Today...what have you been up to? [2]

[Joan]

For the present it's the last one for now, I've got a cotton cardigan of my own that I need to finish or the weather will change and I'll not be able to wear it for another year. Snowmen jumpers are the next ones wanted but got a bit of time before I start them.

Love the cakes, I can well imagine your Dad would love them they look delicious. Don't have a Dad to celebrate with he died in 1984 and John's Dad a few years ago. The school ones look good as well, you are clever.

 

[Angie]

Sounds like you have a lot to be getting on with but yes you must do yours first, we tend to forget about our own needs and sort everyone else out first. How long does each one generally take you to make?

My Dad loves my baking and is also another of my biggest critics alongside Hannah, I only made him four and he'd eaten two of the cupcakes whilst we were sat chatting. That's a shame you both no longer have Dad's to celebrate with although I'm sure the kids and Grandchildren would help John celebrate.

Thanks about the graduation ones, I thought they were apt with the end of school coming up. Well stage 1 of decoration 70th coming up, I have today dyed my icing the lovely green and pink required for part of the cake so at least I've made a start. The design seems to be evolving slowly in my head and I have a lot of Post Its with ideas and tools on!

 

[Joan]

Still put mine off and started Caias pudding jumper. I can't say just how long one takes as I don't really take any notice of the time, but probably 2 to 3 months but I only knit for about an hour a day at night after turning off the computer and before going to bed, sometimes I don't knit at all for a day.

Glad the 70th is starting to take shape and ideas are gradually forming, knowing you it will turn out brilliant.

 

[A Guy]

Great looking cupcakes Angie My Dad passes a few years ago sadly. Good memories...

A Guy

 

[Angie]

@Joan, ah so you do them at your own pace, I take it knitting is your wind down tool of the day. I must admit it can be therapeutic but I think I'll leave it to you the expert. I can only do basic knitting which my Nana taught me how to do, she used to knit loads of stuff for us when were kids. Have you ever used one of those knitting machines or is that a big no no?

@Bill Thank you, that's sad that your Dad has passed away but glad that you still have fond memories.

As for me well yes I did manage to finish those cakes that I mentioned albeit after a lot of faff a few headaches and a complete blonde moment when I thought someone had stolen the letter 'E' out of both of my letter cutters. I lay out the letters I needed on the side and then spent a good ten minutes looking and stressing for the letter in both packs until it dawned on me that I had actually already used the letter E and it was not lost.

:doh:

Today I have to grab the tissues as my hayfever is playing havoc with me, it started off at 5:20am this morning with my eyes and nose streaming, not much has changed since then apart from now I would happily rip my own nose off because I'm not sure how much more sneezing or wiping it can take! Now for the school run so back in a bit.....wish me luck.

Now we're back after a leisurely walk home from school with some ice cream.

As promised here are a few pictures from the Sunday shenanigans....oh yean btw we haven't time warped it was 50's, 60's and 70's fancy dress.

 

[Angie]

Today I have created the new Cake, News, TV and Events section for the site, I have also moved the baked creations thread over there too. I have been wanting to do this for a while and think it will be an easier set up and a quicker go to guide for events.

 

[Joan]

So sorry to hear that you're suffering, it's not something I've ever been bothered with. John's brother suffers but they always say it's because when he was little he got buried under a pile of grass cuttings.

 

[Joan]

@Joan, ah so you do them at your own pace, I take it knitting is your wind down tool of the day. I must admit it can be therapeutic but I think I'll leave it to you the expert. I can only do basic knitting which my Nana taught me how to do, she used to knit loads of stuff for us when were kids. Have you ever used one of those knitting machines or is that a big no no?

Oh I used to have a knitting machine, it was quite a good one. It had a ribber. lace carriage, punch cards you name it. Trouble was when we moved here there wasn't really room for me to have it set up so I sold it. I did quite a lot of stuff for us all on that machine it was great. I'll try and get the photo from my Ravelry account to show you one of the jumpers I'd knitted on it, still have it somewhere but it wouldn't fit me now and I'd been thinking of unpicking it to use the yarn again for something else.

 

[Angie]

Ooh that's cool Joan, I really like the centre piece and the detail on the bottom band, it looks suede on the picture is it? Did you make that on a machine? It's beautiful, it looks like a piece that they would use on stage at shows.

What on earth is Ravelry? :unsure:

Were the wool machines those that had a handle and you used to move them left and right and it would bring all the wool together and start creating say a jumper? Pretty much the same motion as ironing but with a wool machine? Are they quicker to use? I'm all about tools and gadgets as are you but the problem I have like yourself is having places to put things.

 

[Joan]

Ooh that's cool Joan, I really like the centre piece and the detail on the bottom band, it looks suede on the picture is it? Did you make that on a machine? It's beautiful, it looks like a piece that they would use on stage at shows.

What on earth is Ravelry? :unsure:

Were the wool machines those that had a handle and you used to move them left and right and it would bring all the wool together and start creating say a jumper? Pretty much the same motion as ironing but with a wool machine? Are they quicker to use? I'm all about tools and gadgets as are you but the problem I have like yourself is having places to put things.

It's not suede it's 4ply yarn, acrylic I think. Ravelry is a fibre forum, it's got over 4 million members from all over the world. They have groups for anything to do with knitting, crochet, cross stitch, weaving, spinning etc. They also have groups for other subjects there's just too many to name but they cover the different craft magazines as well. It's a big arts and crafts family a bit like sevenforums but for all things crafty.
It's a great place to keep records and photo's of all the projects you've done and what patterns and books you have plus a record of your knitting needles and crochet hooks.

You've got the picture about knitting machines, yes the carriage is pushed side to side across a bed of needles with the cone of yarn at the back fed up through guides. It is so quick to knit a garment compared to hand knitting I loved my machine and was sorry to have to get rid of it, of course it was full of gadgets which I loved but used manually rather than electrically. This is a picture of a similar one to the one I had but of course mine had a lot more gadgets with it. Got the photo from the sales page of eBay.

 

[Angie]

Oh sorry Joan it looked like a suede type material. I have just been to have a look at the forum but you have to join first. I must admit I have never heard of it but by the sounds of it, it is quite big, I'm thinking it is Pinterest for crafters. I'm can only imagine the wonderful designs that people come up with over there.

Yes from the picture you have posted that's the kind of machine I remember, I think one of my friends mums had one and we thought it was marvellous because you could whip something up in no time. I bet they sell fantastic state of the art things now with all this technology, you could probably whip up a jumper just by typing in a bit of code these days.

Do you prefer manual knitting/crochet as a therapeutic relaxing pass time or do you prefer the machines for the speed? Do you still get the same satisfaction from the machine?

 

[Joan]

I didn't realise you had to join Ravelry before you could look at the site, there are so many groups you can join they even have groups for baking and cooking plus Kindle and Audiobooks. I think I'm in about 32 groups and that's only the tip of the iceberg to what groups there are there. Casey the site owner made the site along with his wife and it's not built on the normal web site platforms it's his own code.

I miss the speed you could knit things and as mine was a punch card machine once the card was in place and the yarn threaded you just pushed the carriage back and forth and the pattern appeared, it was just a question on using a tool to do the decreases when needed. I did get satisfaction using it and how quick I could produce garments no matter how complex.

It wasn't a quiet hobby though so you couldn't be in the same room as others. Now I can sit in the living room with the tele and knit and if it doesn't have a pattern I don't have to look what I'm doing so it is relaxing.

Trouble is I get so involved with the computer it's late before I turn it off and pick my knitting up so only get about half an hour or an hour to do any.

 

[Angie]

Yeah when I went on it it brought up an email and password set up screen and wouldn't let me enter the site or anything before I signed up. Thanks for telling me about it though as my friend has her own shop with materials and crafts and sewing and stuff so I told her about it as it may be a way of promoting her business or meeting contacts etc so thank you for that.

You're in 32 groups blimey Joan the amount of sites you go on I'm surprised you have a minute to yourself lol! That's great that Casey made his own code that way he can have the site exactly how he wants it. Sometimes I wish I could write my own code that way I could morph the site into how I want it and when I want it. I'm currently at the back of the queue what with 10 and everything else John has to do so I make my lists for him to change and modify stuff when he gets a minute or when I badger him into it. I suppose that may be a good thing as then it evolves, a bit like my living room! LOL!

I bet you have created some masterpieces in your time Joan, did you sell your pieces or was it just more of a hobby? I bet you were the go to girl for school costumes as well.

Well busy bee today, ploughing through the paperwork that I have been putting off I don't know why because I know it won't do itself. I have made some head way and been hunting for the money in the process! I did find it eventually! Lol! It's been quite a productive day to be honest I need to get all my stuff done before the summer hols kick in. Not long now.

Hope you guys are having a good weekend.

@Bill any games on this weekend or has the season finished?

 

[A Guy]

No games, the Warriors won the Championship 1st time in 40 years. So we have to wait until next season to try it all over again I am so busy during the week. Catch up on sleep and lazy weekends, so they go so fast. It's life...kinda, lol. A Guy

 

[Joan]

I suppose it's OK being able to do your own code but in some ways to me it's not so easy to use.

Take an example, you come to the forums and when you look at the list of topics straight away you can see if you've posted in any particular one because of the little icon at the side.

You don't have that at Ravelry so I can never remember exactly which one I've posted in. If someone has actually replied to your post there will be a list at the top telling you you have unread posts and clicking on them takes you to the forum where the reply is.

Another thing is there aren't smilies you can use, there are some which will turn up in a post but they are classed as a play on words, like if you say cake in a post there will be an icon of a piece of cake showing, a cup of tea or a coffee will show a cup of same, cat or kitty will show a cat face, you get the idea, but if you put or any other code it will only show that and not the smiley face.

I didn't sell my stuff it was mainly for family although I did do knitting for a designer at one time but they were their own design and just needed knitting to see if they worked.

@Bill, you work too hard all those hours you put in I don't know how you find the time to give all the help you do in the forums, just don't burn yourself out.

 

[Angie]

No games, the Warriors won the Championship 1st time in 40 years. So we have to wait until next season to try it all over again I am so busy during the week. Catch up on sleep and lazy weekends, so they go so fast. It's life...kinda, lol. A Guy

Wow that's great news, I'm sure you made time to celebrate that! I know you're so busy, it sounds like not enough hours in the day at least you can rest a little at the weekends, my Dad is the same boat he's busy busy busy all the time these days. A guess that's what you get for being good a what you do.

@Joan I never thought about your own code having draw backs but I suppose in that sense you are tailoring it to your own needs, I like the play on words thing but they must be doing ok with over 4 million members. Lol! You're like a master forum member Joan so I'm sure nothing phases you, I'm sure with all the forums you visit you have quite a few pointers for everybody. You could probably do your own forum and show everyone how it's done.

Rain rain go away....I stop there because it's miserable outside, dull damp and dismal! Bill's probably got the top down and singing in the Sun!

 

[A Guy]

You don't want to see me with my top down

A Guy

 

[Joan]

@Bill :roflmao:

@Angie I don't know about being a forum master, it all started with the newsgroups and I had lots of those especially the Microsoft ones. I can't even remember which forum was the first I belonged to I still have lots I don't have time to visit and will only pop in every few months. I'm a moderator on one and used to be an admin on another that was all about the software that the forum ran on, even though I know nothing about it.

The newsgroup that was more like a family was the WinME one, there were a group of us that were regulars and I'm still in touch with some of them either online for the overseas ones or via phone for the British ones, several were MVPs, I get a gorgeous box of chocolates each Christmas from one of them.


It was the newsgroups that first brought me to Johns sites via a post from Shawn about the Vista64 forum, the rest is history.

 

[A Guy]

40 hour week...unfortunately it's only Wednesday

A Guy

 

[Joan]

40 hour week...unfortunately it's only Wednesday

A Guy

Oh dear, don't you burn yourself out Bill. :shock: