Tiny Triumphs

[Jennifer]

Awesome, Hugh! Paying off the last bits of a debt does feel great. (Though I daresay you posted in the wrong thread: it's more than just a tiny triumph, IMO. That's a biggun.)

[Aresen]

My credit card debt, which had peaked above $6k, has been defeated. I owe a few thousand more on a student loan and then my obligations to all human institutions will be satisfied.

Congrats, Hugh. That should free up some funds to pay for Ridgely and my pensions.

[pistoffnick]

My credit card debt, which had peaked above $6k, has been defeated. I owe a few thousand more on a student loan and then my obligations to all human institutions will be satisfied.

Curious about your obligations to alien and other non-human institutions. What sort of underhanded deals have you made, Hugh?

Congrats on shrugging those chains.

[Warren]

Curious about your obligations to alien and other non-human institutions. What sort of underhanded deals have you made, Hugh?

I for one welcome our new Rubber Duckie overlords.

[nicole]

We replaced our dryer timer and now I have a working dryer again YAY!

[JD]

Fixed my wife's headphones just now. The speaker within one of the earcups had come loose; it still made sound but now it was rattling around in an annoying way.

I decided to try and fix it, even though I figured it was going to be one of those tough and awkward jobs, where you have to pry the thing apart with a putty knife, and you always end up breaking some little plastic piece, etc. etc. But it actually came apart really nicely once I learned the trick - the pads popped off, then there were four little exposed screws holding the cup together, and the speaker just went back snugly into its little molded holder. I even found my jeweler's screwdrivers, which I haven't used in ages, without any trouble.
(The headphones were the Panasonic RP-HTX7, in case anyone was wondering.)

[Jennifer]

I organized my entire collection of secondhand Star Trek: TOS and TNG novels, then, in the little leatherbound notebook I always carry with me, wrote down* all of the books I already have, so that in the future, if/when I see such books for sale cheap, I can check to see exactly which ones I already have and which ones I don't.

*Given that most of the books are numbered, this entailed the relatively quick process of simply writing in numerical order which numbers I have, not the more time-consuming process of writing out entire titles.

[nicole]

I finished my first "stranded knitting" project -- that means, like Fair Isle, color work where you have a bunch of strands on the wrong side of the fabric. I've been knitting for many years but only recently started trying some new techniques and this is one I never thought I'd manage.

IMG_8609.JPG (3.21 MiB) Viewed 1030 times

[dead_elvis]

Beautiful!

[pistoffnick]

That is nice! How long did it take you?

[Warren]

Outstanding work nicole! That is really great.
I'm a total craftsman kind of guy. Love hand made stuff when it's better than the mass produced stuff.
Keep it up. Try a few more "advanced techniques". Then I highly encourage you to use your skills to make unique items of your own design. Develop a style.

[nicole]

Thanks guys. According to my records I started working on it on July 3, but the yoke part took me about two evenings, I think. Most of the knitting time was the very boring, plain sleeves and body.

I'm definitely going to continue doing new stuff but I'm not sure about designing. There is some *shockingly* good design out there now...when I first taught myself to knit back at university the online community for it was so different. It's amazing how it's changed in 15 years. From indie ranchers to spinners to dyers and designers. I have way too many projects I want to make.

[Aresen]

Looks good nicole.

[Warren]

From indie ranchers to spinners to dyers and designers. I have way too many projects I want to make.

I came across some people that raised llamas and used only natural dyes (i remember them showing me a type of beetle they said was crushed up to make dye) to make alpaca yarns. I am a fan.
Have you ever worked with alpaca? That shit is the market.

[JasonL]

That looks really nice!

[dhex]

Nice!

[Ellie]

Holy crap, that looks fantastic! I love the design and the colors.

[Highway]

Good to learn a new technique and have it come out so well.

[nicole]

From indie ranchers to spinners to dyers and designers. I have way too many projects I want to make.

I came across some people that raised llamas and used only natural dyes (i remember them showing me a type of beetle they said was crushed up to make dye) to make alpaca yarns. I am a fan.
Have you ever worked with alpaca? That shit is the market.

Alpaca is nice, I have a scarf I made from some 100% alpaca yarn a few years ago. It's also in the wool blend in my sister's Weasley sweater. You have to kind of limit the alpaca content in something like a sweater, though, because it has little "memory" and will stretch out of shape too easily. (This is also an issue for non-protein-based fibers.)

I'm generally very into wool but right now I'm particularly into wool/silk blends. The silk does awesome things to the depth of color. The sweater above is 65/20/15 wool/silk/yak and I'm pretty in love with that, even if I won't be able to wear it for months.

And thanks again everyone else!

[lunchstealer]

Kirk, his thumbs raised high.

[Sandy]

I don't quite follow the technique but the result is , as the young people say.

[dhex]

i have an alpaca knit had that is fantastic.

[Warren]

i have an alpaca knit had that is fantastic.

That's a very cunning had.

[Hugh Akston]

tfw when you get typo'd by Warren

[Kolohe]

Looks great, nicole.