Woolly Goodness & Other Stuff Too

Did I ever mention that my spinning wheel is finally here? My beautiful, antique Borghildr? (pronounced "Borihilder", and roll that first R, bitches!) My soul sister's visit was all too brief, but glorious. She spoiled the cats rotten with toys and treats, and I made my famous kick ass steak salad, and we drank mead, made some interesting smoothies involving cashew cream, and watched Vikings. There was also the feeding of strawberries and waltzing across the kitchen floor to Wardruna, all in all a splendid time.

Borghildr (who came with a 4.5 lb bag of roving from my soul sister's mom, the roving itself from sheep they had on the farm when she was growing up) has been cleaned and oiled, though I should probably give her more oil soon. She's got a few kinks, probably due to age and use, but I've learned how to work around them. For example, she's supposed to be set up with a double drive band configuration, but due to her wheel wobble, that's not an option. So I've set her up as a single, with a makeshift tension brake on the bobbin to increase the uptake speed. It's so strange, how familiar I feel with her. It doesn't feel like I am a new owner of an antique wheel, it feels like we've been reunited. She's even appeared in a few of my dreams. It's almost like she's part of me, or a physical manifestation of a part of me. We really are meant to be together <3

Touching love story of girl and wheel aside, everything else is pretty much the same. I had to skip a few weeks of weight lifting due to phlegm and cold issues, but now I'm getting back on track. I'm working on an epic wedding shawl, I made my first ever chicken soup from scratch with no recipe and no idea what I was doing (and it was SO DAMN GOOD I ate 8/10 of it, oops), I'm almost moved entirely out of Harlem, and... yeah, nothing terribly exciting, I suppose.

ok, my splitting headache isn't subsiding very much, so I guess I'm gonna head to bed now. Hopefully I won't have any more stupid dreams about forgetting the combination to my locker in high school, for fuck's sake. Could a dream be ANY MORE BORING?!

Yarnorexia AGAIN

I'm knitting a wedding shawl for a friend and the damn yarn isn't fine enough. I need to hunt for thinner yarn. The yarn is about fingering weight, I need at LEAST lace weight or finer. Bloody hell. Off I go to hunt some more this week, I guess.

I sold some hats to a motorcycle club via a friend last Friday & got to hang out in their clubhouse for a bit- that was fun. Looking forward to having more orders coming in. They're knit in the clubs colors, with the name on them and a shamrock or iron cross, depending on the design used.

My soul sister is coming to visit this weekend, FINALLY! After countless delays and cancellations, we are rock solid this time :-D I finally get to have my spinning wheel here. I can't wait to see my anam cara, my soul sister- I've been obsessively preparing and buying things to make the apartment ready for her. New shower curtain/liner, new bath mats, nice new candle, gonna clean the apartment from top to bottom JOYFULLY, knowing that it's all for her arrival. SQUEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't remember if I mentioned that I started to lift weights, but I have, and it's way more effective than walking, not gonna lie. Jesus, I feel stupid for not having done this sooner. Though I haven't lost a significant amount of weight yet, I feel a lot stronger. Scratch that, I AM a lot stronger. At first, I couldn't even get through the entire workout that I've picked. (Starting with 10lb weights.)That was a month ago. Now? I have no problem getting through the whole thing. It's still a challenge though, which is good... that's why it's called a WORK out :-P

Ugh ugh ugh I also managed to work myself sick over those hats, so I'm gonna go blow my nose now, and drink some more of my cold buster tea that I invented (it works better than the meds I bought!)- cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and black pepper. Gonna work some more on my soul sister's shawl too. I have to get it done before she comes, and I'm not even half finished, yikes! Only 6 more sleeps until she's here :-D

Still here, just busy.

Dealt with commission from hell recently, partially because client was hellish herself, while still being super nice. It was draining as fuck and I'm glad I'm shipping that shit out tomorrow. Fella got a new job, I started painting again, Sooja and Borghildr (my wheel) are coming at the end of the month, finally. Cats are doing well, business is doing well on all fronts, and I'm glad to have reconnected with a friend from a few years ago. She's got a very similar sense of humor, which is rare, and we're both knitters who love chaos and occult things. She's also got two cats as well, and we have great fun making up stories about them to each other. Yes, I'm a crazy cat lady, don't be jealous if you don't know the love of a cat <3

Buuuuutttt more interestingly, I'm starting weight loss attempt #2: the weight lifting edition. I am more determined than ever this time, so hopefully it works. I've switched from drinking sugary fruity teas to plain, unsweetened green tea. and I think that alone will make a huge difference. It's not enough for me to lose weight though, I wanna get MUSCULAR. I've finally decided it's time to make the outside match the inside, and the warrior bitch on the inside doesn't look like a couch potato. I've been greedily scrolling through tons of before and after weight loss pics for inspiration, and I feel like I've totally got a chance this time. By the time I turn 30 in a year and a half, I want to have reclaimed my body, and I want to be living on MY terms. And I will. <3

Awen.

There's no other word for it. Creativity is flowing through me, around me, and it's nothing short of divine. I've come up with so many excellent ideas lately for my shop, it's now just a matter of creating the items and listing them. I've learned more about SEO, so I can more effectively reach people, and I'm bursting at the seams with impatience to just get everything DONE!

...Just got another excellent idea. Gonna go make note of it.

I am eternally grateful to the Universe for this imagination of mine!

YARNOREXIA

I am currently knitting a scarf with yarn thinner than the creases in my thumbs. Just finished a cobweb weight Echo Flowers, and decided I was too comfortable with the yarn. So...pictures!

First, yarnorexia scarf:

Now, the Echo Flowers shawl. It's fine enough that it passes through a ring.

And finally, some tea eggs I made yesterday. They're delicious AND pretty!

I am totally enjoying this beautiful weather. I am delighted by the colors of the fallen leaves, the gusts of crisp wind, and the excuse to wear gorgeous things I've knit. I'm also thrilled that we've had a lot more gray days lately- we didn't have enough of them this summer, and there are few things I love more than a gray autumn day.

I've changed the name of my Etsy shop to Magick Cat Knits, since I couldn't use Mad Cat for whatever reason. This is something that works out well for me, actually, as it'll be harder for people I'd like to not hear from to find me. And by people I'd like to not hear from, I mean certain family members :-X

Ok, back to knitting! I've got to finish a few things before Monday so I can have them ready for a photoshoot. My friend is modeling and ...? is shooting. Might be me ;-) I want to redo my product photos before I get into the intricacies of SEO and all that crap. And tea, my garlic breath is kicking right now. I could totally use a cup of sweet tea to fight it. Sayonara!

Totally Mundane Self Congratulatory Shit

I was productive today, so here I am congratulating myself, wheee!

Well, I launched Kickstarter attempt 3.0- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/819514122/polished-yarns-version-30

I moved all my Storenvy merch over to Etsy, which involved setting up a new Etsy shop. Tedious, but I got it done. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MadOCatOKnits

I'll probably want to re-photo a bunch of those items, but for now, those photos will do. I also re-did the graphics for the header.

I completely butchered a sweater and got 1650 yds of lace weight out of it. For $8.50, that's not a bad deal, considering I didn't even get as much yarn out as I could have, and I'll probably make about... *does math*

$100. That's between the yarn salvaged that I can dye and sell as yarn, and the yarn that isn't in long enough quantities to sell, so I'll be keeping it for myself to dye and knit into something to sell.

(ha, got distracted there, just got my first Kickstarter backer!)

So... before shipping expenses, that's a pretty fucking sweet profit margin. And shipping yarn and knit goods is pretty cheap. (I was gonna put the math here, but I can't brain right now, I'm on a caffeine high and Billy Idol is singing about being a lover, HAVE MERCY BABEH!)

I think it's a viable business to get serious about, and it's confirmed now that I sort of mathed it.

Enough about today though, I almost forgot how awesome yesterday was. First good day I've had in so long- I wasn't struggling, I wasn't fighting to survive, I wasn't sitting around being miserable and cranky. I went to the medieval fair in Fort Tryon with a friend (coincidentally, my first KS backer) and her boyfriend, and we had a riotously good time. I ate a gigantic turkey leg, had mead and beer, and laughed my ass off. There were some really great vendors there too. Afterwards, I went down to 14th st, and had dinner and wine with a friend (and her sweet feral rescue cats!) before giving her a knitting lesson. We ate New Zealand lamb, Persian Silk carrots (whatever those are, they're fucking tasty!) and some kind of cheesy shredded potato thing. She's a chef/ pastry chef, so this woman can cook. On top of it all, I got to see Thumbs, the stray cat I feed from time to time, on my way home. I want to find a rescue to take him in, but sometimes he's not there, and I don't know where he goes.

Knitting time now, I've got a hat to finish so I can put it in the shop. WOO!

Belly Up.

I had a spiritual experience a few days ago. I submitted completely to the Universe, to the namesake of this blog (my patron goddess) and I decided to stop struggling and start listening.

She spoke to me.

However rapturous the experience was though, it's not paying my bills. I'm still stressed, still panicky, still feeling bogged down one minute and horribly optimistic the next. I have been told repeatedly now to study the ancient knowledge, to learn... I don't even know what exactly I'm supposed to learn about. Or what texts I should be studying. What subjects I should be concerning myself with. Regardless, it's not going to help me make money TODAY. And I cannot concentrate on anything other than my financial situation when my financial situation is in dire straits.

In other news, my sister is getting married today, and obviously, I'm not there... I don't make it a habit to hang out with my abuser (the aunt I grew up with). My sister knew I wasn't going, months ago. She hasn't talked to me in months, hasn't bothered to pick up the phone to see how I am, didn't bother to invite me to her bachelorette party which was RIGHT HERE IN THE CITY... and yet, she cried when I reminded her on the phone that I wasn't coming, denying that she remembered the two conversations we had about it. WHAT THE FUCK, WOMAN. So I felt like rancid, rotten shit. I never, ever would want to make my sister cry. But seriously, what the fuck.

So, rotten fuckery all around here. Regardless, I'm plodding on. It's all just a slow march to death anyway.