Stagnate Ponds, Algae Ponds

Watching a youtube video the other day I noticed high algae grow, scum and plant growth over taking their pond.  It reminded me that years ago I tried to learn mechanics to design and make what I thought would be a great non electric, non chemical solution.  For years I was breeding fish indoors for the commercial market.  I ended up stopping due to moving.  The new to me house did not have suitable floor space or strength to continue with my tanks.  At the time I had 22 tanks up and running for breeding.

Algae in a tank or pond is usually a result of a couple of things; a poor balance of nutrients, too much direct sunlight, no movement to the water and a shallow depth.  There are hundreds of sites and videos that address these issues.  Most often they deal with only one bit of what is really a multi layer issue and they often suggest using chemicals (which I am against).

My bright idea was to design a whirligig that is doubled.  Meaning that there is a spinning blade on the top to be “grabbed” by the wind and one below to move the water.  I do not as the moment understand gears, cams, driveshafts, etc well enough to make one.

This post is for me to post links to the various sites that I have found to help me better understand mechanical movement so that I can take the design that is in my head and make it with my hands.

I will be added more links as I find

https://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmsc/6/f/cricket/ckt_6f193.shtml

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/how-do-wind-turbines-work

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_machine

Yarns Sales

I was really good this year…..compared to a few years ago lol  OK so I spent most of my Christmas money on yarn.  I purchased enough yarn to last until the next Boxing Day sales.  More then a few peoples’ eyes came close to popping out when they saw what I had in my cart.  (True be told, the cart was over flowing and I had to keep my hand on top of the stash.)

There is enough yarn to make all my Christmas gifts for next year and several projects for charity…..and no I don’t feel guilty.

More Christmas 2018 Planning

Along with the bottle covers I have been looking at tree decorations, stockings, table decorations and anything else that I can think of in the way of Christmas crochet projects.

Here are a few things as a result of my search;

1. Santa Candy Jar

2. Crocheted Snowflake Table Runner  (I think the snow flakes could be done separately as tree decorations or with crochet cotton for coasters as well)
3. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
4. Beautiful Lacy Snowflake Ornaments
5. Lacy Snowflake Ornaments (please note that there is a correction page noted)
6. Santa’s Gift Basket
7. Countdown To Christmas Crochet Advent Calendar
8. Cream Plum Pudding Crochet Ornaments
9. Christmas Tree Skirt
10. Santa Pillow
11. Starry Night Ornament
12. Cream Gingerbread House Crochet Ornaments
13. Reindeer Ornament
14. Santa Ornament
15. Christmas Ornaments
16. Ornamental Bells
17. Snowmen Ornaments
18. Christmas Trees
19. Peppermint Throw and Pillow
20. Repeat Crafter Me  — too many beautiful free crochet patterns to note

Already Planning for Next Christmas, Bottle Covers

With Boxing Day Sales approaching, I am already looking for possible projects to do for Christmas 2018.

I have spent days looking and down-loading various crocheting and knitting patterns as well as the requirements for serving wine.  Strange as it sounds, yes those things go together.    One of the things I have in mind are wine bottle covers/cozys.  Since I do not drink wine I wanted to find out if the covers are just for decoration, or as a “gift bag” or are they functional at keeping the wine at a cooler temperature.  I think the answer in part depends on the pattern as well as the person using the cover.

Here are a few free Patterns that I have found for bottle covers/cozys:

Wrap Your Bottle Cozy

Holiday Spirit Bottle Bag

Buttoned Bottle Cozy

Hot Water Bottle Cover

Holiday Bottle Beanies

Butler’s Bottle Hugger

Fa-la-la-la-Reindeer Bottle Top

Dottie Bottle Cozy

Festive Bottle Dressings

Wine Bottle Slip by  You Are My Sunshine

Wine Bottle Hat and Scarf  by Diana McKay

Wine Bottle Cozies by Mckenzie

Bernat Gnome for the Holidays Wine Bottle Cozy

Bernat Crochet Christmas Tree Bottle Topper

Wine Bottle Cover by Sierra Tosner

Crochet Wine Bottle Cosy by Sinead Deegan

Knit Wine Bottle Cozy by Melissa Leapman

Felted Santa Wine Bottle Tote Crochet Pattern by Kara Gunza

Posh Vino Pouch by Steph Michaud

Winecozy by Jennifer Carter

A fun idea for gifting the wine

Santa Pants Gift Holder

Just one step in being prepared. 🙂

How to Crochet A Wave Afghan: Wavy Stripes Boho

MEASUREMENTS: Approx. 50″ x 56″ [127 x 142 cm]

GAUGE: 13 dc and 6 rows = 4″ [10 cm]

INSTRUCTIONS:  Ch 170.

Foundation Row: 1 sc in 2nd ch from hook. 1 sc in each ch to end of chain. Turn.  169 sc.

1st Row: (RS). Ch 3 (counts as 1 dc). 3 dc in next sc. *Skip next 3 sc. 1 sc in each of next 7 sc. Skip next 3 sc. 7 dc in next sc. Rep from * to last 14 sc.  Skip next 3 sc. 1 sc in each of next 7 sc. Skip next 3 sc. 4 dc in last sc. Turn.

2nd Row: Ch 1. 1 sc in each st to end of row. Turn.

3rd Row: Ch 1. 1 sc in each of first 4 sc. *Skip next 3 sc. 7 dc in next sc. Skip next 3 sc. 1 sc in each of next 7 sc. Rep from * to last 11 sc. Skip next 3 sc. 7 dc in next sc. Skip next 3 sc. 1 sc in each of next 4 sc. Turn.

4th Row: Ch 1. 1 sc in each st to end of row. Turn.

Rep last 4 rows for pat until work from beg measures approx 56″ [142 cm], ending on a 4th row.  Fasten off.

How to Crochet with The Crochet Crowd

Published on 20 Sep 2017

Crochet an easy Wave Afghan using Caron Cakes. The striping you see in the photo is exactly how it comes out. The tutorial will get you started with the stitch counts and allow you to follow along.

https://youtu.be/aGVvCun6sUY

Wavy Shell Crochet Blanket

By: Michael Sellick for allfreecrochet.com

Learn how to make a wavy shell crochet blanket with this free crochet blanket. This is exclusively for AllFreeCrochet as it lists the pattern in its entirety along with a video to watch.

Materials:

• K Size Hook, CLICK HERE to see Hook Size Conversion Table If Needed
• Bernat or Redheart Yarn 4 PLY Worsted

TIPS: This tends not to shrink too much. The width that you make it is usually the size it will end up being. This pattern looks more effective using 3 colors. You can opt to do it in a solid color or 2. The example taught on the Youtube Video is 3 colors.
The pattern is pretty simple. It only consists of 2 lines. However, it appears more harder and more complex due to the colour changing. The colors are changing every line. See video how to do that. You don’t need to make knots.
LINE 1
Start chaining in sets of 14 Stitches. When you get to 14, start over at 1 again and chain again to 14. Keep doing that until you get the width you want. At the end, you will add 3 stitches. By doing it this way, you don’t have to count high numbers and you know your stitches will be in the right quantities to make this right.
Turn Work

Line 2
Use The Same Colour As Line 1
Now miss the first two stitches, and put 3 Double Crochets into the same stitch (3rd stitch away from the hook.
Skip Over 3 chains (going into 4th Chain), and then single crochet into the next 7 chains.
Skip Over 3 Chains, (going into 4th Chain), and put 7 Double Crochets into the same stitch. This will cause it to fan as seen in the videos.
You will keep repeating Step 2 and 3 until you get close to the end.
At the end you will put 4 Double Crochets into the very last stitch.
Turn Work

Line 3 
Is Always The Easiest Line Each Time You Do It
Chain up 1.
You will Single Crochet into each of the stitches along the line right to the end.
Turn Work

Line 4
Chain up 1
Single Crochet into each of the 1st 4 Stitches.
Skip 3 Stitches, and then Double Crochet 7 Times into the same stitch (which causes it to fan out, I called it half pin wheel in the videos).
Skip 3 Stitches, and then Single Crochet into the next 7 Stitches.
You will keep repeating Step 3 and 4, until you get close to the end.
When you get to the final part, you will only be left with 4 stitches, you will be putting in 1 Single Stitch into each of the remaining 4 stitches.
Turn Work.

Line 5
Repeat Line 3

Line 6
Chain Up 3
Double Crochet 3 times into the 1st Stitch, this will create a fan or half pinwheel formation.
Skip 3 Stitches, then single crochet once into the next 7 Stitches.
Skip 3, then put 7 Double Crochets into the same stitch, to create a fan shape.
Keep repeating steps 3 and 4 until you get close to the end.
You should be left with putting 4 Double Crochet into the last stitch.
Turn Work

You will continually repeat Lines 3, 4, 5, and 6 over and over again until you get your desired length. By using 3 colours, you will make this blanket appear more complicated than it is.

At the end, cast off as normal.

View Videos Below:

Wavy Shell Blanket Part 1
Wavy Shell Blanket Part 2
Wavy Shell Blanket Part 3

Wow how times flies

Thanks to a chat and hug with a stranger in a parking lot I popped back on here.  Looking at the date of my last post, it was also matches the last time I got a hair cut.  Funny how that sticks in my head.

Since then, I have been enrolled in an intense mental health program called Dialectical Behavior Therapy.  It was about an 18 month wait to get into the program.  The program length for me will be 18 months.  For the last 4 months of the program, I will also be doing a PTSD program – Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.

One of the things that I have been spending several hours a day on is “building mastery”.  So far the best way/method that I have seen to explain it, is on the following wordpress post

Building Mastery

Two of the things that I am working on are two crochet stitches that I haven’t used before.

Written Virus Shawl Pattern

Virus shawl written crochet pattern (1)

German Scalloped Triangle Shawl aka Virus Shawl

This is just the start of trying to write out a full pattern for the Virus Shawl.  Most of what has or will be written has been based on a wonderful video set which can be found here:

There are 5 parts to the video.  They also have on their web site a pattern graph which can be found here: http://woolpedia.de/english/crochet-tutorials/shawl/

I have also used the written pattern translated by Michelle J. Iseman which can be found 

 

Dealing with Panic or Anxiety

Since a lot of us suffer from panic/anxiety, I thought I would share a few things that I have found helpful when going some place new or just being out of the house.

• go early – this gives you a chance to centre yourself, so you don’t feel so rushed
• find a seat that gives you a view of the room – this way you have something at your back, you can easily see the exits and the washroom.
• take a book or craft with you – it gives you something to focus on rather then the fact you are just sitting there
• take a go bag – a go bag is a bag that contends items that you may need in the event of an emergency.
  • a over night self care kit – soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, etc
  • first aid kit – band-aids, first add cream, after bug bite, burn spray, tweezers, eye drops, nasal spray, gauze, tape, antiseptic wipes, scissors,  pressure band-aid, gloves, q-tips, pain / headache pills, back pills, etc
  • sewing kit – needles, thread, buttons, shoe laces, safety pins, cording, etc
  • change of clothes – socks, under garments, shirt, pants, shoes
  • extra pair of glasses if worn, eye glass repair kit
  • flashlight
  • small towels
  • snacks & drinks
  • candle & matches in a water proof container
  • book, craft – anything to keep you busy
  • toilet paper with centre removed in a plastic resealable bag
  • photocopies of your legal papers /birth certificate
  • small phone book with all of your contact numbers listed
  • a small change purse with both coins and bills
  • rain poncho
  • green garbage bag
• take a friend
• breath deeply
• bring music – ipod
• do leg exercises – this works if you are at table or desk – leg raises, calf raises.  Just tighten muscles & hold to the count of 10 and release if people can see your legs.