Category Archives: Crafts

Arts & crafts, including knitting

finished project #1

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2006 is the year I finish projects and show the world what I can really do.

It’s modest, but I started this knitting project in earnest back in October, devoting something like 3-4 hours a month on it.

It’s finally done, and I think it looks great. Thank you M. for getting me into knitting!

joanbits for 2005.12

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  1. The new Doctor Who box set (Season 27) rules. “Are you my mummy?”
  2. Our house LAN party was fun, mostly for the company. I didn’t get to play a single game, because the bastards insisted on playing games I don’t like, like C&C Generals and BF2. Blah. At least we got a couple of games of in!
  3. The poncho is almost done. Really. (It’ll be done just in time for it to be way too cold for me to wear out of the house.)
  4. The Voyetra 8‘s mixer board is almost done being rebuilt. I’ve put on new electrolytics, all new 1% resistors (love them blue bodies), and machined sockets for all the ICs (even ones that weren’t socketed before). I’m in the middle of cleaning up the BOM/parts list, entering the schematic and the new WollyView™ system will leave you begging for more.
  5. I’m learning to work just a little bit less hard, and on a few less things at once. That’s not easy for me.
  6. The house has acquired a really beat-up arcade cabinet. The marquee says “Q*Burt” (yes, with a u) and has a Jamma board for SNK’s Prehistoric Isle in 1930 horizontal scrolling shooter game. Even if we can get the JAMMA board working again, we’re likely to convert it to a MAME box anyway. I’ll try and get some photos up soon, but don’t expect much — the cabinet has seen far better days.

the anticraft of knitting

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I like lovely things, but I tend to go for dark, saturated colours or greys. Thank heavens for the AntiCraft. I’m already pondering a project or two from it, and another one based on some yarn Monica tipped me off is on sale. I ain’t makin’ no dog-or-cat-sweaters, but I sure like me a nice something to keep me warm.

shells, side 1

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Just before my grandmother died last year, I went to visit her. On the way, I started to get into knitting, more seriously than I had just when I’d made my first scarf. I started on a pattern from Rowan called “Shells,” out of the “Cotton Tape Collection” book of patterns. It’s in Shadow, a now-discontinued but FABULOUS yarn that looks green in sunlight, but brown inside. (Must be due to some fluorescent pigment — anyone know if any other yarns have this effect now that Rowan doesn’t do this one anymore?)

Well, I got stuck, stuck, stuck when I got to the armhole decreases, and put it away for a very long time. But my good friend Monica came over for an evening of food recently, and she helped me figure out where I’d gotten stuck. Tonight, I finally finished half the garment:

\"Shells\", Rowan Cotton Tape, in Shadow, Side 1