I’m working on a much more interesting and much larger post – on my recent trip to Chicago, no less, and about music nerdery – but until that’s all ready, I’ve got a tiny little tidbit for those of you who love hearing about my scooter (or who’re just curious about her). I’ve started up a little Blogger blog, Go Scooterlou!, that focuses on stories about my scooter, pictures of her and other little Honda Metropolitans I encounter, and other scooter-related stuff.
Second Doctor Who Scarf!
Well, it only took me six months to do it this time – I finished my second Doctor Who scarf!
The scarf turned out pretty well, although there were a couple of hiccups along the way while making it, including…
- It turns out I used the wrong size needles. for some reason I figured that I’d be using the same size needles as I used for Bryan’s scarf, but nope. I was wrong. I needed a size 9 needle – and used a size 6, and didn’t realized I was using the wrong needles until I was about five rows away from done. Not even kidding. Being a bit of a perfectionist, I may try to make a new one in the correct size… is that crazy?
- Crocheting the edge was a bit tough, especially on the side that had all the color changes. The pattern didn’t exactly explain how to do it (“slip stitch crochet on right side only” is not quite enough detail – where the heck am I supposed to put that slip stitch?). I ended up just single-crocheting around the edge on the right side – it made the edge a little more obvious, which I was fine with, but I don’t know as it’s entirely show-accurate… The worst part was trying to wedge my crochet hook through the color changes – that side’s a bit messy because of that. It’s not horrible, but when it comes to my craft projects, I’m a bit of a perfectionist.
- I am really sick of doctorwhoscarf.com changing their patterns every year! This happened when I was working on Bryan’s scarf, and it happened this time too – I inevitably lose the pattern somewhere, and then go to look it up online, and it’s completely different. While the change wasn’t so drastic with Bry’s scarf (it went from just a list of colors and rows to a graphical pattern), the change on my scarf was much harder to deal with – the maintainer of the patterns switched from counting each rib as a row, and listing the amount of ribs on each color span, to counting each individual row and therefore doubling the amount of “rows” in each span of color. It really threw me off, especially when I did my counting. Next time I do a scarf, I’m going to get in the habit of printing out a couple of copies and sticking the extras to my bulletin board, so I don’t have to switch to reading a pattern in a different format.
Aside from these issues, making the scarf was fun, and it kept me occupied during many long chilly nights of TV watching and gave me something to do while sitting through family gatherings and classes. I’m kind of sad that I’m done with it… and I’m considering taking on the task of making scarves for friends, should they want one. I’m starting to question my sanity, with that last bit, haha, but there’s nothing so soothing as knitting a nice, long, Doctor Who scarf!
Music and Scooters: Yes, they do mix. Carefully.
So, when most people think of scooter riding, they don’t usually think “wow, having some music would make this ride even better!” Most people don’t generally think of convoluted ways to add speakers to their scooter, either. (I mean, come on, motorcycles have radios, how come Scooterlou didn’t come with one standard? Heheh.) Well, I guess you could say I’m not most people, heheh.
I will preface this with a little bit of explanation – I absolutely LOVE music. Almost as much as I love reading books. I try and find some way to work music into whatever I’m doing – I listen while I’m at work, while Bryan’s driving somewhere, while I’m cleaning the house, while I’m typing blog entries… In fact, I think I just managed to crash my PS3 by trying to see if the Google Play Music site would work on it. (Apparently not.) Music is just a part of who I am. And once I finally got over my general nervousness about riding Scooterlou, I thought, “There’s gotta be some way I can listen to music on this thing.”
My first attempt at making Scooterlou musical was a weatherproof speaker that ran on batteries, and connected to my phone through Bluetooth. There wasn’t really a good place to actually put the speaker, so I ended up resting it on the floor and bungee-cording it to my basket. I’d tested the speaker out in the house, and it got pretty loud, so I figured it’d work fine!
Boy, was I wrong. When Scooterlou’s engine gets going, she’s pretty darn loud – so loud that even when I had the speaker cranked up as loud as reasonably possible, I could barely hear it when idling, forget about while I was actually riding. It was a bummer – I spent a chunk of change on that speaker, and while it does come in handy in other situations (like when we’re giving the scooters baths, or when I’m in the shower, or if we ever go camping again), it’s not the best idea for scootering. I resigned myself to someday spending a ridiculous amount of money on a sound system for my little Honda Metropolitan… and then I came across this.
One of my new friends runs a scooter shop (it’s Wick’s Wheels, for any locals who are interested), and one day I was poking through the helmet selection when I stumbled upon this wonderful thing. It’s a helmet – with Bluetooth speakers and a mic. While I’d never ever be brave enough to answer the phone while riding my scooter, the fact that it can connect to my phone (which has a lovely unlimited data connection and can hook right up to my Google Play All-Access Music collection) was what sold me. MUSIC ON MY SCOOTER. It was finally going to happen in a safe way! YES. So, I bought it. And after having to return the first one because the port for the plug to charge said helmet was a little messed up in the first helmet, I found out this is exactly what I need. It doesn’t need to be loud enough for everyone on the road to hear it. I’m the only one who needs to listen to Daft Punk’s Get Lucky on repeat ninety million times. 😀
So yes, scooters and music can, and do, mix. Carefully. 🙂
Hooray! 42 likes on Facebook!
Yep, that’s right! The Crafty Nerd reached 42 likes (and a little bit beyond that) on the Facebook page today! I’m super excited about this. 42 is an awesome number, as all you nerds know. 🙂 If you haven’t checked out my Facebook page yet, why not do it now?
Beth’s Craft Picks of the Week – 6/7/13
I usually try to do these on Mondays, but better late than never, right? 😀
Anyhow! Here’s this week’s crafty picks – since I’ve gotten into playing some delightfully old video games this week, like Super Mario RPG (my favorite!), this week is going to be retro game themed!
Bitter Luigi Cross-Stitch Pattern
Ahh, Mario, always getting the girl… no wonder Luigi’s a little cranky here. Cross-stitch pattern found here, at Spritestitch. And there are tons more patterns there for your enjoyment!
Costuming: Beth’s Amazing Steampunk Outfit
Well, I’ve been meaning to make this post for quite some time – and now that I’ve actually got the time to do some photographs of the smaller details and put everything together, it’s time for me to actually put all this up! Have a look at what I’ve been calling the Amazing Steampunk Outfit!
Random Nerdy Adventures!
I know, I know, I’ve been neglecting the blog horribly over the past week. Blame Python. More accurately, blame three days of intense Python-learning for a class. I feel pretty darn nerdy, though, cramming so much Python into my brain in so short a time! And I just finished and submitted the final exam – while my brain is reeling from cramming so much code into it, I do feel rather accomplished. Plus, Python shares similar syntax to PHP, which I’ve been learning on my own,
So, in lieu of a rather involved post, I’m simply going to share some pictures from the past couple of days – expect a more exciting post when I get my brain back later this week!
First off, I found a TARDIS night light! I’m rather fond of it. It does a good job lighting the way from the bed to the bathroom in the middle of the night. And it’s the TARDIS.
My Nerdy Workspace
I’ve been pondering posting about this for a long time, and with my home office finally getting cleaned up over the weekend, I figured it might be a good time to show off my nerdy workspace. (I also sometimes refer to it as the nerdy girl-cave, heheh.) I will warn you now – my workspace is incredibly cluttered, and ridiculously pony-covered. Proceed with caution. 🙂
Here’s the view upon heading into my office. You can already tell it’s quite an eclectic nerd-splosion, from the Princess Peach backpack and change purse hanging on the doorknob to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash hanging out on the pillows on the bed.
Beth’s Craft Picks of the Week! – 5/13
Hello all! I’ve got another fresh batch of awesome craft projects for everyone! This week I’ll be focusing on cross-stitch projects I’ve found around the internet recently, so hopefully everyone’s got some Aida cloth and an embroidery hoop handy!
Wreck-It Ralph Bad Guy Affirmation
I featured this pattern a few weeks ago over at Geek Crafts, and figured it was definitely worth a mention here! I do love Wreck-It Ralph, after all, and I plan on making this pattern myself, framing it, and hanging it in my living room.
Recovering from the end of the semester
I know, I know, my hiatus has been about double what I thought it would be. I’ve been working on recovering from the end of the semester, as well as working my way out of a deep depression. Which is hard, but it happens. (The most recent post in Hyperbole and a Half describes my past few months perfectly.) But I’m finally on an upswing, and finally feeling somewhat rested and together enough to get back into posting.
While I spent time recovering from the spring semester…
- I had a ridiculously pony-themed birthday party. It was fun, and none of my friends seemed to care that everything was decorated in Pinkie Pie while we all gathered around to play Cards Against Humanity.
- I cleaned out my crafting closet, and got rid of some things I didn’t need anymore and pared down some stuff that I didn’t have quite enough room for.
- I took a two week break from crafting altogether, and only recently picked up my Doctor Who scarf. (I’m two thirds of the way done with it!)
- I watched a lot of television, and read nowhere near enough books. This needs to be changed.
And that’s what I’ve been up to. Expect some more regular posts next week that focus on all the good things – namely, nerdy things and crafty things! And nerdy crafts!