SnarCraft

I hate spiders Last night I woke up with a start. I thought at first it was because I had fallen asleep with an audiobook running and it had come to a, rather loud, theatrical skirmish. I blearily turned off the book and rolled over onto my back, only to stare straight up at a gigantic huntsman above my head. Let me take a moment to remind you lovely readers that I live in Australia, and in Australia spiders range from microscopic to the size of your face. I'm aware that generally the poison level is inversely proportional to the size of the spider, but that doesn't stop me finding a spider big enough to smother me in my sleep terrifying. Also, I did not grow up here, so I inherently have a -5 resistance to local spiders. Since moving to Australia, I've tried to sort things with the spiders myself. I have tried to reason with them; applying to their sympathies by pointing out that I, too, spin and therefore we should be able to live amicably in respectful cohabitation

I've been keeping secrets, but I'm sure you'll understand. You see, there was no post last week because I was recuperating from wonderful short holiday of yarn, road trips, a hens night, finishing a knitted wedding/birthday present, and watching two amazing human beings get married. (Tip: click on the individual photos for a closer view.)       A little background…. I met Mel, the bride, at a speculative fiction convention a couple of years ago. I don’t remember who noticed who’s fibre project first - I’m sure one of us was stitching away and the other bounced up to excitedly ask about it (it’s something we’d both do unabashedly, so I’m confident in claiming it was one of us.) But I do remember deciding pretty much right on the spot that she was going to be a friend (with consent, of course!).  We spent the rest of the convention amassing other stitchers to join us in the front row (we did so well at this that it became a running joke with the panelists

I finished it! I just want to start by saying that, despite it being two weeks since I last posted (more on this below), I finished that infernal blanket about that long ago, too. I wove in the ends and sewed on the accents and practically chucked it at The Pirates. I also warned Claire that if anything on the blanket broke I wasn’t fixing it for at least 12 months. She understands, she has these feelings sometimes too. It’s why we jiive so well. ;o) Here’s the finished product. It looks more like an albino toucan than a narwahl, in my opinion, but pirates also have birds so it’s still on brand. I’m calling it a win. Remember, I’m not a crocheter, the fact that it looks remotely like an animal, let alone one that I can reasonably argue would fit logically into a pirate family, is a win for me! I think that crochet project zapped me of any knitting mojo I might have had for anyone else. I have a theory that trying to bend yarn in ways that feel very unintuitive for me  (I say f