OVER 2 YOU 197 (14/09/04)

KNIT WARE

My three-year old grand-daughter likes me to knit for her, but her requests for different pictures is getting difficult to do, what I need is a program or web page that I can use to design the picture (her latest request is for a butterfly) and superimpose it onto the basic pattern for her size, so it will still tell me when to decrease/increase etc.  Can anyone help?

Belinda Sexton, via email

I know just what Belinda Sexton needs. There is a wonderful Japanese website (also in English), called the ABC's of knitting at: www.tata-tatao.to/knit/matrix/e-index.html. There is lots of knitting related items but the most useful I find is the facility for producing actual size graph paper. Belinda can work her swatch to discover how many stitches and rows per centimetre or inch she will be using.  It is so simple to put the numbers in the squares on the form and you can print it out onto an A4 sheet. If you need a larger area you can print several sheets and tape them together. It only remains to find a picture of a butterfly and place it where required.

Sheila Ryle, via email

I suggest the Designaknit program for hand and machine knitting.  There are a lot of designs in the program and you can draw on screen or import pictures from other sources and place them where you want them on the body shape. See: www.dbknit.co.uk.

A Clarke, via email

There are plenty of commercial knitting design programs available, but they seem to be very expensive. I haven't tried any myself: I usually just use graph paper and a pencil. However, I'm a web developer as well as a keen knitter, and I've been meaning to write a Fair Isle pattern design for a while, so if Mrs Sexton doesn't have any luck elsewhere she can get in touch with me at www.siblingmedia.com and I'll see what I can do for her.

Steve Bennett, via email

STOCK MONITOR

I monitor a list of stocks by importing streaming prices into an Excel spreadsheet. In order to analyse the price action, I would like to have a column that automatically displays the highest or lowest value that the price for each stock has reached since being included in my spreadsheet.  In a way the cell must therefore have a "memory", and only change what it displays, if a higher/lower value is achieved.  Can anyone tell me if that is possible? 

Karl von Furstenberg, via email

Our investment club has a similar requirement. One of our trigger points for selling a share is when it goes below 90% of the highest selling price it has reached since we bought it.  You don't need an extra column to work out the highest and lowest values. Assuming your share prices are in column A, starting at row 10. In say cell A1, enter =Max(A10:A65536) and in cell A2 enter =Min(A10:A65536). Now A1 will always show the maximum and A2 the minimum value of the share.

Richard Buttrey, Grappenhall, Cheshire

I developed a technique which a friend of mine actually called "memory cells", which is very simple to implement and doesn't require any programming. It uses the ability of an Excel cell to refer to itself. Try the following: Cell A1 "=RAND()"  (a random number between 0 and 1, for which Karl can substitute his streaming share price).  Cell B1 "=IF (A1>B1,A1,B1)". So, if A1 is greater than the current value of B1, B1 changes to A1; otherwise it stays on B1 as previously calculated (the highest value in the history of A1). Update A1a few times and observe the results. While this is one of the most simple possible examples, imaginative modellers can use these memory cells to solve any kind of problem involving reporting a number of different versions of the same outcome using one set of calculations based on varying inputs, i.e. scenario analysis.

Brendon Joyce, via email

For a column with just the numerical values and text headings use the MAX & MIN formulae in the format MAX(C:C)  and MIN(C:C) where 'C' is the column that contains the data and text.  Similarly use MAX(nn:nn) if the data in row 'nn'.

If, as I do, you want to show the maximum and minimum at the top of the appropriate column the range has to be more specific, starting at the first data row, e.g. row 4 would give MAX(C4:C500). Blank cells do not affect the result, so the '500' would last until that row had been used when the formulae would need to be extended - another 500 should last 2 more years! 

Take care not to include any dates in the MAX or MIN range, these are read as numbers based on the 1904 date code algorithm, today's date (31/8/04) would read as 38230, and would be 1 higher each day. 

Ian Earle, via email

MAGIC LANTERN SLIDES

I have a number of Magic Lantern Glass slides, specifically of early railway locomotives (2.25 inches square positive negative type) that I would like to catalogue. I would like to download these digitally on to my PC via my scanner, if that is possible! I have experimented with a light over the slide placed on the open lid of the scanner and can get an image that unfortunately does not do the slide print justice. Has anyone been successful in producing prints from glass slides of this type, if so can they give me any advice?

Peter White, Richmond, North Yorkshire!

I am a volunteer researcher in my local County Record Office. They have a very large collection of ¼ Plate Glass Negatives. I have devised a way to get these on to a database. For want of a better expression I have constructed an optical bench. My digital camera a Canon D10 is fitted to one end and looks down a short tunnel to a backlit glass plate. Each and every one has to be digitally repaired and enhanced. The subsequent on screen display is very good as are the printouts. Thus far I have done about 3000 plates. I have processed a small number of Magic Lantern slides and I have some more to do. Lantern slides do have a problem in that they are usually mounted and you have to know which way round they are, also, in most cases there are dust particles between the slide and mount.

Brian Gravestock, Ware, Hertfordshire.

CAN YOU HELP?

I have a small and fairly fast flowing stream at the bottom of my garden. Does anyone know if it would be possible or even legal to harness the flow with a waterwheel and generate my own electricity? It would be very satisfying to be able to power my PC or a few lights. If so where could I obtain more information and the necessary equipment?

Douglas Skinner, via email

I have been searching high and low, without success for a way to print or export my Address Book and Contacts list, from Outlook Express and Outlook into a Filofax page format. None of the programs I have see so far are flexible enough or are able to copy all of the information. Any suggestions?

Carol Philips, via email