A zine a day... my idea

I've been concerned about staying creative in the face of full-time work. I made a deal with one of my friends who studied creative writing with me to exchange a chapter per month of our novels, which was a great idea--it made us both accountable. It worked for the first month; then Lids' kitchen burnt down and threw our schedule hopelessly off course. Today was the day we were meant to make our second exchange, but I have to begrudgingly announce that I have written absolutely nothing over the past month (and nothing whatsoever of mine has burnt down, so I have no excuse). I guess knowing that Lids would be out of whack and not waiting to receive my raw prose was enough to eliminate any drive I had.

Last night, however, I jumped online to watch the following YouTube clip by SamProof, which I'd come across probably 18 months ago.



After watching it I folded, chopped and composed a cutesy little zine on black paper with white ink for EJ. It took about 10 minutes.

You see, the Sydney Writers Festival is on in May. Last year I went to its Zine Fair and while some of the content was less than impressive, the drive that some of these writers had to keep producing zine-able work amazed me. Ever since making Fervourography I've wanted to keep self-publishing but I've yet to complete any writing that I deemed worthy.

What If I skip the middle-man? What if, instead of waiting until I have a piece of writing I feel is 'ready', I commit to actually making zines and spend less time worrying about the content? It will force me to find a topic and write a tiny bit every time. Channelling creativity at this stage may be more important than meaningful content and besides, these little 6-pagers are just a bit of fun.

So I'm thinking of starting another blog: azineaday or mydailyzine or zinedejour, or something along those lines. Yes, I'm falling into step with the many bloggers who say they're going to take on some task every day for a year. Why not? Committing to you, an online audience, will spur me to keep my promise - it is extravagantly unlikely that everyone online's kitchen is going to burn down at the same time and let me off the hook!

Any thoughts would be welcome. In the mean time, I'm off the stationers to get some paper.

~Eyespiral

Trading Cards

Hello world,

Quick links:

• Trading cards gallery (to browse by image)
• Trading cards by number (to browse by ID number)
• How to log your find
• What this is all about

Thanks for visiting! You've come here either because you read my blog or because you've gotten hold of one of my artist trading cards and want to find out what it's all about. So if you're new and want to hear all about it, click here to get the rundown.

Below you will find a list of all our trading cards by number, and you can click on the number to be taken to that card. Alternatively, you can view my trading cards gallery for your card and click on it to visit its page and view its map.

How to log your find

You can log your find by posting a comment stating the type of trading card (Arise_Victorious or Eyespiral), its number, the date, plus any or all of the following information: where you found it, where it is now/where you left it, your name/username, a link you might want to pimp (e.g. your geocaching profile, your own website), and a link to a photo if you'd like me to include it in the map point. If you've found or left it in a geocache, feel free to post a link to the cache you found/left it in.

As I receive these comments, I will update the post with the new locations of the cards.

Arise_Victorious geocaching trading cards

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23.


Eyespiral's artist trading cards

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.


The Rundown

I've been inspired. After running into the idea for artist trading cards on this Burdastyle post and further learning about them on the Artist Trading Card Committee site, I decided these were definitely for me. Since my medium of choice right now is fabric, and since we've gotten into geocaching lately, and since my drawing skills are severely limited, it made sense to make sewn trading cards. In geocaching, it's an advantage if you choose to leave something waterproof (just in case the cache leaks), and fabric will survive. Thus came the evolution of Arise_Victorious geocaching trading cards. These are ones that EJ and I will leave at geocaches that we find during our adventures, and the ones which I hope will make amazing journeys around the world that I'll get to hear about.

Additionally, I plan to make my own ones, Eyespiral's artist trading cards, which I will trade or give in the normal manner.

Here's what the backs of the two different types of trading cards look like. On the left is an Arise_Victorious trading card, on the right an Eyespiral one. You can see the card number in the top right corner of the card.

The big idea: I want to know where our trading cards go. Geocaching is familiar with trackable items, which you can purchase and track on their website, but I want ours to be our very own. So when you find one of our trading cards, you will find both the URL for this page and our email address. Then you'll either post a comment on this post or email us about your find, and when I receive them I will add your location (and name or username, if you so desire) and the date to the list underneath the photo of that trading card. That way I can keep track of all the trading cards I have put out there as well as the journeys they've taken. And you get to see where they've gone, too!

If you'd like to trade or would simply like me to post one of my Eyespiral cards to you, comment on this post with a way for me to get in contact with you to get the postal details. :)


Thanks for taking part and I hope you're inspired, too!

~Eyespiral

Geocaching

Hello world,

I can't believe it, two posts in as many days? Is there something wrong with me? No. I just have had two different topics to post and, surprisingly, enough spare time on two consecutive days to allow me to actually post them. Unfortunately for the crafty creatures out there, neither the last nor this post contains any new projects or tutorials to display: my sewing machine, crochet equipment and all crafty goods have been packed up in preparation for our move on Monday.

My latest obsession? Geocaching. EJ got a handy-dandy handheld GPS (the kind you use for bushwalking) for his birthday and since then we have been busy seeking out a number of the sneakily hidden geocaches around our area. Here's a picture of me with a geocache we discovered on Sunday:

Geocaching is great fun and the best part is that it gets me outside and exploring the area, not to mention the exercise which I don't treat as cruel and unusual punishment because I am distracted by the thrill of the hunt. The basic idea is a follows: Someone with a GPS makes up a cache, which consists of some kind of waterproof container with at least a logbook inside for people to sign when they find it, and hides it away in a secret location (of which they record the lat and long coordinates) where people oughtn't find it by accident. They may also include trade items which can be anything that will fit in the container (marbles, playing cards, toy cars, skipping ropes, stuffed animals, mini compasses, pocket radios - these are all things we've found in caches). They also often include a special prize for the first person to find the cache. They then post up the cache's information on www.geocaching.com.au or www.geocaching.com, and after it is reviewed to ensure it is not in a banned area (in Australia geocaches are banned in national parks) the cache is listed on the site for anyone to look up and find. When you find the geocache you sign the log, and if you want to you can leave a calling card (we've been leaving mini slinkies, coloured plastic sea creatures and glass hearts). You can also take an item from the cache, as long as you leave something of your own to replace it. Here's a picture of me opening the above cache:

It's a really exciting hobby to get into and one that's open to anyone who is interested. All you need is a GPS (often car GPSes will also allow you to input latitude and longitude coordinates, so you may not even need to buy a new piece of equipment) and some motivation - or if you're really keen but can't afford a GPS, you could try relying on GoogleMaps's satellite/street map hybrid to locate the cache you're looking for!

So here's my question to the people who stumble across this post and make it all the way down here without getting bored: should I make a crafty cache of my own? I am planning on placing my own cache in the near future - hopefully before the end of the month, since I'm starting full-time work on 1 Feb and will have less free time available for creativity. But what I wonder is if anyone thinks it will be worthwhile for me to make a special crafty prize for my first to find (FTF)? Something like a peg buddy or a diary cover - I even discussed with EJ making a specialty geocaching logbook with a sewn cover (as I so often do) and with the pages all prepared for listing caches you're searching for, ones you've found and when, and what you left and took from each one. Maybe I could make one for me and one for a special FTF? I guess what I really want to know is if anyone would be interested in getting the coordinates for this special geocache with a crafty prize for the FTF. Anyone? Comment below.

I am also planning a couple of exciting items to make for our own calling cards once we're moved and unpacked. I have been planning on making some sewn trading cards (à la these) for a while now, so these would both busy my idle hands while watching TV (otherwise I use them to stuff food into my mouth) and be a great item to leave in geocaches we visit, not to mention include with gifts or items which I sell in my ebay shop (which is currently inactive due to my busy busy lifestyle :) ).

The other idea I am excited about is to print out either a short story or poem (something that will fit on one page, preferably), cut it into pieces (I haven't decided if it should be sentences, paragraphs, lines or random angular puzzle pieces), laminate them (to protect them from the weather) and leave a note on the back explaining the point (which I will explain in a moment). Then I'll drop off different pieces in different geocaches so that when people find them they can either collect them and relocate them elsewhere or copy down the section they have found, in order to eventually make up the complete piece of writing. If I wanted to be doubly tricky, I could include within the piece of writing the coordinates to a secret cache so that they can find it only after they have completed the puzzle. I could make multiple copies of the same one so that if one piece got lost along the way it wouldn't be impossible to complete it, and that way I would be getting my writing out there in a really unique way and also presenting a new challenge to the geocaching community!

Alright, I need to calm down and finish my jobs around this house before we move. Please comment and tell me your thoughts!

~Eyespiral

Hunt the Wumpus, (evoke), Wumpus Noir, and Wumpus Intergalactica

Hello world,

Now that the hubbub of xmas has passed, I've found a few moments to upload the four versions of Hunt the Wumpus that I mentioned in my pre-xmas post.

Hunt the Wumpus is an old computer game, originally text-based when it came out in the 70s. During my last programming subject at uni - CSCI337 The organisation of programming languages - we had four assignments in which we were to develop Hunt the Wumpus using a different programming language and programming paradigm each time.

I just signed up to MediaFire and uploaded my files and so I'll explain how to run each one in a Linux environment like Ubuntu. You will have to download a couple of packages (as I will instruct) for my games if you do not already have them installed. These games should all also run in a Unix environment and in some cases will do so more easily, but I will only give the instructions for Linux and those Unix users can figure out the differences themselves. :)

Scroll down to view each set of instructions in turn, or click on the name of the Hunt the Wumpus you're interested in below to jump to that one.

• Hunt the Wumpus - Lisp (Functional paradigm)
  
• Hunt the Wumpus (evoke) - Fortran (Imperative paradigm)
  
• Wumpus Noir - Literate C++ (Literate paradigm)
  
• Wumpus Intergalactica - Prolog (Logical paradigm)
  

Hunt the Wumpus - Lisp (Functional paradigm)
This is basically the original game as from its creator (Gregory Yob), but programmed in Lisp rather than BASIC.

1. Click on the name of the game above or click here to download the file. Choose to save it rather than open it in a text editor. Remember where you saved the file.
   
   
2. Open terminal and navigate to the folder containing the file you just downloaded. You should be able to see ass3.lisp in the list of files in the current directory when you type ls at your terminal command line.
   
   
3. In order to play the lisp version, you will need to download and install the clisp package. To do this, enter the following into your terminal command line and follow the prompts:
   sudo apt-get install clisp
   
   
4. Now that you have clisp installed, run it by typing clisp into your terminal command line. The programme will display a header and all will be beautiful.
   
   
5. Type (load "ass3.lisp") to load the game file.
   
   
6. Type (wumpus) to start playing the game. Enjoy!
   
   
7. After you have finished playing Hunt the Wumpus and have quit it, you will still be in clisp. To quit this, type (bye). You will be returned to the terminal command line interface.
   

Hunt the Wumpus (evoke) - Fortran (Imperative paradigm)
This follows the same narrative of the original game and the same rules/events/hazards, etc, but I rewrote the story to be a bit more evocative. Programmed in the dinosaur language Fortran77.

1. Click on the name of the game above or click here to download the file. Choose to save it rather than open it in a text editor. Remember where you saved the file.
   
   
2. Open terminal and navigate to the folder containing the file you just downloaded. You should be able to see wumpus.f in the list of files in the current directory when you type ls at your terminal command line.
   
   
3. You will need to install the package gfortran, a fortran95 compiler. The assignment required me to programme in fortran77, unfortunately however Ubuntu does not support a fortran77 compiler like g77. Since fortran95 is an extension of fortran77, gfortran still correctly compiles g77 code - the problem that most of my fellow programmers had was that they used functionality that did not exist in 77 and so they lost marks for failure to compile.
   
   You need to type the following into your terminal command line and follow the prompts to get and install gfortran:
   sudo apt-get install gfortran
   
   
   
4. Compile the wumpus.f file by entering the following into your terminal command line:
   gfortran wumpus.f
   
   
5. Now when you type ls into your terminal command line it should list both wumpus.f and a.out. To run Hunt the Wumpus (evoke) type the following in at your terminal command line:
   ./a.out
   
   
6. Enjoy the game! If you'd like to quit mid-game, use Ctrl+C.
   

Wumpus Noir - Literate C++ (Literate paradigm)
Here is where I start to make it a bit more fun! The Wumpus is now a mafia boss, and you are a detective on his tail. It was great, though my darling Karina pointed out after I'd finished that I'd consistently spelt labyrinth incorrectly the whole way though - 'labarynth'. Not to worry. Anyway, this one is using C++ and the literate programming paradigm, one that is very smart and really ought to be used all the time, in my opinion! It forces you to document your code, something which future programmers will thank you for.

Literate programming allows you to generate both a machine-compilable file and a human-readable pdf file from the original web file. I will give you instructions on how to generate both before running the game.

1. Click on the name of the game above or click here to download the file. Choose to save it rather than open it in a text editor. Remember where you saved the file.
   
   
2. Open terminal and navigate to the folder containing the file you just downloaded. You should be able to see wumpus.w in the list of files in the current directory when you type ls at your terminal command line.
   
   
3. In order to process the wumpus.w file, you will need to install cweb. Click here to get cweb and install it as per the instructions.
   
   
4. You will also need to download and install pdftex in order to generate a pdf. Click here to download and install it.
   
   
5. Finally, you will need to install 'build-essential', which contains a number of essential development tools that are used for compiling C and C++ files. Type the following into your terminal command line and follow the prompts to get and install build-essential:
   sudo apt-get install build-essential
   
   
6. Now we can get down to business! First, type the following into your terminal command line to prepare to create the pdf file:
   cweave wumpus.w
   
   This will have generated a collection of different files.
   
   
7. To generate the final, readable pdf file, enter the following at your terminal command line:
   pdftex wumpus.tex
   
   You will now find a file called wumpus.pdf in your current directory which documents how I developed this particular version of the game.
   
   
8. To generate the compilable version of the game, type the following into your terminal command line:
   ctangle wumpus.w
   
   This will create the file wumpus.c in your current directory.
   
   
9. Since I work in C++, not C, you then need to convert this into a C++ source file. To do this, enter the following into your terminal command line:
   mv wumpus.c wumpus.cpp
   
   
10. Nearly done. Now to compile the C++ source into an executable, enter the following:
    g++ wumpus.cpp -o wumpus.out
    
    
11. To execute the final game file, type the following into your terminal command line:
    ./wumpus.out
    
    
12. Enjoy! If you wish to exit mid-game, you can do so by pressing Ctrl+C.
    

Wumpus Intergalactica - Prolog (Logical paradigm)
Finally, we have the sci-fi variation. You are a bounty hunter off to neutralise the Wormhole Union of Marauders, Pirates and Unsavoury Scoundrels, aka the WUMPUS. Written in the very frustrating logic language Prolog. While nowhere near the insanity of Lisp, this language is tricky to get used to, and should be left for AI and not games.

1. Click on the name of the game above or click here to download the file. Choose to save it rather than open it in a text editor. Remember where you saved the file.
   
   
2. Open terminal and navigate to the folder containing the file you just downloaded. You should be able to see wumpus.P in the list of files in the current directory when you type ls at your terminal command line.
   
   
3. You will need to download XSB in order to run this game. Click the link to go to their website and follow their instructions to download and install XSB. The game will run with XSB 2.6 and up. Remember where you unpacked the file to; I put mine on the Desktop.
   
   
4. Now you need to run XSB without leaving the directory where you have wumpus.P saved. To do this you need to type the absolute address of the XSB executable into your terminal command line. The XSB executable will be located the the XSB folder you saved, in the bin subfolder, and it will be named 'xsb' (note the lower case). For example, to access my XSB, here is what I typed:
   $HOME/Desktop/XSB/bin/xsb
   
   Once you have opened XSB it will display its header in the terminal and you will be ready to load the prolog file.
   
   
5. Load the wumpus.P file by typing the following:
   [wumpus].
   
   Don't forget the '.' at the end of the command, otherwise XSB will keep hanging, waiting for you to finish your command!
   
   
6. Run the game by typing the following :
   go.
   
   
7. Enjoy!
   
   
8. In order to exit XSB once you have quit Wumpus Intergalactica, type the following:
   halt.
   
   You will be returned to the terminal command line interface.
   

And there you have it, four varieties of Hunt the Wumpus. I hope the sparse few who find this interesting enjoy playing my own personal spin on the game, and that those that stumble upon this in search of help with the programming languages used herein find the code useful to help them learn. :)

Just for funzies, I made an image to go with Wumpus Intergalactica. I actually made it because I was originally going to post the game files for download from deviantArt, and I wanted a thumbnail image for them, but I only made this one before I changed my mind and when with MediaFire. Anyway, here it is:

I altered it a little so it would suit the narrow size of this blog post, but if you click on the image you can see the original 640x480px version.

~ Eyespiral

A note to all those would-be code plagiarisers: If you are planning on ripping off my code for the same class at UOW as I took, be warned - I don't doubt that Ian will remember these particular assignments. So be smart, and only use them to help you understand the languages and as a reference while you are building your own programmes. Toodloo!

Xmas crafts! Seatbelt covers, sewn luggage tags, laptop sleeves, crochet Rorschach mask, diary cover, eye mask and peg buddies.

Hello world!

Here's a quick post of the xmas crafts that I have finally finished - just in time. :)

For my darling friend Kylee who came to visit I made a couple of my long seatbelt covers since she admired the idea - she too suffers from the sharp edge of the seatbelt and the short length of standard seatbelt covers. In addition I made her a collection of luggage tags since she and her husband travel a lot and own their own place now - meaning that their address shouldn't change for a good while, and they can therefore keep using these tags for the foreseeable future. I love my iron-on stuff - didn't it make adorable tags?

Next we have these two laptop sleeves which I made for my sister and brother. The idea came when we found the comedian tshirt for special ($5!) but they didn't have any big enough for my brother. I filled them with batting to give them some cushioning and went with a simple flat button closure instead of velcro because I could just imagine how wrecked the ole hook'n'loop would make the fabric in a short time. My sister's one is actually made of this awesome patterned velvet-type stuff that my grandparents' old lounge chairs are made of - I'm sure she'll appreciate that.

Since it was pretty simple, I made up a pic showing how I made the patterns for them. If you can't figure out my super-secret code, L, B and H stand for length, breadth and height, and all measurements are in millimetres. It has a 10mm seam allowance. Cut one of main fabric, one of lining, and cut a rectangle of batting 20mm shorter and narrower than the pattern, minus the flap. Pin the fabrics right sides together and pin the batting on top, sew and leave a hole in one side for turning. Trim the corners and the curve, then turn. Fold up, main fabric on the inside, and sew along one side with 5mm allowance, go around the flap and down the other side. Turn right-side-out, add a button and button hole and you're in business!

I also made this mask for my brother. It's meant to be like the one that the character Rorschach wears in The Watchmen. Can you tell he's into it? :) I would have posted a pic of me wearing it but it's far too big - my brother's head is mammoth. Anyway, it's crocheted with ivory bamboo thread, just like a long beanie, and then I made my own inkblot-type image with fabric paint and pressed the mask into it to get the pattern. Not bad for an experimental piece, I think.

For EJ's mum I made a diary cover which I like, but I'm worried she won't:

And for his sister a rice-filled eye mask:

Ooh and this is how I've wrapped all the prezzies this year - I love the look and I reckon it's tres classy. Not to mention cheap!

For my grandparents I put together a little composition of photos from my graduation since they couldn't come. It's cute, don't you think? Anyway, it's big and framed and now they can brag to their friends about how clever I am.

And now, my favourite item of crafty goodness this xmas - please meet the peg buddies!

This little guy is for EJ's grandparents. Do the penguin walk!

Then we have this wise fellow for my grandma. Yes, it's an owl. I will not listen to anyone who tells me it's a platypus. It's an owl!

And finally, this happy amphibian is for my Mum.

Nourish them with pegs and they'll help you hang out the washing! What a fun way to use little bits of fabric and reuse those little useless hangers you get when you buy new underwear. Eco-friendly and cute, people. That's right.

Say goodbye guys! It's time to be wrapped up for the relos.

If people are interested, I may be able to put together a tutorial/downloadable pattern for the peg buddies. But really, it's just an idea that you can execute on your own, making it up as you go along - that's what I did.

Anyway, it's time for me to get going - we've found our new place and I need to get into the business of packing.

Merry xmas everyone!

~Eyespiral

P.S. Apologies for the poor image quality for this post - normally if they turn out this bad I just go and take some more photos, but since these all needed to be wrapped I can't retake them.

P.P.S. This might be the first post that I've written and posted all in one session. Amazing!

Fishtail skirt, summer dress, sewn greeting cards, another diary cover and four varieties of Hunt the Wumpus!

Hello world,

Well! It's been a long semester, and therefore a long time since I dedicated some time to a blog post. It is time for this to change! I have lots of things to show, and plans for more on the way. :)

What to do first? My own chatty news or some piccies of creations that occurred in the last... six months? I think creations. Maybe interspersed with my normal chatter.

First of all we have this extra-groovy fishtail skirt. I followed this tutorial, minus the extra frill, and I think it turned out splendidly. Don't you? This is probably the most professional piece of clothing I have ever made. EJ's mum gave me a book voucher for my birthday back in July and I got this great big book of sewing, which has all sorts of nifty advice in it. (I must admit, much of the stuff I took on board and used in this skirt were things that my Mum had taught me at one time or another, but that I gave up doing pretty quickly because I am one impatient puppy.) Things like tacking seams together before actually sewing them with the machine so as to prevent any accidental slips, and tacking the zip in place in order to get it done just right (so, so much tacking - I guess I just never wanted to waste all that thread), and nice ways to neaten up the raw edges (I used bias binding for this), and how to install a proper interfaced waistband. Speaking of such, I was very cranky when I went to my local Spotlight and asked after waistband interfacing and received the response, "[derisive snort] Never heard of it." No offer to ask someone else, no offer to check on the computer, not even an apologetic smile. I know not everyone knows everything, but if the big Spotlight brand is going to push all the small businesses out of town, the least they could do is train their employees properly! Anyway, after that I went for a wander about the notions section and stumbled across the exact same waistband interfacing, brand and all, as the one described in the book. So good for me and my skirt, bad for Spotlight's street cred.

That picture doesn't really do the skirt justice, now that I look at it. Anyway, here's a close-up for the waistband and ultra-pro zipper:

...and a pic to show you how awesome the tail is (and how much dern material I needed to make this lovely garment).

It's lots of fun to spin around in circles in - looks read pretty!

All right! I've also made this beautiful dress for a bargain sum of $15, also thanks for EJ's Mum. She also gave me a Spotlight voucher, where I got the pattern on special and the fabirc at just $4/metre! The second-most professional piece of clothing I've ever made (because I made it right before the fishtail skirt). The only problem is that I've lost weight since I made both these, so they're starting to look a bit funny on.

That's right, astute readers - I have had great success in my Weight Watchers efforts this year. I am now a (I cannot believe it still) size 10! Not only that, I am in my healthy weight range for the second time in my adult life! Unfortunately, the notion of being fat is still so completely ingrained in me that I doubt that I will ever feel slim. Not to worry though - being able to fit into smaller clothes goes a long way to helping me blot those feelings out. The only problem is that since we moved into the new house, I have not kept up my measly exercise routine, nor have I managed to keep to my points regime. For the present I am skating along on my adjusted metabolism, but if I don't start being frugal in my eating choices soon, I've no doubt that I'll start piling the old weight back on. So I guess I should make a commitment by the time I finish writing this blog post. The commitment is: I will return to Weight Watchers and exercise, effectively getting rid of my wobbly bits that keep my overweight mindset, as soon as I come home from my trip to Queensland this month.

Speaking of all this made me think - should I post WeightWatchers-friendly recipes on here? I made a poll, which you can find on the sidebar. Please help me decide!


Next on my list of things to share are this little sewn greeting cards. I always enjoy reading the funny greeting cards that you find at the shop, but I also never like to buy them if I can help it. As long as I can remember at my house we always tended to make greeting cards (except for my Dad, who delights in finding cards at a bargan price of a dollar or less), not just because it's a bit of fun, but because you know you're giving something unique. So considering this, it was only a matter of time before I combined sewing and handmade greeting cards. In fact, I think the main reason I did it (aside from having left getting cards for some people's birthdays until right before I was meant to walk out the door) was because I was completely out of double-sided tape and pretty paper. Solution? Use all those pretty scraps from ties you've massacred in the making of a tie dress which you still have yet to complete. Grab a piece of card, fold it in half, cut the scraps to any shape or size you want, then sew sew sew. Et voila!

Too bad the camera's flash blew out the colours on some of the pretty tie fabric. I definitely am going to make myself a light box for taking photos of smaller creations such as these. Yet another item to add to the future projects list.


Next is this diary cover which I made for my darling friend Kylee's birthday. It's made the same way as the previous covers, but I like to share. :)

The image is one that I made myself, and the sources I used can be found by clicking on the image below to be taken to the original posting on deviantArt. It's called False eyes.

The big news for pretty much... no one but me, I guess, is that I have four varieties of Hunt the Wumpus available for download! Hunt the Wumpus is an old computer game, originally text-based when it came out in the 70s. During my last programming subject at uni - CSCI337 The organisation of programming languages - we had four assignments in which we were to develop Hunt the Wumpus using a different programming language and programming paradigm each time. My four varieties are as follows:

• Hunt the Wumpus - Lisp (Functional paradigm)
  This is basically the original game as from its creator (Gregory Yob), but programmed in Lisp rather than BASIC.
  
  
• Hunt the Wumpus (evoke) - Fortran (Imperative paradigm)
  This follows the same narrative of the original game and the same rules/events/hazards, etc, but I rewrote the story to be a bit more evocative. Programmed in the dinosaur language Fortran77.
  
  
• Wumpus Noir - Literate C++ (Literate paradigm)
  Here is where I start to make it a bit more fun! The Wumpus is now a mafia boss, and you are a detective on his tail. It was great, though my darling Karina pointed out after I'd finished that I'd consistently spelt labyrinth incorrectly the whole way though - 'labarynth'. Not to worry. Anyway, this one is using C++ and the literate programming paradigm, one that is very smart and really ought to be used all the time, in my opinion! It forces you to document your code, something which future programmers will thank you for.
  
  
• Wumpus Intergalactica - Prolog (Logical paradigm)
  Finally, we have the sci-fi variation. You are a bounty hunter off to neutralise the Wormhole Union of Marauders, Pirates and Unsavoury Scoundrels, aka the WUMPUS. Written in the very frustrating logic language Prolog. While nowhere near the insanity of Lisp, this language is tricky to get used to, and should be left for AI and not games.
  

I am going to upload these games with instructions on how to load and run them on a Linux system since that's what I used to code them, but I am not going to do that now lest I never post another blog entry this year. So I will update this post with the appropriate links once I have completed that arduous task.

***Edit: You can now download and find the instructions for all my Hunt the Wumpuses in their dedicated post, which you can find here.***


Finally, I'd like to end this with an interesting site that I discovered during my astronomy class this semester (which was tres awesome, by the way). www.nasaimages.org not only saved my bacon while putting together my final assignment, it has a wealth of beautiful space images that anyone can access, like the gorgeous infrared image of the Helix Nebula below (FYI, the Helix Nebula is a planetary nebula, which is misleadingly named because it resembles a gas giant like Jupiter when viewed through a week telescope - in fact, it's the carcass of a star similar to the Sun). Of course you should always be sure to follow copyright laws, but no-one is stopping you from grabbing one of these hi-res babies and using it as a stellar desktop background. Click on the images to be taken to the original article and image.

And that is all for me today. But coming soon you can expect a look at the various items I'm making for xmas presents this year, as well as a tutorial to make the lady-tails from a while ago. And of course, a post detailing the excitement of quadralingual Hunt the Wumpus!

~Jessica

End of Semester - crochet bonnets, crochet easter baskets, sewn diary covers, crochet jumper and beret

Hello world,

Well, the semester has been arduous and the exams are still yet to come, but I felt like it was time that I made another post here, just so y'all don't think I've fallen off the planet.

I did find the time to work on a few little projects over the last few months, so here they are:

First, our new neighbours had a baby girl. I decided it'd be darling to crochet her some booties and a bonnet. Unfortunately, I forgot the take a photo before I gave her the booties. The bonnet, however, came out a lot larger than I intended - here's the one I made from the same thread as the booties:

As you can see, it worked out just a tad too large for a newborn. So I decided I'd get out great-grandma Stinson's old thread crochet gear and try again. Here's the much smaller and more adorable and lacy result:

Isn't it adorable? I love it to bits. Of course, when I get some nice soft white silk ribbon I'll replace the stiff red satin stuff.

I also got my craftybones out for Easter time. I crocheted a collection of Easter baskets for my family with which they were delighted:

I have also made a couple of diary covers. As I mentioned a while ago, I found the cutoffs basket in the upholstery section of my local spotlight, where you can get copious amounts of pretty, sturdy fabric for very cheap - copious amounts if you're making little items such as diary covers, that is! First we have this deliciously lacy number:

And this adorable and snug-fitting purple one, too. It has pockets in the inside of the front and back covers for keeping track of loose notes and the like, and elastic on the edge to hold your pen.

My etsy store has become empty because my listings have expired, but as anyone who's looked at my side banner in the past may have noted, I only had the one item for sale - Fervourography, my compilation of prose and poetry. I will be relisting this, but in addition I'd really like to make a collection of these diary covers and list them as well. And I'm planning on making more bookmarks, too. Then I will have a whole THREE types of items in store, can you imagine? :)

The most recent project I've got to show you is twofold - a crochet jumper and matching beret:

I'm really happy with this because it's so cozy - mohair and silk blend - and I made it without the help of a pattern.

I started writing this post aaages ago but I put off publishing it because I thought I'd quickly take a picture of the other project I was working on - an adorable petticoat-style skirt. It's almost finished, I've just got to get a little more of the satin bias tape to cover the waistband. Here's a piccie anyway, just because it was the cause of my delay:

In news from my life, aside from exams coming up the big news is that we've been told we have to move out of our unit. The property was sold and the new owner wants to move in. What? You don't think that moving house creates the greatest study environment? Pah!

Fortunately we've found a new place to rent about ten minutes from here. It has 3 bedrooms instead of 2 and a lock up garage instead of a car space, so it's a move up. Too bad the price difference shows it! Oh well. I'm really looking forward to having enough space to set up my dining table and chairs that until now have been in storage at my parents' place. I'll be able to hold a dinner party! Or, thinking more mundanely, I'll be able to eat my dinner at a table rather than in front of the tv! And the extra bedroom means that we can have both a craft room and a study, and since all three rooms have built-in wardrobes I'll have somewhere to put all my stuff. It's almost disappointing to recall that we'll only be there for half a year before moving wherever I get a job in 2010. But let's not think that way, but instead rejoice in the extra space I'll we'll have!