Sweet Georgia Yarns made this lovely set of yarns as a holiday kit, and I loved it so much I bought two: one for me and one for my friend M as a Christmas present. It has 15 yarns, so I figured I’d do it as if it were a monthly yarn subscription, and maybe … Continue reading
My mom hates shopping and gives me birthday money, and I’ve tried to make a habit of actually buying myself things in December and January as presents. And lately, most of what I covet is yarn, so… These two kits are from Laura Nelkin, whose kits I’ve enjoyed in the past. Mudra This was very … Continue reading
Two finishes to share! First off, surprisingly, isn’t knitting! I started and finished this Kiriki Press embroidery kit in 2020 after I got back from Ottawa. This one was a lot faster than the spring one because there was no time-consuming satin stitch. I’m still having fun learning new stitches and also giving my hands … Continue reading
I never really loved new year’s resolutions until I started making them related to fiber. I think it’s because my fiber goals are more like little yearly bucket lists. So here’s this year’s set! 1. Whittle down the WIPs and Query the Queue. I’ve got a few works in progress that have been languishing, like … Continue reading
My 2019 goals: Learn steeking. Document better. Finish another sweater. Play with mini skeins. So how did that go? 1. I did the steeking! 2. I blogged a couple of times every month all year, and I’ve made sure to put photos into Ravelry. So not only is it better than last year, but it’s … Continue reading
While I was sick over Thanksgiving, I suddenly thought it would be a good idea to knit a toddler sweater. I had a grand idea of doing it in a weekend, which wasn’t very likely, but a fun thing to try. It might have been doable if not for the toddler himself! Yarn: Bumblebirch worsted … Continue reading
Tried a new way to keep my toddler entertained on a holiday weekend: we made play dough together! 1 cup flour 1/4 cup salt (Mix these and set aside) (In a glass 1C measure) 3 tablespoons lemon juice Fill rest of cup with water to 3/4 cup mark (Microwave to hot: 1 min or so) … Continue reading
Recently finished: – Woollywormhead’s 2019 mystery hat. It’s blocking right this moment. – my Lucky Star shawl (blocked, photographed today, but not worn yet!) – Mom’s Christmas sock #1 Works in progress: – Mom’s sock #2 (cast on this afternoon) – Cascadial Wrap (maybe 3/4 done? More? Abandoned again for travel last month, poor thing) … Continue reading
This was a particularly satisfying pattern to knit. It starts out so small and that first chart seemed daunting. It’s well written, but there was just So Much Going On that I needed to concentrate and I despaired of ever finishing with a toddler around. But once I made it through the first chart, and … Continue reading
My final socks on vacay socks were started on the way back from Ottawa in August and finally finished after my hand recovered! Yarn: “maybe unicorn dreams?” From Knitted Wit. It didn’t have a colour written on the tag and I thought the guess sounded like a hugo nominated short story so that’s what I’m … Continue reading
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