Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Divining with Candy: A Valentine's Day Game


A project that has been underway for years is finally done. Use conversation hearts to tell your romantic fortune! Available as an ebook at Amazon for $1.99.

Intended as humorous good fun. You probably can't tell your future with candy. Probably.


Saturday, January 25, 2014

The Stuff Is Winning

Waaaay back in August '12, I was determined to get the basement organized and the wall finally painted. I worked my tail off, and made significant headway. I got shelves up for the action figures (which eliminated a lot of boxes). And then... I never finished the job.

Over the course of the next 16 months, Life happened. I got busy doing other things, had more inspiration, needed to devote time to more pressing projects. None of that stopped me from finding more stuff, however, it just meant that the piles got bigger.

I needed to finish a update for my book, and I did. I kept writing my ideas down in a sketchbook, and I finished some of them. I traveled. I gamed. I procrastinated... All the while, heading to the basement searching for things needed to complete whatever obsession was nagging me that minute. I've said it before, and I've meant it every single time, but this time I don't have any more excuses: It needs to get done. I'm tired of searching for things I know I have (and can't find). I'm tired of looking at the mess. I'm tired of not having that wall painted -- just one wall! I want my dance space. I want to be able to lay hands on the materials for a project I want to work on. I want to be able to go down there and relax over a movie*, without the mess distracting me.

I worked until my back hurt yesterday. I desperately want to work on it now (but the foul headache lurking behind my left eyebrow says uh-uh!) This may be a planning day, a couch day, because bending/lifting/sorting would make my head explode.

If I work on it a little bit, every day, I may be able to paint this summer. If I can get the wall painted, everything organized, and boxes and crates eliminated, I promised myself we could have a "geek tree" in the basement once it was all done. Plus once the space is free of all that clutter and stuff, I can actually decorate the space, like I've been planning.

I've got some pretty powerful motivation to get this done. Let's see if I have the strength of purpose to actually get it accomplished...


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* I sort of have ulterior motives with that -- we have a hard time getting out for "date nights." So I'm thinking, if I can get the basement all done to my satisfaction, we can have "date night" in the basement, and not worry about needing a babysitter!

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

A Year in Hats

I started making hats at the end of December. Then in January, this happened:
I had a crazy thought this morning, before the caffeine hit my bloodstream: Wouldn't it be awesome to make a hat a day? Then I realized how insane that would be; 365 hats?! Even if I gave a bunch away, what it the hell would I do with them all? OK, hat a week, then, my idiot brain says. No -- 52 hats is still unmanageable. Fine, how about one a month? Fine. Fine. OK! (Ahem... everyone has conversations with themselves, right..?)
This post is the chronicle of hats, with new and improved photos (for most of them) and links to the posts and/or tutorials where applicable.

The Prequel (Dec. '12)

Month One (Jan. '13)



Month Two (Feb. '13)


Month Three (Mar. '13)
  • (Not So) Quickie Beret (reversible)
  • March's Hat: Flowers (beret)
  • refinished old berets 
  • Recycled Sweater Beret (painful lesson learned: some hats look like dog toys to a dog)
  • Ombre Sweater Hat (beret, sort of)
  • DC pieced beret 
  • Wonder Woman berets (2)
  • oval "fur" pillbox (not satisfied with this one, and will be reworking it)
  • craft felt mini top hat (using a very modified version of this pattern)
  • recycled knit shirt berets (4)
  • felted wool sweater beret (unfinished)
  • dragon hat (pattern from Fleece Fun) -- sadly, I don't seem to have a photo of this, and I gave it away






Month Four (Apr. '13)

[cue crickets chirping]

Month Nine (Sept. '13)


Month Ten (Oct. '13) 

Thirteen months later, the number of hats made ended up being... 34! (I'm not counting the modifications I made to the berets already had. Those were made for me by my mother years ago, and really all I did was add a band to them.) I'm disappointed with myself that I was unable to do a "theme" hat every month, but so many things conspired against me, including my own inability to focus on anything for too long. Still, 34 hats over 13 months is pretty impressive...