Another Shutterfly Book

SATURDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2018

Another Shutterfly Book

I finally got around to making Another Shutterfly Book featuring crochet creations. This one is for our granddaughter's birthday. I thought "Four Lambs Together" would be perfect for a girl turning FOUR this month. 

It has been almost two years since my last Shutterfly Book. I love making them. Once an idea sets hold in my mind, I can't rest until it's done. 

The idea for this book started back in November with a blog post titledFour Lambs Together when I wrote a rhyming verse to accompany photos of four crocheted lambs. I took a few more photos of the lambs on a white duvet then put the whole thing aside as I was much too busy preparing for Christmas to think about making a book. 

Also I was hoping our daughter might take more 'book-worthy' photos when she visited. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Our house was too full and busy to fit in a photo shoot. Then I got sick with the flu when they left which further delayed any thought of a book. 

Finally as I was starting to feel better and as my most recent half-price Shutterfly coupon was about to expire, I thought a book would make a great birthday present if I could get it done in time. That got me thinking in earnest. I woke up through the night working out details in my mind. Honestly, this creativity stuff is so exciting it interrupts my sleep. 

The next night after work, I sat at my laptop and finished the book all in one go. I love how it flows so easily once I have it all sorted in my mind. 

The cover looks like this except with a sepia filter on the photo.

I ordered two copies of the book to be sent to Boulder - one for my granddaughter and one for me. I am pleased with how it looks despite my unedited amateurish photos. I do hope our granddaughter likes it too. 

This is the sixth book I've done for our grandchildren. I thoroughly enjoy making them. If you would like a peek inside, click on this link: Four Lambs Together. I am worried I might have made a mistake on the cover of the version sent for printing. There is no way to know for sure until it arrives. Only a few more days to wait ... fingers crossed hoping it's fine.

Happy Birthday to our sweet granddaughter. We love you lots.

Update: The book arrived early. I was relieved to see the cover was correct. My daughter sent me photos of our granddaughter counting the lambs and a video of her reciting part of the story ... so sweet.

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FRIDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2018

Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf

While searching through my stash recently, I found two balls of Patons Venus yarn in white. I remembered buying three balls on sale for $1.99 over a year ago. At the time, I was making a baby bobble blanket and wasn't sure how much I would need for the border. You can read about that here if you missed it. I used one ball adding two to my stash.

Patons Venus yarn is a luxuriously soft worsted weight yarn with a unique thick and thin texture. I love how working simple rows of single crochet back and forth with this yarn creates a pretty pattern. I was able to make this Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf for only $4. How cool is that? 

This Infinity Scarf is smaller than the Calm Cowl I made recently. I took photos side-by-side to show the difference.

I can wrap both scarves to wear as a cowl, but this white scarf fits a little tighter around my neck than I like.

This shorter infinity scarf is much more comfortable worn hanging down like a scarf rather than wrapped like a cowl. I would add one more ball of yarn to make this scarf a little longer before calling it a cowl.

Technical details for this Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf are listed below in case you would like to make one too. 

Patons Venus Yarn - 1.75 oz/50 g (2 balls) $1.99/ball
Worsted Weight (4)
5.0 mm hook
Cold water wash, lay flat to dry

Stitches Used:
ch - chain
sc - single crochet

Note: chain at beginning of row does NOT count as a stitch

Starting ch = 31
R1 - sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across (30 sc)
R2 - ch 1 and turn, sc in each stitch across (30 sc)
Repeat row 2 until you run out of yarn 
Leave a long tail to sew ends together (yarn texture hides flat join)

Finished Size: 18.5" folded in half - 37" circumference - 6.25" wide

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THURSDAY, 1 FEBRUARY 2018

Crochet Calm Cowl in Cottonwood

Making a Linen Stitch Blanket for our grandson was so much fun, I decided to carry on crocheting the linen stitch making a cowl following this free pattern on Ravelry called "Calm Cowl". It is a circular scarf crocheted in the round that can be worn wrapped like a cowl or hanging like a scarf. 

For the blanket, I bought two balls of each colour plus one extra of cottonwood, leaf and white totaling 15 balls of yarn. In the end, these extra balls were added to my alredy extensive stash. 

To crochet this cowl, I used the leftover ball of cottonwood yarn. 

I prefer to wear this scarf wrapped like a cowl to hide the crooked seam. You can see what I mean in the photo above. I worked and frogged the first 7 rows of this scarf a few times before finally giving up. I wasn't too worried as I knew wrapping would hide any imperfections. 

Technical details for this Crochet Crochet Calm Cowl in Cottonwood are listed below in case you would like to make one too. 

Hook size - 5 mm
Yarn Used (Worsted #4 weight):
Mary Maxim Best Value 100% acrylic (170 g/6 oz) - Cottonwood

Starting Chain - 211

37 rows

Finished size: 22" Folded in half - 44" circumference - 7" wide
Free pattern: Calm Cowl by Suzana Davidovic on Ravelry found here

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SUNDAY, 28 JANUARY 2018

Crochet Colour Block Linen Stitch Blanket

I recently finished a Crochet Colour Block Linen Stitch Blanket for our oldest grandson. It was made using six colours of yarn worked in blocks of colour separated by two rows of white between each block. 

The linen stitch or moss stitch is a super easy 'mindless' stitch that creates a beautiful woven texture. It has a nice drape without being too stiff or too lacy. I've used the linen stitch for smaller projects, but never a blanket. I love how it turned out. 

After working 10 rows of each colour block repeated twice, I decided to change things up a bit. Instead of 10-row blocks, I worked the remainder of the blanket in 20-row blocks. Since I also wanted to mix up the order of colour changes, I created a colour chart (see below). It was much easier to keep track with this handy dandy visual reference.

When I created the chart above, I planned to add a border worked completely in single crochet alternating each colour with one row of white. That was my plan. I even worked nine rows of the border before I decided I didn't like it. Single crochet was too stiff worked alongside linen stitch plus it created a clear 'wrong' and 'right' side. In the end, I ripped out all nine rows and settled on a simpler border consisting of one row of linen stitch in white. It was perfect and exactly right for this blanket. 

In the photo above I zoomed in a bit to show the lovely texture created by the linen stitch. I also took a sideways photo of the blanket below.

I stretched the blanket out on the double mattress our grandson uses when he visits ... not quite big enough for full coverage.

The blanket looks great folded at the end of the mattress and will fit nicely on a twin size mattress.

For now, the blanket is folded and packed in a bag ready and waiting until we see our grandson again. A Crochet Colour Block Linen Stitch Blanket made with love by Grammeo. What could be better?

Technical details for this Crochet Colour Block Linen Stitch Blanket are listed below in case you would like to make one too. 

Starting Chain - 250
Finished Size - 45"x66" (large throw blanket)
316 rows
Border - 1 round
Time to Complete - Approximately 48 hours (9 mins per row + border)
Hook size - 5 mm

Yarn Used (Worsted #4 weight):
Mary Maxim Best Value 100% acrylic (170 g/6 oz)

• Leaf - 2 balls
• Deep Teal - 2 balls
• Mocha - 2 balls
• White - 2 balls
• Silver - 2 balls
• Cottonwood - 2 balls

Blanket colour blocks crocheted in order as listed separated by 2 rows of white between each block:

Cottonwood (10 rows)

Teal (10 rows)

Mocha (10 rows)

Silver (10 rows)

Leaf (10 rows)

Repeat above 5 blocks in same order

Cottonwood (20 rows)

Teal (20 rows)

Mocha (20 rows)

Silver (20 rows)

Leaf (20 rows)

Silver (20 rows)

Mocha (20 rows)

Teal (20 rows)

Cottonwood (20 rows)

Border - 1 row of white in linen stitch (corners work 2 single crochet, chain 2, 2 single crochet

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THURSDAY, 18 JANUARY 2018

Full House for the Holidays

This year we had a Full House for the Holidays. Our daughter and her family flew in from Boulder arriving late in the day December 23rd for a two-week visit. Our son and his dog drove from Guelph the same day staying through to January 1st. Our son had school the first week of January, but managed to get back to London for another couple days before our daughter and her family had to leave January 7th.

It has been five years since our daughter last joined us for Christmas. We planned to include all our favourite Christmas traditions for this new generation of grandchildren to enjoy.

I put a lot of effort into decorating and gift wrapping to make Christmas special for the kids. Our new tree did not have a pointy top to hold our Christmas angel, so I improvised adding a teddy as a tree topper instead. 

Christmas Eve we all headed over to my parents for their Open House a much loved annual party for family and friends. Our grandson loves to dress 'fancy', so borrowed a tie for the occasion ... good choice.

Before the party, we drove by this house in Oakridge. Nothing better than a good dose of 'over-the-top' decorations at Christmas. 

My cousin from Ottawa managed to make it to the party Christmas Eve. She spent a bit of time acting as a reindeer carrying our grandson around the table picking up treats ... such fun.

After all the festivities, our grandson lost a tooth Christmas Eve. He was upset he bled on his new Christmas pj's, but happy to find money tucked under his pillow the next morning.

Christmas morning did not disappoint. The kids were excited to open their gifts then spend the rest of the day happily playing with their new things. 

After gifts, my husband and I got busy preparing dinner. My husband was in charge of the turkey and ham while I made most of the side dishes. My daughter volunteered to do mashed potatoes and my mum-in-law brought dessert. Feeding fifteen for dinner is easier when everybody helps.

Guests arrived with more gifts for the kids ... so lucky.

We needed two tables to fit all fifteen of us for our Christmas feast.

After dinner, we posed for a group shot. Our daughter took the photos using a tripod and timer. It's tough getting everybody to look normal for photos. I think she did a great job.

Our niece and her husband announced they are expecting a baby. My guess is they're having a boy. Either way, I'm looking forward to welcoming another little one into the family.

With Christmas over, we spent the rest of the week relaxing and hanging out at home with the kids. I used up the rest of my vacation for the year only working one day between Christmas and New Years and two days the following week. 

Project writter

HOW TO ACE THE 25 MOST COMMON PROJECT DEFENSE QUESTIONS

October 13, 2014 By Chidi Rafael

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When I wrote ‘Making Awesome Presentations: Useful Tips for Project Defense’, I never knew it was going to be a great success story. So many success stories and commendations from over 50,000 readers were just enough to make my year and give me more grace to write more.
Well, enough of the hyping! That great piece was still lacking some smaller pieces to make it totally awesome as some ‘Oliver Twist-Like’ fans still needed more to it. Questions like, what should we expect on the D-Day? What type of Questions do they committee members ask? Can you suggest possible questions and answers that will be asked when defending a dissertation or thesis paper? These questions fill my mail box by the day and since I adore my readers, I have decided to write a sequel to ‘Making Awesome Presentations’. This time around, with the help of some senior lecturers, friends and my own experience, I have compiled some common questions you may face on your defense day and suggested answers/approach to these questions. So as usual, Enjoy!

Top 25 Likely Project Defense Questions and Answers
Below are likely questions you may face in a defense room. Take note of these questions and suggested answers, do good by researching more and not limiting yourself to just these questions.

Question 1: In few sentences, can you tell us what your study is all about?
The question is simple right? Many professors will tell you that most students get choked on a question like this. Anyways the question is simple, but a bit technical. To answer this question, you need to know every detail of your research project from chapters one to the end. The question needs an answer in form of a summary of the entire study, therefore, to ace this particular question you need to know every detail in your abstract. If you wrote a good abstract, this question will be a cross over for you.

Question 2: What is your motivation for this study?
Now you must be careful here. This question can be very tricky and it goes a long way in convincing your panel members that your study is worth their time. Another way this question could be twisted is WHAT IS THE RESEARCH PROBLEM?

To answer this question, you may decide to elaborate on the problem investigated in the study. Your zeal to solve this problem becomes your motivation. Do not state financial reasons or the need to graduate as a motivation as you may easily go off point.

Question 3: How will this study contribute to the body of knowledge?
At some point the need for justification will arise and that is when you will be asked to mention how your study will add to the body of knowledge if approved.
Here you will need to use your methods, case study or any unique model or conceptual framework used in the study to defend it. For more information on how to tackle this particular question Click Here

Question 4: What is the significance of the study?
Just like stating how your study will contribute to the body of knowledge, you will need to state the importance of your study. To answer this question, you will need to highlight how your study will aid the government in policy development and implementation, how it will help other students who may wish to conduct research studies on the subject matter and how organizations and the society will benefit from your study.

Question 5: Did you bridge any gap from your study?
Every research study must have a problem. Your ability to solve this problem and explore into areas not yet researched on gives you the full marks allocated for answering this question. You must be able to convince the committee members that your approach is unique and it has covered areas where much have not been done by other researchers.

Question 6: What limitations did you encounter?
This is another simple but tricky question. Most times the question is not asked to sympathize with you, rather to get loopholes to criticize your work. To answer this question, you must be careful with words as you may implicate yourself. Be careful enough not to sell out yourself. Do not discourse limitations in your methods or data analysis techniques as this may imply that your study may be biased or not well researched. Use simple limitations like difficulties encountered in combining lectures and project instead of limiting your study.

Question 7: What are your findings?
At this point it is expected of you to present your results or findings from the study in a clear and concise manner. Always link your findings to your research objectives/questions. This will make your panel members to easily be carried along.

Question 8: What Methods or Sampling Technique did you employ?
To answer this question, you must be familiar with your research methodology. Your chapter three (in Most Projects) must be at your fingertips. Your ability to justify your sample size and technique will be highly rewarded here. For more tips Click Here

Question 9: Why choose this method?
As discoursed above, you should not only state a particular method for the study. You must also be ready and able to justify why you chose the method in a convincing manner. At this point you are free to quote sources or similar studies where such methods were adopted.

Question 10: Based on your findings what are your recommendations?
Recommendations are very vital in every research study and should not be joked with. In essence you should know your recommendations off hand.

Question 11: Based on your findings what areas will you suggest for future research?
Questions like this are just there to test your reasoning and authority in your research area. Based on your findings in a manageable scope, you should be able to suggest future research areas in line with your study. For example, if I researched on the challenges of personal income tax collection in Nigeria, a good area for further study will be in other forms of taxation such as VAT, Company tax etc.

Question 12: How can your research study be put into practice?
Easy for the computer scientist and engineering students, but a bit tough for management and social sciences since most management/social science projects are more of abstract in nature. However, you should try your best to be realistic here. Relate your study to current trends in your environment, office, economy, government, schools, church etc. Use of relevant examples and illustrations will score you good point here.

Question 13: How would you summarize your study to a practitioner in a few sentence?
Your ability to convey technical information from the study will score you good points here.

Question 14: What would you change if you were to conduct the study again?
Hmmm. Be careful! Do not be too jovial. There is a loophole here! Just like your limitations, this question can be asked to identify your week points.

Question 15: What is your measurement Instrument?
In simple terms, what data collection method did you employ for the study? Here you state if questionnaires were distributed or data was gotten from secondary sources. For more information on measurement instruments Click Here

Question 16: What are your research variables?
Here you will need to convince your panel members that you know what you are talking about. You need to explain your independent and dependent variable(s) to convince them that you are on point. Your variables are present in your project topic. You need to identify these variables and know their definitions as well to ace your defense.

Question 17: What are your research questions?
Very simple question. It should take about 0.015 seconds to answer this question if you are fully prepared.

Question 18: What do you plan to do with your research project after Graduation?
Here you are at liberty to say your mind. If you intend to publish it, this is the best opportunity to discourse and interact with the committee members-maybe a professor there can help.

Question 19: What source of data was employed for the study?
At this point you have to state the source(s) you got data from. In general you have to state whether data was gotten from primary or secondary source or both. You can further convince the committee members by discoursing on literature reviewed for the study-both theoretical and empirical.

Question 20: What theories or theoretical framework is your study based on?
This is a very technical question but interesting. Before you step into the defense room, you should know at least two relevant theories that relate to your study. For example, the “impact of motivation on employee productivity” will be based on Maslow’s Theory and other theories of motivation. If you cannot find relevant theories to back up your study, consult your supervisor for help.

Question 21: How would you relate your findings to existing theories on the study?
To ace this question, one will have to read extensively. You should know existing theories on the subject matter as well as empirical studies too. Your ability to link your findings to previous research studies (Whether they agree or not) will go a long way in validating your study. You will score good points here trust me.

Question 22: What recommendations do you have for future research?
Your problem solving skill is put to test here. You should be able to identify areas that will need more research.

Question 23: What is the scope of the study?
This one is a cheap or should I say bonus question? Here you quickly state the delimitation of the study in brief.

Question 24: What question(s) do you have for the committee?
Not a likely question in our Nigerian context, but I have defended a seminar project where this question was asked and I was shocked to my marrows. This is an opportunity to interact with your committee members and ask some constructive questions. Do not ask silly or too difficult questions as the goal should be to make the committee members feel as the “boss”. It will also go a long way in showing that you are a brilliant individual.

Question 25: Do you have any closing comments?
This is praising time! Use this opportunity to thank your committee members for their time and questions. Tell them how much you have learnt from them and how you intend to correct errors (if any) identified in your work. This can go a long way in impressing your internal and external supervisors. All the best!

BONUS TIPS

• When confronted with a difficult question, adopt a strategy to make them rephrase or repeat the question. This will give you more time to think.
• If your research project is Empirical in nature,or you used any statistical tool to test hypothesis, try to know how you arrived at such conclusion. Also know how your data was analysed and the various tools used for the analysis.
• Before your defense day. Practice with your supervisor or your friends. Make them to drill you with likely questions.
• Talk calmly with confidence. Do not talk too fast as this may pave way for tension and stage freight.
• Read your project thoroughly. Know basic definitions and terms used in the study.
• Expand the likely questions to 50. Feel free to add yours in the comment box below. Thanks and God bless you.
• If you need ideas on contemporary project topics sample Click Here
You may also like: Making Awesome Presentations│ Developing Outstanding Research Topics │How to Write an abstarct │How to Write a Project Proposal │How To Choose the Right Measurement Instrument

Comments

  by Html Comment Box 

 

(Dec 4, 2017) broken hearted said:

i learned a lot .. thanks for tips 

  

1 

(Nov 14, 2017) amb said:

wonderfull

  

(Nov 10, 2017) lydiah said:

wonderful I've learnt a lot from this 

  

1 

(Nov 6, 2017) LODI said:

THANK YOU :) for Ideas ^6 

  

1 

(Nov 2, 2017) G said:

It's my group's defense next Saturday! Lord please help us

  

1 

(Oct 27, 2017) Anonymous said:

thank u very much 

  

1 

(Oct 25, 2017) Anonymous said:

thanks po :)

  

1 

(Oct 25, 2017) Anonymous said:

it's our oral defense tommorow gudluck to us :)

  

1 

(Oct 23, 2017) PETMALU said:

thank you 

  

1 

(Oct 23, 2017) Anonymous said:

GooD LUCK

  

1 

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