web-goddess

Category: Crafts

Craft projects of mine

  • Knitted Disruption

    Hey knitters! I’m working on a knitting + machine learning project and I need a collection of images of stockinette, garter, seed, and moss stitches. Images like these:

    If you’re willing to spend a few minutes helping, I’d be so grateful! Just email your images to [email address removed as the project is finished!]. You can attach multiple images at once if you like.

    They don’t have to be swatches; they can be closeups from finished articles. They don’t have to be perfectly straight or blocked or anything like that either. I’m looking for a wide variety, to be honest! Stripes and multiple colours are great! Even fairisle. I want to teach the model to disregard colour, so having photos with it is very helpful. Just no lace or cables or crochet… (yet).

    More details

    A few years back I gave a talk at several tech conferences about the overlap between knitting patterns and programming languages. As part of that, I talked a bit about KnitML (an old proposed standard for writing patterns in ways computers can understand) and how it could be used with special software to simulate knitted fabric. A few people asked me afterwards if it could go the other way – from a photo of knitting, can you reverse engineer the pattern?

    It got me thinking. I know that I can “read” knitting. I do it all the time, and I’m sure other knitters do too. So if I can do it, why not a computer? I’m also fortunate in that I work with some very smart Machine Learning experts and have access to run experiments in the Cloud cheaply. So I decided to give it a try.

    I’m starting with image classification. Think facial recognition for knitting swatches. Can I train a model to recognise the difference between stockinette, garter, moss, and seed stitch? The first step is gathering as much training data as I can, hence my request to you all!

    So the more the better. Different wools, different colours, different lighting, different angles. It’s all super useful!

    And I will definitely share the results back afterwards and thank all contributors. 🙂

  • Baratheon Pullover

    Baratheon PulloverThis jumper’s been a long time in the making. Way back in 2011 I was a contributor to the TON OF WOOL project and received a couple skeins of 10ply undyed Cormo wool in return. It sat in my stash for years. Then in late 2017 I happened to see Norah Gaughan’s Stag Head Pullover on the front page of Ravelry and fell in love. I didn’t have enough of the Cormo to make it, but Jody still had a full packet and kindly sold it to me. I originally aimed to put it in the 2018 Easter Show but didn’t manage to get it finished in time. It languished in the “incomplete” basket for the better part of a year before I picked it up and finished it just in time for this year’s Show.

    No ribbon, sadly, and no feedback from the judges either. Still, I’m very happy with it. Full details over on Ravelry…

  • What, doesn’t everyone knit super complicated intarsia in the airport lounge?! 😂

  • Making an Aloha Shirt

    As you’ve no doubt gathered, I recently finished a new shirt for the Snook. I decided that I’d document the whole process in a video.

    It’s not often I get to put my Film degree to use! I had a lot of fun playing with iMovie and editing this thing together. I hope you enjoy it as much as the Snook likes his new shirt!

  • He got me flowers and chocolate, and I made him a shirt. ❤️🍍

    Aloha Shirt

  • Photo Post

    Automatic buttonhole feet are an amazing feat of engineering, and using one makes me feel like a badass. #imakeclothes

  • Web-Goddess Oscar Contest 2019

    A month or so ago, Christopher commented on Facebook how much he missed my annual sock monkey Oscar Contest. I admitted that I’d thought of reviving it, but I hadn’t had any inspiration for a good monkey… and then it hit me! FREDDIE MONKCURY.

    Freddie Monkcury at Live Aid
    Freddie Monkcury at Live Aid

    I had a monkey mostly put together from a few years ago, so he took shape fairly quickly. I found a very basic pattern for doll pants in the right size and used material from an old pair of jeans. His “I Want to Break Free” outfit was a little harder. The “leather” for his skirt is actually polyurethane from a $5 bag I found at Kmart. His bouffant wig started out as sculptural felt that I then handsewed black chenille pipe cleaners onto. (I also fashioned a very basic vacuum cleaner too!)

    Application Architecture

    For the first 11 years, the Contest consisted of a custom PHP and MySQL application that I’d built. For this year, I decided to challenge myself to completely rebuild it on Amazon Web Services (which is where I work!). Here’s how the architecture ended up:

     

    Oscar Contest Application Architecture
    Oscar Contest application architecture

    As a starting point, I worked through this Web Application serverless workshop. I was already using Route53 to serve krishoward.org from S3, so I decided to put the Contest files there. Upon finishing the workshop, I had a working web app using Amazon Cognito for user authentication and a serverless backend consisting of an API Gateway-fronted Lambda function that writes data to DynamoDB.

    The next step was to customise it! After I changed the images and CSS to my own branding, the next thing to change was the data saved to the database – I changed it to a form with all the Oscar categories and nominees. Next, I wanted users to be able to review and update their votes, so I added another Lambda function that retrieves a logged-in user’s votes so the form can be populated correctly. I then added a third Lambda function that scans the complete database, processes the votes, and publishes an aggregate JSON file to S3. (This is triggered whenever the DynamoDB table is updated.) For actually displaying the prediction graphs, I used ChartJS.

    I think that covers everything! Many thanks to the Snook (my rubber duck and eternal programming mentor) as well as David, Jody, and Amy for their help with testing.

    I’m stupidly proud of this promo image.

  • Frocktober 2018 – Sewing Update 5

    When last I left off, you’ll recall I had assembled the bodice and front skirt of my Hawaiian dress. Since then, I’ve snatched bits and pieces of sewing time whenever I’m able. I was soon able to finish off the complete outer shell and try it on.

    Fitting

    I discovered quite a bit of fabric pooling at my lower back. (Note to self: I think I need to start doing swayback adjustments going forward.) I had the Snook help me by pinning out the excess. I was able to then undo the seam and move it to remove the extra fabric. Then I made a note of the measurements so I could do the same on the lining pieces.

    Oh right, the lining. Then I basically had to recreate the entire dress again. I had to cut out all the pieces on the bias, hang them, press them, and assemble the dress. Here’s the bodice in progress.

    I also sewed together a neck facing out of my outer fabric. This was then pinned on top of the lining so that you wouldn’t see the white peeking out at the neckline. Here’s what it looked like on the inside before I sewed it down.

    Then I inserted the lining, making sure the right side of the shell was next to the right side of the lining. Once I sewed them together at the neckline, I was able to flip it inside out so that the lining is inside and all seams are neatly trapped between. That v-neck was tricky though, and I had to unpick it a few times to get it to lie flat. (It’s still not perfect but it’ll do.)

    The next step was to prepare the sleeves. Each cap has a bit of a puff at the top so I sewed basting stitches so I could gather them to fit. Here’s what it looked like once I had the sleeve pinned in place.

    Yeah, I use a lot of pins.

    Then I sewed in the sleeves and finished the seam. By the way, I found it weird that the pattern didn’t tell me explicitly to finish any of the seams. Not all of them (like the sleeves) are under the lining. I even went back and overlocked the skirt seams just because I was paranoid about fraying. Then I hemmed the sleeves.

    And here’s what it looks like right now. All that’s left is to straighten up the bottom and hem it!

  • Frocktober 2018 – Sewing Update 3

    After yet more crawling around on my poor knees I managed to finish cutting all the main pattern pieces tonight, which means all the masking tape and fabric are finally off the floor. For now. 😂

    The final preparation step is to hang all of the pieces for at least 24 hours. This is because they were cut on the bias – that means the fabric (which is already really drapey due to the rayon in it) is very stretchy and can grow on you. So by letting it hang, you’re allowing the pieces to stretch before you start sewing them together.

    I was a little worried about how the skirt pieces would come out. It was hard to tell as I was cutting it whether the flower placement would be nicely random. The three pieces across the front are more similar than I’d like, but it’s still offset a bit and the Snook said he didn’t even notice. I’m not sure whether I have a big enough piece left to cut another one, so I think I’m stuck with it regardless.

    I reckon I’ll leave these to hang tomorrow while I get onto the next task: cutting out most of the pieces again, this time in the lining fabric. (My back is killing me already…)

  • Oh look. I found some art. 🤮 #knitvomit