Let’s see… when last we left our Intrepid Heroine, she was about to get her first Covid vaccine… no, wait, that was two weeks ago. What was last week? Oh! Right! When last we left our Intrepid Heroine, she was about to take a few days off for a family funeral. Funerals in the Plague Years are weird, yo. This was actually someone who passed away a little over a year ago, but we’d been holding off on having the funeral until it was safe to travel. Now the people who were traveling are all vaccinated, so we went ahead and took care of it. The burial was out at Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery here in Gainesville, which is a natural, or green cemetery (if you’re curious you can read more here: https://www.prairiecreekconservationcemetery.org/). I took a few days off to hang with family, and am glad I did. It was really good to see them. And now, here I am, back to work! Let’s see what’s going on in the studio this week!
In ceramics, I am having a lot of fun playing around. I know there are things I’m sold out on, but I really needed this playtime to jumpstart my brain. I’ve ordered a bunch of new shapes, templates, and cutters… one might say “toys” but one might also say “tools”… and I’m really having fun playing with the new things and seeing what they want to be. I’m also working on some new things for GLAM at the end of the month; I want to have some new planters to debut there. I’m working on some hanging planters, mostly, but also little llama piñata planters. And possibly some small cat planters.
In soap, I do have some that I need to wrap and get listed, but I’m thinking I might need to hold onto them until GLAM rather than list them. I spent a few hours online last night going through my regular soap distributors to find out that pickings are once again pretty slim with what I need and in what quantity. Covid has really done a number on the soap world, y’all. Some places I buy from look like they might be closing soon, they’re so low on supplies, but they don’t mention on their website that they’re closing… but some are straight up going out of business… some are out of plastic and glass supplies… most are out of the most popular soap bases… a lot of fragrances are being discontinued… for a hot minute yesterday while looking for supplies I honestly thought I might be looking at the end of soap at HaldeCraft. I managed to find a little bit of what I needed, though, so knock on wood this is just a little bit of a dry spell, and a few months from now when I go to order more, what I want will be easier to find. Sigh. I don’t want to not offer soap, but if that’s a decision I need to make, I’d rather make it because it’s time for me to make it, not because I’m being forced into it from lack of supplies.
In yarn, I have a lot on the drying racks right now, I just need time to wind it!
In Patreon, I’ve lost a few patrons lately, and I’m kind of at a loss about what to do. I can see from my end that with a couple of them, it was because payment didn’t go through, not because they actually canceled patronage… am I supposed to say something? Does Patreon send them a note? I don’t want to send them a note because I don’t want to make it weird… like, “hey, did you mean to not give me money?” Hahahahaha! I do NOT want to put someone in the position of having to answer THAT one to my face. Anyway. Because of the funeral, I’m running a bit late on this month’s chapter. It will be going up this coming Sunday. But in a turn of events, I already have the April yarn dyed AND the April ceramics made. So overall I’m feeling ahead of things this month! Who am I?!
In knitting, I’m at the heel turn for both of the socks I was working on over the weekend. I knit socks toe-up, so toe, foot, heel, leg, cuff. I like to knit socks toe-up because if you’re in love with the yarn, knitting that way is a great way to be able to use every bit of the yarn without having to worry about running out at the toes.
In the HaldeCult, someone around here (I’m going to blame Troublesome, Vice President of Forum Affairs) has fallen behind in daily writing prompts. So it’s been quiet over there this week, but I’ll have the conversation prompts up by Friday or Saturday!
In other things… eh, I think that’s about it….? I mentioned last week that April was going to be pretty busy, and that’s still true. Fun, but busy. Well, okay, figuring my quarterly sales tax isn’t “fun” but it is pretty routine after ten years. And next week I get my second Covid shot… hopefully I’ll be feeling well enough next Wednesday to write a post! Pretty much everyone I’ve talked to has said that the second shot knocked them on their butts, especially when they had little or no reaction to the first one… so I’m not sure what to expect.
So that’s about it for me… what about you? How’s your week going? What are you working on? Reading? Listening to? Watching? Tell me how your week is going!