mere_vanilla

mere_vanilla @ 2023-09-25T10:21:00

2023-09-25T14:59:37Z

We've been super-busy. Kiddo is wrapping up getting sick again, I've been knitting a few scarves (and researching how to knit mittens and socks!), the husband is working, and we've all been adjusting to the new normal of kiddo having a regular school schedule.

One of the things I'm trying to do is be more prepared through proactive placement of needed items the day before, such as prepacking lunches, setting out towels and washcloths on the towel rack, and so on and so forth. It may seem like a simple thing to do, but it's a small thing that I never really bothered to incorporate into my life until I got older and started having a better understanding of what I need, and what my kid needs, to be ready for the day.

Regarding knitting, I think I'm going to try "The World's Simplest Mittens" by Tin Can Knits, since it's both free and serves my most very basic needs of having Something To Keep Hands Warm. After that, I'm going to try a 2x2 or 2x1 ribbed tube sock, since I'm capital-P Picky about how my socks fit on my feet, and/but I need to be realistic about my patience and skill level, aha. Something interesting to me is that in my research for socks patterns, there has been an increase (haha) in crochet sock patterns, some in US single crochet with crochet ribbing, and others with crochet ribbing and the waistcoat stitch (which, for the unaware, is a crochet stitch that mimics the look of knit fabric, but not always the exact feel). While I understand the general attitude of "crochet fabric isn't the same as knit fabric", it's really neat to me that people are doing what works for them.

...I have too much backlog of fiber arts projects. Oh dear.

In other news, it turns out that the husband hasn't yet seen Harold and Maude, so I'm off to the library to, among other things, see if I can rent it from there.

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mere_vanilla @ 2023-07-16T23:25:00

2023-07-17T03:34:18Z

I finally finished up a piece of long-awaited dialogue for a multi-chaptered story. It's a small bit of conversation between secondary characters that sets up the finale for the main characters to get over themselves and communicate plainly for once.

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Trialing Meds

2023-06-28T13:16:47Z

( CW for psychiatric talk )

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Fanfic: Space Odyssey Series

2023-03-30T03:43:46Z

Fandom: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010: The Year We Make Contact|2010: Odyssey Two, 3001: The Final Odyssey; The Space Odyssey Series

Genre: Romance

Characters: Dave Bowman, Hal 9000

Relationships: Dave Bowman/Hal 9000|Halman

Rating: Teen and up, due to suggestive double-meanings in how words are used

Warnings: Suggestive double-meanings in descriptions that allude to sex, possible body horror if ostensible transhumanism is not your jam, Fluff/sentimentality; and as always with the subjectivity of fanfiction, possible alternative character interpretations abound!

Words: ~1,333

Read on Archive Of Our Own here!

Summary: A possible look at how Halman came to be.
( Fic after the jump )

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-12-02T13:28:00

2022-12-02T18:29:29Z

Sick
We're all sick
Husband and I with an upper respiratory infection, and kiddo with allergies
Bleh

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-11-15T16:26:00

2022-11-15T21:28:54Z

Busy doing something close to life, I suppose.

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-10-03T12:59:00

2022-10-03T17:13:21Z

Kiddo and husband are done being capital-S "Sick"! It wasn't the flu, nor was it covid; regular viral something-or-other according to kiddo's pediatrician. We're all relieved about it. I hope this means kiddo will be okay for Halloween this year. The last two years we've all either been sick or too tired to go out.

In other news, I'm looking into more skirts by Maya Kern, since I find them easier to wear than most other skirts I own. I usually get the mini skirts, since they fit like regular skirts on me. The midi skirts would technically fit me, though they'd be just about ankle-length. Also all of Kern's skirts have pockets, which makes it an easier choice to begin with!

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-09-20T23:14:00

2022-09-21T03:17:26Z

My current crochet project broke the eye of one of my plastic tapestry needles.

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update

2022-09-17T02:01:09Z

Stuff going on in our lives right now:

1) We more or less survived the first week of preschool...

1a) ...but Kiddo caught something, so now we've got a sick kiddo on our hands. We went to the pediatrician for a flu swab and a covid-19 swab. It's not the flu, and we're waiting to get news of the covid-19 swab results.

2) Slowly crocheting Supergurumi's one piece amigurumi body and struggling with the instructions for the front of the feet, bleh.

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-09-07T13:51:00

2022-09-07T17:56:23Z

. . .

The Grumpy Podfic Post I made last month broke my already-falling-apart older phone XD T_T

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Life And Everything Else

2022-09-04T21:54:43Z

Kiddo's school starts soon! I'm nervous about driving to a "new" place (even with practice driving), but it's good that kiddo's getting out.

I'm trying out a new style of making amigurumi where the entire body is one continuous piece, rather than a lot of little pieces stitched together.

Making cranberry white chocolate chip cookies right now! I hope they turn out well!

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-09-03T00:24:00

2022-09-03T04:28:03Z

Working on another amigurumi project! It's much smaller than the last few projects, so hopefully it goes faster than otherwise assumed.

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Tachikoma Amigurumi

2022-08-27T20:34:31Z

I've finished my Tachikoma amigurumi from Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex! Note that it's based off the silhouette of a spider, or a bug in general, so if that's not your thing, please keep that in mind prior to clicking the link!

Link for the linking to tumblr

It was a long time going, at least 7 months, and I'm so glad to have finished it.

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plot bunnies gathering dust

2022-08-22T16:03:48Z

I have too many ideas and not enough time to do them justice. Augh.

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Ten Years

2022-08-12T18:40:27Z

As of this week, Husband and I have been married for ten (10) years. Where has the time gone, I wonder.

(CW:Food)

As a light celebratory dinner last night, I made lemon basil salmon, white rice, and green beans; the fish and rice were fresh, while the green beans were very much from a can. It turned out rather well, if a little more sweet-tasting than anticipated. Kiddo wasn't into the food, but husband and I liked it.

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Academia: Parents Edition

2022-08-12T18:24:39Z

As far as I know, Husband and I are done with filling out kiddos school paperwork and setting up the meet the teacher appointment. Maybe now I can relax until school starts! XD

In other news, the weather's been rather pleasant as Fall slowly lumbers onward on the horizon.

I really want to finish up some projects before kiddo's school starts.

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Driving

2022-07-29T21:16:43Z

Working on driving places in town and just outside of town. Still kinda scared, but Working on it.

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-07-11T22:30:00

2022-07-12T02:51:27Z

Stuff I'm doing and/or going through: Adulting and Parenting Edition

1) Fun times with parent paperwork for preschool ("Hey we know you filled everything out for something but Not According To Our Shiny New Paperwork Website so it's gonna look like you Haven't Done What You've Clearly Done and Submitted so we're marking you down as a bad parent we're listing it as overdue"). I'm really done with the stress, augh. The folks at the preschool have been very understanding in the past, and I'm! stressed!!! anyway!!!!! I hate hate hate the shame that is wrapping around me like an oversized blanket because it is literally one freakin' single piece of paperwork that's behind, and no other pieces of paperwork at all. OMFG. I emailed the preschool and will probably hear back tomorrow.

2) Considering getting a second pair of ear piercings soon (I currently have the traditional single set in the earlobes; my eventual nebulous goal is to have six in each ear)

3) Finished a scene that's been giving me a lot of trouble since I first started the story. The characters are not good at recognizing their feelings, so it's a bit of an uphill walk for everything.

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Life and So Forth

2022-07-07T00:30:57Z

Preschool's gearing up for the year, and already there are outdoor play dates organized. Time to stretch out my driving skills!

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-04-06T15:18:00

2022-04-06T19:23:30Z

Vague thoughts of making a crochet phone cover that looks like the little pink/red portable radio in Kiki's Delivery Service...

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Stuff, Things, and In Between

2022-04-05T20:56:02Z

Stuff and Things going on in my life right now include:

a) Slowly but surely, I'm making headway on my next amigurumi project (a Tachikoma from the Ghost in the Shell anime series from the early- to mid-00s. A content note, though--they're based on spiders, according to their Wikipedia page, so a head's up for that silhouette/imagery, should you go looking up the characters).
Husband took a liking to them, however a lot of the scale models and kits are a bit much for our budget. Caron Simply Soft, though, is a fair compromise--especially since the colors are versatile enough that I can use the remaining yarn for other projects. I've been following a pattern from a wordpress blog, and so far it's going well!

b) More blu-rays of... not necessarily who I want to say is my favorite actor, but an actor whose work I appreciate and enjoy, continue to be released. I couldn't find the DVDs at any of the local used media stores, and I politely refuse to use Amazon until absolutely necessary (for health-related equipment, for example), so this is a very nice development.

c) Getting a small garden ready. This year we're planting more sunflowers, some rainbow carrots, green onions/scallions, and some purple green beans. I'm hoping that I can start some cabbage later in the year, as well.

Other than that, mostly it is raining with some pleasant days between. The cats continue to get up on the kitchen table, and meow for wet food ten minutes too early.

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Booster

2022-03-20T21:35:01Z

Got my covid-19 booster shot yesterday. Combined with 3 late nights in a row, I'm quite tired.

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Crochet Wall Hangings or Mini Tapestries?

2022-03-04T02:35:10Z

Has anyone else ever been inclined to crochet a wall hanging or some kind of mini tapestry? I'm considering making a few to decorate with and absorb environmental noise from inside and outside. I'd have to use bulky yarn with a fair amount of animal fiber, since from what I understand, natural fiber tends to insulate better.

Cross stitch is too small, in my opinion, and macrame is too light. I want to do, like, the cover of The Little Prince, but as a giant crochet panel the size of a film poster.

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mere_vanilla @ 2022-03-03T12:53:00

2022-03-03T17:56:22Z

Spring is coming

I can hear it in the neighbor's subwoofer

~~Egads I am tired of hearing and feeling the neighbor's subwoofer every time warm weather rolls around~~

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Crochet Et Cetera~!

2022-02-28T15:22:30Z

I posted about this a year or so ago on tumblr, but I think revisiting the topic here might be a good idea as well.

I'm considering doing a one-piece crochet doll more in the style of a fashion doll (e.g., more like a 1/6 scale kind of doll), rather than a "chibi" style I've been attempting for the last few years. I'm hoping to try seamed or wooden bead joints, as well.

I think I'd have to sketch out the idea before actually crocheting it, though.

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