autumn check in and goals for the end of 2025 🎀

 Hello, hope all is well 🍂

It's time for my semi regular check in where I make goals to finish projects and try to avoid over-buying!

Thoughts on spending from now 'til the new year

• I suppose it's nothing revolutionary, but I have enough yarn to work on several projects; therefore I don't want to buy any more!
• I even have some sock yarn (some handspun, some bought) which I can use for gifts if I feel I need to make some for the coming festive period
• I'm not going to get more art supplies; to be fair I haven't gotten new art supplies in a while; my art practice at the moment is just sketching here and there at night; I do want to change this though, more about that later!
• I have a few household expenses that I will allow myself:
• A small amount of paint (ideally reclaimed/recycled) for the bedroom, 1 wall
• A duvet cover, 2nd hand or new if I can't find something suitable ✅

Goals for the rest of 2025

• Finish some pots for gifts
• This is well underway, I need to stop myself from giving away pots before festivities though!
• Finish my linus shawl
• I did it last week while visiting family, woohoo
• Finish Emily's hat (gift)
• I have almost finished the hat, I need to make a bobble and attach it though. I'm putting it off because it's been ages since I've done one and I'm not sure how good it'll be
• Mittens for Steph
• All I've done so far is roll up a ball of yarn. Patterns scoped out but haven't started.
• Start Japanese classes again
• I fell off the wagon and I don't want to lose my Japanese!

Stretch Goals

• Work on Charlie's jumper project (about 30% done at the moment)
• It's big, but it is worsted weight yarn so maybe it won't be too bad?
• Start a poncho for myself
• This is definitely a stretch goal, as I have other stuff to work on that's higher priority 😌
• Sell a few bits on eBay before postal service gets hectic
• Just decluttering a bit; I had a wedding I went to and I wore a dress I'd bought for a previous wedding to be a bridesmaid. It's a wrap dress and it's beautiful but I hate wearing it! So I will pass it on to someone else, hopefully 😌 and then maybe someday I can invest in something that I feel much more comfortable in, or make something, or simply abstain from getting anything...

dropping by to share some glazed pots 🍯

Just popping by to share some of the glazed pots, I still have four waiting to be fired as well!

These are some from the throwing class I posted about previously. I've been experimenting with different glazes and underglaze and cobalt carbonate (the blue on white).

Some learnings are:

• Black underglaze works well not only with the transparent glaze but also the translucent green and amber glazes. I reckon it'll work well unser the green in the bottom right too.
• The studio's shiny white combined with translucent green makes a minty colour that I quite like.
• I need patience and clean dry hands for glazing. It's really easy to leave accidental marks on things.
• Beware of wet tongs - if water transfers onto the pot surface it can disrupt the application of glaze.
• For non potters, we use the tongs to hold pots while dipping them in glaze - we can also hold pots using our hands but have to be careful about unintended finger marks etc. There are also brush on glazes that you can apply with a paintbrush but the ones available to me in the studio are all dipping glazes!
• Specific to the studio's glazes - I feel like the green glazes could use a longer dip.
• I also suspect the clear glaze could too since it's so thin, but I am wary that it might start to make the underglaze look cloudy. Need to test this; not enough time!

Some more trimmed pots 🍯

 

Trimmed these fellows in the most recent class; we have our last one tonight, glazing!

I've enjoyed doing this 6 week throwing course, felt like I've learned a bunch and also made a load of pots I can give away as gifts (I'll keep one or two I guess). I hope I can keep throwing afterwards...

As an aside, O has been sleeping terribly lately, so I haven't had a lot of energy outside of work and childcare; hence the lack of posting. I have been able to sketch here and there, and have plodded on with my various knitting projects. 

The only thing that's really coming along is my reading every (ish) night! I've read 3 of the Stormlight Archive books, and am currently trying to make a dent in my 'to be read' pile (also known as the bookcase). I'm taking a break from Stormlight to read Safe Area Gorazde, a non-fiction comic about the Bosnian war, by Joe Sacco. It's gutting.