Category: Crafts

Craft projects of mine

  • Google are breaking my mittens

    Sonofa. Twelve years ago I knitted a pair of “self-replicating mittens” with a QR code that pointed you to the pattern for the mittens, and I entered them in the Sydney Royal Easter Show. I was pretty proud of my cleverness. In the blog post where I talked about making the mittens, I said:

    I wanted my code to be as simple as possible, so I needed to use a URL shortener to mask my intended address. I settled on using Google‘s, reasoning that it was likely to be around the longest. (Though who knows these days, right?)

    You can guess what’s happened, right? Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available as of August this year.

    Bastards are breaking my mittens. Perhaps I’ll have to add some embroidery. 😠

    A knitted pair of mittens with a QR code. "404" is written over the image in red marker.

  • Birthday prezzies

    Birthday prezzies

    It was a lovely surprise to receive some birthday gifts today from friends! Do they really know me or what?! ❤️

  • Heart Warmer Cowl

    Heart Warmer Cowl

    I’m making progress on this cowl, getting through the lace and cable section tonight. I’m pretty sure I somehow inserted a row in the last repeat though, probably due to excitement watching the Shoresy Season 2 finale. I reckon I’ll leave it though…

  • Random Links

  • Nine years ago…

    I was doubtful whether my project to import all my old tweets to my blog had any real value. But through them I just remembered that 9 years ago today, I got to meet and teach knitting to women and children in Manila who had been rescued from human trafficking. Canva supported the organisation and a whole group of employees went. It was one of the most worthwhile things I did in my whole tech career, and it had nothing to do with computers. 😭🩷

  • Open Source Knitting Machine

    This is so freaking cool. Someone designed and 3D-printed a knitting machine! 🧶

  • New skillz

    New skillz

    Learned a new knitting trick today: the German twisted cast-on. Biggest challenge is that the long tail needs to be about twice as long as I normally estimate, so I had to do it twice. But I figured it out!

  • Non-Cooperation Brick

    A knitting pattern for when you really feel the urge to throw something against the wall, like when the supposed leader of the free world sides with dictators and fascists and insults a brave man fighting for his people’s freedom. 🤬 Oh, and it’s free. Bonus.

  • Oscar Contest 2025

    Oscar Contest 2025

    It’s obviously not happening! I’m just not feeling it, folks, despite having (IMHO) a fantastic idea for the sock monkeys. I even sourced props! I’ll just have to hope another sexy sexy tennis movie gets nominated in the future… 🎾

  • Machine quilting prototypes

    Machine quilting prototypes

    Experimenting with some of the stitch patterns on my sewing machine. I think the larger stipple is the way to go.