miscellany

sheep

Yesterday I wasn’t sure what I wanted to work on and couldn’t quite focus enough to write. So I pulled out my big box of random supplies and found a bunch of polymer clay I’d pretty much forgotten about.

And I made a sheep.

He’s a bit over an inch tall and about 2 inches from head to fluffy tail. He is more or less the same somewhat shifty-eyed sheep from Secret Agent Sheep, except with stubbier legs so he would stand up better. He’s made of polymer clay that was detailed in acrylic and glazed. I haven’t made anything with polymer clay in years so I’m pretty impressed with myself.

I kind of love him. But I might put him up for sale on Etsy. I need to see how durable he is when he’s completely dry.

Also yesterday I read Laurie Halse Anderson‘s new book, Wintergirls, in its entirety. Because I picked it up to read the first page and could not put it down. It’s heavy and somewhat draining but absolutely beautifully written. I really kind of wish I’d been able to read her books as a teenager.

Today I am chipping away at my list of book edits and compiling files of literary agent information. It is probably more fun than it sounds, because I have tea and a small clay sheep looking at me sideways.

By erin, ago

equinox

It’s cold outside, but we bought flowers to make the inside more springy.

This little potted ranunculus that’s now living in a blue glass goblet, and some snapdragons.

I have Cadbury Mini-Eggs, the true sign of spring.

And I’m having computer network issues that I am ignoring in favor of chocolate & flowers & springtime.

By erin, ago

someday i will tell the tale of why her name is bucket*

A few days ago I got some firmware upgrade for our Airport/TimeCapsule and my internet went from happy to grumpy and slow. Just figured out how to downgrade the firmware and my internet is back to happy. Still not sure exactly what went wrong, mostly just glad to have pages loading at something other than a glacial pace.

Took pictures of kittens in the sunshine.

That’s Bucket, being extra special dramatic. There’s a less dramatic one of her and a couple of Tessa up on Flickr.

Mostly spending today drinking tea and knitting, gearing up for the epicness that is the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade tomorrow.

Really this entire post is just an excuse to post dramatic lighting Bucket.

*Today is not that day.

By erin, ago

i *heart* friday the 13ths

Two Friday the 13ths in a row! They are one of my favorite types of day. I got married on a Friday the 13th, which probably adds to the fondness, but I liked them before that, too.

I’m wearing BPAL‘s latest 13 blend today, too.

A sweet, comforting base of dark chocolate and brown sugar with thirteen herbs of good fortune, including nutmeg, Tonka, allspice, star anise, Jamaican and African gingers, devil’s shoestring, lucky hand root, and thyme.

It’s a dry, spicy, gingery scent on me with just a little bit of sugar sweet kicking around the edges. Very different from my only other 13 from BPAL, the original white chocolatey version that I wore for my wedding.

Mostly layering paint on a custom painting today that keeps wanting to be darker. I like it better today than I did yesterday, so I think it was right about the dark. Going to let it dry and see how I feel about it after that.

Tessa just jumped in front of the computer, so I assume that means she says hello.

This is my new tea mug that I promised pictures of, on my desk with my statue of Thoth hanging out in the background:

It’s from khphillips on Etsy. (This mug, link has additional angles.) I’ve had my eye on this style of his for ages, I love the tones and the decals, but this is the first one I’ve actually purchased. It’s even lovelier in person. I’m tempted to start collecting them, replace my mass-produced mugs with unique pieces of usable art.

Getting Indian food for dinner, nom nom tandoori salmon. Mulling things over more than editing, I tend to switch back and forth from painter to writer and back again. Today is a painting day.

By erin, ago

why do i not live in australia?

Thanks to my friend Steph and her Seen on Flickr blog, I am thoroughly besotted with this Australian performing arts company called Strange Fruit.

I sometimes have difficulty explaining the tone of my fictional circus. It’s not a traditional circus. It’s not clowns and elephants. It’s stuff like this. I love that there are people out in the world doing things that I sit in front of my computer and imagine.

I just wish they weren’t on the other side of the world.

By erin, ago

knitting & tea & editing

I am not much of a knitter. I like the actual rhythm of knitting, I love pretty yarn. But I don’t absorb patterns well, so anything that requires a chart is usually too much for me.

Also, I’m a slow knitter. I’ve been working on the same scarf for the boy for about a year. In my defense, it is 1×1 rib on size 5 needles. It’s gorgeous, but it is taking forever.

But I do finish things occasionally, and a couple weeks ago I knit myself another Calorimetry. I did one a couple years ago in this green Noro yarn that I had sitting around, but I never wear it since it doesn’t match anything. So this one I did in this grey/pink Malabrigo called Pinot.

It’s marvelous and it keeps my hair out of my face. I’m not one for full hats anyway (my hair is problematic, even at this length) so it is a good alternative headwarmer considering the never-ending winter wonderland. It’s sunny today, at least.

Back to the boy’s scarf again, knitting-wise. Someday it will be finished. Really.

In other news, I have e-mails to catch up on but my gmail is being cranky. I shall blame the full moon. I have Yorkshire Gold tea that I found at Whole Foods over the weekend and did a little happy dance in the tea aisle. I don’t know if they had it before, I’d looked a few months ago and didn’t find it, and this time it was hidden behind cinnamon sticks or some such. And I ordered a new tea mug, because I realized I didn’t have a special mug for, well, not for anything in particular other than tea, I just thought it would be nice to have something handmade. I’ll post pictures when I get it.

Editing today, and should be finished with my general editing within a couple of hours. I’ve been going through section by section doing minor edits and taking notes for major changes, and I’m on the last sections now. I have three that need overhauling and outlines for three or four additional ones. After that I think it should be done. It’s been sort of tedious but I think I’m making it better and stronger (and longer) than it was. But I’ll be glad when it’s finished and I can work on something else.

By erin, ago