Sunday Serenity #287

 These are the crochet projects my focus has been on since I finished my sister's gifts last Monday.  They are all gifts which need to be finished by the time I leave here on June 9th.

This first one is the mini diaper bag for my cousin's grandbaby who was born in November which is when I began this.  *sigh*

I learned the Catherine Wheel stitch off of a video on YouTube and had to start a project with it.  I'musing size 10 bamboo crochet thread in white and coral for the wheels and twig for the bottom.

I timed myself on a row of wheels tonight.  Each wheel is actually twice around--once for the bottom half and once for the top half.  Turns out it takes me well over an hour to put in an entire row of wheels.

Then I measured the height--which is two wheels taller tonight than in these pics taken Friday night--against a water bottle approximately the size of a baby bottle.

 Then I did the math.  It was going to mean six hours per day of the remainder of my visit.

My sister said that was not reasonable and I should consider switching to an easier stitch for part of it.  She is right and I'm considering.

I finished the bottom panel tonight and started crocheting it on.  I am tired of the ring twisting on me and the thread wrapping around the band.

While I'm crocheting the bottom on I will continue to contemplate my options for a redesign using a quicker stitch for some portion of the top.  Because if I don't finish this while I'm here I'll have to mail it if I want it to read them while the baby is still in diapers.

 This motif in lime green size 3 thread I am going to use in the side panel of a handbag.  I will make a second one of these and then surround them each with black chain mesh to make squares.

It took me only about four hours to make this approximately 8in motif.  So another four hours for the second one and I'm guessing another four hours to do both mesh.  I'm still deciding on how to connect the two sides and what kind of handle to make.

I have a bit of leeway in time with this one as I can still be working on it in the car on the way home if I need to since the intended recipient is not in this area.  But it is a grad gift so still needs to be done by mid June.

Mom's Mother's Day gift--the scarf done in hand painted lace weight silk thread--is still unfinished and must be done before I leave.

But it is nearly done.  I have stopped adding rows of the love knot stitch and am putting in a shell edge and am almost half way around with it.  Probably eight more hours will do it.

The shell or fan stitch I'm using is 4 double crochet, 1 chain , 4 double crochet inside a two chain loop that I crocheted around the entire edge first.

The weight of the edging helps to pull the mesh apart.  It tends to bunch so that the entire twelve inch width could be pulled through a ring no biggeer than a nickle

Read more...

5th ROW80 Check-In

A Round of Words in 80 Days

I have copy/pasted the goal list  each time from the most recent Check-in going back to the original Friday's post of intent.  Tweaking each time as well as crossing off finished goals and adding new ones. If you want to see the way it has morphed over the last two weeks you can use the ROW80 label.

Yesterday's Friday Foray's in Fiction may be of interest as I discussed having learned something about the fearsome file messes that tends to defang them--or would if I allowed it to sink in and become as real to me as the decades of anxiety I'd invested in the sense of those files as monsters or chaos personified.

Last Wednesday per the recommendation of two of my ROW80 commenters I rearranged the bulleted list of tasks under goal four to indicate priority.

1. Choose 1 of the finished short stories to be the first ebook to publish on Smashwords or Amazon and prep it for take off by the end of June: any revision, line edit, format, convert.  
___[Blow Me a Candy Kiss  part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5;] -  
05-12-2012 Yes on choosing the title.  This story is set in my Fruits of the Spirit story world and aspires to be literary.  It has elements of romance in it but that is not the primary focus since the couple involved are already married.  The focus is on loss and grief over infertility and the death of a child/sibling.  Aprox 6000 words.

___05-26-2012 Still have not started re-reading it.  Decided last week I needed fresh eyes so set new goal:

Find beta readers
My sister Jamie re-read Candy Kiss while she was here this week and my Mom is currently reading my entire portfolio of hard copy manuscripts.  Some of those are re-reads for her like Candy Kiss will be when she reaches it about three quarter of the way through the binder.  But family and close friends is not what I had in mind when I set this goal.  I think I need eyes with more objectivity than that.

The binder Mom is reading through which I call my portfolio contains all of my complete short stories and a number of scenes pulled out of WIP that I deemed worth wasting ink and paper on. There is another attitude steeped in my pesky perfectionism that I need to change and I would have put printing hard copy of all my WIP including the NaNo Novels on this round's goal list except that my printer is not working.
___05-26-2012


2. Spend 30 minutes or more per day reading a book or quality web article on Writing or Publishing from my ever growing TBR of books on writing and/or blogs or websites with professional level content on writing or publishing.  Will compile list for future updates.
___05-23-2012  - N  
___05-24-2012 -  N   
___05-25-2012  - N 
___05-26-2012  - N

  :(  Tsk tsk tsk

Have been reading a novel I'm doing a blog tour review and giveaway for on June 7.  Need to get a good head start on that now as from May 31st thru June 4th my sister will be out of town which puts me on duty re Mom's needs and meals for three twice a day.

3. Spend 30 minutes or more per day daydreaming in the story world with pencil and pad at hand. 

___05-23-2012  - Y  
___05-24-2012 -  Y   
___05-25-2012  - Y 
___05-26-2012  - Y

This has been easy since daydreaming my stories is as natural as breathing for me.  Especially when I'm crocheting which I'm doing a lot of this month.  What makes the difference is making sure the notebook and pencil are at hand for the quick jots of thoughts.

And there have been some exciting ones.

The importance of this too is that it is getting my head back into it with the expectation that something more than daydreaming will come of it.  This is not a minor development.  Because of the time spent daydreaming and contemplating the story begins to live in me again.  I may not have new words yet but I feel the pressure building that will push them out if I just keep attending to the story world.

ATTENDING.  Think on that word awhile and all it implies.

It means paying attention.

But it also means serving as well as being in service to.

4. Spend 30 minutes or more per day on one or more of the following tasks:

___05-23-2012  - N  
___05-24-2012 -  Y   
___05-25-2012  - Y 
___05-26-2012  - N


I have started to dabble in the files but haven't done anything that I can cross off yet and it is hard to list anything specific that I've done and yet it feels more than a bit productive since it has, like the daydreaming, stimulated ideas and joggled memory.  Mostly I've just been reading in them but I've added a few jots and move a few things about.  Again, it is all about ATTENDING.  Miracles seem to happen when attention is paid to something.

This is the list I referred to above. I reorganized it according to priorities as I see them now.  And added a couple of small items.  Today I've just grayed the text of some of the WIP titles to indicate that I'm taking the pressure off for this round.

• Input any material from the daydreaming session into it's appropriate file or task list.
• Clean up the Fruit of the Spirit storyworld worksheet.  ___05-26-2012  - this is where most of the dabbling this week has occurred.   
• Create a master task list in FOS story world worksheet file and add any actionable task that comes to mind while working with the files: research and fact check, character development, scenes needed etc.  Future goals can be taken from this list.  ___05-26-2012  -  ditto  
• Create topic pages in the FOS story world worksheet file for every character from every existing story and novel finished or in progress that is set in this story world. Add any of the characters known life events to the master timeline.
• Re-read the incomplete short story Home Is Where the Horror Is and consider returning to work on it with an eye toward finishing it this summer. 
• Do a line edit of all of the completed short stories

• Blow Me a Candy Kiss
• How Does Your Garden Grow
• Running In Circles
• Of Cats and Claws and Curiosities
• Making Rag Doll Babies and Million Dollar Maybes

• During the line edits consider whether any significant revision is still needed--scenes to add or delete, rearrange or rewrite; timeline issues, facts to confirm or to change--and create an actionable task topic in the file.
• Choose 10 POV level characters from FOS and write a first person rambling monologue for them. 
• Write fresh scenes whenever a spark is lit by any of the work on this list or the daydreaming or reading.
• Clean up the 8 NaNo novel files: quarantine the mess, create work space for new writing, and create a system for  storing the material salvaged from the mess in such a way as it can be found when needed. i.e. linking it to appropriate topic pages in the FOS story world worksheet.

• ____ The Substance of Things Hoped For 2009
• ____ Mobile Hopes 2008
• ____ Storyteller's Spouse 2006
• ____ Spring Fever 2007
• ____ Brooding Instinct 2005
• ____ Majoring in Marine Biology 2004
• ____ Everything That Rises Must Submerge 2010
• ____ A Trick of Light 2011

• Read and notate the scene text of the 8 NaNo novel files 

• ____ The Substance of Things Hoped For 2009 
• ____ Mobile Hopes 2008
• ____ Storyteller's Spouse 2006 
• ____ Spring Fever 2007
• ____ Brooding Instinct 2005 
• ____ Majoring in Marine Biology 2004
• ____ Everything That Rises Must Submerge 2010
• ____ A Trick of Light 2011 

Some of the work of these last two task can be done concurrently so I was tempted to collapse them under one task and have just one list of the WIP but they are very different tasks when you look close with this last one being more about the writing and the other about information organizing and story outlining.  I could conceivably do the work of one task with one novel while doing the work of the other with a different one.  The two tasks require different frames of mind.

Read more...

Friday Forays in Fiction: Reveling in Rough Drafts

I just want to make a quick observation and then get back to working in my files.  I think I've been making gorgons out of gerbils with my fear of the messes I make of my fiction files during the early draft stages--especially when working under time pressure as with NaNo and other challenges.

That fear comes in two flavors the first being in anticipation of a mess not yet made which has the effect of squelching the inspiration or the inclination to write new words and the second being in hindsight over the words already written in both drafts and notes which tends to exaggerate the extent of the 'mess' and always creates a foaming dismay at the thought of opening those files to face the mess.

And then there is that taskmaster part of me that always insists that the messes must be dealt with before any new word can be added which muffles and manacles the muse.

Well as I have been working with my files for ROW80 I have had more than one occasion when the muse created something new out of  concepts that were juxtaposed in the files precisely because of the 'mess'.  Only someone who knew my storyworld well would understand if I tried to explain any of the particulars so I won't even try.  It is not the point anyway.

The point is that I need to defang the mess monster.  I need to re-vision the very concept of 'mess' to mean something that is less like what a mother means when the kids track in the mud and more like what an artist sees when mixing colors on their paint palettes.

Read more...

Why Write?

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”―Toni Morrison

“I just don't hear anyone else making the music I'm making in my head, so I'll have to do it myself.”―Bob Dylan

Read more...

Sweet Dreams or No

Must sleep.

 Sleep?   What's that?

I immensely enjoyed the three day visit with Jamie.   But as usual for such occasions I jilted Mr Sandman.  He's terribly offended and my refuse me tonight.

Read more...

4th ROW80 Check-In

A Round of Words in 80 Days

I copy/pasted the goal list from the most recent Check-in which had been copied from last Wednesday's Check-in which had been copied fom Sunday before last's check-in which had been copied from the previous  Friday's post of intent.  Tweaking each time as well as crossing off finished goals and adding new ones.

I fell far short of my expectations since Saturday.  Due in part to the frantic rush to finish the work on my sister's crocheted birthday gifts (pictured in yesterday's post) before her arrival yesterday and then the spending time with her.  Thus there will be little on my goal list checked off.

But per the recommendation of two of my ROW80 commenters I rearranged the bulleted list of tasks under goal four to indicate priority.

1. Choose 1 of the finished short stories to be the first ebook to publish on Smashwords or Amazon and prep it for take off by the end of June: any revision, line edit, format, convert.  
___[Blow Me a Candy Kiss  part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5;] -  
05-12-2012 Yes on choosing the title.  This story is set in my Fruits of the Spirit story world and aspires to be literary.  It has elements of romance in it but that is not the primary focus since the couple involved are already married.  The focus is on loss and grief over infertility and the death of a child/sibling.  Aprox 6000 words.

___05-22-2012 Still have not started re-reading it.  Decided last Tuesday I needed fresh eyes so set new goal:

So new goal: Find beta readers
Nothing new to report on this front.
___05-22-2012


2. Spend 30 minutes or more per day reading a book or quality web article on Writing or Publishing from my ever growing TBR of books on writing and/or blogs or websites with professional level content on writing or publishing.  Will compile list for future updates.
___05-20-2012  - N  
___05-21-2012 -  N   
___05-22-2012  - N 

No reading of any kind in last three days.  :(

3. Spend 30 minutes or more per day daydreaming in the story world with pencil and pad at hand. ___05-20-2012 - Y est 1hrs
___05-21-2012 - Y est 2hrs
___05-22-2012 - Y est .5hrs


This has been easy since daydreaming my stories is as natural as breathing for me.  Especially when I'm crocheting which I'm doing a lot of this month.  What makes the difference is making sure the notebook and pencil are at hand for the quick jots of thoughts.

And there have been some exciting ones.

The importance of this too is that it is getting my head back into it with the expectation that something more than daydreaming will come of it.  This is not a minor development.  Because of the time spent daydreaming and contemplating the story begins to live in me again.  I may not have new words yet but I feel the pressure building that will push them out if I just keep attending to the story world.

ATTENDING.  Think on that word awhile and all it implies.

It means paying attention.

But it also means serving as well as being in service to.


4. Spend 30 minutes or more per day on one or more of the following tasks:
___05-20-2012  - N  
___05-21-2012 -  N   
___05-22-2012  - N  

No work was done in the list since last Wednesday and I essentially did nothing more than think about the files, the list, the goals and shuffle priorities and contemplate ideas for ways to organize the files.  Oh and I added an item--the incomplete short story.

But now I will reorganize the list according to priorities as I see them now.

• Input any material from the daydreaming session into it's appropriate file or task list.
• Clean up the Fruit of the Spirit storyworld worksheet.
• Create a master task list in FOS story world worksheet file and add any actionable task that comes to mind while working with the files: research and fact check, character development, scenes needed etc.  Future goals can be taken from this list.
• Create topic pages in the FOS story world worksheet file for every character from every existing story and novel finished or in progress that is set in this story world. Add any of the characters known life events to the master timeline.
• Re-read the incomplete short story Home Is Where the Horror Is and consider returning to work on it with an eye toward finishing it this summer. 
• Do a line edit of all of the completed short stories

• Blow Me a Candy Kiss
• How Does Your Garden Grow
• Running In Circles
• Of Cats and Claws and Curiosities
• Making Rag Doll Babies and Million Dollar Maybes

• During the line edits consider whether any significant revision is still needed--scenes to add or delete, rearrange or rewrite; timeline issues, facts to confirm or to change--and create an actionable task topic in the file.
• Choose 10 POV level characters from FOS and write a first person rambling monologue for them. 
• Write fresh scenes whenever a spark is lit by any of the work on this list or the daydreaming or reading.
• Clean up the 8 NaNo novel files: quarantine the mess, create work space for new writing, and create a system for  storing the material salvaged from the mess in such a way as it can be found when needed. i.e. linking it to appropriate topic pages in the FOS story world worksheet.

• ____ The Substance of Things Hoped For 2009
• ____ Mobile Hopes 2008
• ____ Storyteller's Spouse 2006
• ____ Spring Fever 2007
• ____ Brooding Instinct 2005
• ____ Majoring in Marine Biology 2004
• ____ Everything That Rises Must Submerge 2010
• ____ A Trick of Light 2011

• Read and notate the scene text of the 8 NaNo novel files 

• ____ The Substance of Things Hoped For 2009 
• ____ Mobile Hopes 2008
• ____ Storyteller's Spouse 2006 
• ____ Spring Fever 2007
• ____ Brooding Instinct 2005 
• ____ Majoring in Marine Biology 2004
• ____ Everything That Rises Must Submerge 2010
• ____ A Trick of Light 2011 

(some of the work of these last two task can be done concurrently so I was tempted to collapse them under one task and have just one list of the WIP but they are very different tasks when you look close with this last one being more about the writing and the other about information organizing and story outlining.  I could conceivably do the work of one task with one novel while doing the work of the other with a different one.  The two tasks require different frames of mind.)

Read more...

Pretty in Pink

Today was my sister Jamie's birthday and she came up from Vancouver to spend the day with us.

Now I can finally do more than just say I'm busy crocheting important projects with close due dates.  Since Jamie is one of my faithful reader's I couldn't say what they were for nor post pictures of WIP or talk about the hassles and frustrations or the the successes and pleasures as the work progresses.

The piece that caused both the most frustration and the most pleasure once finished was this two-toned pink drawstring bag I call a coin purse but can be for holding anything small you don't want falling to the bottom of a larger bag--candy, make-up, postage, cell phone...

This is only the second time I've crocheted beads into something and I could get addicted to it.  These beads were more like mini rings than beads--silver bands with pink stones in them.

Jamie's favorite color is?

Altogether now...

PINK

This mini-purse was done in size 10 cotton in the shades French Rose and Dusty Rose.  The bottom section was done in the outline stitch worked in the round and the top was done in chain mesh--2 chain loops below the drawstring and 4 chain loops from the drawstring to top.

As you can see if you are an experienced crocheter, I had trouble keeping the count and the tension on the thread causing the tows to expand and contract on me.  I did a lot of taking out before I finally decided to live with the effect.

When I first started this project in November I intended it to be a beach bag sized bag for Jamie to pack for her frequent overnight stays in the hospital but I soon realized I could not work that stitch for that long.  Besides the difficulty of catching front loops or back loops only and keeping several loops on the hood at once while shifting its position there was the fact that this stitch required finishing off on every row. You never turn and work it back the other direction so that mean there would be two tails per row to tuck.

So sometime in December i decided It was going to be a small something.  Maybe a four by four inch pocket book or wallet or maybe a checkbook cover.

But after having to take out three of the stripes (a stripe = 4 rows) because of dropped stitches I decided that even that was going to be too much.  I resisted working on it for weeks and it wasn't until I got the idea early this month in the first days I was here at Mom's to sew the ends of the one salvageable stripe together and work it in the round thus eliminating the tails that I started working on it daily and in less than two weeks it was dine.

I worked the existing tails down the seam I had made and then braided them together instead of tucking them and trimming them off.

I hate tucking that much.

I would have finished even sooner if I hadn't also been working Mom's scarf whenever she was asleep or busy until after Mother's Day.  Since I didn't finish that scarf I'll be going back to it now.  Along with a few other projects intended as gifts for someone in this area which I hope to finish before I head home next month.  In about three weeks.

This is a bookmark.  The rose was made last November or at least the crocheted part.  Last night I had to sew the edges together at the back to keep it from unrolling and then crochet the leaves and stem and sew them together and then sew them onto the rose.

You can't see in the pic Jamie took but the stem when fully extended is nearly a foot long and has a curly cue on the end.

Jamie discovered that by wrapping the stem around her wrist and hooking the curly end behind the leaves she could wear it as a bracelet.

This was made with size 10 cotton thread in Kerry Green and Variegated pink and white.

This hot pad was made with Sugar and Cream cotton yarn.  I whipped that together last night in about four hours.

And then spent another four to six hours dressing the bookmarks pictured below.  They had all been crocheted long ago.  In fact more than half of them had been intended for her birthday last year but I did not get them ready in time.  Many of them still needed to be tail tucked and blocked and none of them had their ribbons or tassels.

At least I had the tails tucked and the blocking done before last night.  In fact before I left home three weeks ago.  So all I had to do last night was select and prepare the ribbons and tassels.

Read more...