Bella Is Helping Me Test One Of My Xmas Gifts (an Apron For Pottering).

Sadie the Sailor Dog from Ricorumi

Two main things from this one I'd like to improve on are:

colour changes - I managed to hide the worst of the jumper and life ring stripes at the back or inside but for the future, making them a bit tidier wouldn't hurt. 😬

making pom poms. It looks horrid and falls apart when looked at.

I liked this one much more than Toft patterns! Very little sewing but what I did do (ears) turned nicer than expected. I didn't have suitable safety eyes when I made this but actually it doesn't look too bad.

I took it to my Spanish class to show to someone who also crochets (mostly flat things) and everyone loved her. 😌

(Shit lighting but I could not be bothered to retake pics. : ))

OK JUST REALIZED I NEVER SHARED the red-wing blackbird inspired Wing Shawl I crocheted over the summer 😌

It’s SO heavy and warm, it’s only just starting to get cold enough for me to wear it out.

This has now been finished and gifted so it’s rebloggable on main! 🎉

I am mystified about quite a few aspects of this, mostly the wonkiness given that I don’t _think_ I missed any stitches while turning and even blocked it. 🤨

Anyway, the recipient seemed very happy with it, and it’s only for a baby so the most important aspect is washability haha.

am i fast enough to bash out half a 🏳️‍🌈 blanket on a train to + from Manchester? not quite yet (purple missing + edges) but pretty good progress anyway

pattern: https://hobbii.co.uk/rainbow-baby-blanket

Laundry cat.

May 2025

This month was about 3 years long, work has put me through the wringer and I'm in my feelings about it so much that I thought I've done nothing else but apparently my spare time is endless. 💀

Work

[deleting the first para because i realised it’s almost identical to last month and i just swung to the dark side cos i wrote it while very tired 😌]

I'm still not failing as badly as whoever is managing those AI summaries on top of Google tho. Whoever you are, you're making millions of people's life worse several times a day and burning down the planet. 💖

Anyway, the deadline got moved by a week and the world did not stop spinning. Not even when some people took holidays. Figures!

Did not make it to Delivercon because of the above shenaningans. One day I will be a dependable unconference co-organiser. :(

I'm personally quite disappointed in some of the decisions being made lately but at least they resulted in seeing how many people genuinely do value working in the open etc. It's heartening to see that this stuff genuinely does matter to other people and I'm not the only one upset by it.

I keep thinking about a conversation I had few months ago now about bullyign and what to do when you witness it but are not personally affected. TBH my own experience of reporting things was so disastrously bad I'd be cross if someone reported a thing on my behalf haha. It's not helpful that a lot of the guidance assumes the line manager is a safe person to report things to, like they're never a problem themselves... The most pragmatic thing is sadly to help the bullied person get another job. 🫠

I genuinely dread every time when I need to buy something (people, software, outcome), might be a thing to fix if we shouldn't be doing everything from the ground up....

Professionally one of the worst months of my life, several things were late, not done, or not escalated in time for a big deadline on the 3rd June and no matter what anyone says they were squarely within my remit. 🥲

I'm still not failing as badly as whoever is managing those AI summaries on top of Google tho. Whoever you are, you're making millions of people's life worse several times a day and burning down the planet. 💖

Anyway, the deadline got moved by a week and the world did not stop spinning. Not even when some people took holidays. Figures!

Did not make it to Delivercon because of the above shenaningans. One day I will be a dependable unconference co-organiser. :(

It's been so nice to see how many people in my organisation genuinely value working in the open etc. It's heartening to see that this stuff genuinely does matter to other people and I'm not the only one upset by the direction things have gone recently.

I keep thinking about a conversation I had few months ago now about bullyign and what to do when you witness it but are not personally affected. TBH my own experience of reporting things was so disastrously bad I'd be cross if someone reported a thing on my behalf haha. It's not helpful that a lot of the guidance assumes the line manager is a safe person to report things to, like they're never a problem themselves... The most pragmatic thing is sadly to help the bullied person get another job. 🫠

I genuinely dread every time when I need to buy something (people, software, outcome), might be a thing to fix if we shouldn't be doing everything from the ground up....

Various

I had a good time at UK Games Expo, even though it was initially super overwhelming. I met up with some friends, bought way too many games, and went to a game design workshop where my group made something quite abstract but that actually worked as a fun game! :o Making it my goal to prototype at least 1-2 small things by end of year.

UKGE bonus win: I convinced someone to buy Arcs and we're playing this weekend. 🥳 Ideally we'd find a regular 4th but fingers crossed it works with three. I can't wait for the Fangs & Fortune expansion to Ahoy to come out as well, both the factions seem super fun to play. 👏

STILL WAITING FOR THE COMPLETION DATE but at least my mortgage rate went down by 0.5% since the initial calculation. It'll offset the stamp duty a bit I suppose. 🙃

I (re)discovered Baikal seals and I'm now convinced petting one would fix me.

I enjoyed this personal video by PushingUpRoses where she talks about how therapeutic ceramics have been to here. Personally throwing makes me feel like I'm on the brink of madness (can't fucking center), but as someone with fairly powerful 'could a depressed person make THIS' energy I appreciate her being open about it. Something to relate to innit.

Moved Ghent trip to October from this weekend and it only cost me £28 extra. 😌

I went to Java Whiskers' crochet with cats evening and like anythign else cat cafe related it was terrible value for money.. worth doing once tho. The cats were cute but I was not willing to compromise my yarn integrity for their amusement so I was not the most popular person there. ;(

The Grayson Perry exhibit at Wallace Collection was fantastic, just a really fun concept done so well. His ceramics were probably the least interesting piece which speaks to the quality of everything else.

Arts & crafts

Ralsei

Aimee the Sheep (pictured below being made at Nagare 👌)

Fox and a Cat

a very easy hat

I got started on the potter's blanket pattern from Toft, but adding pinks as well (since I had a lot of 8/8 cotton in whites, pinks, and blues)

Hello Kitty (waiting for a friend she was gifted to finish making an outfit before I can post)

two floral pairs of earrings at a workshop by Rosa Pietsch

I have a crochet backlog of gifts only, starting with Jigglypuff in 8/8 cotton that is making my hands cramp up something awful. I'm never buying that weight again, it works fine for the granny squares but otherwise it's bloody murder.

Watched and played

Kathy Rain 2: too direct of a sequel IMO, and the supernatural elements were the weakest part of 1. The Whedonian tone got really old since then too. Some gorgeous pixel art and more traditional investigation were fun, but a solid 6/10 for me at most.

Star Trek TNG. I am almost done, in the middle of the 7th season which is loaded to the brim with everyone's extended families for some odd reason. The grandma-loving ghost is probably the most fun of the bunch. Overall, a very enjoyable series and I can see myself returning to some episodes (not the non-binary planet one). I wish K'Ehleyr wasnt't killed off, I wish Ro Laren's biggest role after her intro wasn't fucking Riker, I wish Geordi's captain mom existed as a character before dying, I wish ManWithNoName!Troi was just how she always was. And most of all I wish there was and ep with Q *and* Lwaxana because I love to see Picard suffer. 😌 But I guess I'll have to make do with a book.

Final Destination 6. So many deaths that were just... splats. The flashback intro was amazing tho and some kills were fun - but nothing will top The Monkey for that this year and possibly many to come.

Phoenician Scheme. Very pretty, very aesthetic, that was all that I needed from it.

Tornado. Scottish samurai western sounds cool as hell but the characters made stupid unrealistic decisions all of the time (NOT in a fun way) and I ended up more exasperated that entertained.

Evangelion: Death (True). Weird af recap, to be honest, just made me feel like I should rewatch the series. ✋

Next up

Hades II update?! Deltarune... tomorrow!! D:

the Undertale concert

Sashiko embroidery workshop

Catnana (alien phase + placeholder face, the future owner’s mum is doing me a solid and embroidering properly and stitching on legs herself, I will edit once I get a pic).

My first time using chenille - pretty horrid to work with tbh??? It was almost impossible to see the stitches so I had to feel my way around. Surprisingly decent outcome all things considered. Better than trying to do the same pattern in a pure wool anyway which was NOT soft and pleasant…. 😬

I ran out of yellow before the end despite using up two skeins instead of the one recipe called for anyway. :|

Pattern: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1187577726/pattern-jumbo-catnana-crochet-pdf-only

Kinda took off as a meme at work so I may make some minis to throw at people hehe

Vessel in the shape of a killer whale, Early Nasca, American Museum of Natural History.

Source

Witcher 3 is great but all the female models are so pornified that the Crones are the closest I get to representation in this game. 😌