Just a lovely rose in my garden.
Author Archives: hazardwarning
Fingerless mittens
I have made a couple of “proper” pairs of fingerless mitts. By “proper” I mean ones with a thumb, rather than just a hole. They are very warm, but a little chunky, as they knit with the “knit one below” stitch. So I decided to crochet some. I had some sock wool which I wanted to use. I have tried knitting with dpns but simply can’t get one with them, so the sock wool was going spare!
I looked for a few patterns and ended up adapting a couple for what I wanted. Basically with these I make10 ch, then crochet in double crochet (single for US crochet people – I use UK abbreviations) until the work went round my wrist. Slip stitch together, turn inside out and the cuff is done,
Pick up a multiple of 6 stitches +1 from round the edge of the cuff rows, to make the mitten. Then do one round of dc.
The pattern is quite simple:- *dc, 2 chain, miss 2 in previous round, make a tc shell into the next st (5 tc into same place), 2 ch, miss 2 in previous round, repeat from * For the second and subsequent rows, make the shell in the centre of the previous shell.
Work the pattern until the base of the thumb is covered. On the next round, decide where you want a gap for the thumb and, instead of a shell make sufficient chain to fit comfortably across the inside of the thumb. For my large hands that was about 10 chain in total. Continue with the pattern. On the next round patt as before and make a shell in the centre chain of the chain you made on the previous round.
Continue in pattern until the mitt covers the knuckles. Then a round of dc: dc into each of chain from previous round, dc into middle of shell etc. Final round, dc round then finish off.
Or at least it was something like that – I did make it up as I went along, a bit!
Beaded poppy
Finally finished my large poppy brooch. Also my first project in brick stitch, as I prefer peyote work. Quite pleased with the result.
Hopefully the link to the pattern is below.
More beadwork
Latest project completed – a coin purse constructed from St Petersburgh Chain. Time-consuming, but very rewarding. Also, a very heavy purse!
Moonshot
My first evening looking at the skies with my new telescope. The skies were not as clear as last night (when typically I was busy with other things). I managed to see the moon – not that it is easy to miss!
I use a Skywatcher Heritage 130P, which is a dobsonian on a simple mount. No motorised mounts or anything fancy. I’m still learning how to find stars and keep tracking them – but that is part of the fun. Not so much fun are the freezing toes – warmer socks recommended when spending hours in an unheated conservatory with the doors wide open.
I thought I would have a go with a camera. All I had to hand was my android phone, so I set it to night scene, held it up to the eyepiece and clicked. Here are the results – better than I could have hoped, I think,
Soggy, boggy lawn
Ok, so I have been in the house since early June. And pretty much all “summer” it has done nothing but rain.
I’m fairly new to gardening, having only container-gardened on a balcony thus far. Apparently the previous owners weren’t keen gardeners, and the lawns look like they have been pretty much left to fend for themselves. I have two small lawns, the front is mostly moss, and the back is a mix of clover and moss. Each has some grass, but the back lawn is quite a concern. The middle part seems to be lower than the parts nearest to, and furthest from, the house. Thanks to the recent weather, it bears more than a passing resemblance to a bog than a garden. I don’t think it has dried out sufficiently for walking on since I moved in.
So, thanks to a break in the rain, I have aerated as best I can, and top-dressed with a compost and sharp sand mix. I hope that might help. The lawn doesn’t seem to be too compacted; if anything it is somewhat lacking in soil in the middle. I think there will be several years of building up the centre section to come. Next spring I want to put some paving in, round the conservatory and across to the back patio. I also want to dig some beds, so I can indulge my love of fuchsias and heucheras, giving some colour and definition to the garden.
With the help of a friend I have already dug a bed in the front garden, which is full of spring bulbs and a few heucheras. More to come for that bed next year….
And now it is most definitely time for a coffee….
First-timer
Ok, so a week ago my new PC arrived, having decided my slightly-aged laptop wouldn’t cope with Guild Wars 2. Just after the last stress test. Imagine, then, my delight at finding out about last night’s test.
I was at a choir practice, so didn’t get logged on for the first 90 minutes, but when I did, I got straight into the game. My first challenge was figuring out that to select the race of your character you had to click on the picture. Who knew! Once that was sorted, I opted for a Charr, only so that I could team up with a friend. I hadn’t planned to play a Charr to start with, but I did enjoy messing around with my pussy-cat warrior last night.
Considering I wasn’t too sure how the UI worked, I was surprised to find it fairly intuitive and the starter areas give you a great chance to get used to everything.
Coming from Guild Wars, the thing I like best about it is teaming up with guildies on missions. I wonder if I will miss that in GW2. I believe you can travel to where they are and party up, but in the limited time I had last night I didn’t get to experience that. Having said that, it was fun just coming across an event and teaming up with others. I’m not sure how much co-operation there was. Sure, we all contributed to the kills, but I suspect we were too new to things to take advantage of any proper team-work. I like the old-style approach of knowing you’re out with a skilled Fire Ele, or balancing a team. But I’m sure I’ll get used to the changes. I did find people happy to res, and I did a fair bit of that myself. As a monk of long-standing, it’s instinctive behaviour.
I still reckon the Charr Warrior will be one of my last chars, but it was an easy introduction. I’m aiming to create all professions in time, but most likely Guardian, Ele and either Nec or Mes will be my preferred choices. Of course, I could be completely wrong!
As far as the stress test itself went, I had no issues, other than thinking it seemed rather graphics-hungry. It was a warm evening, but my fans were working overtime. Still, as it’s a new PC I’m getting used to it, though Skyrim doesn’t seem to stress it as much, and that had a reputation for being much hungrier, I thought.
Tonight’s test is in the middle of the night, so I suspect RL (i.e. sleep) might intervene. But then again…..
hazardwarning 