Ars Gratia Artis

Rather like this.
And so, one of the major projects this year has been working on bringing my gardens back into line. It’s part of an overall arc of making my life more suitable for me, but this is a part that has borne some literal fruit. Hereafter are notes and pictures on projects, and I [...]

Trying to deal with all my technology impediments, that is.
My camera remains gone. I am down to using the video camera for shots, which, even at it’s highest setting, takes crappy stills, and it only works well with Micheal’s desk top. Micheal’s desktop, when it is on, is the only one that can be hooked [...]

Sock Monkey holding a message from K, inscribed in a wax tablet.
Another Boar’s Head gone by, with an in-persona write up here: http://merouda.blogspot.com/2009/12/on-ye-eue-of-ye-day-of-saint-nicholas-i.html
That would be all there really is to say about it; I went, I enjoyed visiting with people, I left. I had st00p1d amounts of trouble putting a winter outfit together, and eventually [...]

I’d like to make this. My patterning skills make it outside my reach right now, though, although the stitches are easy. I love it exactly the way it is:

The most perfect hoodie for me would be, of course, something pink, with a ribbon-wearing skull and crossbones pattern. Yay! I saw exactly the one I want [...]

Part one of this year’s Post Pennsic Planner.
So, for the past couple of years, I have been working on refashioning some linen under dresses as my primary costume project. This is a wrap up entry that discusses what I have learned from the experience and what I plan to do going forward.
First, let me talk [...]

Happy birthday to me. A Certain Age gets nearer with each anniversaire, but, fortunately, as the Baby Boom advances before me, A Certain Age, if it is an actual number, gets a smidge older with passing time. I’m not going to get there quite as fast as I might if this was, say, 1969. I’m [...]

February was a rough work month. There is a certain amount of work that we are each obliged to complete according to the government contract we work under, and February is always a month of long days and cursing one’s salaried status, because there is lots of work, but not a lot of month. It [...]

I have Pandora.com playing (Current: Severina by The Mission UK) and have amused myself briefly by: looking for a Pandora app on Facebook (subsequently found and added to my profile, high honor indeed, because I don’t put many apps on my profile); looking for submission guidelines for some of my favorite imprints so I can [...]

I admit. I have been “cheating,” using the quick interludes with my camera to substitute for writing out my thoughts. The problem with this, of course, is that they slip out so randomly when I do that.
So, first, a little project reportage:

How doth thy garden grow?

The last few moments of working on the November installment [...]

I’d like to say it’s been a hell of a week, but it’s actually been a hell of a fortnight. Fortnight is way better. There is not much opportunity to use such a fabulous word these days. So, actually, I suppose that I would not be happy to say it’s been a hell of a [...]

What a weekend. Week. Month. Year. Just outrageously busy. I thought I was going to have a quiet weekend puttering around the house. Clean a little. Cook a lot. Bake a little. Fix my arrows in preparation for Michaelmas. Work in my garden. Get projects together for future completion. That kind of thing.

But [...]

The Middle Kingdom’s viewing stand, with observers watching one of the battles.
Yeah, not a lot of time and energy for this. But we are back and safe; the weather was far better than last year. This bubba will be choppy. Not unusual there, eh?
In persona write up is up at Dame Merouda Pendray.
Poopie the Pirate [...]

So, here’s the thing. As usual, much to say and little time to say it. Let’s start with something utterly innocuous: Projectland.

At last, I have finished the green linen refashion dress from last year’s Pennsic list; it’s currently accessortized as if it’s late 15th-early 16th c. Flemish working woman, but it’s more strongly based on [...]

I wanted to ride my bike to work today; I’ve been able to a couple of times so far since getting the bike, and I really enjoy it. It’s a little under 4 miles one way; the challenge of the ride is not the distance but staying alive in traffic and that last, exceedingly steep [...]

Knitted bag # 4. There are a couple of other pictures on Flickr, if you want to see them. So that’s the 4th bag I’ve finished (I didn’t write about the 3rd, sparing you one bag report ).This one is knit in the round for the pitcher I commissioned from Hroar ever so [...]