Witcher Time!!!! (Let’s Not Talk About How I Thought I’ll Be Actually Good At It This Time But So

Kicking myself cos I never thought about visualising roadmaps this way 🤦🏻‍♀️ (it would also make it obvious where the organisation is headless, hopefully)

Equal Experts

Continuous Evolution Part 3: The Roadmap Radar - When is a plan not a plan?

The Roadmap Radar ensures that all efforts are clearly aligned to your strategic goals and objectives.

April 2025

ngl it's been a rough month

Work / general

This doesn't really hit when you already know the next week is gonna be even worse fwiw. 💖

A long weekend is nice but it'd be better if things did not just get squished into four days.... The post-easter was particularly tough including being told of a quite challening meeting the same day on Tues, a few people around me struggling with physical and mental health, still dealing with reporting and actions after downtime at the end of the previous week, some organisational wobbles caused by work straddling several portfolios, someone falling foul of a pretty major policy which I had to deal with and more.

I guess I mostly feel guilty instead of tired. I can recognise it's not _entirely_ rational and I still recognised when someone was trying to unjustly guilt trip me so it can't be that bad?? 🫠

I enjoyed this blogpost about stand-ups. The tendency to make them a report to manager is my number one pet peeve I think. I had a lot of fun with them during my last gig at GDS especially, I wish I could exhume that energy again...

The mortgage offer paperwork I'd have to do is stopping me from doing some really dumb stuff to the point that I'm in two minds whenever I think of chasing solicitors.

Let's not forget it was also a very big month for some really stupid and evil people. : )

I did have a fantastic swim on Easter Sunday and beat most of my best times?? The pool was nearly empty which helped a lot and the sunshine was glorious. 🙌

Caught up with a friend who finally secured a new (long!) contract after a couple of months of unemployment. We could not get into Miga at short notice but Calong was absolutely fab. 👌

Filipino food is kinda booming? Or maybe I just started paying attention. Anyway both Donia and the new Panadera branch are very fine additions to central.

Crochet etc

The fact that I SOMEHOW REPEATEDLY kept fucking up SOMETHING about the Hello Kitty gift/request I'm making did not exactly boost my mood. It's done now at least but ehhhh (handing over for someone else to embroider face and sew clothes).

Apparently I only finished Susie this month, why does it feel like it's been ages? More detailed post.

Needle felted a bunny for a friend and a cotton blanket/shawl/uhh? for their baby.

Used chenille yarn for the first time to make a mahoosive catnana.

Visited a couple new yarn shops, McCulloch & Willis (where the sheep displays below come from) is def the biggest and best stocked but I liked how cozy Wild & Wooly was (my local once I move!?). Fabrications seemed more sewing oriented, very small selection of yarn. Knit With Attitude was sadly closed when I walked past but Ultimate Fabrics and Craft near it is neat!

I am sooooo tempted by this https://javawhiskers.co.uk/crochet-with-cats/

Watched

The Residence - just a bit of murder mystery fun. Not without tedious bits but Giancarlo Esposito stuns as always and Uzo Aduba's defective detective is super fun and hot. My birding era beckons. 🐥

Hourglass Sanatorium (Has, 1973) - platonic ideal of an European art movie, fever dream-like plot, incredible sets, WWII/Holocaust undercurrents, and most crucially bare breasts every 5 minutes. 10/10 no notes.

Sinners (Coogler, 2025) - it's as good as everyone is saying but I could not stop get the phrase 'whimsical skedaddlers' from bouncing around my brain the entire runtime like so.

Star Trek: TNG - I finished the third season and still no cat? Hello??? I had to find the track above in the middle of the episode, quite stunning. Ranking general enjoyment by plots: Q >>>>> Data / Worf >> Picard > Geordi > various artists > Riker (how many of those are about him maybe leaving? pack your bags and go you basic bitch) > Troi (her mum is fun but The Price made me wanna hurl. Sorry girl but based on this abomination alone you will never recover). RIP Yar, a bicon taken away from us too soon.

Some would say Q is best in small doses but personally I'd watch 28 seasons of a thing where he just ruins someone else's day every episode. 💅

Conclave (Berger, 2024) - I missed this the first time round but thankfully it's back in cinemas cos not only I have caught the papal fever. JP Brammer said it best:

Gayming

I picked up Blue Prince which I don't vibe with and I'm trying to pacifist run Undertale and dying all the fucking time. Do not talk to me about fucking video games, which have become just another aspect of my struggle this month. 🙄

First Delta Green: Music from a Darkened Room session went well, my character is new and I'm struggling a little bit how to fit them into the setting. Can't not love a system that has in-depth genuine role for someone to play a Program Manager. 💞

Finally boardgamed, a couple of smaller things + Apiary. Very cool setting (space bees! bee-shaped mini to represent a space bee spaceship!!!!!!!) but it felt like the space exploration quadrant should be more exciting instead of so much focus on resource collection and trading...

May

So far I've been eating tonnes of noodles between Yori Banjum, Murger Han and Biang Biang?? Gotta diversify my carb intake. :Y

It's my birtday month so everything better turn out well and everyone be nice to me or I'm gonna scream and explode. That is all. 🙇

This has now been finished and gifted so it’s rebloggable on main! 🎉

I am mystified about quite a few aspects of this, mostly the wonkiness given that I don’t _think_ I missed any stitches while turning and even blocked it. 🤨

Anyway, the recipient seemed very happy with it, and it’s only for a baby so the most important aspect is washability haha.

am i fast enough to bash out half a 🏳️‍🌈 blanket on a train to + from Manchester? not quite yet (purple missing + edges) but pretty good progress anyway

pattern: https://hobbii.co.uk/rainbow-baby-blanket

Susie (Deltarune)

Following up as promised.

Like I mentioned everything is removable:

Fun fact about this one is that I can't show it to Bella the cat cos she gets spooked. I'm guessing it's the eyes?

Just various angles. Is her hair made of pants or are her pants made of hair? 🤔

I'm clearly very confident in her aboility to stand unupoorted becuse pic 1 in this row is faces to a 2m ravine of unkempt plants and bugs. 💀 The boots help the stability.

Pic 2 - I wanted to make hair that'd work with both Hometown and Dark World outfits so I've not glued it like I think some people do. Colours are DW based, both because I started with something I already I had (I originally actually wanted to make Bea but I did not have yarn for body in the right colour... now I'm not too sure how I will make Bea without them looking like twins haha).

Pic 3 - Included purely because I like how the hair looks and you can actually see that the belt buckle IS heart shaped. IGNORE THE MESS IN THE BACKGROUND IT'S NOT MY ROOM (my room is worse).

a tail! *gasp* (it's hideable thanks to the poofiness of the trousers)

Patterns referenced:

body: a mix of Dino and Alligator / yarn: Sirdar Parade

jacket: sanitation worker Raccoon / yarn: Hobbii Friends 8/4 Mercerized Black and Cotton 8/6 Dark Magenta

boots: beekeeper Bear / yarn: Hobbii Friends: 8/4 Mercerized Black and Sunflower

top: rogue Raccoon / yarn: Hobbii Friends 8/4 Mercerized Nightshade

belt: rogue Raccoon / yarn: Hobbii Friends 8/4 Mercerized Black and Sunflower

pants: freehanded! 😱🎉 / yarn: Hobbii Friends 8/6 Dark Magenta

hair: I started with a stitch based on Seth but it looked kinda weird (see below) AND used a fuckton of yarn (it's just chains and slip stitch traverse now) / yarn: Hobbii Friends 8/6 Dark Magenta

Yes the yars are different weight and the body is a different manufacturer. Yes it was a nightmare. I am a Beginner and I did not understand the implications of any of this when I started but now I am smarter.

Also yes, Bogusia's patterns are quite pricy. I like them, I can afford them, and I will never begdrudge giving cash to a fellow 🇵🇱. Plus it feels so much safer to have something to look up when things go wrong haha. 🫣 If you wanna make your own Susie and are a fairly advanced maker you probably don't need to buy all of the above, and if you've got a question about any specific but I'm happy to try to help - but I will not be posting or sending you a full pattern. :)

To do:

Hometown outfit

drummer outfit

sewing the mouth a bit less wonkily

re-do the top? you can't really see it in the pics but the back is blah and the cowl could be nicer

darker brows?? I tried a couple of shades but it just didn't look _right_, maybe after stepping away from it for a wee bit I'll try again

Bonus:

WIP: onion head and little orphan Annie looking ass

What's next?

I have a backlog of gifts, requests, and a massive blanket that's supposed to teach me 30 diffrerent stitches. x__x

DR/UT wise I *really* want to make Undyne but the design is a wee bit complex, plus I've not made anything more on a humanoid side before...

I'll probably make Ralsei at some point (white ver, not black - crocheting with black yarn is a nightmare :') )

Since Bea would feel a bit same-y... GREGG RULZ OK? Or Witchdagger Mae? Or I do basically have a bear pattern for Angus? 😵‍💫

Aimée the Sheep

Made using a kit from TOFT.

It's limited edition but if you're familiar with their body construction you can probably very easily recreate it. The only 'special ingredient' is La Bien Aimee Confetti Cake yarn - it's also the main reason for the kit being on the expensive side I guess. The yarn came in hank and I was dreading it based on my previous experience but it turned out that DK weight yarn was significantly easier to untangle than sock weight. 😌

You can also still get the Sheep magazine with patterns (including previously featured Seth and Tobias) if you do want/need a pattern.

I've not got super much to say about this one to be honest... I forgot to put in the safety eyes so it's a bit of blue sparkly Rico yarn which I think suits her. I made bulk of the body in a queue waiting for a sample sale and I thought it was quite solid but upon inspection later the holes between stitches were once again HUMONGOUS. Thank sheep god for the fleece on top, and a note to self to pay more attention and keep my tension *tight* (but then relax it for granny squares, I started one and it's a wrinkly mess 🫠).

The project helped me overcome my hate on hanks and the yarn seemed like a qualitt product, it's a serious contender if I ever need to make a Quality gift. 👌

Anywho, here's a pic of all three existing sheep I made (Seth and Tobias post). No denying that Seth is still the most bombastic.

Why do they make me think of Will and Hannibal with Abigail? 🥺

limpiando mi casa la toda dia pero todavía no terminado. 🫠 porqué tengo tantas ropas?? de todas formas, muchos no son mi talla pero las gustan y no quiero las tirar. :(

Bella is helping me test one of my Xmas gifts (an apron for pottering).

Witcher 3 Challenge:Favorite Female Character

Queen Cerys an Craite

Vessel in the shape of a killer whale, Early Nasca, American Museum of Natural History.

Source

I have no pottery this weekend but my jesmonite & terrazzo kits should be arriving today! Exciting!!