Exporting Wordpress posts for compatibility with Dropplets blogging platform
I recently found Dropplets, which is a neat blogging platform that allows you to simply copy and paste files onto any server. Using Dropplets allowed me to host my blog on my own domain as opposed to hosting it on Wordpress. It has a clean file structure that makes it easy to customize and update on your own server. All I have to do is add Markdown files to the posts directory that is created for you, and they’re up on the page as long as they’re published.
When kids enter...
When kids enter a makerspace in a school, their frame of reference should shift from finding the right answer to asking the right question. I just read the post, “3 Key Qualities for a School Makerspace” on the Make blog by Parker Thomas, and I really loved it. View the post here. I think it’s very true; makerspaces shouldn’t push outcomes on students - they should be a place to explore and ask questions and not feel pressure to perform or do something the ‘right way.
First Time Making an Infinity Scarf!
Recently, I’ve been working on a lot of blankets. It’s been a really easy way to remember how to crochet and knit. I’ve created a few granny square blankets and I just finished a simple knit blanket. Nothing too fancy. With all of those projects completed, I bought some really nice Baby Alpaca yarn and set off determined to make a circle scarf. It took me a few tries to figure out how to get it to look the way I wanted.
Another Set of Thank You Notes
On Saturday, I graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts. I can’t believe it’s over! I wanted to write thank you notes for my professors, advisors and friends, and I wanted to make them really personalized. So, I took some nice paper that I had (some of it seen in my papercraft Maker Corps box project) and designed a few thank you cards to show and tell them how much I appreciate their support throughout these years.
iOS App - The Blood Type Diet
For my senior seminar project, I chose to create an iOS app. I created an app similar to the existing app that my parents have for their company. I wanted to try to do a redesign to see what I could do, and I also had never written anything in Objective-C before, so learning that syntax was another goal. Another part of our project was to create a website to show all of our work.
Trip to Franklin Mill Store!
Today I had the pleasure of going to the Franklin Mill Store in Franklin, MA. The store is huge, and they have the most amazing selection of fabrics, yarns and tools. I had no idea they had that much yarn! There were walls of really nice wools, cottons and even a merino/silk/cashmere blend. I bought it.. it’s SO soft! I ended up buying much more yarn than I expected… Definitely worth it!
Makey Makey Simon Says
For the Makey Makey project for Maker Corps, I decided to create something that allows you to play Simon Says online! Instead of clicking the colors, I remapped the buttons of the Makey Makey (directions here: https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/388) to allow me to click on R, G, B or Y. I also started looking around to find objects that are conductive to use as buttons as well. I wanted to find items that were the four colors of the keys, which turned out to be kind of hard in the lab.
Re-learning knitting
I haven’t knit (knitted?) in a long time, and after the FiberSpace’s open house last week I decided to relearn! I bought some nice green yarn from Michael’s, got started and it came back really quickly. Soon I’m going to try to purl again, but for right now the regular stitches are working fine. (Edited with Afterlight for iOS) I’m really excited for this week’s Maker Corps activity - we’ll be working with eTextiles.
ArtBot
For this past week’s project for Maker Corps, the ArtBot, I wanted to use glow-in-the-dark markers instead of regular markers just to see if it would be a cool result. I messed around with them for a while (I taped them to the inside of a box that I bought at the dollar store), and really liked what my artbot did. I’d flash light on the paper to charge the ink and see the patterns that it created.
Burglar Alarm
In circuits class, we built a Burglar Alarm kit. This was my first time soldering as well, which was so much fun! The burglar alarm we created will beep when either 1.) two of the wires are connected or 2.) two of the other wires come apart. It was pretty cool! I can’t wait to solder more…