I think Fenella is an evil, bossy, double- agent- recruiter, but not for the KGB as that stands for....Keep Gerbils Bluestocking.

I just thought of something while working on a spreadsheet.

Surely those very rare & high quality sunflower seeds are only available to gerbils employed at the Bluestocking? Would Graphic & the others want to lose those?

Or you could Embrace Brokenness, as in Japanese Kintsugi, and pick out the mistakes in gold thread, Edith.

That's probably the silliest suggestion - but I say that with a certain amount of [misplaced] pride at being the silliest🙃Silly in the Bluey is good😀

Morning all, bore da, maidin maith, etc etc.
I see from the weather forecast that some of you are going to be in heatwave territory again, I'm so sorry, and hope that you get through it OK till things settle down again😞

Myrtle, Why?! I hear you cry. Because they fucking can could be applied to so much modern tech -
.Because they fucking can
and
Because they can make fucking shitloads of money out of it.
summarises a lot of recent technological developments, though it's not usually phrased that way 😏

Interesting that it appies to glass too!

And not only do we learn about glass production, but Pasta tells us now knitting machines do faux-crochet -
Welcome to the University of Peak Woo, Bluestocking Campus.
Where all the professors actually know stuff...😁

.

I used to frog whenever I spotted a mistake, sometimes several rows back, but now only if I think it’s really going to be a problem.

Although I did a baby blanket for one of my cousins which looked deceptively simple, white with a lacy pattern, and any mistake on that would have stood out a mile. There was a lot of frogging & swearing on that one.

Technically no machine crochet exists, but there are knitting machines that imitate crochet to make clothes in granny squares or more 'lace like" stitches.

It isn't actually crochet, which is a 3-d movement and the yarn twists to make a treble, but it looks the same until you peer really closely.

Edith, it's not a mistake, it's a mark of an individually handcrafted piece.

I don't think machine-made crochet exists.

But I take your point. And it's a good one.

Come on, sleep gerbils...
DH is snoring, which doesnt help.

Wow! That's awesome.

Even more recent developments in producing larger sheets of glass is why we now have so many buildings covered in glass, that massively overheat.

Why?! I hear you cry. Because they fucking can.

That just unlocked a long forgotten memory of a college trip at the end of the 80s!

I went round the Pilkington factory once, it was amazing.

Not just entertaining but educational too, thank you Myrtle!

I feel the story has taken a bit of a psychodrama turn with our chums facing a challenging dilemma 😕
The Bluey wouldn't be the same without them - and yet.... they have hopes and dreams...

I have learned a lot about glass, old and new, recently. I wonder why... 🤔

People think it "flows", it doesn't, it just isn't made properly flat. The reason we have it now is because of the Pilkington glass making method:

From the Pilkington website https://www.pilkington.com/en/gbl/knowledge-hub-selection/architectural-and-technical-glass-knowledge-hub/learn-about-glass-technology/the-float-process# (and its history pages are fascinating: www.pilkington.com/en-gb/uk/about/heritage/invention-of-float-glass#)

At the heart of the world's glass industry is the float process - invented by Sir Alastair Pilkington in 1952 - which manufactures clear, tinted and coated glass for buildings, and clear and tinted glass for vehicles. The process, originally able to make only 6mm thick glass, now makes it as thin as 0.4 mm and as thick as 25 mm. Molten glass, at approximately 1000°C, is poured continuously from a furnace onto a shallow bath of molten tin. It floats on the tin, spreads out and forms a level surface. Thickness is controlled by the speed at which solidifying glass ribbon is drawn off from the bath. After annealing (controlled cooling) the glass emerges as a 'fire' polished product with virtually parallel surfaces.

A float plant, which operates non-stop for between 10-15 years, makes around 6000 kilometres of glass a year in thicknesses of 0.4 mm to 25 mm and in widths up to 3 metres. The float process has been licensed to more than 40 manufacturers in 30 countries. Around 370 float lines are in operation, under construction or planned worldwide with a combined output of about 970,000 tonnes of glass a week. The NSG Group operates or has interests in 51 float lines worldwide.

The mistakes are proof it's hand made with love and not picked off a shelf of 20 identical items.

Blue and yellow. Hopefully nice and cheery for the miserable months of winter.

All Islamic things I think.

Maybe its like Islamic tiled floors (or is it carpets?) where they deliberately make an error, as only God can do perfect?

What colour/s are you using for the jumper?

That's comforting, Empress, thank you.

I make mistakes when knitting, but they usually don't matter. But this was pretty simple crochet, which is why I'm annoyed.

The baby's jumper is going to be fun.

I don’t think I’ve ever finished a crochet project without at least one mistake, Edith. I bet hardly anyone does.

The bloody crochet project is finished and being blocked. As I pinned it out I noticed a mistake. Given how much I had to frog and redo as I went along, it's no surprise that a mistake slipped through, but since all the ends have been very intricately sewn in, frogging it all the way back is almost impossible, so I'm not going to. I'll disguise the mistake to the best of my ability. It won't notice at all when it's in use.

But still, oh bugger.

On the plus side, other parts of the day were better. I was driving along a lane this morning and came up behind a lad training a horse. He was long-reining it, walking along behind. Very nice horse too, a big, sturdy dapple grey, and very calm to the car passing, slowly.

And this afternoon, when I went to walk B&B, I saw a hen partridge with 3 chicks, who were so small that they can only have only just have got their feathers. All four of them took off, low across the wheat stubble.

Even the rubbish spring barley has now been cut. The spuds have been topped, and some of the onions have been lifted and are being left to dry. Summer is definitely winding down, hot though it was this afternoon.

Speaking of which, a friend has passed on to me some of her glut of raspberries, which sound like delicious evening snack.

Absolutely.
She would make a very nice pie.

Or in true MN style, a week's worth of meals for a family of six.

Someone should rework that book title into 'A Pub of Our Own'.

It makes me want to go & explore cathedrals.

So, yes it's all very interesting and I look forward to what happens next BUT I don't care how sodding glorious her plumage is

She's poaching our staff!

It makes me want to do a stained glass course 🤔

All the gerbils (and Hedgehog) look so earnest.