Sunday, September 11, 2011

What I've been doing (some pictures)

I've now tried kumihimo. Wow, it's easy. I started with the yarn from the kit (which was in Japanese, by the way). I couldn't read the kit instructions so I did what any 21st century computer savvy person would do: I turned to YouTube. I quickly found some instructions. Here's my 1st kumihimo braid. Something I learned, get something to hold the loose ends or they will tangle. 

Once that was done, I pulled out some ribbon yarn from an unsuccessful project and wound 4 lengths on spool winders. I put about 2-2.5 yards on each one and tied a knot to make a loose loop for later. Here's some shots of the braiding in progress, both front and back.

And here's a comparison of the two braids.

I finished that Saturday and pulled out some red and black embroidery floss. I have started a spiral pattern braid.

I have decided to enter this bracelet for my tatting entry at the State Fair.

Last week's Doctor Who (Night Terrors) was just creepy. A friend has an adopted child and he found it touching. Eventually. Anything with creepy toys is creepy.

Yes, I know what the anniversary is. I'm very quiet person and I usually grieve in private. I haven't been able to watch any of the memorial services, hurt too much. Yes, crying gives me a headache.

I've been involved in an interesting Fate (gaming) discussion on Google+. It has revolved around the Fate system and how it relates, or doesn't, to Old School Renaissance Gaming. One point in the discussion was that OSR is not a hard and fast point, it's a scale. For some points on the scale, Fate system is an excellent fit, with the exception of the high risk of character death. It relies more on player experience and input, unlike some of the more modern versions of DandD. In 1st edition DandD, the player would have to say, “I'm climbing up to look behind the statue” instead of 3rd edition's “I roll my search skill.”

It was not a good week at work. I spent most of the week frazzled and out of sorts. It was a short week but felt longer than usual.

I took a really long weekend, because we had a convention to go to. Friday through Tuesday, including travel days. This was a special gaming convention, in celebration of a friend's birthday. We finally got to meet his fiance. She's a really good cook and we decided that we like her. We ate some really good food; the China Bistro still has really great dumplings. They had a new one; pork and pumpkin. It was so nommy. We ate at Minerva's, an Indian restaurant. They play Indian music videos and movies (MTV, I think), which adds some entertainment. There was also the Shiny Diner; which I wish they'd open around here. They buy local foods and have jukeboxes at every table, with volume controls. The only 'drawback' is that everyone hears your selection, and vice versa.

Our home campaign of DandD 3.5e Forgotten Realms was Sunday, too. We ended early, because we made it out of one zone unexpectedly. Our GM didn't know if we would go attack something else or just leave. GM wanted to time to prep the next section. It was a trifle anticlimactic as we bribed our way out instead of killing everywhere we went. It was probably effective at hiding our trail, though.

After playing, we spent time discussing Dr. Who. Yes, we're geeks.

I re-read some of JD Robb's In Death stories. I've been wanting to re-read Memory in Death for awhile. Let's see, what else have I been reading. I finally read Changes by Jim Butcher. Now I want to read Ghost Story and the last story in Side Jobs. I need to finish The Meaning of Everything.

I went to the bookstore on Friday, cause my mood was so bad that I really needed the pickmeup. I bought a few books, although the one I was looking for wasn't there. I read Must Love Lycans, by Michele Bardsley this weekend, one of the books I picked up. I left the others in my car, so I would get something else done rather than just read all weekend.

Next weekend, I go visit my mom and the weekend after that is Palmetto's Tat Days. Then I have two more weekends and the State Fair begins. One weekend will be Historic Oakview Park event and the the other has the home Forgotten Realms game. I will not have a free weekend until the one before Halloween.

I got a recipe from a women's magazine the last time I was at Mom's. It's for no-machine ice cream. Here it is. I'd recommend 1.5 tsp of vanilla and definitely put it in the freezer, but it's delicious. I used splenda and lactose-free milk and it worked fine.
no machine homemade ice cream:
1 c whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs sugar
quart-size zip top plastic bag & seal
kosher salt
gallon-size plastic ziploc bag
ice

Put 1st 3 ingredients in quart-size bag.
Combine 4 cups ice & ¼ cup Kosher salt in gallon-size plastic zip-top plastic bag
Place smaller bag inside big bag & seal big bag
Shake large bag vigorously for 6-8 minutes, do not squeeze bag
When smaller bag is plump & willowy, ice cream is ready
Remove smaller bag, wipe off salt & ice
Serve immediately as soft serve or freeze for 20 minutes for hard ice cream





3 comments:

MimiD said...

I love my Hamanaka disks... so much fun to do Kumihimo that way. I didn't have your nice spool winders when last using mine so I used plastic bread ties as bobbins instead. Not as pretty but cheaper :) Warning: think twice before choosing to use size 12 perle cotton singly in an 8-thread braid even if the color is real pretty and exactly what you want UNLESS you want to work on that braid for a very, very long time (and a 20" lanyard that way takes a very long time indeed) Good luck at the Fair! Cheers, Mimi

Tara said...

I just started with Kumihimo too -- to help with tension, add a fishing weight to the cord. That helps with making the entire cord even. I found holding it underneath didn't promote even tension. The weight did (which is what the wooden stand uses).

Sewicked said...

MimiD: I bought the spool winders at the same sale as the kumihimo disk. I have some larger spool winders, too. They were a birthday present.

Tara: One of the instructional videos I saw had a weight, but it was after I'd started.