The Blog

A random thought...

...and as usual, someone else expressed it better than me: FeministSF on Dollhouse.

Labels: dollhouse, fandom, feminism

In response to a series of requests...

Here's my brief guide to making my version of Mina de Malfois' Internet Sampler, as shown below.

First off, the pattern is by Gnat. Worship at her altar. And print out a copy.

The one thing everyone keeps asking me for is my list of colours. I don't have all of them, as most came from the family's box of miscellaneous leftover stranded cotton. And while I do have a list that I worked from, sadly chunks of it read as "grey 1 = kangaroo 4", which isn't helpful for the rest of you. But here's the simple version:

• Greens (Firefox 2 back/forward buttons): DMC 907, 906, 905 and one darker from the set. 905 was also used for the green row of checkerboard squares.
• Yellows (Firefox 2 home button): DMC 742, 743 and 3842.
• Blues (Firefox 2 refresh button): DMC 3846, 3845, 3844, 3845, 3846 (it's easy to know your colours will match if they're all from the same row in the shop). 3845 is the second row of checkerboard squares.
• Blue (prayer and "home" window): DMC 824
• Purple ("log in"): DMC 154
• Purple (border): From the stash - Anchor 0102 (though this appears to be ancient). It's a very Cadbury purple, if that helps.
• Red (hearts): DMC 817. It's very shiny and bold.
• Maroon (404, eleventy): No tag, sorry.
• Peach (smilie border): I don't have a number for this, but it's in the box next to a similar but lighter DMC 352, so choose something a shade darker than that.
• Pinks and purple (3rd and 4th checkerboard rows and @s): No idea, sorry. The @s are very fushia, go crazy. :)
• Greys (home button, tickybox and radio button): You need 3 greys for the buttons and tickyboxes, two dark and one light. These came from a koala set, but there are plenty of available references for anyone who is stressed about the colour.
• Grey (alphabet, cursors): This is a darker grey than those that came before, almost charcoal.
• Black and White: No numbers, but you should have those in your stash anyway.

Other notes:

• I stitched on 16 count aida cloth in an off-white colour (I think I may have recycled the packaging). The whole thing (including borders as shown above) measures 42x33.5cm (~16.5*13 inches).
• I made the letters of the alphabet one pixel taller than they were in the original pattern. I forget why, but it was important at the time. Just use your judgement, or the high resolution version of my photos if you're desperate. I worked it from the centre out, and didn't worry too much about making the letters be properly lined up with a real keyboard (e.g. 'B' should be centred between 'G' and 'H'). There comes a point where you have to let these things go.
• I made the home button by shrinking down a screenshot. In a perfect world I would have spaced it properly so that it was the same size as the back/forward/refresh arrows.
• In a truly perfect world, I would have made a Mac version of the cursors. This is not a perfect world, and I'm lazy. :)

I think that's it. If you have any questions, or if I missed something you did ask for, drop me a comment and I'll reply as soon as humanly possible. Thanks for reading.

Labels: crafty-Cat, cross stitch, crossing the streams, emails, fandom, mina de malfois, pattern notes

Calm down, Catherine...

That look of terror wasn't even remotely directed at you.

Labels: life is fail, wasting my life

Question...

Anyone got any good ideas for places to go/stay for a weekend away from Sydney? Public transport access is a must.

ETA: Nevermind. Turns out I must be in town this weekend.

Labels: desperation in action, holiday

Snippets to avoid thinking about the possible gunshot heard last night...

I find it particularly funny because in the book they don't get a reunion scene and the abridger suggests that if the reader will only contact him he'll supply one he wrote himself.

• Gymnarchus are fucking awesome!
• I want to cosplay MisaMisa as well as this.

And on (modern) romantic comedies and why I don't go to the movies anymore: This. A thousand times this.

Labels: comics, going bump in the night, linking all over the place, Scaredy-Cat

  Checking in to prove I'm still here...

And hot to boot!

All images copyright Macquarie University, all rights reserved, blah blah blah, they're of me so I'm posting thumbnails here.

Measuring astrographic plates - One of the tasks you could be assigned as a summer scholarship student at Macquarie is to measure these plates and properly map out the stars therein, although in these modern times a great many of them have been scanned and you do the work on a computer rather than on an old measuring machine (though we have one of those too). I was fascinated to find this photo, showing the women who did this work for so long before the plates ended up in the library basement at Macquarie.

This is me. And maybe you too. Unfortunately, it says nothing about how to fix the problem of feeling useless and like we're falling behind in life, aside from the obvious "get over it". ETA: I'm not endorsing the stupid lists presented in the article, because of course I don't feel that I'm a failure because I don't have a shoe collection, just acknowledging that I do make similar lists in my head that are less vapid and feel bad because I haven't done those things and I often regard myself as 'falling behind' my peers in terms of life goals.

Labels: astronomy, drowning in the sea of apathy that is your kindness, feeling useless, old photographs, photos, science, sexy-Cat

GRUMBLES!...

You know, the correct next thing to say to this conversation:

You: What are your plans for today?
Me: Just cleaning up. The place is a mess.

is not "Okay", followed by a rousing three hours of street racing on facebook, and then an affternoon nap.

Labels: brothers suck, family, middle class mediocrity, random, rant

Knitting for a Good Cause...

Copying from an email I received yesterday, because I don't know what else to do to help out.

Hello Everyone,

Many of you won’t be able to read this immediately as you will be the ones most affected by the recent fire storm tragedies here in Victoria. If that is you, my sincerest thoughts are with you and yours. All strength and courage to you.

To everyone else, a small, informal request. It you felt like it, I have given specifications below for a simple knitted moss stitch square in 8 ply double knitting. To anyone with a spare ball and a few hours, would you like to knit a square and send to me? I will be stitching them into rugs and taking them to families I know who are directly affected by the fires. Some have lost not only their homes and businesses but whole famlies of children and grandchildren. It seemed to me that the kindess of strangers and small acts from their hands may give strength and courage for the journey ahead.

I am more than willing and happy to send a ball of wool to anyone who needs it to make a square and just ask that the colours be those of life and regeneration - greens, blues and the soothing browns of the earth. If you would like to, I would like to add your name (first name only) and where you come from to cards to enclose with the rugs. Please let me know if I can do this on your behalf.

Solidarity Square: On 5mm needles and using any 8 ply (double knitting) wool cast on 39 stitches. Using Moss Stitch ( knit 1 purl 1 knit 1 purl 1 etc all the time, every row) work 21 cm. Cast off. (in Moss Stitch or just knit stitch if you prefer).

Post to PO BOX 518 Mooroolbark 3138 Victoria. I will take photos of the finished rugs and email out before I give them.

Thank you everyone.

Safety and solace,
Corinne at Thicket.
info @ thicket.com.au

Labels: bushfires, helping other people, knitting

Oh bloody hell, CLAMP...

Why must you insist on breaking my heart with every new volume?

(Someone just read tsubasa volume 20)

Labels: damn you CLAMP, manga, tsubasa

Loose Postings...

Some miscellaneous bits and bobs that were cut from the previous blog entry:

WHY MUST THIS MAN BE SO AWESOME (and creepy)?! I wish to live in his library (note: it's the downstairs one), or just apprentice myself to him and be his slave for the next thirty years. I don't really care which. (Actually, the first two paragraphs of this blog post also makes me happy, because it reminds me of me. And of my mum, who shares a birthday (but for a year) with his Neilship.)

Two Applegeeks comics that make me smile.

Some amazing Powerpuff Girls cosplay, which makes me jealous. I wish I had the time and money to cosplay properly (oh, and that I wasn't too old for it).

One fanfiction review, because it couldn't be resisted, from Discworld: The Uninvited Guest by akamarykate - Granny Weatherwax goes to Susan's christening in place of her grandfather. It's lovely and perfect.

No, wait, one more, because this post has taken an extra day to write, from BSG(2003): This Is the Role of Angels Who Have Begun to Defy God by Nicole Anell - a nicely introspective Caprica Six piece. She's my second-favourite Six, I must admit (Head!Six being number one, naturally), and this is just great. It's about as dark as the show itself.

And one more again, because it's a week later and I still suck. Harry Potter: PUSH - a conservative evangelical Christian goes to Hogwarts. Set post-series, very friendly and gentle, with original characters who will break your heart.

Fight Club: I am Jack's Christmas Tree by J Crew Guy - So much love for this story. It's perfectly in tone and character and it's a Christmas story set in the middle of Fight Club! Yes, please!

Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles: A Jack Knifed Juggernaut (I am born again) by AreNotValid - Cameron, on being a terminator, and why she doesn't want to be a cylon. No really, it's awesome: "Terminators are not capable of believing that they are human. They are not capable of being sleeper agents. They are not like cylons."

Labels: comics, fanfiction, I am a fanfic whore, linking all over the place, Neil is our god, yuletide