SOPA/PIPA

But keep an eye on ICANN, too.

Live a good life

Live a good life.

If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care

how devout you have been,

but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.

If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them.

If there are no gods, then you will be gone,

but will have lived a noble life that will live on

in the memories of your loved ones.

-- Marcus Aurelius

Roi lives on in our memories.

Roi Ankhara Kwabena

23/7/1956 - 9/1/2008

Garland

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

-- from Anthem by Leonard Cohen

Fliplife!

Ok. It's official. I am a sad geek with no life.

The warning signs were there when I declared my devotion to Real Park. But now there is no denying I have no real life... because I have a Fliplife!

I expect there are a few acronyms I could toss out at this point so that the cognoscenti would know exactly what sort of set up Fliplife is, but I've never played anything like this before so I don't know the lingo.

I've seen it described as a cross between The Sims and Farmville (I have only a vague knowledge of either, so I really couldn't say). Whatever it is, I'm enjoying it thoroughly!

The game play seems perplexingly pointless at first but as you progress it all starts to make sense and becomes deliciously challenging.

You choose a "career" and then work to gain "cash" and "flips", which can be spent in the "shop" (what self-respecting avatar doesn't want to be seen in the latest fashion?) , on "training" to increase your earning power or on recreational activities that allow you to regain energy and build endurance.

Working as part of a "team" builds your "friends" base; working with friends increases your bonuses - win-win!

I'm probably explaining this really badly but let's just say I'm totally addicted and I'm hoping you'll give it a try and get sucked in too. The more the merrier!

Update 6 Nov 11: Here's my personal invitation link. I'd love to see you there!

A walk in the Park

First of all, I should point out that a lot of the time I'm 50-something going on 12.

With that established, I want to tell you about my latest Favourite Thing.

For the longest time I've been scouring the internet for a 3D virtual reality to play with. Not one of those "games" where I'd have to kill monsters or race cars or scale sheer cliffs or do anything like that. Or do anything at all! Just somewhere that I could wander around and explore. Somewhere calm and restful and pleasant to be.

I've found it!

Real Park - free from Schillergames.

Wander around, ride the train, go for a swim, chat with other visitors to the park (or not - you can visit offline) or just sit on a bench, watch the sunset and listen to the birds twitter.

At the moment, all visitors are blue-jeaned males with their nicknames emblazoned on their white tops, but different characters and wardrobe options are in the pipeline.

Hope to see you there!

Things that go munch in the night

We'd known for some time that we had a fox visiting our garden in the night.

He first came to our attention last December when he appeared a couple of time at dusk, helping himself to the crispies put out for the birds - "crispies" being the bits of batter that break off when you deep-fry fish. They are skimmed off and discarded, but our local chippie is good enough to save bags of them for us.

When we told them about our latest diner they started putting in the odd piece of fish and battered sausage - bits that had sat too long under the warmer - and these we left out for Foxy after dark. They were usually all gone by about 2 in the morning.

Naturally, the staff at the chippie hoped we'd have pictures... So we decided to treat ourselves to a trail camera, and were lucky enough to have success straight away.

That's a great lump of battered cod in his mouth. :-)

Yes, we'd known about the fox.

What we hadn't known about was this guy:

A European Badger - generally more placid than his North American cousin (unless threatened, then watch out!) and quite willing to visit peoples' gardens if food is on offer.

Chuffed to bits we were! We now put peanuts out as well as fish. Boy, does he love peanuts!

Here's a few more nice photos:

Peanuts! Nom, nom, nom...

What is that light?

Ah, and this is Blue, our outdoor cat. We get lots of shots of him and his little feline friends.

Garland

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

-- Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn: Her Life in Her Own Words)

It's a Hard Life

Remembering Roi

Roi Ankhkara Kwabena
23 July 1956 - 9 January 2008

There's a wonderful video by Maximilian Forte of Zero Anthropology, of Roi's powerful poem Obeah Man* -

"Deep Obeah". Enjoy!

*from Whether or Not (text) and Y42K (spoken word)

We've got snow!

Yes, I'm one of those people who actually loves it when it snows.


This lot was dumped on us in 5 hours yesterday evening.


Ok, my former neighbours in Winnipeg will be saying, "You call that snow?"

But this area of the country rarely gets any snow, never mind this much.


And this is our second batch. The first arrived back in November.
Unheard of!

"Wot is it, Mummy?"

Garland

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.

-- Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

Cyprus, here we come!

The forecast for Harwich:

The forecast for Larnaca:

Hey, you know... we'll send a postcard, 'kay? ;-)

To be honest, we picked October for our second visit on the understanding that things would have cooled down a bit by then. I don't think we've seen 30° here all summer!

Now, frankly, I glow in the dark so... Hat? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Long-sleeved cover up? Check. Factor 50? Check!

I'll let you know how I got on. :-)

Garland

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadowless like Silence, listening
To silence...

-- from Autumn by Thomas Hood (1798-1845)

International Crochet Day 2010

Today is International Crochet Day!*

What better way to celebrate the joy of hooking than to hook for those in need?

Pakistanis devastated by recent floods will soon be struggling through a cold winter. As Wendy in NC said:

As the seasons change millions will be living in tent cities. Help them prepare for the cold winter nights in the mountain regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the North Western part of Pakistan.

Wendy's husband will be travelling to Pakistan in early October and she's started a group on Ravelry to collect crocheted (and kn*t ) hats for him to take.

You don't have to be a member of Ravelry to join in. If you like making hats and you're moved to help please send them - to arrive by October 1, 2010 - to:

Wendy Jan
110 Angle Street
Cherryville, NC 28021
USA

If you're in Europe, like me, or you can't make the October 1 deadline, you can send them directly to Pakistan:

Sajjad Ahmad Jan
S/O Sayar Mohammad
Barzai Dawalt Khel
Tangi Charsada District
Khyber Pakhtun Khwa
Pakistan

I sent 3 off yesterday.


Dontcha just love crochet?

*In case you're wondering why Jimbo in particular gets a link, he's the man who started it all in 2007. :-)

Garland

The whole world lives within a safeguarding... nothing is ever alone for a single moment.

-- Rumi

The Original "Snowflake Doily"

If you're new here - hello! - the following relates to my Cut-Glass Snowflake Doily post.

The pattern has been identified! Susan P, a member of Celt's Vintage Crochet Yahoo group, was the first to spot it. She was flipping through her collection, look for something else, when it jumped off the page at her.

The original pattern, called simply "Snowflake Doily", was published in - drum roll, please............
"The Super Lacecrafts Collection - Crochet, Tatting and Knitted Lace", an Anchor/Coats publication (#17552 in the US, I believe; #1324 in the UK).


As soon as I heard from Susan I shot over to eBay and, would you believe it, there was one copy for sale here in the UK. I debated over whether I should buy it for, oh, a good 2 seconds. For one thing, I really wanted to compare my version to the original.

The disappointing news for me is that the pattern was published in 1984 (UK edition) so this lovely little doily isn't "vintage" after all. Congratulations to whoever designed it (the booklet doesn't say) for achieving "the look".


So, how does my pattern stack up? Well, apart from almost every one of my chains being shorter, the rest seems to match. I put my short chains down to two things - 1) the doily I worked from was rather tightly crocheted. As you can see from the picture above, the original was intended to be more open in appearance; and 2) I chain quite loosely, so where the chains were completely hidden by stitches and I had to guess at their number, I guessed low.

For those of you interested in trying a "looser" version, here are the chain length amendments:

To begin: Ch 6 Ch 9
Rnd 1) no change
Rnd 2) ch 8 ch 13
Rnd 3-8) ch 5 ch 7
Rnd 9) in order of appearance: ch 5 ch 7, ch 9 ch 13, ch 2 ch 3, ch 4 ch 5
Rnd 10) ch 12 ch 13
Rnd 11) in order of appearance: ch 10 ch 15, ch 8 ch 9, and the picot should be ch 4 ch 3 - the only time I had more chains!
Rnd 12) in order of appearance: ch 4 ch 5, ch 12 ch 13, and this time the picot should be ch 4 ch 5.

Bear these changes in mind when you are told to work into the ch-whatever space of the previous row.

And look! There's a smaller companion doily:


For this, work the first four rounds as for the large doily, then ch 7, *in ch5 lp (8 dc, ch4-picot, 7 dc) ch 3, (tr, ch 5, tr) in tr, ch 3, rpt from * around, ending omit last tr, slst in 4th ch of beg ch7. FO

Note that I've stuck to my "short chain" style here, in keeping with my pattern. The booklet has ch 7 instead of ch 5, and ch5 picots.

Linked Treble Spiral Square

By popular demand - well, a few people on Ravelry expressed an interest - here is the pattern for my...

Linked Treble Spiral Square
(US terms)
Your choice of yarn – very effective with a self-striping yarn

A hook one size larger than you would normally use for your chosen yarn






Notes:

Beginning chain (beg-ch) – rather than the usual ch 4 for a treble, you will be working a ch 3 for your beginning chain. I count the beginning chain as a stitch.

Work under only 1 thread of your base chain and beginning chains as you will be working back along the other side.

Linked treble crochet (ltr) – rather than re-invent the wheel, Crochet-Mania, aka The Art of Crochet, has the best tutorial for the linked treble stitch that I’ve found.
Linked Crochet Stitch – Tunisian (video)
Linked Crochet Stitch Written Instructions - Tunisian
As the titles suggest, each stitch is essentially a very short Tunisian row.

25 Jun 19 - Sadly, the above links no longer work, but I've found this video:
Linked Treble Crochet (LTR):: Crochet Technique :: Right Handed.
Just don’t do what he says about working into the back loop of the beginning chains. That’s okay if you want a nice, tidy looking edge, but you’re going to be working into that edge, so you’ll want to use one side and then, later, the other side of the chain itself.

Work loosely or you’ll end up with a rather stiff fabric. Go up another hook size if necessary.

1) ch 7, ltr in 5th ch from hook, and next 2 ch (= 4 st)

To clarify, you'll be picking up the 2nd and 3rd loops of the beginning chain, skipping the 4th loop, and working into the 5th loop. Think of the 4th loop as a turning chain so that you get a nice, sharp corner. That chain will be working into when you come back around on the 3rd row.

2) Turn the piece 90° clockwise, ch 3, ltr under 1st bar of last ltr made, ltr under next bar of ltr, ltr in end ch of base-ch (= 4 st)

3) Turn the piece 90° clockwise, ch 3, ltr under 1st bar of last ltr made, ltr under next bar of ltr, ltr in each ch of base-ch (= 7 st)

4) Turn the piece 90° clockwise, ch 3, ltr under 1st bar of last ltr made, ltr under next bar of ltr, ltr in 1st ch of base-ch, ltr in each ch of beg-ch (= 7 st)

5) Turn the piece 90° clockwise, ch 3, ltr under 1st bar of last ltr made, ltr under next bar of ltr, ltr in top ch of beg-ch, ltr in each st (note: 3 in this row, increasing in subsequent rows), ltr in each ch of beg-ch (= 10 st)

At this point you will have completed two “rounds” – your initial 4 stitches count as “round 1” and the four sides as “round 2”.

Repeat row 5 four times for each additional “round” until your square is the size required. Stitch counts for the next 4 rows are 10, 13, 13 and 16.

Copyright © 2010, Judy M Kerr. All Rights Reserved.


If a final round of linked trebles would make your square too large, work linked double crochets instead (same principle as the trebles, just chain 2 to begin and work under the one bar) or just finish off with a round or two of single crochet.

If you have any problems with this pattern please let me know - sofar_sogood at btinternet dot com.

Cut-Glass Snowflake Doily

13 June 10 - Stop the presses! The doily has been identified!
I'm just waiting for a copy of the book to arrive (yes, I found one!) and then I'll post the details. Watch this space. :-) Details here!

Amendment: 27 May 10 - And the prize goes to Ravelry's doilyswan for spotting the first mistake! Round 9 has been amended. Anyone else?

I like to rescue interesting doilies from charity shops, take them home and save them for posterity by "reverse engineering" the pattern. Ok, I've only done two so far, plus I've got one waiting in the wings, but if there were more hours in the day I'd do more.

I found this unusual doily, or it could be a large motif, in a shop in Manningtree, Essex.




The style suggests it's a vintage pattern, though I could be wrong. I've asked all over the place and no one's recognised it yet.

Here's my first draft -


And here's the copy I made using my notes from the first one -


And here... is the pattern!

Cut-Glass Snowflake Doily
American notation

#10 or Bedspread cotton
1.5mm hook
Finished size = 10”

Notes:
2trtog (2 treble together [decrease]) = *yo twice, insert hk in st, yo, pull thru st, (yo, pull thru 2) twice, rpt from *, yo, pull thru 3
Ch4-picot = ch 4, slst in top of last st made

Ch 6, join

Rnd 1) 24 dc in ring

Rnd 2) *3 sc, ch 8, sk 1 dc, rpt from * around

Rnd 3) slst to 2nd sc, ch 4, *in ch8 sp (7 dc, ch 5, 7 dc), tr in 2nd sc, rpt from * around

Rnd 4) ch 7, *in ch5 sp (7 dc, ch 5, 7 dc), ch 3, tr in tr, ch 3, rpt from * around, slst in 4th ch of beg ch7

Rnd 5) ch 7, *in ch5 sp (7 dc, ch 5, 7 dc), ch 3, in tr (tr, ch 3, tr), ch 3, rpt from * around, ending ch 3, tr in same tr as beg ch7, ch 3, slst in 4th ch of beg ch7

Rnd 6) ch 7, *in ch5 sp (7 dc, ch 5, 7 dc), ch 3, tr in tr, ch 3, 2 trtog in same tr and nxt tr, ch 3, tr in same tr, ch 3, rpt from * around, ending omit last tr, slst in 4th ch of beg ch7

Rnd 7) ch 7, *in ch5 sp (7 dc, ch 5, 7 dc), ch 3, tr in nxt tr, ch 3, 2 trtog in same tr and nxt tr, ch 6, 2 trtog in same tr and nxt tr, ch 3, tr in same tr, ch 3, rpt from * around, ending omit last tr, slst in 4th ch of beg ch7

Rnd 8) ch 1, sc in same st, ch 7, *in ch5 sp (7 dc, ch 5, 7 dc), ch 7, sc in tr, 17 tr in ch6 sp, sk tr, sc in nxt tr, ch 7, rpt from * around

Rnd 9) slst over 3 ch, sc in 4th, *ch 5, in ch5 sp (7 dc, ch 9, 7 tr 7 dc), ch 5, sc in 4th ch of ch7, ch 2, sk 3 tr, sc in tr, ch 4, sk 3 tr, in nxt tr (sc, ch 3, sc), sk tr, in nxt tr (sc, ch 3, sc), ch 4, sk 3 tr, sc in nxt tr, ch 2, sc in 4th ch of ch7, rpt from * around, to end: replace last ch 2 w hdc in beg sc

Rnd 10) *13 dc in ch5 sp, sc in 4th dc, 25 dc in ch9 sp, sc in 4th dc, 13 dc in ch5 sp, sc in ch2 sp, 3 sc in ch4 sp, ch 12, 3 sc in ch4 sp, sc in ch2 sp, rpt from * around, ending sc over beg hdc

Rnd 11) slst over 7 st, ch 3, 6 dc, *sc in 3rd dc of 25, (ch 10, sk 3 dc, sc in 3 dc, ch4-picot (see notes), sc in 2 dc) twice, ch 10, sk 3 dc, sc in nxt dc, dc in nxt 7 dc of 13, ch 8, sc in ch12 sp, ch 8, sk 6 dc, dc in nxt 7 dc, rpt from * around

Rnd 12) ch 1, sc in same st, *ch 3, in ch10 lp (8 dc, ch4-picot, 7 dc), ch 3, (sc, ch 4, sc) in picot, rpt from * once more, ch 3, in ch10 lp (8 dc, ch4-picot, 7 dc), ch 3, sc in 7th dc, 5 sc in ch8 sp, ch 12, 5 sc in ch8 sp, sc in 1st dc, rpt from * around. FO

Copyright © 2010, Judy M Kerr. All Rights Reserved.

The pattern has only been tested by me and it's so easy to gloss over mistakes and "see" what you expect to see, so if you try it and you run into any problems please let me know - sofar_sogood at btinternet dot com.

And if anyone does recognise the pattern, again please let me know so that I can make the appropriate acknowledgements. Thank you.

Granny On Point Square

I "designed" this square especially for Planet Blanket*. I say quote designed endquote because I can't believe no one has come up with this idea before, but I haven't been able to find a pattern like it.

Granny On Point – 12”
(American notation)

Double Knit / Light Worsted Weight yarn

G-4mm hook

Notes: Granny shell = 3 dc in same sp









Step 1 - Start with a 7-round granny square (should be about 7½"). Basic instructions can be found here.

Step 2, Row 1 - With RS facing, join “corner's” colour in any corner, *ch 3, (“granny shell” in next ch1 sp, ch 1) x 6, ch 2 more, slst in corner, rep from * x 3 replacing final (ch 1 + ch 2) w dc, ch 3, turn.

Row 2 - (“Granny shell” in next ch1 sp, ch 1) x 5 omitting final ch 1, dc in ch3 of prev row, ch 3, turn.

Row 3 - (“Granny shell” in next ch1 sp, ch 1) x 4 omitting final ch 1, dc in ch3 of prev row, ch 3, turn.

Row 4 - (“Granny shell” in next ch1 sp, ch 1) x 3 omitting final ch 1, dc in ch3 of prev row, ch 3, turn.

Row 5 - (“Granny shell” in next ch1 sp, ch 1) x 2 omitting final ch 1, dc in ch3 of prev row, ch 3, turn.

Row 6 - “Granny shell” in next ch1 sp, dc in ch3 of prev row, ch 3, turn.

Row 7 - Dc in ch3 of prev row. FO.

For remaining corners, turn (WS), join yarn in top of ch3 of prev row, continue from Row 2.

Step 3, Round 1 – With RS facing, join yarn in any corner dc, *3 sc in dc, 2 sc in corner sp, 3 sc in ea sp across, 2 sc in corner sp, rep from * around, join w slst to beg sc.

Round 2 – Slst to 2nd of beg 3sc (= corner sc), *3 sc in corner sc, sc in ea sc across, rep from * around, join w slst to beg sc.

Variations:
By changing the number of rounds in your starting granny and adjusting the number of rows in step 2 accordingly you can make different sized squares.

For a 10" square try starting with a 6-round granny (approximately 6½") - as below.














Using worsted weight and an H-5mm hook, a 3-round granny (4") with 1 round of sc will yield a 6" square; 7" with 3 rounds of sc.


Want to tackle it more scientifically? Just remember your old a²+b²=c² (there's a handy calculator here).

Example: for finished size 8", the legs of your corner triangle (a and b of the calculation) will be 4" and the base (side c or the hypotenuse) will be roughly 5⅔". That means your starting granny square needs to be 5⅔", or rather 5-5½" so you have "room" for at least one round of sc.

I crochet quite loosely so your mileage may vary even with the basic pattern. Just work an extra round or two of sc or add an extra round to your starting granny to get it up to size. Remember, despite the math, crochet is an art not a science. :-)

Need help? Spotted a goof? Please email me.

*If you are taking part in the Planet Blanket project please note that the required square size is multiples of 5", i.e. 5", 10", 15", etc. Please use the 10" variation or scale it up!

If you've known the love of a dog

And you're not afraid of the g-d word, then this is probably one of the most beautiful videos you're ever likely to see.