Author: Stacy

It’s nearly time that knitting is most favorable to make and to wear in Texas: Winter. Sometimes late or early autumn gets cold enough for a sweater to throw around you, but in central Texas it’s really winter that you want that something warm between you and the wind, if you’re like me. Erick’s made of simpler, tougher stuff. He hardly ever goes out of the house with a coat on, and “layers” mean sheets of cake or stacked waffles to him. Of course the animals are happy regardless. It’s because of my tendency towards being uncomfortable when transitioning from indoors to outdoors that I make sure I have something to throw around me in cases like winter weather or other uncomfortable conditions.

Autumn can be a challenging time for me too. But this year, summer and autumn at least are looking warm. Mores the pity. I love getting all bundled up in woolens and sweaters for a day out in the world.

In a climate as hot and dry as Texas in the summer, or transitioning from hot and dry to cold and dry in the autumn, Texas can be a challenge to dress for just because there’s only so much clothing you can take off and not get arrested or cited; but that’s probably pretty common in most States in the USA. I’m not that up to date on decency laws. I just try to dress appropriately and within the rules of fashion to the point of modern standards of modesty. I have had to learn that skill painstakingly over the course of my adult life, and try not to meddle with the guidelines too much. I don’t know what it is you summarize my style as. I’m not up to date on style lingo. But it’s one of my goals to learn more about it so I can either write, edit, publish knitting and crochet patterns—or all three.

Sasha and I went to the dog park today. She likes it there. I do too for what it is. Sasha’s a good girl for the most part, but like every member of her spieces she is protective to a greater or lesser extent; mostly though, she’s just a happy puppy with tons of energy! Just like her adopted older sister when she was a puppy.

Today is also the end of our holiday weekend at my home. Tomorrow Erick starts back to work, and I continue posting to this blog and my other blogs. And the pets continue doing what they do and have done all their lives.

I finished my autumn sweater. And started over on my winter sweater. I also started, and am continuing a sweater for a cousin of mine. I’m still working on my box of socks. And I’m still working on my knitted coat. I also have to find the time to work on hemming my good jeans. And I should probably alter the waistline of my wide leg jeans.

I have been learning a lot about tailoring and design on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. I have also been attending weekend masses online. I am so blessed to have a smartphone, and my tablets! It really makes a difference to be able to use the internet to learn and grow and explore new ideas and experiences in the world.

Erick and I will be here in this apartment another year it looks like. I’m glad. The pets like their home here, and for the most part Erick and I do too. There is always the human factor that’s both good and bad, but that’s anywhere you go.

Sasha is laying in my lap, and June Bug is stretched out on the floor by the apartment door. I just got home from grocery shopping, and now they and the other pets are happy that I am home.

Erick and I have been doing well. He seems a lot happier lately. His business seems to be doing well still. I’m very proud of him!

Katie seems to be on the mend from an illness she contracted earlier in the year. She doesn’t seem to be feeling many of the symptoms anymore, which I am glad of!

I as well have been feeling better, though my sleeping habits could be better and I am still eating way too much sugar and starches. So, I’m trying my hardest to cut those things back.

My various projects are still underway. Today, and much of this week I have been working on a crochet sweater. It’s probably going to my cousin as a gift for Christmas or perhaps for her birthday. Maybe not for this year, though. It’s going to take me months to finish and I have more projects than it going that are equally important. But possibly next year. We’ll see what happens.

It’s starting to be rainy again. My sister visited yesterday. We had a good time. But, I am glad to be home.

I’m hanging out in the club room right now. R2 wanted his space. I may run a few errands after this. Or I might just stay here and crochet until I get home sick, or hungry, or both.

I still have a plethora of projects; okay, so not literally a plethora, but it feels close to it. I am still working on my sweaters for autumn and winter; something that is starting to look like a great coat/swing coat; and my box of socks. And over the weekend, I chained up a crochet sweater. That’s not as dark as it sounds in truth. It just means “I began a crochet sweater”; in crochet the start of a project is called a “chain,” and so when you begin something you are “chaining up” your project.

In knitting when you begin something it’s called “casting on” a project. I don’t have that many new cast on’s. Just the mate of a pair of socks for my box of socks. An ongoing project in either knitting or crocheting (and several other places in the language besides these crafts) is called a “work-in-progress”, and at least as far as I can find in the literature in knitting it’s abbreviated WIP. I don’t know what exactly you call a crochet work-in-progress. If you’re a crochet efficiando, you may have to do some research on that on your own. My advice if you don’t know is to find another crochet hobbist/professional and ask them, or better yet take a trip to the library and search the shelves or the stacks. Or if you’re really pressed for time search for the word online; most search engines are fairly intuitive and easy to operate.

There is so much to learn about my chosen careers! I certainly have my work cut out for me. It looks like from some of the videos I’ve seen on Facebook that I need to learn sewing too. I’m fundamentally familiar with hand sewing, and took one class of machine sewing in middle school, but that might be a good supplement to my knitting and crocheting skills.

I’m experimenting with hemming my own jeans. It’s a work-in-progress. I may start upcycling jeans from the thrift stores in town to give them some extra style and add my own fashion sense to them.

I’m very interested in personal expression and the limits it can reach at the moment. What if every stitch pattern has a different meaning or interpretation? Isn’t that the essence of personal style and expression? Just a few of the questions I am pondering for the meantime.

I apologize for being away from the keyboard for so long. And for any offensive posts past or present. I’m starting to feel overwhelmed but am doing what I can to address it. If that means I will have to go on a longer hiatus, I hope you will have patience and tolerance and forgive me while I heal.

For the meantime Erick and I are taking things a day at a time.

I am continuing to create projects for the basis of my pattern business, which is still a work in progress.

I’m doing the best I can to field all my current responsibilities and all the responsibilities of my blog and future online business. I’m still learning about it, and I appreciate your continued readership.

There are programs to setup your own blog out there, but they don’t mention anything about cost of the program up front, and I learned from a previous attempt not to click those links; so I just don’t click those links anymore. However I think it’s safe to say I have made a start.

I still don’t really know how this happened except that I panicked and posted a few places trying to get hired as a writer in the same genres as Stephanie Pearl McPhee and Tanis Grey, and others like them. The crafting community needs more authors like them, not less.

I find work like theirs enjoyable and inspiring. So that’s what I’m trying to accomplish, without plagiarism or too much mimicking.

I’m more than a little rusty on my grammar and rhetoric. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out of school. But, I graduated from University with a B.A. degree, and I feel confident that with some review and practice my writing competency will improve.

I am not a designer (yet) but I’m thinking about taking the plunge. What that’ll entail I don’t know. I am primarily self taught as a crafter, and I am teaching myself blogging as a freelance writer in the hopes of starting a career in my genres and fields.

The fact that I have a disabled label shouldn’t make me a bad candidate for work, especially the type of job that I’m doing now. All the basic ground work is there more or less; with a few oversights, but those are easily addressed with the right funding and training. All I need is a hand up, and a hand out might be helpful too; after all, isn’t that what grants are in a nutshell? Grant: hand out of money or resources redeemable for work/education purposes that may be paid back in full or in part at a later date.

I don’t remember the source of that definition, and it is an indirect quote. I may have learned it in school with so much else that I don’t remember the source material anymore.

But I am hopeful that I will recover more memories of how to work in my career path. This is what I chose for myself as a three-year-old child that I never dared share out right, or express fully until I was older; and then my family was dubious of me and how far I would or could take this dream. I never could convince them that it was a real career choice, and that I had a sound and viable shot at living life on my terms.

I am not asking for fame; though it may come, or not. I was always wealthy in my opinion; some may see that as a delusion, I say there’s nothing wrong with being confident in your ability to be successful. What I am asking for is the guidance and assistance to step into my dreams and make them a reality. I just don’t know where to start looking for that guidance and assistance.

All it takes is more research and some organizational skills. English majors are nothing if not capable of research and organization, and as grace would have it, I am an English alum.