After I finished the variegated fisherman net scarf, and Bunny Bravehart wore it in NYC.

And after NYC it was sent to Elisa in Scotland, where Claymore decided that he should wear it too. 

After all of this… I had plenty of the silk left over and decided to knit another scarf for myself. I don't know if this a scarf or a mini-shawl? Let's call it a scrawl perhaps??

Last night I started the 10th color, a brown that border on a burnt umber. You can see a few rows of it on the left. After that I have a burnt siena and then the orange, that is visible above in the picture of Claymore. 

If all goes according to plan, it should be done by New Years day and then I can post a picture of ME, wearing it. 

I have been on a new project at work for about 3 months.
I am writing an application to read a data file and then transform it to another format but before we accomplish that, I have to learn the data format and what it all means.

For the past month and a half, I have been reading the specification and writing a program that will read the data, grab the header information, and put the result into an XML file.  That part is now done.

All the data to be read in from the original file is in binary format and that is what I have been dealing with. I have not worked with binary data in over 35 years. I know how it is worked with but everything I learned back in college is still valid in theory but the actual tools to use have changed and that is what I am working to learn.

Let's review shall we - 
Binary format is data that is either 0 or 1. This is also known as a base 2 numbering system.
[FYI, the numbering system we use in our every day life is base 10]
A BYTE is composed of 8 bits
00000001 = 1
00000010 = 2
00000011 = 3
etc.
There is such as thing as a nibble which is 4 Bits
And there are 2 nibbles in a Byte

A "word" is n number of bytes, but n depends on the type of computer system you are working on.
So way back when we got our first PC's that were 16-bit, that implied there were 2 Bytes in a word; in a 32 bit system, there were 4 Bytes in a word; and of course now that most of us are on 64 bit systems, we have 8 bytes in a word.

And when dealing with binary data; YES, you can Byte off more than you can chew (in a nibble) - ha ha.

Well my data file is made up of packets of 2 Byte words so before I can even start to read the data, I have to first swap the byte positions such that the byte in position 0 goes to position 1 and  what was in position 1 goes to position zero this is because the system writing the data is slightly different than the system that reads it on the computer I use.

After that I have to look for 3 Bytes (to be known from now on as the magical series). 
The values which are: 0xFA, 0F3, and 0x20. 
That is hexidecimal, which is base 16 which is counted as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A (in lieu of 10), B, C, D, E, and F (15 in decimal). So in normal speak I am looking for 250, 243, and 32 decimal values.

BUT get this, I can't just search for them across all the bytes; that would be way to easy. It turns out that the system that writes this data uses an odd system of bytes that are 8-9-9-8-9-9-8 bits but with a 8 bit writing to the file. SO this magical series of data that I have to look for is split across normal 8 bit Bytes but is contained in the weird series. 

How does one find those values.... well that is what bit masking for and that alone is a whole blog post on it's own. Lets just say, it is like subtraction to find how many 2 you can actually see in the number 12 or 2,523 and what positions they are in. Bit Masking allows you to see if the 2 is in the first (12) or last position (2,523). 
 
This image shows how I determined what the bit mask should be.

Once I find a magical series, I have to break up that section of the packet of data into 2,000 byte lists and then find the next magical series. 

But wait, there is one more twist. Occasionally the system that writes the data can toss out an extra bit or 2, or 3, and if this happens, all the rest of the bits are shoved off their position, I have to shift all the data x number of times (0-7 for a total of 8) and search for the magical series, again. Once the series is found, I can pull that data out and start searching again.
 
After 10 days of working on this bit of code (ha, ha a pun!) I have been able to process one channel (of 6) in one file.  It is a big accomplishment as I can now move on to the next part which is to read a clock and assign a running time value to each piece of data. 

Here are the numbers of what I was working in case you wanted to know:

• 9,378 packets of data in the file.
• With an average of 8,182 bytes per packet
• Total: 76,730,796 bytes to be searched or 613,846,368 bits.  
  

......... for an indefinite leave to pursue my main artistic passion.

I have many hobbies some of which are:

• Sewing (mostly clothing, some home goods,  and small stuffed dolls)
• Quilting (a specific type of sewing)
• Reading
• Knitting
• Weaving
• Cutting Cabochons (for use in my metal work)
•  And of course being a silversmith
  

Over the past years I have set a few aside because lost interest or other hobbies became more important to me.

I have not sewn a quilt in over 5 years but I have a list that is very long of ones I want to make when I get more free time (read that as RETIRE).

The tole painting I gave up due to lack of interest, my busy work schedule and new hobbies I liked more.

I started knitting so I had something else to do when I was traveling for work.  Now I mostly knit when I watch TV and yet I can set it aside for months at a time and still come back to it when the mood pushes me that way. 

When I stopped traveling over 7 years ago, I started to weave as a way to make specialty fabric blocks to add to my sewing. I then made scarves, towels, rugs, place mats and such. If it is fiber related, I most likely do it. But spinning not so much as it does not keep my brain occupied. 

I then set weaving aside because I tore my right rotator cuff and could not weave for over a year. After I went to Haystack 3 years ago, I took up weaving again.  This came about because I stopped working in metal (due to the cardiac issue I developed) I spent an entire year of Saturdays weaving at the Barn (insert link) and as my cardiac issue got under control, the metal came back into my life. I went to the barn to weave on Saturdays for almost 2 years.

Sometime last year, I cut back my time at the barn and only went every other weekend but would be there on a Saturday and a Sunday when there was a big event at the museum. 

On (most) Saturdays  and Sundays when I was not weaving, I was working on my skills as a silversmith. This was either taking a class or workshop or making a practice piece to learn a technique or refine a design or a small commissioned item.

But now, the time has come to focus on one thing.

And it is with a sad heart, I now set aside or take a long pause from going to the weaving barn (wait!  don't fret I can still weave at home!) The time has come for me to focus my energies on becoming a better Silversmith, and thus these extra days that I would have spent weaving will allow me to not only  take my skills to a new level but to finally start making items to sell online.

I will miss everyone at the Barn and if I am in the area I will swing by for a visit.

I have certainly learn a lot about weaving and have even done some weaving using silver wire and none of this would have been possible without the barn and the other volunteers there.

Don't worry, the Fiber Fiesta is on my calendar for next year.