One Geek to Craft Them All

I’ve decided to give NaBloPoMo another go in January.  Work plans on being completely insane and I need something I I will be able to escape to for a while daily.

But that means, that I’d like to have topics or ideas to talk about. So I turn to you fellow readers, writers, bloggers, knitters, all of the abovers. What kind of questions do you want to see asked/answered, and do you want to join me.

I have some ideas, from the silly to the serious.

- Marvel vs. DC – Movies, books, Comics, cartoons, knitting, clothes, etc.  (that may turn out to be a very long post, because the answer is not the same in all categories)
- An overview of what it was like knitting 11 shawls in 2011
- The usual WIP and FO posts.
- The life and times of yarn Hoarder

You know things.  But I need 31 posts, or 22 if I skip the weekends.  Hoping it all comes together the master list of prompts would be posted on 12/26.  Or if you want to point me to where such a list already exists I’ll take that.

Tweet

Share

Knitting, writing NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo take 2

When was the first time that you realized that your home was not like other people’s homes?

And some days you look at a question and the only answer you can think of is huh? I honestly don’t know what is meant here, physically? Emotionally? People based?  I don’t have a standard belief on what a home should be, my home will never be your home, and that should be just fine for both of us. I don’t remember ever thinking my home should be like someone else’s. Homes, like people are different. ‘

When was the first time that you realized that your home  knitting was not like other people’s homes knitting?

The first time I attempted a twisted stitch. I had no idea at the time what was wrong and thought I could not read the pattern. It turned out that I normally knit in the back of the stitch in such a way that the stitches didn’t twist unless knitting in the round (then I knit ‘normally’). Figuring out that I knit in a bit of an odd way and how to fix that and get the effect the pattern was calling for was a fun learning experience.

NaNoWriMo: 15015

Tweet

Share

Knitting, writing NaBloPoMo

Has anything traumatic ever happened to you? Describe the scenes surrounding a particular event

First part of the question Yes. Second Part no.

Maybe because I’ve spent the better part of the last two days at a conference about experience and making the best experiences for those you interact with, I can’t really imagine sharing a traumatic experience  on my blog.   At least not just for the sake of this question, maybe if I was sharing an experience after the fact or in remembrance.  Looking at  Tomorrow’s question I can see a knitting slant to it but not an answer to the main question.

Perhaps I will find a way to answer tomorrow’s prompt. Since when I first saw this prompt I wondered if  72pt font with sparkly text that said NO was enough for a blog post. So if anyone has any questions they want to ask now is the time. I’ll try and come with questions and answer them, and I will continue to look at the prompts, but I don’t know how many more days I can go answering them.

Instead I leave you with some images worked in Play-Doh at the conference.

The Man of steel and an Amazon princess.

Musical notes.

NaNoWriMo: 14,421

Tweet

Share

writing NaBloPoMo, NaNoWriMo, play-doh

Today’s Question is completely outside my life.

Making family time is important to me. How do you balance your children, relationship, and work life?

Um right… balancing social life and work is a bit of a hassle as it can take upwards o f 2 hours to get out of New Jersey…

On the crafty front I tend to set aside blocks of time. This is less necessary for knitting as its, something I can do on the go and tend to do more of it, while commuting. But it is more difficult to craft a costume or work with beads on a moving bus.  Like I mentioned  before, Saturday was a crafting day. I pulled out my beads and set them out, and made some old and new designs.

Having my social events planned, and crafting events on my calendar I can usually see where there is room to wiggle. This can get dangerous when there are no deadlines and sometimes even when there are.  Then all of a sudden your Halloween Party starts in an hour and you are frantically sewing your costume together, while cooking appetizers, making drinks, decorating, and cleaning;  not that I would know anything about that.

NaNoWriMo: 13, 295

Tweet

Share

writing NaBloPoMo, NaNoWriMo

Sunday is a NaNoWriMo day. I’m currently sitting at a write in in Whole Foods. I’ve written a few thousand words. But better than that I have just figured out the major arc of my big bad. Which is always a good feeling. It takes things that had already been planned and adds more layers.

It gives me more hope for my Nano as I had been worried that I was falling into a stream of consciousness and worried that the plot wasn’t moving forward, and even if it’s November and I’m writing  draft -1 this is working better. Any one else making good strides with their novel?

NaNoWriMo: 10,662

Tweet

Share

writing NaBloPoMo, NaNoWriMo

Well the weekends are free for all. Which can be dangerous or fun. But I spent A good part of the morning making earrings to update my etsy shop.  Some which were just more of the same. I hopefully have enough pairs of the Tardis and snitch earrings to keep me in stock for some time. Or so one hopes.

Tweet

Share

Etsy earrings, NaBloPoMo

Today’s Question: When you are writing, do you prefer to use a pen or a computer?

It honestly depends on what I am writing  and what is available. List are something that I love pen and paper for.  There is nothing quite like striking out a completed task or purchase.  I tend to keep a pad near me to make lists at work, and one at home. I do use the notepad app on my iPhone and iPod but mostly I like a good old fashion paper list.

Writing a story, or any other large block of text I do prefer a computer, as it makes the editing process easier and for the most part I will always at some point be moving the information from a hard to a soft copy. This has not stopped me from buying notebooks, but now I tend to use them for things like world build or jotting down plot outlines.

I had a second where I thought that it would not be possible to phrase this question for knitting silly me.

Knitter’s style: When you are writing knitting, do you prefer to use a pen straights or a computer circulars?

I have found that I use circulars or DPNs for everything lately. Even these book marks when I have a perfectly serviceable set of straights collecting dust in their needle case.

So it seems unlike writing I have developed a preference.  Granted I have been knitting a lot of shawls, and my other project is a sweater, but it is much more easy to tuck away circulars as the subway pulls into your stop then worry about dropping stitches on straights.  And you are less likely to elbow your neighbor during rush hour.

Nanowrimo Word count: 7,147

Tweet

Share

Knitting, writing NaBloPoMo

Today’s Question:

Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?

I find listening to music a method of focus for any task. I enjoy music and also find it much less distracting that ambient noise.  Footsteps, conversations, random sounds, all tend to jolt me out of whatever I am doing. I tend to have headphones on at work, for music, podcasts, audio books or having my Kindle read to me.

I listen to music and read, write, clean, knit, work.  A lot of times it becomes a constant stream and cushion from the outside world, and I don’t always hear every song, but the song on pause on the Ipod is Mordred’s Lullaby by  Heather Dale. I suppose it could just as easily been Diva’s Lament if we stick to Arthurian legend music.

Nanowrimo: 4009 but I expect to do today’s word count goal at tonight’s write in.  Maybe I can get to 7K?

And last night’s FO:

Welig Fingerless gloves.

Tweet

Share

Knitting, writing FOs, gloves, NaBloPoMo

Day 2: If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be?

Being a foodie makes this extra hard, and instead of thinking of all the food I love, I started pondering all the things that I haven’t had in a while, Ethiopian food, Shellfish, Brazilian food, Shoyu Ramen, its about to become Chili and stew season. You think they would let my last meal be tapas style, a little bit of everything that I want? Because at this rate I would be eating last meals for a few months.

I think I will be planning a few dinners now.  Friends, want to come over/go out and eat?

Day 2: If you knew that whatever you ate  knit next would be your last meal project, what would you want it to be?

Hmm this may be harder than the food one. But I think I would have to be something full of things I have always looked at and gone wow that’s amazing, I’m not at that level yet, something that involves, elaborate color work, steeking, lace, cables, and the kitchen sink?

More realistically maybe something like a norwegian sweater which is something I’m not likely to knit because it is not my style, but is a skill set I want to try at some point. I’m sure someone in my life would want a norwegian sweater eventually, I just have to find them.

NaNoWriMo Word count: 3950

Tweet

Share

Knitting, writing NaBloPoMo

It’s November so it means a month of things.  This year will mark my 8th NaNoWriMo and I’ve decided to add to the crazy by trying  NaBloPoMo. Can I do It? Well I’ve won my last 4 Nanos (and for those of you wondering what the heck I am talking about National Novel Writing Month). I will actually be heading off to a write in once I finish this post.

And the other which I spotted on another knitting blog Lorna’s Laces I had heard of before but tending to forget.  National Blog Posting Month. There are daily prompts, and we’ll see how they fit, as the month goes along but seeing today’s prompt I couldn’t help but give this a go.

Day 1: What is your favourite part about writing?

I’ve always loved disappearing into other worlds, and from a pretty young age I got it into my head if no one was making the worlds I wanted to vanish into I could do it. Getting it all down on paper is still a process I’m working on.  I think my favorite part about writing is getting the background right, world building, learning what motivates my characters and taking something that is so strong and clear inside my own head and making it possible for people to walk those same streets with me.

I don’t know if I will be able to do this every day but today’s  prompt would do well with a simple word change.

Day 1: What is your favourite part about writing  knitting?

I’ve found one of the things I love about knitting is having  that collection of odd stitches, symbols, and needles start to look like something, not  the finish product, so much as when I suddenly have that moment somewhere when you look at your project and see this will be a thing.  You can see pattern repeats, there is a shape instead of a mass of stitches, you are trying not to twist.

That moment when the project gets comfortable, when you start to sense what the next part will be, because everything is flowing.  That is my moment of knitting Zen and I tend to start moving faster once I get to it and even if there are 100 rows remaining the project will be put down much less often then that first shapeless 20.  That picture that came with the pattern suddenly resembles the yarn in your hand.

Tweet

Share

writing NaBloPoMo, NaNoWriMo, writing