Transfering My Domain...

I'd been relatively happy with godaddy.com (registrar and email host) for over a decade, but in recent months too much of my incoming email from friends and family never arrived, and godaddy was unhelpful. Then godaddy stopped allowing catchall mail.

That was the deal breaker.*

After asking people and the web, I found namecheap.com which includes a catchall option at no charge in their Private Email packages.

I transferred my domain and got email running despite a few hitches in less than 24 hours. Not bad.

The hitches and solutions:

• Server addresses and ports for both POP and SMTP from support pages didn't work with Eudora 7.1.0.9, but late-night (yay!) support agents came up with:
  
  
  • POP mail.privateemail.com port 110
  • SMTP mail.privateemail.com port 587


• Secure Sockets setting names differed, support agents recommended STARTTLS. So far, these socket settings work: 
  
  
  • If available, STARTTLS
  • Required, STARTTLS — this is the one I'm using
  • Never
   
• A broken server certificate, imported and trusted, made it possible for two subsequent certificates that were good, so email is arriving smoothly.

Other notes:

• Namecheap regularly has coupons aka promotion codes, and the best one for email was buried in a collection. I used the obvious one and spent $4 more than necessary.  


• DNS setup was automatic and took effect very quickly. Once that happened I was able to create a mailbox and opt for catchall.


• The transfer process had a few annoyances (aka new procedures in the last decades) but it worked. 


• My gmail addresses and Stunnel settings required no changes, though until Eudora had good settings for my dominant email address, gmail was stalled too.

Future concerns:

• Relying on gmail being around** strikes me as being naive. People relying on Google Reader for atom/RSS feeds got burned.
  
• I worry that catchall email will be harder to find. I've paid in advance for a year of email hosting on namecheap, but who knows what their policy will become? Not me.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for "listening!"


* I use Eudora filters on From addresses to manage my mail. When I give my email online, theirdomain@mydomain is the template used for most sites. Out of the daily mass of incoming mail, filters find the mail I'm likely to want and put it in the right mailbox. Leftovers get checked for a few things (including a specific signature phrase) and the rest goes to trash. This system also reveals when an address gets adopted by spammers.

** I use several gmail addresses because they're short and easy to give to my students and activity friends. I get and send gmail via POP/SMTP and they were more reliable that my domain email when that was losing messages. One of my options for email management would be to ditch the domain and use a handful of gmail addresses for stores, banks, crafts, genealogy, and other categories.

Don't Throw Out Holey Socks! Or Sweaters Either...

As a sock lover and sock knitter, I find myself reluctant to toss socks with holes, so I darn the hand-knit ones and make things out of the rest.

Today I ran across this tutorial for making a bottle cozy from a holey sock. Skip the decorations if you like. LOL





https://swoodsonsays.com/turn-socks-with-holes-into-a-diy-upcycled-coffee-cozy/

What else can you do with these socks-turned-sleeves? Let's count:

1. Wrist warmers, ideally from a pair of tubes, but mis-matched works as well (think gardening, etc). 
2. Add a thumb hole to make a hand warmer.
3. From knee socks, arm or leg warmers.
4. Boot toppers.

Instead of making the tube, sew the bottom closed to make:

1. Phone cozy.
2. Glasses case. 
3. Case for small tablet.
4. Add a drawstring to make a bag for small items such as earbuds, cables, charger, etc.
5. Sachet using herbs, potpourri, or soap, tying the bag closed with a cord, ribbon, or drawstring.

What to do with the toe or heel that doesn't have a hole? Especially if the sock contains some wool, make a dog or cat toy, filling it with a squeaker for dogs, and catnip+stuffing for cats. Stitch the opening closed by hand or machine. You can get at least one toy per sock.

This same technique works on sweater sleeves to make:

1. Cozy for larger bottles or jars (soup for lunch?). 
2. Lunch bag.
3. Case for larger tablets.
4. Larger drawstring bags.
5. Tube slippers.
6. Wrist, arm, or leg warmers.
7. Maybe even a hat or several for babies, stuffed animals, or pets.

Oh, no! Now I'm having a bazillion ideas for un-mendable sweaters too. Must stop!  Please share your questions, ideas, and sock projects in the comments.

My Kneedle File is for Hooks, Too

The top of my Kneedle File looks really messy but I find it to be highly functional sitting in the top of my Ikea Raskog cart, aka my knitting cart, located next to my favorite knitting chair. The only needles and hooks that I don't store in it are my interchangeable needle sets and needles/hooks larger than US 17. Needles in WIPs don't count. LOL

My needle gauge lives here with the file in my knitting cart. Easy to find and put away. That USB cable is an Ikea Jansjo LED lamp that, so far, is just right for evening TV knitting.

While sorting through my needles, I found a bunch of  very fine steel DPNs too small to size with my gauge, so I used a digital caliper (Harbor Freight) to size and sort them. I use that method to sort sock needles too, as they increment by .25 mm and some sizes are not on the Susan Bates gauge either. I found just one gauge with all the sizes, Lacis Knitting/Crochet Gauge 8,0 To 35 Slide-On, and it's on my wish list for sure.

Lacis Knitting Needle & Crochet Hook Gauge Slide ‑ On

Peering into the US 9 pocket, you can see several needle types; my I crochet hooks (are supposed) go in that pocket, too. The cables don't usually show that much; I lifted them up to show you. Straights and long DPNs stand vertically to the sides in the appropriate sections. Even if they tip over, they're easy to find. Circulars are curled loosely and placed in the center. They get a bit tangled still, but at least they're the same size, and it's easy to pull them out to find the desired needle, and stuff them back in. That green cable? It's a hacked 45" needle for mobius projects with string trimmer line for the extra length.

Short needles got lost in the bottom, so I recently added pockets made from mini sheet protectors and decorative paper. The sheet protectors fit 5.5" x 8.5" paper, and as you can see, the decorative paper is taller. I used 12" sheets folded, taped, and labeled on both sides. Turns out they're making great tabs, too. If you're starting from scratch to make a file like this, I'd still label the file itself so you can easily see where the small needle pockets go back. Be sure to secure the paper to the sheet protector (tape, glue, staple, etc) so when you lift the pocket out by the paper, they stay connected. Ask me how I know!

This pocket for 2.25mm tools also holds a tiny sock circular. The shorter needles can fit horizontally as you see, but I haven't figured a way to make them stay vertical yet. Maybe a narrow paper pocket with a back that's 8" tall and front 3" tall. Other ideas anyone?

Did you notice that the accordion file is narrower than normal? Well spotted! LOL I used to keep it in the bottom drawer of a Martha Washington sewing cabinet but I had to hack the file so it would fit. It is possible to resize an ordinary paper accordion file, and in this case, it leaves some room to the side for a couple of interchangeable needle sets and a pencil cup.

Hope you got some inspiration! Later, Michal

Ignoring Gmail Certificate Changes in Eudora with Stunnel

Ignoring Frequent Gmail Certificate Changes by Getting Comcast, Godaddy, Eudora, Stunnel, and Gmail to Work Together in Windows 7

My email is now working without interruptions caused by Gmail's frequent certificate changes. I'd read that using Stunnel is a way to avoid the certificate update process. The process of making Stunnel work for me was frustrating for the people answering my questions as well as for me. Maybe this record will help someone else have an easier time of it as well as remind me how to fix it if/when I break it.

I'm posting these particular settings because my primary email requires that I use port 80 for SMTP. After trying several methods to circumvent that setting without success, it remains a requirement in this case.

After installing Stunnel as a service and leaving its configuration file unedited, I set up my Gmail personalities in Eudora by first setting the Properties for each personality to:

Generic Properties tab:

•     SMTP Server: 127.0.0.1

•     Use Submission Port: UNchecked

•     Secure Sockets when Sending: Never

Incoming Mail tab:

•     Secure Sockets when Receiving: Never

Then I closed/quit/exited Eudora, found Eudora.ini, made a backup copy, and used Notepad to open the original Eudora.ini file.

Each non-dominant persona has a section in Eudora.ini that starts out something like this where "gmailuser" and the domain varies:
---------------------------------------------
[Persona-gmailuser@gmail]
SavePasswordText=randomstuffencodingapassword==
POPAccount=gmailuser@gmail.com@127.0.0.1
RealName=Michal
ReturnAddress=gmailuser@gmail.com
DomainQualifier=
SMTPServer=127.0.0.1
---------------------------------------------
The important line is that bottom one, and it could be somewhere else in the settings for this persona or it could be missing (one of mine was despite being specified in Properties). For each gmail persona, I added SMTPPort=25 immediately after the SMTPSERVER line like this:
---------------------------------------------
SMTPServer=127.0.0.1
SMTPPort=25
---------------------------------------------
I repeated this edit for each Gmail persona, adding both lines when the SMTPServer line was missing. Then I saved Eudora.ini and closed Notepad.

After running Eudora again, I sent many test messages. I set up a group in the address book called All Personalities to simplify the addressing. I sent messages from each email address (Personality) to All Personalities, giving each subject line a unique number, and checked mail several times, watching for Task Errors, and confirming the messages all arrived. Several times. And then again. It all seems to be working correctly now.

Kudos to Jack Jackson and Katrina Knight at Eudora-Win List Server for explanations and answering my questions.

Sticky Pills Problem Solved

Background: I take a few vitamins, supplements, etc. and use a pill organizer that has 28 compartments that helps keep me on track. I'm usually foggy-brained first thing in the morning and the box gives me a way to check if I actually took the pills and ensures I take the right ones.

My pill box. Highly recommended for ease of loading (each row of lid lifts out).

Problem: The only problem is that the gel capsules often cling inside. IF I notice (see that big IF), sticking my finger in the compartment works to dislodge the culprit. IF it gets past me, it messes up the schedule. SO I googled, regoogled, etc, finding only one solution which I can't find now to show you.

The Solution: Add a dash or about 1/8 teaspoon of an edible powder to your bottle of gel caps and shake to distribute evenly. Then put the capsules in your pill box. The powder coating helps reduce stickiness.

Powders Tried: The original youtube poster used one of her powder-containing supplement capsules. My gel caps have liquid inside so my first experiment used cocoa powder, but the cocoa left brown dust all over my pill box! Since then, I've used bicarbonate of soda, which works great for me.

Powder Considerations:

• It must be safe to eat. 
• When damp, the powder should not be sticky which could defeat the purpose. I'd avoid powdered sugar, sugared drink mix, cocoa mix, and similar.
• The powder should be the same color as your pill box. Most are white or clear, so white powders are ideal.
• The powder should be very fine like bath powder, but don't use that!
• The powder should have a tolerable taste.
• It should be something you already have or can buy in very small quantities (think bulk bins).

Possible Powders	Powders to Avoid
Flour Sugar-free fiber or protein powder Instant milk powder (mash granules into powder first)   Baking powder Baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)	Sugar Fructose Cocoa Colored drink mix

How to Make Magic Jack Text You when You Get Voicemail

I'm one of those people who don't enjoy the bleeding/leading edge of technology as evidenced by my using an almost smart Tracfone and the original Magic Jack for my telephonic needs. From time to time, I want to be notified on my Tracfone when I get voicemail on Magic Jack. This system also works to notify me of specific email as it arrives in my desktop's email application, the oldie but very goody, Eudora. Oh, and I use Windows XP. If your configuration is different, or even if it isn't, your mileage may vary.

BTW, I searched the web, tried numerous programs, several approaches, and this system is the result. Thanks especially to Make Use Of and The Frugal Berry for having the info I needed.

Here's the setup:

1. On your original Magic Jack panel above the red End button, click the MY button, log in, go to Call Features, and click Voicemail via Email and turn on that feature. I don't remember what the steps are and I don't want to mess it up because it's working, so you'll have to figure it out. Use an email address "captured" by an email application with filters and a way to run an application on your desktop. In my case, Eudora's filters have an Action called Notify Application.
   
2. Test to make sure Magic Jack is sending email to that address when a voicemail is left.
   
3. Figure out what the email address is for text messages being sent to your phone. Typing in your 10-digit cell phone number in place of each  CellPhoneNumber, try emailing a very short message to:
   
   CellPhoneNumber@vmobl.com, CellPhoneNumber@mmode.com, CellPhoneNumber@myboostmobile.com, CellPhoneNumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com, CellPhoneNumber@messaging.nextel.com, CellPhoneNumber@mymetropcs.com, CellPhoneNumber@cingularme.com, CellPhoneNumber@message.alltel.com, CellPhoneNumber@questmp.com
   
4. At least one of these should leave a text message (also called SMS) on your phone. To find out which one, open the text and reply to it. Ta da! You have the email address for texting your phone.
   
5. If you don't already have a way to send email from your system's command line, find a free application such as SendEmail, play with it until it works (or doesn't; then start searching for another one such as Blat).
   
6. Write a batch file containing the paths, switches, etc. to send an email to your cell phone. Mine looks like this:
   
   REM call bat file from Command Prompt with c:\textfromMJ.bat
   "c:\program files\sendemail\sendemail" -f MJ@domain.com -t 5035551212@txt.att.net -u MJ -m MJ -s smtp.youremailserver.net -xu me@domain.com -xp emailpassword  && exit
   Save it as as plain text with the .bat extension anywhere you like (the root directory is/was traditional). Substitute your own info where the italics are' Test it. Test it. And again until it works OK.
   
   Your phone may be different, but on my unopened text messages there's an identifier of sorts that says FRM:xx, where xx is the first 2 digits of the sending email address, in this example, MJ. I don't need to open these texts to know that Magic Jack has a new voicemail message. The address following SendMail's -f switch can be anything you like as long as it looks like a real email address (something@something.com).
   
7. OK, now set up your Eudora filter to catch Magic Jack's email messages and send you a text when that happens. The mspaint notification opens a graphic on my desktop that is much easier to see than the tiny MJ vmail button. cmd /k c:\textfromMJ.bat is the command to send the email-as-text-message to your phone.
   
   
   
8. Test. Test. Test.

Please use the comments to share your configuration and experience with this little "tutorial." Thanks!

PS: I just set up a filter that catches responses to Craigslist messages. wahoo.

Hacking my 2013 calendar

Since I started teaching knitting and quilting classes at Joann's, I've needed a small planner in which to keep track of things. The first year I made my own, and the next year I found one by Carolinapad.com that worked even better. Unfortunately, the style is discontinued. So my search for an inexpensive monthly/weekly smallish tabbed planner has been in progress for a while. I am pretty picky.

Then I ran across another Carolina Pad calendar in the back-to-school section. It was nearly perfect. $4. Tabs. Month and week pages. Squares big enough. The whole thing close to small enough. The downsides:  Wire binding. Curling corners on the plastic covers. Too many months (18) and unneeded reference pages making it too thick. Here are two Before pictures, borrowed from Carolina Pad's online store:

See that big wire binding just waiting to be squished, catch on things, and help rip pages.

The weekly pages are big enough to record ideas, expenses, and student info.

My options were to keep looking, design and make my own, or hack this one. You know which from this post's title.

The front.

Here you can see a new plastic binding and the ends of the elastic that holds the calendar closed. I have a few coils around because I have a punch for making spiral bindings. It turns out that metal comb bindings like the one on this calendar are spaced at exactly twice the distance as the spiral bindings, so I threaded the plastic coil twice through each hole. My original thought was to repunch everything, but there lies madness if every punch is not perfect. Avoiding madness is a good thing.

The back.

On the back you can see the long section of elastic (mine is 5/8 inch, I'd have used narrower, but this was the only black elastic I had). It keeps the corners of the covers from curling. Using a craft knife, I cut small slits in the cover (you can place them on the back cover if you want the long elastic on the front), inserted the elastic, glued it, clamped it, and waited overnight. Here's a close-up of one corner of the inside front cover:

Placement of the elastic.

How long should your elastic be? How long did I make mine? Long enough to hold the calendar closed without stressing the elastic or curling the book. My book is 3/8 inch thick and 8 inches high, I figured that 8 inches plus 2 inches fold-over twice (12 inches total) would work fine and it does. The elastic has to stretch 3/4 inch (twice the thickness of the book). When you glue, make sure the elastic is NOT wrapped around the book.

Shown just because are the new binding from the inside, the tabs I didn't have to make myself, and the nice big squares on the monthly calendar pages.

One thing checked off my shopping list.

Happy New Year

Quick and dirty current events:

• Best wishes for a merry new year!
  
• I'm considering a resolution for 2011.
• Mailed my second-to-the-last knitted gift (mittens) yesterday.
• Will resume work on my last knitted gift (3-button wrap) today.
• Knitted gifts done in time: 3 pair mittens, 7 hats, 1 cowl
  
• It's cold here: 23 degrees F. Grateful for handknits!
  
• I've been teaching knitting classes at Joann's.
• The zippered and handled bags I made from holiday polar fleece and used as gift bags for the Little Kids' gifts were such a hit that it's doubtful I'll get them back to refill for next year. It was faster and less wasteful to sew these bags than to wrap the multitude of little, mostly crafty, gifts for the LKs.
  
• Bought more holiday print fleece for next year's gift bags.

Quick and dirty 2010 recap:

• Quit watching Molly & McGee once first clutch fledged.
• Checked the book Journal Junkies Workshop out of the library and was immediately fascinated by art journaling, especially the concept of obscuring the writing.
  
• Started watching art journaling streams, especially JournalArtista aka Paula Phillips. Can you say "flopportunity?"
  
• Started art journaling.
• Am still art journaling.
• Finished spinning and plying a small bag of blues colonial wool from Fantasy fibers. Need to get it off the bobbins next.
• Started Wendy Johnson's Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi shawl "mystery" pattern; am near the end of the last section before the edging. Paused for gift and sample knitting.
• Started a pair of socks from my own handspun. Also paused for gift and sample knitting.
• Built an art table out of an Ikea wardrobe door ($10) and a pair of 3-drawer cabinets ($2 for both) with nifty "pull" and "open" knobs ($4) on the smaller 4 drawers.
  
• Grew potatoes! Ate them, too.
  
• Grew more everbearing strawberries than last year. Ate them outside!
• Discovered several new authors including Charles Todd.
• Started playing "faux Scrabble" at lexulous.com
  

Caught a mild case of MOD

MOD? Molly Obsessive Disorder! I'm not the only knitter following the lives of Molly, McGee, and their four owlets (Max, Pattison, Austin, and Wesley) and the unhatched egg named Dudley. Broadcast live 24/7, the feathered family hunts, eats, expels owl pellets, sleeps, grows, defends, and learns new things every day. The oldest owlet, Max, is 22 days old. Did you know owlets hatch in the order their eggs were laid? You can tell the owlets apart sometimes from their size, but not when they're in a huggle (hug huddle) or under Molly (increasingly infrequently as the owlets grow larger).


The Royal family in Southern California put this owl box up two years ago hoping to attract owls. It succeeded, and they started sharing the video stream with friends and family who told other people, and so on. So far over 7 million unique people/computers/IP addresses have visited Molly. What started out as one camera and one computer has grown to about 8 cameras, 2 computers, and 5 monitors (that I've heard about; it could be more) on the Royals' kitchen table. The latest night vision (infrared or IR) cameras were set up to try to catch the owlets fledge in a few weeks. The kitchen table is so crammed that Carlos says has to take Donna (who is a knitter, BTW) out to dinner every night!

Carlos has been narrating and answering questions for elementary students across the country, using Skype to connect to the classrooms over the Internet. Most of these events are recorded and available for playback at The Owl Box page. For a retired guy, Carlos has a more-than-full-time job for the duration; he is often up in the middle of the night resetting, chatting, and sometimes talking on the broadcast. He is a hoot in himself.

Volunteers from around the world are moderating the broadcast's chat room so it stays family-friendly. Other volunteers are collecting data, screen shots, and video and blogging much of it. There are cartoons, mugs, tee-shirts, jewelry, and an e-book. Portions of each purchase go toward funding bird habitat, and generous Molly fans can make donations without purchasing.

Oh, and now there's the LOWLcat in this post that I made from one of last night's screen shots. Turns out that it's hard to chat, take screen shots, and knit at the same time. So far, knitting is losing!

Oh, and the viewing schedule? Very flexible, but it's something like this:

Dawn Pacific Time to Dusk: Molly and owlets stay in the owl box, napping, preening, eating, housekeeping, and staying alert for trouble. Molly literally can sleep with one eye open. I've noticed that she often feeds the kids in the 8 AM hour and again around noon. The daytime camera is full color with sound, and you can see a lot, especially when Carlos zooms or pans. During the day, McGee, the male owl, roosts nearby, often in the neighbor's palm tree.

Dusk to Dawn: The owlets continue their daytime routine but stay closer together so they're easier to protect; they form an ever-growing "huggle" that often looks like a scrum as they jostle for position. Molly does go out at night to stretch and eliminate. Recently she's started staying outside longer, often sitting on the perch or roof, and she's been doing some hunting and bringing back food. The big difference is McGee's visits. They're usually less than 30 seconds! He comes in, gives Molly a rodent or rabbit, sometimes gives her a hug-equivalent that involves lots of screeching, and departs. Usually all we see is his legs because the night camera is set lower to the floor than the day cam. Views both inside and outside the owl box are now possible, so we get to see McGee on the box and in flight. His first visit can be anytime after about 7:30, depending on how dark it is, and as the owlets grow he will be making more visits; yesterday I think it was 15!

I'll stop typing now. Maybe my case of MOD is a little more than mild.

LOLcat Astrology?

A case could be made that LOLcats are the new astrology. Many times those anthropomorphic subjects predict or describe elements of my life. In today's, my feline and word play aspects are touched upon as well as a recent excursion behind and under the refrigerator that revealed zero tiles, five faux mice and one real mouse skeleton.

Turnabout is

Update on my Knitting Olympics: it's looking dim for a medal. My second sock is only about 3/4 complete and there are two vests to go. When I set my goal, I forgot some parallel projects! As many of the athletes say, it's being there and doing your best that's important!

Finally caught SSS

Until this sock (the one on the bottom), Second Sock Syndrome was something that happened to other people. I started a pair out of Red Heart Heart & Sole in Spring Stripe last summer, and it has been neglected ever since. The experimental rectangular garter toe and garter heel flap were OK but not great. The yarn is on the fine side of fingering and seemed to take forever to knit; fine yarn doesn't usually faze me, but this one did because the colors did. It's done but for the binding off, but I don't like it and don't want to knit another one.

Along came the Knitting Olympics, and my personal challenge is to complete four WIPs (works in progress), including this pair of socks.

While playing with my sock yarn stash, I ran across a solid purple yarn (African Violet, Knit Picks Essential). Purple appeals much less to me now than it used to, and this pair of skeins was headed for the dye pot. Some blogger (Redshirt Knitting, maybe?) recently blogged about knitting heavier socks using two strands of sock yarn, so the purple and unloved stripes joined forces on my size 3s. I'm liking the result and they're going fairly quickly. The broken stripes, unifying purple, and faux fair isle appeal to me. About half a foot (my foot, not the Imperial unit) is already done.

Snape on Ice

Black, batty, and intense. Remind you of anyone? Evan Lysacek channeled Professor Snape in his short program last night. Was it deliberate?

You can see his performance here.

Other links: Wikipedia, Evan's own site

Berzerk PJs: A Scrabble Short Story

At Scrabble the other night, I won the draw to play first, but drew these tiles:

Ack! No vowels except the blank and nothing on the board to use either.

So instead of "wasting" the blank on a short word, I traded away BKJP and wound up with this rack, playing on my opponent's PINE for a 73 point bingo.


Excellent!

Today, Quackle revealed some higher-point options for both racks. My choices are highlighted, and the best plays are nearest the top of each list.

BZRKPJ?

FROZEN?

There are some new words for me to learn and recall: ZERK, OPINE, UNFROZE.

Ran into Trader Joe's yesterday

And then my car followed a few minutes later. Maybe it thought I was taking too long, but I swear it was only 10 minutes. Nobody was hurt, TJ's sign on the rock wall has only a bit of scuffed paint, and no other cars were damaged; all for which I am deeply grateful. The manager didn't even want my name and phone number, but I forced it on him just in case they need help painting over the scuff mark or something.


Buttercup (my car has a name) is a 1983 Toyota Corolla wagon that used to be in astounding condition for its age, and I am sad that after barely 6 months with me, this happens. And it's my fault for not setting the brake, leaving it in a gear appropriate to the slope of the pavement, and chocking at least one wheel.

One of those chunks of firewood from the other day would make a great chock.

Stuck and released

Sounds a bit like fishing, right? Definitely not knitting. While splitting firewood, my wedges got stuck in a knotty piece. Only one would be hammered out. Brilliant idea: use the chain saw. Look what happened:


Wedge and chain saw stuck! Brilliant idea #2: use the pruning saw to cut out a chunk.


It gets trapped, too, but I keep sawing. Success!


After a bit more judicious use of the chain saw, its three pieces will fit in my small wood stove. My rolling "wood box" resides in the attached garage between splitting and sawing sessions, saving trips into the rain for wood.

And for your knitting enjoyment, a sea chanty

Little Dee, currently is coming to a conclusion with characters from past strips making appearances. Linked in today's strip is this wooly sea chanty.

It was a good party.

A spinning bud of mine had a micro booth at the Sock Summit, and I was a helper there and, for a shift, at SS registration. Both gave me an excuse to hang out at the biggest sock party in recent memory. It was a good party.


The biggest event for me was helping set the record for most knitters knitting simultaneously. I heard there were 935 or so of us knitting away; I worked on a dishcloth as circular and sock needles were banned. It was great fun, and I met some people from all over.

After all the shopping (see below), volunteering, and most of the booth responsibilities, the Luminary Panel was calming (a couple of hours knitting!) and enjoyable. Hearing peoples memories of Elizabeth Zimmermann (my knitting hero for many years), the backgrounds and anecdotes of nine Super Knitters, and Stephanie and Tina in their several roles (thanks givers, emcees, panel moderators) was worth the ticket.


While managing not to spend my whole August budget on yarn, I did buy some yarn and two knitting tools: a Susan Bates Handi Tool, (combines a crochet hook, US 3 knitting needle, cable needle in one) and a 9-inch US1/2.25mm HiyaHiya bamboo circular needle (you can shop around and find it for less; I paid $6).

The yarn I got, well let's just say that several vendors had bargain bins! I got three balls of Meilenweit for an average of $6.65: Mega Boot Stretch color 710, Fun & Stripes 633, and Multiringel 5050.

Then there was the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. I found a Socks that Rock Heavyweight Mill End skein of Treehugger.

But my favorite skeins were two from Lollipop Cabin. They're a Merino-free blend of four sturdy wools spun as singles by a local mill and hand-dyed by the proprietress who is Ialiuxh on Ravelry. The first skein (already on the needles!) is shades of black and blue with a few flashes of almost-white), and the second is similar to the STR Treehugger; funny that I didn't notice it until now! This yarn reminds me of the Kumo'Socki I bought in Klamath Falls in 2006; both pair are going strong.

Later, gators!

New yarn for old film

Last week I was reading blogs, and Yarn Zombie put out an offer to trade fiber from her shop for old Polaroid film. Yes! My 4 packs of 10-year-old film flew off to Ohio, and this beautiful yarn flew here:


Mmm skeins, indeed. The whole process started Thursday and we both got our packages on Monday. Yay USPS priority mail. Trading is good; unwanted items stay out of the landfill, and it's thrifty besides.

Recently I bought a compact digital camera and made my first video:


We'll just pretend I used a tripod and that you can't see my reflection. LOL

Sock Needle Storage

As part of a recent effort to gather most/all my knitting and crocheting tools in one piece of furniture that I could park next to one of my knitting spots for easy, fast access, I collected my sock needles and sorted them by size in plastic tubes provided by a Scrabble friend.


My P-touch made nice labels with both US and metric sizes. To the right of the tubes you can see my traditional needle gauge and the digital caliper (less than $15 at Harbor Freight) that I use to get more accurate measurements. I've never claimed not to be obsessive about some things. Plus, I like tools.

My larger-sized DPNs are still in the roll-up I made some time ago.