, as not awesome as it sounds put like that. I ended up sick for most of February anyway, so bleh. Nothing like running a fever on your Birthday! But we had pretty yarn to show for it, though I didn’t take pictures before it left here for Texas. However, she took a few pictures when she got home, and one is up on Ravelry. This one is called Sasha:
It’s the Lil Squish sock yarn base done in pink and purple, with a nifty little technique I loved to use to get my semi-solids. It’s even prettier in person. If I hadn’t made it just for her, I’d so have kept it. (And stared at it for months, since we all know I don’t actually knit that often, as much as I do love it.) It’s being made into very pretty gloves as we speak and I’m just dying to see how she pulls it off. She says she adores the yarn – color and base – so I am a happy camper as is. <3
The rest of what I’ve been doing has been artsy, but not of the yarn variety. It’s been 3D art. Most of it can be seen over on Deviant Art. In February I ‘created’ an image called ‘Saving Grace’ for a contest a dA group I am a member of was running, and surprisingly it took second place out of 30+ images. It’s not a bad image, really, even if I’m not fond of angels.
You can see a larger version over on Deviant Art by clicking the image over there.
As far as ‘real’ 3D art goes, actual 3D modelling things from scratch, not just putting things others have made together and lighting them and making them look pretty… I don’t have much to show for myself. I’m slowly getting there. Best thing I’ve done so far would be this:
Yeah, I AM that much of a nerd. It’s actually a really simple model, just made of pre-made primitive (cube, sphere, pyramid, torus, etc) shapes put together. Like a kid playing with blocks, just digitally. Still, it’s how many full 3D models begin, so I’m not knocking myself for it ‘only’ being made of primitives – and I do know that I kinda went above and beyond what they assignment called for. But if I can, why not? Isn’t that what excellence is? Isn’t that how you grow and improve, by pushing your limits? It’s worked out alright for me so far. ;)
Anyway. I’m thinking about redoing the theme of the site again, or at least adjusting the navigation links at the top there. Those are a few years overdue for it anyway. But one day at a time, one thing at a time. Right now, I really need to go clean the kitchen and get laundry going while the kids are watching a movie, now that their homework is done. Hopefully, not that this is more of a personal blog and not so much a business one, I’ll be around more often, but we’ll see – a lot depends on homework. However, if things work out and I do get to write here more and read blogs more often, I’ll need to update that blogroll. Any good suggestions?
/love
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