Paris

Hello again world!

It has been rather a while since I last blogged.

Since last time I had a lovely holiday in Paris (and got sunburnt even thought the forcast didn't predict sunny weather)

It was another tour holiday so there were lots of activities planned for us including a coach tour, a trip to Versailles, and a night tour.

The night tour did cause the funniest comment from someone on the tour of  - what's the point it'll be dark?

The Eiffel tower was lovely at night (also during the day) and has a light display on the hour that lasts about 5 minutes.

Here are some photos from my holiday:

 

The final picture is of the opera-house that inspired the book 'The Phantom of the Opera'

No doubt by the next time I blog I will have aged sufficiently and no longer be a teenager - an idea which makes Mum emotional but doesn't affect me much.

Bruges

Last week I went on a short holiday with my family to Bruges.  It was a really great holiday but it was a bit cold.

Bruges is such a pretty city, with its cobbled streets, canal through the centre, and beautiful old buildings.

We were on a Riviera tour so we had many activities already planned for us but we also had a fair amount of free time to see the city at our own pace.

A visit to Ypres was one of the scheduled outings.  It was amazing to find out that the whole city was just rubble after WW1 but has been completely rebuilt since (see picture below). 

We also saw some real trenches from the war that have been preserved.  No wonder trench-foot was common as, due to the Flanders clay soil, they all contained water even though it hadn’t rained for several days.

On a lighter note, we managed to sample some of the local Flanders cuisine – chocolate, beer, chips, and waffles.  On the last day we visited one of the 3 chocolate shops in Bruges that still makes its own chocolates (out of over 60).

One of the things we did in our free time (besides eat waffles) was going to a Harp concert.  At first I was a bit sceptical, especially when the man said he was playing songs he composed himself, but it was much better than I expected and a very relaxing way of spending time.

Chester Races

The company I work for won an award (the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation) recently so decided to go to Chester races for the 'Ladies and Gents Evening' to celebrate.   We were in the open part of the course, rather than the formal part.  It saved a lot of planning what to wear as we went straight from work.

I didn’t place any bets but some of my friends did and one even allowed me to pick some of their horses for them (which sadly didn’t prove lucky).

We had a barbeque set up and so there was plenty of food.  Our marquee tent was right next to the 2 furlong marker (technical sounding at least) and the horses were only about five metres away when they passed us.

Senna Documentary

I went to see the new documentary about Ayrton Senna with my best friend from work (IMDb page here).

I've heard critics say that you don't have to be a fan of Formula One to enjoy this film but we were already big fans and we really enjoyed it.

Although I’m a bit young to remember Senna, I have read Formula One books so know the stats and a bit about the history.   

I really liked the film as it showed Senna as a human rather than a list of statistics, as well as seeing his career progressing.

Catch-Up

I haven’t been keeping my blog up to date recently.  I keep meaning to post but I have been so tired after work every day.

Work has been really good though – I’ve been making circuits and doing plenty of soldering which I love.

Also I got my university exam results back and I passed them all so I go into third year in September.

I will post what I’ve been up to as there’s plenty to share!

Astronomy Lecture

We got an email sent around at work a few weeks ago about a public lecture about the Hubble Space Telescope.  I've always been interested in astronomy and, as one of my friends at work said, there would at least be some pretty pictures.


So last Thursday a small group of us made the journey after work into Liverpool for the lecture.  We turned up very early for the lecture and managed to find a pub that had nice food not too far from where it was being held.

The lecture itself was really interesting and talked about the advances that have been made in astronomy with the help of the Hubble Telescope in the 20 years it has been in operation.  Of course there were some amazing photos that Hubble has taken too.


If you want to read more about it you can find it here.  That page also has a link to a video of the entire lecture.

Meet Genghis

This is Genghis the Eagle.

The Boy told me recently that he likes eagles and wolves so I decided I had to make one of these for him.  After looking on Ravelry and just about everywhere on the internet, I found that there are virtually no free eagle patterns.  I could have just made do with a wolf but that seemed far too easy so here is my pattern for a cute little eagle.

He got his name when I made a joke that if The Boy named the eagle he would end up with a name like Genghis then realised that it was actually quite a good name after all.

Let me know if there's any problems with the pattern.

It's also available to download as a PDF here

I've been asked for the finished size.  Using a 3.5mm hook my finished Genghis was 3.5 inches tall.

Need:

·         3.5 mm crochet hook.

·         Double Knitting or Worsted wool in the following colours:

o   Dark brown

o   White

o   Yellow

o   Black (for eyes)

·         Stitch Markers.

·         Tapestry needle

·         Stuffing.

Pattern:                    (English terms used)

Body

Dark Brown wool

Row 1: chain 18 and slip stitch into first to create a loop.

Row 2: dc around.                                                                      (18 stitches)

Row 3: 8 dc, 2 inc, 8 dc.                                                            (20 stitches)

Row 4: dc around.                                                                      (20 stitches)

Row 5: 9 dc, 2 inc, 9 dc.                                                            (22 stitches)

Row 6: 9 dc, 4 inc, 9 dc.                                                            (26 stitches)

Row 7: dc around.                                                                      (26 stitches)

Row 8: 12 dc, 2 inc, 12 dc.                                                        (28 stitches)

Row 9: 12 dc, 4 inc, 12 dc.                                                        (32 stitches)

Row 10: dc around.                                                                    (32 stitches)

Row 11: 14 dc, 4 inc, 14 dc.                                                      (36 stitches)

Row 12: dc around.                                                                    (36 stitches)

Row 13: dc around.                                                                    (36 stitches)

Row 14: 14 dc, 4 dec, 14 dc.                                                     (32 stitches)

Row 15: 14 dc, 2 dec, 14 dc.                                                     (30 stitches)

Row 15: (dec + dc) around                                                       (20 stitches)

Row 16: dec around                                                                   (10 stitches)

Row 17: decrease until hole is closed.  Fasten off and sew in ends.

Head

White wool

Row 1: 6 dc in a magic ring                                                         (6 stitches)

Row 2: increase in every stitch                                                  (12 stitches)

Row 3: (inc + dc) around                                                              (18 stitches)

Rows 4-7: dc around                                                                      (18 stitches)

Row 8: dc around and slip stitch to close                              (18 stitches)

Row 9: (1 ch, 1 tr in same hole, 2 ch, ss) around to form 9 peaks.   

Slip stitch and finish off leaving long tail to sew.

Wings  (make 2)

Dark Brown wool

Row 1: 6 dc in a magic ring.                                                      (6 stitches)

Row 2: (dc +inc) around.                                                            (9 stitches)

Row 3: dc around.                                                                         (9 stitches)

Row 4: (2 dc + inc) around.                                                        (12 stitches)

Row 5: (3 dc + inc) around.                                                        (15 stitches)

Row 6: dc around.                                                                         (15 stitches)

Row 7: (3 dc + dec).                                                                      (12 stitches)

Row 8: dc around.                                                                         (12 stitches)

Row 9: dc around.                                                                         (12 stitches)

Row 10: (2 dc + dec) around.                                                    (9 stitches)

Row 11: dc around.                                                                      (9 stitches)

Row 12: (dc + dec) around.                                                       (6 stitches)

Row 13: dc around.                                                                     (6 stitches)

Row 14: dec around.                                                                   (3 stitches)

Fasten off leaving tail to sew to body.

Feet      (make 2)

Yellow wool

6 ch, ss into first loop, (6 ch, ss into same loop) repeat twice.
They should look like the ones shown below:

Beak

Yellow wool

Row 1: 2 ch.

Row 2: 3 dc in second loop from hook and turn.                   (3 stitches)

Row 3: 1 ch, inc, dc, inc.  Turn.                                                    (5 stitches)

Row 4: ch, inc, 3 dc, inc.  Turn.                                                    (7 stitches)

Row 5: ch, 7 dc.  Fasten off leaving long tail to sew.

Making Up

Stuff the body and head. 

Sew the head onto the body using the row before the fancy edging leaving the edging loose.

Flatten the wings and sew onto the body.

Sew up the two shortest sides of the beak to form a cone.  Stuff and sew onto the head.

Sew the feet onto the body.

Sew eyes on with black wool.

Hope you like it!