Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 501
Equinoxes
Hello Everyone
Do you ever hear the person on the weather forecast talk about the equinox and you don’t know what they are talking about?
An equinox is a day in the year when the hours of daylight and darkness are of just about equal length, not to the second, but just about of equal length.
Midwinter Day is the shortest day of the year and falls about two thirds into December.
Midsummer Day is the longest and falls about two thirds into June.
This is in terms of daylight hours; they both have twenty-four hours in them of course. lf you live above the Arctic Circle, the sun will hardly come above the horizon if at all, in the middle of the winter and hardly set, if at all in the middle of the summer.
Sometimes, midwinter is called the winter solstice and midsummer is called the summer solstice.
lf you notice, the sun does not always set in the same place on the horizon every day.
As the year moves towards midwinter, the sun sets more towards the south west and as the year moves towards midsummer the sun sets more towards the north west.
lt does not always set directly in the west – apart from at an equinox.
There are two equinoxes in a year. The spring one is about two thirds of the way through March and the autumn one is about two thirds of the way through September.
The first is called the vernal equinox and the second is called the autumnal equinox.
Unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case the March equinox is in autumn and the March equinox is in spring.
The dates are not the same each year because of the calendar changing in a leap year and other factors.
These four points of the year were known to ancient peoples and were observed as very important markers in their lives.
They showed the continuing cycle of the Sun through the year.
At the same time, the Moon, the other very obvious body in the sky, was going through its own cycles from a crescent Moon to a Full Moon and back to a crescent again.
The Sun has one cycle every year, whereas the Moon has thirteen.
We now know that the Earth moves around the Sun and the Moon moves around the Earth; but as far as ancient humans were concerned, they would have only known how the Sun and Moon looked to them as they viewed them in the sky from their viewpoint on Earth.
Cereal crops are harvested between midsummer and the autumnal equinox.
This time of year is traditionally called Lammas. The word probably comes from the Anglo Saxon for loaf mass. Lammas was the first of the three harvests.
Lammas was the time for celebrating, feasting, playing games and going to the fair.
The old Celtic word for the spring equinox was Ostara or Eostre (pronounced Eestah) from which we get the word Easter. This time of year was associated with eggs representing rebirth and March hares which were very noticeable in the short spring grass.
These of course have turned into chocolate eggs, decorated eggs and the Easter Bunny. People have been giving gifts of eggs at this time of year for hundreds of years.
The spring equinox was also sometimes called the Festival of the Trees because it is at this time of year the new green leaves are sprouting on the branches.
The old Celtic word for the autumn equinox was Mabon or Modron meaning ‘mother’ – giving forth harvest to feed humans and it is especially associated with the apple and nut harvests; hazel nuts for the people and acorns for the pigs. This was the second harvest.
Apples today, are still a popular and nutritious fruit and are harvested around this time of year. Each apple has a picking time and these can vary from year to year according to the weather we have in the spring when the blossom is being pollinated and then through the summer.
Peasants in mediaeval times used to sometimes have the right to use fields as pasture land after the cereal crops had been harvested even if they did not have other rights to the land.
Lammas rights, as they were called, extended until April in the spring time when the fields would be sown with seed for the next harvest.
The peasants would be able to glean odd ears of corn that had been left behind from the harvest. They could take the grain and grind it into flour to make bread, or put it into a soup or stew to bulk it out and add nourishment.
Their poultry could scratch about and pick up odd grains that had been dropped and any worms and insects they could scratch up from the ground.
Any food they could find through the winter months would have been welcome.
The third harvest was at Samhain (pronounced Soween or Sowin), meaning summer’s end – now called Halloween.
The very last of the summer crops were taken into store: the herbs to hang up and dry, hedgerow fruits, the last of the root crops and nowadays, pumpkins.
Since ancient times, the cycle of the Sun has been the basis for creating calendars, for planning on farms, for people connecting socially in festivals and religion.
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Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bill: Why was the Easter Bunny in a bad mood?
Bob: l don’t know. Why was the Easter Bunny in a bad mood?
Bill: Because he was having a bad hare day!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
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THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
This week, we have an idea for a present for you to make for Christmas.
If you are a good knitter by now, and you want to make a lovely present for someone in your family who wears reading glasses, this reading glasses case might be a good present to make for them. There is plenty of time, even if you are quite a slow knitter.
It has stylish stripes on it, and is long enough for a pair of glasses and a tiny bottle of eye drops in the bottom.
When you have finished knitting the white stripes, cut the yarn off so that you have enough to sew the white stripes up with white yarn.
If you prefer, you can make the case without the stripes or even all in garter stitch – but if you use garter stitch, you must make sure that it is long enough when you are ready to cast off.
NEWSDESK MINIMAKE
READING GLASSES CASE
READING GLASSES CASE (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and blue dk yarn cast on 17 stitches
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Change to white yarn
Knit 2 rows of stocking stitch
Change to blue yarn
Knit 2 rows of stocking stitch
Change to white yarn
Knit 4 rows of stocking stitch
Change to blue yarn
Knit 36 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 4 rows of garter stitch
TO MAKE UP
Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew up base and sides using the correct corresponding colour
Crochet 45 chains into a length of yarn
Weave this cord around the top of the case and tie the ends together
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Hobby Time
You may grow herbs in your garden.
Not all of them will survive a cold winter and you will have to think of ways to preserve them so that you can use them for dishes you cook until the next growing season when you can plant some more.
When you hang herbs up in bunches to dry, use a rubber band to tie around the stalks so that when they shrink, the bunch will not fall apart.
The band will contract around the stalks.
A faster way to dry herbs is in a microwave.
You can freeze some herbs. Put them in ice cube trays if you want to freeze small amounts to use.
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE FORESTRY WORKER CHARACTER DOLLS
To find the pattern for the dolls, look at Blog post 371. You can make as many men and women as you like by just changing the hairstyles. You can use any colour yarn for skin and hair colour.
You can make them all back packs to take their lunches into the forest if you would like to.
LUMBERJACK JACKET BACK (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 15 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 20 rows of moss stitch
(That is – slip 1 (knit 1, purl 1) repeat the last 2 stitches to end)
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Cast off
LUMBERJACK JACKET FRONTS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 9 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 20 rows of moss stitch
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Cast off
SLEEVES (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 13 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 8 rows of moss stitch
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
Sew one front on top of the other and sew the lapels down
Embroider on some buttons using French knots
Then with right sides together using over-sew stitching
- Sew up shoulder seams
- Sew the tops of the sleeves in place
- Sew up side seams and under arm seams
BLACK TROUSERS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and black yarn cast on 14 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 18 rows of stocking stitch
Decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 4 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 4 rows stocking stitch
Slip 1 (p1, k1) repeat these 2 stitches to the last stitch purl 1
Repeat the last row once
Cast off rib-wise to give more stretch to the top of the trousers
TO MAKE UP
With right sides together using over-sew stitching
- Sew up the front and back seam of the trousers on the part that will fit onto the body
- Sew along the inside leg seams with right sides together using over-sew stitching
WHITE SWEATER BACK AND FRONT (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 12 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 12 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Cast off
SLEEVES (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 12 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
- Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew up shoulder seams
- Sew the tops of the sleeves to the shoulders
- Sew up the under arm and side seams
BROWN TROUSERS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and brown yarn cast on 14 stitches
Purl 1 row
Purl 1 row
Knit 18 rows of stocking stitch
Decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 2 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 8 rows stocking stitch
Change to 3¾mm knitting needles
Knit 2 rows of 1×1 rib
Cast off rib-wise to give more stretch to the top of the trousers
TO MAKE UP
With right sides together using over-sew stitching
- Sew up the front and back seam of the trousers on the part that will fit onto the body
- Sew along the inside leg seams with right sides together using over-sew stitching
HAT (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green dk yarn cast on 16 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Don’t cast off – leave a length of yarn for sewing up when you cut off your yarn and leave your stitches on this yarn
TO MAKE UP
- Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew up back seam
- Turn hat right way out
SCARF (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green dk yarn cast on 5 stitches
Knit 90 rows of moss stitch
(That is – slip 1 (knit 1, purl 1) repeat the last 2 stitches to end)
Cast off
GREEN PATTERNED JUMPER BACK AND FRONT (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and dark green dk yarn cast on 15 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 2 rows of pattern (alternate stitches of white and red dk yarn for 2 rows of stocking stitch)
Knit 4 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Cast off
OR you could knit a plain back with 14 rows of stocking stitch and just have the pattern across the front
SLEEVES (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and green dk yarn cast on 12 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
- Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew up shoulder seams
- Sew the tops of the sleeves to the shoulders
- Sew up the under arm and side seams
LIGHT GREEN TOP BACK AND FRONT (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and light green dk yarn cast on 13 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 16 rows of moss stitch
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Cast off
SLEEVES (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and light green dk yarn cast on 13 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 8 rows of moss stitch
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
- Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew up shoulder seams
- Sew the tops of the sleeves to the shoulders
- Sew up the under arm and side seams
SHORTS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and brown dk yarn cast on 19 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 4 rows of stocking stitch
Decrease 1 stitch at the next 4 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch
Change to 3¾mm knitting needles
Knit 2 rows of 1×1 rib
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
- Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew up top of shorts and inside leg seams
- Thread 30cm/12” of brown yarn through the channel at the top of the shorts
BACK PACK (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and grey dk yarn cast on 10 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 12 rows of stocking stitch
Knit 4 rows of garter stitch
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
- Using over-sew stitching and with wrong sides together sew up bottom and side seams
- Crochet 15 chains into a length of grey yarn twice and attach these shoulder straps to the corners of the bag
- Thread a length of yarn 20cm long along the top of the bag to make a drawstring
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Embroidery Stitches
