I got a neat new toy: This is a teensy little electric spinning wheel! (Crayon for scale.) It’s called the Electric Eel Wheel Nano and I got in on the end of the Kickstarter campaign. I’m still a relatively inexperienced spinner, so I was worried this might be a ridiculous thing to buy, but it’s … Continue reading
Shannon Squire and Knitted Wit have my favourite summer knit-a-long: Socks on Vacay. My first pair of socks took me around two years to finish, but I liked wearing them, so I foolishly joined in last year and knit 3 socks in time, and I guess I’m a sock knitter now? So here’s a few … Continue reading
Although I was terribly restrained in buying kits from Laura Nelkin, I did pick up two (plus her perfect little beading tin) so here’s the second! This is called Hibisco, and it’s another beaded jewelry kit. I’m not normally a fan of pre-strung beads for bigger knits, but they’re not too annoying for a smaller … Continue reading
Ah, the 7th month, where resolutions start to really go off the rails! I’ve been decent at recording my projects on Instagram (though I did miss photographing a gift I made) and have gotten better at updating Ravelry, but this blog hasn’t seen a post yet this month and we’re almost at the end!So here’s … Continue reading
Knitted Wit did this neat collab with a pile of awesome designers It started with yarn… Yarn: Glow Up Knitted Wit kit (with main colour Oregon Sky) There’s a lot of great patterns in the collection, but I particularly loved this one. Pattern: Oregon Sky by Michele Bernstein (Pdxknitterati) I took it to Albuquerque for … Continue reading
I’m hoping to put together a post with all the text of my talk and slides in a non-video format (because I like having my talks in non-talk format!), but in the meantime, enjoy the video of the talk I gave at PyCon this year! The talk is on Python Security Tools, because I found … Continue reading
Although this blog is heavy on the soft and squishy fiber arts, I also worked on something a little less flexible: a printed circuit board! Now, this isn’t entirely a new venture for me. My husband and I have always built things together, but as he get into pcb design during his last job, I … Continue reading
After the Rose City Yarn Crawl mystery knit, I decided that I’d had so much fun that I should try out Romi’s annual mystery knit too. I wouldn’t say that the mystery was hard because it’s extremely well written and well tested, but it’s definitely a pattern that requires concentration. I actually like that, but … Continue reading
Finished objects I finished my second sock! I’d hoped to finish this for the lotsofsocks downs syndrome awareness kal, but alas it was not to be. Still, I love it, and I think I’ll be not matching my stripes on future socks either. It’s freeing and also out turns out I just like them this … Continue reading
It took 14 months instead of 12, but I finished my Tosh Shawl Club shawl! This was how I spent some birthday money last year. Since I have an end of year birthday, it tends to get subsumed by the holidays, so this was a neat way to celebrate monthly instead. Despite the “shawl club” … Continue reading
Last year I subscribed to a year-long mystery-a-long as a birthday gift to myself. It was really a great thing to do, though as I’ve mentioned I didn’t keep up on the last quarter. I haven’t finished, but I figure this is the sort of thing that should be split into two posts anyhow, so … Continue reading
The Ravelry queue system seems pretty simple: if you see something you’d like to make, you put it in your queue. Then later, when you’re ready to make a new thing, you look through the queue, choose something, and away you go. But… how do you decide what goes in? Do you ever take stuff … Continue reading
This year’s Rose City Yarn Crawl was something of a disappointment to me. Not because it wasn’t a good weekend, but my husband booked a conference on top of the crawl (after promising not to do that, he looked at the website before it was updated properly and got the wrong dates, so it was … Continue reading
I made myself an “art project” on Instagram, so I’m cutting and pasting here because I want a copy of my own data. This was supposed to go out the same week I posted the pictures, but I accidentally locked myself out of the web server with the WordPress app and then we all got … Continue reading
I had a great time with last year’s Tosh Shawl Club yarn subscription from Jimmy Beans, but decided to try something new this year rather than renewing. This is https://www.yarnindulgences.club/. My first shipment finally arrived on February 21. (It shipped on Feb 11, I subscribed January 1st.) When it arrived, my first thought upon seeing … Continue reading
I’m not what one would call a monogamous knitter: that is, I don’t do one project at a time. But things have gotten a little out of hand because I start a new project with every trip, and I’ve had a lot of trips since the fall with not enough time in between to finish … Continue reading
Cutting your knitting is scary, but I did it and survived! I tried out two other new things in the process: Studio Donegal “Darnie” fingering” which is an Irish-made yarn that was perfect for this. So many rich colours, really “toothy” for nice colourwork. I honestly wasn’t sure I’d like it, because it’s a bit … Continue reading
I think these past few years of setting fiber goals has been fun, so here’s what I’m thinking for this year: Learn steeking. I’ve already signed up for a class in January so hopefully this one will be easy! It’s been on my to-learn list for a while. Document better. I haven’t been good about … Continue reading
Last year, I set myself some fiber goals for 2018. So, how did I do? 2018 goals: Use more of my project kits More amigurumi! Spin the neat fiber kit Kathy got me Organize the stash 2018 Results: 1. Project kit success! I made up a beanie bag, started a cowl kit (but haven’t finished … Continue reading
Advent calendars aren’t a big part of my childhood, but I liked the idea of getting little presents all through December, and since I’d intentionally cut back on gift knitting, I had time to do a mystery-a-long, so I bought into Jimmy Beans’ Craftvent. It’s a nice kit, filled with knitting tools (including needles and … Continue reading
Here are some stitch markers I made to go with my 5 shawls in 5 days, because sometimes I like to have new pretties for a project. These are simple to make if you have the right tools: snip off a short bit of thin necklace wire, curve in half, place both ends through your … Continue reading
Yup, you read that right. I have a Glowforge laser cutter/engraver that had so many delays in manufacturing that it wound up arriving when I was 9 months pregnant. So it hasn’t gotten quite as much use as I’d planned, but I did use it for some holiday presents! And then I forgot to take … Continue reading
Day 5 is the pi shawl, which I’ve always kind of wanted to try because of the name, but I hadn’t gotten around to it until this day! After the square shawl, I decided to try a circular cast on with a crochet hook. It felt a lot like magic loop for knitting, and I … Continue reading
Day 4 was a square shawl. I don’t think I’d done a piece from the center like that, and I didn’t like the giant hole left by casting on 4 and joining, so I tightened it up some after casting off. I did this on double points which was pretty finicky especially with a sleeping … Continue reading
Day 3’s shawl is an asymmetric triangle shape. I like this one’s particular slip stitch/yarn over edging. Yarn: Rowan Colorspun. This is a mohair-wool-polyamide blend, also from the Feb 2016 beanie bag and I hated it so much. To me, it felt like I was getting splinters in the sides of my fingers while I … Continue reading
Day 2 is a crescent shawl, a familiar shape with an increase that’s unusual for me, and I’m not sure I’ve ever used it in an edging like this. The garter tab looks jarring on such a small piece, though I hardly notice those on larger shawls. Unblocked: I added an icord bind off because … Continue reading
I’m trying out the 5 shawls 5 days challenge as a way to practice some shawl construction, since I had to experiment a bunch in a hurry when I was designing the flax shawl for my sister. Also, this is a nice excuse to use some of the yarn samples I never tried from my … Continue reading
I didn’t do much gift knitting this year because I didn’t have much time with an infant, but I always try to make something for my Grandma. I know she appreciates that I’m thinking of her, not just in the moment of gifting but in the weeks or months that it takes for me to … Continue reading
I made this necklace for my sister’s birthday. It was a bit of an in-joke present: We play Guild Wars 2 together, and last year she decided to get us all to do a challenge really intended for a much larger group. Long story short: she spent months gathering in-game flax, with the rest of … Continue reading
Earlier, I posted about how I did on my fiber goals for 2017. Overall, I’d say I was pretty successful! I’ve been thinking a bit about what I’d like for this year, and here’s my list: Use more of my project kits. I still have quite a few Beanie Bags I never got around to, … Continue reading
One of the ravelry groups I follow had a thread on fiber goals for the year, so I chose a few that I thought would be fun. Here’s how they went! 2017 Fiber Goals Knit a “seamless” sweater this time (My Acorn Trail/Cardipalooza cardigan was pieced) Try some new types of needles. Knit more handspun. … Continue reading