Louisa Parry :: Journal

A few months ago, I started learning how to cross-stitch but was hindered slightly by the lack of non-chintzy kits out there. I started on the simple and cute designs from Mouseloft but once I wanted a bit more complexity, I was somewhat out of luck. I found a few cartoony cat ones but don’t like them much more than the full on twee ones.

Anyway, this led to John and I wondering how I could go about designing my own patterns instead - we initially thought I’d end up having to do loads of hard work in my beloved Inkscape but then I found KXStitch.

Since I run Ubuntu, it was easy (and free) to download from Synaptic and not one for going out of my way to read instructions, I just dived right in to using it.

Unlike the aforementioned Inkscape, there aren’t a bazillion different options and tools to navigate so it’s pretty easy to pick up.

So far, I’ve mostly just used the “Import Image File…” option to convert existing drawings (usually made in Inkscape) into patterns. This option has a wizard, letting you set the details about the cloth count and size, whether or not to include partial stitches and set a maximum amount of colours (linked to DMC, Anchor and Madiera thread colour charts). I’ve then hand-tweaked the scans to make them easier to sew or correct colour issues.

The printouts are great - a proper little kit pack with a cover, details of threads (codes and how much thread of each colour is required for the finished design) and a pattern to follow. The font on my first printout was too big and bold making it hard to glance at the design but I have since tweaked this and they’re very easy to follow.

When John saw me working on my first KXStitch-produced pattern (commonly known as “the vaginas one”, although I swear they’re supposed to be eyes) he commented how the stitches make it look pixelly so that inspired the Pacman one seen here. I’ve still got to do the walls - and I didn’t follow the curve for Pac perfectly so it’s a bit square - but it was very easy to make and sew (aside from the nightmare of sewing on black Aida).

While it’s not perfect (oh for an “undo” - but it’s supposed to be coming in a future version), I’d recommend KXStitch for Linuxy crafters - and to me, it’s really symbolic of the wonder of free software - there is something for just about every niche out there and it’s free in both cost and freedom. Hurrah.

• Bigger version of KXStitch screenshot
• KXStitch Pacman pattern

I thought this was quite a given way to do it but John seemed surprised by it when he saw me doing it once so I’ll document it here in case he’s not the only one who hasn’t thought of it yet:

When checking through your spam folder for false positives, sort by the Subject rather than the date or whatever - you can then instantly eliminate huge groups of the messages that have the same subject line or that all start with the word ‘Viagra’ etc. Makes it a lot easier to browse through and find those pesky real mails.

The Google map to be precise.

On the default screen when you go to maps.google.co.uk - the level of scaling to show pretty much all the UK in one screen, Southport is listed alongside Liverpool and Preston - but numerous cities around the country, like Sheffield, York and Bradford, are missing.

One zoom point further out, Liverpool and Preston disappears, leaving Southport and Manchester the only noted locations in the whole north-west.

I realise this is probably because Liverpool’s name tag would run into Manchester’s (and other cities would have similar text spacing issues) while Southport’s name tag can just sit right out in the sea but still, I prefer to think Southport’s tourist board have paid off Google for the exposure and/or it’s a shout-out to the countless former Sandgrounders like me out there who really should go back and visit the old place more often.

Just back from LUGRadio Live 2007 - the annual weekend of geekery in Wolverhampton. As well as being in a different location to last year, it had a completely different atmosphere for me - last year was too hot to circulate much but this year, I chatted to lots and lots of interesting people.

Good & Bad points below but all in all, it was pretty cool (both in temperature - hurrah! - and as a quality statement) and we both had a great time.

(more…)

I have started lurking on the ubuntu-uk, ubuntu-women, and linuxchix mailing lists and the IRC channels of the latter two too.

I would like to get more involved in the whole FOSS community fandango but I don’t know where to start or what sort of things I want to do so I thought I’d start lurking to see what comes up.

I don’t know if I’ll end up contributing any more than the current occasional bug report or blog entry about random software, but I figure I’m way more likely to get involved now that I see what is going on than I was before.

So we’ll see.

Care of Planet Ubuntu-UK, I’ve just read Michael Wood’s post about Bringing down your carbon footprint.

Leaving aside the “joke” one of our cats is called Carbon and I like his footprints, I thought the green-geek angle was interesting and have a few things to add to Michael’s suggestions. None of mine are particularly rocket science but as with the philosophy behind Recycle This, what is blindingly obvious common sense to one person is a revelation to another.

1. Recycle computers and old computer equipment when you’re done with it. People like us of the geeky persuasion are usually upgrade well before the end of a computer/gadget’s lifespan but other people aren’t so insistent on everything loading instantly or having the latest graphics card/wobbly windows.

   If you don’t know anyone to pass it onto directly, find a company to do it for you - our local one in West Yorkshire is Airedale Computers in Castleford and last time we went, they took everything we had to offer from full PCs to random cables, cards and spare keyboards.

2. Linked to that, computers that aren’t fast enough to run Vista will probably be still able to run Linux so forgetting all that hippy freedom nonsense, encourage people to make the switch for that reason.

   John switched his mum and dad onto Ubuntu last year because he was sick of having to fix their old, knackered Windows box. Their computer is running a lot faster now and since they only use it for basic things like web browsing, IM and word processing, they’ve not really had any problems. The only snag they’ve had is easy (without any help from us) photo printing - but photo management on their computer is a lot easier now.

3. Where feasible, download software rather than sending for a CD. This is obviously pretty easy for FOSS users but I know people that have sent away for Ubuntu CDs for their one install and left them on the shelf since then.

4. And related to that, use reusable media for storage where possible - USB keys over CDs etc etc. And as an extension of that, go for quality and a size that’ll last rather than replacing cheap stuff frequently.

5. But if you’ve had to use a CD or if you’ve got some absolutely dead computer equipment, there’ll still be ways to reuse them if you think creatively enough. We’ve got a Technology category on Recycle This which includes loads of cool suggestions for bits of computer and AV tech. I’d like to do more posts on that sort of thing so if you’ve got any suggestions, please let me know :)

One of my main green issues is the amount of always-on computers we have in the house. In addition to the laptops John and I use throughout the day, we usually have a server (mail, internet gateway, media) and an second back-up server (for daily back-ups of the main one) running. I suspect the latter could be turned off more but the former is pretty much needed all the time (to maintain our IP etc). Perhaps we should hook up a pedal powered generator…