I’ve been (slowly) oh so slowly working away at my LoveNote sweater by TinCanKnits – it’s beautiful and a pretty quick knit, problem is I only get 15 minutes a day (if that) t0 get any of it done, so it’s going pretty slow. I need to knit two more inches on the body, and then I have sleeves and a collar to complete. There are live stitches being held on a crochet chain at the neck currently so I can un-do those and continue knitting upwards. The sleeves will be full length since I’ve opted to do the longer version of this knit.
I’m holding fingering yarn (merino/nylon) along with lace (mohair) to create a really fluffy soft dream like knit. I can’t wait until I can block it and show the lace better.
One of the most important things that I try to do to better myself as a person and as I age, is to keep learning. Whether it’s a new hobby, skills in an old hobby, or just some random whim, I never begrudge myself the ability to pick up a new skill – even if lessons end up never utilized and I find out I don’t exactly enjoy that new found ability. Make sense?
I think it’s important to keep challenging myself. Keep learning and educating myself. That’s why I’m so incredibly proud of the skein of yarn pictured above. I’m learning to spin on a spinning wheel and this is the first skein from start to finish that I actually feel quite proud of. It’s not perfect, it’s not the weight I wanted, there are lumps and bumps – but I can see progress. I can see where I started at and where my skill is 2 months later. I have 20 more braids of this same fiber, and I can’t wait to see how with practice I improve. Hopefully a year from now I’m able to spin sock weight yarn from fiber with relative ease. We’ll just have to see!
Last week a friend promoted a tweet that linked to a reasonably priced high powered gaming laptop – and I’ve been wanting one for a number of years now, so I jumped at the chance and bought it. It was priced in USD ($1299) but in CAD it was still respectable, even with the $95 I had to pay in duties to get it across the boarder. Specifics include:
Intel 9th gen i7 + RTX Graphics = real-time ray tracingKey Features
2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-9750H Six-Core
16GB DDR4 RAM | 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD
15.6″ 1920 x 1080 144 Hz IPS Display
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU (6GB)
The SSD was a key factor in my decision. Comparable computers had a 2070 or 2080 but only 512gb SSD – downgrading to the 2060 and adding a 1tb SSD put the price point $400 more expensive than the one I purchased, not including any taxes or duties.
It arrived yesterday – the box was pretty mangled and I got worried but I think the customs folks must have just gone a bit over the top with it. Inside everything was as it should and the gaming laptop runs like a dream. It gets a bit warm and loud when you really push it, but I’m not interested in gaming for 10+ hours a day with high intensity games, so it more than covers what I want it for. It’s quiet as a mouse for regular use, and sure the battery isn’t exactly the longest lasting thing out there but 99% of the time I’m using it next to a socket some place (even my balcony has an outlet). Overall, I’m incredibly impressed and I have zero negatives to say – the fact that the power cords go out the BACK of the machine is another HUGE bonus. Every single laptop I’ve ever owned has had them come out the side, which is annoying when I place my laptop on my desk or on a table.
I started installing games right away, Sims 4, the blizzard launcher, my steam launcher, and games from each. The 144 monitor is also a thing of beauty, my PC monitors are older, and I can definitely notice the difference.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
The Darkmoon Faire is in town for the week, so of course I rushed right over to pick up my faction buff and then do battle with two of their pet trainers. I didn’t get anything particularly note worthy from their satchels (they can have pets) but I had fun and at least it was completed. I’m waiting for re-set today so I can go back to the celestial tournament, I have two more pets (6 weeks) of completing this before I own all of the pets from there, too.
My lack of game time has meant that I spend a lot of what time I DO have trying to frantically get a few dailies done or a pet quest here and there. I’m waiting for squirt day, which happens to fall on the 7th of this month (tomorrow) to level up a few more pets. I’ve stocked up on bandages and treats and my safari hat is dusted off and ready to go. I rank 95th on the realm, which broke my goal of 100 – now I want to try to reach 50th (or higher). We’ll see how long that takes.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!
There are no coordinates or maps in Minecraft bedrock edition, so figuring out where you are and where you want to go requires some actual crafting. When my husband and I started out we decided to leave the little beginner island and head west until we found an area we wanted to settle in. Above is the very slow map I’ve started to develop of the area. My castle in the broken square at the top in the center, my husband’s log cabin is the structure along the river a bit south of that. I’m hoping to continue making the map (I need more frames) until I’ve mapped out all of the surrounding area. Maybe I’ll spot something interesting.
stargrace 
