Tag: knitting

Just what the doctor ordered: Scientifically accurate fabric brain art

Yes. This is a thing that exists. Thanks to the Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art, no less. There’s even a wooden counterpart.


If that’s not your cup of tea – how about some mathematically accurate knitting? For example: a double-knitted Möbius-band-into-torus

The wool bone is connected to the… other wool bone

This woolen skeleton puts a new spin on broken bones being “knit” together.

More photos here, it is quite amazingly detailed.

The man scarf

I pride myself on being a bit of a manly man. I like football, red meat, and tinkering with bits of technology until they no longer work. I don’t wear v-neck t-shirts, or pastel colours, I can barely tell which side of most clothes shops is for men, and which is for women. And don’t get me started on modern shorts… alright. It’s too late.

A shorts digression
In summer I like to wear shorts. I don’t really like wearing board shorts (except to the beach) and I have lots of denim shorts (I don’t know why) – but nothing really in between except a trusty pair of cargos. Cargos are practical. Manly men wear them. They have lots of pockets.

So I went to DFO in Brisbane. It’s factory outlet mecca. The females of the species love it. It has lots of clothes shops, bag shops, and shoe shops. I searched high, I searched low, but other than designated sportswear and outdoor workwear there was nary a pair of shorts to be found that didn’t have stovepipe type legs with a folded up hem. These are girls shorts. Even I can tell that. Popular only with practical women and effeminate males. When did it become acceptable for men to wear shorts that tapered and finished above the knee, with the excess fabric folded up and stiched into a hem shape? And why can’t I buy normal shorts? Just regular. Practical. To the knee or below (but shorter than three quarter pants). Shorts. It drove me bonkers. Luckily it’s winter now so I don’t have to worry about the situation for another three months.

Back on topic
It is winter. And having spent the last four years living in the tropics, in Townsville, where the weatherman taunts the southerners by reminding them that it’s still 27 degrees during the day, I am no longer acclimatised to cold weather. Anything below 20 degrees requires three layers. My wife, who has blue blood (she tells me it’s a broken hypothalamus) can’t leave the house in less than four.

And it’s only going to get colder.

One piece of sartorial style of women and gay men that I envy is the scarf. It’s practical. It warms the neck. But in most senses and uses these days is a fashion accessory that is the realm of the metro or the homo:


Beckham even wears a scarf in the summer:

I think real men, if they’re going to wear scarves, wear them like this:

Though, according to this article, the way men are meant to wear scarves is:

“A man’s scarf should be worn inside his overcoat and exposed an inch above the collar, with the tie on view.”

But I don’t own an overcoat.

Apparently wearing a scarf, in this style, in New Zealand:

Prompts people to question your sexuality.

Pilots can wear scarves without similar questions being raised:

When I googled “man scarf” I found this “fresh off the press” article from news.com.au suggesting that man scarves are “in” this winter, and given my conformist tendency to non-conform I now have to suffer a cold winter, or invent some sort of leg warmer for the neck… Which somebody on instructables has already done for the ladies

Or I could throw my lot in with the cowl wearers – there are worse things than dressing like Batman…


Here’s a man’s guide to knitting one

He looks manly.
The cowl is a hoodie without the jumper. Practical and fashionable. Form and function. A triumph of winter wear. Problem solved.

Taking the “O” out of Lego

I love Lego. If you ask me why I want to have children one of the reasons high on the list is that I’ll get to play with Lego again.

The worst thing about Lego is that it hurts when you tread on it. It hurts a lot. Someone should invent cuddly Lego…

Oh wait, they have. You can even buy a knitting pattern.

And look, he comes apart…

Found here.

Little trophy of bunny homicide


Little sister number 2 also suggested I post this. Again, from etsy, another piece of macabre crochet work.

Killer craft


If you want your kid to look this awesome you can get the low down here. And why wouldn’t you? It’s quite a finning design. Found here.

No Beard? Darn it

I’ve always wanted a beard. I mean, who wouldn’t. Shaving is a pain in the neck. But alas, unlike my facially hirsute father I am follicly challenged on the lower part of my head rather than the top. But now, thanks to the miracles of modern knitting technology “I can hast beard”… and can even order a moustache to match every occasion. I give you. The Beardhead.

knit picking

I have never wanted to learn to knit as much as I do now. Thanks to this collection of macabre toys.

Bad case of carroted artery

Bad case of carroted artery