@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

DMakarios

@DMakarios@theres.life

I like to read, knit, garden, sew...and write. Restoration Day, The Wound of Words, and Amiant Soul are fantasy novels and The Ambition of a Potato is a collection of non-fictional hilarity.

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DMakarios, to knitting
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Today's MeMade garments are a hat (crocheted), a skirt and bandanna (sewn), and a waistcoat and socks (knitted).
Here's a photo from last year of our cat putting her seal of approval (i.e. hair) on my hand-knitted sock collection.

DMakarios, to fountainpens
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

My coffee Jinhao 992 unexpectedly leaked - for the first time in its life - and now my handkerchief looks like Exhibit A from a true crime show, thanks to Diamine Autumn Oak.

DMakarios, to sustainability
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Seriously?? The Met Gala theme is all about "celebrating clothing and fashion so delicate it could never be worn again"?
How much more tone-deaf could one be, than to celebrate planned obsolescence and conspicuous consumption in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis (not to mention the climate crisis)?

DMakarios, to visibleMending
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

A question for menders: when/how do you decide if the fabric of a much-mended garment is worn too thin to be worth mending again (and it's therefore time for deconstruction/repurposing/compost etc)?

golgaloth, to Pubtips
@golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

Me at the start of my Kickstarter, vs Me at the end of my Kickstarter.

Well that was a ride. I didn't anticipate being hospitalised halfway through my campaign, but we're funded and I'll have my first book available through Ingram Spark for everyone in June/July.

Writing is easy compared to publishing.

#WritingCommunity #publishing #WritersLife #AmWriting #Fallout

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@golgaloth "Writing is easy compared to publishing."
Ain't that the truth!

schoudaan, to random
@schoudaan@autistics.life avatar

Cycling in the dark tonight, I felt a droplet of something falling on my leg. That's weird, I thought, it hasn't been raining. At the next traffic light I saw it was actually a slug. 😬

I guess it must have fallen from a tree branch?

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@schoudaan Maybe this is how slugs get a bit of high-speed excitement in their lives?

mem_somerville, to history
@mem_somerville@mastodon.social avatar

ICYMI: if you are a textile artist, you might appreciate this piece by Elena Kanagy-Loux.

"My Grandma’s Doilies Are Not a Joke

When will art institutions finally pay respect to our foremothers’ artistry?"

#TextileHistory #histodons #BobbinLace #NeedleLace #tatting #CrochetLace #KnittingLace

https://hyperallergic.com/906788/my-grandmas-doilies-are-not-a-joke/

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@mem_somerville A good read!
In my experience, phrases like "not your grandmother's xyz" are code for "aiming for cool not quality".
I have previously ranted about this myself:
https://deborah.makarios.nz/blog/2023/08/03/not-your-grandmothers/

DMakarios, to fountainpens
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Not as much of a colour difference as one might expect, given the very different names.
There's an orangier tone to the Diamine ink, and the Jinhao is perhaps slightly less saturated. Or maybe that's due to the different nib.

golgaloth, to books
@golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

Tech bros should not be in charge of anything.

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@golgaloth Good grief!
Has he not heard of abridged kiddy editions? Those might meet his requirements. But perhaps he only reads nonfiction. For strictly utilitarian purposes.

DMakarios, to tea
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

reaches for mug/teacup/teapot
The tea is gone.
WHY IS THE TEA ALWAYS GONE???

DMakarios, to fountainpens
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Two new fountain pens.
To my surprise, the Swipe EF is a wetter nib than the Jinhao. Not sure yet how much of that could be due to the ink.
As you can see, my right hand writing (25 days and counting) still needs some work.

golgaloth, to books
@golgaloth@writing.exchange avatar

Okay, so what's your favourite last line of a book? I head a lot of good first lines, but what's a good last line?

I'm going with, The Willows, by Blackwood: And when I turned my eyes again from his ghastly face to the river, the current had done its work, and the body had been swept away into mid-stream and was already beyond our reach and almost out of sight, turning over and over on the waves like an otter.

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@golgaloth "He drew a deep breath. 'Well, I'm back,' he said."
(The Return of the King/The Lord of the Rings)

davemark, to science
@davemark@mastodon.social avatar

😮
"Underwater speakers that play the sounds of a healthy reef, such as fish calls, were found to help coral larvae settle at rates up to seven times higher."

!!!
https://abcnews.go.com/International/scientists-underwater-speakers-restore-degraded-coral-reefs-study/story?id=108007057

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@davemark Catfishing coral larvae??

kamikat, to FiberArts
@kamikat@horrorhub.club avatar

@sewing Have you started planning or even sewing for the upcoming season change? My sewing goals are the same every summer: find the "it" dress pattern and make a dozen and finally realize my dream of becoming a set girl. The former always gets done. I'm still dreaming of the latter.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/k6xSR1K00ZU

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@kamikat @sewing I'm planning a flannel nightcap. Have fabric (old sheet), have pattern (mediaeval coif). Have other things further up the priority list.
But now I think of it, I haven't looked at the list in a while. Time I synced it with the brain list!

DMakarios, to fountainpens
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Has any left-handed person out there tried a Jinhao 777? What was your experience? (Further info: I have small hands and am usually a side-writer.)
Other options I'm considering include a Jinhao x750 or a KaCo Mellow.

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@paradoxmo Thanks for the suggestions!

The 777, x750, and x450 are the only Jinhaos I can see for sale here in NZ at the moment (and the x450 is a secondhand pen).

Specialist pen retailers here tend to omit Jinhao from their range. The main seller of affordable fountain pens on TradeMe (NZ equivalent of eBay) has a review saying the customer ordered a fountain pen and received a ballpoint. So...not keen to take the risk with them.

Ordering from overseas is an option, but items can take a long time to arrive, and I'm reluctant to pay postage in excess of pen value.

royal, to random
@royal@theres.life avatar

Everything about the gospel is good.

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@royal I don't know that I'd agree with that. The gospel is good news, no question, but being good is about what it is, and sounding good is about how it's perceived. "Sounds good" too often means "sounds pleasant". Would most people say "take up your cross and follow me" sounds good to them?

DMakarios, to random
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Thinking of taking a census of things on my desk, measuring the three great desk demographics:

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Desk census complete. Of nearly 100 items/groups of items, about 15% were where they belonged (counting all the tech stuff as one group).
About a fifth belonged somewhere else - or just over half if you count what belonged in the bin*.
The remaining approximate third belonged nowhere, which is probably why they ended up on my desk. Still working on finding suitable homes for them all.
*Recycling, compost, logburner, or rubbish.

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Things which do belong on my desk include tech stuff, tea stuff, two fountain pens, a teacup of fiddly things, and the Dishonour Cow (see https://deborah.makarios.nz/blog/2018/09/28/upskilly-stuff-september/)

DMakarios, to Bloomscrolling
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

A lavender-toned flower from my garden. Seems honey-scented to me.

DMakarios, to Cats
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Long shot, but does anyone here in the Hutt have a large wire dog crate they're looking to sell or otherwise dispose of?
Temporary accommodation for an elderly cat who's averse to catteries.
Boosts welcome, obvs. Thanks!

senanthic, to random
@senanthic@mstdn.ca avatar

I haven’t seen my family in person in a long while, so when I saw a family friend this evening I had forgotten what it was like to have someone repeatedly point out all my flaws (intelligent, no life skills, did not engender offspring). unique. piquant.

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@senanthic If they think that intelligence is a flaw, this is quite possibly someone whose judgement can be disregarded.

DMakarios, to random
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

Some bad news for me this morning: Draft2Digital have just confirmed to me that their Creative Commons policy will remain the same following the merger with Smashwords: banned.

Side note: it would have been nice if Smashwords had told me this. I asked them back in Feb 2022 when the merger was announced, and their response was "we haven't discussed this yet". (No reply to later follow-up email.) It would also be nice if those with decision-making power in the publishing industry had learned the difference between Creative Commons and PLR.

This means that I am now looking for other options for the two (soon to be three) fantasy novels and one humorous nonfiction compilation that are currently being vended through Smashwords and their distribution network.

Fortunately, I can do the formatting myself. Know of any CC-friendly online vendors? Reliable ecommerce plugins? I'd particularly like to make sure the books are still accessible to libraries.

If you have any advice or suggestions, I'm all ears.

DMakarios,
@DMakarios@theres.life avatar

@RPBook I publish paperbacks with Ingram, but they insist on DRM for ebooks.
I'll look into the others you mentioned - thanks!!

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