Scotty Bells

Whoops!

It looks like I got rosin on my bent needle nose pliers at the stained glass workshop! I washed these with soap, water, and a rough green scrubby, and all is well again. :)

Scotty has a bell now too:

Not bad... I'll keep him this way unless I think of something better.

Scotty

I got this adorable little enamel and rhinestone scotty dog brooch yesterday at Sears:

(That's not a scratch, that's a bit of dust... this photo is really showing the dust!) Original price $16.99, marked down to $3.99. However, he's missing something that used to be dangling from his tummy. I'm creative, so I wasn't bothered by that... I could find something to dangle there, or, as a last resort, snip off the loop. One possible dangle is this little golden bell I happen to have on hand. It's not "perfect", but I think it works. What do you think? What do you suppose originally dangled there? I tried googling the information on the card it was on, to no avail.

Mylo

Today I started applying paint to the sketch of Mylo from the art show demo:

(I liked the sketch, so even though I don't officially have a commission, I'm finishing him.)

Mylo has some interesting blue tones, so I roughed those in. (It may get covered, we'll see.) I also did the under-layer for the stucco, plus an approximation of the far background. I may warm up the tones after I get Mylo painted... they seemed way too bright at first, and so I toned them down. I also worked on Mylo's eye. (The printout I'm working from didn't have a good eye, so I want to have a look at the original photo on my computer to see if I'm getting it right.)

If you want to see the photo I'm working from, coopersita has it on Flickr.

Hrm...

Old laptop keeps re-bricking. Battery won't charge. (I suspect this is causing the re-bricking.) I've had to open up and remove the PRAM battery twice today. (~20 screws to remove and reinsert each time.) Trying various things found on the web. Archiving a few files I don't think I have, then am going to wipe it. I'm *really* hoping I can turn sad-mac into happy-but-old mac by tomorrow evening...

Stop the Violence

A local kid created this video in response to violence in his North End Winnipeg neighbourhood.

Let's give him some "views" to show our support.

I decorated

The back window is even less impressive. (I doubt the lights would even show in a photo.)

Privacy frost is currently privacy condensation... weather's been warm the past few days.

I am sooooo tired! I only got home a few minutes ago... my students had their exam tonight, and there was some work I *had* to do before I went home. Ugh.

Buses make good time after midnight. I even had a good connection. (Shockingly.)

The number of stroller-age children out and about at this hour of night was also shocking.

g'night...

Dirigible In The Atrium

Dirigible is a funny word. This dirigible is a blimp. It appeared in the atrium of the building I work in. Now you know as much about it as I do.

AppleCare

I find this hilarious... it's from the work authorization form for my missing foot:

Issue: One rubber foot missing.
Steps to Reproduce: Visually, rubber foot has fallen off.
Proposed Resolution: Replace bottom cover.
Cosmetic Condition: Good condition minus missing foot.

(No shit, Sherlock. Well, I guess they're required to fill in a standard form.)

Oh, and that reminds me... when I went in to the Apple Store, I started off with the following conversation with a pair of store employees:
Me: I need a replacement foot for my laptop.
Them: (blank looks, look at each other for help)
One of them: Foot?
Me: You know, those things on the bottom of the laptop?
Them: (still blank)
Me: (pulls out laptop, showing the gaping spot where a nice black rubber foot normally resides.
One of them: Oh, that...

What do they call them these days, if not feet? Or am I the only one who has had one self-destruct on them?

Sounds like a recipe for disaster...

...sounds like drunk guys (drunk enough to be singing) doing free weights in the apartment below me. Somehow I don't think that's a good idea...

Weird Stuff

Approximate e-mail conversation with my brother:
Me: Can I come over and borrow a teeny-tiny hex wrench? I need to take the PRAM battery out of my old laptop because it's not starting.
Brother: Sure, I have a T6 Torx.
Me: I don't need a Torx, I need a hex wrench.
Brother: The instructions say T6 Torx under "tools required".
Me: But the actual instructions say you need a hex wrench, but you can get by with a T6 Torx.

Since I was going in that direction anyway, I decide I'll just stop in at the hardware store and buy the correct hex wrench.

Approximate conversation with store employee:
Me: Where do I find teeny-tiny hex wrenches?
Him: (blank look)
Me: Allen key? A teeny-tiny one?
Him: I know. What size do you need?
Me: One that fits this. (Pulling out bricked laptop, pointing to screw.)
Him: Take it to the Apple Store.
Me: It's a *six* year old laptop that I want to fix for my sister. (Probably older now, and technically step-sister.) I just want to take out the PRAM battery to see if that fixes it.
Him: (Holding it close to his face to see better.) That's a security screw.
Me: No, it's not. Security ones have a post in the centre, this one doesn't.
Him: It's a security screw. We don't have screwdrivers for those.
Me: It's *not* a security screw, I just need a hex wrench.
(He takes me over to the right area.)
Him: We used to have security screw drivers, but we don't have them any more. (Starts looking at screwdrivers.)
Me: (Points to contraption with many hex wrenches.) Hey, that one has a teeny-tiny hex wrench! I bet that will work.
Him: No, you need a security one.
Me: *No*, I *don't*. Let me test this. (I pull out the laptop again, and insert the hex wrench.) Hey, it's the right size!
Him: You're sure? It looks like a security screw. (Still somewhat doubtful, but willing to let me buy a set of hex wrenches if that's really what I want.)
Me: It has six sides, and is convex. I'm pretty sure it's a hex wrench I want, and not a star.
Him: Convex?
Me: Well, since we're talking about the hole, technically it's concave.
(He wanders off, deciding I'm a lost cause. I look at the options for hex wrenches, and end up selecting a somewhat cheaper store-brand set that includes both metric, imperial *and* torx of various sizes... in case, one day, I want to open something that needs a torx.)

After the hardware store, I stop in at the big box bookstore next door, since it has free wireless (so that I can access the instructions) and decent places for me to sit and disassemble my laptop. (If taking the PRAM battery didn't work, the Apple Store was on my list of places to visit, and I was going to ask how much it would cost to de-brick.) Plus it has calendars, and I was looking for one for my grandma.

Shockingly, no one seemed to look at me funny for disassembling a laptop in the bookstore. (Or, if they did, they all did it from behind me, where I couldn't spot them.)

Happily, removing and reinstalling the PRAM battery fixed the problem. :) (Oddly the battery isn't just a battery, it's apparently permanently attached to a bit of circuitry... but the fact that I couldn't disassemble that didn't seem to be an issue.

Finding a calendar with both big numbers and pictures I thought my grandma would enjoy was *much* harder. (I suspect she will either enjoy or hate the one I finally got... but if she hates it, I'm willing to use it myself, and go back and buy the second choice, of which there were *many* copies.)

I did stop in at the Apple Store, but to get a replacement foot for my laptop. (I figured out where that black plastic was coming from... the part that went between the rubber foot and the laptop was disintegrating, and the other day it completely fell apart.) Apple used to supply free replacement feet. Apparently, for this model, they don't have them separate... but, since I'm under AppleCare, they're going to replace the *entire* bottom of the laptop for free. (WTF? The foot has a bit of double-sided tape, plus a snap-in bit. It really is possible to *just* replace the foot. Whatever... I want the foot, and if this is what it's going to take, I'll take it and be glad that it's free. *sigh*)

Also weird: The six-foot extension cord I bought came with a 7 3/4 inch warning label. Really? Are we really that stupid, that we need that many warnings on an extension cord?

Well, now I'm off to do my laundry after when I'm officially supposed to stop for the night. However, given the sounds of drunken revelry coming from Mr Party-Of-More-Than-One (He seems to have acquired friends), I don't think I'll be bothering him.

Whoops

I keep thinking I'm good at math, and then I do something like this:

This is a second pair of "Double Mittens with Angora Lining". I'm not fond of after-thought thumbs (buttonhole thumbs? ...whatever they're called), so this time I decided to modify the pattern to have a thumb gusset. I looked up how many stitches wide the afterthought thumb was, then calculated how many increase rounds I'd need, and thus where I needed to start the gusset.

I reached the point you can see in the photo, when it dawned on me: I had calculated how to get enough increases for the width (13 stitches), not the full circumference (26 stitches).

Whoopsie!

Now I'm trying to figure out what my options are... besides ripping back half of what I've knit, of course. *sigh*

Christmas Tree

Tonight I decorated Mom and B's tree:


While going through the ornaments, I checked the stained glass ones I made way back when I was a kid:



I'm thinking the reason I couldn't remember if there were two or three is because only two (the bird and the house) were still intact and able to hang. The sailboat needs some repair.

Raffi In Daylight

"Daylight" was pretty dim today (overcast), but I think this photo is a winner:

Now to figure out how to bend Photoshop to my will. (I miss GraphicConverter... but it seems silly to buy a new GraphicConverter licence when I have Photoshop. I may break down and purchase a new GraphicConverter licence one day anyway.)

Raffi

Raffi is basically done now. I need to clean up the sides (I forgot to do that at the club tonight), take some decent (outdoor) photos for cards, and then apply the varnish. I really like how he's turned out.

Stained Glass Class

I've wanted to take a stained glass class for ages. I'm not sure why I didn't. Back around kindergarten I remember doing a bit as part of an art class I was in. It was in the copper foil method, and we assembled bits of broken glass into various things. I think I made a house, a seagull, and a sailboat. (I'm saying "I think" because I remember all three items, but I thought I had only made two... so one of these things is wrong.) I should find out in a week or two when I put up mom's Christmas tree. (They're a bit broken now, but they're still in with the rest of the ornaments.)

Recently I decided to look at what was available locally. I discovered there was a one-day, no-experience-necessary "Lead Came Christmas Ornaments" class. Count me in! Since a friend was half price, I checked with a friend who also likes crafts. Amazingly, there was still space in the class, and I signed the two of us up.

Today was the class, and I made six ornaments:

(I realize there are seven there, but the candle was made by my friend, and she gave it to me as an early Christmas present. Isn't it pretty?)

Of course, I had *intended* to make a bunch of ornaments for presents... but I'm rather attached to most of these. (I might be able to part with one or two... maybe.)

I still need to wash these to remove the flux. I figured I'd take a photo first, in case I somehow broke one.

Tag, I'm Back!

(...Opposite side is front!)

I've been having trouble determining front from back on my black, seamless bouclé sweater. So I added a tag.

Apparently not straight... but then who is going to see it? I took a straw poll of my knitting group, and we decided I didn't care that it was crooked.

The tag is a bit of cute grosgrain ribbon left over from making pattern magnets. :)