scifiknitter

UPDATE:  This pattern is now available as a reformatted, easier to read, free download on Ravelry. Here is the link:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/dragonskin-socks And now, I am proud to present: my very first knitting pattern. These were knit for a friend. I'm pleased to say that they fit him perfectly. R. was kind enough to model the socks for the photos. I learned one thing: it's best to avoid bright colors if you want to patterned knitwear. I fiddled with the contrast in PhotoShop, but the pictures are far from perfect. I hope that you can see the patterning on your monitor. Many thanks to my daughter A. for creating the chart in Illustrator for me! Dragonskin Socks Sock design by Anita Figueras. Dragon Skin stitch pattern from page 136 of Barbara Walker’s A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns (Charles Scribner’s Sons, NY, 1970). Size: Men’s Large, for a foot that wears a size 11 shoe. A closely fitting sock about 8” in circu...

What an interesting week it's been. It started with a call for help. A family member needed to go to the hospital, and so I cared for another household for several hours, bringing pizza, helping with homework, and keeping the home's fire burning. I'm hoping that this intervention happened at the right time to do some long-term good, but the healing (and growth) will be over time. Mo miracle pills here, although meds will surely be given. That same evening I learned that another person who has become a member of the family has come under fire from a group of Internet trolls because he does volunteer work for a website that they despise. I've followed the tale on a public forum, and watched the trolls get breathtakingly close to pinning down their quarry, only to head off in the wrong direction. The whole story has played out with the rudeness and vindictiveness that I find nearly everywhere on the web where there is a forum or a comment box. This same rudeness and propen...

I'm quite taken with the iPad. I'm positive that if I had one in my hands, I would know just what to do with it. My dear husband also knows that, without me saying so to him. I am currently suffering from technological obsolescence. My beloved PowerBook G4 just can't keep up anymore. The "whirling beachball of death" makes ever more frequent appearances and the fan runs as the machine struggles with the demands I make of it. Poor thing. Doomed to a life with Tiger, never to know Leopard. I carefully monitor the dock, knowing that it's important to run as few programs as necessary (and to keep the number of tabs in my browser down to the bare minimum I need for happiness). There are plans afoot for an upgrade this spring. We will buy our daughter a top-of-the-line MacBook Pro as a graduation present from college, and she will give me her first generation MBP. I can look forward to a bigger screen, faster processor, more RAM. Like mine, her machine runs hot, but...