I strained my hand/wrist/arm at the end of socks on vacay (it wasn’t *just* knitting but the short needle setup I was trying didn’t help), so I took a two week break and tried some different crafts while I waited for my body to recover. Embroidery has been popular in knitting circles. (even punch embroidery, … Continue reading
I bought this yarn because the name, “time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana” reminded me of my biochemist parents, and then my mom asked for socks so away we went. It was also socks on vacay time still! And Mom’s birthday was coming up! Yarn: Knitted Wit “time flies like an … Continue reading
My work open source project had its second public release! Python folk can get it via pip install cve-bin-tool or by going to https://github.com/intel/cve-bin-tool/releases/tag/0.3.0
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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