Got some new tires for the whip, but kept the rear as a spare. The mechanic asked where my ride was and I told him I got an Uber. He was like "how are you gonna get this tire home?" Cord, duh. He tried to convince me to borrow or buy some kind of bungee contraption, but I passed. He seemed impressed by my rigging when i left. Didn't slip a centimeter on the ride home!

Anyway, got a diamond hitch secured by a studding-sail bend (ABOK #1678) at one end, round turn and two half-hitches (#1720) at the opposite end; a slipped third hitch creates a spot to stash the spare cord. Not shown is the sheet bend (#1) joining the two lines used. Probably need to learn another bend or two for the arsenal as the sheet bend was probably not the best choice.

Edit to get the right photos in here!

My kid's cereal bowl

I found this white paper very interesting when I ran across it years ago; YMMV.

I struggled to keep my shoes tied for as long as I can remember. I'd wind up having to double knot em, then I'd be too impatient to untie them, now I've got slip-ons...OK, but (k)not ideal. I came across this paper and, looking down, realized I had been doing it wrong. Just pay attention to how your knot sits. If it tends to lie horizontally (parallel to the floor) you're good to go. If it sits vertically (perpendicular to the floor) you've tied a granny knot and whipping and inertia will pull it loose all the time.

The fix is simple: change nothing about how you tie your shoes EXCEPT switch which lace is on top when you make the first half knot.

I was doing left over right, switched it to right over left. Loop up the right, floop the left over the top. Granny knot transforms in beautiful strong reef knot. Glorious. It felt unnatural at first, but after two weeks it was as easy and simple as could be.

(K)not too long afterwards I discovered a modified shoelace knot that upped my game even further. I'll share that in another post.

This time I opted for a buntline hitch (left side, ABOK 1209), diamond hitch over the top, and a round turn and two half hitches (left side, ABOK 1720) to finish it off. I also used a clove hitch (not pictured, ABOK 1245) on the opposite side to secure the first half of the diamond hitch, but it was unnecessary and only made it more time consuming to untie the whole thing. I will not use the buntline hitch again either; while it seemed very secure, it was much more difficult to untie than other knots I've used.

I secured the loose line after the final knot with a chain sinnet (see below, ABOK 2868) to avoid any mishaps on the ride home.

Been strapping my work bag to my seat, taking the weight off and vastly improving my ride quality. I settled in an a variation of a diamond hitch (shown below) started with a fisherman's bend (ABOK 1723) and finished with a round turn and two half-hitches (ABOK 1720).

May try a buntline hitch instead of the fisherman's bend next time.

Independence from the tyranny of commercial soaps.

Let's see how this goes. Water and raw honey, 4:1, hoping for a wild yeast mead. First time, so fingers crossed

Lavender bar soap unmolded and a week deep into its cure. Had some issues unmolding where the soap stuck in the corners, which is visible in the bottom right bar. Color is better now than it was out the gate, but still not quite what I had hoped for. All issues with this batch probably stem from the high proportion of Shea butter: crack after pouring into mold, sticking in the mold, bars feel a bit too soft. Proportion of butter was twice as high as it should been, but lesson learned. Will report back when it's ready for use!

First attempt at a ginger bug. Today is day 3 of fermentation, unsure what I'm going to soda-fy yet...maybe some apple cider? Still pretty cool.

I know its nothing fancy, but it's a huge step up from the no-name, no-info stone I picked up from a restaurant supply shop years ago. I'll keep y'all posted on my adventures.

Also, where is everyone?