Sew Dance

So, I have been working on something. Just a bit. Page 3 of Dragon Dancer. I'm rather entrenched in NaNoWriMo this year. With nothing else to do and an expansion of my 2017 novel, I'm just under 78,000 words at the moment. That is the most I've ever written on one story. And it's not done. Even if I finish the first draft by the end of the month, I'm not entirely certain this won't be split into two books as I add scenes and descriptions I've skipped during this draft.  I know I'm not reaching one of my beginning of the year goals of publishing. The story I thought I could do that with became a bit difficult with Covid and the fact that the beginning period was supposed to be taking place this year. I'll hold off on it. Maybe another time. Or turn it into a screenplay. It might work better if I don't have to fill in every detail of the late 1950s. I can let set design and costuming take care of that.

My start and finish for the week (other than a Christmas present that I'll show later) I'm glad it showed up against my red couch. And I won NaNoWriMo again! 50,840 words was my final total. Feel free to read it here: https://tablo.io/katie-haskins/finding-exile

I finished things this week. First was my scarf, which I made way too long. It comes down to my knees when not doubled over. I did more on the dragon and finished all the purple backstitch. And I finished my tree skirt. Working on a scarf for my boyfriend for Christmas. I also got caught up with my word count for NaNoWriMo. And I tried to be good with all the Black Friday sales but I failed. Got more floss for HAED patterns and also got these from ABC Stitch. Oops.

I continued to work on Sassy Cat. Coincidentally my throat started feeling odd. I don't know if it was the sudden cold weather or the fact that I was working with wool yarn that shed when I separated the strands. I'm allergic to wool, but can work with it. Assuming I don't inhale it apparently. So I put Sassy away. And made a wreath. The snowman glows. So did not realize it did that when I bought the kit. And yesterday since I was somewhat brain dead and needed something somewhat mindless (but not quite as mindless as repetitive crochet rows) I pulled this guy out of my closet. Managed to finish the half stitches. Now to backstitch with metallic thread.  My extra ball of yarn came to finish the tree skirt. And somehow I've been slowly catching up to where I should be for NaNoWriMo. Excuse me while I go write. The first 20 chapters (as of the initial posting of this blog) can be found here.

I've completed the next row of pages on The Accolade. I stayed up really late to do it too. 131 rows are now complete. So, back to crochet for a while and my new tree skirt. Also got a new phone, so pictures are going to look a bit different again. and it's November, which means it's time for NaNoWriMo again. As you can see below, I'm a bit behind with this year. I had a busy weekend and my muse has been distracted. So I'm not as 'in' this story as with other years. I am however writing something each day. Once I get to a section I know better I should be able to catch up. I'm also posting on Tablo  should anyone feel like reading my very rough draft.

I did not get to stitch as much as I would like during this extended weekend. I ended up with too many things to do and weird timing. Also trying to write for NaNoWriMo killed some possible stitching time. So close to finishing page 15/16. Early in the week, I took advantage of a 30% off sale and flat rate shipping on two items that were already on sale. That should be my last purchase of anything new for a while. I'm well aware I have enough stash to last me for years. I might buy things to finish up a few other projects if the need arises. I kind of gave up on writing today. My brain was blanking and I was getting too distracted by the internet. I'm 2 days ahead and if I write during my commute I'll be fine.

I've officially moved in! I didn't get too much stitching done this week and almost none this weekend. Way too busy. I'll catch up over Thanksgiving. But here is my lovely apartment. Things still need to be put away. I will get you a picture of my new craft closet (of doom) as soon as I feel it's the way I want it. But this is the last photo of Onyx I have on my phone. I wonder if she knew I was leaving her. My parents say she keeps laying outside the door to my room. Poor kitty. I've been barely getting my daily word count done lately. Eep.

Getting closer to finishing both In the Garden and my apartment. With all fingers crossed, I should be in Friday. And if anyone feels like sending telepathic threats to my contractor, be my guest. Now to make today's date turn from yellow to green.

I've finished the 14th page. One more mostly full page then the sliver that is the 16th. I've bought some more stash. I seem to have caught the small window where the sale that ended on the 5th was still active and the coupon for 25% off had just started. Additionally, my countertops and sink are still not installed. So you all get a picture of Onyx as I'm still with my parents. Isn't she cute? And I'm participating in NaNoWriMo once again.

I hit 50k today. So hip hip hooray for me. I should probably go back and edit some of my earlier ones and see if I can get published. Onto crafting! Almost finished this ornament. Just have a few stitches and then the beading Also scrapped the turkey afghan as I wasn't going to get it done before Thanksgiving and went onto one a bit more wintery. One or two more pieces to actually create then everything gets sewn together. And I bought some more stash. Although compared to last year, I was really, really good. I stuck to the clearance page at abcstitch. And I ordered threads for my Ink Circles design from 123stitch and this chart.

Between job hunting, NaNoWriMo, and two days of work this week, I haven't had much time to craft. I did however finish my friend's afghan. No more blue squares. Also started a Thanksgiving afghan, but I made the center circle too tight causing the rest of the square to be an inch too small and very wonky. In other news we had a very interesting bird in the side yard. I'm pretty sure it's a woodpecker.