Getting back on track...

...albeit very slowly. Most of my WIPs remain slightly abandoned in favour of other things; on more than one occasion this week my crafting time has found me sat at my piano rather than in front of the TV with a hook in my hand.

I had hoped that I would have something more tangible to share on that front, having ordered the rather nifty cable that allows me to connect my piano to my laptop, but I can't currently get the software to work to actually make a recording! I will keep trying though.

I started a new project for the Year of Projects last weekend, the Cherry Wrap. It has been my main focus this week (as you'd expect, what with it being new and exciting and all). So far, I've completed one out of three panels for the main body of the wrap.

Colour is not accurate. It's more red than this.

Having deciphered the pattern, it's moving along quite quickly. But before I cut my yarn and move on to the second pane, I need to double check the measurements and make sure it will end up the right size!

I did knit another four rows on the Easy Lace stole. I know I haven't mentioned it in a while, but it is growing, slowly. I last measured it in July, about a month after first casting on. It was 9.5 inches then.

Today it is 13 inches which, considering I don't really recall doing much to it in August, is quite an achievement! Now my Jane Austen is finished, I think this will reclaim its position as my roleplay night knitting.

I'm off to Alton Towers tomorrow, so I may take it along to knit in the car too.

For more WIPs head on over to Tami's! I would be Yarn-along ing this week, but I left my book in work yesterday and since I'm not back in the office till next week, I'm just going to have to wait. I am mere pages away from finishing Unseen Academicals too!

Son, can you play me a memory...

When I set up this blog, I gave myself challenges to achieve during 2011. I'm doing well on the crochet and photography side of things, but seem to have neglected the other two hobbies I was determined to do something with this year.

This weekend I have decided that this needs to change. So I made a start with my piano.

Here it is. It's a Yamaha Clavinova, bottom of the range, but who needs fancy. It was bought for me back in 2005 by my then-partner. I think I will always be grateful to him for that.

It lives in my dining room and, as you can see, is a magnet for stuff. That handy little space underneath the keyboard is useful for storing the (hardly ever used) home gym equipment. Fidget's scratching post also generally lives in front of the piano stool. All this makes it a bit of a pain in the bum to actually get the thing ready to play. Those dumbells underneath play havoc with reaching the pedals, too.

It's not normally so bare. The piano is where I keep some of my most precious memories. Photographs.

On the right side - photos of all of my cats (living and passed). In the pink frame, Nana and Gaga (Dad's folks); in the green furry frame, an old shot of me, Dad and Gaga back from when I was about five years old. It's probably my favourite photo of Gaga.



No, I have no idea what my parents were thinking when they cut that fringe. Yikes.

On the left side, photos of other people's pets who mean something to me. In this case, Jamie's old dog Tiny, his old cat Spook, and his parents's current two cats, Bo and Rosco. Also here are a photo of my Grandad, who died when I was a baby, a photo of my Gran, who died a year and a half ago, and two photos that represent my love of LARP and roleplaying. The purple frame with daisies on is also a memory - an old friend made it for me when we were still at school.

You may also have spotted the little lantern. I have two of them, and they sit one either side of the music stand. They are miniature replicas of the gas lanterns they used in the coal mine where Gaga worked.

New Rockwood was the name of the mine. It's in south Wales, just up from Cardiff. Closed, of course, has been since 1963. The mine entrance is halfway up a very steep hill, just along from the cemetery where my great-grandparents are buried. All you can see of it now is the bricked up entrance to the mine tunnels.



I like having all these photos and memories near me when I play. Almost like I'm playing for them, if you see what I mean. My grandparents in particular were always very encouraging of my creative talents. When I learned to play the violin, Gran gave me my Grandad's violin to play on. I still have it, even though a broken wrist at the age of eleven stopped me from playing seriously. Gran herself was the one who taught me to knit, to draw and to paint. Nana and Gaga encouraged everything indiscriminately.

I don't have a lot of time to practice, which makes me sad. I said I wanted to play once a week at least. I am going to try and squeeze in an hour or so of playing time on Saturday mornings, between getting up and going to Pilates class. I'll let you know how I get on.

Twenty Eleven here we come

I guess it's tradition, to make resolutions on the first day of the year. This year I'm going with something slightly different (for me at least). Crafting goals!

I am realistic enough to realise that I cannot possibly hope to focus on everything in the year ahead, so I am going to have to relegate some of my hobbies to the back shelf once more. Some things are unfortunately more important than others, and as one of my main goals this year is to qualify as an accountant, I need to ensure I have enough time available for studying and revision. So some of my hobbies are going to be (once again) relegated to the back shelf and put aside. Drawing, painting and any ambitions I had towards learning a new instrument will all have to wait for another year.

The year will be no fun, though, if all I do is work and study. So at the very least, I shall attempt to complete these modest goals:

Photography

These goals have already been outlined in a previous post, but I will list them again for completeness:

• One picture a week for a year
• One picture for each season
• One picture a day for a month
• Object photo challenge

Knitting/Crochet

• Finish my current WIPs before starting anything new (the tiger, clownfish and rectangle granny, specifically)
• Crochet my first item of clothing, potentially this top I found on Ravelry
• Make gifts for friends currently expecting babies (bit of time pressure on this one, as baby 1 is due fairly soon, and baby 2 is due in May). I suspect the pale yellow yarn I was given for Christmas will come in handy for this!
• Learn more "advanced" knitting techniques. At the moment I can do a basic garter and stocking stitch (and I did one lace scarf that had YO and knit2tog) but I've seen some lovely knitted patterns on Ravelry that I'd love to have a go at which I suspect require me to be a bit more competent. Something like this, or this.
• I'd like to add in some sort of crochet X number of Ys but I have no idea what that would be. Maybe a new amigurumi a month or something?

Painting Warhammer Miniatures

An element of my craftiness not yet explored by this blog, but something that I love doing but did far too little of this year. So to compensate, here are some targets for me to hit over the next twelve months:

• Finish painting my High Elf Bloodbowl team. They've been half painted for about a year now, so it's about time.
• Convert and paint some of the individual star player models we've had planned for ages.
• Base every single model that gets painted in this house. I want to be able to say, on 31st December 2011, that there is not one single miniature in this house that has been painted but is still standing on a bare base.
• Make a decent go at painting my Orc army. Ok, I probably won't get the whole thing done, as there's something like 150 models at current count. I'll do a post in a few days and elaborate on this, as I need to sit down and go through the army and see what is what,

Making Music

So I've put learning the cello on the back burner for another year, but I am rather determined to let 2011 be the year I finally get back into the habit of playing the piano. To do this, here are some goals;

• Practice regularly. As in, at least once a week to begin with.
• Get back up to speed on the pieces I already know how to play. Specifically:
• Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata
• Chopin's Nocturne No 19 (Op 72 No 1)
• Field's Nocturne
• Learn and master some new pieces. Specifically:
• Chopin's Rainbow Prelude
• Chopin's Waltz No 7 in C sharp minor
• Joe Harnell's The Lonely Man
• Danny Elfman's Corpse Bride theme and Victor's Solo

That's probably enough to be getting on with. After all, I still need to leave time for things like roleplaying, climbing, swimming, cycling and hiking! I'll try and keep you all updated with my progress!

Happy New Year!