The Artishroom Bowl

Artichokes are horrendously expensive, but when cooked right, they can be absolutely delicious.

Matt and I came up with this delicacy sometime last year. We started with artichoke leaves boiled in water with garlic, lemon juice, butter, and a touch of white wine. After arranging them in a bowl shape, we roasted portabello caps, sliced them pizza-wise, and put those on top. Finally, we added sauteed peppers, some almonds, cranberries, and finely grated mozzarella cheese. Because the mushrooms were cut pizza-wise you could eat it... well, like a pizza. Just pick up an artichoke leaf, scrape off all the good stuff with your teeth, and... delicious.

Hat Band

Sometimes you see that item at the store and it's... well, it's not quite perfect. It's almost perfect. Now you have a couple options. You can whine and complain which doesn't get anybody anywhere. You can light the store on fire which gets you a free ride in a police car (and police cars are fricking AWESOME). You can buy it anyways and live with something almost perfect. Or, you can buy it and perfect it yourself.

In most cases this is somewhat difficult. Repainting a car, taking in the back of a suit (which means you have to take in everything else, too), finding an extra leg for that bed frame... but occasionally you find something easy to perfect. Something that only requires a caster wheel, a safety pin, or perhaps a simple slipstitch.

On that note I present to you: The hat I used to perfect my slipstitch.

iPod Headphones: Improved

Following my recent purchase of an iPod Shuffle (did you know they are only $50 nowadays?) I had to do something about the included headphones. Everybody knows they are practically ear magnets -- that is, they are repelled by ears. That is, they fall out. A lot. There's nothing I can do about the sound quality, but since I bought my Shuffle for use while exercising, I figured I wouldn't notice a lack of crispness about any drums or symbols while halfway up the mountain that is Tacoma.

Thus they became around-the-ear headphones. I already have a pair of these, but I'm too much of a stickler for sustainability to throw away a pair of perfectly good headphones, so now I have two pairs. I started by bending a short piece of mechanics' wire around my ear, and then putting headphone-size loops on the end by my eardrum. After that all I had to do was insert the headphones and wrap the contraption in electrical tape. Ta-da!

The mechanics' wire means they are a little stiffer than your typical soft-plastic wrap-arounds, and I haven't decided yet if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It definitely means they require more stress to fall out, which is nice if you are doing something with high volatility like riding a bike or going for a jog. They aren't quite as comfortable at first, but that effect goes away very quickly, and I think it's worth the sacrifice to not have to stop and lose your momentum to put them in again.

Winter Coat... with tails

Sometimes, inspiration just hits. What can I say? I wanted tails, and I wanted them practical. Thus became: The Blue Coat. I could even make a new nickname for myself -- "Blue Coat." I could make more and we could be a clan. Not that I think calling the British "Red Coats" was supposed to be a compliment.

The coat started out, as many of my designs do, on a sheet of paper. It was even a COLORED sheet of paper. I ended up using a pattern for a nightgown as an aid, though next time I make something this complicated I think it would be fun to try and pattern it myself. The "nightgown" I finished needed to be tailored like crazy so it didn't look like I was wearing, well, a nightgown. Then I added tails.

Features:
- Elbow X's (I thought X's would go better with the stripes than O's)
- Welted back pockets
- Two pockets inside the coat, one under either arm
- Stripes
- Passants (which I actually use for the strap of my bag)
- Hidden button rack (in the photo it's out, since the coat is... buttoned... but the button rack snaps inside the coat so it's not flapping everywhere if you're not using it)
- Water-resistant nylon shell
- Fleece lining
- Awesomeness

I finished it in two weekends.

Sifting Machine

So last year, I had this garden. This garden turned green, and things in it grew. "This garden can grow more," I said, "but how this to do?"

That wasn't very poetic. I apologize.

In any case, I made this sifter. My garden is currently full of rocks, and they need to be gone! So I shall shift them out! Muahahahaha!!! The compost shall be sent to the wire as well.

"Sent to the wire:" Sent through the wire of the sifting machine; ie, sifted.

The sifter is in two pieces. The bottom piece stays in place over wheelbarrow, while the top piece (think of it as a sled if you like) is pushed and pulled over it. This rocking motion sifts the dirt and smaller rocks through the chicken wire and into the wheelbarrow. Larger items are left behind.

For this sifter I modified these plans to fit my landlord's wheelbarrow.
(http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/public_works/compost_screens.asp)

Now I just have to wait for the soil to dry, and I can get to work!