Rangers Octopus Loo Roll Cover

 As the title says ... a loo roll cover, in the shape of an octopus, in Rangers FC colours :D

Weird Xbox Tenure

Okay ... so the number of years you have had an Xbox Live profile shows on your profile. I think mine is 5 or 6 years now, havnt checked.

ANYWAY

eviltedi has got something a bit weird, and currently tweeting with XboxSupport  to see if we can work out what's up (if you have a problem tweet them cos they are pretty quick at responding and so far so good with answers in the past :D )

Sometime last week eviltedi's tenure changed to 9 years ... a helluva long time ... or rather it sort of changed.

He'd gone onto his 360 to see the free game that's up on offer ... we have Sproglets who like playing and sometimes theres things that they'll enjoy too ... and he noticed there he'd changed from 8 to 9.

It's pretty clear on the 360 as you can see here

So after doing whatever he was doing on there he went back to the One ... Titanfall, say no more LOL

BUT ... on the One it hasn't changed, still only saying 8 years. So contacted support above to ask if they had any idea

First answer back was did you check the number properly ... and yes the font can look a bit deceiving so got 'tedi to come out of the game to check and it is definitely still an 8 ... see below

The next suggestion was to delete and reinstate profile on the One to see if that updates it ... he's done that now and still no change (altho he was a tad miffed as his friends were not showing and getting a weird code but it turns out there was actually a wee problem in the systems that they new about and once that was sorted the ages of birling circle to get a black screen with error code dissappeared)

SO, this is where we are now on March 19th 2014 at 10.43am UK time ...  just gonna publish this and link to them so they can see the pics in full definition (twitter insists i half the size the camera takes) to show we're not imagining it :D ... will update as we work thru this and find out what up. eviltedi did a forum scan and found no info, so 'tis a mystery :D

watch this space

Edit 20 March 2014

Support were not sure why it hadn't changed yet, but did say keep an eye and to let them know if it hadnt changed within about a week. Not a problem.

So 'tedi signed on there this morning and lo and behold ... 

So the One has updated it's tenure about a week behind the 360. Not sure if this will be the norm or if others will immediately update ... but just in case this happens to anyone else the info is here :D

YAY, 9 years :D

A child's "innocent" Hobbit question

Sproglet2 "why has he got no shoes on?" while watching LOTR and looking at Billy "Pippin" Boyd 

cos he's a hobbit, they have big hairy feet and dont wear shoes ... how else do you think they are different (thinking he'll see the height)

"big hairy hands?"

nope not that

" a big hairy winkie???"

I died

Digital Download Gripe

Yes it has been a while since I wrote anything on here. Been busy with Teeny Dudes and my own Sproglets and general life stuff. 

BUT ... this digital download stuff is really getting on my goat, and today I REALLY need to say something about it.

SO...


Dear Xbox ... you want us to use the digital download thing right??? well here is an idea. make it worth our while. 

Today we see Rayman Legends digital download on the dashboard for £34.79

 https://store.xbox.com/en-GB/Xbox-One/Games/Rayman-Legends/b1613d47-2330-459a-a99f-4cc84a481db9 

but Asda have it for £27 for the hard copy disc

http://direct.asda.com/Rayman-Legends---Xbox-One/003734872,default,pd.html

SO... as a mother and a gamer, with 2 kids who game, and a husband who games ... and in these current times of austerity ... where the *bleep* do you think I'm gonna get this one from.???

One to two quid fine, that would be a minor grumble that would get a typically British quiet whinge while it made it's way down the phone lines ... but nearly £8 is far too much to be let away with that.

Look at the competitors prices ... charge a competitive price... and we WILL use the system

Lacy Fingerless Mitts

Way back in February the online wool store Deramores created a knit-a-long through Ravelry. They wafted THIS easy lace patterned snood/cowl designed by Jemma Weston using Rowan yarn.

So I gave it a whirl and it knitted up really quick. Then another KAL member created a pattern for lazy lace like hat to match the scarf. Not being a much of an in-the-round knitter I used her instructions as a start and made a straight needle version instead.

After all that I had a cowl and a hat and some yarn left over ... and this is how these simple fingerless mitts came about. SO pattern time...

Materials

Double Knitting yarn approx 25 grams (allow 30g for length for sewing up etc)

4mm and 5mm straight needles

a tapestry needle to sew up the seam

and the 10 row pattern from Deramores (no longer available so edited into this pattern)

Method

Using 4mm needles cast on 36 stitches, and work 19 rows in K1, P1 rib

Change to 5mm needles and Purl 1 row

Work though the 10 row pattern below twice (20 rows), you will end with the purl row 10.

 

Row 1 (RS): K1 *yfwd, K2togtbl, K3, rep from * to end.
Row 2 and every alt row: K1, P to last st, K1.
Row 3: K2, *yfwd, K2togtbl, K3, rep from * to last 4 sts, yfwd, K2togtbl, K2.

Row 5: K3 *yfwd, K2togtbl, K3, rep from * to last 3 sts, yfwd, K2togtbl, K1.
Row 7: K4 *yfwd, K2togtbl, K3, rep from * to last 2 sts, yfwd, K2 togtbl.
Row 9: K5 *yfwd, K2togtbl, K3, rep from * to last st, K1.
Row 10: K1, P to last st, K1.

 

Change to 4mm needles and work a further 10 rows in K1, P1 rib.

Cast off rib wise.

To Make Up

You need to fold in half and sew the seam matching the rib bands and leaving a space for the thumb. I have added the picture below to show where I feel the thumb is comfortable, in this case a joined from the longer rib band up to the 10th row of the pattern (the eyelet hole) and then another row to created a firm seam edge, and from the smaller rib band for only a couple of rows. Neaten yarn ends and ta-da some easy lace fingerless mitts

These lilac ones match the cowl and hat I made. The rib band at the wrist was done using only 15 rib rows rather than the 19 I used making the light yellow pair for the pattern. If you want a quick charity knit these would be perfect using the 15 row band... you could easily get 4 pairs from a 100g ball of cheap acylic DK.

The lace pattern is in my opinion a good introduction into lace knitting for someone who has the basic skills but wants to expand slightly

If you do make any I would love to see and have a pattern page for them HERE on Ravelry you can link to.

Thank you :D

 

Banana Bread

total time to make about 50 mins including baking

preheat oven to 180C/gas4

grease a 1lb loaf tin (about 22cmx12cm) line base with greaseproof if your not using a non-stick tin or for ease of removal

in a large bowl mash up 2 large browning bananas,

add in 1 egg,130g self raising flour,1tsp baking powder,55g softened butter,100g caster sugar and mix well...if bananas aren't overly ripe you may need to add in a little milk for a dropping consistency

pour mixture into tin and bake center oven for 35-40 mins or till a skewer in the middle comes out clean

allow to mostly cool in tin then turn onto wire rack to cool completely

Hallowe'en 2011

Here we have 2 Knights...One of the Camelot-esque variety, and one Jedi 

knitted chailmail shirt and coif, sewn undershirt

as for the Jedi...he looks like a mini Luke in the middle pic :D... sewing again for underrobes and main teracotta one (had to dye it as i didnt have anything big enough that was darker than the cream) and a twisted cord for the belt.