Indicating coarser Niche Zero grind settings

When brewing filter coffee, it's common to come up against one of the main limitations of the Niche Zero grinder: the Niche Zero has no markings past the 50 mark. Fortunately, there's a really simple solution to this problem:

When the grind size indicator is set to 50, add a small piece of tape above the 0.

Set your grinder to 50 and place a small piece of colored tape on the black calibration ring over the 0 mark. You can now adjust the grinder to create a coarser grind and keep track of where you are by tracking where the tape is. I like to think of this as creating grind sizes between 50 and 100 as the tape marks how much past 50 you've set the grind. To estimate the grind setting number, add 50 to the number marked by tape.

Reversing the Parks Dept. Ban on E-Bikes is a Matter of Equity

Last November, signs banning e-assist bikes were tacked onto Prospect Park's rule signs:

A yellow sign saying no motorized or electric bikes, scooters, and ATVs in three languages appended to Prospect Park's regular green rules sign
The original signs announcing this ban only stated it in English.

I'm in Streetsblog today with a piece about why reversing this arbitrary ban is a matter of equity:

Over Memorial Day Weekend, an infuriating scene unfolded in Prospect Park. A now-viral tweet showed NYPD and NYC Parks officers setting up a sting in Prospect Park, stopping riders on e-assist bikes, including parents transporting toddlers:

According to the tweet, officers were even threatening to destroy the e-assist bikes, which are legal to ride on New York City streets, but have been banned in Prospect Park due to an arbitrary decree from the city Parks Department. This policy is discriminatory and ableist, and harmful to climate goals. Council Members Shahana Hanif, Rita Joseph and Crystal Hudson, whose districts border or include Prospect Park, all agree that Prospect Park needs a thoughtful policy to include e-assist bikes. I also urge Mayor Adams to right this wrong and set an e-assist policy based in fact, not fear, for Prospect Park.

You can read the rest of my opinion piece on Streetsblog.

Why I left Instagram

Content warning: discussion of fatphobia in advertising

Practically overnight, my ads on Instagram went from annoying but benign reminders of capitalism to an utterly dehumanizing nightmare. Suddenly, every third or fourth photo of my friends' latest adventures with their kids, pets, and travels near and far was punctuated with liposuction ads.

Effective immediately, I've stopped reading and posting to Instagram because I refuse to subject myself to repeated messages pushing a potentially deadly procedure because people fear my "unruly" body.

Honestly, I'm disappointed that I've held out for so long here. I've spent a painful amount of time tweaking Instagram's advertising algorithm before by "hiding" ads and blocking accounts so it would stop showing me shapewear and diet apps - something I should never have had to do in the first place. Plus, hatred of fat bodies like mine has always been rampant on Instagram: many highly successful influencers' platforms are rooted in fatphobia, often directly.

I've previously delayed leaving Instagram because I knew I would lose social connections to people I care about, and I will grieve the connections I'm sure to lose. At the end of the day, the responsibility to create a safe platform for people no matter what body they inhabit should not be overwhelmingly borne by the people it harms.

Footnotes

  1. Regrettably, I will not delete my account as I need to maintain my namespace. I've been impersonated on Instagram before and do not want to allow an impersonator to have the username that most people would assume is actually me.
  2. I am lucky that my livelihood does not depend on creating content on platforms like Instagram; others do not share this privilege.

A color palette preview tool for Purl Soho's Mitered Corner Blanket

A fan of my Library Blanket color palette preview tool asked if I could make one for the Mitered Corner Blanket, so I did. This blanket's square building blocks are also made by holding different pairs of yarns together, so this tool can be used to help imagine how a custom yarn palette would knit up.

Side by side view of the Mitered Corner Blanket and my rendering in the Dawn color palette
Photo of the Mitered Corner Blanket in the Dawn color palette from Purl Soho next to my rendering of it. Note that my rendering is rotated 180 degrees as their preview photo is rotated 180 degrees from the schematic diagram included in the pattern. (Photo from Purl Soho used in compliance with the policy in their FAQ.)

The tool will also generate the color list for the yarn names given, so you can easy copy it without the bulk around the input fields.

I've included the original color palettes stated in the pattern, the additional palettes Purl created a year later, and two palettes of my own creation, and you can also create your own palettes either by selecting Purl Soho Linen Quill yarns from the dropdowns or by entering custom yarns in the text and color input fields. For each of the Purl Soho Linen Quill yarns in the dropdowns, I selected a hex color I felt corresponded well to the photo of that colorway. (Of course, a single color doesn't fully capture the subtleties in these yarns, and you may think a different hex color better matches a colorway than the one I chose! If you'd rather use a different hex color for a yarn, you can input it like you would for a custom yarn.) To preview this pattern with different yarns than the two Purl Soho specified in the pattern, you can enter your own yarn names and hex colors.

When you update any of the fields in the tool, the Mitered Corner Blanket rendering and color list automatically update below.

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or choose your own colors individually:

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Mitered Corner Blanket rendering:

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Color list:

A color palette preview tool for Purl Soho's Side Street Blanket

Joelle Hoverson designed another blanket that follows a similar construction as the Library Blanket, so I figured I'd make another color picking tool for the new Side Street Blanket. The varied blocks in this blanket are also made by holding different pairs of yarns together, so this tool can be used to help imagine how a different yarn palette would knit up.

Side by side view of the Side Street Blanket and my rendering in the original color scheme given in the pattern
Photo of the Side Street Blanket in its original colors from Purl Soho next to my rendering of the original color scheme. (Photo from Purl Soho used in compliance with the policy in their FAQ.)

The tool will also generate the color combo list for the yarn names given, so you know which two yarns are held together in each block.

As with the Library Blanket color picking tool, I've included the original color palette stated in the pattern, and you can also create your own palettes either by selecting Purl Soho Line Weight or Linen Quill yarns from the dropdowns or by entering custom yarns in the text and color input fields. For each of the Purl Soho yarns in the dropdowns, I selected a hex color I felt corresponded well to the photo of that colorway. (Of course, a single color doesn't fully capture the subtleties in these yarns, and you may think a different hex color better matches a colorway than the one I chose! If you'd rather use a different hex color for a yarn, you can input it like you would for a custom yarn.) To preview this pattern with different yarns than the two Purl Soho specified in the pattern, you can enter your own yarn names and hex colors.

When you update any of the fields in the tool, the Side Street Blanket rendering and color combo list automatically update below.

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or choose your own colors individually:

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Side Street Blanket rendering:

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Color combo list: