iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 18h

My previous, TNG-era crochet cardigan project garnered me 25 follower on Reddit (likely directly from the r/Brochet community). Makes me wonder how much attention this Lower Decks cardigan is going to have! =^.^= Fortunately, I am doing this for myself as opposed to the attention it might get me.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Okay, testing is going well! Because this is going to be top-down, and the black "caps" across both shoulders are going to be draped from front to back (or so), there needs to be a seam *somewhere* to change directions. So, shoulder seams, right? #crochet #tunisiancrochet #lower-decks-cardigan

A mock-up of one shoulder of my Lower Decks cardigan, made from a section of Tunisian Simple Stitch (aka, the Afghan Stitch) with a mitred diamond shape off the side.

Despite being made like a rectangle with a square attached to it by two adjacent sides, it actually has a very recognizable shape as the top of a shoulder.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

No new pictures until tomorrow, but I'm curious whether this is going to be way easier than the regular crochet cardigan. I've made a very simple mock-up of one shoulder, and it doesn't look like I need to shape the shoulders this time... #lower-desk-cardigan

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Today, I'm apparently not doing much. I'm preparing to install a much more recent version of Linux, but due to how old the current one is, I'm basically shoving the current stuff aside to make a fresh install. Maybe it'll actually run properly after this...

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

This is *absolutely* my most favourite scarf I've ever made, now! Unfortunately, it's also way warmer than I was aiming for. It's been hovering between 10-20°C (50-68°F), and even the low end of that scale is too warm for it. It's a little sweat-soaked after just two wears... =^.~= #trek-scarf

My Star Trek inspired scarf, folded in half width-wise twice, leaving one of the red ends (with lovely diagonal end and colour change) laying on top of the black section that goes around my neck. A small DS9/Voyager era Combadge pin is on the red section, adding the final touch to the whole result.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The official start for my Lower Decks uniform cardigan project! This is one of the shoulders, with a TSS section to be draped from back to front over the shoulder, and a right-angle section off the side. #crochet #tunisiancrochet #lower-decks-cardigan

On the left, a small pad of paper with a quick sketch of the shape the shoulder caps may need to be. On the right, a Tunisian Simple Stitch strip with a right-angle section off it. The idea being the right-angle section tops the outside of the arm, and makes a downwards-pointing chevron for the white strip around the shoulders for the Star Trek: Lower Decks uniform this cardigan is based on.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Another status update on the Lower Decks cardigan: I'm about to start the VERY first steps on this thing. By making the weaving frame for the Combadge pocket. Last time, I knitted a tiny pocket for the metal back-plate on the badge, but it stretched. So this time, woven. #lower-decks-cardigan

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Most people will have NO IDEA how frustrating it is having a single device (Android tablet, in this case) whose clock is almost *never* right. My very aged Asus ZenPad 10 tablet (at least, the one that works right now) has its clock go up to an hour (usually behind) on a hugely irregular basis.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

As it turns out, my DS9/VOY Combadge pin works *very* nicely to hold the ends of this scarf together! =^.^= Also, it seems I'd forgotten a bunch of tags last time: #startrek #startrektng #startrekds9 #startrekvoy #startrekvoyager #startrekcrafts

My hand-made Star Trek inspired scarf, with black in the middle around my neck, and red down both ends hanging down my front. The ends are sloping upwards towards the middle, as does the colour changes between red and black. A DS9/Voyager era Combadge ping keeps the ends from trying to slide away from each other.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This lovely yarn in Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch scarf form. I'm not sure this is the best way to use it though, as it's definitely firmer than the yarn was. Though I'll finish it off before deciding whether to keep it or frog it... #crochet #tunisiancrochet #crochetscarf #blue-scarf

A slightly darker than steel blue yarn being made into another Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch scarf, where both sides look like the front of the knitted Stockinette stitch. The afghan hook making it is 3.5mm in diameter.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

And it's complete! =^.^= Easy Knit's "Baby Luv" yarn, a 2.5mm afghan hook, and the Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch have made the *softest* 100% acrylic scarf I've made so far! Absolutely worth buying more of this yarn! #crochet #crochetscarf #tunisiancrochet #trek-scarf

My Star Trek inspired scarf, worn the way I intend it to be worn: With the slopes on both the ends and the colour changes sloping upwards into the middle. The ends are bright red, while the section that wraps around my neck one and a half times (to put both ends down my front) in black.

An overview of the bright red ends of my Star Trek inspired scarf. Each end slopes in the opposite direction to the other, with the colour change to black matching the same slope as the closer end.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Well, *trying* to remember to wear my wrist brace when riding buses, at least. I'd managed to forget most of the last few times I've ridden buses, though fortunately I haven't been feeling much trouble with that wrist lately. I'm still staying away from crock pots, at least! =^.~=

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Okay, progress IS being made, though I'm not taking the best pictures of any of it yet. I've redone the ending hem into a very, VERY weird "Tunisian HDC" thing, made the top edge merge seamlessly into the left edge, then wove the end through the open gaps to great result. #trek-scarf

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Reposted by Carl Foxmarten

sleepyjohn00.bsky.social @sleepyjohn00.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It’s the time when the Great Pumpkin is watching all the children, so he can bring toys to the children who have been good. It’s Pumpkin Spies season

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I've turned this skein into a cake (as those are easier for me to handle, especially when I didn't have the label in the first place), and the skein held up remarkably well towards the end! My current plan is another Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch scarf. Hopefully there's enough!

An unknown steel blue yarn skein, with a massive hole down the center, somehow still holding its extremely hollow shape despite having three quarters of the yarn pulled from it.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Okay guys, where's that "fursona carcinization via VRChat" video that was on here a few days ago?! #vrchat

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Well, I've managed to lengthen the scarf back to where it's supposed to be. Unfortunately, my tensions have changed between the first and second red sections, and the slopes of each end are also different. Plus, the hems at each end are too.=>.>= #crochet #tunisiancrochet #crochetscarf #trek-scarf

My Star Trek inspired scarf, with a black middle and red ends, and both ends and both colour changes being on diagonals. Uses the Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch, and two colours of Easy Knit's "Baby Luv" yarn.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Had to service my by-now-ancient Logitech G600 mouse again today. A large ball of dust around the scroll wheel, and the buttons are getting harder to desolder nowadays. Fortunately, I still have about a dozen more replacements, but if the circuit board pads start dying, it'll be actually dead.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Status update on the wrist: It's basically back to very close to normal, and I can even wave a small cast iron frying pan around without any trouble the next day. Though I'm still staying away from crock pots, and am still wearing my wrist brace when travelling on the bus. It's not 100% yet =>.>=

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

What I want out of a mob-filtering Minecraft mod is: No hostile mobs spawning in the Overworld except: - Allow all "partially-hostile" mobs like normal (such as Slimes and Ocelots). - Monster Spawners and Witch Huts can work like normal. You wouldn't think this would be difficult... =>.<=

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Aw, crud. I miscounted my rows! =>.<= I'd put stitch markers every ten rows to make counting easier, and counted the marker on the *first* row, missing ten whole rows! At least I didn't cut the yarn yet? Plus, I got to practice the top row... #crochet #tunisiancrochet #crochetscarf #trek-scarf

My Star Trek inspired scarf, made using the Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch, and having a diagonal start, two colour changes on opposing diagonals, and a mistaken end on the same slope as the final colour change. The second red end is noticeably shorter than the first. Whoops...

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Mostly an experiment, though this is why I wound 150 grams of this two-ply, 40-weight thread into a ball. It's the Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch again, though it's so fine a yarn that I'm having trouble seeing what I'm doing... #crochet #tunisiancrochet #thread-scarf

An experiment using some rather thin 40-weight cotton thread with the Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch, which results in a very thin, slightly scratchy so far, material. Given the large hook size compared to the thread, there's plenty of holes in it to see through.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

WHERE ARE ALL MY 2.5MM CROCHET HOOKS!?!?!?! I've dug through three of my hook sets so far, and they're ALL missing that one hook size! I'm not making *that* many projects with smaller yarns! =>.<= #crochet

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I've paused trying to ply this for the moment and have hand-wound a 150g ball of this stuff by itself, so I can try to make a scarf or something with it to see how it works. It is *seriously* tempting to try a Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch scarf! =^.~= (if I have a hook thin enough!) #yarn #thread

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Why I don't want hostile mobs randomly spawning in my #Minecraft "Floating Islands With Biomes" world! Due to just how tall the very weird terrain is in this world, this would pretty much be impossible without plenty of armour, very strong weapons, and an Elytra and rockets.

A view of an entirely covered chunk of land in my Minecraft Java "Floating Islands With Biomes" world. Bounding boxes have been enabled, showing just how many hostile mobs have spawned in, despite my attempt to prevent them.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Well, I've finished the second colour change, and haven't even used all the yarn I'd pulled out to ensure I had enough yarn for the colour change! Turns out, I didn't need to worry! =^.^= Not much longer now! #crochet #tunisiancrochet #crochetscarf #trek-scarf

My red and black Star Trek-inspired scarf in progress, using the Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch, which looks like the front of the knitted Stockinette Stitch on both sides. It starts with red at one end before switching to black for the middle, and both starts and changes to black on the same diagonal. At the other end, the colour change back to red slopes in the opposite direction, before reaching the afghan hook and the cake of yarn I'm working from.

Uses a 2.5mm afghan hook and Easy Knit's "Baby Luv" acrylic yarn.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Aha! I was wrong! There IS a mod to control mob spawning! I just have to figure out how the actual mod I've installed differs from the documentation on the mod's page here. Because I don't have either file listed there, I have a .yaml file. modrinth.com/mod/mobfilter

modrinth.com

Mob Filter - Minecraft Mod

Serverside rules to limit mob spawning

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Anyway, since I can't seem to disable "wild" (ie, light level zero) hostile mob spawning with the mods currently available to me, I've just set the entire world to Peaceful mode for the moment. Once I have a full set of Diamond tools and armour, I'll set it to something else and see how it plays.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Guess where I've set my temporary base in my #Minecraft "Floating Islands with Biomes" world! =^.~= Apparently, there's no oceans in this world. At least, not that fills in spaces between biomes. Even more reason to defeat the Ender Dragon asap to get some wings...

A tiny, nearly pristine wooden boat floating in and amongst a bunch of other floating Minecraft terrain, in my Floating Islands world.

Off the bow of the boat, a blocky, single-wide path stairsteps upwards away from the bottom of the world, indicating that there is in fact life on the boat.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Make a band edible: The Turtles. (mmm. Chocolate and caramel!)

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Surprisingly, after just two hours of work on this today, I'm nearly finished the second colour change! That jumble of yarn at the top is from pulling out about six rows, worried there wouldn't be enough black yarn. Guess I didn't need to worry! #crochet #crochetscarf #tunisiancrochet #trek-scarf

My Star Trek inspired scarf, made with the Tunisian Double-Knit Stitch, starting with red at one end before switching to black (both on a nice diagonal!), and leaving enough room in the middle to wrap around my neck one and a half times, before starting to switch back to red again, on the opposite diagonal this time.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

More views of my #Minecraft "Floating Islands with Biomes" world! The real star of the show is, of course, "Complimentary Reimagined" shaders. Unfortunately, I'm having to play in Peaceful mode, as I can't disable the random mob spawning at light level zero without affecting everything else...

Floating Minecraft islands in the sky, with sand on one, trees on another, and grass on a third, there's a broad range of biomes included!

Shafts of sunlight pour down through gaps between the island-like terrain at the top of the world to reveal otherwise barely lit chunks of a myriad number of islands below.

A Minecraft Jungle biome split between several layers of terrain, showing just how deep the terrain in a Floating Islands-type world goes.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Okay, that's good to know. It turns out that #Minecraft Java 1.21.10 *does* support the "Floating Islands" terrain type. However! That *doesn't* mean it works properly. Here you can see that *everything* visible is now a variant of the "River" biome. And the white patch is "Frozen River".

A section of my Minecraft map, as shown by the Xaero's (Mini)Map mod. Aside from the missing sections in black, the rest of the terrain is either the slightly muted green of the River biome, or white like the Frozen River biome. Along with a bunch of orange dots representing pools of lava on the topmost level of the world.

A screenshot of the old "NBTExplorer" tool, which allows you to dig into Minecraft world files to view and edit the data within.

In particular, the important pieces of information are nested under minecraft:overworld -> generator, with the key "settings" listed as "minecraft:floating_islands" (indicating that this is a Floating Islands world), but under the "biome_source" nested group says the "type" is "minecraft:multi_noise", which indicates that it's supposed to use the normal Minecraft biome distribution, instead of just a single biome for the whole world.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Woohoo! =^.^= I've finally figured out how to force #Minecraft to give me Floating Islands but with ALL the biomes like normal. Basically, create a new normal world, edit the generation tag of the Overworld to be "minecraft:floating_islands", then delete all the Region files, plus a tweak or two.

A Minecraft world where the terrain has so, SO many more layers (and holes between the layers) than normal.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

This world is currently on hold now, as my younger brother may have figured out how to play with the map file to actually get all the biomes like you normally would, but with the "Floating Islands" terrain shape. Which I *really* want! Not sure how to poke it myself yet.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

And the black section is finally long enough, time to start changing colours back again! Which should give me a slight break while I re-cake the red yarn, as it's *extremely* loose right now and needs to be tightened back up again... #crochet #tunisiancrochet #crochetscarf #trek-scarf

My Command-Branch TNG-era Starfleet Uniform T-Shirt, with my Star Trek inspired scarf draped around my neck. One end is red, starting on a diagonal and switching to black on the same angle, before being black all the way around my neck, ending just at the same height as the end of the colour change on the first end.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Reminder on this #StarTrekDay, Canadian greats Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster parodied #StarTrek with Star Schtick: youtu.be/LVFSr015VtY

youtu.be

"Star Schtick" from Canada's Wayne & Shuster Show!

YouTube video by lovesvegas

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

My #Minecraft "Floating Mushroom Islands" world. I did pop out to the Nether for a bunch of wood (over a stack and a half. It's a Crimson Forest biome!), and have a Spider spawner for string. So, I'm fishing. I have enough iron for an anvil, and plenty of water to make my own fishing hole.

A large, square fishing pond I dug in the top of my "Floating Mushroom Islands" Minecraft world. My character stands on a small stone pier above the edge of the water, and a chest sits nearby for storage.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Way more views of my #Minecraft "Floating Mushroom Islands" world. I'm having serious issues figuring out the early vanilla Minecraft grind. It's why I usually prefer modded. But I was able to find a Spider spawner and get a bunch of resources from there already, including a bow and fishing rod.

A valley-like area in my "Floating Mushroom Islands" Minecraft world with a bridge of sorts across the middle.

A large empty "cave" in my "Floating Mushroom Island" Minecraft world, very open to the sky, with three streams of lava flowing downwards.

A view nearly straight downwards, looking at a hole straight through the "Floating Mushroom Islands" terrain of my Minecraft world. Near the bottom of the world, you can see the outlines of Abandoned Mineshafts hanging underneath the islands.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I've restarted this process of creating a "Floating Islands" world type in #Minecraft Java 1.17.1, then copying it over to my 1.18.2 instance. But this time, I *significantly* limited the render distance in the first instance, allowing the much taller world height of the second to show up sooner.

A Minecraft "Floating Islands" world type, using the Mushroom Fields biome. Plenty rounded blobs of Mushroom Island like terrain are floating in the air, with streams of both water and lava dripping from various sides. Both brown and red large mushroom structures are dotted across almost every surface.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I should note that I *am* still working on this, but since it's now in a (rather unique) project bag, it's pretty much "out of sight, out of mind" when I'm at home, so I've been forgetting to work on it when I'm not at the library. Pretty sure I've added at least four more inches so far, maybe six.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Um. Okay. That's big... Now, this *could* be the new terrain generation of 1.18.2 taking over from the 1.17.1 I'd initially generated this world in, so we'll see how the terrain changes as I wander around. Unfortunately, I still don't even have Iron equipment yet… Man, I need Elytra and rockets!

Some very flat Birch Forest terrain in Minecraft, with a very, very, VERY tall "wall" of terrain showing up off in the distance.

This is a world generated with the "Floating Islands" world type, started in Minecraft Java 1.17.1 and moved to 1.18.2 for the expanded world height and safer experience.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Not really "Floating Islands" here, but it turns out Minecraft Java 1.18.2 still supports this world type, *and* has a better experience for several reasons. Including hostile mob spawns at light level zero. Though I don't know if the taller world gets applied to old worlds.

A Minecraft world with a gaping hole in the middle, going straight through to the void below, revealing that the terrain isn't all that thick, and doesn't have a solid layer of bedrock below it.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

One of the crafting groups I'm in had the opportunity to show off a bunch of our completed items in that library's display case for the month of September. So of course I had to show my completed cardigan! (which also means I won't have access to it until next month!) #tng-cardigan 1/2

My crochet TNG cardigan being held up by pieces of cardboard, with the arms just floppily laying around without support. The buttons are undone here to show the horizontal piece of cardboard supporting the shoulders.

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

#minecraft Java used to have a World Type option that turned the Overworld into an End-like collection of islands floating in basically a void. Lots of opportunities for falling off. Anybody know what the last version it used to be in was? Or what it was called? (the wiki is useless here)

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I'm not really a Halloween person, but I do quite enjoy Bobby "Boris" Pickett's entire Monster Mash album. Any suggestions on how soon to add it to my current playlist? September first? Or October first? One of the lesser known tracks: =^.^= youtu.be/F-96BzXNm9c

youtu.be

Blood Bank Blues

YouTube video by Bobby "Boris" Pickett - Topic

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Okay, that's not good. I was washing my thermos this evening, and just holding the thermos itself in my left hand (OR the lid!) while scrubbing it, was enough to make the wrist ache. And since I was dealing with water, I couldn't wear the wrist brace. Ouch. =>.<=

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Things to NOT do while your wrist is recovering from a sprain: Manhandling the ceramic pot of a slow cooker around. On the slightly positive side, my wrist started hurting very shortly after this terrible attempt. Which has me worried about how much it's going to hurt tomorrow... =>.<=

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Carl Foxmarten @carlfoxmarten.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I'm weak. I saw this on the shelf, noticed that the discount code was for 40% off, and it immediately came home with me. I suspect this will probably replace the "Birch Bark" one in a knit cardigan project I've been planning for ages. #yarn

A 1kg cake of Caron Anniversary Cakes yarn, in "Buttercream" colours. Shades of brown ranging from medium-dark to cream, some grey, white, and a buttery yellow.

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