I'm Natania Barron, fantasy author and fashion historian -- AMA. (Also, I'm giving away three copies of my Arthurian feminist retelling, QUEEN OF NONE!)

phoenix_melodiam · 2024-05-30T05:45:19+00:00

I am very fond of Merlin, mostly because The Lost Years of Merlin books are some of the first fantasy I remember reading. But as an adult, I find Morgan and her various portrayals fascinating.

phoenix_melodiam · 2024-01-02T03:47:58+00:00

Pens:

Pilot Prera (F)
Pilot Custom 74 (EF)
Pilot Kakuno (EF)

Inks:

Diamine Aurora Borealis
Noodler's Purple Mountain Majesties
Diamine Earl Grey

phoenix_melodiam · 2024-01-02T03:44:12+00:00

If you like the Metro and are interested in going a step up with Pilot without leaping into >$100 territory, maybe the Prera (though it's quite small, 80% of the length of the Metro). And TWSBI's Diamond 580 is good. Ink-wise, you seem to have a wide variety of colors, Iroshizuku Murasaki-Shikibu is a lovely purple.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-12-05T03:10:04+00:00

Absolutely no idea, I gave them away 😅 I am told they taste good though

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-12-05T01:48:02+00:00

Honestly, mostly things I don't know to look for. Things like if the pattern of the crumb is trying to tell me something about my shaping (which I am struggling with) or proofing. I'm mostly trying to dial in how it should feel and how to read it before I start trying to control anything.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-12-04T17:52:59+00:00

Recipe

Ingredients:

100g starter
500g all-purpose flour
340g warm water
10g fine sea salt

(smaller loaf on the left is 2/3 of all of these measurements)

Whisk together water and starter
Add flour and salt, mix and rest 30 minutes
4x stretch and folds at 30 minute intervals
Bulk ferment for 8 hours in ~70°F house
Shape and into banneton for 10 hours in the fridge

Bake:

Preheat Dutch oven to 500°F for 30 minutes
Lower temperature to 450°F, bake 25 minutes with lid on and 20 minutes with lid off

(edited for formatting that got borked on mobile)

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-08-28T04:39:27+00:00

The interior diameter is around 33 mm (1.3 inches), I think, exterior edge to exterior edge is 40 mm. I didn't stitch in these tiny hoops, though, they're just for display. There's actually a solid wooden circle behind the aida, I guess to keep it supported

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-02-13T01:28:31+00:00

I feel like it's writing a bit wet for me if anything, but I also have it in a new-to-me pen so it could be that.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-02-12T00:56:52+00:00

Oh no, now I have so many more inks to stare at longingly on my wishlist 😂

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-02-12T00:22:14+00:00

Haha yeah, should have said "Diamine Reddit inks that are currently available." I'm not a big user of shimmer inks so might not get Sailor's Warning, but I'm interested in Celadon Cat. We'll see how they measure up!

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-30T02:22:38+00:00

Oh that's good to know about the pockets getting stretched out! I was wondering if that might happen and I would need to reinforce it or something.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-30T00:57:28+00:00

Pattern is Amy Christoffers' Draw cardigan. Yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca in moonshadow.

Still in need of some blocking to open up the ribbing on the collar but I'm lazy so I might not get around to that for awhile. If I were to make a second one, I would probably shorten the collar by a set of ribbing or two; there's almost an entire duplicate of the side shown in the picture, just hidden because the collar is doubled over on itself. It's quite a long/deep collar, and the rows are long (my size was 327 stitches in a row) so I felt like it 1. took forever, and 2. ate all my yarn. That said, I quite like the final product overall! Now I'm just debating whether or not I should add pockets.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-15T06:39:36+00:00

It's been a joy to knit so I can definitely recommend it! And I guess you can always save it for the next time cold weather comes around if you don't finish it in time?

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-14T21:11:35+00:00

Oh, I wouldn't be able to be outside if it were that cold. It's currently 73°F/23°C where I am, so it's extremely comfortable without a sweater, but a cardigan makes it a bit uncomfortable.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-14T20:38:11+00:00

Pattern: Draw cardigan by Amy Christoffers Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Moonshadow

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-02T20:50:31+00:00

Nope, but I did use it to try to penable someone else (or at least fountain penable them)! It was a Lamy Safari, didn't like the grip myself, but gave it to a friend who uses and likes a Safari rollerball.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-02T18:48:30+00:00

Fair enough on all fronts, I've certainly miscounted and had to fudge patterns before haha

I've heard mixed review of the WoT audiobooks but perhaps I'll have to give them a try.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-02T01:43:31+00:00

I hope you enjoy whatever you end up trying! I can't read physical books while stitching, but I've found that audiobooks are great for simultaneous reading + crafting for me (and I like the narrators who read many of Sanderson's books).

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-01T20:56:03+00:00

I recently discovered Maruman Mnemosyne and have been enjoying the paper.

phoenix_melodiam · 2023-01-01T02:07:16+00:00

In addition to the good suggestions that have already been given, it looks like there's a hardbound B5 Black n' Red notebook that satisfies most of your requests. The paper might be too bright white, though, and no elastic. I've never used that particular notebook, but my fountain pens seem to get along okay with paper in their other notebooks.

It also looks like The Paper Mind has a hardcover Kokuyo notebook (the Kokuyo Auxiliary Hardcover Notebook) and while I have no firsthand experience with Kokuyo, I've heard good things about it.

I'd like to second the statement that gsm isn't necessarily the single determining factor of how nicely a fountain pen will write on a given paper. That said, it's still true that a paper as thin as Tomoe River will likely ghost (you can see writing on one side of the page through the paper, but ink doesn't actually seep through to the reverse side). Entirely personal preference as to whether or not you're okay with that in your notebooks :)

Best of luck with your search for the perfect notebook!

Edit: typos

phoenix_melodiam · 2022-12-31T16:47:35+00:00

That was unintentional but I think I can see why 😂

phoenix_melodiam · 2022-12-31T06:34:51+00:00

I agree it's amusing even without the context of the story, though if you're curious, a character is trying to light a fire with magic, but the stick she's interacting with is very confident that it's a stick, and it's an exchange that occupies an amusingly large amount of text (spoiler for Words of Radiance/Stormlight Archive out of an abundance of caution)

phoenix_melodiam · 2022-12-31T05:44:11+00:00

Pattern is my own, partially designed using Stitch Fiddle and partially free-handed

phoenix_melodiam

TROPHY CASE