Space: 1999 at Motor City Comic Con

A good friend and I went to Motor City Comic Con last month dressed in uniforms from the second season of Space: 1999. Space: 1999 was a two year long science fiction television show that was on just before Star Wars was released.

This is the first time I've worked with knit fabric or attempted to make a tunic and pants. Quite the adventure.

I tried to use a uniform pattern by John Flynn published in SFTV on 6, July 1985. Unfortunately, it proved difficult to scale. It wasn't quite correct. The uniform sleeve design is unusual. The right sleeve and body is cut from a single piece of cloth. The left sleeve attaches half way up the shoulder toward the neck instead of at the top edge of the arm, somewhat like a raglan sleeve.

After the first botched tunic, I modified a pajama pattern. 

The sleeve zipper runs from the color across the shoulder and down the left sleeve. To be visible on TV, they used heavy brass upholstery zippers sewn to expose the zipper. The zippers are significantly heavier than the sleeve and pant leg material, causing them to buckle and sag. Although not screen accurate, additional stitching to hold the folded over fabric on the zipper helped.

Another zipper runs down the left side of the pant leg.

The id badge image was created with Gimp and printed on ink jet photo paper which was glued to an old plastic badge. Between the badge and the paper I placed a pin back with the post sticking through a hole in the badge. I found a LSRO patch image, after printing it on ink jet printable fabric, it is sewn on with a simple satin stitch. You can find the patches here at viperaviator's deviantart site.

The second season belt is made from beige vinyl. It's pretty easy to sew two layers. More than two, not so much. A strip of velcro makes the belt adjustable. 

Since the uniforms do not have pockets, I modified a canvas bag I made out of an old karate gi and belt adding a Moonbase Alpha patch. 

I didn't expect to find much Space: 1999 stuff at Comic Con. Or even to be recognized by more than a couple of other "older" patrons or vendors. I was pleasantly surprised to run into twenty people who not only recognized the uniforms, they thought we did a pretty good job on them. A twenty-something couple in BSG reboot uniforms actually ran up to us shouting "Space: 1999"!

I also scored a few memorabilia. Comic books #1 and #4, and a complete set of trading cards.

Ode To A Tribble

With sincere apologies to Robert Burns...

Ode To A Tribble

Fair and full is your honest, furry face,

Great chieftain of the cooing race!

Above them all ye take your place,

Puppy or cat that purr:

Well are ye worthy of a grace

As soft and sure.

The groaning Klingon you screech shrill,

You shake and quiver still, 

Your sight would help to mend the ill

In time o' need,

While through your pores your love distill

Like amber bead.

His bat'leth seek labour delight,

And cut you up with ready slight,

Trenching your gushing entrails bright,

Like any ditch;

And then, O what glorious sight,

Thrice more are born, rich!

Then fist and blade, they stretch and strive:

Devil take the hindmost, on they drive,

Till their mortal enemies rive

In mounds of great hight;

Then to a warrior, thus cry

Be gone bloody PARASITE!

Is there that over the Klingon targh's mew,

Or Vulcan sehlat with toothy crew,

Or Ceti eel’s slime-covered larval spew

With perfect disgust,

Looks down with sneering, scornful view

On such a gentle trust?

Poor devil! see him over his trash,

As feeble as a withered rash,

His shank a good whip-lash,

His fist a nit;

Through bloody flood or field to dash,

O how unfit.

But mark the tribble-friend,

The trembling earth resounds his tread,

Clap in his ample fist a blade,

He'll make it whistle;

His enemies will fade

Like tops of the thistle

You powers, who make humanity your care,

And dish them out their worldly fare,

Old Terra wants no lesser ware,

That fails to sooth the furrowed brow;

But, if ye wish her grateful prayer, 

Give her a Tribble now!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Correcting Multiple Default Public Views

I'm not sure how this happened. It's probably a side effect caused by importing a 2011 solution into 2013. For whatever reason, I have multiple default public views for the same entity.

To fix this, follow these steps.

Step 1: Create a new view called something like "TEST". You'll be deleting it later so it doesn't really make any difference what you call it. Just call it something obviously superfluous.

Step 2: Select the "TEST" view and make it the default public view. One of the duplicate "Default Public View" settings will revert back to "Public View". At this point you'll still have two "Default Public View" views. Wait, it'll get better.

Step 3: Double click the "TEST" view to open it. Now delete it. Don't bother trying the shortcut to delete it from the list view, it doesn't work. For some reason deleting it from the view edit window works.

Step 4: Now you have a view list with only one "Default Public View". Check to make sure it's the correct one. If not, select the correct view and set it as the default.

This beats having to edit the XML as suggested here. If this doesn't work, you can try to follow these instructions. I wasn't required to save the solution between steps to get it to work.

Kilts and Such: Balmoral Bonnet #2

Note: This is actually a pretty old blog post. I'm on bonnet #6 now with a diced border. For some reason, Blogger goofed up this post and I had to delete and recreate it from scratch.

Balmoral bonnet #2 is finished. The yarn is Cascade 220. By far, Cascade 220 is the best yarn I've worked with. I understand why Anne recommends it in the Classic Highlander's Balmoral Bonnet pattern.

As with bonnet #1, the cockade design is from "So You're Going To Wear The Kilt" by J.Charles Thompson.

I used petersham cotton/rayon ribbon from Judith M Millinery Supply House for the head band and tails. Much softer look and feel. I really like it.

I used the medium size pattern instead of the large. My head is right on edge between the medium and large patterns. Unfortunately, felting the head band to the correct size resulted in a too small top. The slouch wasn't large enough.

Correcting this was fairly easy, just wet the bonnet and stretch it out.

Had to frog bonnet #3. The inexpensive black yarn proved to be very fuzzy after felting. It was also difficult to knit with. Maybe I can use it as a pouch or felted bowl?

The bonnet #4 is dark blue again in Cascade 220. I am extending the middle knit even rounds section from 4" to 5" or maybe half an inch more to add to the slouch width.

Before fulling/felting

After fulling/felting

After stretching the top to fit

Head band and ribbon

Cockade

Kilts and Such: Knitting a Balmoral Bonnet

By SMcCandlish (Own work)
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html

I'm slowly building my kilt accessories both for casual wear as well as the Renaissance festival. One of the items I would like to add is a bonnet. From the several options available, I really like the look of a Balmoral bonnet.

If you google it, you'll find many places to purchase one. However, they are not inexpensive. I'm sure they are worth every penny, but I'm trying to keep within my budget which includes attending festivals.

My wife knits, and I casually mentioned my desire for a bonnet. To which she said, "Um...." To be fair, she has many knitting projects going on, several for other people, and I don't really want to ask her to take on another project. Besides, it's something I'm interested in, and the Saline Celtic festival is in a few weeks...

Learning to Knit
I decided to learn to knit. Stacey helped me look for a pattern, provided links to online training videos and resources, and best of all - she took time to show me the ropes (or yarn). This is significant since I'm the poster child for a difficult student. We both survived :-)

I started with a worsted weight yarn since this will be used for the balmoral pattern. Casted on using the long tail method, and practiced working flat with knit and purl stitches. I then made a simple toque using circular needles that ended up way too small. My stitches were way too tight and the gauge was at least 30% smaller than needed. As she feared, I was "man handling" the yarn. A second attempt produced a better toque, that was still 20% off but it was wearable.

Balmoral Bonnet Pattern
The Classic Highlander's Balmoral Bonnet pattern by Anne Carroll Gilmour was suggested by several members of X Marks The Scot forum.

Translating Knit-ish into English has been challenging. Once I approached it as if it were a computer programming language and graphed out as a series of nodes with decision paths and repetitive loops, it started to make sense.

After several false starts, I just finished the band and have started to increase the number of stitches to shape the bottom of the balmoral.

I'll post more as I complete it.

Finished Balmoral Bonnet #1
I used Lion Brand Yarn Fisherman's Wool. It's a very nice inexpensive yarn. My daughter picked out the ribbon colors.

The cockade design is from "So You're Going To Wear The Kilt" by J.Charles Thompson.

I have bonnet #2 in green (Cascade 220) felted and started knitting bonnet #3 in black. By far, I like the Cascade 220 yarn. You really do get what you pay for.  

Balmoral Bonnet #1

Traditional Bow

Cockade

Balmoral Bonnet #2

Things From My Desk: Montgomery "Scotty" Scott

Scotty encounters an over fed Tribble

Yes, it might look like a Ken doll. But it's got a phaser and knows how to use it. Er... that is if it were actually Scotty, and Star Trek were for realz, and...

I went to Motor City Comic Con last weekend. Other than the ridiculous wait to get in (1 1/2 hours with advanced tickets) and the dearth of real food or replicators, it was a lot of fun.

I've never been to a Con before. My daughter and friends wanted to go. I tossed together an Engineering shirt to go with my kilt... so I could be a Scottish engineer of course. For a quick sewing job it turned out ok.

Once her friends showed up, she was off, and I was on my own. Picked up my first Barbie doll Star Trek Action Figure and some other cool stuff. Lydia was able to get her Legend of Zelda sword - she went as Dark Link, also known as Link's Shadow.

I was asked for a photograph more often than I expected. I think the Think Geek Tribble may have had something to do with it. Or perhaps it was the kilt. We'll never know, but Tribbles do seem to attract attention.

Trills like Tribbles

The best encounter of the day was with Uhura. She's actually pretty shy. Her father asked if she could take a look at the Tribble and get a photograph.

Awesome Uhura being Awesome!

There was a lot more Star Wars than Star Trek, but it's all good!

The 501st Legion takes on an enemy of the Empire

It's Dangerous To Go Alone!