Touchdown at the Newest Bluestocking Inn. Pudding, cups of tea, the vegetable garden coming into its own, and gerbils beautiful gerbils all furry.

[DeanElderberry]

All females welcome for intelligent discourse and non-harmful comestibles.

@ifIwerenotanandroid ’s gerbil squares are wonderful, so full of character and detail.

Thank you for pointing us towards them, @AlexandraLeaving . Here’s a link for anyone who hasn’t already visited.

Wow @ifIwerenotanandroid brilliant work! The clarinet! 😍
Also loved the Lego squares. There's such talent on these boards.

Fabulous squares. And I've said this before, but the concept and those who make the Woolly Hugs are by far and away the best part of this whole site.

Flaming Nora, Android! What artistry! That's absolutely incredible.

I took my new wheels onto town again and even managed to reverse into the wheelchair space on the bus without mowing anyone down (it's harder than it looks).

Birthday present was a workshop which has now been cancelled so instead I went on a bit of a spree. I shall have well supported norks and hydrated skin and generally being fabulous.

I’ve been to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris today which was lovely. April here is in some respects more like May or later - some daffodils still in bloom, lots of tulips but also anemones, yellow, orange and white poppies , irises, even a few of some sort of agapanthus.
We went in the mineralogy museum there which is a well curated selection nicely displayed though lacking chemical info.

We had planned to go to one of the art museums after this but realised rather belatedly but before walking to it that it’s closed until the weekend while they prepare a new exhibition so that one will have to wait.

Awesome

Amazing work Android I am in awe.......

I’ve just taken a look at the new WH thread, those gerbils are wonderful especially Millicent with her clarinet. Such a work of love.
The beautiful photo KP on the OP is what I was describing in relation to a tweed that lodged in my mind in childhood. ❤️

@ifIwerenotanandroid

So many Maud siblings! 😍😍😍😍😍

If my version of Co Pilot ever escapes into the wild it will remodel the world on the Bluestocking.

I so hope it escapes!

What she said!

Amazing gerbilling, Android 😍

Wonderful squares, Android
And wonderful squares also from Alexandra.

All of them just lovely.

Does anyone have a technique for making perfect, tiny circles/spheres with yarn? The gerbils' eyes were a real problem & when I tried to fix them rather than starting again, it just got worse - poor Matilda nearly got sunglasses as her eyes were so big!

I started with French knots, then tried tying overlapping knots in a cut length of yarn & taking the 2 ends through to the back of the work, with the knot(s) at the front. Any other ideas?

Skynet Boily style sounds rather fun!

Not spheres or circles per se - and I struggled with this too, especially for the recorder finger holes, but the thing I used for the musical notes was what the Jean Greenhowe doll books recommend for eyes. You make them by tying a knot that instead of just winding the yarn over once you wind it over six times before pulling tight. They're slightly more egg like than spherical and you do have to be careful to pull them to the same degree of tightness so they look identical (lots of discarded charcoal yarn in all rooms here...) but it might help for future gerbilufacture.

Let's just say we won't be short of Tunnocks for the next month.

ETA: Or would only Boiled have access to the Tunnocks? 🙄

I would have suggested French knots. Can you do a French knot with doubled yarn, would that work?

Even worse/ more uncontrollable & angular, I would think. But thanks for the suggestion.

I'll try it, thanks. Yes, I had a few lengths of knotted black yarn left over, draped over the arm of a chair. At least with knotting in advance, you can see which ones MIGHT work, before you commit yourself to any stitching.

PS Your output is astonishing! I hope it helped you, as well as making for an amazing blanket.

2-ply crewel yarn using crewel or large sashiko needle, do kind of a satin embroidery stitch, varying the length of the stitches as you go, to form a flat circle? Would that be possible? I don't work with crewel, so don't know how flat it would lie

I listened to a lot of Lord Peter Wimsey short stories on YouTube while gerbilling. The opening of 'In The Teeth of the Evidence' is an absolute joy: Ian Carmichael narrates & does all the noises of being at the dentist in such a sweet way. It's a tour de force, as Errol is probably saying right now. (Bon soir, Mme Errol!)

That's how I did the noses & they were all different, though I tried to make them all the same! I think it's beyond my skill level to control it & make both eyes the same - at least the gerbils only had one nose each, so it didn't matter!

I’ve just sent the Sunday Times cryptic crossword off & appreciated Genius’s help with the bottom left corner.

The prize is reference books. If I ever win them I’ll donate them to the Bluey library.

In the virtual world of the Bluey, you won last week & already donated. 😃

yes, Noses would be easier. And any differential in the length of stitch for the eyes would show so much more with crewel yarn than perl or thin sashiko thread. <sighs>

I can't think of another solution... aside from tiny beads or buttons, but that's not right.

but I thought the gerbils looked perfectly beautiful!