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Discouraged
Jan. 15th, 2011 10:39 amI've had a run of discouraging failures with my craft work lately. Julia's tanktop was the exception... although there were problems, it did turn out to be wearable and she likes it. But Cord's hat (colorwork was way too tight), an Avatar hat, an earflap hat, and a balaclava all turned out badly (the last two even had patterns). I'd been wrestling with a vest for me for over a year now, and I'm coming to the conclusion that it's not salvageable and I need to rip the whole damned thing out. And this last week, I tried to make an Italian medieval dress for an SCA thing today. I had to draft a pattern, and was using old cotton drapes from the thrift store. I got frustrated with it late last night... a rotten headache wasn't helping... and gave up on having it done for today, but then I woke up wide-eyed at 5:30 a.m. and decided to take a run at it.
It doesn't fit. No way, no how. It's close in a lot of ways, but ultimately, the waistband is just not big enough and there's something funky in the shoulders. I feel really unhappy, because I thought I followed the instructions... but there must have been something off in my measurements. I screwed up and I'm really unhappy (not least because it means I have to put on my uncomfortable old Elizabethan Renaissance garb yet again for a medieval event... if I hadn't volunteered to help out at an afternoon thing, I think I'd ditch the whole thing).
I figured out that it was unsalvageable at around 8 a.m., but I went ahead and finished all the handwork on it anyway... the barony has a loaner-garb program and I figured SOMEBODY would fit into it. I think it's actually a nice dress... alternating pleated panels on the skirt, and a soft nobbly bodice fabric, all in natural browns and greens. I'm just really mad that it doesn't fit ME.
Oh well. I learned a number of things, anyway, and since most of the materials were thrifted, it didn't cost me much more than a bunch of time (the interfacing was close to $20, though, eesh).
Still... the free-wheeling experimental attitude that serves me so well in the kitchen is proving to be quite painful in my fibre arts. I keep thinking that all I need is more experience and practice to get it under my belt, but it seems to be getting worse, not better. Argh.
I'm hoping this is some sort of normal learning process... frustration begets wisdom, eventually, right?
It doesn't fit. No way, no how. It's close in a lot of ways, but ultimately, the waistband is just not big enough and there's something funky in the shoulders. I feel really unhappy, because I thought I followed the instructions... but there must have been something off in my measurements. I screwed up and I'm really unhappy (not least because it means I have to put on my uncomfortable old Elizabethan Renaissance garb yet again for a medieval event... if I hadn't volunteered to help out at an afternoon thing, I think I'd ditch the whole thing).
I figured out that it was unsalvageable at around 8 a.m., but I went ahead and finished all the handwork on it anyway... the barony has a loaner-garb program and I figured SOMEBODY would fit into it. I think it's actually a nice dress... alternating pleated panels on the skirt, and a soft nobbly bodice fabric, all in natural browns and greens. I'm just really mad that it doesn't fit ME.
Oh well. I learned a number of things, anyway, and since most of the materials were thrifted, it didn't cost me much more than a bunch of time (the interfacing was close to $20, though, eesh).
Still... the free-wheeling experimental attitude that serves me so well in the kitchen is proving to be quite painful in my fibre arts. I keep thinking that all I need is more experience and practice to get it under my belt, but it seems to be getting worse, not better. Argh.
I'm hoping this is some sort of normal learning process... frustration begets wisdom, eventually, right?
Fun weekend despite blue fog
Sep. 13th, 2010 12:22 pmI had the opportunity to attend not one, not two, but three awesome events this weekend:
Foxvale Fox Hunt and Ayreton Investiture... this was my first SCA event, where I learned the basics of kumihimo (something I've heard about but never tried), was given a token from the Midrealm royalty (!!), and enjoyed a delicious feast full of a wide range of entertainment. It was all the best parts of a Renaissance faire, without the annoying commercial aspect!
LTH Forum annual picnic (Bill and I are actually featured in one of the photos!)... Bill made a double batch of garlic/rosemary focaccia, and I did a batch of Dorie Greenspan's World Peace cookies. My offering was meh, but he totally nailed his. We tried maybe a hundred different and amazing dishes, and Linc got to collect a ton of candy from the piñata.
Brain,Child Magazine event in Chicago... met Jennifer Niesslein, the woman who co-founded the magazine I desperately wish I'd thought of years ago. Hearing those writers speak definitely inspired me to want to write more again...
Sadly, I'm squarely in the middle of the worst phase of the pre-period depression (that's been getting worse as I progress through perimenopause, despite a bushel of supplements). The brain fog is also really thick, and I'm having a hard time getting out of the house to even get to a park day with Linc (had to jettison the plans for a bike ride... prepping a picnic lunch and getting the bikes ready and loaded was just more than my stupid head could handle).
I had given up on the anti-candida diet, but![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
keyne mentioned that on a similar diet, she'd lost her brain fog... and I definitely horked down a substantial amount of foccacia yesterday (you would have, too, if you had been within 100 feet of it). I'm wondering if that feast yesterday is fueling the incredibly thick mud that seems to have filled my head today...
Foxvale Fox Hunt and Ayreton Investiture... this was my first SCA event, where I learned the basics of kumihimo (something I've heard about but never tried), was given a token from the Midrealm royalty (!!), and enjoyed a delicious feast full of a wide range of entertainment. It was all the best parts of a Renaissance faire, without the annoying commercial aspect!
LTH Forum annual picnic (Bill and I are actually featured in one of the photos!)... Bill made a double batch of garlic/rosemary focaccia, and I did a batch of Dorie Greenspan's World Peace cookies. My offering was meh, but he totally nailed his. We tried maybe a hundred different and amazing dishes, and Linc got to collect a ton of candy from the piñata.
Brain,Child Magazine event in Chicago... met Jennifer Niesslein, the woman who co-founded the magazine I desperately wish I'd thought of years ago. Hearing those writers speak definitely inspired me to want to write more again...
Sadly, I'm squarely in the middle of the worst phase of the pre-period depression (that's been getting worse as I progress through perimenopause, despite a bushel of supplements). The brain fog is also really thick, and I'm having a hard time getting out of the house to even get to a park day with Linc (had to jettison the plans for a bike ride... prepping a picnic lunch and getting the bikes ready and loaded was just more than my stupid head could handle).
I had given up on the anti-candida diet, but
keyne mentioned that on a similar diet, she'd lost her brain fog... and I definitely horked down a substantial amount of foccacia yesterday (you would have, too, if you had been within 100 feet of it). I'm wondering if that feast yesterday is fueling the incredibly thick mud that seems to have filled my head today...
