Three things for March

I tried to get a post up at the end of March, but the laptop I have been using was not cooperative.  I'll add it in a few days, and then complete a link.  This is just a quick post to tell you the three new things I did in March - as you can see, I'm still working on the "update the blog more often" part of my resolutions.  Still, this has been done more often than in 2013.

The new things I did in March were small:

• March (really, dance) in a Mardi Gras parade.
• Go dancing at a local club - really, I cannot remember ever dancing at a club, so even though I have gone out dancing many a time, I count this.  They have a monthly "Zodiac Night" and someone I've met recently teased me into going, and I'm glad I went.
• Hands-on for silk from cocoon to knitting.

I did have fun with the Mawata class, which was at DFW Fiber Fest.  I got to spend one day in classes and one day shopping and visiting with friends, and then had to come home for the start of tech week.  They yarnbombed the convention centre, here are a few of my favourite pictures:

This one is my absolute favourite.

I want the pattern - and to know what yarn she used!

Someone made a LOT of these butterflies!

More pictures when I write about my adventures.

How my resolutions did in January

Of the three resolutions I posted for 2014, one needs to wait for warmer weather, not to mention more time, so I am reporting on the other two.  I haven't updated the blog since early January, but I did three updates then, so while I am not doing as well as I would like for the second resolution I will consider it met.  I should have done an update later in the month, if only to miss on having to do so many catching up now.

The harder one is the first resolution, to do a new thing that isn't a variation on an old thing.  For January I am counting the "Get a Clue!" tour of the Mark Twain House & Museum, because I've never done a proper tour of the house, and I've never done a mystery tour like that.  My partner and I didn't win, technically, since she was sure the culprit was a different character (it came down on our chart to two, and she picked) but we had a lot of fun.

I did some new things that were variations on old ones, and a lot of fun too:

1. Dancing at the Creative Cocktail Hour at Real Art Ways.  I've gone dancing before - for several years was notorious at Chicago-area cons for wearing out a series of partners, since I love dancing and have good stamina - and I've been to CCH before, but never dancing there.  A large part of that is that I am shy about going out on a dance floor solo, although I am willing to stay there if my partner dances off.  The nice thing about RAW is that nobody cares if you dance solo, or in a pair, or a group, and the gender makeups of any of them.
2. Taking a class from Franklin Habit at Vogue Knitting Live! in New York.  Again, done plenty of classes at fiber conferences, but never that one and never from Franklin.  It was on tessellations and a lot of fun, and I got a bonus because in the "work on this for a while" part of the class Franklin discussed something he figured out about charting a different technique, and all of a sudden the penny dropped and I figured out why I couldn't get that technique when I'd tried it before.  I had felt very stupid about it but Franklin's mind works the way mine does on this topic and now it makes sense!  I am going to tell him so when I sent a picture of the piece I am knitting from my classwork.

Also in the variation-on-themes items, I have joined the Make Hartford makerspace and participated in an event there other than the Grand Opening; and I am now the "Leader of Logistics and Exchequery" for Welcome to Bohemia! shows (and related ones such as last weekend's Studio N111 fundraiser), which mostly means I make sure the stuff needed onsite is ready to go, especially at the front desk, and run the door; and keep track of things so the artsy people can have fun.

Stuff like this: