Rae Roy

Arts & Crafts I turned a first crochet square into a basket. Because I couldn't figure out which hook size was used to make it, I knitted the sides. I thought it was my red hook, but it wouldn't come out the same size. Perhaps my tension has changed since I made it. At any rate, knitting it allowed me to just knit until I had the area of all the sides. Then, I used scrap fabric as interfacing for added sturdiness. I had some pink polka-dotted fabric for the final layer.  That first basket is partly a proof of concept for a future project that I'm developing a pattern for. I'm really excited about it. On stream, I learned that iron on interfacing will absolutely NOT work. I wasn't surprised, but that means I either need to use some other fabric in between or source some regular interfacing to give it more structure. No worries. The iron on stuff is good for making patches, so I'll keep it for that. For the other project, I think I want to use plastic canvas b

Arts & Crafts I'm casually knitting toys. I should have the first one done soon. It's around bean bag size. I think I'll want to make bigger versions eventually, so they're more huggable. I'm also really gung ho to work on baskets. I acquired a bunch of patterns for a wide variety of them, which were mostly free. I was in the mood to finish other projects this week, so I completed my donut coaster. One sprinkler is sus and so is the bread part of the donut, but the icing went fairly well, so my crochet is improving. I still don't love it. Maybe I'll just prefer the basic crochet rather than the fancy stitches that mean way too much counting for me. I wove in the edges of my PWHL Scarf to make it ready for blocking. Maybe I should block the part of my coast that looks wonky. Decluttering & Minimalism This photo might not look like much, but I've been needing to reconfigure this cart for a couple of months, but I was too injured to do it. My counte

Arts & Crafts I found myself overbooked again, so I bailed on the queer craft night. I quite enjoy it as a respite from the busyness of the week usually, but in this particular week, I felt like I needed to reclaim an evening. I ended up knitting anyway while watching women's hockey. I finished my PWHL infinity scarf. It needs to be blocked and such before I can wear it around. I've begun a new knitting project. I'm working on some stuffed toys. Dating & Sex The Lez Go Singles event was on Friday. Honestly, I wasn't getting my hopes up too high. I've went to a lot of events like Speed Dating and not met the right women for me. Often, they wanted to use me to get connected in the artistic community, had nothing in common, were polyamorous, or were way too young. We played some games like This and That, a bingo card where we had to talk to people grouped with us for a round, hot potato with the DJ who I know from softball, and a general ice breaker question ro

Arts & Crafts Craft night had me learning crochet. I think having a live human help me really made some things click. I spent a good chunk of Friday working on my rainbow dinosaur kit. My friend called the supplied kit yarn, t-shirt yarn. I was finding it hurts my hands more than yarn usually does when I knit, but I also felt like if I stopped, I might forget everything I had learned like every other time. Luckily, I didn't have to do a magic loop for the beginning because the kit had it done for me. This helped with knowing how much tension I should have on the rest of "Fred the Dino." I learned that I shouldn't use pliers to try and pull the yarn through when I was doing the arms. Well, arm number two. The first arm worked just fine. The second needed three attempts. On one of those, the yarn just would not pull through and using pliers brought the arm inside the dino and I had to cut it off and try again. No pliers in crochet! I had to straighten the darning ne

It's hard to believe that the first quarter of the year is almost over.  Arts & Crafts I currently want to craft all the things at once. I'm so excited by all the projects on my to-do list that it's hard to focus on just one. I finished PWHL Scarf. It seems like it may be too short for me. I need to block it before I can join it together and be sure on that. My weekly queer craft group was a good place to be while I am dealing with all that I am. Well, until my arm really started to hurt and I had to stop, but the conversation was good.  Decluttering & Minimalism One of the things some people get wrong about minimalism is that they think every space needs to be devoid of everything. Sometimes it's more about making an improvement to your space that makes what you already have function better for you. This week, I got new chair wheels that don't get clogged up by things like carpets and blankets. I was spending way too much time fighting with traditional cast

This week began with the annual Mayfair Theatre Oscars Watch Party. A friend wanted to share the trivia wealth and let me grab a prize. I thought I was selecting a piece of a horror film reel.  I suppose it's about a horrifying piece of women's health history made extra by being turned into a Rom-Com. I haven't seen the movie, but the concept seems a bit tone deaf considering all the difficulties women still have being taken seriously by the medical community. Speaking of women's history, last week ended with International Women's Day and this is Women's History Month. One of the events I went to didn't sit well with me. There were no women like me there. Butches deserve representation. A lot of women have no interest in looking like a Kardashian. There was an American woman who proceeded to tell us that women should always do things with grace. I felt like telling her, "Honey, the only grace I need in my life is Grace Zumwinkle." It

Oh, Hi, March! This is a busy month at work as I try to finish all the 2023 things and set up the 2024 things. I'm pushing forward on my goals outside of work anyway. Maybe that's a bit silly given still being injured on top of it all, but I'm getting so close to just being able to relax much more often, which also means I'll have more time for guilt free creating. Arts & Crafts I don't really have an excuse for why I haven't finished my PWHL Scarf yet other than that I didn't feel like knitting at my queer craft group and I have gotten sucked into this sticker bomb project. It's addictive once you get going! Three of the four doors are ready for sealing. I will finish the fourth and then find time and spare to clear coat them all two to three times. When? Your guess is as good as mine. I started bringing my Fairy Cross-Stitch to the queer craft night. The room is very bright, so it's ideal for it. That is also the craft project I've been wor

The week felt really long.  Arts & Crafts My calendar was looking quite packed, so I wasn't sure if I would get the time to reclaim my crafting space or not. Luckily, I had Friday afternoon off because I have some vacation I need to use up. I've got time off every Friday in March and I'm looking forward to it. I began reclaiming it on Thursday, so I could relax more on Friday as I had that earmarked for reading and relaxing. On stream, I began sticker bombing the doors of my media cabinet. One has dinosaurs. Another has games and music. Door three has neon stickers. The final door will have pride stickers on it. I didn't get started on it. I also ran out of stickers, and had to wait for more to arrive. I'll be working on it more during the week and I will likely not finish it on stream as I'd like to get my doors back onto my cabinet as soon as possible. The craft is a mix of fun and frustration. Decluttering & Minimalism I took it somewhat easily this w

This week, I fought hard to make progress on my living areas. And I ran out of fucks a few times. I will eventually elaborate on that, I'm sure, but not right now. There will be more swearing in this post as it has been that kind of week. Decluttering & Minimalism This week is a big one for me on this front because I've been actioning my Living Room plans. I acquired display cases for my Funko POP dolls.  I also began combining my two IKEA PS cabinets into one for all my media to live in. This had me off to Home Depot for a small cut off saw to remove the four legs on the one unit. This is a fairly common IKEA hack. There are even holes that can be used to screw or bolt them together for safety. The saw helped, though I still needed to use my manual one as I wasn't comfortable with the sparks and noise. I try not to be an asshole neighbour. With the legs off, I needed a break for refueling as I hadn't eaten anything yet. The next day, I got it joined together with s

I've felt quite out of sorts this week. My home is upside down and I'm hating it. Arts & Crafts I planned to move my stream to Sunday, but after a busy week, I was too tired and spent much of Sunday napping. On Thursday, I went to the first meeting of a queer needle crafts group. I'm pretty close on my PWHL Scarf, but I'm losing steam. There's an event I want it ready for coming up two Mondays from now, so I really need to rally and finish it. Decluttering & Minimalism I was so distracted this week. I've made a bunch of plans to reorganize some things and I really just wanted to get going on them all, so that I could be done with this decluttering effort. Yes, I know that I'm limited with budget, time, and such, but I just want to be done with it all so badly. I pulled a glute somewhere along the way though, so that has been problematic. It was my left butt cheek in case you really want to know ;) I have a lot of plans, but I couldn't get to any

We're 6 weeks into the year and I don't know about you, but I feel like I've hardly accomplished anything. It's OK to just survive sometimes though. Arts & Crafts It was excellent getting together and craft with friends last weekend. There was so much good conversation and it had been a while since we last got together. My scarf is coming along nicely.  I need to figure out the next craft for stream. Perhaps I'll try to finish my Fairy Cross-Stitch on stream. I do have my big quilt that I need to start sewing also, but I don't know how I'm going to do the camera work for it. Decluttering & Minimalism The first big challenge I had was moving a carpet from my living room because there was a lot of stuff on it. I both dreaded this and was excited about what it was going to lead to. I think I accidentally invented "Hot Cleaning," while doing it. I was too warm, so I turned down the heat. At least, I thought I turned it down. In actuality, I had

It was still January for most of this week, a.k.a. The Neverending Month. Then it became February!  Each month, I do pull a card from my Music Oracles deck. Last month was Bob Marley. February's card is Nina Simone. A piano playing rebel & multiple genre legend will hopefully make for a phenomenal month ahead. I still haven't done a goals post for 2024. January was a lot. My goals for this year are: - Complete Sparker  and query agents. - Complete The Curse of...  and submit it to a screenplay contest. - Complete the declutter of Tiny Condo. - Blog at least once per week. - Cross train for curling and softball. - Learn piano. - Self-care with crafts, reading, gaming, and sports. I've tweaked my schedule to make this happen. I'd also like a partner, but I feel weird about setting it as a goal.

Has it been a month since the year began? Oh, look, we're still in January. Arts & Crafts My first accomplishment of the week was ordering the yarns I didn't have for my next project. It will be a scarf for myself and I'm eager to have it. I am calling this project my PWHL Scarf as it uses all the colours of the inaugural teams.  Why more knitting? Why not? My favourite facts about knitting include that it was used effectively as a communications tool to send messages in WWI. I also like that knitters helped keep others alive during wars. Anyway, I'm getting together with friends soon for a crafty evening and I hope my yarns will be in for then. I tweaked the design to be an infinity scarf, so I was able to start the project. Lez Scarf is complete. I just need to give it a gentle wash and dry. It feels good to have finished a project, eventhough it has a bunch of mistakes in it. It has been a very long time since I last finished one. Decluttering & Minimalism Th