YKK or Talon?
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Good question. I canāt tell. YKK usually is printed on the pull, but this zipper pull has no mark, so maybe the other one? But at least I can change from pajamas before work tomorrow 
Current project: catnip mouse.
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Had a touch of time over the holidays, so I got a few things off the tableā¦
Mended four pairs of pants- some patching, some darning, some modifications.
Got the uppers finished on the canvas shoes my middle kid wanted- need to laminate and cement soles on now.
Made a tiny bit of progress on a miniature backpack for a 2 year old.
Made significant progress on my new studio space- standing desk is together, monitors mounted, etc etc etc.
I need to get the backpack finished before I can bite off any more/new sewing- and Iām aiming (foolishly, one could say) to copy a pair of pants that I like a lot. Iāve not done pants before, soā¦ yeah. Itās ambitious. I also need to upgrade the backpack I made for myself a few months ago- itās a prototype, and I need to finalize it. Some minor design changes, and a substantial change to materials (the prototype was made of duck canvas, and Iām moving to Codura on the next one). Thereās also a pair of shoes for the wife on the list, and those will be lined, so thatās a new thing too.
Also: Iāve got some plex projects Iām working on, and a raspberry pi project or two I want to get done shortly. And bookcases- I need to buy a bunch of bookcases. Like 100ā of shelf space. Minimum. Ugh.
Never enough time, is there?
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Seven catnip mice are done, and Iām out of catnip. Next project? Bag of some kind?
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Iād like to see photos of your mice! 
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Plus a potholder.
I used to be fussy with these, until I realized that potholders tended to perish in a blaze of glory.
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Iām sure the cats donāt care about the shape, as long as theyāre filled with quality 'nip!
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More fixing than making over the holidays.
My daughter reported the floor in the guest bathroom was wet, with water coming up from between the vinyl tiles. We found the source of the leak which turned out to be a slow drip from the toilet tank, which must have been going on for some time and had gotten under the tiles.
So: remove the toilet, find the problem with the tank gasket, get replacement tank gasket and beeswax toilet gasket, remove most of the tiles because the adhesive had come completely loose, let the wood dry out, pry off the remaining tiles, scrape the adhesive off down to bare wood where possible, remove the baseboards, measure, cut, and lay down new flooring, caulk the hell out of all the edges and corners of the floor and around the toilet mounting and shower stall, sand and refinish the baseboards, put the baseboards back in place, remount the toilet with new toilet gasket, install new tank gasket and remount the tank. All done just before she and her BF got back from Molokai for the remainder of her stay. Given that we didnāt have time or energy to do ceramic tile as we were considering, we went with sheet vinyl flooring which is a bit of a cheat but actually looks very nice and doesnāt have seams for water to seep through in future.
Now Iām trying to replace the pocket clip on my pocketknife, which should be trivial but bids to become one of those ever-expanding projects. I have the replacement clip and screws for it, but the screws which hold it in place are tiny mini-Torx (T6). My screwdriver set which had mini-Torx bits is busted, the bit holder having actually torn in half due to being cheap plastic (why?!), so I bought a cheap Skil ratcheting screwdriver which had assorted mini-Torx bits. Then I found out two of the three installed screws were too stripped out to turn. I tried to cross-cut the head with a hacksaw to make a slot but the head is tiny and fairly hard despite stripping out, so thatās not working. I think Iāll have to also get a small screw extractor to take it out.
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Those are great!
I thought I bought a small jar of catnip on Amazon, but it turned out to be a large jar. The small jar lasted a year, so I think I might need to make some toys like yours. I like to crochet, but the nip falls out the little holes, and yours look like they would last longer.
Is it all catnip inside, or is there fiber filler as well?
Edit: I like the potholder too! Itās really pretty.
Thanks. Mostly catnip with a little fiberfill to help hold the catnip in place during stitching.
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Iāve had nearly the same problem happen with a knife of mine- the screws for the clip stripped out. Except, instead of it being the head that lets go, they pulled the threads out of the knife body. So: Iāve been meaning to re-drill and re-tap the knife to accept larger screws and re-attach the clip.
None of this will likely happen and I will surely continue to use the knife without the benefit of the clip.
And yet I will be irritated every time I use it.
Thereās really no winning, is there?
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Arrgh, yes. Stripped threads are definitely worse, and I know exactly the feeling you mean of being annoyed every time you use or see something because itās a reminder of what you mean to do but havenāt gotten to it.
Iāve been working this past year on trying to resolve some of those everyday nagging petty annoyances, a little bit at a time. Example: in mid-December I partly cleared out a couple of the living room bookshelves which had an accumulation of books just stacked up, papers, old computer parts and hard drives meant for disassembly, etc., threw out some old old textbooks and junk and pulled out other books we will never likely want to reread, and then properly reshelved all the comics and graphic novels, general lit, pop science, and the math and comp sci texts Iām keeping. It took several days of work and grouchiness, but now when I look at those shelves, I get a little hit of satisfaction, instead of the impending doom that those shelves represented for the last several years.
The current such project is replacing the broken kitchen cabinet latches with magnetic latches, a couple at a time.
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Itās the same way you eat an elephant- one bite at a time.
Donāt really eat elephants. Iām told theyāre much too nice for that.
Sometimes itās what youāre saying- the nagging of the stuff I should have fixed but havenāt (for both real and imagined reasons). Other times (such as is the case with this specific knife clip) itās the irritating knowledge that a poor design choice by the maker has now caused this problem to fall into my (already crowded) lap.
The dread of the list of stuff to fix isnāt too bad, because I can peck away at those things and slowly make my world better.
The other stuff isnāt ok- itās some penny-pinching fool whoās make a poor design decision that Iām now stuck with. That makes me angry at first, and then, inevitably, I turn that anger inward at my poor decisions in bringing that poorly-designed thing into my life.
Ugh.
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Ah, yes. I definitely agree with the distinction.
Edit: In fact, that precision screwdriver set I mentioned is a fine example of the latter. Why have decent metal bits, a decent handle (with a metal shaft), and then make the thing that links them out of unreinforced plastic? You are crazy people! I have a vague intention of replacing that bit carrier with something 3D printed in metal, which I will probably never do, yet I keep the set around because maybeā¦
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That was all followed this week by finding that half the wall outlets in our guest room/TV room were dead - while the lights on the same circuit werenāt. I had to check hot/neutral voltages and then open up several outlet boxes and check further before concluding the cause was a weirdly blown GFCI. I got that replaced this afternoon and rewired the outlets a little more cleanly, because the previous wiring was a bit of a bodge, overly relying on daisy-chaining wiring from one outlet to another. Now it all works again.
Got the stripped screws out of the pocketknife earlier this week and got that fixed too, and took some time today to bring it back to an edge, finishing on the 3000 grit stone. Very nice.
There is a pleasure in knowing how to do this stuff.
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Someone who claims they love me gifted me a MOD 102 DIY amp kit.
So far, Iām just boggling at the parts
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It looks like a Lego kit for adults. Have fun!
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Followup to my post back in October[quote=ācrashproof, post:14, topic:67869ā]
I decided early in the month that, instead of waiting for NaSoAlMo (National Solo Album Month) like I have a few times before, Iād just jump in and do an āOctoAlMo.ā
[/quote]
My October album, āExceptionsā, has been up sinceā¦ well, the end of October at fallsastar.com
I decided Iād give myself a less awkward band name, and with it a less awkward web site, and with that a less awkward hosting provider. Thatās all set up, and the first track of 2016 is done:
Other than that Iāve been experimenting but not recording anything, getting to know the Twisted-Electrons AY3 and TherapSid I won in a charity auction, and lazily jamming with my new mini cajon. 
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Iām starting on a set of strategically placed shelves so the cats can get in & out of the kidsā bunk beds without risking their lives. Weāve spent months trying to keep the cats out, and now Iāve given up and Iām going with a straight harm reduction strategy.
This week Iām buying materials. By the weekend the kids and I should hopefully be ready to affix carpet to some 1x8s and get them on the walls
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