ScrapHappy March 2023: You’re Fired!

The shop window. And Daisy.

First off, welcome to Amo and Alissa! May all your scrapping be happy!

Unusually, my post this month is a subtle blend of soft and hard scrapping.

On 1^st March each year here in Wales, it is Gwyl Dewi Sant or St David’s Day. In case my reader is wondering who this David guy is, he is the patron saint of Wales, his Mum (Non) lived down the road from us (“over by there” in local parlance) and he is known for telling people to “do the small things” (in Welsh, “Gwnewch y pethe bychain”). Every year on March 1^st, there are parades of children dressed as daffodils, leeks or dragons (the good children get to be dragons) and I believe in South Wales, the valleys are cleaned to ensure they are extra green*.

In Lampeter, the local Town Council ran a competition this year for the best shop window display with the theme of “Welshness”. This is a pretty wide brief, but I think they were after something more than just daffodils, leeks and dragons, whilst still retaining room for daffodils, leeks and er, dragons. The Snail and I decided on displaying some very Welsh concepts – words from the Cymraeg (the Welsh language) that don’t necessarily have direct translations in any other language, literature of a definitive Welsh nature and, of course, crocheted daffodils and dragons. We decided that a mock-up of a Welsh cottage fireside would be good and, as we didn’t have a complete Welsh cottage fireside to drop in, I built a fireplace and fake fire. Like you do.

The Snail created cushions and pictures with some choice Welsh words – you can read about that here.

We also wanted to have a themed bollard cover, so I (yes! Your truly!) crocheted its base out of a chunk of scrappy multi-coloured yarn from someone’s stash that we acquired. I am pleased with how it went (it wasn’t without its trials but I got there in the end). Jan added daffodil heads and stalks. Here it is being tested for fit:

I crocheted a bollard cover. I am quite good at treble stitches now!

So, the fireplace. We bought an actual grate and guard (both in good working order) from the local auction and I set about using the wood retrieved from the shop (described here, here, and here. There really is a lot of wood we salvaged.)

This will be a fireplace eventually!

Taking shape… and possibly the right shape too!

A walk-through fireplace

The Snail doing a spot of painting

The “fire” itself used old stripboard I have had for about 35 years, some resistors I have had for about, well, 35 years and some flashing LEDs I bought, um, about 4 months ago (so not really scrap, don’t look at them).

One of the less complex builds I have ever done! There’s only another four LEDs to add.

The final fireplace looked like this…

If you hold your hands to the screen, you can feel the warmth

…and here is a video of the fire effect at night. I think it worked OK!

oOo

* This may not strictly be true.

ScrapHappy February 2023: Overcrowding for toadstools where there’s not mushroom

First, a warm scrappy welcome to Karrin! May all your scrapping be happy!

As my reader will know, last month I embarked on a “soft” ScrapHappy project so, because I have so woefully neglected to notice how far into February we already are, I thought I would show you the completed effort as another ScrapHappy post.

And here it is, in the wild…

… and in the shop…

And now, I have made this* for our St David’s Day shop window display…

Made from a stash someone brought into the shop for us to repurpose, it took me a while to get right but The Snail guided me (whilst she knocked up half a dozen!). I feel quite happy about my crochet development!

oOo

* The daffodil, not the dog.

Many other people contribute to Kate and Gun’s wonderful ScrapHappy every month – check out what they have been up to too!

 

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Edith
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Debbierose, Nóilin, Viv, Karrin,
Amo and Alissa

 

 

ScrapHappy January 2023: It’s Time to Cro(chet) or A (Slip) Stitch in Time

The dodgy Crochet Clock says it’s after midnight – and time to get a new clock

First off, a Happy New Year to my reader, I do hope the next revolution of our flaming star gives you what you want and need.

“What”, I hear you mutter to yourself, “is going on here? Mr Snail has gone soft in the Scrappy department*? Has the Universe lost all sense of up or down? Where’s my wine?”

The answers to the last two questions are “there is no up or down in space” (see The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy for clarification) and “So, you think it’s your wine, eh?”

The answer to the first question is slightly more involved.

A couple of months ago, the Snail and I decided that it would be good if I opened the shop (see here for details) on a Friday to give the Snail a well-deserved break after the rigours of Thursdays which include Knit Knight, er, Night after the shop has closed. It soon became apparent that having me open the shop meant that the Snail had a rest and I got to give dubious crafting advice to unsuspecting customers (“no, wool makes a perfect addition to a soufflé”). Armed with some notes for the novel I have managed not to publish (something that I have been greatly helped by agents’ complete lack of interest in it), I decided that I needed another procrastination activity to prevent me from actually accidently publishing it when I wasn’t looking. So I decided to teach myself crochet.

The Snail has, in the past, attempted to teach me but it has never really stuck and I have always ended up splitting the yarn, hooking my finger or accidently setting fire to the sofa. This time would be different, because we don’t have a sofa in the shop. I took** a second-hand crochet hook and some string-like yarn that we had acquired from someone’s stash, and found a book in our pre-loved book section that purported to teach you everything about crochet. It wasn’t very good if you didn’t already know exactly how to crochet so I struggled on for a bit. My plan was to make something, nothing specific, but something and present it to the Snail as a surprise. I needed another guide…

As luck would have it, a customer brought in a Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi. This book spoke to me because a) I had slightly overdone it on the sugar that morning and b) because I am a complete amigurumi. No wait, idiot.

I started again and by the end of the day, I had crocheted a thing which I decided was enough to show off to the Snail. Also, there was a term used in the book that I couldn’t find the definition of and I wanted to know. The Snail was indeed surprised, although that may have been due to the wine which I had plied her with beforehand. She explained some more things about crochet and I was away again, the following Friday.

It’s a thing, you know, a THING

I found some different yarn from someone’s old stash, and made another thing, this time whilst practising a variety of stiches. The internet decided it was a thimble, a cyan raspberry, a tiny todger cover. I decided it was just a thing, It’s now in the shop, on a shelf, defying classification.

It’s another thing, you know, ANOTHER THING

Next, I decided to teach myself how to read patterns, and then follow one. The first thing I made was this:

What could this be? Is it a beret for a hamster?

This seemed to work, although it was supposed to be a hamster. Just kidding. The other part of the pattern has gotten me this far:

Another beret? For, say, I don’t know, an octopus, perhaps?

I am betting you may know what it is! I will post when I have completed the beret-wearing hamster, er, I mean, the thing.

oOo

* Oooh errr Missus…

** Perks of running a craft shop, and not theft from my employer in any way, shape or form.

Many other people contribute to Kate and Gun’s wonderful ScrapHappy every month – check out what they have been up to too!

 

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Edith
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Debbierose, Nóilin, Viv, Karrin,
Amo and Alissa

 

 

ScrapHappy December 2022: Power to the Pine Tree*

Come into the (bright green) Light

Back in the mists of time, well August, I converted our old fibre optic Christmas tree from a heat-generating, electricity-guzzling halogen lightbulb to a cool, electron-sipping LED, primarily to stop The Snail of Happiness shop from becoming The Snail of Toastedness, but also to save the planet (and money on our electricity bills). In the ScrapHappy post, I mentioned that I would need to find a power supply to run it since the original one, like the UK’s recent prime ministers, was unsuited to the role**.

I decided that it was easiest to find an old unused mains supply and adapt it in some way. What I needed was something that produced about 5 volts, not particularly currenty (or curranty for that matter), that is, I didn’t need many milliamps, and could then just be adapted with a new bit on the end to plug into the tree (I was betting that I wouldn’t have a supply with the correct plug on it).

I found the perfect supply – 5 volts, a few hundred milliamps. It was an old charger for a mobile ‘phone that had long since been put on a shelf waiting for me to do something creative with it***. I tested it to make sure it did what it said on the tin, well, moulded plastic casing. Hmm… it did not! It produced an LED-sizzling 8.6 volts, meaning I felt pleased I had at least tested it before attaching it to the tree.

Annoyingly, it was the only supply I could find that was vaguely what I wanted, so I made the decision to use it and attach a thing called a voltage regulator that I would build out of bits that you have lying around (well, bits I have lying around). And guess what?

Back in August 2021, I posted about taking apart some old electronics boards which happen to have a rather useful chip on them that is a simple voltage regulator – you just add a few other components et voilà! Your supply is perfect for your LED tree. And so to work…

A scrappy plug-thingy

A scrappy voltage regulator

As you can see, it required four other electronicky bits. The casing I used was from the lights I converted to candles (see here for the gory details). Could I find the correct sized plug? Well, no, but then I came across one that had arrived in an order about five years ago that, at the time, had been surplus to requirements. See? Keeping stuff for years for no apparent reason DOES prove useful… sometimes.

Circuitry just about fits in the box

The new bit velcroed to the old bit

At last, The Snail of Happiness shop now has a colour-changing, cool-running tree in its window!

Spot the tree!

HAPPY SOLSTICE EVERYONE!

oOo

* Well, a fibre optic fake pine tree anyway.

** Ooh, political satire.

*** Like that’s going to happen anytime soon.

ScrapHappy November 2022: Dalexa – the model

As my reader will remember, last month’s ScrapHappy turned your humble blogger into a vicious fictional killing machine (well, my voice at any rate) whilst proving, if proof were needed, that he is one hinge short of a working door. In case you missed this, the blog is here and the accompanying nonsense on YouTube is here. This lunacy involved not one piece of ScrapHappiness (a recycled thermionic valve no less) but also some sheer ridiculousness to create the Dalexa model (and I use model in a very loose sense of the word). Here is how it was done, so that future generations don’t make the same mistake:

You will primarily require an old lightbulb, but not so old that it has a filament as they are tricky to prise apart. You will also need some glue, some dalekanium (or bits of paper with it printed on) and an old covid test strip. Oh, and a couple of old white LEDs, some wire, a resistor and a battery.

Opening the lightbulb without damaging it or yourself requires delicacy and skill. Oh well, the lightbulb casing wasn’t too badly mangled…

The inner non-workings of a lightbulb

Then, the casings from three covid tests (all thoroughly cleaned, as a Dalek with Covid would be weird) need cutting in half (there’s a top and a bottom), and some dalekanium glued on.

Nearly everything you need for a Dalexa

How to make dalekanium when you’re not on Skaro

Finally, attach the dalekanium to the inverted lightbulb casing, add LEDs and a battery and *EXTERMINATE!* One Dalexa.

They are scowling at it in barely disguised fury right now on Skaro.

oOo