Meanwhile in cross stitch land
Jun. 7th, 2025 04:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dianec42As it was written in the spreadsheets, so it has come to pass.
New project: Upon A Star by PigeonCoop Designs from the book Cross Stitch In The Forest.
Have I learned my lesson about dark Aida, many similar shades of one colour, and fractional stitches? No. Have I learned to check HOW MUCH of each shade I'll need when using threads from my stash? Also no.
Floss toss to confirm I still like the colors:
The first few stitches.
First project to clear off the backlog: 1960s mod lady for the cover of my sewing notebook. There will be text "Sewing Notes" vertically in the blank area on the right. I did the French knots for the eyes a while ago and they have gone horribly wrong - the knots have both pulled through to the back! Lesson learned, don't do french knots as part of a tour of traveling backstitch. I am just going to do new knots over the top of them.
Bonus, I found the missing small Permin kit tucked away in the folder with the mod fashion lady! I guess this was my emergency backup stitching when we moved. Way to go, Past Diane! You put it in a safe place all right.
New project: Upon A Star by PigeonCoop Designs from the book Cross Stitch In The Forest.
Have I learned my lesson about dark Aida, many similar shades of one colour, and fractional stitches? No. Have I learned to check HOW MUCH of each shade I'll need when using threads from my stash? Also no.
Floss toss to confirm I still like the colors:
The first few stitches.
First project to clear off the backlog: 1960s mod lady for the cover of my sewing notebook. There will be text "Sewing Notes" vertically in the blank area on the right. I did the French knots for the eyes a while ago and they have gone horribly wrong - the knots have both pulled through to the back! Lesson learned, don't do french knots as part of a tour of traveling backstitch. I am just going to do new knots over the top of them.
Bonus, I found the missing small Permin kit tucked away in the folder with the mod fashion lady! I guess this was my emergency backup stitching when we moved. Way to go, Past Diane! You put it in a safe place all right.
(no subject)
Jun. 6th, 2025 11:13 amvvalkyriI haven't read any dreamwidth for a little bit, but over on Facebook I think there's only one non-jewish person I've seen say anything about the fire attack in Boulder on mostly elderly people walking in solidarity with hamas's hostages.
I don't have time to write it right now but I definitely want to write more.
This one's about right: gift link:nytimes - Jews Are Afraid Right Now
And this one is every time I read it a slight bit more infuriating, because it came out in an email blast from new republic, and barely manages to accept that nobody deserves to be hit with a flamethrower, but instead spends all its time on why the act was the opposite of politically useful, as well as a bunch of time on what awful Netanyahu is doing. Violence against Jews is tragic and undermines the Palestinian cause
Readers may remember an essay back in 2021,
Dear American progressives your Jewish friends are terrified by your silence, in which the author knows how so much of the time it seems especially in progressive spaces any attack on Jews is met with discussion of the Middle East.
Anyway, I'm out of time and finding that last reminds me I need to figure out an alternative for pocket.
I don't have time to write it right now but I definitely want to write more.
This one's about right: gift link:nytimes - Jews Are Afraid Right Now
And this one is every time I read it a slight bit more infuriating, because it came out in an email blast from new republic, and barely manages to accept that nobody deserves to be hit with a flamethrower, but instead spends all its time on why the act was the opposite of politically useful, as well as a bunch of time on what awful Netanyahu is doing. Violence against Jews is tragic and undermines the Palestinian cause
Readers may remember an essay back in 2021,
Dear American progressives your Jewish friends are terrified by your silence, in which the author knows how so much of the time it seems especially in progressive spaces any attack on Jews is met with discussion of the Middle East.
Anyway, I'm out of time and finding that last reminds me I need to figure out an alternative for pocket.
So much DCish...
Jun. 6th, 2025 12:12 pmvvalkyriVeterans Rally today at 2EDT on the Mall near Air and Space, so nearest Metros are L'enfant and Archives. It's also live streamed Unite4Veterans.org, and they've got the Dropkick Murphys.
Later today a vigil at WWII. Stuff with Cliff Cash the rest of the weekend, like at FOX 'news' and Heritage. And Non-cooperation training with FreeDC tomorrow.
Later this evening, I just noticed there's celebrating nonmonagamy with World Pride. I think I'm pretty much missing world pride?
Tomorrow, the World Pride parade. 50501 is walking in it. Acro at Franklin Park to watch the parade. I'm sure all sorts of really cool stuff in the evening.
Sunday, some sort of Pride March to the Lincoln.
Here, we will go to Food Bank in an hour ish, not sure for the evening. There's a kink place if you wanted to drive like over an hour and have sweetie be bored and I'm not exactly sure what I was supposed to do.
Tomorrow and Sunday nights I'll be mostly on my own because EverQuest. I do know a couple people in the city, but I think both of them are busy sunday. And borrowing a car I've only driven across town to drive well over an hour feels weird anyway.
We've watched a few episodes of The Last of Us. Last night we watched Constantine.
Wednesday evening into yesterday was very very nice.
There's been a lot of very very nice. Including shower time.
I attended a webinar by one of the people whose research gets us that 3.5% figure for how much of the population on resisting authoritarianism. Just got the recording and additional resources. I feel vindicated in my insistence for the last however many years that divesting oneself of anyone the other side of Center is incredibly unhelpful and one should only do for one's own sanity. Because you need to build Bridges and connections on values.
It's Moon time so there's only so much seducing I'm trying this morning anyway. We will have the house to ourselves for at least part of tomorrow, tomorrow morning at least. Need to figure out what's manageable.
Running out of time. Need to get some coffee into me.
Later today a vigil at WWII. Stuff with Cliff Cash the rest of the weekend, like at FOX 'news' and Heritage. And Non-cooperation training with FreeDC tomorrow.
Later this evening, I just noticed there's celebrating nonmonagamy with World Pride. I think I'm pretty much missing world pride?
Tomorrow, the World Pride parade. 50501 is walking in it. Acro at Franklin Park to watch the parade. I'm sure all sorts of really cool stuff in the evening.
Sunday, some sort of Pride March to the Lincoln.
Here, we will go to Food Bank in an hour ish, not sure for the evening. There's a kink place if you wanted to drive like over an hour and have sweetie be bored and I'm not exactly sure what I was supposed to do.
Tomorrow and Sunday nights I'll be mostly on my own because EverQuest. I do know a couple people in the city, but I think both of them are busy sunday. And borrowing a car I've only driven across town to drive well over an hour feels weird anyway.
We've watched a few episodes of The Last of Us. Last night we watched Constantine.
Wednesday evening into yesterday was very very nice.
There's been a lot of very very nice. Including shower time.
I attended a webinar by one of the people whose research gets us that 3.5% figure for how much of the population on resisting authoritarianism. Just got the recording and additional resources. I feel vindicated in my insistence for the last however many years that divesting oneself of anyone the other side of Center is incredibly unhelpful and one should only do for one's own sanity. Because you need to build Bridges and connections on values.
It's Moon time so there's only so much seducing I'm trying this morning anyway. We will have the house to ourselves for at least part of tomorrow, tomorrow morning at least. Need to figure out what's manageable.
Running out of time. Need to get some coffee into me.
current state of my life
Jun. 4th, 2025 09:26 pmdrglam This article is about the project that is my job, and my life's work.
https://www.thetransmitter.org/community/flybase-funding-squashed-amid-harvard-grant-terminations/
https://www.thetransmitter.org/community/flybase-funding-squashed-amid-harvard-grant-terminations/
why does this piss me off so much?
Jun. 4th, 2025 01:20 pmvvalkyrithere's an emotions wheel.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Healthygamergg/comments/1axjiw8/emotional_wheel_a_resource_for_better/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Healthygamergg/comments/1axjiw8/emotional_wheel_a_resource_for_better/
For what it's worth it was okay
Jun. 1st, 2025 11:48 pmvvalkyriI feel like I should note that tonight's everquest was way shorter than expected and we'd be out aurora hunting now if there were aurora and that i'm definitely feeling some of the aerial stuff I did yesterday...
and Pkid taught me all about some of the airport history near montreal, which was kinda neat.
and Pkid taught me all about some of the airport history near montreal, which was kinda neat.
Deer Trail is finished!
Jun. 1st, 2025 04:23 pmdianec42
Pattern is from the book Cross Stitch In The Forest. I foolishly thought, “This is just 4 colors! It should be simple. And I can use threads from my stash!”
Dear reader, it was not so. One 123stitch order for DMC 988 and more 989, hours of eyestrain from working on dark fabric, and about a billion three-quarter stitches later, I can confidently state that I HAVE NOT LEARNED A THING and intend to start Upon A Star (the one with the wolf and the moon) pretty much any second now.
Here's a brand new sentence
May. 28th, 2025 07:45 pmdianec42I just made a spreadsheet of all of my cross stitch works in progress that I can think of, and sorted them by "joy quotient" and then by effort remaining. Ta dahh! I have prioritized my backlog.
I gave each WIP two numbers from 1-10: How satisfying would it be to finish this (higher number is good), and how much effort remains (lower number is good). "Joy quotient" is satisfaction divided by effort.
I should probably do something similar with my spreadsheet of planned projects, although "planned" is really too strong a word. Yes, I have separate sheets for kits and charts. No, I have not catalogued every chart I own (we would be here until the heat death of the universe and probably also crash Excel); just the ones I have formed some vague intention of doing and/or have purchased materials for.
Parting thought, any kits I bought before about 1995 should almost certainly get yeeted. (Yotted? Yeeten?)
Edited to add: I did this for my backlog of charts and it came out sorted perfectly by effort (easiest at the top of the list). Hahahahaha.
I made the list of kits from memory and I have a terrible feeling that in reality I have tons more than I think I do. This is already discounting things like the pile of beginner kits I bought to teach my coworkers at game night in 2020 (RIP).
Edit edit: Strictly speaking these are UFOs (UnFinished Objects) rather than true WIPs. My one actual work in progress is Deer Trail and that's nearly done.
I gave each WIP two numbers from 1-10: How satisfying would it be to finish this (higher number is good), and how much effort remains (lower number is good). "Joy quotient" is satisfaction divided by effort.
I should probably do something similar with my spreadsheet of planned projects, although "planned" is really too strong a word. Yes, I have separate sheets for kits and charts. No, I have not catalogued every chart I own (we would be here until the heat death of the universe and probably also crash Excel); just the ones I have formed some vague intention of doing and/or have purchased materials for.
Parting thought, any kits I bought before about 1995 should almost certainly get yeeted. (Yotted? Yeeten?)
Edited to add: I did this for my backlog of charts and it came out sorted perfectly by effort (easiest at the top of the list). Hahahahaha.
I made the list of kits from memory and I have a terrible feeling that in reality I have tons more than I think I do. This is already discounting things like the pile of beginner kits I bought to teach my coworkers at game night in 2020 (RIP).
Edit edit: Strictly speaking these are UFOs (UnFinished Objects) rather than true WIPs. My one actual work in progress is Deer Trail and that's nearly done.
(no subject)
May. 27th, 2025 12:50 pmvvalkyriI should start pulling more of my Facebook entries over here. Here's my most recent:
Wanna get started with Freeway Overpass Banners? Found the link for Backbone Campaign's overpass banner making zoom workshop for tonight at 8 EDT (first was 5/22) - scroll down, & forward to those interested.
https://www.backbonecampaign.org/workshop_20250527
Well actually my most recent was responding to the news that HHS just announced c19 updated vaccines no longer recommended for healthy children are pregnant people, and I invited people to go look up the long covid rates including for children and teens and just why it's more dangerous to have covid in pregnancy.
I need to get back on the road. I just drove out to Winchester for a blood draw, my penultimate lyme vaccine trial visit.
Heather Cox Richardson's post for today spends time on West point but also reminds us that there were 23 states attorneys who started preprep for all the legal challenges we've seen back in February of 24, starting with close reading of Project 2025. Many of us are far from impressed with most Senate Democrats, but it's worth realizing that they are not the entirety.
It was a really good weekend, even if I couldn't manage to do all the things I wanted to do and missed things I would have liked to do.
Wanna get started with Freeway Overpass Banners? Found the link for Backbone Campaign's overpass banner making zoom workshop for tonight at 8 EDT (first was 5/22) - scroll down, & forward to those interested.
https://www.backbonecampaign.org/workshop_20250527
Well actually my most recent was responding to the news that HHS just announced c19 updated vaccines no longer recommended for healthy children are pregnant people, and I invited people to go look up the long covid rates including for children and teens and just why it's more dangerous to have covid in pregnancy.
I need to get back on the road. I just drove out to Winchester for a blood draw, my penultimate lyme vaccine trial visit.
Heather Cox Richardson's post for today spends time on West point but also reminds us that there were 23 states attorneys who started preprep for all the legal challenges we've seen back in February of 24, starting with close reading of Project 2025. Many of us are far from impressed with most Senate Democrats, but it's worth realizing that they are not the entirety.
It was a really good weekend, even if I couldn't manage to do all the things I wanted to do and missed things I would have liked to do.
Public service announcement re Pocket service ending, or NOOOO! MAH POCKET!
May. 27th, 2025 12:04 pmrmdMozilla is shutting down "Pocket", the bookmarking/offline-reading app they bought a while back. End of pocket is July 8th. If you have a pocket account you can get an export before then.
Not sure what 'fakespot' is, but they're closing that down too. I'm annoyed by losing pocket and even more annoyed by the realization that this is probably so they can throw more resources at their favorite Stochastic Parrot.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2793228/mozilla-is-discontinuing-pocket-and-fakespot.html
Not sure what 'fakespot' is, but they're closing that down too. I'm annoyed by losing pocket and even more annoyed by the realization that this is probably so they can throw more resources at their favorite Stochastic Parrot.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2793228/mozilla-is-discontinuing-pocket-and-fakespot.html