[d] enclosed in brackets chaotic perfectionist for hire

Judy's Magic Cast-On seems to elude me.

It's not that I don't get it, it's just that I can't seem to get it to work the way I think it should. I searched for videos on it, and it's tough because I'm using DPNs instead of circular needles. The video below is the closest, but I still feel like I'm missing something.

Once I've done a few of the rows, I feel like it should be pulling together with the increases, but it still looks flat to me. Anyone care to offer advice?

I posted this on plurk, but wanted to open it up a little more.

Any suggestions on a 1st sock pattern...? I'd like to do toe-up, and have two skeins of Järbo Garn Mini Raggi and size 3 dpns (if that helps).

In looking around, I've seen a lot of different patterns. The part I'm stuck on (which is pretty much how things go for me) is the casting on for the socks. Do I use Judy's magic cast on? Or this one on wiseNeedle?

Once I've figured that out, I think I'm just going to do plain stockinette through to the heel and standard ribbing through to the top. They're for me anyway (my wonderful wife got the yarn and needles for me), so I thought I would start simple... and toe-up, unless there's a compelling reason to start cuff-down instead.

Now that I think about it, any suggestions for the pattern, cast-on, heel, or other parts would be greatly appreciated. I've heard that socks are an addictive project, but I'm willing to find out how true that is.

Wow, I hadn't realized how long it's been since I posted... anything.

I've been around though, don't worry. Of course, I only have a half-dozen readers, so I'm not too worried - I talk to most of them on a regular basis. Here's what I've been working on lately:

Ubuntu
I have a desktop and laptop running Xubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04), and another desktop running Ubuntu Hardy Heron Server. The more I use Ubuntu, the more I like it. It just seems like there's a lot more that I can do with less work... compared to Windows. This isn't going to turn into a review, but check it out - you can run it as a Live CD (no install needed), or even install it like a program in Windows.

del.icio.us
If you check out my del.icio.us page, you can see what I've been bookmarking. I've added something at the end of this post to show the last fivepages I've bookmarked.

dropcase.com
It's time for another upgrade, and I'm making the move into version 6.2 of Drupal. I'm a little lacking in the updates category, but nothing serious... it's more a matter of getting more functionality and usability in place. I also want to do a total redesign, but I'm not sure where to start.

aStore
So I decided to play around with Amazon's aStore, just to see how it works. Don't worry, I'm not trying to push anything (although I won't stop anyone from getting something either), I just want to know what people think of it in general. Does anyone else use affiliate links for Amazon? I'm still not sure how I feel about them.

Knitting
Yes, knitting. There are two projects to start on: first, I'm getting ready to embark on the road to socks. I've been reading up on them and trying to find a pattern, and I think I'm going to go toe-up this time, so I can get a feel for how much yarn I need. Project #2 is a muffler for my wife. She got me some really nice yarn for it, and I want to make sure to do it justice...

Everything Else
Yes, very vague, but true... and if you'd like to know, feel free to ask. Between work and home with two kids and three cats (and my wonderful wife, of course), I wonder how I have time to get anything started, much less completed...

Have you seen Ravelry? It's an invite-only community for people who knit and crochet, and they slowly add more people each day. You add your name to a list, and they send you a link when it's open for you to join. In case you're not willing to wait, they have an "antsy" list that shows you where you are in line. It was started by a husband and wife from the Boston, MA area (that's kind of local to me). They wanted a community and a way to keep track of what they had and wanted... and I think they've done a great job so far.

I put my name on the list sometime around the 20th of February this year, and received my invite late on the 23rd. I've been a member since February 24th. Besides the community, there'syour own personal database for yarn (aka your stash), needles, projects (in-progress, queued, and favorites), as well as a library (books, magazines, PDFs, etc).

Once you have your "notebook" filled in, you can look through the people and groups - there are a ton of different groups, from Men Who Knit to Geek knitters to knitters in your area (probably), and... well, you'll have to look around.

If you're a knitter or a crocheter, check it out. It's worth waiting for the invitation, and it's a very active community.

There's an Extreme Craft article about knit graffiti (which references the original AP story). Apparently, there's a group of people in Yellow Springs, Ohio who do this (among others, I'm sure), and there's a shot of one of the trees in town in the link. The picture to the left is from Flickr, by kelly__m.

From there I also found a link to Knitta:

Knitta began in August 2005, when the soon-to-be-Knittas were discussing their frustration over unfinished knitting projects: half-knitted sweaters and balls of yarn gathering dust. That afternoon, they knit their first door handle. Then it dawned on them… a tag crew of knitters, bombing the inner city with vibrant, stitched works of art, wrapped around everything from beer bottles on easy nights to public monuments and utility poles on more ambitious outings. With a mix of clandestine moves and gangsta rap — Knitta was born! Today, Knitta is a group of ladies of all ages, nationalities, and… gender.

Where to start...? There has to be a group around the Boston (or Southern NH) area for this. If anyone can find information on it, please let me know. I'm not sure how much I could contribute, but I'm willing to try.

After my last post about the beard hat, I realized that I didn't explain how I would go about getting one of these hats without forking out $135 for one.

About a year and a half ago, I started learning how to knit. For the one person out there who doesn't know, read up on knitting on Wikipedia (actually, there's some good stuff even if you *do* know about knitting). I had wanted to learn how for a while, and my mother-in-law taught me over vacation. She let me borrow some needles and bought me some "starter" yarn - now I have a few pairs of needles and some yarn of my own, but I would love to get a set of circular needles like the picture here.

So far the only "real" things I've made are a hat and a small scarf (pictures coming soon). The hat was made from a pattern (update: I found it), and was done up on size 8 US straight needles. It was going to be for my wife (K), but ended up being for my son. There's another hat in the works that'll be for K, and it should be done soon.

Next steps to getting that sweet, sweet hat going:

• Figure out the pattern (gonna get some help on that one)
• Get the right needles (circulars or straights?), probably around size 10 US
• Get some good yarn. I've seen some that would be perfect for it, but I have to find it again.

There's a ton of resources if you want to know how to knit, including geeky patterns, like the klein bottle hat and the DNA hat (the link I had is broken). You could ask me too, but I'm still pretty close to "just starting" as far as experience goes.

File this one under, "Projects to make sooner than later."

While reading about the Skeletoque on Instructables (check it out), I found a link to boingboing that pointed to this:

Woolen cap gives wearer fake beard

(pic credit) Since I already have a beard (for now, anyway), it would only be a little entertaining on me. On the other hand, I could try to make one, as long as I can figure out a pattern... which is better than spending the $135 they're asking for one.

The possibilities are endless... and it would be funny on pretty much anyone I know, including my 1-year-old son or my 6-year-old daughter. There are comments on the articles asking for a pattern, but nobody has it quite done yet...