Working on a Father’s Day gift as a break from working on work. So far, bee butt. The legs are wool over “Chenille Stem” — i guess “pipe cleaner” is now politically incorrect. Look, pipes aren’t just for smoking! Lots of small tubular things need cleaning: those are pipes, too!
Honey Bee Toy
June 9th, 2008DoS – Denial of Service
June 4th, 2008For some months we were having an intermittent access issue, which seemed to be tied to too many spam comments in another blog on our server. We installed Akismet there, and all seemed much better. Then it seems someone started pounding the server with track-back spam.
It’s not clear when the site will be stable, as neither Christine or I have a great amount of time to track down these issues. (Although it’s very tempting as a procrastination method.) The past few days seem like an almost complete outage, so we’ve restarted the server.
I know i haven’t done several months of Creek-In-The-News posts, as well as posting on other topics as they come to mind.
Hopefully, the technological barrier of the Denial of Service will drop, but i fear we’ve just worked around it again.
Scattered interests
May 25th, 2008This morning i determined that i should give my Golden fluid acrylics a try as a stamping ink for “block prints” with cork and eraser. I have the acrylics & glazing liquid, i like blending the colors…. All i need is a breyer. I can always give the Speedball block printing inks a try later. I am delighted to see a kit of six with primary red/yellow/blue plus white, black and bonus gold are available. This is in response to the continued nagging sense that stamping pad inks are a rip-off.
Meanwhile, i’ve been working on the
What if, instead of the trefoils, i had a beaded leaf? That introduces some issues: what one would string the beads on? Something thin enough for seed beads would be awfully slow to work up in a scarf. So, what if one ran a beaded thread along with a heavier weight yarn. Could one thien just do the leaf in the thread?
The answer seems to be yes! That’s about a foot of random seed beads on[Y5] DMC Traditions Ecru along with some natural colored Lion Worsted cotton from IrisDragon. The worsted i worked with G/6-4.25 mm hook (blue); the thread with US7/1.5mm (steel). I rather think i need more practice working with the beaded thread. My leaf pattern seems ok — the back view is pleasing. The beads down the center of the leaf work well. I wonder about using a high sheen floss that gets lost in the worsted weight but stands out well when worked into the leaf pattern.
Well, i would like to order the PhotoPOSTOS now, but there’s some problem with PayPal. And I’d like to order a brayer, but if i order online, i should pick out enough stuff to balance the shipping & handling. I’m off for business travel, so i’ll take my yellow trefoil net work for the plane. I might continue thinking a bit about 2.5″x3.5″ ATCs and some ideas around a “
Lessons Learned
May 7th, 2008RitzPix’s digital photobooks are a nice product. I found the online web layout tool to be wonderfully flexible. In one photo of a trail, i was able to put a small inset of the stone grain with a penny for size. The “flaoting frame” could be placed anywhere, with edge effects that were different than other photos. The edge effects offer some interesting flexibility and images could have their transparency adjusted. The total was around $25 for a 6×6 hardback book with twenty pages counting the inside cover and the back page. One surprise was that the pages had a white boarder — they weren’t full bleed. I note that they do have a notice to this effect on one of their pre-order pages.
Admittedly, Apple’s hardback book looks like it may be a better deal in some ways: 8.5″ x 11″ hardcover keepsake books include a suede-like cover with a foil-printed title on the cover and a customizable dust jacket. 20 pages (10 sheets) $29.99 The dustjacket is a very nice touch as most hardback books lack any sort of printing option. (Some have inset windows to see a cover image and title.) Another aspect that’s better about working through iPhoto: you don’t have to upload all the photos to a remote server before you begin your layout work. I don’t recall the layout being nearly as flexible as RitzPix’s, though.
The most remarkable difference about the RitzPix book, though, was that i was able to pick the book up from the Wolf Camera on El Camino here in Mountain View the next day. I may have even been able to pick it up in a hour. That’s a wonderful “immediate gratification” aspect that stands out.
***
Another lesson was RitzPix’s photo cards: one can layout images on a 8″x10″ sheet. The “card” and the high price led me to hope i was getting prints on cardstock weight paper. Nope. I’m not sure what the benefit to the purchaser is in choosing this function over the standard reprints. To duplicate what i received for $9, i could have purchased 3 different “4×6 Plus 2 Wallets Glossy” at .49 each and two 4×6 Glossy Borderless at .21 each — $1.89 (and i’d have more photos).
I risked the order because i continue to wish to make photo postcards in small quantities. The cost per card with other print on demand options (plus waiting for shipping) doesn’t appeal to me. I did find adhesive photo postcard backs for photos: 50 4 X 6 PhotoPOSTOS $13.99 (.28 back+.21 print per ~ .50 ea). There is the opportunity to commission custom backs in sets of 1000: i’m not sure that’s within my needs and means, but it is a very clever marketing ploy.
***
And more lessons: Our camera is bloody noisy at ISO equivalent 1600. On the other hand, i think i’ve figured out how to manually set the focus to infinity, and i think that’s better than the auto settings in my attempts at sky photography.
Doris Chan’s Cinnabar Sweater
April 25th, 2008I’ve started on the yoke of the Cinnabar but it kept looking wrong. I’ve ripped it out a couple of times. So, i started searching. This link suggested that there were errata, and i eventually found them:
Corrections to Doris Chan’s Everyday Crochet:
We make every effort to provide accurate patterns and helpful information to our readers. The following corrections are for the patterns found in Everyday Crochet. The corrections are listed by pattern, page number, and row number. Large areas of red highlighted text indicate a revision in instructions. We hope you will find this useful!
Tall Latte (Page 53)
First column, addition to line 34:
Size 36
Row 7: Ch 3, 2 dc in first dc, sc in next ch-sp of sh, work in pattern across, end with 3 dc in top of tch, turn.
CINNABAR, Page 66-67, corrections for Size 35 from Row 2
ROW 2: Ch 3, (dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in first V, V in corner ch-sp, SH in V, *[V in shell, SH in V] to next corner ch-sp, V in corner ch-sp, SH in V*; repeat from * to * 2 times, except omit last SH, instead (2 dc, ch 1, dc) in tch-sp, dc in third ch of tch, turn — 10 pattern repeats.
ROW 3: PATT ROW 2, fasten off, turn.
Add sts to shape front neck, increase corners as follows:
ROW 4: BASE CH/SC 6 (for front neck extension), V in first dc, SH in V, INC-V in next corner ch-sp, *SH in V, [V in shell, SH in V] to next corner ch-sp, INC-V in next corner ch-sp*; rep from * to * 2 times, SH in V, V in top of tch, ch 1, BASE CH/SC 6 (for front neck extension), turn.
Other help
Images of someone else’s yoke here.
Art Box
April 12th, 2008
Flatware box[1] covered with Loris of Florence “Ecological recycled paper” “Made in Italy” and weldbond glue. Crocheted strap and button. Button insert is modified beer bottle cap. Crochet is “Royale Fashion Crochet Thread Warm Rose” [Y4] and orange and yellow wool from a lot of crewel yarn bought on eBay. Hook: US1, 2.35 mm.
This project from yesterday evening and today.
[1] I’ve had the very sturdy silverware box for over a year. We refer to the flatware as “the heaviest flatware ever.” We’d gone through a number of purchases that had all demonstrated that no matter the price, the flatware was cheap. This purchase we inspected carefully, down to the beveling on the edge of the spoon and fork. Did we realize that it would be so heavy it would cause our drawer to start shedding sawdust? No. Oh, well.
It seemed a waste to just recycle such a strong box, so i reengineered the inset (to which the silverware was attached) to act as a lid, and then created the button and strap so one could open it.
Red Box Card
April 7th, 2008
Practicing with paper and glue. Inserted yellow tissue into the inset along with an accordian-fold tiny thank you note.
I’ve stashed so much around me to make projects — i should be making stuff!
slightly closed
Greycie Loo & Crocheted Collar
April 7th, 2008
One small project this weekend was cat collars. This six-stitch wide collar with single crochets in front loop (to make the ribbing) is her current collar. It is a bit wider than the usual cat collar, but she seems quite comfy with it.
From the hardware of the second salvaged collar, i made a more typical thin collar (two sc wide) for whichever cat needs a collar next.
Not Exactly a Call for Works
March 20th, 2008This came through the Map Librarian list today:
Gang,Years ago, a friend, who works at the Washington State Dept of Health,
Radioactive Division (and her buddies), invented The Society of
Radioactive Women (SRW). Their motto is _____________ “Hot chicks forever!”The SRW intends to do fun stuff, but mostly to raise money to provide
college/university scholarships for women majoring in any science. For
example, they compile and sell a cookbook.Anyone can be a member, regardless of gender (or anything else).
All you have to do is send a funny postcard including your name, mailing
address, and e-mail address to:Pam Walsh
7032 Zangle Road
Olympia WA 98506I’ve been a member for years. I haven’t put it on my resume, but _you_
could. And so could anyone. Please feel free to share this message.Connie Manson
I wonder if i have my old radiation badge reports stashed somewhere that could be used with Los Alamos photos for a “funny postcard.” The Internet Archive archived a page about the Society from 2001.
I’ve had the potential to receive doses at TUNL, LANCE at Los Alamos, the Tandem (at U Penn), NSCL at Michigan State, and Lawrence Berkeley Lab. (I’m pretty sure dosimeters almost always came back at background levels.)
Seeds planted
February 10th, 2008Only up to a brief stint in the garden, but the mild and beautiful weather calls for an examination of the growing things.
Parsley is thriving. The pansies have aphids. The Daisy-like shrub is blooming. Buds on the hydrangea (which i always think i have killed). It’s possible a tomato has survived, ditto the pepper. I cut those way back, though, and believe they might actually be gone.
The planters across the five gallon water containers may not be working. Some sagging. Could the water containers be leaking?
I trimmed back the lemon grass (aggressively).
From previously unopened “Renee’s Garden” seeds:
planter 1: Long standing spinach Summer Perfection (packed for 2005) & Container Chard Pot of Gold (packed for 2008)
planter 2: Fragrant sweet peas Perfume Delight (packed for 2008)