#✨Gideon Method✨

[always-wool-gathering]

Starting a new crafting adventure (mostly knitting, some crochet), thought it might be fun to document.

I came across this concept called the ✨Gideon Method✨. (I always see it in my head with capitals and sparkles because I firmly believe it is going to revolutionise my life and get all my WIPs magically finished. I always feel this way about ✨Methods✨, I'm convinced that one day I will find the ultimate strategy to make my life run smoothly. Realistically, the way to think about this is that it will be fun for a while and maybe help me to get some stuff finished before I lose interest in it. This parenthetical remark is getting out of hand.)

So, anyway, the ✨Gideon Method✨. The idea is that I pick up to 5 projects and work on them alternately in 12 hour sprints. When something is finished, and only then, I am allowed to replace its spot in the rotation with either something new or another WIP.

I currently have 13 works in progress. One of them I will be finishing before I commence the ✨Method✨, because it has to be done before an October birthday. One of my 5 slots will be occupied by a new cast on, because that has to be done by Christmas. So overall, I will still have 13 WIPs. (Also, I just ordered yarn for Stephen West's MKAL, which starts on 5th October. So, um, 14 WIPs. That one is going to have to operate outside of the ✨Method✨, because otherwise I won't keep up with the clues. So I'm kind of sabotaging myself before I begin. But never mind!)

I have chosen the following 5 projects:

1. A Christmas stocking for my offspring

2. Socks for my Grannie (It is deeply tedious to knit the pattern she likes, but I love her a lot, so once a year I make another pair.)

3. My Sevrine Cardigan (Most favourite and beloved project, currently, but also I'm about to enter sleeve island.)

4. Bi Mitts (I believe this is my oldest project. It has been languishing since Pride 2019.)

5. Kaleidoscope Blanket (This one is crochet, and it has so many parts and so many ends! . I fully expect to be working on this for the rest of my life.)

I'm thinking I'll try to make posts with pictures before and after each 12 hour sprint, and see what I can accomplish by the end of the year. (At which point. Well. I came across this other thing called ❇️The 12 Cast Ons❇️...)

[salsedinepicta]

Answering here to this lovely ask by the lovelier @greypetrel because it's the OCs playground - based on this prompt list. ✨

This turned in an astrology-heavy thingy, so I feel like I should premise that astrology (like tarot cards) is a tool and like any tool all depends on how you decide to wield it. I don't believe that horoscopes should dictate your life; to me astrology can be a way to reflect on yourself - or just to have fun with completely fictional characters lol.

So:

💧Maren Hawke: Scorpio / water (mid November, during a storm)

"[...] intense personalities and feelings that they hide underneath their cool exterior."

Usually celebrated in some simple but sweet way - which is fine to her, because before Lothering they are always on the run and she doesn't want to be a burden. However she would be secretly very pleased if someone would take care to do something more extravagant once the family (or what's left of it) is more settled.

🍁 Gwydion/Gideon Hawke: Libra / air (late September - Autumn equinox, a sunny but chilly day) + an Earth rising sign.

"Their ruling planet is Venus, meaning that Libras are nurturing, caring, and can make great defenders of the downtrodden."

Loves a good celebration, but in a hobbit sort of way - he'll just use it as an excuse to buy stuff for all of his friends/loved ones because excuse me! It's his birthday! Can't they indulge him a little? ;)

(Yes, Justice included)

🌱 Malva Surana: Aquarius / air (unknown)

"They go about accomplishing their goals in quiet and unorthodox ways. Oftentimes, just because they chose the path less traveled, the results of their eccentric methods are surprisingly effective."

In Kinloch Hold since she was about five years old, so she never celebrated before becoming a warden - when the companions all got together around the campfire and invented a birthday for her. Since she has no benchmark she makes up a bunch of so-called "traditions" based on what people tell her, and probably trusts Zevran a little bit too much.

+ bonus: ❄️ Circe Trevelyan is still half a mystery to me, but I think I'd like a Pisces-Aries (water-fire, eheh) cuspid around the Spring Equinox.

Source of the quotes: labyrinthos

And thanks for asking! 💙✨

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

The oddly specific crossover for Disney Descendants and the Locked Tomb:

Aka me shoving Descendants characters into TLT universe instead of the og ones because I have Thoughts and zero self-control!! Now enjoy or suffer (affectionate)!!

So just imagine Gideon the Ninth plot but instead of the og characters you have Descendants kids, more than half of which are only there to cause chaos.

Cytherea sees this and decides not to intervene, because she wants to spite God amd also thinks that watching him and Mercy get a headache from dealing with the kids would be hilarious.

The First remains God and his Lyctors.

Second "Two is for discipline, headless of trial", is kind of army oriented court, closest and most devoted to the first. It's run by Beast and Belle and Ben is the heir, but, you see, he is not a necromancer. And Beast very wisely sent all of his other necros on the front or to the service to the Emperor, so the second have no actual necro heir.

Ben goes to the Caanan house with Lonnie as his *cav* anyway, and both just try to pretend they are not, you know, only pretending.

The others tolerate that because they think it's funny.

The Hook siblings were also from the second, but they ✨dislike rules✨ so they run away to join other courts and necromancers, because of course they did. The Hooks think that rules are a suggestion at best and also hate authority.

The Third " Three for the gleam of the jewel or a smile": The necromancer is Ginny Gothel, the cavalier is Harriet Hook. And Anthony comes with them, because:

A) he was supposed to be Ginny's cav before Harriet came and he decided he is good as he is, and:

B) the girls need someone to keep them alive and doing basic tasks, like, you know, eating, drinking water, and sleeping.

The Fourth "Four for fidelity, facing ahead" is, from what I gather, even more war-oriented than the second. As in, frontlines.

Uma is the heir and the necromancer, Harry is her cavalier.

The crew is their battle unit.

She also keeps picking up strays and even opposing soldiers on the frontlines. (She might not be entirely loyal to the emperor, but everyone is too scared of her to question anything she does. She is scary, she is competent and she is not afraid to crack your ribcage open and crush your still beating heart in her hand. Harry is making hear eyes at her as we speak and also very ready to kill in a few very creative methods.)

Every time she gets home with a new person on her crew, the court goes like „Again?! You really shouldn't-“ to which Uma is like „Fuck you, I'm the heir, I do what I want, you need me more than I need you.“

She also makes these scary bone constructs and calls them her pets and everyone besides Harry is terrified of them. Harry thinks they are adorable.

The Fifth "Five is for tradition and debts to the dead".

Jay and Jade were the ones who got to the Caanan house.

Were they supposed to go? No.

Did they steal the ship and go regardless? Yes.

Is their only objective to wreak havoc? Definitely.

Also, they are both necros. Occasionally pretending that one of them is a cav, but switching it up every time.

They are having fun.

The Sixth: " for the truth over solace in lies" Evie is the necromancer and Carlos is her Cavalier, because I think they'd enjoy the books and they deserve that <3

They also keep getting annoyed, because they want to actually STUDY the theorems in the Caanan house, but everyone else is there to wreak havoc or further their own agenda.

The Seventh "for beauty that blossoms and dies" is a court obsessed with the beautiful death.

Basically, CJ Hook run away from the second to the shiny✨ court that DIDN'T have her older sister already, attached herself to the necro heir Freddie Facilier and then never left.

And that's the reason Freddie couldn't have been Ninth, despite the matching aesthetic!

In between her, Celia, CJ, Yzla and Zevon, the Tomb would not have stayed locked a week and the Body would have been a subject to vivisection about three days later!

And also, when the Courts get to the Caanan house, the Hook siblings have this „What the fuck are YOU doing here?!" moment and everyone who doesn't know them is very confused.

The Eight "for salvation no matter the cost" is the religion fanatic court. It's necromancer heir is Claudine Frollo because I said so, and her cav is Marya Rasputin because it would be funny (and because Rasputin is a cultist, too) (she bites!).

And Claudine ends up adopted by the Hooks again, because the Hooks do not tolerate cultist bullshit and also because I like that trope.

The Ninth "Nine for the tomb and what should stay lost", goes to Audrey.

She doesn't have the death aesthetic, but:

1. She is the only bitch capable of running a house on her own (Uma and Harriet could, but they have the unfortunate tendency to pick up strays wherever they go)

2. It would explain why she has no proper cav.

3. She would fall in love with the Body.

4. She has the exact same combination of parental expectations, inherent trauma, crippling anxiety and god complex as Harrow.

Ergo, Audrey the Ninth. Yes, she is also two hundred dead babies in a trenchcoat.

No, with them combined? The plot doesn't stand a chance.

[always-wool-gathering]

This is my starting point for ✨Gideon Method✨ sprint #2.

I make a pair of socks to this pattern every year for my Grannie. She gets swollen feet, so she needs very stretchy socks that don't have a heel. This pattern works perfectly, but it's extremely monotonous to go around and around without even a heel to look forward to. I'll be glad to put a good chunk of time into this project, but I think I'll also be very ready to put it down for a while after 12 hours.

[always-wool-gathering]

Okay, I'm ready to begin my first ✨Gideon Method✨ sprint, in which I will be working on a Christmas stocking. The concept here is that I reduce my WIPs, and I'm starting by casting on, but never mind. This makes the before picture a little bit unexciting, but at least the progress will be very clear.

[always-wool-gathering]

I have completed my 12 hours of crafting, and this is what I have to show for it:

The other side has their name, and I'm really pleased with how well the chart I made for that worked out but I'm choosing not to share even that much personal information online. Trust me, it looks great!

I made a mess of the hearts twice, for some reason, and had to tink and reknit both times because I'm not confident dropping sections of colourwork and fixing them like I would a miscrossed cable.

I have made some discoveries about the ✨Gideon Method✨:

- A timer counting down the 12 hours is easier to manage than a stopwatch counting up.

- Being strictly project monogamous doesn't allow you to tailor the project to the situation. I managed okay with charted colourwork on the bus, but I'm not quite sure how well it's going to work when I get to my blanket project.

- I need to make some decisions about what counts as "working on a project" and what counts as "finished". Should my timer be on when I'm reading the pattern? What if I was going through and highlighting the instructions for the right size? Is it finished when I cast off? Or after I've woven in the ends? Or do I have to block? If yes, how do I "time" the blocking? Opinions welcome.

- It's really important that you have the next project with you if you're away from home for a few days, because you might have more knitting time than you expected and come to the end of your 12 hours much sooner than anticipated, and then be stuck with the choice of immediately breaking the rules of the game you just started or having nothing to knit. Purely hypothetically, of course. Just a potential scenario.

Okay, I'm ready to begin my first ✨Gideon Method✨ sprint, in which I will be working on a Christmas stocking. The concept here is that I reduce my WIPs, and I'm starting by casting on, but never mind. This makes the before picture a little bit unexciting, but at least the progress will be very clear.