The other day I mentioned that shawl that will take me a year. It’s the Botanical Lace Wrap. I bought the yarn last August (2022) during a family trip to webs. I kept looking at the two skeins, trying to decide on a pattern. I cast on early December 2022 and worked on it a bunch. It slowly went from a long rectangle, to a square, to a tall rectangle. I realized I was binging and then burning out on it.
I took a break to do some other time sensitive projects, and went back to it with more determination. I finally realized that I couldn’t keep doing a bunch of rows and then not touching it for a week or two. When I finished the first skein I saw some hope - and did some math on how long it would take me to finish it at a slow pace.I went on the two rows a day plan. I do a front and back row (it has pattern on both sides, so no break) and then I usually put it away. Every once in a while I’ll do 4 or 6 rows, but I also have a second knitting project that I’m excited about, so it’s usually only 2 rows. I manages to do the previous shawl (pebble beach) while still making progress on the botanical lace wrap. I have another project finished and drying, and another about a third done, while still making progress on this wrap. I should have it done sometime late November or early December.
I am a huge fan of this method. Hmmm… Chipping away at something, nibbled to death by ducks, slow and steady? What do you call it?
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A steed for those adventurers who like to go questing at a slow and steady pace. 🐢
Hello all, I hope your Thursday is treating you well.
I made this tortoise armor among others back in February for Loreamours Animal Armorium and only remembered recently that I hadn’t shared it here yet.
That being said this Travel Tortoise just wanted to say,
There's a lot going on right now, so remembered to be patient with yourself and take each moment as it comes. Processing these hard times, and healing takes time. While we may want change to happen overnight, there’s a long journey ahead, so just remember,
You are not alone,
You are loved,
And together we can overcome any obstacle in our way, no matter the size.
Please take care of yourselves. ❤️
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Vivienne de Fer
I love her so much, she's absolutely fascinating to me. i had to split this up into parts because it was taking WAY too long to write, so for right now i'll be addressing the following four actions of interest:
in the circle, didn't join any fraternity
became court enchanter
joined the Inquisition and dealt with Marquis Alphonse at the same time
fought alongside the Inquisitor in the field
in the circle, didn't join any fraternity
this seems fairly remarkable to me because Vivienne openly vies for positions of political power, and the fraternities do have political and social power. but she rejects all of them and instead proceeds alone - why? standing alone wouldn't necessarily make her stand out from the crowd, and even if she disagreed with the particularities of the each fraternity's politics, that hasn't stopped her from throwing in with other groups.
i can think of a few reasons: being a little more naive in her youth (possible but least likely imo), being overwhelmingly assured of her ability to get what she wants on her own, or, the one i think is most likely: she didn't want to be tied down or locked in place. by aligning herself with a fraternity, she would have expressed support of their goals and she wasn't willing to do that, because of the doors such support might close in her future. she keeps her options open
became court enchanter
not only is this a remarkable achievement in and of itself, one which might have benefited from her not having joined a fraternity (leaving people a little more uncertain about her particular politics and stances), but she also fundamentally and radically changed the position. instead of being something akin to a magical entertainer, she instead became a political advisor. think about that. a mage becoming a political advisor to Empress Celene. she has a deep mastery of the game from having been entrenched in it for so long, and having had to use it to gain that position in the first place. she is remarkably cunning and always, always playing the long game. but seriously, i think it's easy to forget just how big of a deal her changing the nature of the position really is. and Orlais is racist - banter between Cole and Vivienne reveals as much. so to have a Black woman, a Black mage, become the first magical advisor to the empress? to have her be able to weigh in on matters of politics at that level? she is remarkable.
joined the inquisition and dealt with Marquis Alphonse at the same time
so, she arranges a party and invites the Inquisitor to attend. i think it's quite safe to assume that she arranged the party primarily in order to join the Inquisition, something she very much wants to do - because, as ever, she wants to be in a position where she can shape change, and she wants to be part of the largest political entity at the given time. she sees early on that it's going to be the Inquisition
but she has another reason: Marquis Alphonse. there's a bit of banter between her and Cole that reveals that he'd insulted her before and she manipulated him into attacking the Inquisitor at the party, allowing her the opportunity to repay his insult and possibly gain the Inquisitor's esteem. also, by allowing his fate to be in the Inquisitor's hands she subtly strengthens the view of the Inquisitor's power and control, and thus the power of the Inquisition.
she wants to join the Inquisition, but she also wants the force she allies herself with to be strong, and she knows the Inquisitor is the face of it. the Inquisitor's power, grace, cunning, everything will ripple out and reflect on those who are aligned with them, as Vivienne well knows. so regardless of the Inquisitor's choice, the Inquisition is given apparent primacy in deciding the Marquis' fate - but really, it's Vivienne setting the stage, creating a scene that bolsters the burgeoning force of the inquisition, and dealing with a poltical insult all at the same time.
she doesn't do anything for no reason, and rarely does things for just one reason.
fought alongside the Inquisitor in the field
i mean, yes, she's a companion, but i still find this quite interesting. she's clearly pursuing some lofty goals in her life... so the fact that she joins the Inquisition on the field of battle? is remarkable.
she's absolutely confident about her own capability, of course - and with good cause! she's a force. but you can end up fighting a LOT of templars, and it's just... she's a mage. fighting templars. it no longer matters that she has a very pro-templar view, because these are largely red templars and they don't care, but they're still able to disrupt magic.
and ofc no one knew when she first joined that you'd end up fighting red templars, but everyone who joined the Inquisition did know that they were going into a very threatening situation. but she was willing. she put herself in harms way. i believe she was originally designed to an advisor but then later became a companion, and that interests me, too, because it really shifts the narrative - she would have made a really good advisor! like, seriously! she's directly connected to the Orlesian court and to the circles and whatever loyalist survivors are left, she's powerful, political, shrewd, and it would have been so interesting to see her perspective at the war table
but instead, a companion. an ally on the field of battle. putting herself at risk. why? to save the world? to shape it? to do both? to gain political power and prestige? i feel like the main reason she joins is because the Inquisition holds the most potential and she wants to see where it goes - and, yes, have a hand in shaping it. she understands how much impact the inquisition in particular will have on the future of mages, although i don't think even she realizes at first that the Inquisitor will end up impacting who becomes divine - the sheer scale of the Inquisition seems to be a bit of a surprise to everyone. but she sees the potential. she gets in early. she shapes it.
she wants to control the things that frighten her, the things that are powerful and unchecked, and the best way to do that is by being hands-on about it. she can't shape things from a safe distance and she's willing to take calculated risks in order to be a part of a massive force of change and direction.
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..Slut
FAR from being complete, updates here will be rare
He is rather lovely 😍
I think this pattern uses sixteen colours
✨️Not for sale; not taking commissions; will not donate✨️
Edit:
I found the original picture online, and I have no idea who the original artist is. The program I am using is called Cross Stitch Embroidery, and I'm using an iPad. According to the app, I'm 5% into the pattern.
Everything I'm using is FREE. I will not sell due to the fact that the only thing I have paid for is the price of my iPad.
For those that have messaged me, thank you again for the interest, but due to my moral compass, I can not sell it due to:
Being unable to trace back to the artist and give them the credit for their work
I'm using a free version of the app 💁🏼♀️
The app is giving me problems, the symbols don't always reflect the colour
I'll try to post more WIPs in the future
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