Misc.

Stolen - my new Batavus Bicycle

2009-01-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

My new Batavus Personal Bicycle was stolen the 12/20/08. It has a very obvious serial number cut out of the frame FS401

Bloglines | My Feeds (4598)

2008-08-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

DIY leather mudguards for bicycle fenders

Very cool!

Books

2008-04-29T13:23:00.001-07:00

Anthology - Many Bloody Returns

Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris
It's My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher
Twilight by Kelley Armstrong

I Was a Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider
Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod
Jack Fleming series

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life by Rachel Caine
The Witch and the Wicked by Jeanne C. Stein
Anna Strong Series
1. The Becoming
2. Blood Drive
3. The Watcher

Blood Wrapped by Tanya Huff
Smoke Series

Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two by Tate Hallaway
1. Tall, Dark & Dead
2. Dead Sexy
3. Romancing the Dead

Vampire Hours by Elaine Viets
Dead-End Job Mystery Series
Josie Marcus Mystery Shopper Series

How Stella got her Grave Back by Toni L.P. Kelner
http://www.tonilpkelner.com/

Anthology - My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon

Caitlin Kittredge - Nocturne City series, Black London

Books

2008-03-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Anthology - Many Bloody Returns
Dracula Night by Charlaine Harris
It's My Birthday, Too by Jim Butcher
Twilight by Kelley Armstrong

I Was a Teenage Vampire by Bill Crider
Grave-Robbed by P.N. Elrod
Jack Fleming series

Diagrams, beautiful diagrams

2007-07-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

Why did I not find this website before? http://techknitting.blogspot.com It's got some great info and the diagrams are so clear.

Socks in progress

2007-05-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

These have both been sitting unfinished for ages and I really need to just finish them.

These are the really ugly socks that I knitted to use up some leftover yarn. They're using the Knitpicks DPNs in size 1 which I like but would prefer if they were a little smaller, yet their size size 0 are smaller than I would usually use.

These socks are using Bearfoot yarn which feels luscious. I'm using my favourite needles of all time - plastic size 0 bought in a thrift store. They are Susan Bates and Boye brand from the 60's and 70's. According to the packaging they cost a whopping 25 cents when new. I adore these needles and dream of stumbling upon a stash of them at a yard sale. Unfortunately with age they can become brittle and break and I've already broken a couple.

The pattern... hmm, I thought I was being clever and to avoid counting and make these handy no brain required knitting I cunningly cast on a multiple of 9 minus 1 and then "knit 6, purl 3" round and round. Because of the minus 1 stitch they always overlap and spiral round. That all worked out great but trying to count rows was very difficult. I rarely count as I knit but stop and count later. With this pattern this doesn't work very well and I should probably have used a stitch marker and counted as I went along or had a bit of thread woven in and out to mark every 10 rows or so. So I kept adding more rows to the legs of the socks to make them match and they got longer and longer until I gave up and started the heels anyway.

This is why I'm not losing any weight...

2007-05-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

These are twice baked potatoes with onion, cheese, bacon and chives. Absolutely great but not really helping me fit into my jeans better.

Sewing Projects to do

2007-01-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to make napkins for ages now. Such an easy project so I don't why I haven't got round to it.

I also would like to make a sandwich wrapper/keeper thing like the one here. In fact that whole set is adorable. There are instructions on making a sandwich wrapper here which I think I'll use as a starting point and maybe change a bit.

Everyday Food . Recipes | PBS

2007-01-10T23:10:00.000-08:00

This evening I happened to catch most of a cooking show called Everyday Food that came on straight after the BBC news. Everything they made looked easy to do and all the dishes looked great so I found the recipes on line. It turns out it's something related to Martha Stuart although she's not on the show.

I think I may try some of the recipes this weekend. Hopefully it will work out better than my last cooking attempt when I tried the popular and supposedly idiot proof - "so easy a four year could do it", no knead bread NY Times recipe. The resulting black brick was a resounding failture. I think the dutch oven may never recover.

Electrolytic Etching of Brass

2007-01-10T14:46:00.000-08:00

I've done a lot of research on etching but have yet to try it. I wanted to do it on silver which seems little more difficult but I think I'm going to go ahead and try it with brass to start with. This tutorial is pretty good: Electrolytic Etching of Brass - The Steampunk Workshop

Steampunk-ish weather clock

2007-01-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

I love the idea of modifying antique machinery with modern technology. There are some very cool old fashioned typewriters turned into computer keyboards, like this, this and this. I don't have a workshop currently but at some point I'd like to try replacing the casing on some sort of handheld device with metal/silver and semi-precious stones. I have the silversmithing skill but lack the technical knowledge currently.

This weather clock (shouldn't that just be a barometer?) is fantastic. I wish there were more details on exactly how it was done. My Dad has a couple of barometers like the ones on this page and I'd thought in the past about trying to modify an old broken one somehow. I hadn't thought of anything as cool as the weather clock but now I'm tempted to try something similar and incorporate the existing technology of the barometer with modern weather forecasts.

Round Toe

2006-12-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

Decrease until you have a multiple of 8 stitches or 7 if you start at Row 8.

You can finish early and Kitchner the end.

Round1: K6, K2tog around.
Round 2-7: Knit all stitches (so 6 rows plain)
Round 8: K5, K2tog around.
Round 9-13: Knit all stitches (so 5 rows plain)
Round 14: K4, K2tog, around.
Round 15-18: Knit all stitches (so 4 rows plain and so on)
Round 19: K3, K2tog, around.
Round 20-22: Knit all stitches.
Round 23: K2, K2tog, around.
Round 24-25: Knit all stitches.
Round 26: K1, K2tog, around.
Round 27: Knit all stitches.
Round 28: K2tog around.

Rounded Sock Toe

2006-12-20T21:41:00.000-08:00

60 stitch sock

Row 1: Dec 4 sts (1 at each side of the 2 "bars")
Rows 2, 3, and 4: straight to end
Row 5: Dec 4 sts (1 at each side of the 2 "bars")
Rows 6 and 7: straight to end
Row 8: Dec 4 sts (1 at each side of the 2 "bars")
Rows 9 and 10: straight to end
Row 11: Dec 4 sts (1 at each side of the 2 "bars")
Row 12: straight to end
Row 13: Dec 4 sts (1 at each side of the 2 "bars")
Row 14: straight to end
Row 15: Dec 4 sts (1 at each side of the 2 "bars")
Row 16: straight to end
Rows 17 to 22: Dec 4 sts (1 at each side of the 2 "bars"): End with 12 stitches and Kitchner off.

56 sts
2 x 3 rows
3 x 2 rows
6 x every row

60 sts
1 x 4 rows
2 x 3 rows
3 x 2 rows
6 x every row

64 sts
1 x 4 rows
2 x 3 rows
3 x 2 rows
7 x every row

68 sts
1 x 4 rows
2 x 3 rows
4 x 2 rows
7 x every row

72 sts
1 x 4 rows
2 x 3 rows
4 x 2 rows
8 x every row

Blueberry Waffle Socks

2006-12-20T21:36:00.001-08:00

Interlacements Socks

These socks definitely reflect my lack of perfectionism. I prefer to knit both socks simultaneously but on two different sets of needles but unfortunately this is less easy to do when using 100g balls of yarn. Splitting the yarn into two balls always seems such a pain...

So I started this sock and knit down to the toe before deciding weeks later to start the second sock from the inside of the ball of yarn. It was only when I reached the toe of the second sock I realised not only had I made a mistake throughout the entire pattern of the second sock but I had also used two extra stitches on the foot. However, since these are just for me I decided life is too short to rip it out.

The yarn is Interlacements Toast Toes and is lovely and squishy. I'm not sure how well it will wear since it seems very soft. The pattern is the free Blueberry Waffle Pattern although I changed the number of stitches. I also used a round toe which I really like and plan to use again and try variations on it. I just did the following decreasing for this one though:

Round 1: K5, K2tog around.
Round 2-6: Knit all stitches.
Round 7: K4, K2tog, around.
Round 8-11: Knit all stitches.
Round 12: K3, K2tog, around.
Round 13-15: Knit all stitches.
Round 16: K2, K2tog, around.
Round 17-18: Knit all stitches.
Round 19: K1, K2tog, around.
Round 20: Knit all stitches.
Round 21: K2tog around.

Froehlich yarn (not Blauband though)

2006-12-20T21:35:00.001-08:00

I used the free online pattern "Gentleman Socks" for these. This is a really great pattern with some nice details such as heel slip stitch on the a section of the sole. I was worried that I had made the heel flap too long. I had knitted them longer than usual but I was too lazy to undo a few rows however these socks fit really well and feel lovely on so maybe I have a high instep or something.

The yarn is a discontinued Froehlich Wolle but not the Blauband. I like the Trekking-esque stripes. These were the same dyelot yet look very different in this photo. I have a stash of this yarn in some of the other colourways. It does look like it may get fuzzy with wear though - I'm not sure if it was worth doing the stitch pattern on this as it's not very visible and will probably become even less defined when I wash and wear them.

Regia cotton socks

2006-12-20T21:33:00.000-08:00

These are knit toe up with a Sherman heel. I wanted to see if I could get a pair of ankle socks out of a 50g ball. They're a little loose round the ribbing at the top - I prefer cuff down I think. The yarn is Regia Surf Cotton colour Rosso 5411