Lmst

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition, in which I learn a sweet new yarn join...

I'm finally at the point in this wrap where I need to transition to the second skein - and my go-to minimal-complexity join (tie a double knot and weave in the ends) isn't suitable because the crochet lace is so open, I don't think the ends would stay woven. 😬

So I asked in one of my online communities, and a more experienced fiber crafter recommended a [Russian splice](https://blog.berroco.com/2014/12/09/emily-explains-a-few-methods-of-yarn-splicing/). I've seen it mentioned before, but was concerned that 2-ply lace-weight yarn wasn't thick enough - she said it works even on single-ply cobweb yarns, so I gave it a shot, and it's *magic*. The splice is visibly thicker in the yarn strand, but it happened to coincide with a couple of double crochets in the pattern, and it's practically invisible! 🥰 🧶💖

I'm getting pretty close to my target width for this wrap, so hopefully I can finish it up this week... 🤞🏻

@crochet
@cannibal

starting a Russian splice - one strand of yarn is threaded through a needle and the needle is inserted back on itself, the other strand is pulled through the resulting loop

splice completed - both strands are looped together and pulled back into themselves, with a fuzzy end sticking out

Russian splice with both ends trimmed, looking like a slightly bumpy section of yarn

crochet-lace wrap with the Russian splice worked as two adjacent double-crochet stitches - I'm pointing it out with my crochet hook. I can see the slight thickness in that spot, but once I get a few more rows in, my guess is it'll be totally invisible

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

Not much to report, just grinding away at this wrap! Making some good progress... I did have to frog and redo a couple rows when I thought I'd back-checked a row and must not have, but other than that it's been coming along nicely.

I took a swag at the math on this and so far I've made over 18,000 slip knots (pull throughs) and I'm only about 2/3rds done. That's a lotta knots! 😁

@crochet
@cannibal

one end of a diagonal-lacework crochet wrap in variegated blue / teal / white, on a brown couch

Paging the #MakeShitMonday crowd to the poll above, since there’s 1 in 7 odds I’ll do this on a Monday 😉

#MakeShitMonday, #Meshtastic edition...

I got a Heltec V3 Meshtastic radio a few weeks ago to experiment with at #CackalackyCon. I set it up and did initial config with a naked board, but I didn't want to carry it around that way, so I ended up #3DPrinting a case that was designed for this board.

Had to print with supports to get the structure and shapes to print well. After cleaning all of the support material off - including the one bit I originally missed that was keeping the board from seating correctly - it all fit together nicely. I really like how it turned out!

@cannibal

front half of completed Heltec V3 case front half sitting on 3D printer

3D printer back, front, and buttons for Heltec V3 Meshtastic radio

assembling Heltec V3 radio and battery into 3D printed case

Heltec V3 Meshtastic radio assembled and in 3D printed case

It's #makeShitMonday! I want to see your projects for the last week, cooking, hacking, crafting, coding, wood work, anything goes

Busy week, about all I got done was making an acai base at home and then a subsequent breakfast.

Show me what you got!

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition, in which two new projects are begun, and the timer is ticking down...

I am Not Speedy at crochet. Small projects like slippers that say "easily completed in an evening" generally take me several days, and my frequency of working on projects is often sparse, so larger things like shawls or wraps generally take *months*.

So of course I've started two projects that I absolutely must finish by the end of June... 😬

A friend is turning 50, and my BFF from college and I are joining her on a celebratory trip. I decided I wanted a new light wrap for cool evenings - and then I thought my BFF might want one too - and of course I need to make one for the birthday girl!

So they chose fibers and colors, and I ordered some lovely silk/alpaca yarn at the beginning of April... not realizing it was on back-order and wouldn't arrive for over a month. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Then I mixed up who gets what and started on the BFF wrap, rather than the birthday wrap, but I want to finish the birthday wrap first to make sure it's ready for, well, her birthday - so I switched mid-stream.

And it's my first time working with lace-weight yarn, so there was definitely a learning curve there on tension! But it's a [relatively simple pattern](https://www.mooglyblog.com/artfully-simple-angled-scarf/) and goes pretty quickly, as long as I pay attention and back-check each row to avoid having to frog a bunch if I make any mistakes. I'm optimistic that I'll at least get their gifts done in time... And then mine can be my travel project for the trip! 😇

@crochet
@cannibal

two partially-finished crochet wraps, one in variegated orange/salmon/purple and the other in variegated blue/teal/white, on a brown couch

close-up of the orange/salmon/purple wrap (Malabrigo Silkpaca in Archangel)

close-up of the blue/teal/white wrap (Malabrigo Silkpaca in Cantabrico)

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition... In which I fail my way to success. 😇

I got a couple skeins of bulky yarn (Berocco Remix Chunky) in an online sale and was thinking I'd make this [Honey Moon Bag](https://www.mooglyblog.com/honey-moon-bag/)... Saw in the pattern that the yarn gauge was bulky, but I didn't read closely enough to realize that she was using a specific tape yarn. 😬 The texture wasn't really showing up with the Remix Chunky, so I regretfully frogged it and went looking for another way to use the yarn...

These [cable slippers](https://www.mooglyblog.com/simple-chunky-cable-crochet-slippers/) looked like just the ticket - except that I misread the instructions! She says the initial chain-2 doesn't count as a stitch in the first row, and I extrapolated that (incorrectly!) to *all* the rows. So I was starting each subsequent row a stitch off, and my cables ended up going slightly sideways. 🙄

Mom likes soft slippers, so I figured I'd have her try these on for size and see if she wanted any changes to the width, length, or ankle opening before I frogged them and redid them correctly. She put them on, declared that they fit perfectly... and then decided she was keeping them as-is. I think her exact point was: "well, *I* don't see anything wrong with them!" which is hard to refute. 😁

I have enough of the Remix Chunky left to make another pair of slippers, so eventually I *will* do them correctly - but in the meantime, my yarn order finally came in for a couple of time-sensitive spring projects, so the slipper remake is on hold until I get these gifts done! 🧶💕

@cannibal
@crochet

image of honey moon bag from moogly crochet pattern website

initial attempt at honey moon bag with bulky yarn - the texture pattern is barely visible

image of chunky cable crochet slippers from moogly crochet pattern website

my completed slippers for Mom, with the cables angling diagonally across the top of the foot

Nothing new this week for #makeShitMonday, but I got the cat scarf shipped out to my college roomie...

Her cat Luma was the inspiration for her color choices, and I'm still giggling at her reaction:

"It’s like… catception! (Luma models the latest in cat lady scarf fashion. Thank you so very much, Lisa. The yarn is luxurious!)"

Honestly I think the best part of being able to make beautiful things out of lovely yarn is the joy of giving them to my friends. 💖

@cannibal @crochet
#crochet #CatsOfMastodon

a black and white cat, sitting in a grey cat tree, with a black and white cat scarf draped over her haunches

#MakeShitMonday, plant watering addition...

@llorenzin has her container garden going on the deck again but is going to be away sometime soon, so I put together the water system we used last year to test it to make sure it still gets the job done. Seems to be working!

@cannibal

Tomato plant (on left) and an array of 8 multicolored pots with basil and parsley in a semicircle around a narrow table with a white plastic bucket. The bucket has thick white cotton strings coming out of it going to each small pot. There is a black plastic tube (that's hard to see) going to the larger tomato pot. Just behind the tomato plant on the deck rail is the control box for the watering that has the timer-controlled valve from a garden hose to small black plastic tubing. The tubing keeps the bucket filled and the tomato planter reservoir filled.

Squeaking in another #MakeShitMonday, garage organizing edition...

@llorenzin and I finally got the corner of the garage with all the yard tools organized last week. We've had a hanging tool rack in our garage for a few years that we bought and hadn't put up. (Yeah, there's a theme here.) Well, we took the time to sort through the pile of yard tools, figure out what to keep, how to organize it on the rack, and where to hang the rack.

I got it all up on the wall and only had to move it over a couple inches from our original plan to get it to line up on the studs. (A simpler option than adding an extra 2x4 header to mount it on.)

I love how it turned out! 🤩

I took the extra yard tools plus a few other things we had in the basement to the salvage shed at the local recycling center so they can find new homes.

(The only thing left is to build a stand for the bike rack, but that will be a future post...)

@cannibal

* BEFORE *
Yard tools piled all on top of each other in the corner of the garage with a bike rack blocking access to some of them and a bunch of stuff stacked on the yard cart.

Figuring out how best to organize the yard tools in the tool rack while it's lying on the driveway. That way we could know how it needed to be positioned on the wall.
You can also see extra tools around it that were ultimately given away.

* AFTER *
Neatly organized yard tools, hanging on the wall. The bike rack is still in front of them, but it's back against the wall, and the tools are high enough - but not too high - to reach them over the bike rack.

Back of a Subaru Outback filled with yard tools: hand tools plus two seed spreaders and a reel mower. All of that was dropped off at the salvage shed at the recycling center.

#MakeShitMonday, #bluebird box edition...

We've had a bluebird box in our garage for years. I'm pretty sure someone gave it to us as a gift, but it's been so long I can't remember who. I've never put it up because (1) I never got a pole or post to mount it on., and (2) it doesn't open, so it would be impossible to clean it.

When my @llorenzin's mom moved last summer, she gave us her nice post from Wild Birds Unlimited, and last week I stopped by the local WBU shop and bought a mounting bracket. That took care of (1).

Then I finally took the time to modify the bluebird box so the front will hinge open for cleaning. That took care of (2).

Now we have a bluebird box in our yard!

(The bluebirds locally are just about to start their 3rd brood, so we might - or might not - get any nesting this year.)

@cannibal

bluebird box that doesn't open sitting on folding camp table

bluebird box with the front panel hinged open; tools sitting around in on the folding camp table

bluebird box with mounting bracket screwed to the back, sitting on folding camp table

bluebird box mounted on pole installed in yard; there is a cylindrical raccoon baffle just under the box

#makeShitMonday, #baking edition...

Tried a new whole-wheat-crust recipe for my ongoing crostata experiments tonight. Did not compare it to my previous recipe, which I already overloaded with fruit as a matter of course, to see how much dough it made. And I had all the strawberries macerated already, so...

(Pre-baking, there's solidly 4" of strawberries mounded up in that crust - it was hard to get a truly representative picture of this ridiculousness.🍓)

I wasn't sure whether the crostata walls could retain structural integrity if they're that short. But hey, anything worth doing is worth overdoing, right? 😇

As it turned out, they utterly could not... so I transferred it to a casserole dish, and I'm calling it an upside-down strawberry sonker. 😂 #NCeats #IYKYK Still delicious!

@cannibal
#bakingfromscratch #strawberries #kitchenexperiments

unbaked crostata with extremely short walls, loaded with about 4x the appropriate amount of cut strawberries, sitting on a thin silicon baking sheet in a quarter sheet pan

baked crostata - the crust collapsed and it's sitting in a pool of strawberry juice. fortunately the silpat contained all the yummy liquid!

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

Cat scarf is doooooone! 🐈🧣🧶💖 We had a long car trip this weekend - perfect for tedious loose-end finishing. Also I won at yarn chicken - had just enough black yarn to shape the top black-cat head row! 🎉

I need to wash the scraps of yarn I have left in Soak to check for colorfastness before I wash the whole thing - I'd hate to wash it and end up with grey cats... Hopefully all the dye will stay where it belongs. 🤞🏻

@cannibal @crochet

black-and-white tessellated cat scarf ending in a row of black cats, with maybe 14" of yarn left over

finished cat scarf on a lavender bedspread

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

My cat scarf progresses! I've worked through all four skeins of yarn - our original guesstimate on dimensions (10" wide by 54" long) wasn't long enough to girth-hitch, so I got it out to 60" before using up all the yarn. Time to send pics to my ex-roomie and see if it looks long enough to her. 🤞🏻

Aaaaaaaand now my color-change chickens have come home to roost, and I have to weave in All Those Fucking Ends. Sooooo tedious. Managed to get through one side, so 42 down and 44 to go...

@cannibal @crochet

black-and-white tessellated cat scarf on brown couch - one side is fully finished, the other side still has yarn ends sticking out between every pair of cat rows

me in front of a white wall and brown wooden door, in navy pajamas, wearing the cat scarf draped over my shoulders with the two ends hanging down in front

me in front of a brown wooden door, wearing navy pajamas, with the cat scarf wrapped around my neck in a girth hitch and two short ends making a sort of jabot in front

Squeaking in a #MakeShitMonday post just under the wire...

This week I made another batch of kombucha. I just gave my last bottle from my previous batch (of about 2 months ago) to a friend, so I needed to get the SCOBY back to work.

@cannibal

A two gallon glass jar with a wide opening covered by a blue striped kitchen towel and a rubber band sitting on a somewhat cluttered shelf of a baker's rack. The vessel is about three-fourths full of dark liquid (black tea and sugar) with a old SCOBY just under the surface, and a new SCOBY forming at the interface with the air.

There's a piece of masking tape on the glass vessel that says:
English teatime &
English breakfast
started: 4/15/25

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

This week what I made was... Progress! We had road trips last weekend and this weekend, so I had some quality cat-scarf time, and it's starting to actually look like a scarf. 😁

Soon I'll figure out whether the four skeins of yarn I bought will get me to my target length... I'm thinking I may need to pick up a couple more. Which normally would be a good excuse to hit up my local yarn shop, but I just kitted up for five new projects in an online yarn-shop sale, so I need to stay away from temptation for a while. 😇

@cannibal @crochet

a black-and-white scarf in repeating rows of tessellated cat stitch, with loose ends every row waiting to be worked in, on a brown sectional sofa

It's #makeShitMonday! I want to see your projects for the last week, cooking, hacking, crafting, coding, wood/metal work

I designed some stickers and had them printed on brushed aluminum.

Show me what you got!

#makeShitMonday, #mending edition!

Our local caving grotto has a large canopy structure that we use for group camping events - as is common with shared equipment, it tends to be roughly handled, and the soft case that holds the poles and canvas for transport has come apart at the top seam.

It's pretty sturdy fabric, and well-constructed - the corner is joined by one seam, and there's a separate seam holding down some thin rubber tape that keeps the seam allowance from fraying. Fortunately that means the failure is the thread holding the pieces together, not the fabric itself...

It's a bit tedious to fix, since I'm trying to use existing holes rather than introduce new points of weakness. And I'm doing each seam as two lines of alternate running stitches, so if the threads break on one line, the other will hopefully hold it together enough for me to fix it more easily next time.

I got through both lines of the joining seam and one line of the edge-tape seam before I ran out of time (and patience) today. Should go a lot quicker tomorrow since the edges and tape are already lined up, so it'll just be a simple running stitch!

@cannibal
#DIY #repair #sewing #handsewing

inside of the blown seam showing the gaps between the canvas sides and the detached seam tape

pulling through and tying off the broken ends of the existing threads

completed seam joining the fabric sides together, with the edge tape still detached

first line of running stitch for the edge tape seam - super tedious because they weren't lined up at all, so for each stitch I was separately lining up the needle and pushing through first the edge tape on one side, then the fabric, then the edge tape on the other side. return (alternating) line will be easier now than they're all lined up!

It's #makeShitMonday! I want to see your projects for the last week, cooking, hacking, crafting, coding, wood/metal work

Made a bunch of meal prep stuff including merengues and sugar free brownies.

Show me what you got!

#makeShitMonday, #crochet edition...

I'm making good progress on the cat scarf for my ex-roomie - despite multiple rounds of frogging!

My mom gave me a gorgeous new set of [Dyak Craft crochet hooks](https://www.dyakcraft.com/shop/p/tunisian-crochet-set), so I switched from my old bamboo hook to the equivalent new hook - and the action is totally different, so my stitch tension is different, so I ended up frogging my entire first 11 rows and starting over. 😭

(It made a nice diversion on a rainy morning during our caving trip to TN last week...)

Then on the way home I was listening to an interesting podcast and missed a cat leg, which cost me another round of frogging. So now I check each row when I finish it, and double-check before I break the yarn and switch colors. 🙄 But despite all that, it's starting to look scarf-like!

@cannibal @crochet

#makeShitMonday

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