Friday, May 29, 2020

What Is Your Birthday Word?



Considering the trouble I had last week finding a quiz, this week I'm cheating. Somewhat. 

What is your birthday word?


You type in the year you were born, and the generator gives you a word that was coined near to then. So, much simpler than last week. 

I ended up with romcom. I'll take it. 

I'm curious. What word did it give you?

Thursday, May 28, 2020

The Last Time



For #ThrowbackThursday, I went looking for a specific post. It would have been in October of last year. 

It was a minimum day, the last day of the first quarter. 

The last day of a quarter can be a bit weird. The shorter periods make the day go quickly. Not a lot is assigned. And assignments on that day will most likely only be counted on the semester grade. 

That day I covered a Spanish class. It ran the gamut from year one students to the AP students. If I recall correctly, I had some attitude in the first period class, but that was not surprising as they were freshmen. 

The day went pretty smoothly. I think. Although, it took me a bit of time to figure out which assignment went with which class. None of this ended up being blog-worthy, though. For, when I went back through my archives, I did not find a post for this day. 

It's not surprising. I don't blog about every class I cover. Some just don't have a good story to go with them. I was probably sketching out my blog posts for the week while watching them (as it was a Friday), and nothing they did stood out as being all that interesting for the blog. 

As I look at the picture, I remember the set up of the room. The teacher had one of those high chairs which I find uncomfortable to sit on. There was a stand with the seating charts. Most of the work was piled on her desk. 

It was a fairly average day. 

This was the last time I subbed for Ms. M. I did not know it would be The Last Time. 

Last week an email went out to the whole district. Ms. M had passed away. 

By the time all of this is over, we all will have known someone who has passed due to this thing. Likely, more than one.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

A NOVA Episode



I've got a different TV post for today. I happened upon the NOVA from two weeks ago (about a week late), and since it's timely, I'm posting the link: 

Decoding COVID-19


It's about 55 minutes. And I'm sure you've already heard some of it. But it talks about how the virus works, what they're doing to find a treatment and vaccine, and the various scientists who are working on the problem. 

It's a good program. As I only accidentally happened upon it, I thought I might not be the only one who almost missed it.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Mysterious Object




At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. ðŸ˜‰

I've been doing a bit of going through my stuff and getting rid of things. No, nothing like this has happened to me... 

What if you found something buried in a closet or a box or a trunk that you don't remember having before? What if when you touched it, that item started to glow?

Monday, May 25, 2020

A Crochet Spinosaurus

For their birthday, I gave my twin nephews the "gift" of "I'll make you what you want". Twin 1 asked for a Spinosaurus. 

A what now? 

At least Google knew what it was, and it corrected my spelling as well. 

Turns out, there are a few patterns out there for a Spinosaurus. Good thing, as I wouldn't even begin to know how to make one. I chose the Rosie the Spinosaurus pattern which was more cute than anatomically correct. (I didn't like the look of the more dino-looking creatures.) 


The instructions were straightforward, but not always clear. That is, it made sense as I was working it, but if I tried to read ahead, I wasn't always sure how things went together. 


But that's true of many patterns, especially toy patterns. I would probably do things a bit differently if I were to make this again. It'd probably take me a lot less time, too, as I put things off for so long wondering how it would work. 

It was the same the first time I attempted the jellyfish. But once I knew what I was doing, Getting one of those finished took not a lot of time at all. 


The spiney thing, which is what the dinosaur is named for, went on last. 


The face, which I found most difficult, went on first. What do you think? How does the face look?

Friday, May 22, 2020

How Much of a Psychopath Are You?



Looking for new sources of online quizzes is hard. So many of them are inane, geared towards teenagers, or difficult to navigate. I found one that was interesting (a Rorschach test), but to get your results, you had to complete a mini statistical survey. Yikes. 

So, after an hour or so of looking through various quizzes, today we're doing... 

How Much of a Psychopath Are You?


I found this one through an Esquire article, "11 Online Tests That Are Actually Worth Taking". I don't fully agree with the title, but I'm providing the link in case any of you feel like perusing it. 

So, how much of a psychopath am I? I probably shouldn't tell you... Okay, fine. Not much of one. (Big surprise.) I'm at 15% on the spectrum. 

I'm curious and a bit nervous to find out where you all fall. Although, I'm pretty sure the hard core psychopaths wouldn't spend much time on my blog... Right? 

Thursday, May 21, 2020

The Bed Saga

Thursdays are #ThrowbackThursdays around here (when I have nothing else to say). Considering how this year has gone, I wanted to look back to happier times--last year. And, well, I was dealing with this. From May 20, 2019
No, not literally. Although, the concussion screams intent.

It all started about three weeks ago, on April 30th. I sat on my bed to put on my shoes, something I do every morning.

Thunk.

The bed fell under me. In that moment, I wanted to figure out what had happened, but I didn't have time, not if I wanted to get to work on time. So, I finished putting on my shoes, and I was out the door. I didn't think too much about it, other than some generalized worry, until I got home. That's when I went about ascertaining what broke.

The bed is what they call a Hollywood frame. It's just a simple rail. I've had this bed for about five years without a lick of trouble.

It turned out that the wheel had snapped off. I was able to glue it back together and place it back on that leg.


But that was a temporary fix.

I searched online for a replacement wheel. No local retailers carried it, but it was available online. (From wheel break to ordering replacement wheel took two days. I had to go to work and such.)

Alas, the temp fix was very temporary. The wheel continued to fall off at least once a day. Anything would jar it loose. I was very careful with my movements, but still it would pop off with a "thunk" when I least expected it. Or when I did expect it. It was a pretty constant thing.

Tracking showed the replacement showing up the following Tuesday, May 7th. But on Saturday, when I had time, I needed to deal with another bed problem. The rail was creeping out. An easy fix...

I stripped the bed. Then, by myself, I flipped up the mattress and box spring to lean against the wall. Then the rails. I tightened them. I put the bed back to rights. Since I had stripped the bed, I figured that was a good time to wash the sheets and such. Once they were clean, I remade the bed, and all was good, except for that wheel. I was good for a couple days, until the wheel arrived.

Only, guess what came in the mail just after I had finished putting my bed to rights?

So, this next bit is just sheer laziness. I didn't fix the wheel that day. I figured I could wait another week. What's another week, right?

Then, Tuesday night, as I was nearly asleep (and not moving at all), the wheel fell off again, and I was DONE.

After work Wednesday, May 8th, I stripped the bed, flipped up the mattress and box spring, flipped up the rail, and went about removing the wheel. You'd think this would be easy, but the wheel was attached via a long connector that didn't remove easily. Pliers worked.

The replacement wheel fit perfectly.


Before returning the bed to rights, I went to tighten the rails again. Only, one of the brackets would not. It popped off the bed.

Upon further examination, I found that the bracket had bent, just a little. But that little was enough so that it would no longer fit on the bed. And the rail needed that to support weight.

The bracket on the left is the working one. The bracket on the left has been stretched out ever so slightly, just enough to no longer fit on the rail.
Over the course of an hour, I tried everything I could think of, including hammering the bracket to bend it back. It was enough. I was able to reassemble the bed.

It was so nice to sleep in the bed without having random thunks in the middle of the night.

However, as I walked by the bed the next morning...

Thunk.

The bottom half of the bed had collapsed. The bracket failed.

Again, I went online to order a replacement part. (I did go out to see if I could find it locally. I could not.) But what size did I need? What did I need to measure? That took a while to figure out.

While I was waiting, though, the frame would not hold. There was nothing else to do but remove the frame entirely and put the box spring on the floor, like a teenager. Sigh. (Plus, I store stuff under there. All of it had to be moved out and stored somewhere for the wait.)

The replacement bracket arrived on the following Monday, May 13th. I worked up the energy to put things back together on Tuesday. I stripped the bed, flipped up the mattress and box spring, and brought the rails out.

I propped the two parts of the frame up against the box spring as it leaned against the wall. I started by attaching a bracket to the bottom half...

I'm sure you can see what's coming. If I had been thinking...

Yeah, so one side fell over as I was doing this, landing on my head. Hard. No, I didn't pass out, but it hurt.

And... The bracket didn't fit. It turns out that I had ordered the wrong size.

The gold-tone is the proper size. The silver-tone is just a bit too big.
(I spent an hour trying to figure out which size I needed. I measured. I even tried it on the rails before flipping up the bed, and it seemed to work. But when it came time to actually put things together, big fat fail.)

So, everything had to go back to how it had been. Back to the internet to order the correct size. Hopefully.

This time I ordered the part right away, although I spent a lot of time looking at the smaller size. Was this correct? Was I going to screw up again?

Tracking showed that the package would arrive on Saturday. I was out, so I wasn't thinking about the package delivery. I pulled my phone out of my purse to check the time or weather or something to find a text from the delivery driver.

He couldn't find my place. And I had five minutes to respond. The text had been sent a half hour prior.

(I know, you all have your phones set so you can hear them when you're out, right? I don't. My ringer is set for a good volume to wake me for early morning subbing calls. Soft enough so that it doesn't jar me awake. As I get very few actual calls or texts, I don't think about raising the volume the rest of the time.)

Then I got an email saying the delivery had failed.

Grrr. Was I going to have to wait another week for another day off to finally fix my bed? Was I even going to get the delivery?

But then, I get home to find the package. I guess the delivery driver found my place after all. Whew.

These brackets were smaller than the ones I had already on my bed, but they actually fit. Hooray!


And on Sunday, my bed went back together. Finally.


So, fingers crossed. Because if this bed breaks again...

tl;dr: My bed broke. It took three weeks to fix. 

Alas, this was not the final fix. There is a part 2 to this story. The duct tape solution kept things together pretty well. But then, in August, the guy who put my ceiling back together was kind enough to fix the bed once and for all. He drilled holes and bolted the bed frame together. And that solution continues to hold to this day. 

I'm so glad I don't have room issues during this stay-at-home time. That was quite the ordeal last year.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The Smell

It was evening. I walked out into the garage to throw something away, and ewwww. There was this smell that was just plain awful. 

I looked about, but I couldn't see any sort of leak. Besides, it kind of smelled like sewage. How would sewage get into the garage? I didn't want to think about that. 

Landlady said she had smelled it earlier, but Luisa hadn't. And she'd been working out there... 

A couple days prior, Luisa started going through a pile of paperwork. You know the kind--the sorts of bills and mail and such that accumulate over time. She had started going through them and shredding much of it. The pile had been sitting in the garage for a while, and nowadays we have the time. 

So, it was weird that Luisa wasn't smelling anything while we were. 

On the second day of the smell, Luisa smelled it. She opened the garage door while working, which got the smell to clear out. 

On the third day, Luisa pulled out the shelving unit. She was sure she was going to find a dead rat. Nope. Nothing. 

And then, after days of not being able to figure out where the smell was coming from, Luisa discovered it. Rats had peed on her paperwork. Well, at least the paperwork was being trashed... 

She finally finished going through all of her papers. It only took four or five days. And the smell was gone. 

(I don't have an image to go with this post, so consider this a palate cleanser.)

I so need to go through all of my papers. I'm a bit reluctant to start, now.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

That's a Lot of Money



At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. ðŸ˜‰

I'm stealing borrowing today's question from a situation that occurred on a TV show last week (bonus points if you can identify which TV show). 

You've been invited to a poker game. The other players are fairly wealthy. You try to beg off, but your friend offers to stake you. Reluctantly, you agree to play... 

What if you then proceed to win a lot money? We're talking life-changing money. (On the show, the character won over a million dollars.) What do you do?

Monday, May 18, 2020

Another Knit Fabric Mask

Hi. 


How do you like my new mask? 

Yeah, so I totally didn't need to make another one. Really, I didn't. I had the knit and lined one. I had the one I showed off two weeks ago... 


Plus, I ordered one a month or so ago. So, I now have four masks that I can use. 

But, I do enjoy making them. And I had an idea to make the ear straps easier. (I suppose one of these days I should do a blog post about how I modified the No Sew Fabric Crochet Pattern to be knit and with ear straps rather than a tie around, but that won't be this week.) 


Instead of knitting an I-cord that I then sewed onto the mask, I knit one continuous loop for the ears, employing a technique I used for my Tablet Buddy pattern. It worked. 

That doesn't mean this project went off without a hitch. It turns out I worked too many stitches into the mask. If you take a good look at it modeled on me, you can see how the sides kind of flare out. And my first attempt at knitting the ear loops ended up way too huge (a mistake I've made before). I debated whether or not to photograph the mistake, choosing not to. 

That just means that my next mask won't need nearly as many stitches along the sides, which will make the whole thing that much quicker to complete. 


I did modify the size of the fabric. The pattern called for a cut piece of fabric 8 by 14 inches. I realized the reason the width was too narrow was due to my seam allowances, which I fixed on the new mask. But the length was just a bit too short, so I cut the new mask 8 by 16 inches. I like those dimensions and will be doing that in the future. 

Because, yes I will make this again. It's fun. It's quick. And it's nice to have a couple masks on hand so that I can change things up a bit. 


What sort of masks have you been wearing? Or, have you been wearing a mask in public? 

Friday, May 15, 2020

Topic Mash, FunTrivia



In my quest for different quizzes, I came across FunTrivia. Okay, let's give it a try... 

Topic Mash, Mixed Authors


They took a random bunch of questions and put them together. Which makes it hard to give you a topic idea, so I'll call this a general trivia quiz. 

The questions are multiple choice. The question comes up first, giving you a few seconds to read it. Then the choices pop up. The faster you answer, the better your score. 

It looks like it generates a new quiz each time you try the link, so your quiz and my quiz will be different. (I've tried this link three times and gotten a different quiz each time.) I'm not sure if I like that or not. So, good luck, and I definitely can't help you with any hints.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

The Long Wait, Part 2




Last Tuesday was Cinco de Mayo. Which is not something I normally pay attention to. But Luisa pointed it out, and she wanted Mexican food that day. So, we ordered from our favorite Mexican restaurant (more about that in yesterday's post). 

When we went to pick up our food, the line was around the corner and all the way past five other businesses in the strip mall. Now, of course, that line had everyone giving each other 6 feet of space, but it was still a long line. 

We thought the line was long when we got there, but shortly, five others had gotten into line behind us. One woman was just not going to stand in that line. "I already paid. I should just be able to go." 

Well, we had all already ordered. What made her think she was special? 

She cut in line, anyway. Went to the front and was out fairly quickly. Apparently there was a curb side pick up going that none of us knew about. Because, seriously? We totally would have paid on the phone so as to not have to wait in that line. 

There were others who showed up thinking they could go to the head of the line. And those of us in line weren't too pleased with them. There was a certain satisfaction when they were sent to the back of the line. 

We had an ongoing conversation with the woman behind us. Well, not me. I kind of stood there. My companion and the lady behind us formed a fast friendship, talking about diets and grandchildren and who did these people think they were going to the head of the line? Oh, never mind. That one was going into the ice cream shop (which didn't have a line around the corner). 

I've been seeing all sorts of complaints about wearing masks on the news. So many people seem to be protesting. But not so much in my day-to-day experience. (Although, there were a couple women complaining in the Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago. Sigh.) 

The woman behind us and the woman in front of us both had masks, but they had them off. They both apologized as the masks were bothering them. One had an asthma issue, the other was just kind of done with hers. But as both were standing a good ways off (we've all been pretty good at giving the people before and after us a good deal of space in line--the new normal), it wasn't a bother. 

By the time we nearly got to the end of the line, some guy decided to go to the head of the line. I guess our glares penetrated. He begged our patience--he was just going to order a margarita to have while he waited in line. Which he did, and then he went to the back of the line. 

The rest of us thought, why hadn't we thought to do that? Because that was an excellent idea. (Although, I would have preferred to do the ice cream thing.)

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

The Long Wait



Last Tuesday was Cinco de Mayo. Which is not something I normally pay attention to. But Luisa pointed it out, and she wanted Mexican food that day. 

(This next bit would completely shock my family if they ever read my blog, because I am not a fan of Mexican food. I never have been.) The roommates and I have a regular Mexican restaurant. It's very popular in the area. Most evenings, it's a good half hour to 45 minute wait to dine in. 

But, of course, these are not normal times. The restaurant is take-out only at the moment. 

The last time we had a hankering, the prior week on Tuesday, we phoned in an order and were able to pick up our food easily. We didn't drive down there until the food was ready, and while there was a place set up to wait in line, there was no line when we got there. (A couple people arrived after us, so there was a line of three when we left.) 

So, on the 5th, we went to call in an order... 

Really, that should have been our first clue. 

The line was busy. As the restaurant is usually a sit-down establishment, they don't have a dedicated order line. And the line continued to be busy for a good half hour. But finally, we got through and put in our order. 

The lady on the phone said that it would take 50-60 minutes for our food to be cooked. But that the line would take 20 minutes. 

When we got there, well, the line was way longer than 20 minutes. It was around the corner and all the way past five other businesses in the strip mall. Now, of course, that line had everyone giving each other 6 feet of space, but it was still a long line. 

In fact, we were giving everyone more space, as the line was in full sun on an 80+ degree day, so many of us hid behind the shadow of the columns holding up the overhang, and those were more than 6 feet apart. 

But the line wasn't moving. 

By the time we got our food, we had been waiting for at least an hour, although likely more. (I didn't bring my phone, so I wasn't watching the time.) 

How long were we waiting? A demonstration: 

Next door to the restaurant is a Baskin-Robbins. Many people went in, got their ice cream, and left while we watched. 

After a half hour or more, we turned the corner, so we could actually see the front door of the restaurant. 

The guy two ahead of me in line looked to the woman behind him, and asked if she minded if he stepped out of line for a bit. He went into the Baskin-Robbins. He bought a cone with two scoops. He finished his cone with lots of time to spare by the time it was his turn to pick up his food. 

Note to self: do not order Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo. That was truly a stupid move.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Crazy?


At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. ðŸ˜‰

What if the person ranting outside (the one you generally avoid) started making sense?

Monday, May 11, 2020

In-Between Days

Last week... 

I'll just blame it on the migraine. Not much in the way of knitting got done. (Although, blaming it on the migraine doesn't explain what I didn't do Monday through Thursday when I was migraine-free.) 

I started a couple more masks. I found patterns for two new projects. And I continued to work on the baby blanket... 


What baby blanket? Yeah, I haven't mentioned it before, primarily because it's new. 

My landlady saw my SIL's scarf, and she really liked the colors of the yarn. One of her grandchildren is having a baby (due in July), and she asked me to make a baby blanket. (This will be her 9th? 11th? great-grandchild. I've lost track.) So, she got me the yarn and I made her choose a stitch pattern. 

It's coming along... 

When I went outside to photograph my work thus far, I caught the turtles out sunning themselves... 


I think they have the right idea. Happy Monday.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Inventors and Their Inventions


In my continuing quest to find a go-to quiz website, today we're trying out the Encyclopedia Britannica site...

Inventors and Their Inventions


You get 30 seconds for each question. (Sorry.) But they're multiple choice. So this quiz goes quickly. 

I got 6/8. Not bad. I know where I made my mistakes.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

More Minions

How are you all doing?

I know, I've been sort of ignoring the pandemic here on the blog. It's not that I've been ignoring it, though. It's more I've had nothing to say in regards to it. I'm staying home. I'm going out sparingly. And I've found that I have little to say about it.

But I did want to update you on the Minions...

My roommate Luisa and I have been getting out for almost daily hour-long walks. One of the neighbors had done this on their lawn...


No sooner had I posted that, those neighbors went and extended the display. Now there are six minions. So you can see, I did it in two pictures...


The guy on the right is new. The other two are in the first image. Then...


The guy on the right is an overlap from the above picture. Do you see the guy in the tree?

Luisa and I had wondered how long our walks are. Then I realized that there was already a tracker on our phones. It turns out our walks have been about two miles long.

Not too shabby.

Have you been taking walks? What's going on in your neck of the woods?

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

All the Cancelled


Two Sundays ago, God Friended Me had it's series finale. Which got me thinking about my occasional Wednesday "feature", the under the radar TV show.

Not too long ago, I pulled up the list of the TV shows I've featured. Let's just say many of them are no longer on the air. Sigh.

Although, the premise of the topic was for me to highlight shows I enjoy that aren't getting much of an audience.

So, in the spirit of we're-still-in-lockdown and you-might-be-looking-for-something-to-watch, I thought I'd see if any of the cancelled shows are available for streaming someplace. Now might be a good time for a short, self-contained season or two of a random TV show. (Links are to my post talking about the show.)

  • No Tomorrow: Netflix. The show did manage a wrap up at the end, so no cliffhangers.
  • Humans: Amazon Prime. The finale of season 3 did have a couple things that could have been continued, but it's mostly finished. 
  • Frequency: Netflix. Based on the movie of the same name, it also offered a conclusion once it was cancelled. I highly recommend it.
  • Longmire: Netflix. Once I finally got Netflix, the first show I watched was this. It finished with six total seasons, so this is a bit longer than the other shows on this list. A great modern day western.
  • Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency: Hulu. Based on the Douglas Adams' books. Very, very weird. Each of its two seasons were self-contained stories, so no cliffhangers.
  • The Brave: It appears you can purchase it, but it's not just streaming anywhere. Maybe NBC still has it on its servers. This one, alas, did end with a cliffhanger, so I only include it for completeness. 
  • The Gifted: Hulu. This managed to get two seasons, but that second season wasn't as great as the first. If memory serves, it ended on a cliffhanger, so caution. 
  • Genius: Hulu. I only caught the Einstein season. There's also a Picasso season. I might have to check that one out... 
  • God Friended Me: Amazon Prime, CBS All Access. The show that started this post. They did wrap it up nicely, so no cliffhanger. And two seasons, so there are a few episodes to watch.
  • American Princess: Here's another that you can purchase but not just stream. It was cute. I had hoped for a second season. There was a slight cliffhanger, so it's probably for the best that it's not streaming for free somewhere. 

Yikes, with that record, I'd hesitate before starting anything I recommended last month. I hope I'm wrong. But I suppose most shows only last a season or two. And if you're looking for something new to watch, these were worth the time. 

Okay, your turn. What's a good cancelled TV show to watch streaming someplace? Summer is coming, and we're all going to need something to keep us entertained.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

In Dreams


At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements. ðŸ˜‰

We are living in strange times. (I've finally used up all the pre-written "what if?" posts.) It seems like all of us are having strange dreams, at least by what some people in media have said. So...

What if these "strange" dreams are the collective unconsciousness' way of giving us solutions to this world-wide pandemic problem? 

Monday, May 4, 2020

A Knit Fabric Mask

About a month ago, I knit myself a face mask...


I'm not terribly fond of it, but it does the job. (We're required to wear masks if we want to go to the grocery store.)

But, I knew I could do better. So, I went to Pinterest again. I was specifically looking for sewing pattern templates that I could try to duplicate in knitting.

I found something better.

Someone had come up with a way to take some fabric and attach crochet ties to it--all without doing any sewing.

(I mean, I can sew. I have a sewing machine. But it's such a hassle to set the whole thing up to make one mask. And my sewing skills aren't up to making a bunch of masks for others.)

Upon perusing the instructions (which are here, if you're interested) and watching the video, I realized that the trick was blanket stitch. I have seen this done to add knitting or crochet to fabric before (and, in fact, you can just use thread for the blanket stitch and attach the yarn through that). Which meant that I could knit this as easily as crocheting it.

So, I dug out my fabric stash, heated up the iron, and pinned it as per the instructions. Then, instead of following the procedure in the post, I knit up a couple rows on each side, and then I knit a couple I-cords that I tacked down to the knit sides.


Alas, when I tried it on, it's a little tight...


...but that's fixable. I just need to make the ties a bit longer. Although, it fits so snugly that I might be overthinking this. Whatever. It works.

I'm considering doing another, but this time I'll cut the fabric 9 inches by 16 inches as this felt a bit small. Although, looking at the picture, I might just be feeling like this is small because my other one is so much bigger...

I have a couple other projects I could be working on, so we'll see what I end up doing. At least now I feel like I can competently make a mask, unlike what I had going before.

Edited to add: The evening after writing this post, I decided to make the ear ties about an inch longer. In the disassembling, I managed to destroy all the knitting, so I had to do the whole thing over. This only took about an evening, and the look hasn't changed at all. But, that inch on either side was just enough to ease the fit, so now I'm quite happy with this mask.

Friday, May 1, 2020

Which Fantasy Movie Series Should You Binge-Watch?


This week's topic is pretty straightforward:

Which Fantasy Movie Series Should You Binge-Watch? 


Hopefully this one will have easier to answer questions than last week. (And hopefully there will be no "horse with ice cream cone stuck to its head" option.) 

There are ads. Sorry. When you get them, just scroll down to the "next question" button. 

I got the Harry Potter series. Which I've seen. So, no binge-watching for me. What series did you get?