fandom snowflake day 1

[kaixo]

Day 1



In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Hmmm. Not much to say, really. I love to run (as long as my ankle doesn't act up). I'm not an accomplished marathoner like the lady I'm living with, but I do like it. It makes my mind go blank, which has been welcome especially over the past two years.

Knitting. With regards to fandom: I came into knitting by way of Harry Potter.

I wanted a Harry Potter scarf, and couldn't find one in the colours I wanted (not everyone is a bleedin' Gryffindor or Slytherin). So I found myself on a tram once seeing a woman knitting a scarf back in 2004, and that sparked off my knitting jones. I've been knitting on and off ever since. As much as my heart beats for a good cable and fairisle pattern, I'm really a stocking stitch wearer, soooo. I had to leave my yarn behind for a lot of reasons (I could only carry things that fit in ONE suitcase). But I like knitting, the rhythmic action of yarn and needle, the slinky drag of yarn as it moves through your fingers (I love a good Malabrigo sock yarn).

Train rides are also another favourite. I love the rocking of the carriage around me, the murmur of people having conversations amongst themselves. The time that is actually mine. So I might have a book to hand, or just look out the window, seeing the rolling bits of country side that you can't get via car or plane. I don't even go on social media at this time, because I like train rides that much.

Stationery. Give me a lovely quadrilled book, smooth writing pens and I'm in heaven. As much as I can write stories on my laptop in a tight time line, there's nothing like a bright ink against lightly quadrilled paper (because I don't like lined paper). I love stationery, to the point that I keep a bujo and buy notebooks despite the fact that I also have wunderlist and a smart phone.

That's about it, really.



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Comments

[sexycazzy]

All of these sounds lovely!

Sometimes writing on paper is more productive than on digital! :D

It really is!

[kaixo]

For the longest time I used to write in books, then type on the computer. Eventually as I got into fandom and answering prompts with the quickness, it just became easier.

But now that I'm studying a language, I do find it sticks to my mind when I write things down.

[teigh_corvus]

That seems like a lot to me.

Your description of how much you love knitting is so vivid, it makes my fingers itch for yarn. If you don't mind me asking - what is your hogwarts house? You didn't say.

I use a variety of sketchbooks and journals [the most recent being a moleskin hardcover that alternates lined pages with blank ones, for art planning], but my most consistently used planner insert is a quadrilled variant. There's something very freeing about grids, isn't there?

Ah, train rides. It's such an immersive experience. They really are transportation in a class all their own.

Hufflepuff!

[kaixo]

I was a hufflepuff, and it's hard to find scarves for the house! It's so weird though, I knitted scarves for gryffindors and sytherins, but I have yet to knit myself a Hufflepuff scarf T_T

but my most consistently used planner insert is a quadrilled variant. There's something very freeing about grids, isn't there?

I love grids. Especially if they aren't too dark (Fabriano does a good grid) and soft cover Leuttruchms (sp). But yeah, I prefer grids to linear and blank pages, tbh.

Yeah, more trains please! I'd never have gotten a driver's licence if trains were cheaper and more reliable where I lived.

Re: Hufflepuff!

[teigh_corvus]

As a Ravenclaw, I feel your pain. Though... as the release of the first Fantastic Beasts movie made it any easier to find Hufflepuff scarves?

I knitted scarves for gryffindors and sytherins, but I have yet to knit myself a Hufflepuff scarf T_T
The only thing to call that is ironic.

Oooo oooo! Thank you for the recs. The insert I use in my faux Traveler's Notebook is a hobonichi one, made by Yellow Paperhouse on Etsy. It's excellent for daily brain dumps and quick sketches [and gives my washi and stickers an excellent home].

Hear, hear! There are so few trains here, and I'm always so envious when I go down to Boston and get to ride the commuter rail.

Re: Hufflepuff!

[kaixo]

Traveler's Notebook is a hobonichi one, made by Yellow Paperhouse on Etsy.

Oooh, thanks for the rec! I have ordered a hobonichi weeks, but in retrospect I should have bought a weeks mega, so I was thinking about getting a supplimentary book for notes (as seen on the hobonichi website) but the shipping fees are astronomical. I haven't tried the B6 version of books (like the hobonichi weeks). My sizes tend to be A5 or A6.

Yeah, I'm fortunate to now live in a city where there's a good train service. The train comes once every twenty minutes, which once you know, you know. But I love taking the train, even if it's to another town which is only ten minutes away by rail.

Re: Hufflepuff!

[teigh_corvus]

I keep eyeballing the official hobonichi books, because I'm so intrigued by the paper. But I already have three, sometimes four books in messenger bag rotation!

Insert-wise, I prefer A4 over the more traditional traveler's notebook size.

I'm so happy for you, that you have such ready-access to your travelin' happy place. :D

Re: Hufflepuff!

[kaixo]

It's my first time trying the hobonichi books (I originally got a techo A6, but realised after a long time of reflection, that I'm not really a journalling/sketchbook type of girl at all, so I'm now waiting on the weeks). I do tend to travel a fair bit, and my bags tend to be smallish (about A4 sized), so I find the A5/A6 sized books to be a bit better because they don't get dog eared as much. Which is why I'm intrigued by the B6 sized of hobonichi weeks. From what I can see, you have enough space to write in, but it isn't as wide as the A5, so it will fit into my bag quite nicely.

Some online book stores do sell the tamoe paper in sheets, so you can try before you buy, so to speak. It takes most of the inks quite well, but having some sheets of blotting paper won't go amiss.

I'm so happy for you, that you have such ready-access to your travelin' happy place. :D

Yes, same! In the UK, the trains are bloody expensive and don't run on time. Here (I'm on the contintent and hope NEVER to leave), the trains are bloody regular and relatively inexpensive.

[buckyscurvylover]

Another knitter, HP and stationary fan here - albeit my current happy place is a different fandom entirely right now. HP is still way up there on the list.

Yeah, I'm not in HP anymore

[kaixo]

But you never forget your first *dreamy sigh* and Harry Potter brought more joy to my life than it took away, so I'm grateful. I don't know if I can rock with Rowling at the minute re: her latest books, but I can still be grateful to HP for what it was.

Thanks for dropping in.

Re: Yeah, I'm not in HP anymore

[buckyscurvylover]

Haha, I'd love to say the Potterverse was my first... but I am getting old now and I was already graduated from university before the first movie came out and I got into it (thanks to a small child watching it twice in a row). My first big fandom was probably The X-Files when they were still on their first run! Before that, I had a bunch of bands/singers etc. but fandom was much much different before the internet was a really common thing. Wow. That was nearly 25 years ago now! LOL

Agreed on the current writing, and I have some issues with the way the books were written... but the universe itself is still a wonderful, beautiful one I still occasionally dip into. :)

[seleneheart]

I like the tactility of all your happy places. Your knitting description makes me shiver. And I'm with ya on the stationary and trains thing.

cheers!

[kaixo]

I do miss knitting terribly, but due to circumstances, I was only able to carry a suitcase, so I took a set of needles instead of yarn. So I need to find a yarn shop. Stat.

Stationery and trains are blessed things.

[spikedluv]

I love that HP got you into knitting! (I know so many people who knit - and love it - that I'm often tempted to try it myself.)

You make train rides sound heavenly.

I like to hand write my stories, too. I do use lined paper (legal pads) unless I'm recycling things I've printed off and am using the back of those sheets. I never considered using graph paper, but it sounds like a neat idea. (I love to collect notebooks, too!)

Yeah, HP got me into a lot of things

[kaixo]

It forced me to learn HTML, and CSS (more limited than my HTML, for various online email zines)as well as knitting.

A good train ride, when everyone has their own seat is lush, tbh. Especially when the evenings are longer. I'm just sorry that they are more expensive than coach rides, but it be like that sometimes.

I do use mostly A5 or A6 sized books because they are easier to carry around. The one I am using looks something like this. I won't return to lines any time soon.

[silveradept]

Hello, fellow Puff. It is remarkably hard to find good scarves for our house, as if everyone seems content to forget us.

I personally don't knit, but I've seen how much it is a happy place for those that do.

I know!

[kaixo]

It's hard being a 'Puff, but I wouldn't be anything else.

[sperrywink]

Knitting and trains, wonderful!

they really are!

[kaixo]

I hope to do both again soon!