Ceridwen’s Cauldron

Hi guys! As you know, I’ve been knitting and/or crocheting a lot lately. Actually, there are many related posts to come. I know this thought fills you all with joy, because it means I’m updating, and writing.

I’ve run into some problems. See, I like to be sneeeeeeaky about making things for people, but it’s really difficult when you’re knitting things like gloves and hats and socks, because you need to know how big people’s hands/heads/feet are. And there’s no real sneaky way to do that (unless you have a significant other I can have tell me your shoe or glove or hat size. If they know it. Which they don’t always.)

But since I have a blog, I can be a bit sneaky about this while also being totally blatant. The fact is, I need measurements from many of you, so if you could leave answers to the following meme in my comments, I would appreciate it very much, and you might even get a nice handmade object out of it*!

1. IMPORTANT: Make sure you sign your comment with your name, either your real name or one I know you buy from the comments, or LJ (Such as Owldaughter, Toowob, Fearsclave….)
2. What is your shoe size? Bonus points if you go find a measuring tape and give me your foot measurement from the back of your heel to the tip of your big toe. You’ll need the measuring tape anyway for future steps.
3. Any special instructions on your foot size? I know at least one of you has especially narrow feet, that’s a good thing to mention.
4. How big around is your head? (You in the back. I hear you snickering. Stop being juvenile.) This is for hat size. If you’re not sure where to measure, there is an explanation here.
   ETA: Please keep in mind that I make novelty costume hats for people, as I come up with ideas. It’s been a while since I did the Pharaoh thing for Mackay, but I do make them. So yes, even if you abhor hats, I would like to know how big your noggin is. You can also note that you abhor hats, though. I don’t mind. Also, it’s Canada, and we have winter, and it gets cold fast without head covering, and if I want to make you a snuggly warm winter hat, I need to know your head size. SO THERE.
5. How long is your hand? Measure from the base of your palm to the tip of your longest finger.
6. How wide is your wrist? ETA: I need the distance around, not just across.
7. Are there any colours you especially hate and will never wear? This doesn’t come up in everyday conversation, but if you would never, not in a million years, wear something green, you should really let me know before I make you that complex scarf in green cashmere. (Not that I’m planning anything of the sort at the moment, since if I could afford cashmere I’d be making something for myself, but you never know.)
8. Any sensitivities/allergies to wool? Please specify if it is a sensitivity or an allergy. I find some wool unbearably scratchy, but I can wear the really soft stuff without problems, and that’s what I generally work with.

I think that’s all for now. I will edit if I think of anything else. Please don’t assume that you are not now or will never be on my list. You’d be surprised how far the yarn generosity stretches. (And yes, I do have a list. It is long.)

*The caveat on this is that I have a zillion ideas and the attention span of an overcaffeinated gnat. I may or may not have an idea that suits you. I may or may not stay interested in knitting long enough to get to it. I may or may not stay interested in any given project enough to finish it. I may or may not have the talent to pull off an idea I have. There are all kinds of reasons why you may not get a hand-knit (or crocheted, or quilted, or whatever) object from me, and it has nothing to do with how much I love or respect you. It totally relies on inspiration, time, and attention span. You have been warned.

Posted by Ceri under Crafts and Sewing | 5 Comments »

My time on the train is precious to me. People ask me if it would be easier/faster/cheaper if we just took our car into work every day, and the answer is “Maybe, but not much, and I like the train.”

I like the train because it gives me time to do what I want. Read. Write. Play video games on my DS. Most often of late, it’s knit.

I’m finding knitting thrilling, and I can’t put my finger on exactly why it is. But every day when I have a ‘good knitting morning’, where I get a lot done and don’t screw up too often, I come in to work with a smile on my face. I’m excited and even happy. A few days ago I turned the heel of a sock on the metro. I had the instructions in front of me. It wasn’t hard, but I felt like a superstar.

It really is the best time of the day – quiet, productive, doing something that I really want to be doing, with nothing to interrupt me. I’m always a little sorry when I have to put it away and go and do my grown-up work. I love my job, but I also love the knitting.

And maybe one of the best things about it is that the knitting is certain. Yes, there’s a huge potential for screw ups. Yes, there have been dropped stitches, and ripping back, and not understanding the pattern, and that one incident where  a needle point embedded itself in my palm as I put the bag away, but I mostly know when I’ve screwed up. And I can go back and fix it, with varying levels of difficulty (ripping back 2 inches of sock you’ve painstakingly knit is heartbreaking, but doable).

Writing? Writing’s not like that. Apart from obvious things like spelling and grammar, There’s no objective way of telling when I’ve screwed up. I can make educated guesses, but there’s no way of knowing if an explanation is too wordy, a clever line of dialogue is going to fall flat when it’s read in game, if the character arc is just not going to come across in the final version (and while there might be a general consensus, not everyone’s going to agree on that, either.) I do the best I can, but I have no real control over how objectively good something is — I just make it as good as I can, and I make the best choices I can, and I spend a good deal of time worrying about it. But it’s not as easy as looking at something and saying “Huh. Purled when I should have knit. Better fix that.” It’s more like “I don’t think I feel the tension in this scene. Is there really not enough? What can I do to fix it? Is that the best solution? Does this solution even work?”

Is it any wonder that the knitting is the most satisfying part of my day?

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 6 Comments »

At least when I was working on a story treatment, the story was changing and getting better every time I refined it. We answered new questions. It started to feel finished.

With this it’s all about choosing exactly the right word to give just the right impression, without changing the story at all, but simplifying it into less than 200 words.

The Creative Director just made a comment about how difficult and time-consuming this is. I told him it’s like writing poetry. Every word counts, and it has to be just the right words and just the right phrases or it doesn’t work and you have to revise.

I’m working on version 7 (that I’ve counted, there might have been one or two others that were very preliminary). It has to be stomped into submission by the end of the day. We are getting closer to what we need, but frankly I am sick of this thing landing back in my inbox over and over and over again.

Woe, I am in document hell.

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 5 Comments »

Took this picture last week, but am a slacker and so am only now uploading it. My book, caught in the wild:

It’s a cellphone photo so the quality isn’t great, but there it is, on the shelf of a real bookstore. The Chapters in Pointe-Claire to be exact.

Not to be outdone by my father, my in-laws located the book in a Barnes & Noble in Florida and cleaned them out of copies (2 copies, the second is for my Brother-in-law)

Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Mike have read the story and phoned to say they loved it. BEHOLD! I have legions of adoring fans!

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 3 Comments »

Destorying.

I did mean ‘destroying’, of course. I think destorying can happen in at least two cases:

1. You realize your story is too complex and go back and rework it so it’s much, much, simpler.
2. At the end of the game, when you have to go back and cut scenes because they interfere with gameplay, or there isn’t time to animate them all.

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 3 Comments »

Monday – Due to the time changing, the automatic coffeemaker is set up and on, but coffee is not ready in the morning.

Tuesday – Things are fixed. We have coffee.

Wednesday – I set up the coffee pot but forget to switch it to “auto”, so there is no coffee in the morning.

Thursday – Scott and I set up the coffee pot and one of us (probably me) forgets to turn it to ‘auto’, so there is AGAIN no coffee in the morning.

Mornings this week are just NOT working out for me.

The days and evenings have all been great, though. So let it be known that the augury by automatic coffee pot experiment has returned poor results.

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 5 Comments »

Due to the presence of my Biggest Fan in Halifax (AKA my father), the Bayer’s Lake chapters is now sold out of my book.

Never fear, though. Dad has not yet cleaned out the supply at MicMac Mall (3 copies 2 Copies) , or the 2 at the Coles in the Halifax Shopping Centre. Or you can get them to order in another copy.

Of course, my parents aren’t planning on hoarding the copies. They’ll be given out to people (I’m absurdly pleased that my parents are as excited as I am. Possibly more excited.) The word from the fam is that my Grandmother has read the story and loved it, my parents loved it (”Where do you get these ideas?”), my aunt Anne has approved, and my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Mike are next on the list to read it.

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 7 Comments »

On Saturday night, I had a dream. In the dream, I was at work, trying to work out the couple of major story kinks that now remain, on top of trying to smooth over some other plot points that I’m not quite happy with.

And I came up with something. It meant making some plot changes, but it was going to improve the entire game. It smoothed out the kinks, it brought two of the characters’ stories together neatly.

I spent the rest of the dream trying to write my idea down. People kept interrupting me, or trying to, and I kept saying “Just wait. Wait a minute. I have to get this down.

Eventually I did get it down, and I sent it to my boss, and I was waiting to hear back from him. Which is when, of course, I woke up.

And knowing this was a dream, you’ve probably guessed the punch line already, which is that I have absolutely no clue what this idea was, apart from some very strong static images from the dream, which tell me nothing. Not a scrap of the idea remains. It may not even be an idea at all, but the feeling that I had an idea, in which case me trying to remember it is entirely useless.

I can’t decide if this is better or worse than having a brilliant idea when you’re falling asleep and forgetting to write it down. At least in that case I had the opportunity to remember the idea. In this case, I can only grasp after it, knowing that in my dream I knew enough to write it down.

And two days later, I am still struggling with the same problems, and the need to solve them is getting more urgent.

However, this discussion about Indiana Jones reminds me that these problems need to be talked through, need to be decided on, and can’t be rushed. I just have to keep pecking away at it and hope it will gel.

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 3 Comments »

Not only did I lose an hour of time yesterday without realizing it, leaving me running behind instead of feeling like I was up and ready at a reasonable hour, but this morning I realized that the only clock in my house I forgot to change is the one on the automatic coffee maker, meaning the carafe was sad and empty when I got up.

While I certainly appreciated the extra light while I was cooking supper last night, I’m now getting up in the dark again, which is exactly as difficult as I remember it being a month or so ago. I feel as if the sunlight has been yanked away from me (which I suppose it has).

No, no, there’s nothing of import in this post. Just me grumbling about small things on a Monday morning. Move along.

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 5 Comments »

My boss and I have finally hammered out a summary of the game that we are happy with and I have duly sent it off to all the appropriate people on the team.

To distract myself from the wibbling about feedback (though really, there is very little wibbling right now – maybe I’m getting used to this?) I’m moving directly onto the next writing thing I have to do, which is a character bible.

This is good. I was beginning to feel like I’d finish the final version of this treatment a week after the game shipped…

Posted by Ceri under Scribbles | 7 Comments »