Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Episode 18: EasterCon Wrap up.

In this week's episode, Espana wraps up EasterCon, and Jade talks about leatherworking.

Come & give a listen!

(Click to listen! Uses Flash)


Events
  • Maker’s Faire May 18-20, San Mateo Event Center, San Mateo CA

  • World Maker Faire New York, Sept. 29 & 30, 2012, New York Hall of Science, Queens NY

  • Conference of Northern California Handweavers-- at the Oakland Marriot May 18-20
    • http://www.cnch.org/

Topics

Fibery Arts

Jade
  • Still working on the Chic Knits basic hoodie pattern. She's on the ribbing portion of the sweater.
  • She found her PopCorn knitting via a skinny scarf with her handspun, Stained Glass. It took over all of her knitting until she was finished. 
  •  Put aside her SPAKAL spinning as she is working on her costume for Clockwork Alchemy

Sandy
  • Freezing my butt off in the office, so an emergency shawl is in order, over and above the lace shawl I’m searching for. Enter the Wool Peddler’s Shawl by Cheryl Oberle, from her book, Folk Shawls. Knitting it in Araucania Atacama alpaca yarn, a light worsted in turquoise, with flecks of black and brown. Doing it in stockinette rather than garter stitch for the body, started with a garter tab for the cast on (thanks, Westknits!). Garter tab tutorial! 
  • Finished the second front of the Ribby Cardi. Yay!
  • Recipient of blankie has reviewed the squares-- we started joining last night! We are doing a crochet join-- alternating scs and ch1, skipping alternate spaces. A nice, elastic join.
  • New project to cast on for: Afghans for Afghans is starting their summer campaign for knits to be sent to kids and adults. This time, they want hats, socks and mittens only. Details here.

Make it Sew

Jade is still working on her Steampunk Mulan, which has morphed a bit from the original baseline. Legs flat
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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Episode 17: Mogwai Projects

In this week's episode, we are still missing Espana, but Sandy & Jade geek out about fitness, then talk about project gremlins. Come & give a listen!



(Click to listen! Uses Flash)


Events
  • Maker’s Faire May 18-20, San Mateo Event Center, San Mateo CA

  • World Maker Faire New York, Sept. 29 & 30, 2012, New York Hall of Science, Queens NY

  • Conference of Northern California Handweavers-- at the Oakland Marriot May 18-20
    • http://www.cnch.org/

Women in Gaming

For those of you who game online, we have a video that should be of interest, especially if you’re female or know female gamer -- it deals with sexual harassment and how women deal with the “predominately” male audience (although we know that the statistics for that don’t play out). This is a more in-depth discussion that we’ll get to once Espana returns, but we felt that this video was worth sharing now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrLp_bArz3Q N00dz or GTFO panel discussion at PAXEast

Geeks and Fitness!


Sandy & Jade talk about geeks & fitness. Check out Fitocracy to help make fitness more fun.
http://www.fitocracy.com/

Making, Crafting, and DIY

FIBERY GOODNESS!


The girls talk about how not to turn your seemingly harmless project (a Mogwai) into something that will wreck havoc with your crafting life (gremlins) especially, if you start it after midnight (when you're tired)







  • Jade
    • Finished the pair of generic vanilla sock
    • Started on a new sweater -- the Chic Knits basic hoodie pattern. 
    • Still spinning for the Knitmore girls SPAKAL and has 3 ounces of Gretta spun up
    • Almost had a project turn from Mogwai into a gremlin!
 
  • Sandy
    • Ribby Cardi is going great!
    • Blanket Squares for our friend are completed
    • Looking for the Ultimate Shawl


Completed Squares

 Beading

Jade went to the Bead Society of Northern California  bead show at the Oakland Marriot with about 120 vendors and artisans.
 

Costuming

Jade is still plugging away at the leather parts for her costume. While sewing with a leather awl, the project bit her, and she bled a little bit over the leather. But most costumers don’t consider it done until you’ve bled over it! 


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    Sunday, April 15, 2012

    Episode 16: Women SF/F Authors

    In this week's episode, we finish up Womens' History Month with women SF/F authors.

    Come & give a listen!
    (Click to listen! Uses Flash)




    Women Authors in SF/F

    Sandy & Jade discuss only a few of the women authors in SF/F

    Craft & Make 

    In the 2nd half of the show, we catch up on some Fiber Arts & Costuming.

    Fiber Arts


    • Sandy
      • Finished Hobbes! The baby boy LOVES his new buddy and takes him for time machine rides. 
      • Knitting the Ribby Cardif for a friend
      • SC around the squares for the blanket



    Costuming

    Jade is currently doing some leatherworking for a Steampunk Disney Mulan outfit

    Scales

    • Jade
      • Creating granny squares
      • FINALLY finished the Frank sweater.
      • Finished another sweater, Abalone
        • Abalone 2
      • Working on a generic vanilla sock 
      • Spinning up:
        • Frabjous Fibers
        • Knitmore Girls SPAKAL
        • Plying up Gretta
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    Sunday, March 25, 2012

    Episode 15: Women's History Month

    In this week's episode, we talk about Womens' History Month and catch up on the projects we've been working on since we last podcasted.

    Come & give a listen!

    (Click to listen! Uses Flash)


    SF/F Events:



    Womens' History Month


    For more information about Womens' History Month, please visit:
    http://womenshistorymonth.gov/

    España talks about one of her new favorite podasts: "Stuff You Missed in History Class" from the 'How Stuff Works' series of podcasts. It's hosted by two women (Deblina Chakraborty, Sarah Dowdey) who give you tidbits of history that are fascinating, which would have made history a lot more interesting in school

    http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/category/stuff-you-missed-in-history-class/

    Jade & Sandy talk about two very interesting historical figures
    (We lost España during the middle of the podcast due to technical difficulties.)

    Making & Crafting


    Sandy's DIY:


    Jade's Knitting
    IMG_0652
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      Saturday, March 3, 2012

      Episode 14: Stitching Up Gallifrey

      In this week's episode, we talk about our experiences at Gallifrey One & Stitches West, including pre-recorded audio from those two conventions.

      Come & give a listen!

      (Click to listen! Uses Flash)


      Gallifrey One

      España & Jade spend 3 days at Gallifrey One, the Doctor Who convention, and recorded audio each day they were there, giving a recap of the days' events*. You can find out more about Gallifrey One at: http://www.gallifreyone.com/


      The 8th Doctor's Tardis Console


      For more information about the kickstarter program España mentioned in the podcast, please visit: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1878253293/inspector-spacetime-the-webseries

      If you want to see a nifty video of this year's Gallifrey One:



      Stitches West

      Sandy & Jade visit Stitches West and talk about what they saw, what they bought, and how the whole Stitches day went*. For more information about Stitches West and other Stitches event, please visit: http://www.knittinguniverse.com/

      Yarn Golem from Stitches West 2012
      The Lion Brand Yarn Man


      * Note: Audio quality for each of the pre-recorded parts might not be 100%, so we apologize in advance for any sound issues.
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      Saturday, February 11, 2012

      Episode 13: Female Tropes in SF/F Movies & T.V

      In this week's episode, we talk about female tropes in SF/F movies & t.v, then move onto a bit of making & crafting as Jade & España get ready for Gallifrey

      Come & give a listen!
      (Click to listen! Uses Flash)


      Part 1: Conversations

      Events:

      Geeky Topics
      In the first half of today's episode, we talk about female tropes in the science fiction and fantasy within the t.v. & movies media.

      We hit shows from Star Trek to Firefly to Fringe to the Avengers and to Doctor Who (naturally), and then some.

      Part II: Make Section

      Sandy is:
      • still knitting socks for her husband using KnitPicks Felici in the Time Traveller colorway
      • Needs to re-do her Fellowship sweater sleeves as it has Crystal  Carrington sleeves.

      España:
      • Working feverishly on her costume for Gallifrey, and should be done in time!

      Jade is currently working on the following things
      • Amused from Knitty 2008 -- pull over cable sweater using merino, cashmere, alpaca
      • A Design for Tardis fingerless mitts. She's finished with the first one and is knitting the second one with a few tweaks
      • FOs:
        • EZ tam/beret with Koolhaus cable (Jared Flood)
        • grey, green striped hat
        • hat for her coach
      • weaving:
        • Finished a Hawaiian Tartan
        • her first handspun scarf, using a Merino, Bamboo, Firestar handspun called “Black Hills Gold”
          • Hawaiian Tartan2 IMG_0650
      • spinning
        • Gretta -- a corriedale merino fleece
        • Teeswater roving
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      Tuesday, January 24, 2012

      Episode 12: Sandy's Back

      In this episode, Sandy's well enough to join us for another episode. So, we blathered on for a little bit longer than our usual episodes.

      Come & give a listen!
      (Click to listen. Uses Flash)



      Part 1: Geek Conversations

      Espana is working the SF Examiner as a writer.
      http://www.examiner.com/user-espana

      She currently reviews the Custom Made Theatre’s production of Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother. http://www.custommade.org/

      Books:
      • Jade just finished One Con Glory that Espana reviewed. It’s a really quick read and she REALLY enjoyed it.
      • Sandy: Reading the following:
        • Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. 
        • The Well of Ascension, 
        • The Hero of Ages. 
        • Readers who are fans of Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora might also like the first book of this series, that has a very caper-like plot to take down the bad guy.
        • Catherynne M. Valente’s Deathless. Slavic folklore combined with Soviet revolution. Far better than Palimpsest, for which she was Hugo nominated in 2010.
      • Espana
        • Ken Liu
        • Reading a lot of short stories to see about nominations for Hugos.

      TV Shows

      • Sandy: Anime: Full Metal Alchemist, available on Hulu in its entirety, both tv seasons and the movie
      • Espana: Fringe, Supernatural, Sherlock, and Community; ‘Remedial Chaos Theory’, UFO
      • Jade: Finished re-waching ST: Voyager, Doctor Who Christmas Special, and now re-watching some of Angel.

      Part 2: Geek Crafting

      Knitting:
      • Jade:
        • Finished a tam out of some left over yarn -- using a combination of Elizabeth Zimmerman (tam o’shanter hat) and the Koolhas cables by Jared Flood
        • Still working on Amused from Knitty 2008 (using a cashmere / merino blend)
      • Sandy: 
        • Halfway done on the Hobbes amigurumi: really quick and easy, cute as can be
        • drafted up a plain sock for jer husband, using math and Felici in Time traveler, size 1 (2.25 mm needles) 11 inch feet, 10.75 ankles, holy moly!
      Spinning & Weaving

      • Jade: 
        • Finally finished spinning enough yarn for sleeves on my “Everyone Knows” sweater. It’s washed, fulled, and thwacked
        • weaving-wise:
          • black & acid green houndstooth scarf
          • blue, black, and light blue trial plaid piece of fabric that was sewn into a bag for the rigid heddles
          • Working on a Hawaiian plaid tartan scarf/sash that I can wear to the highland games.
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