For the past few weeks, in an attempt to cope with the dramatic events in my flat, I’ve done quite a lot of crocheting. I started with a green vest because it looked simple and I almost always feel cold. I found some nice merino-wool and it does indeed keep me warm. Pondering what to do next, I did some small squares, to try out a few stitches.

Next, inspired by Millie’s ripple blanket I decided I wanted to make one too and I ordered a bunch of alpaca wool to make it. One or two of the colours I had planned didn’t look quite right, and while waiting for the other colours to come in, I made some wristwarmers

I found a nice ripple-pattern on Attic 24, started the blanket and then my youngest sister saw photos and commented on how she wanted one as well. So I made her one, made myself a little phone-sock and then finished my blanket.

I tried making a top but had to frog it due to massive mistakes I made, and have started another one

Perhaps the mild weather helps, because so far, my hands have not hurted at all and I’ve only had discomfort in my arm (less than a handful of times). Surprisingly, writing does hurt. I guess I’ll go with the flow on this one, and crochet myself into oblivion for as long as I can and want to.

I wanted this pen for a while and decided to treat myself to it. Its arrival experienced some delay (apparently, we have postal strikes) but it did arrive safe and sound eventually.

And it looks absolutely stunning in real life. The photos don't capture the shiny of the flowers very well, and it looks much better in daylight than it does in artificial light. I bought it for the pretty-factor, and much to my delight, it also writes well. I wrote several letters with it so far, and yes, after four pages my hand will hurt, but normally I don't even last four pages.

Some more photos of it, and its writing:

I've used my ink-samples to paint for a while now and I thought I'd share my 'trick'. Not really a trick, but it makes it easy to use them.

Before I open the vial, I shake it, so inkdrops stick to the cap.

When I take the cap off, I simply add a few drops of water (or more, depending on the dilution I want). I use a temporary cap to keep the vial safe (I speak from experience cough).

And then I paint. :D

When I don't need it anymore, I discard the contents of the cap, wipe it clean and screw it back. This way, the ink stays clean and I don't feel I waste much of it. Sometimes when a vial almost completely runs out -- because I have in fact put the ink in a pen shocker -- I'll add water to the vial itself and mark it for 'paint'. This doesn't always prevent me putting it in a pen anyway, but hey.

I like to switch around my paints (a lot) and found it very annoying to do so when I blue-tacked the paint to the paintbox. I like to squeeze in more paints than the official number so I removed the pan-holder from my tiny paintbox to do so.

I decided to try something else: magnets!

I had ordered a set of magnets a few years ago, and some of them I hadn't used yet. After digging them up from the drawer, and finding some empty pans, I started my project.

Requirements

For this to work you need:

• empty paint pans
• tube paint
• magnets (I used small round magnets )

Steps

Step 1

I used a small tin to help me keep the pan in place. I put the pan on it and placed the magnet inside, roughly in the middle.

Step 2

Filled up the empty pan with paint, about 3/4 full.

Step 3

Stirred the paint with a toothpick to get the air-bubbles out and the paint in the corners. I then left it to dry.

Using a filled pan

I have plenty of pre-filled pans as well, and my bad habit of creating wells in the middle actually came in really handy. After popping the paint out of the pan – it came out easily with some wiggling of a sharp knife (don't hurt yourself) – I place the magnet in the well and added some water. Then I turned the pan over and pushed it down on the paint. With some colours I had to scrap the edges a bit, due to the shape of the pan (more narrow at the bottom).

Letting it all dry

After adding all the pans, I let them dry in the window overnight. Some dried up a bit wonky, I noticed airbubbles on the side and one of my red-browns looks a bit crumbly. These will all receive some extra treatment to smooth them out, but the basics work :)

It works!

And a little movie to show that it works:

Ever since I started colouring with watercolours, I've had trouble scanning them properly. Most scanners I used would suffer from highlight blow-out. The sometimes very detailed changes in colours and intensity would vanish.

By chance, I got to try out the scanner on a Canon Pixma MP540. I set it to 'photo' for the scan (I always do if the scanner has the option) and to my surprise the scan looked very good. It still differs a little from the original but it has that same amount of nuance in colour, and only required a teensy tweak in contrast to make the colours pop. On the left the image from my other scanner, it suffers from highlight blow-out. The second one looks much better.

While updating some of my inkblobs I listened to Michael's podcast in which he -- several times -- mentioned feeling like a zombie. I had to wait for my ink to dry and I couldn't help myself.

Had to draw Michael the Zombie with his teapot and trusty timer...

A few days ago I tried out my new Letraset Promarkers on a new 'icon' of myself. Drawn me doesn't always stay as updated as it should, but finally, one with short hair, a beany and boots. Even though I don't really wear boots. I do have a purple dress though.

I recently had to quit my RA-meds, again. The side-effects (loss of appetite, moodswings, headache, and extra hairloss) got so bad that I couldn’t take it anymore. My doctor and I discussed it and we decided to take a break from medication and see how that goes.

So far, not as fabulous as I hoped. Pains and swellings have returned, minor ones so far. This did however gave me an incentive to train my other hand some more. I’ve done this off and on the past few years and decided to make a bigger effort now. I have cooked (mostly) with the other hand, even chopping veggies, and I did some sketches for my Inkblobs. They don't look very well but they also don't look too bad. I can't seem to draw circles yet, and my 'straight' lines look like bacon strips.

It'll take a while ;)

This afternoon I made some drawings with the Inkling. I sketched some drawings on paper and then transferred them to my computer. I had to figure out how Inkscape works again, but in general, it went smooth and fast.

I think it will help in more easily converting sketches to digital drawings. I like!

November awaits just around the corner of this week, and traditionally, in November I do Nanowrimo. Okay, not every year, most years since 2001 or so. This year I decided to participate again and I have not started anything yet. I'll see where it takes me.

I've also registered for the Sketchbookproject 2012 and hopefully this year I'll get the notebook in time so I can do a little bit often and fill the whole thing up :)

Looking forward to both projects.

I've played around with the Inkling a bit today. It requires a little bit getting used to (I tend to hold my pens low, it appears, and this interferes with the Inkling-signal).

These images show the difference between the drawing on paper (first image) and the vector-image that came from the Inkling device. It looked slightly wobbly, so I simplified the paths, resulting in the third image.

I normally don't draw with ballpoint pens so that required some adaptation on my side. I tried some handwriting and that seemed to go well (image 4). I did notice a slight misalignment every once in a while, usually if I removed the pen from the paper too far. I dotted the flower roughly at the same distance everywhere but it looks off in the Inkling-export. All in all it works pretty well, but I will have to get a hang of the quirks.

I plan to hang things on it that make me smile.

I recently went on a trip to the UK and made a few drawings. This first one I made while we waited for the ferry to cross over with. As a kid I got sea-sick a lot so this trip gave me the opportunity to see if I'd still get sea-sick. See how I try to give it a positive twist?

Yeah, it didn't go so well...

We had some afternoon tea and some food at Tiny Tim's Tearoom where I made a drawing of a chair and a birth-bath. Halfway through my drawing things got moved.

Another time we had tea and food at Cafe 22. I loved the little teapot/cup set and we searched around for them at the shops, but couldn't find them. I ended up ordering a set over the internet, ah well.

We also visited Mike and his husband and played around in the pottery. I messed up a few times and still ended up with a cute little bowl. Hurray!

We went to London for a bit too and I tried drawing St. Paul's Cathedral from Tate Modern. Lots of wind, so my pens rolled of the table and my pages flipped over. That, and I misguessed the amount of space I needed. Ah, well :)

I have filled up three little books with my Inkblobs. The fourth has the writing on the outside and no drawings yet.

I think I'll fill it up pretty soon and then on to the fifth. And a sixth, and probably a seventh and so on.

Clearing out my bookshelves, just in case I have lots of them next year. One has to prepare for these things :)