mellowbeing - crafty, geeky and a new yorker.
This project was to be a Mother's Day gift for my mom.. She's a big fan of neckerchiefs and silk ones at that. I had bought 2 skeins of silk yarn while in Argentina with the intention of making her a shawl. But I noticed.. she doesn't wear shawls. She has a few dozen mini scarves and can't seem to get enough of them. Not to mention that I couldn't work on this project on the train considering only my size 5 circulars and size 8 flat needles were train friendly and I'd be needing size 10s... so I figured a small project would do just fine.
This in its early stages at about 35% done:
This was after the second attempt. I should've known that using metal needles + silk yarn was going to be troublesome - it makes for some very fast knitting.. but.. one of the stitches slipped off at one point. I tried undoing rows and picking the stitches up but silk is VERY slippery! The whole thing became undone.. le sigh..
More to come when it's finished and blocked.
Labels: crafty, holiday, knitting
I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd do a quick podcast review. This ties into "spending less time online".
Really, what does it come down to? Being efficient.
And nothing's more efficient than a podcast that will catch you up with the latest industry news in a few minutes to an hour.
The podcasts mentioned below are my current favorites. They range from general news to tech news to randomness to craftiness
(listed counterclockwise):
Sticks & Stringsa knitting podcast by an Australian bloke
You Look Nice TodayJournal of Emotional Hygiene with Merlin Mann as one of the 3 main guests
Knitters UncensoredHilarious trio based in Germany. Definitely uncensored.
This American LifeThere's a theme to each episode, and a variety of stories on that theme. It's mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always.
Craft.Rock.Live.Vickie Howell's podcast which lasted for one season. She has an interview with Greenday's lead singer's wife as well as other crafty divas.
NYTimes PodcastNews on the go: Front page news, NYT Tech Talk, Political Points: On The Presidential Campaign, Science Times, Only in New York
This Week in Tech: TWiTJoin Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, John C. Dvorak, and other tech luminaries in a roundtable discussion of the latest trends in high tech
That is all folks! Check out these podcasts when you have a chance. Let me know if you've converted to any of them :)
Labels: crafty, geekery, lecture, random
I attended this talk last month. Below is the description. The questions are what I jotted down. This is just food for thought. Enjoy!
Sponsored by the NYU Information Law Institute, Free Culture @ NYU, and ISOC-NY
What will come of the next decade on the Internet? We often take for granted the state of the net today, but there's no guarantee that it will remain this way. Will the digital future be dystopian, or is there a brighter outlook ahead than some may believe? Our panelists - thinkers and net visionaries, with backgrounds ranging from art, law, technology, politics, media, culture, and entrepreneurship - provided their perspectives on the future of the net, and engaged with members of the audience to further the exploration of what lies ahead.
Panelists: Lauren Cornell, Executive Director, Rhizome
Clay Shirky, Adjunct Professor, NYU ITP
Jimmy Wales, Founder, Wikipedia and Wikia
Tim Wu, Professor, Columbia Law School
Jonathan Zittrain, Professor, Oxford University, Visiting Professor, NYU Law
Questions Discussed:Is it a bright or bleak future for the Internet?
With the advent of user generated content, how do we manage to bring out the best information?
Is Wikipedia just a happy accident?
Does mob rule lead to a productive and useful knowledge base?
View the video archive
here.
Labels: geekery, lecture
I've begun my first sweater! I started this last Sunday when I was trying to calm down the day before my thesis presentation. It's a very relaxing knit since it's a basic pattern and it's constructed all in one piece (meaning - no seaming). If you've kept up to date with the blog here, you probably remember that I was going to start Zephyr's Rusted Root sweater first. After two tries at it, I figured that maybe I should start simple and work my way up to more complex patterns with lace involved.
And so, I chose the Buttony Sweater which is pretty ideal for a beginner's project. So far, so good. I wanted to wear the sweater I first constructed as soon as I had finished it. Since I'm working on this in May, it's a short sleeved sweater made out of a cotton yarn. I'm a bit worried that I made it too small. Ah well.. we'll see how it turns out after the first wash. I'll add more details later about the project itself. For now, I'll just provide a progress shot!
Labels: crafty, knitting
I found this while looking for Dali paintings last night. I only saw the b&w version and figured it might be fun to play around with it and add some color..
Original:
Blue Version:
Brown/Red version
It's always amazing to me how just changing colors can change the entire mood of a piece.
Labels: artwork
A lot of classmates of mine have customized their Mac laptops to hide the Apple logo. This is primarily due to the fact that 98% of my department uses all of 2 laptop models so there needs to be a way to differentiate amongst the sea of Mac Books and Mac Book Pros.
I have an XPS laptop from Dell which is pretty rare considering the Apple fan kids surrounding me. I figured I'd give the logo hiding a try for kicks. A few pieces of felt, lots of white glue and scissors and about half an hour later:
Upclose shot:
Crafts and technology collide!
Labels: crafty, felt, geekery
This was after the second attempt. I should've known that using metal needles + silk yarn was going to be troublesome - it makes for some very fast knitting.. but.. one of the stitches slipped off at one point. I tried undoing rows and picking the stitches up but silk is VERY slippery! The whole thing became undone.. le sigh..
