For Western Monarch Day, we’re not celebrating Queen Elizabeth and friends, but the annual migratory return of the Western Monarch butterfly to the central Californian coast. The Western Monarch has a beautiful, distinctive pattern of amber and black on its wings, creating almost a stained glass window effect. It lives to the west of the Rocky Mountain Range and fly south to California to survive the winter.
The species is believed to be in decline, so those living along the migratory route, can celebrate Western Monarch Day by ensuring there are plenty of flowering plants, especially milkweed in their backyards to encourage them to visit.
Western Monarch Day is celebrated in California with events centering around Pismo State Beach, where many of the butterflies spend their winter months. Visitors can view the butterflies, learn more about them and help to plant vegetation to help create safe habitats.
Word of the Day
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| Definition: | (noun) Something, such as a skin or peel, that has been pared off. | ||
| Synonyms: | shaving, sliver | ||
| Usage: | We do not mourn over the parings of our nails nor the cut locks of our hair, though they were once part of ourselves. | ||
Idiom of the Day
23 skidoo— To clear out or get away in haste before getting into or causing trouble, referring either to oneself or to another. "23" may refer to the Flatirons Building in New York City (located on 23rd Street), around which great winds tend to blow. It may also derive from an older use meaning to tell someone to clear out of one's way. Primarily heard in the USA. |
History
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 | The Greenwich Time Signal, popularly known as "the pips," is a series of six short tones broadcast by many BBC radio stations at the end of each hour to mark the precise start of the following hour. Devised by Astronomer Royal Frank Dyson in 1924, the signal consists of six pips that occur on the five seconds leading up to the hour, with the beginning of the sixth pip marking the actual moment when the hour changes | ||
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 | Mechanically gifted, Maxim learned several trades as a young man. He obtained his first patent, for a hair-curling iron, in 1866. By 1884, working in London, he had produced a devastatingly effective automatic machine gun capable of firing 660 rounds per minute. Every major power adopted the Maxim gun. | ||
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 | In 1739, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni invaded the Republic of San Marino and occupied the country. The people of San Marino protested the occupation and appealed to the Vatican; the Pope recognized the rights of San Marino and, on February 5, 1740, he restored the country's independence. Today, San Marino celebrates Liberation Day on February 5 to mark the anniversary of their independence. As part of the celebration, there is a public procession from the city of Borgo Maggiore to the capital city of San Marino proper. In addition, various civic celebrations take place throughout the day. | ||
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| British scientists have been given the green light to genetically modify human embryos, for the first time in the nation's history. The landmark decision means scientists will now be allowed to alter the DNA of embryos, for research purposes only. | |||
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UK scientists can genetically modify human embryos -...
UK scientists have been given the green light to genetically modify human embryos, for the first time.
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1861 - Samuel Goodale patented the moving picture peep show machine.
1931 - Maxine Dunlap became the first woman licensed as a glider pilot.
1952 - In New York City, four signs were installed at 44th Street and Broadway in Times Square that told pedestrians "don't walk."
1953 - The Walt Disney’s film "Peter Pan" opened at the Roxy Theatre in New York City.
1972 - Bob Douglas became the first black man elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.
1998 - Elton John and Stevie Wonder played at the White House.
DAILY SQU-EEK
If You Were Born Today, February 5
You enjoy surprising people and whether you want to or not, you often remain a bit of an enigma to the people around you. You have a strongly intuitive side. Although you are actually quite accommodating and kind, you need to feel stirred and inspired in order to do something. You are following your own instincts and being true to your heart, and although it might seem like you are stubborn, you are also very original and honest. Famous people born today: Hank Aaron, Barbara Hershey, Christopher Guest, Jennifer Jason Leigh.
| Picture of the day | |
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Glaucus atlanticus is a species of small, blue sea slug. This pelagic aeolid nudibranch floats upside down, using the surface tension of the water to stay up, and is carried along by the winds and ocean currents. The blue side of their body faces upwards, blending in with the blue of the water, while the grey side faces downwards, blending in with the silvery surface of the sea. G. atlanticus feeds on other pelagic creatures, including the Portuguese man o' war.
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Reverent Light
Photograph by Jongsung Ryu, National Geographic
Jongsung Ryu, who submitted this photo, captured a solemn moment inside a temple in Myanmar: a shaft of sunlight hitting the massive Buddha statue, which overwhelms the temple's interior and dwarfs the monks, at just the right angle. "When I entered the pagoda, I found that the light gets into the tower through the window," Ryu says. "I wanted to take the photo with that light ... But it was not easy to capture a sudden moment, so I [spent] more than just one day [there]."
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Dutti pattern by by Lapierre E.
It’s a warm hat with doubled yarn knit in 2 parts !!!
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knit, 4 - 12 yrs
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Liberty Wool Kids Panel Pullover pattern by Susan Mills
Liberty Wool is a super-soft, washable wool available in solid and printed colors. This yarn’s balanced twist will make all stitch combinations pop.
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Little Knitted Jampire pattern by Whodunnknit
Do you love Jampires, the picture book? Well, thanks to the sparkling skills of knitter extraordinaire Deadly Knitshade, you can now knit a companion to ...
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Margate Hood
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Best Free Crochet » Beginner Oval Hot Mat
Hot pads are one of the most useful items to crochet and most of the time they are quick and easy to make.
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Snapping Turtle Amulet Bag
An intermediate crochet design by Maggie Petsch.
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Preview by Yahoo
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Cute Room Shoes pattern by Pierrot (Gosyo Co., Ltd)
Direct link to pattern PDF. Pattern is fully charted using standard crochet symbols.
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Sunny Spread Crochet Pattern | Red Heart
Step 1. Choose your size One Size Finished Measurements: Approx 52"/132cm wide x 52"/132cm long.
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Preview by Yahoo
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Elephant Bookends pattern by Tamara Kelly
To be more specific, these would be considered bookend covers. Bookend cozies? They slip over the plain metal bookends you can buy in any office supply...
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RECIPE
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Simple Cauliflower Soup Recipe | SimplyRecipes.com
Simple and easy cauliflower soup with just cauliflower, butter, salt, olive oil, and chives.
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CROCKPOT RECIPE
Crock Pot Ham and Cheese Pie (crustless quiche)
CRAFTS VALENTINE'S DAY
This wreath is inspired by those beautiful string wedding balloon displays.
Tutorial ♥ A Sunkissed Heart Wreath
You will need:
- 2 long skinny balloons (the type used to make balloon animals)
- balloon pump (unless you have gorilla lungs)
- white (PVA) glue
- water
- container for glue
- yarn
- pair of scissors
- pin or sharp thing
- length of ribbon (optional)
- drop cloth or newspaper
Step 1. Using the pump, blow up the two skinny balloons. Try making them of equal size or as close to it as possible leaving tails a few inches long. Knot them.
Step 2. Gently tie the knotted end to the tail end to create two loopy balloons as shown.
Step 3. Cut up your yarn into several 2-3 ft (60-90 cm) lengths. Pour some glue out into the container. Add a little water to the glue to make it a little runnier than normal. Say 4:1 glue to water.
Step 4. Now to the messy part. One at a time, drop your yarn pieces into the glue, coating them fully and removing any excess dripping glue. Wrap your gluey yarn around a balloon. Continue in this way, wrapping your balloons with gluey yarn, criss-crossing over lower layers and building up a web of yarn around each balloon. Note that in photo 4, my balloons still require more yarn as they would NOT be strong enough to hold the shape if left as shown. However you do not want to fully cover the balloons either. You want the sun to shine through your heart (words of wisdom my friend)... Let these dry overnight on clean glass or plastic. Do not dry it on paper or you'll wind up with gobs of paper permanently attached to your heart. No no.
Here's what I did:
Step 6. I started with the bottom joint. I butted the two ends together as shown. No glue yet.
Step 7. And for the top joint, I cut away half the cylinder (equal in length to the diameter of the cylinder).
Step 8. This made a recess into which the other end fit nicely. Now I checked to be sure that with both sides butted together my heart was actually heart-shaped. I had to trim a little off the bottom of one side so it all looked hunky dory.
Step 9. I then strengthened both joints with several lengths of gluey yarn. Notice the many overlaps. Once dry, these joints are strong like bull. At this point, I also added a few lengths of yarn over the rest of the heart to make it extra robust. Allow your heart to dry out overnight on glass or plastic.
CHILDREN'S CORNER ...
CARD GARLAND - MARTHA STEWART
Give old cards more hang time by making a garland of disks cut from them.
Use craft punches (or trace a round object and cut out). Attach to heavy thread with sticks; rub with craft stick to secure.
PUZZLE
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QUOTE
CLEVER
Easily remove a piece of eggshell with another piece of shell.
EYE OPENER
10 things only knitters can understand
theyarnloop
Try as they might, there are some things those not in the knitting know just don’t understand. They probably wouldn’t get the following list of knitting woes and wonders but we bet you’ll recognise them all too well…
- You consider your knitting mentor to be, quite possibly one of the best people on the planet. Whether it’s your mum, nan or next door neighbour, you’ll never forget the first person who taught you to knit.
- Sometimes (most of the time) at your local group, there’s far more nattering than knitting going on.
- In the run-up to the festive season, you feel like Father Christmas. Requests for hand-knit socks, scarves, gloves and jumpers are running up a list longer than old St Nick’s and with elves few and far between, you find yourself running your very own winter woolly workshop.
- The feeling of giving the gift of a handmade knit (even when severely sleep-deprived and suffering from RSI) really is priceless.
- You’ve been known to spend a small fortune on yarn. But you know it's an investment.
- There’s no such thing as too much yarn. Fact.
- There’s no point in splurging on an expensive handbag. You’ve tried talking yourself into it before but you know too well that those knitting needles that are seemingly attached to you, will cause holes and you’ve lost count of how many pounds, lipstick and key sets have been lost!
- Knitting anger is a rage like no other. Losing count, dropping stitches, tangled yarn…arrrgh!!!
- You know to welcome cats and children into your home with caution.
Cauliflower soup? Just picked up a lovely one at the store too:)
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