Currently I’m trying to refurb a French M74/80 Gras rifle.
It looked horrible when I first got it but it seems to be cleaning up nicely, especially the bore.
Currently I’m trying to refurb a French M74/80 Gras rifle.
It looked horrible when I first got it but it seems to be cleaning up nicely, especially the bore.
A biography of Vernon and Irene Castle. I’m hoping to get the research pretty much wrapped up by the end of the summer, then settle down to writing. I’ll try to get the manuscript to the publisher by a year from now, for late '06/early /07 publication.
Two story addition on my house. The first floor is going to be our new entry way on one side - mechanical room, laundry room on the other.
Second floor is going to be an addition to our bedroom or an office or something. Not really sure.
It’s dried in at this point, And I had the electric meter and breaker box moved. I have a lot of the plumbing done but still have a long way to go. I put in infloor heat for the first time ever, and am still puzzling it out.
After this is done, I’m going to completely re-do the downstairs bathroom. I’m going to move the door from one wall to another, enlarge it, move the tub etc.
Then it’s on to the kitchen.
I’ll be done just in time to re-model again.
I’ve put down my cross-stitch for a while (although I need to finish in time for the fair!) to immerse myself in temari, which has been fun - my mom and I took a class. Eventually I mean to do something about the Well of Lost Projects in my room - a half quilted quilt, a barely begun beautiful canvaswork Christmas stocking, half-knitted ugly scarf, bobbin lace I always meant to start, and oh yeah I keep meaning to learn how to tat…
Yes, I have a craft problem. Should I mention the only one of these I’m any good at is the cross-stitch and assorted other embroidery? My quilting would make a cat laugh.
I am currently writing a spec script for “Deadwood”. The dialogue is easy for me its coming up with multi-layered stories to propel a full hour of television that is hard.
My sketch comedy troupe is floundering but I am still working on refining the sketches for the first show… whenever that is. Currently writing the “Handsome Baby” sketch.
I customize action figures as well. I am currently making North Korean forces from the Mercenaries video game in GI JOE 3 3/4 scale. Just finished an RPG trooper and a NK Elite Forces member.
To keep myself busy and somewhat sane, I’m writing a group of Unreal Tournament 2004 map levels. I’m using online tutorials to learn how to do each step, a little at a time. So far, I have a level based on the Battle of the Bulge, another set in Tamboura Caldera, another built around a large suspension bridge, and one based very loosely on Battlestar Galactica.
I’ve had to learn seveal other applications to create other content for the games, so I’ve been downloading freeware and shareware from the appropriate sources:
GIMP- Almost as good as Photoshop, a free photo manipulator with a lot of capabilities. I’m learning how to make model skins.
Wings 3D- free 3D modelmaker, a good training tool for making models like buildings, terrains, monsters, and player figures.
Terragen- Makes greyscale heightmaps which can be used for terrain, and it also can be used to make detailed backgrounds and scenery.
Maya- an advanced 3D editor that came with 2004 (personal learning mode) that improves on Wings.
We’ll see if the projects make anything worthwhile. At the very least I can play the levels myself.
Currenly in the planning stage of building an upright arcade cabinet with all manner of emulators.
Knitting #1: I’m making a very basic top-down raglan for my friend in slightly fuzzy black acrylic worsted. I just bound off the bottom, and now I get to start on sleevies!
Knitting #2: I’m in the early stages of designing the Harajuku cardigan. (Bottom left.) I need a good book on lace stitches, esp. how to chart them, if anyone can recommend one.
Knitting #3: I’m going to make a washcloth using an “illusion” technique I saw on Knitty Gritty on the DIY network. (I’ve also seen a book of what seems to be the same technique called “shadow knitting.” 'Cause, ya know, I need to have more washcloths laying around.
Other #1: I have to make up two new Amber characters, since our current campaign is ending, and there will be an “interim” campaign over the summer, then a new long-running campaign beginning in the fall.
Other #2: I’m cutting up flannel shirts to make a quilt.
Currently in the process of ripping out the insides of an old defibrillator to fit a computer inside. I’ve got all the electronics out (and have for a while) and I am on the process of dremelling out all the little pieces of plastic that cannot be there. It has been put on hold till I am done moving (thuis saturday.) Once i move, I should be albe to finish up cleaning out the inside, sand and paint the outside, and then…who knows. I need to plan it out more, so far all I have is the color scheme and a couple ideas of what to put it, jsut not where.
Screenplay about a musician coping with the way his life changes when he’s stricken with Parkinson’s Disease.
And another about infidelity.
And another that’s part Mystery Men, part This Is Spinal Tap, and part How to Be a Superhero. That’s the one I’m most excited about.
That is awesome. So many outfits from that period end up so dark and dreary; it’s nice seeing something light.
For my projects, I’ve got a Honey Weizen in secondary which I’ll probably bottle in a week or two, then I’ll be starting a Belgian Ale for the fall. I also have a desk disassembled in my basement, partially stripped prior to sanding, staining, varathaning & reassembling. Just waiting for the weather to get to the point where I can leave the basement doors open to the outside…
Right now I am working on a peyote stitch beaded wrap for a pen in purple with pink breast cancer ribbons for my mom. I’m not sure I like the way it’s coming out, though, but it has given me lots of ideas for more wraps in different patterns. Not enough contrast between the background and the ribbons. I am also doing some peyote stitch amulet bags with lots of finge that are fun. A friend of mine is going to try to sell them for me at a Pagan event at the end of the month.
I have a cross stitch project sitting by my couch at home that I haven’t touched in weeks since the bead bug bit. I also have a petit point project at work that I haven’t touched for the same reason.
I took a quilt block class on making seven pointed star blocks, but haven’t done anything with what I learned yet.
So mostly I am doing beadwork right now. Like one of the earlier posters mentioned, I go through cycles and have many projects just lying around waiting for me to get back to them.
Currently working on knitting two scarves and my Bachelor’s degree. Unfortunately while working two, so not much time for the scarves.
All you need to do is write the word “cocksucker” a thousand times and you’ve got yourself a script!"
Knitting the everlasting scarf (from the atypically.net Harry Potter Scarf pattern) for Ardred.
Practicing cables with some leftover yarn.
Brainstorming ideas for an animation project (stop-motion) in the “dark and creepy” genre. Think: TOOL videos.
I just painted my kitchen. I have this very nondescript window, and I want to create a mosaic around it. I’m a little nervous about whether or not I’ll like it, so I decided to make a false frame around the window. That way, if I hate it, I’m not stuck with a horrid piece of crap on my wall forever.
I found a great book with all kinds of design tips and ideas. The tesserae (tiles) are going to be fairly small…probably only 1/4" or so, so it ought to be pretty awesome when it’s done. I’m also thinking of doing it on this little round table my son made for me.
I am currently knitting the Ugliest Blanket Ever ™. I have six horrendously-colored squares finished, and hope to have it finished by the time it gets cold enough to need a blanket.
I have five or six unfinished dreamcatchers (made with embroidery hoops and thread) that I can’t finish until I find a place to put them where the cat won’t eat the feathers.
My bedroom closet is about seven-eighths completely cleaned out. The hall closet is next.
I’ve got about seven or eight unpainted (or partially painted) wooden boxes that I have to finish–each is meant for a specific person, and it takes some thinking about how to paint them.
And finally, I’m slaving over a hot stove, making sets of altar candles to sell at Pagan Pride Day in August. Litha and Mabon down, Samhein in progress. I think I’ll do Yule next.
Ah, I’m flattered. I’ll send you an email with the tentative dates. They’re all in August, so keep an eye out for a short girl wearing an orangey-pink gown with celery colored sleeves and a wildly clashing forepart.
It’s going to rock. My goal is to be an Elizabethan fashion victim and to use those colors that you read about, but nobody ever uses. If I can incorporate “dead Spaniard,” “lustie-gallant,” and “gingerline” into the outfit somewhere, my dream will be complete. If I end up looking like a peacock, all the better.
I don’t have a book recommendation, but are you contemplating submitting the cardigan pattern to a knitting magazine or something like that? I’d love to get my hands on that pattern. There could be a Doper knit-along in it, I think.
The number of knitters on this board warms the cockles of my little knitty heart.
Front-burner, project-wise, is a Darth Vader costume that I intend to wear to opening night of Revenge of the Sith. The helmet and mask are done, and the cape nearly so (I just have to hem the bottom), and I have a pair of black gloves. The lightsabre has been “almost done” for a few years now, and I still need to make the chestpiece and belt pieces (I’ll probably tackle those this evening).
For the next decade or so, I’ll be carving my Lord of the Rings chess set. Since I last updated that webpage, I’ve finished Minas Tirith and the Balrog, and am currently working on Arwen. Next after that will probably be the knights (Eomer, Eowyn, and a couple of Nazguls).
And in the not-too-distant future, I’ll be making my next Halloween costume. Much of that, though, will have to wait until I’m home visiting Mom, since I don’t have a sewing machine and am not to great at using one anyway.
Oh, and there’s also that little Ph. D thing, but that’s incidental
Converting my website to use WordPress instead of my half-assed home-grown attempt at a weblog, which has been stagnating for over a year now.
Getting all my travelogue pictures from Japan & Ireland up onto to the website using ComicLife, which looks pretty damn cool.
Writing a solitaire program for Mac OS X for my friend Rain. (To learn how to program in Cocoa).
Writing a Kanji-a-day widget for the new OS X Dashboard.
Learning how to program for OpenGL on the Mac to do a Kanji-a-day screensaver.
Writing up a strategy card game idea I’ve had for years now in either Flash or Java to distribute over the web.
And someday, I’m going to make good on my plan to make an electronica version of Aaron Copland’s Rodeo: Hoedown and Appalachian Spring.