Ahhh, February...

When a knitter's heart turns to thoughts of FINISHING ALL THE THINGS.

February is for Finishing has been a tradition in these parts of the world/blogosphere for years now (please see Kade's blog for a more compleat accounting of such goings on).  As such, it's usually when, if I'm going to get any knitting or crocheting momentum going for the year, that's gonna happen.

I very much want to get both my knitting and my ravelry mojo back.  Plskthnx.

At the same time, I am trying to invest more energy into, and retain the ground I've gained with, my planning system.  Well, not so much the system itself as the habit of using said system.  And journaling, which I've discovered over the past year.  And all those little health habits I'm supposed to do daily (and not just "supposed to" be doing because someone said so, but no, really, actually am supposed to be doing because I know from experience these things make me happier, more comfortable, and saner, like, IDK, drinking plenty of water?  Yes, that.)

Clear as mud so far? Good.  Thought so.

I've been thinking about blogging, too.  About why I've had *so much* trouble blogging the last few years, and where the confusion or resistance is coming from.  At least part of it has been because I'm not really sure what this blog should be.  I want to write, and feel connected, I feel like I'm more myself and more the person I *want* to be when I do blog, so I know my generalized reasons for wanting to.  But what I don't feel like I have is a central "theme".  The other thirds of our little hive mind (Kade and Jess) have ostensibly knitting-themed blogs.

I've found though, that I want something much more holistic.  I don't always want to talk about knitting.  Sometimes I don't have any knitting to talk about.  (We won't get into my yardage knit for the last two or three years, k?)  Sometimes I want to talk about other things I'm passionate about: tarot and oracle cards, for instance, or witchcraft, or fandom (maybe someday maybe), or podcasts, or writing, or planning, or art journaling... or heck, even cooking*.

But in the spirit of February first, I'm going to at least start with the knitting.

The Projects in Progress (not counting deep, deep hibernation on one or two very long term things) are, in no particular order:

"Uncommon Dragon" socks (Lara Neel) in KP Stroll "peapod"

Even Flow Cardigan (Joji Locatelli) in Morning Meadows Alpaca

Comfort and Joy "Project Peace Cowl" (Chrstina Campbell) in Dragonfly Fibers Pixie "Urban Fox"

Knit Your Love (Martina Behm) in Wandering Wool's Saranac Fingering

This Bliss Cowl (Fatimah Hinds) in Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock "Big Sky"

Lithos Cardigan (Jennifer Dassau) in KP Biggo "Rabbit Heather"

Please note that the extant photos are the most recent taken, but do not necessarily show the actual progress on the project(s) in question.   ;)


* We're doing HomeChef now and it's been both a life changer and a life saver, really for real.  

Presented With (little) Additional Comment: #TarotSpreadDecember Days 1-5

Also, my deck collection, my crystals, and gratuitous cat, knitting, and planner pictures.

the "Month Ahead" Spread from the #tarotspreaddecember challenge

my usual Monthly spread from Angie's Tarot Planner

the Past/Present/Future spread from the challenge

my Project Peace cowl and relevant notes from the daily blog posts over at The Healthy Knitter.

my Current (ish) reading space.  except when I use the kitchen table.  or my desk. (this is the pretty one.)

  

the cards, the cat, and cards+cat

the current collection of stones and crystals

planning tools for the #planwithmechallenge

the week ahead spread for the december challenge

a variation on the celtic cross from the december challenge

a deck interview spread with my Gaian tarot

Monday's card for the day

The decks (in order of appearance in the spreads above):
Rome Choi and Kwon Shina's "Dreaming Way Tarot"
Julia Jeffrey and Barbara Moore's "Tarot of the Hidden Realms"
Vanessa Decort's "Sun and Moon Tarot"
Gertrude Hirschi's Mudra Cards
Joanna Powell Colbert's "Gaian Tarot"

The100DayProject: Day Three

Due to work overtime, Barre class, and our anniversary, the following is offered ever-so-slightly late and without comment.

Thursday Wrap-Up Post

One thing I'm going to be experimenting with here is how much or how little to post and share.  Given that the Mary Sue project is one of my primary motivations, and by it's very nature it's all about the day-to-day-ness of life, I suspect that posts like this one are going to be a big, meaty portion of the content.  Not the only content by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm sure I'll experiment with what the daily wrap-ups contain, and undoubtedly I'll miss days here and there, but hopefully I'll make them somewhat entertaining all the same.  Positive, constructive feedback is welcome!

On Thursdays We:

• make coffee make our husband make us coffee because it's his day off
• go to work, like all good little worker-bees
• eat leftovers for dinner (hooray! no cooking!)
• blog

Aaaaaaaaaaand since I'm not in the company bowling league, that was all that was on my agenda for the day.

Except that's all the boring stuff, right?  Now for the good great parts:

I got my latest order from The Bar-Maids today.

A full-sized Lo-Lo in Hookah Girl, smaller Wild Rose and
Ella Mint, a Cuticle stick and a tester of Eve's Folly

Things Heard, But Not Seen:

I'm making my way through the back episodes of "Stuff You Missed in Hisotry Class", which is a fabulous, fabulous podcast that's exactly what it says on the tin.  The hosts (there are several, since the podcast has been going since around 2008) take you through obscure or just under-explored moments in history.  The audio quality is excellent, and so far all the hosts are extremely engaging.  I've made myself a playlist of all the episodes under 20 minutes and I'm listening to those first, so I'm going through quite a few in a day.

• Was There a Female Pope?
• Sir Roger Mortimer: Who Was the "Greatest Traitor"?
• The Death of Mozart
• Who was King Tut... Really?
• The Curse of the Koh-I-Noor Diamond
• The History of Chocolate
• 10 Historical Animals You Should Know, pt 2
• A Jewish Pirate's Life for Me

Things Seen, But Not Heard: 

I didn't get much reading done today, just a handful of articles here and there.  I've got a slew of comics and novels I want to bump to the front of my mental queue though.  (Meanwhile, Brian is powering through the entire Anita Blake series in about a week and half.  Yes, you read that right.  It'll probably take me about five or six times longer.)

The best bits by far to come across my dash today were:

• Simon Pegg Will Co-Write the Next Star Trek Movie
• How French Fashion Helped Change the Mind of 18th Century Anti-Vaxxers
• How is a Mathematical Proof Like Frodo's Journey in Lord of the Rings? 
• Have a spectacular (though unfortunately fan-made) Lego Smaug (I WOULD PAY GOOD MONEY FOR THIS SET, LEGO!)
• Funko Pop reveals for their Age of Ultron line-up (spoiler: no Black Widow, but we finally get Hawkeye!  There was a great one of Natasha from Winter Soldier though.  Methinks a purchase is in my future...)
• And last but not least, Rachel (of Rachel and Miles) will be X-plaining X-Men Evolution each week along with all their other usual features.

No knitting was harmed (or attempted) in the making of this day.

The end.