Month: April 2015

Latest makes

~ DMWCarol ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been doing a bit of knitting.

dolls

They’re based on the Rufus the Leprechaun pattern which I found online.  I changed the colours, lost the beard and added a skirt, wings and hair for the fairy and big ears and a pointy hat for the elf.

I had a terrible time with the scalloped edging to the fairy skirt, but I got there in the end by mingling together various different patterns I’d seen online.  It sort of works if you don’t look too closely.

Anyway, they are off to their new owners tonight (a young brother and sister I know through my part time job) so hopefully they will get lots of loving and no picking over the details.

First week of the craftworks course

~ DMWCarol ~ Leave a comment

Well that was a long morning.  We spent absolutely ages doing paperwork, all of it dull to the extreme.  Pages and pages of it.

Eventually though we got to do something a bit more fun.  We were all given journals and loads of different scrapbooking materials which we had free reign to use to decorate said journal.

I would post a picture but I went a bit crazy with the glitter glue so mine is still drying and I won’t bring it home until next week.

It was an interesting bunch of people.  I don’t think any of them are really that interested in making stuff to sell.  Most seemed to just be looking for a social morning.  It was all female, mostly over 50 and I think most of the others already know each other from the WI and suchlike.  Still, the course sounds like it will cover all the stuff I need to learn so it’s worth going.

And the crafts?

~ DMWCarol ~ 2 Comments

I like making things.  I’m lucky enough that I can usually manage to make whatever I set my mind to reasonably adequately.  I can visualise things in 3d which helps and am reasonably good about attention to detail.  I used to be better, but I have a dodgy right hand these days so my fine motor control isn’t what it used to be and I can’t keep working for hours on end.  I get by though.

I knit, usually chainmail but with wool too on occasion.  I made my hubby a Dr Who scarf which he is very proud of.  That was my biggest project so far, it took an absolute age to make but mostly because I left it for weeks and weeks between doing any.  I mostly make chainmail jewelry rather than armour for reasons of hand.  I make normal beady type jewelry too, that’s quick and easy so great for when the pain levels are high but the itch to make something won’t go away.

I sometimes make costumes and props for games and random ‘stuff and things’ for friends or particular occasions. The last thing I made was a cross stitch sampler for a friends wedding, current project is a pair of knitted dolls for another friend.

I have an etsy shop and a folksy shop but haven’t yet gotten around to populating them.  To be honest I am absolutely dreadful at selling stuff.  Giving it away is much easier and I like seeing people wearing things I have made.  I wish I was better at the selling bit, I think the stuff I make is good enough to sell I just don’t have those skills.

I’ve just signed up for a crafts course that is supposed to include advice on how to make and sell so here’s hoping it makes a difference.

My to do list craftwise is currently dominated by ‘learn to crochet’ it looks a lot more portable than knitting and seems to be faster which can only be a good thing.

So where are we starting from – the writer

~ DMWCarol ~ Leave a comment

I’m a writer.  It’s just something I do.  I’ve had quite a few pieces of erotica published over the years but most of what I’ve written has never been read by anyone but me, or has been posted online somewhere, pretty much ignored, and long since forgotten.  I’d almost stopped doing it except for personal use, I just wasn’t finding the time between working and my roleplaying obsession.

This year I’m trying to do things a bit differently.  I’ve started looking at calls for submission and writing stories to fit.  I’ve sent things to publishers rather than just posting them online.  As a result my story Brisingamen has been accepted by Torquere Press for their Mythologically Torqued anthology and I have just spent today editing it to send back for final review.

I’ve also signed up with Great Content – a website that pays you to write content for other people’s websites and have written a few short pieces for them.  It’s not much but it is being paid to be a writer on a day to day basis which feels kinda good (but not as good as the actual having a story in a book thing obviously).

I’d really like to get some game related writing published that’s top of my wish list, and maybe some fantasy type stories, but the most important thing is to actually write.  I want to be not just a writer but a successful writer with something to show for it.

Hello world!

~ DMWCarol ~ Leave a comment

So people keep telling me I should try blogging.  I’m not entirely sure what I’ll write about – probably my various dabblings with crafts and recipes and writing and whatnot. I’m not promising to be interesting or different.

I’m hoping having a blog will inspire me to actually be more creative and give me a way to connect with other people who have similar interests to my own.

If you happen to drop by, please do leave me a comment, it would be nice to know who reads and what you think.