Kicking Myself Cos I Never Thought About Visualising Roadmaps This Way 🤦🏻‍♀️ (it Would Also

Racoon Sanitation Worker

Made using a pattern by Bogusia.

The most complex thing I've attempted yet, given the number of accessories. I'm pretty happy with her overall, but issues are obvious:

NO CLUE what is happening with the face. I think I may have lost count when joining up the legs and never recovered (but the body is fine??) or maybe just lost the round end? I've restarted the face several times and it was just not having it so I just powered through it instead of abandoning the project but the wonkiness is obvious.

Colour changes themselves ended up looking pretty sus most of the time, and seemingly every 'improvement' ended up looking worse and worse. 🤷🏻

I'd like to try this pattern again (so she can hang out with the Rogue version) and I think I'd either try to reverse it (starting from the top) or do the head separately and then join the two parts.

On the plus side, I made this with a very small hook (1.8mm) so there's virtually no perceptible gaps. 🎉

This is also the first time I've been conscious about the 'right' and 'wrong' side.. yes it took me a while. But also, no one I showed my previous stuff to cared or knew the difference - you can't really count on amateurs to provide constructive feedback esp if they like you. From now on showing WIPs to my enemies *only*.

Not directly related to the pattern but I finally learned how to do a magic circle - goodbye 2 chain butthole looking centres. 🫠

According to the pattern the bin should be closed but I left mine open and the bin bag can be put into it.

The bin bag was surprisingly tricky, and the banana surprisingly straightforward.

The project uses a real mix of different yarns - fortunately everything is sort of in proportion but variation in textures does stand out a bit. I'm undecided if this makes it more interesting or looking a bit sloppy haha.

How cute are the little claws? And the gloves??? Oh my goodness!! >.<

This is my first thing that can stand by herself sort of confidently, thanks to the mahoosive tail. : )

It took me about 2 weeks to finish everything (mostly because of the face pattern but I think working with teensy hook was also a factor). I made simpler 4 things in the week since, but I really want to make the crow wizard and penguin pirate too \m/

Fox and grey cat

Random little projects made this week.

I've had the cat kit for a while (bought instead of another book I will never finish at Waterstones), and the fox is my attempt at actually making stuff I find on Tumblr. It's a free pattern.

Honestly I expected the kit to be worse, the yarn was clearly some kind of a synthetic and the hook was just a chunk of metal but the instructions were pretty clear and it worked up quick. I have yarn spare as well. Shape-wise it's similar to TOFT kits but obviously less 'quality', at £10.

I placed the eyes wonkily hence the side eye 'fix'. 💀

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The fox is made with Rico pure cotton. It's incredible how much more pleasant it was to make than my last thing, also in cotton but from Hobbii. Maybe that was stiffer cos it was bleached? :s

AmiguruMay day 1 - Hello!

This is catching me a bit by surprise (just saw someone else post!) and I don't have anything new to show but it finally made me attempt to make these two wear each others' clothes. 🫡

Susie court-mandated community service AU I guess?? The raccoon is sans pants due to the truly voluptous tail....

I posted more detail on both before:

Raccoon

Susie

Messed around with some jasperite terrazzo kits today to make coasters (unpolished yet). Some obvious faults in the make but it’s all quite satisfying and I have plenty of the mix + chips leftover hehe. >:3c

Witcher 3 is great but all the female models are so pornified that the Crones are the closest I get to representation in this game. 😌

Has Peter Strickland watched this immediately before sitting down and writing Flux Gourmet??

Bella is helping me test one of my Xmas gifts (an apron for pottering).

March 2025

We're having AN ACTUAL SPRING? Whoever planted all the cherry trees (and other blossoms) around London - thank u.

For the first month this year, no one I know has died. As far as I'm aware. 🎉🥲

I've been doing Spanish on Duolingo for three full years as of this month, and taking classes for two (with some of the same people! so cool : )). It really feels like my life is just Spanish on Wednesdays sometimes, but if my count is correct I should be at the end of B1 by next summer!! :o

Went to the Stitch Festival, bought a load of stuff. I keep buying more and more yarn from Hobbii because I run out of one specific colour or have An Idea. Goal - don't buy any more in April?! I appreciate having a yarn shop 10 minutes from my house and I try to buy stuff from them whenever poss but to be completely honest the yarn selection is ass, they did not even have blue cotton. :[

Work is mostly stable, new Delivery Manager is settling in fast but I'm hanging around for a bit cos someone is going away for a month so a team needs cover. Still not sure what next, I've had chats about agile coaching. Hopefully not something that's a technology in search of an application - you know what I mean. 🙄

I made it to Data Bites (great talk about waste! all the girls love talking about incineration plants and waste tracking!!! 💖 ) and Product for the People where the vibe was honestly so nice, I really enjoyed myself even though I basically had to work throughout tee day. Also I met someone I've not seen for YEARS there cos they just came back in the UK and are doing something interesting again in one of my old depts. \o/

The OpenAI Ghibli stuff is so fucking gross.

What is up with the Majima Grayson Perry Everywhere campaign? I saw Grayson Perry books, Grayson Perry cross-stitch set, Grayson Perry jewellery, not even gonna mention the massive Grayson Perry poster that's just part of the landscape now. I like the guy a lot but it's funny how he's suddenly wherever I look. 😵‍💫

I had an eye test and my sight got better?!

House purchase has not moved from what I can see, it's gonna be another summer of hauling ass to the lido for an hour each way instead of having it round the corner at this rate. 🥲

I felt crap on the weekend when my friends started playing Delta Green, boo. :(

Whoever came up with Java Whiskers queer dating should get a raise. Not for me due to my commitment to dying alone but I appreciate marketing genius when I see it. 🫡

Earworm: Fever Ray - I'm not done (live at the Troxy). I was there and it was so fucking good, the recording almost captures it.

Less puerile street art IS available in London, but who cares. 😎

Makes

Raccoon (crochet)

Whales (crochet/needle felted)

Mouse (needle felted)

French bulldog (crochet)

Cat bed (crochet) + a necklace from the same yarn I've not managed to take a decent pic of

I picked up needle felting again after a workshop at Stitch Festival and I'm enjoying how easy it is to shape something recognisable. ~__~ It scratches the ceramics itch a bit, which is helpful since the only non-throwing course is on Saturdays in the prime morning swimming hours and I'm not sacrificing this over the summer haha.

While looking for Deltarune amigurumi patterns I found this amazing Seam plushie tutorial so putting that craft on my backlog...

I also got some cards from Pacific Knit Co, my knitting era may be approaching.

Currently I'm making something for a friend for Easter and trying to customise a pattern into a specific character... sneak peek:

Also pictured my first attempt at untangling a hank. What an absolute disaster. 🙃

Watched

a lot of KBash stuff - thank you youtube algorithm gods for sending me those fun, thorough videos from interesting perspective.

finished Star Trek TOS (due to this post, heh). Boy, did I feel like bobo the fool when I enjoyed the last episode and saw it's the most hated and panned one. 🧍🏻 You can quickly dismiss the premise as misogynistic (whatever the interpretation some aspects are deeply sus) but it's actually easy to find some nuance - and the idea that it's because of the writers' incompetence is delicious. 👹 Like the writer of that article I thought the performances were very fun. Anyway, I just started TNG and it kicked off strong with one of the divas of all time so my hopes are high. Maybe fewer aliens will be just blonde bombshells with funky hairdos this time (would it kill you to pledge your eternal devotion to a sentient pile of rocks that can revive Genghis Khan at least ONCE McCoy you coward! >:( ).

Next

Somehow I ended up buying fuckton of tickets for the future this month, so:

Kinoteka festival (Saragossa Manuscript, Hourglass Sanatorium)

UK Games Expo

A weekend in Ghent (I booked the Eurostar and the next day Switch 2 and Deltarune 3+4 were announced for the same weekend, I am fuming/you are WELCOME Lancer Fan Club)

Neon Genesis Evangelion screenings at the PCC

Deltarune concert for the 10 year anniversary (I was on the fence, I opened the seating chart and there was only one front row circle seat avaialble so my poor impulse control took over....)

Gotta make it to that Leigh Bowery exhibit

This is so true, thank you Pokemon News UK 😌

May 2025

This month was about 3 years long, work has put me through the wringer and I'm in my feelings about it so much that I thought I've done nothing else but apparently my spare time is endless. 💀

Work

[deleting the first para because i realised it’s almost identical to last month and i just swung to the dark side cos i wrote it while very tired 😌]

I'm still not failing as badly as whoever is managing those AI summaries on top of Google tho. Whoever you are, you're making millions of people's life worse several times a day and burning down the planet. 💖

Anyway, the deadline got moved by a week and the world did not stop spinning. Not even when some people took holidays. Figures!

Did not make it to Delivercon because of the above shenaningans. One day I will be a dependable unconference co-organiser. :(

I'm personally quite disappointed in some of the decisions being made lately but at least they resulted in seeing how many people genuinely do value working in the open etc. It's heartening to see that this stuff genuinely does matter to other people and I'm not the only one upset by it.

I keep thinking about a conversation I had few months ago now about bullyign and what to do when you witness it but are not personally affected. TBH my own experience of reporting things was so disastrously bad I'd be cross if someone reported a thing on my behalf haha. It's not helpful that a lot of the guidance assumes the line manager is a safe person to report things to, like they're never a problem themselves... The most pragmatic thing is sadly to help the bullied person get another job. 🫠

I genuinely dread every time when I need to buy something (people, software, outcome), might be a thing to fix if we shouldn't be doing everything from the ground up....

Professionally one of the worst months of my life, several things were late, not done, or not escalated in time for a big deadline on the 3rd June and no matter what anyone says they were squarely within my remit. 🥲

I'm still not failing as badly as whoever is managing those AI summaries on top of Google tho. Whoever you are, you're making millions of people's life worse several times a day and burning down the planet. 💖

Anyway, the deadline got moved by a week and the world did not stop spinning. Not even when some people took holidays. Figures!

Did not make it to Delivercon because of the above shenaningans. One day I will be a dependable unconference co-organiser. :(

It's been so nice to see how many people in my organisation genuinely value working in the open etc. It's heartening to see that this stuff genuinely does matter to other people and I'm not the only one upset by the direction things have gone recently.

I keep thinking about a conversation I had few months ago now about bullyign and what to do when you witness it but are not personally affected. TBH my own experience of reporting things was so disastrously bad I'd be cross if someone reported a thing on my behalf haha. It's not helpful that a lot of the guidance assumes the line manager is a safe person to report things to, like they're never a problem themselves... The most pragmatic thing is sadly to help the bullied person get another job. 🫠

I genuinely dread every time when I need to buy something (people, software, outcome), might be a thing to fix if we shouldn't be doing everything from the ground up....

Various

I had a good time at UK Games Expo, even though it was initially super overwhelming. I met up with some friends, bought way too many games, and went to a game design workshop where my group made something quite abstract but that actually worked as a fun game! :o Making it my goal to prototype at least 1-2 small things by end of year.

UKGE bonus win: I convinced someone to buy Arcs and we're playing this weekend. 🥳 Ideally we'd find a regular 4th but fingers crossed it works with three. I can't wait for the Fangs & Fortune expansion to Ahoy to come out as well, both the factions seem super fun to play. 👏

STILL WAITING FOR THE COMPLETION DATE but at least my mortgage rate went down by 0.5% since the initial calculation. It'll offset the stamp duty a bit I suppose. 🙃

I (re)discovered Baikal seals and I'm now convinced petting one would fix me.

I enjoyed this personal video by PushingUpRoses where she talks about how therapeutic ceramics have been to here. Personally throwing makes me feel like I'm on the brink of madness (can't fucking center), but as someone with fairly powerful 'could a depressed person make THIS' energy I appreciate her being open about it. Something to relate to innit.

Moved Ghent trip to October from this weekend and it only cost me £28 extra. 😌

I went to Java Whiskers' crochet with cats evening and like anythign else cat cafe related it was terrible value for money.. worth doing once tho. The cats were cute but I was not willing to compromise my yarn integrity for their amusement so I was not the most popular person there. ;(

The Grayson Perry exhibit at Wallace Collection was fantastic, just a really fun concept done so well. His ceramics were probably the least interesting piece which speaks to the quality of everything else.

Arts & crafts

Ralsei

Aimee the Sheep (pictured below being made at Nagare 👌)

Fox and a Cat

a very easy hat

I got started on the potter's blanket pattern from Toft, but adding pinks as well (since I had a lot of 8/8 cotton in whites, pinks, and blues)

Hello Kitty (waiting for a friend she was gifted to finish making an outfit before I can post)

two floral pairs of earrings at a workshop by Rosa Pietsch

I have a crochet backlog of gifts only, starting with Jigglypuff in 8/8 cotton that is making my hands cramp up something awful. I'm never buying that weight again, it works fine for the granny squares but otherwise it's bloody murder.

Watched and played

Kathy Rain 2: too direct of a sequel IMO, and the supernatural elements were the weakest part of 1. The Whedonian tone got really old since then too. Some gorgeous pixel art and more traditional investigation were fun, but a solid 6/10 for me at most.

Star Trek TNG. I am almost done, in the middle of the 7th season which is loaded to the brim with everyone's extended families for some odd reason. The grandma-loving ghost is probably the most fun of the bunch. Overall, a very enjoyable series and I can see myself returning to some episodes (not the non-binary planet one). I wish K'Ehleyr wasnt't killed off, I wish Ro Laren's biggest role after her intro wasn't fucking Riker, I wish Geordi's captain mom existed as a character before dying, I wish ManWithNoName!Troi was just how she always was. And most of all I wish there was and ep with Q *and* Lwaxana because I love to see Picard suffer. 😌 But I guess I'll have to make do with a book.

Final Destination 6. So many deaths that were just... splats. The flashback intro was amazing tho and some kills were fun - but nothing will top The Monkey for that this year and possibly many to come.

Phoenician Scheme. Very pretty, very aesthetic, that was all that I needed from it.

Tornado. Scottish samurai western sounds cool as hell but the characters made stupid unrealistic decisions all of the time (NOT in a fun way) and I ended up more exasperated that entertained.

Evangelion: Death (True). Weird af recap, to be honest, just made me feel like I should rewatch the series. ✋

Next up

Hades II update?! Deltarune... tomorrow!! D:

the Undertale concert

Sashiko embroidery workshop