Sunday 30 March 2014

March Musings

It's not that I haven't had things to blog, it's that I've been so darn busy!

First, I forgot this from the TTW:
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Gromitty's bag looking like the Cookie Monster.

What's been happening?

Well, I was very kindly sent this shawl:
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A lovely online pal in Florida knit it but found it far too warm.  So now it's mine and she has a skein of my sock yarn to knit a replacement.  I am actually sitting wrapped in the shawl right now, it's so perfectly warming without being hot.

My OU study materials have arrived:
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Seven units.  I started reading unit 1 before official starting date so I have a two section or approx 2 week buffer.  Most useful!

Peter is building a crofting estate:
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He has reawakened the casting bug in me.  I was one of those kids that bought the "cast a house and paint it" kits and now I have the skill to make my own!

That boat I was working on during tech wave was cast yesterday.  First the later mold was removed and placed in a holder of sorts:

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The latex had dried out the plasticine style clay but either some oil or a day in the bathroom will rehydrate it we think.

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Because I "only" had six layers of latex in my mold it was very flexible so it was bedded down in some old bran to help it hold shape.

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Then the very technical mixing of the plaster with the wooden stick was done.  Peter decided to cast a few houses too, and there was house drumming to remove air bubbles:

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This plaster is truly fab stuff; instead of just evaporating all the water off, there's an exothermic (releases heat) reaction and the whole lot turns hard.  It only takes an hour too; not the usual overnight I was used to.

Eventually we had five croft houses and a very much not to scale fishing boat:
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The stove slowly filled with slightly damp casts:
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I came home with my newly cast boat (with wonky bow because the tub we sat it in was too small) and a "spotty house" to paint.

While we were casting Peter and Nicola's resident hare was out for a snack and wasn't too peturbed by my photographing it through the window:

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But before all this we all went to vote on the Community Shop idea down at An Talla (the voting, not the possibly future shop).  There were some very young calves dozing there, presumably with full tums:

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and one that almost looks like a pony:
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The weather has been hinting that Spring might visit before the end of the year.  Friday was beeeautiful!  By the late afternoon we had amazing views.  I had a wonderful lunch on the beach at Scarinish watching the waves and looking at the peaks on Mull.

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There was even a redshank came by:
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We also had really clear views from home.

Mull again:
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Rum, Eigg and co.  (I will learn which peaks belong to which island!)
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That's about it photowise.  We haven't really had nice enough weather to go out photographing, or I've been at An Iodhlann and plain ole forgot.

I'm knitting a shawl, well, two shawls.  I have another one buy my enthusiasm for it has well and truly worn off; turns out knitting a border over 10-15sts is boring when you have so many repeats to do and it's not quite easy enough to memorise.

So, that's it for March.  See you in April!

TTFN

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Tiree Tech Wave #7

Where do I start?  I had a plan!  I actually went to tech wave with a plan.  My plan was to model a fishing boat in clay, cover it in latex to make a mold and then cast it.  Once it was cast and up to my standards I was going to kit it out with a solar panel and some LEDs.  It would charge a battery during the day and at night you could turn the lights on.

I just didn't anticipate the time required.  The boat took me two days and even then it was only as good as I could get done in the plasticine like medium.  I've been adding a coat of latex each day since and will be able to cast on Saturday.

As for the solar panel and wiring...  The solar panel, battery and charging circuit are all from a keyring I got on EBay, £3.50.  The LED's are courtesy of a friendly Tirisdeach as I wasn't really willing to buy 50 of each when I only needed 5 total.

But I did do some soldering!

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Our very own graphic designer, Grommitty, bought this little speaker for walks out and about.  but it came with a teeny-tiny little lead that soon broke.  A length of telephone wire (yep, the stuff you have in the walls that is enabling you to read this) and some soldering later, and it had a longer cable and was working great.  One happy designer!

LED-wise the Cardiff crew had brought their accountant who just so happens to make dreadlocks in her spare time.  Combine those with some conductive thread and some LED's and you get:

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LEDlocks!  I'm hoping someone will share a photo of them at night, I wasn't there.

On the topic of fibre, Lovefibre started Weave at the Wave.

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Two floor looms, three table looms; lots of CD's and wire shapes and LOTS of fibre and other weavables!  It was very popular and lovely to go play when you're tech side is needing a rest.  I'm predicting a few afternoons lost in weaving at LoveFibre's when I have time.

We had both Steves again this wave.  "Hairy" Steve was trying to be sneaky with his camera:
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"Tall" Steve had this ginormous photozooker:
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He managed to use that to get some photos of Skerryvore that I'm hoping he'll share and I can linky to.

What else?

Alan was demonstrating that he can still do push-ups:
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I admit to being slightly cruel in that I asked him to pose for the last photo and his head was getting very red!

The Lancaster Catalyst group were expanding on a workshop they did back in March.  They'd gone away with a load of ideas, made some models and wanted people to expand on it all.  It started with a blank canvas:
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By the end that canvas was FULL:
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It was a really fascinating thing and interesting to see how different folk look at the same issues.

I think it would be safe to say that all enjoyed.

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Although some had more energy reserves than others:
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Don't know why I was snapping this photo but I do love how Marie and Alan are making the same gesture:
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So that was Tech Wave number 7.  The weather was mostly nice and everyone managed to get home safely.

I'll do a general life update later this week.  In the meantime, enjoy this shot of Tiree night sky taken by Daniel Morrell with his snazzy camera that can do prolonged exposure:


TTFN.


Tuesday 11 March 2014

Hello March

After months of rain we're finally having a dry spell.  The feeling that Spring is coming is definitely settling over the isle.

So, what's been going on?

Well, I've been busy.  I did some embroideries last year and was on the hunt for fabric to put them on.  I'd tried quite a few when I was given an "old blanket" perhaps for the dog or the bed.  It was perfect!  I cut it in two, removed the original edging (that kind of silky stuff that was all the rage decades ago but feels almost slimy) and got to work.

First was a nice blanket stitch around the edge to bring the colour on the reverse to the front and then using the same yarn to sew down my patches.  Under each patch is a small bit of wadding just to keep the fabric raised enough to feel the embroidery.

Blanket 1 is done:
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I am definitely going to add to this but first I need more white cotton to embroider onto.

I'm taking part in another "mystery sock" pattern, this is clue 1:
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Clue 2 involves cables and is taking me time.  I've knit cables once and not on tiny needles in sock yarn.  The main time consumer is re-reading which one crosses which way.

Jo spent most of last week in Oban and Inveraray.  I was hoping for the new trike bits to arrive seeing as they said "expected early arrival on Monday" and we hoped they'd come over on the Tuesday ferry.  Nope, they came over on the Sunday ferry, the same one Jo came home on!

He did buy me sock yarn though:
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So that will become a present for him :)

The trike!  Oh, the GB of a trike.  I (possibly stupidly) thought I could easily change out the crank and chain while Jo made dinner.  Well, I did manage that, but only because it takes two hours to make dough, let it rise, make sauce and finally make pizza.  The air might also have been a bit blue towards the end.

The beginning was fairly easy.  Prop bike on bricks, remove chain housing, remove crank and chain.  What I hadn't realised was that the new crank did NOT come with a new pedal.  So I got the spanner and tried to remove the old pedal.  Then we got the hammer.  Finally, after a little Googling to check we were going the right way, we got the 8 foot long pole.  Leverage at its finest!  After a few turns with the pole it was possible to use just the spanner.  Once out the pedal easily screwed into the new crank.  New crank easily went on.  Too easy.  You know how I mentioned the old teeth had worn?

This is a brand-spanking new chainring:
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Note the  squared off tips to the "teeth" and how they are all uniform in size.

Now look at the old chainring:
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Note the absence of uniformity and the pointedness of the "teeth".  Yep, "used to it's full potential" is one way of putting it.  So, due to wear, the old chain was a bad way of measuring the new one; I was two links short and had to do some fiddling.  I then put the chain on the back ring, draped it over the front and started turning the pedal to slip the chain on.  Not going.  The end result was a serious loosening of the back wheel so it would slide forward far enough to slip the chain on.  Then followed the realigning of the back wheel and tightening of nuts.

Jo had ordered a new chain guard, quite a good idea as the old one had been ground down in places by poorly seated chains.  Little did we realise it would be a necessity.

Yep, the old chain guard would not fit on the new chainring.  This is where the air started to turn blue.  I had tried the new guard but the new design means it is a right PITA to fit.  There's a bit that's meant to just slip into the end of the two main parts.  On the old design it did that easily; on the new design you have to juggle all three at once because if you try and secure any one part the other two won't play.  Still, I did it, I adjusted it so the chain didn't rub and had a lovely dinner.

The next day Jo told me it rode wonderfully.

So now we have these bits sitting about:
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Not sure if they can just be put in the bin or if someone might like them for some modern art.  Possibly excepting the guard; they're pretty much useless.

Today.  Today has been wonderful if mentally knackering.  The weather has been spectacular:
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The livestock have had chance to begin drying and even enjoy the sun.
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The cable laying boat (I assume, I couldn't check AIS while I was out) was busy:
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I was with ten others learning First Aid.  I hadn't done it for 13-14 years and was actually quite impressed at how much I remembered.  I will admit to being one of those "annoying" ones that asked questions and perhaps got a bit giggly in the afternoon!  But it was great and the instructors were excellent and very happy to answer questions.

When I got home I spotted the moon!
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A little manipulation later and...

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Hello moon!

There are also these cuties across the road:
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Most unimpressed about being in bags but probably happy to be dry.

That's about it really.  I'm still helping at An Iodhlann and we've gone through quite the quantity of credits updating the records.  The person currently funding that is most likely unimpressed at the rate we got through them but seems glad at the outcome.

Finally, I shall leave you with some snipe and hares:

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TTFN.