Funny and Crafty

I love making little stories for my felt creatures, there's something about it that makes me smile.  This one is no exception.

Errr, guys... all the teacakes are gone.


Bagsie a shirt!  I want a hat!


Think we can fool her if we all sit in the box?


Quick, grab those sheep, the might look like an uneaten teacake!


Baaaa!

No teacakes here, just us in our cool outfits!

baaaa!

(Unfortunately for them, I was not fooled)

I've been crafty too.  Been wanting to make a rice bag type thing for needle felting as a lot of folks find it better than foam and my piece of foam is getting a bit used in places.  But with mice randomly checking for tidbits and a dog who can find food easier than she can find the living room, using rice was not going to work.  I asked on Ravelry and someone mentioned the plastic stuff that's used to weight down dolls and stuffed toys.  Little EBay hunt later and I had some recycled plastic pellets on the way.

Last night I got out the hessian I'd bought yonks ago and made a not-rice bag!


Yes, it fits in a Tunnocks teacake box.  I've also ordered myself a nice wooden box for my needle felting stuff, the cardboard box I have is getting more and more bashed and isn't really deep enough for a work in progress.  Plus, the box is unfinished so I can decorate it!

Remember the blanket I started in October last year?  The one with the diagonally striped squares?  Finally finished it last week.  Yesterday I washed it and it was hung out to be breezed and dried the Tiree way.



I admit to thinking I am NEVER knitting that pattern again, but I did LOVE the recipient's reaction.  It may have been late, but the timing was perfect.  It's now with its new owner who is very happy indeed.


I shall leave you with this photo of a bovine who should not be where she is.


TTFN

P.S. Yes, we BBQ'd!  Three days in a row of sunshine has been WONDERFUL!

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:


Gromitty's bag looking like the Cookie Monster.

What's been happening?

Well, I was very kindly sent this shawl:


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:


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:




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:






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



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.



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:



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:


The stove slowly filled with slightly damp casts:




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:









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:





and one that almost looks like a pony:


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.





There was even a redshank came by:


We also had really clear views from home.

Mull again:




Rum, Eigg and co.  (I will learn which peaks belong to which island!)








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

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!



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:



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.







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:


"Tall" Steve had this ginormous photozooker:




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:




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:


By the end that canvas was FULL:


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.



Although some had more energy reserves than others:


Don't know why I was snapping this photo but I do love how Marie and Alan are making the same gesture:


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.