KymPossible's Mission Journal

What happens in Vegas...

doesn't really stay in Vegas.  Though that would be pretty amusing, if there were a law enacted that required that any non-criminal act that happened within the city limits could never be spoken of outside of the city limits and couldn't follow you home in any way.  The city would be even more popular!  Imagine the entertainment you could have just people watching!

This is going to be my sixth Black Hat Vegas and second Defcon.  I'm excited to go and hear the (good) talks, do some professional networking, catch up with friends, sneak some time at the pool, and get to dance at the inevitable vendor receptions.  Since my job changed last year my involvement and role at conferences is extremely different than it once was.  Now I'm just another conference attendee, no responsibility for any of the events at the con, so folks probably won't see as much of me as they used to.  The freedom is kind of cool actually, but I'm still on the clock.  :)

Math is hard. Let's go yarn shopping.

That's right, I'm that big a nerd that I striped a scarf using the Fibonacci sequence of numbers.  I have some extra yarn left-over from that project, I'm going to make a matching hat or fingerless gloves to go with it.  Next striped scarf I knit I think will be striped in prime numbers.

 

This project took far more yarn than I expected when I started it in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for $9 a ball.  I don't think I can reasonably price the scarf for sale on Knytz, though I will write up and sell the pattern for a $3 bucks to anyone who wants to save themselves the trouble of calculating it all out themselves.  I didn't buy enough yarn to complete it because I vastly underestimated how much it would take, and had to go back to the little yarn shop I got it from (which believe me, was challenging, it wasn't a local shop) not just once but twice to get more yarn of the same dyelots.

 

Here is a low quality iPhone photo of the scarf until I can get some better ones with my D70...  IRL its really pretty apple green (502) and chocolate brown (008).

 

 

Fibonacci_scarf

 

Step One

My name is KymPossible, and I am a yarn addict.

My_yarn_stash

This is my yarn stash in my garage, roughly 95% of my total yarn hoard.  For reference, the shelving unit holding my yarn is 6'x6', and 16" deep (and yes, those cubbies are filled back to front).  I have even more yarn in the house because I have several WIP's (works in progress, for those of my readers not hip to knitta lingo) in the knitting basket by my reading corner.  At this point I avoid yarn and craft stores entirely because

1. I recognize I have a problem restraining myself from buying more yarn if it is pretty/feels nice/is on sale/I get excited about a new project and

2. I have enough yarn already to knit for a year probably.  In my stash I've got cotton, wool, cashmere, silk, mohair, alpaca, bamboo, chenille, acrylic, hand dyed sock yarn from the Yarn Pirate, baby yarns, sock yarns, bulky yarns...  you name it.  I cannot knit fast enough to catch up on all the projects I have queued up.

 

That said, I have managed to finish a couple projects recently.  The Transformers washcloth (ok, a small project, but still, I finished it!) a few Zune and iPhone socks, and the subject of my next blogpost, the Fibonacci Scarf. 

 

framing Blue Sun Travel Posters

Sihnon

If you have Blue Sun travel posters, you might be muttering under your breath about the kwong-juh duh purplebellies who decided to make them 17x22 inches...  Because as we all know, there are no standard off the rack frames that size, they are either 16x20 or 18x24. 

 

Until now.

 

Aaron Brothers has a collage frame which holds a mat designed for nine 6x4” photos.  Take out the collage mat, and the frame is 17x22”!  The posters fit perfectly! 

 

To make things even better, through this Sunday they are having a buy one frame get the second for a penny deal.  The frames come in black, brown, and white, but if they don’t have the color you want they will special order them for you at the sale price. 

 

Product: 0001081488 (black) price: $27.99.  With the sale, I was able to frame all five posters for under $100.  I'd walked in expecting to pay $700+ for custom framing.  Shiny!

 

 

apparently, being from somewhere friendly is helpful

Last week while on vacation I did some shopping and wanted to ship a box home (no room in the luggage!)  The guy at the shipping place was pretty unhelpful and abrupt, not sure how much of that, if any, had to do with cultural or language issues since he had a fairly strong foreign accent.  Anyway, I had to practically force him to give me a price comparison between ground and express shipping, and he talked to me like I was an idiot.  Ground was $21 and express 3 day $66, so I started filling out the ground paperwork.  I put my name and address in the sender and receiver boxes, and he asked if I was sending a package to my mother.  Uhhh, what?  Anyway, I said no, I was sending a package to myself because I'd done some shopping while on vacation.  His whole attitude changes.  He starts talking about a woman he knows in my home state, what a nice person she is... Then tells me to fill out the express form instead. He calls someone while I do paperwork, and tells me he is giving me his discount price.  I assume for 3-day still. No, while I make random smalltalk with his friend about the town they're from and the weather here vs there (yeah, shipping guy had me talk to his friend on his phone.  Totally weird), shipping guy sends my package overnight for under $30.

Knit last week

Elle sent me this link, and I had to make one...  It whipped up pretty quickly.  If you try it, the original blog the pattern was on has an error on line 25 (at least it did when I copied the pattern), it should be:MB4, K3, P5, K5, P1, K2, P3, K2, P1, K5, P5, K3, MB4.

 

this is right after I finished knitting it, once it is washed once it should lay nicely flat and not ripple at the sides...  I think.

 

Tf1