Thursday, November 30, 2006

yes I am horribly Lax

I know this whole posting regularly thing has been a bit not happeny has it. This is because my life is very dull, and whenever i think of somethng to post i get distracted and it flies from my tiny mind like some other sort of flyey thing.I also have been kinda otherwise occupied with a) my new found obsessive Knitty chatroom dealings (hello folks), b) knitting like a demon as my progress bars will attest, c) alledgedly studying tho i really have done less of that than i would like, thus i am disallowing myself to knit for the next to days to do some hardcore study, we'll see how that works out.
Yesterday i was at home, i went to the dentist, no fillings required woo and indeed (copyright g. muncie) hoo, i then got my hair cut/dyed which while it turned out nice was a bit traumatic as the girl litterally grabbed hunks of my hair and started visciosly hacking at it, to say i was scared would be an understatement.
I may be about to completely disregard one of my planned christmas knits and do something completely different but we will see in due course.
Now i will go and do some studying and try not fall asleep (v-tired, my being at home not being able to breatheness kept me awake half the night and then had to get up v-early to come back here)

Thursday, November 23, 2006

100 things about me

Yep i like bandwagons


1. I am essentially ¾ Scottish and ¼ English
2. I am a Lanarkian by birth
3. I’m in third year of University
4. I study biology but don’t know what I am doing my Honors in
5. Its taken me 3 attempts to get to being close to actually finishing a degree
6. Previously I did Software Engineering and Artifical Intelligence and Landscape Architecture
7. My art skills are average at best
8. I am more or less the only person in my family/circle of friend with any computer savvy thus I am techie guru to one and all
9. I love bargains and they love me, first place I go in a supermarket is the reduced section
10. I drink an inordinate amount of tea 5-15 cups a day
11. I’ve never been outside Europe
12. I have been to the majority of European countries
13. I dislike Paris, quite a lot
14. I really like Iceland
15. I love Italy
16. I aim to retire to a Tuscan villa
17. Or if I get very rich, Capri
18. I like boats, one day I hope to own one
19. I have what I reakon is mild OCD about the house burning down and have to check the cooker etc is off before leaving the house or going to bed, if I don’t I have to come back and check.
20. I once won an art competition to go for a trip on a lifeboat
21. On paper I am very intelligent
22. In reality I am a bit ditzy
23. I was a typical horsey child "mummy mummy I want a pony"
24. I grew out of my horseyness, then mummy bought a pony
25. Mummy would sell me before she would sell the pony
26. I have a stupidly bad allergy to the pony and all ponies in general, and people who have been near ponys ie my mother
27. I love trivia quizzes/gameshows/pub quizzes
28. My head is filled with random useless facts which spill out occasionally
29. I can’t however remember what I had for dinner the previous evening
30. My hair hasn’t been its natural colour since I was 10
31. I was baptised on Christmas day
32. I am an only (human) child,
33. I have 1 equine sibling
34. My mum taught me the basics of knitting, cast on, knit, purl how to read knittingese, but oddly not how to cast off
35. Otherwise I am entirely learned from the online
36. Both my grans were avid knitters, possibly where I get it from
37. I love root beer more than any soft drink, despite it being hard to get in this country
38. I still have 3 grandparents
39. I miss my gran and think about her most everyday
40. My favourite food is Macaroni Cheese, I could eat it every meal of everyday
41. Except the tinned stuff that’s just wrong
42. Cheesy Pasta (kraft dinner) should be bad and wrong but its oh so good and right
43. I use the expression "bad and wrong" way more than I should
44. I am not a particularly girly girl
45. Pink and yellow are my favourite colours
46. I think things that are shiny
47. I am a big fan of all things coconut
48. There can never be too much cheese in my life
49. I have moderate musicality and occasionally attempt to play guitar bass and violin
50. I like pretty much any sort of music I have the most eclectic ipod of anyone I kno
51. I am the practical one in my house/relationship I do the fixing and the DIYing
52. I am a fairly voracious reader I can get thru a book in a couple of days
53. I read a lot but never really anything of great substance
54. I prefer dvds of tv shows than films
55. I will watch an entire season of a tv show in a day given the chance
56. I am notoriously untidy but can usually find things when pressed
57. Except my knitting stuff that is very anally organised and catalogued
58. I hate mushrooms, they are the spawn of the devil
59. I have never had any sort of dancing lessons in my life apart from the mandatory ceildah dancing at school, of this I am proud
60. I used to collect sachet of sugar
61. I may or may not be asthmatic
62. I don’t watch any soaps
63. IF made watch soaps I ask lots of questions and am usually made leave the room
64. I have gargantuan feet, size 8
65. I rarely wear pretty shoes, they are usually too small
66. I choose comfort over style
67. I wish I was a pirate
68. I tend to cry like a baby at films/tv
69. I prefer sweets to chocolate
70. I don’t care for Irn Bru, possibly the only Scottish person that doesn’t
71. I do however have a strong love of red kola
72. I have somewhat of a phobia of flying things (birds, butterflys etc) but only if they come straight at me
73. The butterfly thing comes from having a bloody great moth (about 6 inches or so) landing on my head when I was about 4 years old at the butterfly farm
74. When I was 7 I went to London we went to madame tussuads, I was scared into hysterics by the chamber of horrors bit and had to be taken out, my dad still hasn’t forgiven me
75. When I was very small my dad looked after me in the summer holidays and I cried for my mum the whole time
76. He got his revenge by firing me out of the buggy onto the tarmac (accidentally before you get worried, I was in the buggy he was trying to get me to sleep by running along the road with the buggy, the wheel hit a pot hole and I went flying) This head to road collision may explain a lot
77. I have the balance and grace of a new born deer
78. I have always given my pets "normal" names usually boys( Steven, Andy canaries, Fred (to be fair had his name before I got him) cobain (who turned out to be a girl and had babies..) hamsters, Zac and Bailey the mice, Hector the fish)
79. I nearly did vet med and as such have a lot of random vet related experiences eg I birthed a calf,
80. I have a jacket that I got when I was 9 that still fits me
81. I would quite like to live on an Island
82. I walked early and talked late, the doctor was worried I was retarded
83. I was once part of a team that won a maths competition
84. I am a big geek
85. I have a worrying quantity of kitchen gadgets
86. I strongly believe that the potato ricer may be one of the best inventions ever
87. I have 10 piercing, 1 in my nose, 5 in my right ear and 4 in my left
88. I have a tattoo of a celtic knot on my right ankle
89. I would like another tattoo
90. I don’t do Christmas cards, ever
91. I often find myself inner monologuing in the style of JD from scrubs but less witty
92. I probably would marry Zack Braff, hes not really good looking but there is something about him.
93. I grew into my allergies not out of them
94. I don’t mix well with others a lot of the time
95. When I cook I go for big portions, I get this from my mum
96. I could be thinner, but I am lazy and like food too much
97. I like going to the cinema on my own
98. When I go to the cinema I always feel like I should leave after the trailers
99. I love trailers
100. I didn’t think I was interesting enough to get to 100.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Weekend and some maths

Fairly uneventful few days really. I went to the parental fold on Saturday to go to "the biggest christmas markets in scotland" er woo, wasnt the most exciting just the usual over priced "crafts" and food, we bought only food. Then discovered to my mothers absolute horror that her computer was broken methinks dodgy power supply. This results in my mother having been (until going to work this morning) internet free for over 24 hours, she had to lie down in a darkened room and breath into a paper bag. I was only at home for the day and my mate was giving me a lift back ot edinburgh at about 6 on saturday night i got a text asking what the roads at mine were like, i was like eh fine? thinking that she meant were they busy due to all the roads in town being shut for markets and other reasons it wasnt til my mum suggested looking out the window that all became clear, this is the view from the back door (its dark thus not a great picture)
We got back to edinburgh fine tho, despite my sieve like brain causing mass panic among the parentals "yes yes I'll let you kno when i get back to edinburgh" "ooh shiny thing lalalala"
Went to my friends armed with my knitting to much oohs and aahs (always nice) i even got asked how much i would want to knit somethin for my friends dad, so despite the abuse for being an old woman clearly people are impressed.
Sunday on a continuation of i am actually 86 not 23 i went to bingo with my mate. We were experiencing a certain level of bingo fatigue as they had changed the format slightly and much to our great disappointment th £2.95 sunday roast seemed to have disappeared, we had been looking forward to it for weeks! To add insult to injury neither of us won anything.
We do appear to be having some odd weather at the mo, i was thinking on my way to uni this morning that while it wasnt anything like warm it was considerably warmer than it should be given that december fast approaches. There does seem however to be a good portion of the good old wet and windies, last night one could of been excused for thinking there was some sort of hurricane going on and correct me if i am wrong but edinburgh not that prone? tho i do reakon i live on/beside the windiest street certainly in edinburgh if not the world.
Now the promised maths, was trying to work out earlier some sorta knitting schedule to ensure that i am finished by xmas. For my biggest project i need to do about 3 inches a day which i reakon to be about 24 rows at 150 odd stiches each, closing in on 4000 stitches a day! As well as this i need to crochet 4 flowers a day, not to stressful and do all the other things i have on the go as well as the small matter of exams in 2 weeks that need studying for. I can see this being a full time occupation!!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Shiny things and a conundrum

This is in part things that i have bought today (well 2 things). I have just been late night shopping, which as far as i am concerned is quite exciting the whole shopping in the dark with all the lights etc, makes one feel quite festive, this may just be me being a bit weird however. Anyway the purpose behind this was that Boots were having a special shopping event that i thot could be quite exciting, I was wrong, there were some free snacks that was the highlight. All was not lost tho as i went to see my mate who works in Schuh to get a disc off her as she wants me to print stuff off for her (I am the local tech support guru within my family and friends) and she said to have a look around while she fetched it as she can get us discount. So i looked, me being me i went straight to the reduced section and found these, are they not fabby?? so red and shiny! Also much bonus she got discount on sale items which correct me if i am wrong is quite a rarity in the old staff discount world. So i got fabbo new shoes for £8.50! I dont need new shoes but i dont care.

The second exciting thing i bought today, my ticket for 2moro nights Euromillions draw, £120 million will be mine oh yes! The first thing i will buy? probably some Noro yarn.

Now as you may or may not know I live in Edinburgh, a fairly cosmopolitan place by all accounts. IT can be a bit random tho, I live over the road from the Conference Centre, which generally has some event or another on which is why i often come home to sights like this (v-bad photo taken out of my front window) note red carpet and torches. There has also been the past few days a dude standing outside playing the bagpipes at 8 in the morning and again at night, at night not so bad but do you really want woken up at 8 in the morning by bag pipes?




I have just found some finished knitting i can show you that i had forgotten about, I dont think it really justifies its own post which is why i am just sticking it in here. Its a bracelet (fairly obvious) knitted from silver wire with beads and stuff threaded onto it, Its a kit by Twilleys, that i bought myself for my birthday from my boyfriend (ie i dont know what to get you here is my card get ye to the internet and go wild) and i think its quite funky, note also my funky Wii wristband, yeah i am down with the kids...






Lastly my conundrum, I have all these cheesy football tubs (and an oreo one) That i dont really wanna throw out as i feel they would be good for storing things in but i dont know what, any suggestions? I am also thinking that with a bit of creativity they would make nice gift boxes for some of my pressies but i dunno, thots?

I should point out at this junction that i have eaten most of the contents of these in about the past 10-14 days and therefore heart disease may be just around the corner but i have been writing essays etc which really does call for vast consupmtion of junk food!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Quizzing Intermission

So a breif recce into my mind with some fun quiz results, mainly i will admit quizzes stolen from other blogs, kudos to them. I may return later with a proper post but as its my day of very little is likely to happen. so my quiz results:

How Old You Act: 86

You're a bit of an oddball, but I can't say that that's a bad thing. You think clearly, and you may be a little more involved in life that takes place in an age group older that yourself, and have friends from an older generation as well.

How Old Do You Act?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz



Fairly expected given that i knit and go to bingo etc, everyone does say i am about 86.

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz



Quite the shocker of the result as English, as you may have noticed, not my strong point, when attending pub quizzes i get made to write the answers so everyone can have a good laugh at my attempts to spell, especially a certain Carribean Island with a green black and yellow flag and a penchant for rice and peas!!

You are 65% English.

Getting there. You may wish to pay attention to the world around you.

"And did those feet
In ancient times,
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
In England's pleasant pastures seen?"

Well, no, but it's a cracking good tune.

How English are you?
Create a Quiz



Quite alarmed at this as clearly I am Scottish, altho i do have some English/Yorkshire blood in me but not that much! I also think one of the questions was wrong as Land of my father is the Welsh national anthem (i know this i watched, i say watched, i knitted in the same room as the Wales game was on last night)

Your score on this personality test was 65%

Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.

Personality Quiz
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz



Does this mean I have 65% of a personality? where is the other 35% am i incomplete??

You are 90% genius to useless knowledge!

You're a well rounded individual, who knows a thing or two about everything! Very Smart, I'd say borderling Genius! I bet you could be on Jeopardy, and maybe one day even beat Ken Jennings, we'll let's not go that far! Congratulations you are one of the chosen few!

General Knowledge Quiz
Take More Quizzes



Go me and my random knowledge, clearly why i am a ninja in the realm of the pub quiz!

You Are 61% Genius!

You scored fairly well, but there is room for improvement. It doesn't seem that you are a genius, I'm afraid. Better luck next time.

The Genius Quiz



Tho clearly I am not a genius...

You are 45% geek/nerd.

You're as much of a geek as the rest of the world. You're normal! Be happy. Or don't be. Get a soft drink and read some Ctrl+Alt+Del.

How geek are you?
Take More Quizzes



Again quite surprising, i am usually was into the 80s on the old geek tests, the fact i kno that is probably indicative.

Pirate or Cowboy?
Your Result: Garrrr! You be a no good pirate lover!

You love everything about pirates, except the sometimes questionable hygiene. The open seas, the hot pirates, the freedom, the hot pirates, swashbuckling, did I mention the hot pirates? You would rather spend time in the crow's nest than swabbing the deck. You have a flair for the dramatic, the unusual and find your self saying "Garrrr!" at least once a day. So, go ahead and get that Jolly Roger tattoo you always wanted and remember the first rule of being a pirate- First pillage- then burn.

YeeeHawww, I see cowboys over the next horizon!
Pirate or Cowboy?


Yeah i cheated on this one a little, but clearly pirates are way cooler than cowboys!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Things that didnt try to kill me, things that taunt me and other stories






Ok so today we have a bit of a mish mash that kinda follows on from yesterday. First of a picture of the stained glass i made, as i was at uni for all of the daylight hours today i had to use a lamp for generally shinyness hopefully you get the drift, it does need washing to remove the numbers and stuff, note the presence of a ball of wool!






Next a slightly dodgy photo, had to take it on my phone as camera was entrapped in bedroom with sleeping boyfriend who as previously discussed doesnt take kindly to being woken. This is the large pile of pills i have to take! On a similar note I remain skeptical about whether i actually have asthma as my peak flow is around the 500 mark despite the "normal" for my age and height being 470, so asthmatic eh?


I realised this morning that i can post something in a knitting related vein, that which is taunting me from atop the wardrobe (where i keep my ever growing stash). Wool i have bought/been bought to knit things for myself but can't actually do anything with until after finishing all my xmas knitting. Left of the picture a selection of balls my very kind friends bought me for my birthday, not 100% sure what it will become, possibly a selection of fingerless gloves. Right the pink is RYC Cashcotton to knit the holiday pattern in Octobers Simply Knitting magazine, off the shoulder number. Top the multicolour is Rowan Chunky Print, very very pretty, got it at a craft fair last month for less than half price, £29.99 for 10 balls as aposed to £67.99 which was much pleasing as its very nice and i so would not have paid that for it, it will eventually become a sweater of more or less my own designing (with the aid of a computer program) watch this space as it goes.

Am currently waiting the arrival of my celebratory dominos, got both my essays handed in today and have written my last practical write up thus all my coursework for this term is finito!

I think thats all i have to report today probably for the best after yesterdays epic.

Also well done to Karyn for spotting yesterdays title as being Monty Python. My next reference spotting question, the category title, should be fairly easy.

Monday, November 13, 2006

And now for something completely different

So i have decided in the style of other knitters blogs and as i have nothing knitting related i can post til 26th december that I'm gonna start posting non knitting stuff, ie general banalness about my life in general, i will try and do this as often as posibble but i have the attention span of a gnat so we will see. Anyway here goes.
First off, well i would like to say i nearly died yesterday just for the drama of it but sadly thats not true. basically my asthma and i had a little falling out which resulted in my going to the hospital (but only the out of hours clinic ie the doctor was shut). I'm not even convinced i am truly asthmatic but after doing soldering on Saturday (stained glass making with my family as a v-early xmas pressie for my dad get me and my craftyness!) and afterwards i was v-wheezy and less able to breathe than i would like, tried ye olde inhaler (old being the operative word twas out of date, sure that wasnt good for me) did not a lot tried going to bed, didnt sleep terribly well or at all so by 10 to 8 on Sunday morning i had had enough (see what i mean about drama, it was less life threatening more pissing me off...) I phoned the nice NHS 24 hotline, kudos to them btw most friendly and helpful (its there job my boyfriend said but i dont care they were nice to me) and they got me an appointment at the hospital clinic place.
Unfortunatly for him i decided that i would get my boyfriend out of bed on his ever rarer day off (retail manager run up to xmas you get the picture) needless to say he wasnt overly impressed at being woken at 8 but at least i had a reason, as he put it his thot process was "for fuck sake fee, why is she waking me up this better be good" "I'm going to hospital" "ok that'll do" our trip to the hospital was an adventure, new bus route (yes i went on the bus much to my parents outrage, coupled with the fact that i didnt tell them i was going til i got back, didnt wanna panic them) new hospital, I'd never been, he apparently likes hospitals he says its cos they fix people i say its cos he is weird. I got to be nebulised that was kinda exciting in a tv hopsital drama kinda way, he got to look at all the equipment and be all boy-y. We also had fun trying to get my pulse rate to change i had one of those pulse moniters on my fingers. So anyway i got given steroids and antibiotics, always a fun thing as i am allergic to penicillin and a bit clueless as to what i can take hence this conversation:
Doctor: are you allergic to any antibiotics?
Me: penicillin
Dr: ok, have you had ampicillin before?
Me: Um I dont know i have at the liquid yellow stuff that tastes kinda like icky banana?
Dr: ooookkkkk we'll give you ethrymycin

So i have many pills, i have to take 9 yes 9 pills of a morning and the antibiotics 4 times a day with food, i object to having my food intake dictated what if i am not hungray at regular intervals eh?

In other less dramatic news, i have nearly finished my last essay of the term, on drug resistance in parasites for those of you who care which is good, you would think this would mean much xmas knitting time sadly i also have the small matter of 3 exams before xmas and this being junior honors year they actually count, however i have a plan which will hopefully mean i can knit and study simulatneously more on that later.

In even more recent events in preparing to write this and having my 4 o'clock pre antibitoic snack i managed to drop a slice of toast philadelphia side down on my keyboard, oops.

In conclusion (too much essay writing) I apologise firstly for the large amount of brackets and the length generally my life isnt that interesting so in future i imagine things will be shorter! I also think you should know that this was written whilst listening to assorted TV themes what that says about my mental state i will leave to you to decide...

Ps spot the movie reference in the title and win win win.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Kitty Sweater with Pattern!

So in a momentery deviation from Christmas knitting i have come up with this. Its for my friend who recently moved to Aberdeen but was down for a visit and requested knitted goods. Seeing as he has also just got a new kicken called Poppy, i designed this, thats right i designed it all my own self, seeing as its chilly in Aberdeen. So without further ado pictures and the pattern, if you have any problems, let me kno and I'll try to fix them, be kind its my first pattern. Any feedback would be appreciated, so comment away.
Poppy Cat Sweater

Size

Domestic Shorthair (common or garden moggy)

Materials

MC: any colour you like really of a DK weight yarn, prolly about 50g, certainly much less than 100g
A small amount of red, black and green DK yarn

4mm straight needles
4mm double point needles

2 small stitch holders (I used Kirby grips)
2 bobbins (clothes pegs work well)
Stitch marker
Tapestry needle

Gauge

4inx4in= 22st x 30 rows in Stocking Stitch

Pattern

Abbreviations

K knit
P purl
St st Stocking Stitch
MC main colour
RS right side
WS wrong side
st stitches
kfb knit into front and back of stitch (this increases by 1 stitch)
pfb purl into front and back of stitch

Notes
The motif can be worked intarsia if liked, I just wove in the lagging strand as I went.
I have included both row number and inches so knit as you prefer
Before you start wind 2 bobbins of MC to give 2 separate smaller balls

Collar

Cast on, 44 stitches on straight needles, work 1x1 ribbing (K1P1) for 1.3in/10rows On last row kfb 1st stitch and every 5 sts, 53 sts

Body

Work 2 rows St st then for the next 13 rows kfb on the first and last stitches on RS rows and pfb on the first and last stitch of the WS row 81sts

Work 8 rows even, 21 rows from start of St st, finishing with a RS row, next row (WS) purl 39 stitches and then start motif as indicated on chart

Work 6 rows (28 rows from start of St st section) nest row purl 9 st slip 7 st to stitch holder, then with the first bobbin of yarn purl 49 st, incorporating motif, slip 7 st to stitch holder then with 2nd bobbin purl to end. This forms the leg/arm holes

Work these sections separately for 1.8in/14 rows ending on a WS row

Next row k9, cast on 7, k49 (again incorporating motif), cast on 7, k9 all with the main ball of yarn this closes the openings.

Work even until St st section measures 8.2in/62 rows
Work 1x1 rib for 1in/8 rows cast off.

Sleeves

Both worked the same.

With RS facing using double points slip stitches from stitch holder to needle then pick up and knit another 33 st evenly around sides, total 40st
Place stitch marker to indicate start of round
Work St st for 0.5in/4 rows
Work 1x1 rib for 1in/8 rows
Cast off

Finishing

Sew in all the loose ends and sew up centre seam.


***Update***


Poppy has recieved her sweater and apparently she is most chuffed with it. I was also sent pictures of her in it, so by special request here we go (I didnt take these, they were taken on my friends phone so the quality isnt great but you get the idea) Isnt she a cutie? Shes just a babby so its a little big on her just now.

New and improved!

Since i can't be posting that which i am knitting for christmas i have added some wee progress bars to let y'all kno how its coming along.
As you can see i have a lot to be doing!! Thankfully the majority are small things

I do have a non christmas item on the go as you see so that will appear soon.