The six outer sides of my FM radio project's enclosure is together for the first time now! Turns out, it wasn't QUITE dry enough to do this outside, but I don't have the right tools to do it inside. I have the edges of the top and bottom panels to smooth off, and a bit more. #fm-radio-project 1/3

Even if you're not American, go watch the "Turkey Drop" episode of the TV show WKRP. It is one of the most hilarious episodes in TV history! Also a fantastic example of where telling, not showing, works out far better than the usual storytelling advice of telling not showing.

Huh, that's interesting. Apparently Google Lens (a tool I have *not* used myself for this) thinks it's a Sedum Sarmentosum plant, instead of a Crassula. *If* what I think are becoming buds are going to do what I think they will, it'll be closer to the Sedum than a Crassula... 1/2

I just learned the Bugs Bunny No meme doesn't even come from him saying no. It's a frame rotated 90 degrees from him taking a drink from a bottle. I needed to share this.

Found some suitable screws for this project. Or at least, I *hope* they're suitable! So far, they're small enough to not need a pilot hole in the wall blocks. Though I'm pretty sure I'll need holes in the plywood panels. My punch should work for that, no drilling needed? #fm-radio-project 1/2

Well, while it's still too early to tell, I'm still crossing my fingers that my #crassula succulent is about to start flowering. I know a lot of the stem-tips are merely growing more leaves, it's looking like at least a few of them *might* be growing buds. Very curious to see how happy it is.

So, it appears that I *definitely* _need_ to pull out the collar and fix its base. Aside from wanting to try other techniques for the collar style, there's a surprising number of holes at the top of the lines up each shoulder. Like, absolutely LOADS of them. Pretty sure I know how to fix that, too.

After a particularly stressful day (that wasn't entirely successful), I've managed to complete the TSS version of the collar today. I didn't have time to bask in what it looks like or how it feels yet, so will need to sit on this for a while. #crochet #tng-cardigan #crochetcardigan 1/2

Also, weird fact: The cheap cork-backed, steel rulers I've been using for ages are apparently hard and/or sharp enough on their edges that I can basically use them as a scraper. Not sure where I'll use this knowledge, but I've been able to clean up the rough edges of the wood pieces I have so far.

The plywood sheet has been (poorly) cut up for the front, back, top, and bottom panels on the FM radio enclosure. I am wondering whether it needs to be *quite* this deep, but I'm going to leave it for the moment. #fm-radio-project 1/3

Still no pictures, sorry! But a small measure of progress happened today: I bought a half-inch square dowel today. I'll be using it for the frame of the "loom" I'll be making in order to weave the pocket for the Combadge. Not sure what I'll do for a Lower Decks style Combadge yet, though...

With tonight's progress catching me COMPLETELY by surprise (it had to be pointed out to me by somebody else!), apparently I was holding onto quite a bit of tension. I found this out by feeling quite a LOT of relief now that I'm finished that stage of the project. I will sleep WELL tonight! =^.^=

Woohoo! The shoulders of this cardigan are FINALLY finished! =^.^= Turns out, I was way, WAY closer to being finished this stage of the project than I'd expected! AND the increases I was doing to the back was also working better than expected, too! #crochet #tng-cardigan #crochetcardigan 1/3

Yup. Frogged and slimmed down. It's somewhere around six inches wide now, which is far, FAR easier to wrap around your neck than the ten inches it was before. Unfortunately, I also hurt my wrist in some way as I made most of the progress seen here. #crochet #tunisiancrochet #crochetscarf 1/3

The weather forecast (which isn't perfect, of course) is currently indicating that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are (supposedly) going to be on the drier side, with even the chance of a sunny break or two on Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully it'll be dry enough for powered wood cutting! =^.^=

Huh. Looks like I haven't commented on this succulent yet. But it *almost* looks like it's either finally growing, or perhaps budding? Though I'm pretty sure it's the wrong season for the latter. @plantnet.bsky.social seems to think it's at least in the Crassula genus. 1/2

"It's dangerous to go alone. Take this."

This is going to be a stream-of-consciousness thread of posts, coming as I have things to say about cutting the wood for the radio enclosure. I'd forgotten to make sure the end of this piece of wood was square before cutting off a length. At least I can use it for a template? #fm-radio-project 1/?

The two orientations I'd laid the parts out in. The left was restricted to eight inches (half the board wide), while the right was able to use the full 11¾" narrow width. Guess there's a clear winner. #fm-radio 1/3

Note to self: This winter season, keep an eye out for a store-bought cardigan that comes in black, and either red, blue, or gold, and buy two. Then cut the shoulder tops off both (preserving the zippers and/or buttons), swap them, and sew them back on. Result: a TNG and a DS9/Voyager cardigan!

Okay, I'd extended the length of the stitch down the middle of the shoulders this time, and things are laying FAR better than they had earlier. Also, I counted stitches and compared against where I *think* things should be heading, and it looks like I'm actually on target. #tng-cardigan 1/3

I've changed my mind. Pretty sure it should be all one box, instead of separate boxes for the two speakers and the radio itself. With the speakers themselves facing backwards. Which now means I get to come up with a NEW way to lay everything out on my piece of plywood... =>.<= #fm-radio-project 1/3

Yes, I've still been working on this blanket. It's usually pretty easy to do a couple of rows while watching some TV or a movie in the evenings, so I've made quite a bit of progress, but very slowly. The texture is quite enjoyable, too! =^.^= I'm about a third of the way across so far. #knitting

Oh, let's throw in a few more hashtags for this problem: #electronics #maker #arduino #makerscommunity #DIYelectronics #HobbyElectronics #question It may be a dead EEPROM (apparently, a WinBond 25Q32JVSIQ chip), which is tempting to try replacing. Everything else on the board seems to still work...

Currently trying to dig through my desk looking for working microcontrollers and found this thing. I keep getting an "Invalid head of packet (0x72)" error, which is making me think the EEPROM is dead. Anybody know if there's a way to test it? #esp8266 1/2

Huh. I need an otter OC, do I? =^.~=

Because Tuesday is a holiday (yes, I have been wearing my poppy while I'm out and about), Tuesday's yarn night is off this week, so I attended Sunday's library group again. I've realized that the shoulders are resisting the decreases again. Sigh... #crochet #tng-cardigan #crochetcardigan 1/3

Some yarn I acquired recently. Sunbeam "Shantung" yarn, that is really giving me "cable-knit hat" vibes. The bag contains eight of these 25 gram "balls", so I've got 200 grams right now. Apparently Sport weight, according to Ravelry. #yarn

More work on the cardigan today. Along with the rising suspicion that the decreases haven't been happening fast enough. It's making me VERY nervous. If I *do* have to make it decrease faster, how far back do I have to pull things?! No picture due to nervousness... =>.<= #tng-cardigan

Huh, didn't realize I should have had a picture of this scarf's current "state". Because I frogged it all tonight, and split it (roughly) in half. I'm going to narrow it down to between 6 and 7 inches wide, and put the variegated yarn at each end, with the solid colour in the middle. 1/2

I'm making pretty good progress! The first skein (as you can see in the bowl in the upper left corner) is nearly out again, hence why I'd packed the next ball of yarn in the project bag today. Just *barely* _didn't_ need it. Yet. =^.~= #crochet #tng-cardigan #crochetcardigan 1/2

Interestingly, this process feels familiar somehow. Like I've tried it before, way back when. Though this feels like the wrong cast-on method, given how much this entire thing keeps wanting to stretch sideways. I've gotta keep this going for several rows first, just to see whether it's working...

Shortly after the previous update, I got into a bit too much of a groove, and it feels like I've made the body of it too tall. Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a problem, save for the fact that I want to use the leftover yarn as parts of future hats. I may need to tink this… #knitting #knittedhat 1/2

Well, double-knitting takes quite a different set of tensions, doesn't it? The yarn recommends a 5mm needle, and I'd started with a 4.5mm needle, gone down to 4mm, and I'm currently using 3.25mm needles for the top pair of rows. Feels like I've tried this sort of thing before, somehow... #knitting

First layout seems to work. The yellow pieces are the rectangles for the speaker boxes, the green are the sides for the radio box, and the mostly-blue pieces are the radio box's top and bottom pieces. A good first attempt, especially for my very first use of #OpenSCAD! #fm-radio-project 1/2

Found the needles! Turns out, they were in with some yarn I'd identified by type a while ago, and intended to try some Entrelac techniques with, but never got around to at the time. And now I'm fairly certain it was a larger diameter than I'd thought it was. Hopefully these are long enough! 1/2

Sigh. This has been bugging me for a while now, as the experiments I've been doing with the other cake of "Autograph" (the purple yarn) haven't been turning out in any useful way. The new plan is to use these two colours in actual double-knitting. Wish me luck! I haven't done this yet... #yarn 1/2

I've begun to harness the power of #OpenSCAD to choose dimensions for my FM radio project's enclosure. I've got the dimensions of the plywood sheet plugged in, and am getting all the various pieces placed onto the sheet, with the 3D view coming later. #fm-radio-project 1/2

I got some interesting feedback on my current range of button options recently. Much as the left set looks good in comparison to the two yarn colours, it does stand out, which isn't necessarily the intended vibe the uniforms had on the show. Not sure I care, though. The left set is my choice now.

Because this isn't for me (much as purple IS my first favourite colour), and I'm not making it for anyone in particular, I don't have a "target" to make sure this fits well. I have been getting some feedback that it seems a bit too wide, but I have a few more people to get advice from. 1/3

Not yet to scale, but this is one way to arrange all the faces for three enclosures within one piece of plywood. In this instance, I'm still working under the assumption that I can get three different boxes (left and right speakers, and central radio module) out of one sheet. #fm-radio-project 1/3

The full length of this Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch scarf, nearly using up the entirety of this Caron Slice of Anniversary Cake yarn. Ten inches is pretty wide, right? Should I frog the whole thing and narrow it down a bit? Or just keep going? #crochet #crochetscarf #tunisiancrochet 1/2

The original rank pip buttons against the other three options. Though I should probably take a better picture soon, as the four photos were taken under different lighting conditions, so it's not the best colour comparison. #tng-cardigan 1/2

Since this isn't going to be very long with just this ball of yarn, I've bought a second one. Unfortunately, with this being a limited supply item, the nearest stores don't have any more of this colour, so I've opted for the solid dark purple. Should work for both ends, right?

The culprit and its replacement. I'm not convinced the replacements are the best option, as I've accidentally opened the base part too wide and cracked it. Definitely more delicate than I'd expected. Then again, I didn't expect the original piece to break, either... =>.<=

Odd. I do have a trio of buttons I'd specifically set aside for rank pips, but it appears I have NO photos of them at all. Guess I need to compare them against at least two of these other buttons to see how they look together. I am a little worried I won't have enough of the left set for pips...

Man, NOTHING brings you up short faster than the tab on the zipper pull on your jacket breaking off when you pull it all the way up on your way down the street. I'm very glad I still have some replacements,despite not being the best quality. I was able to dash home, replace it, and head out again.

Project status: Looks like I've been using the *wrong* USB power monitoring device. The other one has a higher-value current-sensing resistor, which restricts the amount of power the LED panel could get. Now, it's drawing an entire Amp of power, and is just that bit brighter! #electronics #maker 1/2

Okay, maybe it's a little more muddy. The middle set is right out, and the left set looks pretty good as well. Anybody have any thoughts? And yes, that is a prototype for the button bands. Works pretty good! But needs to be a little bit wider... #crochet #tng-cardigan #crochetcardigan 1/3

WARNING: ANYONE TRYING TO SOLICIT MONEY OUT OF ME WILL BE IMMEDIATELY BLOCKED! I'm on a fixed income right now, and don't have the mental energy to research every demand for money, so you all get blocked immediately. ESPECIALLY if you've tagged me! Fuck off.