Fresh Batteries

I've been feeling a little drained of creative energy lately, but it turned out I just needed a good day out to recharge my batteries.  Through happy coincidence, I ended up having a Sunday completely free - no class, no work - that happened to coincide with Planet Comicon.  I really wish I'd had the time to finish my Fourth Doctor scarf, since there were a lot more people in costume than I remember from previous years (though I haven't been for a couple of years since I kept forgetting to ask for that weekend off), but I think a good time was had by all.

For a change, this year I wasn't overly excited about any of their media guests, although one of my friends (or rather, her little boy) was pretty pumped about getting Boba Fett's autograph. We were mostly excited about the artist and writers that were there this year - particularly Ben Templesmith. I actually brought along one of my cast resin tentacles as a gift for him (finally got a decent cast without air pockets, it seemed like a good thing to do with it).  He was very nice, signed the books we'd brought, and was kind enough to overlook the terrible, terrible pun I made. My husband also got his copy of Ex Machina signed by Tony Harris, and I'm still kicking myself that I didn't think to tell another friend who's a big Walking Dead fan that Tony Moore was going to be there.

And, of course, there's always the fine selection of TOTALLY LEGIT videos to be had at Comicon:

It's one of those things like eating fried food on a stick at the state fair - it's just not a Comicon without bins of DVDs of sci-fi blooper reels, fan-translated anime, and long-cancelled TV shows with questionable box art. I was severely tempted by the Birdman and Galaxy Trio video (it's so cheesy, the cover pic is actually of a Birdman action figure!), but it's one of those things that I'd only buy so I could say I have it, and there were bins of Transformers that seemed like a far better use of the money.

A great day for inspiration, though.  Besides being inspired to get a lot of current projects finished up and possibly think about costumes for next year, I ended up with a list of new ideas as well.  Also, we stopped by the Asian market on the way home and bought these:

Seriously - plaid chopsticks! How can you not feel inspired by plaid chopsticks?

Ker-Birthday!

Some of you may recall that last year, I posted a list of five impossible things I'd like for my birthday.  This year, I've got a more reasonable list - a birthday present from the internet, if you will.  I would really like to break my pageview record for my webcomic.  Not a huge target to hit, I have a fairly steady readership, but not overwhelming numbers.

This weekend, I'd like you to take a look at it - tell a friend to check it out, post a link on Facebook, whatever. Maybe some of you will like it enough to come back for regular doses, maybe you won't, I'd just like as may people as possible to give it a look. It's a weekly comic, just sort of random one-shot jokes, no continuing storyline to speak of:  Ooh Shiny

If the record gets broken, I may do a little something extra for next week's comic - maybe color, maybe a bonus strip, we'll see.

Busy Busy Busy...

Everything's been kicking into high gear, and it looks like it's going to be a busy summer.  I finally found a new host for my main comic, Ooh Shiny, and I'm really happy with it so far.  The hosting service is great, the domain transfer went over without a hitch (from their side, at least...the old hosting service kind of dragged their feet), and I've got such an unbelievable amount of room, I'm thinking of resurrecting a couple of old NaNoWriMo ideas in graphic novel form as side projects.  They'd be on an irregular schedule, unlike Ooh Shiny, but they'd be actual stories rather than the mix of autobio and wackiness I've got going at the moment. All Our Yestertomorrows is finally getting some actual content as well - I'm still working on character profiles, but I hope to be able to get into the actual story soon.

In the world of knitting, the thought occurred to me when I was setting up my Ustream to let everyone watch me work on the comic, I could use Ustream for an online knitting show.  I'm still working out a few details, but so far I'm thinking I'll broadcast once a month, first half of the show will demonstrate a tip or technique, second half you can call in with knitting questions.  If there's enough demand, I might do a show more often, but I think once a month should be a nice reasonable schedule.  I'm thinking for the first show, I'll go over different types of increases, what they look like, and where you might want to use them.  If you've got any other suggestions, I'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Fair warning, I just got my hands on a concertina, there may be some very odd theme music involved with this...

Easter Roundup

Well, I'm very pleased with myself.  With the exception of store samples, I didn't start a single new project during Lent - it was all about trying to finish what I've already started.  I didn't even buy supplies for projects, I only used supplies already on hand.

I got two scarves, an amigurumi, and a pincushion completely done, my sweater just needs about 3/4 of a sleeve, I got a new pattern posted here, have two other patterns handed over to test-knitters, and I'm just experimenting with decreases to finish off a new hat pattern.  I've also got a list of great ideas that I've just started in on today - mostly things for my Etsy store, but a few fun things for myself as well as at least one Christmas craft idea. Not bad, considering I lost about a week to the Martian Death Flu.

I've also started a Tumblr site, where I'm going to be doing a comic based on our weekly White Wolf fusion game that we've been playing off and on for...what, 5 years now?  You can find it at All Our Yestertomorrows, or at least you will once I actually get some pictures up. It's sort of funny, we've been playing this game for so long, I was really surprised while working on character pictures to find out that I didn't really have any idea what one of the characters looked like.  I'm looking forward to having a project that already has the script written, with no deadlines.  Not that my regular comic has a deadline at the moment since the server my site was on apparently got fried, but that's an entirely more stressful kettle of fish...

Preparing a new backlog

It seems that I'm coming up with new project ideas faster than I can finish things. While my lenten moratorium on starting new projects has helped me get several things finished, I was worried that come Easter, I'd forget all the ideas for things I had that I couldn't start in on immediately.  The highlights so far:

Synaesthesia paintings.
- sometime around New Year's, there was the gradual realization that other people don't usually taste in color. My husband is completely fascinated by this, and has taken to quizzing me at most meals. I thought it would be fun to fix myself a few snacks and try to paint what they taste like.

Embroidery of this comic.
- it combines two of my favorite memes (making fun of Horatio's sunglasses, and odd variants of the Bayeaux Tapestry), and I really wish I'd thought of it myself.

Edmonton Eulers shirt
- I have no excuse for coming up with this except for sheer sleep deprivation, but I still think it's funny.

Skirt re-creation
- one of those 'no ill wind' situations, my favorite skirt got caught on a door handle and tore, which means that I now have no qualms about carefully taking it apart and using it to make a pattern to re-create the skirt in other fabrics. Seriously, it's a great skirt - comfortable, flattering style, even has pockets.

In news from the realm of paring down the current projects, I finished my first character amigurumi (which was also my Ravelympics project) because I totally needed a little plushie of Egon Spengler:

 

He's about 7 inches tall to the top of his hair, made out of some leftover acrylic yarn I had from my first Fourth Doctor scarf.  I embroidered the name badge by hand (and then metaphorically kicked myself for forgetting that my sewing machine will embroider letters), his hair is all done in French knots with another layer of French knots on top for extra height, and the glasses are handmade out of 18-gauge wire with 22-gauge for the bridge.  I'd been thinking about making myself some amigurumi Ghostbusters for a while, and had intended to start with Ray, but as I was working on my comic, I came up with a script that I just loved too much to not make Egon to go along with.  It's going to be my first honest-to-God storyline, too.  The first part starts with this comic. (I've been having some reliability issues with my hosting service lately, so the comic is also being mirrored on my LiveJournal until I change hosts.)

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Now Playing:
Man Man - Black Mission Goggles
(why does SignaTunes no longer work automatically on Blogger?)

Would you look at that f-ing snow?

I could've sworn I saw the snowplow go by a few hours ago...

Fortunately, with my Lent resolution to only work on finishing projects that I've already started (don't ask how many things I started on Pancake Tuesday...), a little enforced crafting time was not a bad thing.  I've already knocked a nice grey/black/white striped scarf off my Ravelry list (and into my Etsy shop, in all likelyhood), and I've really been going to town on my 'Ravelympics' (Ravelry Olympics) project.

I'm kind of keeping the Ravelympics project under wraps for a bit, because it was based in a comic idea and I don't want to spoil the comic - I plan on unveiling it when that particular strip goes live. I'm really enjoying it, though.  I'm more of a knitter than a crocheter, so it's a nice change of pace and a little bit of a challenge to myself, which was the point of the Ravelympics.  It's also nice to have a deadline to keep myself on target, or I think I would have already set it aside once I started to embroider the little accessory bits.

I've also got a few half-finished plushies I need to get finished up as well - besides wanting to put some up on Etsy, I also really want to submit something to Stuffed.  There's a couple of pincushions that just need to be stuffed and sewn shut, too. And two rooms I've started painting. And one room I'm in the middle of plastering the walls. And then there's the fabric that I just pinned to the moulding around the window for a bit until I had time to sew it into proper curtains...

Meanwhile, I've already got a list of five project ideas to start in on come Easter...better get back to clearing out some of this crafting backlog!

Go Forth and bask in the Awesome

My article detailing the awesomeness of Dr. Strange is up:

http://www.gamingangels.com/2009/03/made-of-awesome-dr-strange/
Go forth, read, comment, go out and buy a few back issues, petition Marvel to hire me as a writer.

(Also, I think it says something about me that I already had 'Dr. Strange' as one of my tags...)

Edit:(link to article changed)

Updates all around

Well, I just finished going through my Ravelry notebook and taking some fresh pictures to update my projects in progress. The big one to update is the hat I'm working on - it's an original design, and I'm really very pleased with how it's turning out. Took a little while to get the hang of the shaping in double-knitting, but it looks pretty good, and I think I've explained it nicely in the pattern. I'm actually pleased enough that I think people might be willing to pay money for it.

The felted satchel for Tiwaz is coming along nicely as well - I'd hoped to have it done for our aniversary, but I don't think I'll quite have it done by then. Definitely before Thanksgiving, though. Now that we have a washer and drier, I have a bit of a backlog of things that need felting anyway - best to just set aside a day for it.

And, of course, we're heading dangerously into NaNoWriMo time again. I'm thinking this year I'll actually prepare a bit, try working up some character profiles and such. I've got two pages of a comic that I drew as part of an art project, and I'm thinking that might be a good jumping off point for me this year - I essentially drew a trailer, no plot really involved, just a hook. I don't even think there was any dialog, just character introductions. I've got my author page all updated, though, and I just need to grab this year's badges and fix my sidebar links.

Little touches of awesome

Several random bits of minor awesomeness this week:

Yesterday I went to the Sonic near my office for lunch, and the carhop that served me was actually on roller skates! I've never actually seen a carhop on skates before.

I have had several random people at both jobs tell me I have a very nice voice. I feel like I should finish those flash lip-sync tests now >_<.

I've been using Google Maps' Street View to make note of particularly awesome houses in the name of working up a house plan of my own. I wish I'd known when they came by to do my street, I totally would have put a 'Hi, Google!' sign in my front yard or trimmed the bushes into something vaguely obscene.

I heard about Doodle Day (a fund raiser for Neurofibromatosis), and would really like to bid on this Sandman doodle. I know there's no way I could afford it, but it's one of those things that I just have to try for or I'd be kicking myself later. Seriously, it's because it sounded like a good charity... *shifty glance*

And the new Weezer CD should be out in time for my birthday!

Hooray!

So happy - I need to go through my calender and start writing in all the awesome movies I want to see this summer.

Hellboy II Trailer


I'm just so freaking happy Johann is in this one - he's my favorite BPRD character (though I've heard rumours about Lobster Johnson in the next movie...)

Just had to share

Got the latest issue of New Avengers - in case anyone was wondering, apparently the sound of being hit in the head with Wolverine is 'chuck'.

That's right, not 'by Wolverine', 'with Wolverine'.

I suspect that several pages of next issue will be devoted to getting Dr. Strange to wake up, as I imagine getting hit in the head with Wolverine hurts like hell, even if you're the Sorcerer Supreme.