Posted by Deirdre
Fri, 17 Nov 2006 19:24:00 GMT
A friend asked the other day what to use on wool, knowing my dislike of Woolite.
Simple answer: wool is hair. Use shampoo. Might as well use the same shampoo you use on your own hair: one fewer bottle to have hanging around the house.
I use a sulfate-free shampoo that's designed for dyed hair, as I figure that's about as ideal as one can get, but any shampoo that makes your hair look nice will work fine.
More complicated answer: sometimes wool garments say to dry clean because of sizing or dye. Most dyes these days are colorfast, but it's worth trying a small handwash somewhere inconspicuous before dunking the whole thing in water. Garments lined in acetate are likely dry clean only due to the lining (or interfacings) rather than the wool per se.
Wash wool in warm water (about the same temp you'd shower in) and do not agitate it (because if you do, you'll create felt and it'll shrink).
Lay flat to dry.
Not so hard, really.
Posted in Notes | no comments
Posted by Deirdre
Sun, 24 Sep 2006 13:58:00 GMT
Or, "Migrating a blog is always more painful than you think."
I hope you can see this. If all goes well, this blog has been migrated from WordPress to Typo, running Ruby on Rails over Lighttpd. I've seen a few feed hits coming through, but I'll check when I wake up (yes, it's almost 7 a.m. and I haven't been to sleep yet...)
I've broken a lot of links, and I'm starting to go through them, so if there's something you don't see, realize that I am putting everything back together and it'll take just a tidge of time, especially to get the redirects for the old permalinks up.
I'm changing the categories to be broader and instead going with more of a tag approach, as I think that offers finer granularity with less long-term hassle.
Posted in Notes, Ruby on Rails | Tags rubyonrails, typo | no comments
Posted by deirdre
Thu, 03 Aug 2006 16:03:00 GMT
This is a pent-up rant that's been waiting for a while, but bear with me.
Last time I had to contact our state government's Employment Development Department by phone, I had to "Press 1 for English."
Now, really, does that make any sense at all? Shouldn't English be the default? Especially when there's separate phone numbers for other languages?
I mean, it might be A Clue that if you don't happen to speak English and you call the English phone line, maybe you should press 1 and get some message like, "Well, maybe if you learned English (or one of the other supported languages), you might not be unemployed."
Your tax dollars at work, making the UI harder for everyone.
I'm reminded, as an aside, of Nick Moffitt's response when being panhandled, "I'm sorry, but I don't speak a word of English." Still makes me laugh.
Posted in Notes | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by deirdre
Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:20:54 GMT
Going to be going to Northwest Woodworking School for a week for a class. I'm really looking forward to studying for a week with Brian Boggs. Traditional chairmaking is still very much in vogue, and I'll be interested to see How Things Are Done.
Posted in Notes | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by deirdre
Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:48:13 GMT
I'm writing about my annual thought-experiment, so that some of you can play. I'm posting early so that the Canadians can also play on Canada Day.
Given the recent near-pass on the anti-flag-burning law, I'd like to propose the following: if you happen to see anyone wearing a flag or "USA" or anything like that over the next few days -- ask them where said garment or accessory was made. (In my experience, they don't know. I've never seen one actually worn that was made in the US, fwiw.)
Personally, I'm far more tired of people wearing "patriotic" gear made in some sweatshop in a third world country than I ever could be of people burning the flag. It's faux national pride, and I think it's time we called attention to it.
Posted in Notes | 2 comments | no trackbacks
Posted by deirdre
Fri, 09 Jun 2006 17:58:56 GMT
Well, Woodworking Online is a blog about Woodworking, and the WoodNet forum thread of the week happens to be the one I started about issues with the wooden plane I made.
Posted in Notes | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by deirdre
Fri, 09 Jun 2006 17:36:30 GMT
Yesterday, I went up to the city to spend time at Geoffrey Grosenbach's Rails workshop, offered by Carson Workshops. While I was already better-versed in Rails than most anyone there, there's always things you pick up from other people, and it was an excellent recharger for the mental batteries.
I highly recommend anyone new to Rails go to the workshop when possible.
Posted in Notes, Ruby on Rails | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by deirdre
Sun, 21 May 2006 23:04:36 GMT
Been fighting one off for nearly a week. Need more sleep.
Posted in Notes | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by deirdre
Mon, 15 May 2006 01:24:03 GMT
I was working on a shaker oval box this weekend when the work slipped, and the knife I was using to define the swallowtails turned, cutting a 3/4" gash on my left index finger.
I'm very fortunate: one of the guys drove me to the ER (thanks Tom), and I'll be able to finish my boxes another day (thanks John). Surgeon says I only cut the skin and nothing critical, so five stitches later, I was ready to go home.
I've got a splint until Tuesday, which has halved my typing speed, but the splint will keep the wound from opening back up (the injury's pretty close to a joint).
I blame it all on still being exhausted from the move and less aware than I could have been. I thought I was safe, but I was wrong.
Posted in Notes | no comments | no trackbacks
Posted by deirdre
Fri, 12 May 2006 14:25:48 GMT
1) Colored packing tape to color-code various rooms. Way easier to see than reading some scribble that may not be legible. Obviously, this may be less useful if you have color blindness.
2) If you have a lot of books, actually buy some boxes of the same size. They will pack much tighter until you unpack them.
3) A suitcase with essentials for a day or two is a wonderful thing. Even though you know where your underwear is, it may not be accessible.
4) Don't expect to keep track of anything. If it's important, pack it in a given place and move it first (then don't put anything in front of that place).
5) Exhaustion is a fact of life, so plan for some post-move downtime. Every one of us has been physically stretched to our endurance limits. I managed to wrench my good hip.
Posted in Notes | no comments | no trackbacks
