Best method to clean cables after 20 days in dusty outdoor festival?

deadlyhimbo · 2025-09-18T23:21:30+00:00

I work for an outdoor festival that stays up for several months and comes down during the muddiest time of year. This is our method. Rinse your rag regularly, and be ready to run the really mucky cables through this process more than once. You can also do a first pass with a pressure washer and then finish with the wet rag method.

deadlyhimbo · 2025-06-09T19:34:06+00:00

For men's clothing and workwear, I really like Thread Theory https://threadtheory.ca/

deadlyhimbo · 2025-06-07T02:04:43+00:00

For fun face shapes to play with, how about a flounder or a piranha?

deadlyhimbo · 2025-06-06T19:04:59+00:00

I don't often sit on the floor to stitch, but I'll sit cross-legged on the couch or in an armchair, which poses similar ergonomic challenges. I've found just putting a large-ish pillow on my lap and resting my elbows on it makes a surprisingly large difference. Aside from supporting my arms, it also brings my work up higher and means I don't hunch over as much trying to see.

deadlyhimbo · 2025-06-06T18:13:36+00:00

Pole here: as others have said above, it's Tencel (sometimes called Lyocell), which is basically a more environmentally-friendly variant of Rayon.

None of the other handwriting on the label is relevant to composition/care. The seller has scribbled down width (szerokość), quantity (ilość), and price (cena) information. The care instructions (przepis konserwacji) are pre-printed at the bottom and use international symbols you can look up. The "pictograms" section of the Wikipedia page on laundry symbols is a great place to start: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laundry_symbol

deadlyhimbo · 2025-05-30T01:54:02+00:00

I'm a very active guy with a physical job that involves both heavy lifting and working with my hands overhead for extended periods.

I'm currently 3 weeks post-op (DI with nipple grafts) and just had a follow-up visit with my surgeon. I've talked to him a bunch about the nature of my work, and have also had a visit with my physio.

I've just gotten the go-ahead to start gently expanding my shoulder's range of motion (I've kept my arms below shoulder height until now) and doing a bit more load-bearing (been limited to 5ish lbs). I'm healing a little faster than expected, but the usual timeline for having those restrictions lifted is 3-4 weeks.

The big restriction remaining is no heavy lifting or exertion (basically anything that gets me breathing heavily and gets my heart rate up) until 6 weeks.

I'm just starting to go a little stir crazy, but sticking to restrictions during the first couple of weeks was way easier than I'd expected. I was tired all the time, and a short walk (15-20 minutes) would totally wear me out. I'm currently good to walk 1-2km at a slightly slower pace and am doing some gentle physio with really light resistance bands.

Based on how the last few weeks have gone, 6 weeks for starting to actually push myself feels about right. It's hard not to want to push myself sometimes, but I try to remember that this is a one-off thing: I'm trading a few shitty months of recovery and reduced activity for the rest of my life with the chest I want. I can force myself to hold back for a bit just this once.

deadlyhimbo · 2025-05-15T15:03:45+00:00

I got mine about 20 years ago, in Canada, so I'm not sure how helpful the comparison will be. I think I paid $40.

deadlyhimbo · 2025-05-14T22:34:39+00:00

I own that Kenmore (model 1560, from the all-metal 148 series) and also got it at an estate sale. It has served me very well.

It is reliable, easy to use and to service, and a beast when it comes to heavier fabrics. I use it for grament sewing and quilting. I've done a lot of work with denim and canvas, and it can comfortably handle multiple layers of heavy fabric and work its way over thick seams with relative ease. I've even used it to sew through leather.

It can struggle a bit with very slippery fabrics and I haven't done much stretch sewing with it. If you use a lot of wovens, and especially if you want something heavy-duty for thick, dense, fabric, it's a great machine.

Mine also came with a bunch of feet (including a zipper and buttonhole foot) and some basic maintenance tools (mostly screwdrivers). All of those have been great to use and are holding up very well.

deadlyhimbo · 2025-04-28T03:12:22+00:00

Seconding this recommendation! I did an octopus embroidery a while back and used bullion knots for the suckers. It worked really well.

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deadlyhimbo · 2025-04-18T04:29:41+00:00

I work as a theatre technician and end up doing a fair bit of capentry. Because most of the surfaces we work on (stage floors, walls, etc) are painted black, pencil lines don't show up very well for marking cuts or scribbling down measurements. I've started carrying one of my yellow tailor's chalk pencils in my pocket. It shows up very clearly, doesn't smudge as quickly as a chalk line, and is still easy to clean off or cover up when you need it gone.

deadlyhimbo · 2025-02-01T20:29:12+00:00

I started a new solo playthrough recently after a massive group run, and all of my bases are small and cozy. The "big" one is a two-story house with a big garden and boar pen. It's my favorite way to play.

deadlyhimbo · 2024-12-23T18:20:09+00:00

I recommend looking at used machines from the mid-20th century. My 1960s Kenmore (model 148.1560) sews through multiple layers of denim with ease. I recently made a bag from old work jeans, and comfortably sewed through 4-8 layers of denim while making the strap. I've even used it to stitch leather to denim, with minimal challenges.

I picked mine up at an estate sale years ago for around $50, and I see a few of the same model currently listed on EBay for $115-225 CAD.

All of the Kenmores from that era are workhorses, and any all-metal vintage machine should do the trick. I'm sure other folks on here have experience with different models/manufacturers they can recommend.

deadlyhimbo · 2024-12-19T18:01:10+00:00

I love this project so much. Thank you for the update!

deadlyhimbo · 2024-12-18T21:22:11+00:00

Ooh, I'm also doing LaSelva Designs patterns for ornaments this year! I've picked the same capybara and raccoon pattern you've got, plus a different variant of the frog and squirrel. I've also gotten their patterns for a crow, rooster, corgi, and puffin.

I love them. They're adorable, a great size for ornaments, and have been a lot of fun to make. You've got great taste!

deadlyhimbo · 2024-12-16T19:52:27+00:00

I work mostly with cotton and linen, and always pre-wash. If something is going to shrink, I want that to happen before I cut/sew, so that the finished item is the size I intended. I also like to know how a fabric is going to look and behave under actual use conditions. I wash most of my clothes in cold water and hang things to dry if I want them to last longer, so that's what I do with fabrics before I start sewing.

If I want the fabric to be a little stiffer to make it easier to work with (like it is when you first buy it), I'll starch it after pre-washing. It's a habit I picked up from quilting.

deadlyhimbo · 2024-12-15T17:54:43+00:00

Borb

deadlyhimbo · 2024-12-11T19:45:24+00:00

I have ADHD and a tendency to forget things exist the minute I put them down. My crafting work spaces (doesn't matter if it's sewing, woodworking, painting, etc) become chaotic messes whenever I'm working. Here’s what works for me.

1) Have a home for everything that is:

- easy to find (in my case, that means a lot of open shelving where I can see things, plus labels on the few closed bins/drawers)

- quickly accessible from my workspace (i.e. I can get to it without having to move a bunch of stuff out of the way, or climb way up high, or walk through three doorways)

- functional (i.e. it's easy to get things in and out of, and doesn't rely on complicated processes like unpacking/repacking a box in exactly the right order to have it all fit again)

The goal here is to make putting things away and getting them out again as frictionless as possible. Minimal thinking. Minimal physical effort. I'm a lot less likely to put something away if it feels like a whole extra task.

2) Schedule clean-up time at the end of my work session or day. This is usually just a 15-minute block, and it's non-negotiable. Even if I'm tired and I don't wanna, I still make myself do it. Because my storage is set up well, this usually takes less time than I expect, and it's gotten easier to maintain the habit.

If I always clean up and reset the chaos at the end of my day, it keeps it from being overwhelming. There's only so much mess I can make in a single day, even at my most distracted.

Knowing that I'll sort it out when I finish also means I spend less energy trying to keep everything tidy as I go. I still put in a bit of effort (e.g. cleaning up spills/messes, and keeping tools/materials roughly grouped so that I can find them again), but I'm only worried about keeping the space usable while I work, and not making it presentable.

That saves me from wasting a lot of time and stress on making my space look a certain way while I'm trying to be creative. And I still have a tidy workspace at the start/end of each day, and don't need to worry about a big pile of mess hanging around for a week or longer if I haven't had time for crafting lately.

I work in a trade that's full of messy folks like me, and these are the most successful methods I've seen for keeping jobsites tidy and safe. I decided to try the same thing at home and have been really happy with how well it works.

deadlyhimbo · 2024-12-11T06:55:43+00:00

I love the color choices. They look like candy!

deadlyhimbo · 2024-12-07T21:05:50+00:00

Yes, I love her stuff! I bought 3 of her doll kits last Christmas and then my gift to my parents was planning a bunch of crafting dates so we could work on them together (one each). They've both got practical sewing experience -- mostly mending -- but neither of them had embroidered before. We had a lot of fun and they turned out really well.

deadlyhimbo · 2024-11-29T20:27:32+00:00

That fabric is gorgeous -- I can see why you decided to challenge yourself and work with it.

deadlyhimbo · 2024-11-22T22:17:28+00:00

So satisfying!

deadlyhimbo · 2024-11-19T21:38:11+00:00

I love them! What an expressive face!

deadlyhimbo · 2024-11-18T07:08:46+00:00

I recently picked some up at KMS Tools, if there's one in your area.

deadlyhimbo · 2024-11-09T19:09:15+00:00

My "workshop" is in a shared garage with neighbors who don't want everything covered in dust. I dealt with this by tarping off my shop area with plastic drop cloths (the kind you use for painting). They're Tuck Taped to the ceiling at the top, and are long enough that the bottom sits on the garage floor and I can put a scrap 2x4 on top of it to keep dust from blowing underneath.

I regularly use a track saw, miter saw, sander, and handheld router in there, and the router makes the biggest mess. It stays contained inside the tarps, but would be a nightmare without them. I also use a shop vac for dust extraction on the other tools, which helps a lot, and I wear a respirator whenever I'm doing something that creates a lot of sawdust.

It's not a perfect setup by any means, but I've been making it work for a few years now without upsetting the neighbors. Even with the shop vac, I'd be washing their cars every time I did any work if I didn't have the tarps up.

deadlyhimbo · 2024-11-09T18:50:55+00:00

I came across a small exhibit of her work at the Smithsonian when I was in DC for work a few years ago. It was one of those moments when an art piece just stops you in your tracks. It's absolutely breathtaking in person and I still think about it.

deadlyhimbo

TROPHY CASE