Claire Simpson @RexMagenta@wandering.shop

Two days of sewing and the dress is complete. I'm pretty happy with how it came out

Took the kid shopping to choose a fabric for the mini dress and she settled on this gorgeous lemon print

Have had much advice and encouragement on the subject of #knitting socks, so many thanks. Unfortunately, the project is briefly on hold as I realised the kid is supposed to go to school on Tuesday in 60s fancy dress so now I have to spend the weekend making a mini dress for her

Would I be crazy to choose socks as a first #knitting project? They appeal because they're relatively small and I can wear them even if they come out a bit wonky because no one will really see them

Decided to have another try at knitting, to see if years of crochet had made me any better at controlling the tension (always my bugbear in the past)

After a number of false starts it seems to be going okay, although I can't help thinking it would be easier to pull the yarn through if the needles had hooks on the end...

It's not been blocked, but I have finally finished my Manic Miner filet #crochet Retro computing and yarn craft. What's not to like?

Me: Should maybe start considering what to write for NaNo in November so I have time to plan

Brain: Something about time travel!

Me: That's not an idea. Gonna need way more detail than that to even consider it

Brain: ...

Brain: A comedy about time travel and giant robots!

Me: ...why would you think that was helpful?

So tired of having to mediate between the husband and the child every time they put their feet down and get into a shouting match

There's always a temptation to not actually open emails responding to story submissions, when the preview shows it's a clearly a rejection. But this latest one turned out to have a request to revise and resubmit, so I'm glad I read it properly

Finally got around to actually setting the sleeves in the toile this weekend. Just pinned and tacked for the moment but they seem good. When I put it on (carefully) the sleeves were long enough and with the front closed I could still do a chicken dance and put my hands in the air like I just didn't care

It's supposed to be funny, dang it. It's my happy place at the end of the week. But, but, but... *weeps*

A deadline, and a positive focus. It doesn't matter how long it takes to get a response, or what that response is. But maybe if I send enough out I might actually sell something. That would be nice

Instead of rejections I'm going to focus on submissions. One hundred submissions this year. It's only two a week, which is easy enough. But it'll push me to actually do it, try new places, and most importantly to write more. The more I write, the better I'll get

But it's taken me, quite literally, years to get to this point. And that's not good enough. So as I started getting close just as the New Year rolled around, I found myself pivoting towards a new goal. One without dinner as a reward, but hopefully with its own rewards built in

For one reason or another they never really got going on submitting, but I kept plugging away. This week I finally got that hundredth rejection, and so next week I have a dinner date with one of my favourite people in the world

Some time ago, when I first girded my loins and starting submitting stories, I made a deal with a friend. Whichever of us made it to one hundred rejections first would have dinner bought by the other. A way of taking some of the sting out of the inevitable disappointment

Early indications are good. I have two shaped fabric tubes that neatly encase my arms. Next step is to fit them into arm holes and see what happens

Today is the day I find out if I've successfully drafted a sleeve pattern

I should be editing this novel. Instead I'm engaged in an in-depth debate about the best strategies for playing Mornington Crescent with someone who honestly prefers not to venture above the diagonal if they can help it. Unbelievable