I Promised Pictures and Here They Are (Take 2)

This is my second attempt at posting these pictures. The first attempt failed because I needed to debug an HTML widget before posting anything.

I ultimately used the Elmore Two Color Hoist-on foundation for starting my square although the first photo shows a standard foundation built on chain stitch. I'll try to get video of the hoist-on foundation when I start my next square. At the rate things are going though, closing up my store is taking too much time for me to finish this square by month's end, much less do two. Fortunately, the coordinator of this project isn't too concerned about the deadline.

Picture of the yarn and an afghan hook:

Sadly the hook is a bit dinged, but it works which the main thing I care about. I hadn't yet decided to try the two color foundation when I took this picture, but it suffices to show the kinship between Tunisian crochet and knitting.




Pictures of an illuminated crochet hook:

Turned off




Lit

Lit in the dark

Got yarn for Va Tech square

Went to MLYS, found some 60% angora/20% wool/20% polyamide yarn in suitable colors, and am now trying to figure out what sort of design to do. I'm thinking of playing around with a Tunisian variant. I'll put up pictures when I get the chance.

My LiveJournal

Silly human. I recently started a LiveJournal called "Raven's Roost" and forgot to announce it here. Well, consider it announced. It's going to be a bit of a catch-all for the stuff that doesn't fit this blog's foci. You know, things like SF/Fantasy, role playing games, and home repair rants like my complaint about the furnace repair.

Va Tech Afghan Project

I just found out about this a couple of days ago from my local Stitch 'n Bitch group, even though the initial announcement went out on April 22nd. The Mosaic Yarn Shop of Blacksburg, VA is collecting knit and crochet squares to make into blankets for the victims of the VT shooting. These will be going to the injured and the families of the dead, although there's apparently some debate over whether or not to make any for Cho's parents. Personally, I say go for it. After all, they lost family too. I'm not sure how much they could have done to prevent this, or if they even recognized the risk. I will note that the people at the school who realized that something was wrong couldn't do much because you really can't help someone who doesn't want it. It's not like no one tried.

Requirements: The squares should be 8x8 in black, white and/or the VT colors of maroon and burnt orange. Squares are due by the end of May.

You can send them to:

Mosaic Yarn Shop
880 University City Blvd.
Blacksburg, Va, 24060

EFF vs. Bloggers Against Music

I thought I'd better clarify something. On my sidebar are two items. A logo for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Blue Ribbon campaign for free speech, and a list of "Bloggers Against Music." It occurred to me that some folks might find that a tad hypocritical. Here's why I don't think it is.

Bloggers against Music are not against music per se. What they object to is blogs that automatically load music and don't give you an easy way to turn it off. I've been to sites that don't give the user any way to turn it off. There are few things that will cause me to leave a site faster. Boiling it down, you may have right to free speech, but I have the right to not have to listen.

If you want to put music on your website for some reason, e.g. you're a performer trying publicize your work, or you collect obscure Medieval ballads, go ahead, but make listening an opt-in, not an opt-out. If I want to listen to your music, I'll click the play button.