I used to have high, high hopes for my novel Nevdroonia. Such as having it entirely finished by now. Such as having it edited by now.

Bah.

As many of you know, many things have been going on in my family, and in addition to that I have an incredible amount of schoolwork. Whoever said that homeschooling must be easy don't know a thing. I put in seven to eight hours of hard work a day-- no sitting in boring lectures or chatting to friends by the locker or watching movies in class. I've been escaping more-- reading or doing simple art/craft projects in my free time.

As a result, my writing has suffered. I am only 80% done with Nevdroonia. I finally got over a huge writer's block, when I couldn't figure out what would happen next. (You see, I started this project with no definite end or outline, something I'm not likely to repeat on a full length novel). I now know how the climax will work.

But it is so hard to find time for writing, and I wonder when I will ever finish. Oh, my big dreams still carry on. I have a sequel formed in my mind. I have another-- much better-- story planned, which may or may not take place in the land of Nevdroonia. (If it does, Nevdroonia would be changed around quite a bit.)

But if things carry on in the way they have been wont these past few months, I won't be done by next NaNoWriMo. Arugh.

I've always been facinated with Fair Isle knitting, where different colors are switched in and out of a project, often with facinating results. Through... well, I wouldn't call it stubborness, but for some reason or another, I've never actually learned to knit. And I really, really wanted to do this Fair Isle thing.

So I learned about Tapestry Crocheting! I used THESE INSTRUCTIONS. The website has some videos that I'm sure are helpful but that I haven't watched.




I first started with a little iPod case, but I did it in the round with a complicated knitting grid and it didn't really turn out.

What you see in the top picture is a (rather poor) second attempt. I followed a knitting grid for a Fair Isle bag with a Gryffindor design on it. Crocheting, apparenlty, is much larger than knitting. If I were to finish this, it would be a banner instead of a bag. :P

The nice thing about tapestry crochet is that switching yarns is easy (provided you twist before you yo!) and it is two sided.

I crocheted William a new Gryffindor scarf! I did it in double crochet (as opposed to the previous hat I made) and did it while watching the Olypmpics. Its five feet long!!!

 Why did I need to make a while new scarf when I had a perfectly good one I made last year? Was it because I wanted one for myself (which I kind do)?

No. The old one was stolen. We put it on our ginormous Mr. George Snowman. It was only supposed to stay on the snowman that day, but it got left out there and was stolen overnight. :(

After my last post, where everyone seemed to think I drew a self portrait, I decided to see if I could draw a self portrait. After all, my 'drawing-people-so-they-actually-look-like-themselves' skills are terrible.

I drew this picture at an angle-- I was in the bathroom (what you see is a mirror image!) and the counter was too wet to put my sketchbook on. The angle I drew it at looks better. Oh, if the glasses look cricked and falling down my nose, that's because they are. They are five years old and have been in too many volleyball games.

The next picture is a self-portrait I drew three years ago. You can see that I was so hopeful I'd be able to get thin, workable hair.... lolol
I didn't scan this... sorry for the picture quality.

There you go, dear readers. Pictures of me, since I don't really want to put photos of me on the public blog. :)

I didn't make this to be a self-portrait. It doesn't look like me at all, to me. I drew it as a random person from my imagination.

But my little sister, who watched me sketch this, said, "Oooh, Shaylynn, it's you!"

Today my toddler brother, who loves going through my sketchbook and looking at all the "purples" (colors), came to me, thrust it in my face, and said, "Zay-zay! Oo!"

My other brother heard, and said, "You didn't do a very good job making it look like you. You should put glasses on it."

I thought that was funny so I scanned it in to tell you guys.

While I was writing this, another brother came in and said, "Why've you got an unfinished picture on the computer? Uh, who's that? That supposed to be you?"

I still don't see it. :P

Found more art pictures in an old file! :)

I made the above picture when I was around 12. It was for a church/school auction. The Last Supper drawing below was also for the auction. (Click READ MORE below)

*WIP= Work In Progress

When we first moved to R., we got some paintings to hang on the wall. They were right next to the windows and got terribly faded. I painted over them (adding my own little changes) a couple years ago. Going over two old paintings was very good for me-- it helped me realize that painting is not so difficult and set me off on a painting craze. I found WIP pictures in an old file. Enjoy!


Here you can see one painting done (I have since finished it better) and the other faded painting. Both have been entirely finished for awhile now; must find a picture.

EDIT: Pictures of the finished paintings-- I finished the last one a year ago.