Geez, it's been quite a while since I posted, again. A lot and nothing has happened since August. I'm struggling with my yarn mojo lately. I finished the body of Elton and realized when I went to start the sleeves that I need a different needle that I've misplaced in my mess. That's enough of a hurdle for me to put the project in time out for now. It's safe in its bag with the pattern and I know exactly where I am so that I can pick it up and finish it any time I find the needle. In the meantime I'm trying to work on crocheting squares for my Christmas project. I've done about a dozen of the yellow squares. I ended up getting 70 out of the ball of blue, so a long way yet to go before I get to start on the red ones.
In the meantime, and maybe partially to blame for the loss of knit/crochet mojo, I've gotten back into journaling and collecting fountain pens and inks. I bought some more Pilot Kakuno pens and Pilot Iroshizuku ink, then decided I really liked my TWSBI Eco pens the best, so I ordered more of those. I'm really enjoying the grey Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun ink the best, so I ordered Noodler's Pasternak ink, which looked from the samples like it was a shading ink, but so far I've only used it on absorbent paper so it doesn't shade on that. I also got bottles of Tsutsuji (and then found I already had a bottle of it on my shelf - oops) and Murasaki-shikibu. But the grey was my favorite. While waiting for the broad nib TWSBI Eco's to get here, I ended up ordering 5 more Eco's and a bottle of Diamine Polar Glow from Goulet Pens. That order is arriving today and I can't wait to ink up my new pens and try my new ink! I also got Tomoe River paper for my correspondence with my new penpals.
I got back on a writing kick when I was reminded about Julia Cameron's Morning Pages habit. I don't follow her rules explicitly. I rarely write 3 pages - usually only 1-2. But I do it every morning in a sketchbook with my fountain pens lately. It's just stream of consciousness writing. Sloppy. Written with broad nib pens that I have no other real use for. It's different from my evening journaling, which I do in a Sterling Ink Travelers Notebook sized journal that has 520 pages of Tomoe River paper. My goal is to fill that with my daily evening journaling in fountain pen and my neater handwriting. It's taking up my knitting time in the morning and at night to journal, but my mind is clearer I think, getting stuff onto paper and off my mind.
And, back to penpal-ing. l have had the same 2 pen pals for several years now and decided that I really could fit a few more friends into my writing schedule, so I looked for options online since the last service I used is now defunct. I came upon Global Penfriends and immediately signed up and looked for matches. So far I've found several new pen pals that I hope I will be writing to for years to come. I love getting non-bill mail in my mailbox! I've also started collecting wax stamps to seal the letters. I'm always afraid to put things on the outside of the letters like washi tape that I know may peel off during processing or jam their sorting machines, but I've gotten letters several times with sealing wax stamps intact so I'm hopeful.
This year I'm really going to try to mail out Christmas cards. I buy them every year thinking I will send them out and then I don't. I love the USPS Christmas stamps this year - I can't wait for them to be available on 9/19. They are snow globes! I got my Christmas wax seal stamps already. I better put it on my calendar to send them out so I don't forget.
And speaking of calendars, it's already that time, it seems, to be looking for a 2024 planner. I'm torn between keeping my existing Sterling Ink Weeks sized notebook and putting 2024 weekly pages in it (I draw the lines by hand and date it like a Hobonichi Weeks) or buying the Sterling Ink TN sized Weekly notebooks that are bigger and predated, but come split into 2 notebooks for some reason. I really like the TN size, but I almost would rather get a blank notebook and draw it in myself and have it all in one book with an extra 400+ pages to use. Of course, that's a want not a need, because I could continue to use the smaller Weeks size for the same purpose. Ugh, decisions, decisions!
This morning I plan to go to the apple farm before I get my nails done. I'm so excited for Autumn, although I barely registered summer on my radar because I worked during the week days this year and didn't have my mid week day off like I had last summer when I could sit out on my hammock on my day off. We only used our fire pit one time this summer, or actually, ever. I plan to use it this fall when I can wear a hoodie and drink hot cider. Doesn't that sound delightful! I can't wait.
