My recent hiatus from writing has actually been for a reason besides simply not feeling like writing: instead, I’ve been dealing with being sick for the last several weeks. Well, technically I was recovering from wisdom teeth removal for the first while, but then right after that I got a nasty cold and have been dealing with that ever since. I’m still feeling unwell as I write this, but I’ve decided I want to put work into feeling more normal again because I’m sick of feeling sick.

To occupy myself during this ill time, I’ve been playing a lot of video games. Specifically Stardew Valley, which I only recently discovered. In just the last couple of weeks, I’ve played over 100 hours of it on my Switch. It’s a very fun gameplay loop of taking care of my farm, talking to villagers, exploring the world, and completing quests. I even got my partner in on it while he was home sick with me, with his own farm on the Playstation that he’s also put a good amount of work into. It’s very fun, having a game to share in parallel play with him!

But that being said, since I’ve been spending so much time playing Stardew, I haven’t dedicated much time to my crafts. I’ve only crocheted three things in the last month: a plushie Stardrop, which is from Stardew Valley; a keychain Stardrop for my keys, because my lanyard broke; and a hanging organizer for the bathroom to store my notebooks and waterproof phone case in.

I do feel quite happy with how they all turned out, but I would like to be more productive again going forward. I have several designs I’d like to make and offer for sale that I haven’t started on.

As far as artwork goes, I feel like I’ve done even less. The couple of things I’ve done are even more frivolous and Stardew-related, as they’re just rough paintings of mine and my partner’s characters with the villagers we romanced.

The first one was with my first character, who I was playing on the Playstation before I got the Switch version of the game and started over as Kitley. For both cases, yes, I did go with impossible skintones. I like being weird and standing out against the other villagers.

I do have some ideas for other art I want to make, like I do with crochet, but I haven’t had the time or energy to work on those yet. I’m gradually getting better, so I should be able to do those things soon.