New skills

Learning how to play the guitar- it's very difficult and there is much to learn, but it is a lot of fun! I don't know exactly what my goals are with regards to this new skill, but I'd like to be fairly proficient at it. I've even been looking at some beginner-y type guitars and here is the one that looked perfect for me:

A nice little Yamaha (of the FS series...) Not sure if the smaller body will be better for me or the larger FG's will be the way to go. I look forward to the possibility of trying them both.

Nothing like

a poetry class to make you feel silly. It's one of those weird sorts of classes that I love the content, but always feel that my analysis is somewhat wanting. I love Hugo, Rimbaud, Vallery, and Vigny. The words are beautiful and do exactly what a poem should- they evoke emotions. I think that is the mark of a true artist... to be able to evoke an emotion in such a simple way. It's like looking at a painting and appreciating each brush stroke.. all the sentimentality that the artist was experiencing at the time.

There you have it. Beautiful, meaningful words that have endured for hundreds of years... this is the best that any of us can hope for.

Another commission!

A coworker of mine commissioned me for a hat! In order to keep the costs of the hat down, I chose to use Knitpicks Bulky weight Brava acrylic yarn. I'm quite pleased with the over all texture of it and think that it is soft enough to make this hat from. While not being my first choice yarn-wise, it has been a delight to work with and hopefully, my coworker will agree.

I anticipate that I will charge probably $25 for the hat... meaning that I'll have made a profit of about 10 dollars.... which is including the difference in the yarn, plus shipping and handling. Absolutely. Brilliant!

edit: a picture of the finished product. I'm quite pleased with it.. I mean, the pattern wasn't particularly difficult. It's a floppy hat. It's soft. It's a nice gray color (and will go with everything.)
In addition, it only took one skein of yarn, so I can make a few more hats and try a different set of patterns too.. maybe a modded hurricane hat theme. I like the spiral and it would be fun on this bulky yarn- I'd still make a floppy hat, though.

A Day of Days!

For doing things! so much accomplished today. I made a scarf, finished a hat, and started a plush toy. Not only that, but I read some /fantastic/ poetry by Vigny and Lammartine (I prefer the Vigny, for sure). "La mort d'un loup" and "Le lac", respectively. Good stuff that I think everyone should read.

One other thing that I'm proud to have started doing: taking pictures of my stash and posting the photos to ravelry. Needless to say, a lot is going to go to the "trade or sell" portion of the page (I have too much yarn that isn't suited to any of the projects on my cue... I feel kind of bad since some of it is stuff that was gifted to me...) I also condensed my stash.. it now fits neatly (well, it's in the container in any case...) into a single bin... booya!

Things that I still need to do: finish my knit jacket/coat thing, knock off a few of the items on my queue, and continue to work through my fabric stash as well... (O! Horror! I now have a fabric stash in addition to my yarn stash... I like being crafty and all, but it might wander into the realm of ridiculous...)

an update

pas grand chose a dire. j'ai recommence mes études et je n'ai plus de temps libre. A ce moment je n'ai pas le temps pour les projets artistiques comme je voudrais, mais si j'en ai quelques un, je posterai des que je puis.

En tout cas, je vais essayer de pratiquer mon français parce que je suis nulle.. mdr. Mes phrases sont trop simples et je manque du vocabulaire complexe et spécifique pour mon cours de poésie française du XIXeme siècle. Souhaitez-moi de la chance, d'accord?

Finishing of projects

The kid's cardigan is officially DONE! It looks exactly the same... except, all the ends are woven in. In addition, I finished a legwarmer (while watching the LOTR- Return of the King) for a coworker. I'd made a pair for her before, but her husband washed a single legwarmer. Needless to say, it shrunk. I was supposed to have done this ages ago and, unfortunately, I don't have enough yarn for a second legwarmer for this set. Oh well. I made a new one for the coworker.

Another project that I did today was a character portrait for one of my good friends. He's got a spectacular Drow character in one of our tabletop sessions, and, for a Christmas present, I wanted to sketch up the elf. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to color it in, but I'm quite happy with the inks.

Today was another fun adventure because I'm trying to find a general practice (primary care) physician. It's harder than I thought it would be... which is almost sad. I didn't have much luck today, needless to say. My knee is still hurting. It's a bummer since I've been wanting to run, but it just hurts to do so.

Enough belly-aching, eh? I'm almost finished with another sewing project as well- it's in a fantastic black stretch double knit. It's a wrap tunic (I believe I linked to the particular pattern sites in a previous post.)

Tomorrow will be a day to finish that, I think. I gotta get it finished before Monday. It's the first day of grad school and I'd like to have the majority of my projects finished before I have no free time ever again.. Wish me luck.

Coat pictures...

Finally! I've got some photos of the coat that I made! Going to start this year off right and post picture of my projects...