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I really need an icon for weaving...
Kotturinn took me up on my recent offer to weave a belt, and we're both really pleased with how it came out.
As you can see, with this kind of weaving, there's a different pattern on the two sides of the band.
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Adventures in dressmaking
Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee and by a general desire to avoid buying new clothes wherever possible, I'm making a summer top out of an old skirt that had a small hole in it. I bought a copy of Collins-Complete-Book-Needlecraft in a charity shop. It's a well written book and has the advantage of a loose sheet with lots of patterns on it ( Read more... ) -
Puppet Show!
I have a large collection of Pelham (and a few assorted) marionettes from my youth.
Now Oswin is seven, they're coming out more often and getting used again.
Here is our dog training session, followed by our version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Sit back, get out your popcorn, and enjoy! (We offer no apologies whatsoever for limited scenery ( Read more... ) -
Keeping cool
By trial and error, I've discovered that it's better to close the curtains and open the window behind them, rather than close both.
If you close the window on the sunny side, the heat piles up between window and curtain and it ends up hotter than the outside. Opening the window allows that extra heat to escape.
If you have a ground floor, sleep ( Read more... ) -
Heat...
Have finally given in to the heat and ordered a retractable awning for both our south-facing downstairs windows.
My next door neighbour has one, and her kitchen is LOT cooler.
This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth where it has
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How do you sail one of these...
I have a story that I really want to write.
Unfortunately, an integral part of the story is a traditional Oceania Voyaging craft (as seen in Moana). This type of vessel is capable of circumnavigating the globe. One already has...
My problem is that I want to write about what it would be like to be part of the crew on such a ship and how one ( Read more... ) -
Negative numbers
I've adopted two approaches for the negative numbers problem - thanks for all the helpful comments.
I've presented the number line in the form of an elevator going up and down and explained (truthfully) that my old university was built on a slope, and floor 0 was street level.
The lift had -ve numbers for floors below street level and +ve for ( Read more... ) -
3/1 twill tablet weaving
I've recently moved on from the basic and double-faced tablet weaving patterns that I've been doing for the last few years, along with inkle woven patterns, to the fiendishly difficult 3/1 twill tablet woven patterns.
I've finally got to the point where I can weave them with a reasonably degree of accuracy..
That took many weeks of swearing, undoing ( Read more... ) -
Visualising negative numbers
I have a math pupil who came to me because she'd slipped through the net at school. She isn't stupid, but she locks down into virtual silence if she can't understand something and stops paying attention or making any real effort.
I've made quite good progress with her in several areas, but negative numbers are a major stumbling block.
Her basic ( Read more... ) -
Gardening
Doing more work on my neighbours' gardens.
Bev's having to spend a lot of time visiting her mother who is very and frail, so she's busy doing her mother's garden and has no time to do her own.
I'm gradually developing the front border into a blue and pink theme. It already had lavender and false cornflower - the latter donated from my garden many ( Read more... )
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