A mini milestone

Yesterday marked a mini milestone in the uni year. Whilst many unis across the uk and a lot of my friends (jammie dodgers!) are breaking up for the summer, here at my uni we've still got 5 weeks of term left. Five. Whole. Weeks. Four of which for me contain exams. Is my uncontrollable excitement at what the next 5 weeks entail not just brimming over and beaming out of your computer screens?

Anyway, this weekend marks the middle point of the last term of second year, which means that yesterday I went to my last lecture of the year. Woop! No new stuff for me to learn - unless you count revision that is. But of course I should already know all the content from this year right? Because revision is simply looking over all those detailed notes you made for yourself when exams were still a distant alien concept and on just glancing at your notes all that information should come flooding back, crystal clear and 100% factually correct. Ahem.

More importantly, yesterday I handed in my last piece of coursework of the year, now that really is something to celebrate!! It was 6 days early as well, which never happens, but I figured if I had loads of exams to revise for I better get it done and out the way earlier if I could.

So whilst I was doing the last oh so tiring corrections and an entire structural revamp of my essay I found myself playing with a piece of pink tack. Then surreptitiously stabbing it with a pen... And then I noticed what I had in front of me was a little bit of art and with a little bit of embellishment could be made into something pretty...

I've never been one to doodle, as I seriously lack artistic talent and I can't seem to be able to disengage my brain enough to just start drawing and see what it turns into. I have to say I was fairly proud of my own mixed media take on Doodling!

I also come across this on my travels in to uni to hand in my last piece of coursework. It seemed so apt set up outside the media, film and music building. Making a statement, but not invasive at the same time. It so does annoy me when you get installations and bits of art that just seem to scream for your attention and not necessarily in the right way. This grabs your attention just enough to make you pause, but doesn't feel like it's pointing out how culturally inept you are. I simply cannot stand art that makes you feel uneducated, like you are somehow missing 'the point' of it. I like what I like and often I can't tell you why!! But this I like.

I'm heading back to to lovely Dorset for a few days tomorrow so I can spend some time revising at my parents house, so apologies if things are a bit quiet on here over the next few days. But then again, now I'm getting into the blogging grove I may find I end up blogging more whilst I'm back home, we'l have to see.

A spring project

At last I can tell you about my new project!
Last summer I taught myself to crochet using this book, which I'll tell you about in a future post and got completely hooked (sorry awful pun I know) on crochet and amigurumi. Cute as the little creatures and stuffed food (again, I'll tell you about it another time) were, I decided I wanted to make something that actually had some kind of use to it. Not that I'm saying cutesy crochet animals and ice cream sandwiches aren't cute!! They make me smile and that's important in life, but at the end of the day what can you actually do with a crocheted piece of chocolate cake? One day I have aspirations to crochet an entire picnic set for children to play with, but short of having the time or a suitable child to palm all the squishy loveliness off onto, what should I make?

So, after Christmas when I browsing a well known high street bookshop to find something to spend a voucher I was given on, I stumbled across this book...

Cute & easy crochet, which makes you smile and actually has a use once you've made it! Crochet, cuteness and practicality all in one - I'm in love!!

It was written by Nicki Trench, who you can find on her blog here or on her website here, and is full to the brim with gorgeous and useful projects. There were so many things I wanted to make straight away, including the cafetiere cosy, knickerbockerglory bunting, any of the cushions.... the list continues. And I wanted to make it all. Right now.

However, I'm still rather annoyingly in the midst of my summer term at uni, so with 1 coursework deadline and 6 exams to go, time is short and money is low. Never a great combination when you want to start a new project, no matter how lovely it is.
So I decided to work backwards and collected together my wool first, picking out the colours from my bedspread...

...so whatever I was going to make was going to be for my bedroom and had to be easy to pick up and put down again whenever I had a patch of free time. I still had trouble deciding which project to pick, but in the end I decided to go for the springtime throw - something that's easy, portable at least until it gets to the sewing up stage and has a bit of variety in it as much as there are 20 different colour combinations for the mini Granny squares.

So here we are, I started last Wednesday and by Sunday look how far I'd got!

Little baby squares of granny goodness

Since then I've done 2 more squares and written a 2000 word essay, which I personally don't think is bad going really - that's progress of roughly 1 square per day! They're easy to do, I'm getting to know the pattern off by heart, every square I do seems to be taking less and less time and the colours seem to be gelling really well (with the exception of the turquoise which I'm still trying to find a reliable source for so have left out for now).

So if that's 8 squares I've done so far, by my calculations that only leaves me with... hang on, how many? 424 more to do? In which case at my current speed I should be about ready to start stitching the thing together by about July 2014. Hmmm.

In reality I'm not actually intending to make a blanket quite as big as the one in the book (approx 162 x 223 cm), instead I'm planning on making mine more single bed sized, at around 120 x 200 cm, which by my rough calculations means I'll only need 286 squares, a slight improvement on my previous estimate, plus as my speed picks up and I have more free time I'm sure I'll manage an average of a couple more than one a day.

I knew my maths A-level would come in useful one day...

Even if I get bored and decide I've had enough, the beauty of a Granny square project is that you can always make it into something else - a cushion, a bag, a smaller blanket. At the moment I've only got one ball of each of the colours which won't last me long, but I've deliberately chosen brands and colours that are easy to source so that I can buy more as I progress and if I can't get a colour for whatever reason I can get another similar one and simply mix it in, or at least that's the plan anyway!

So there you have it, my new project. What do you think?
I'll keep you posted on my progress as I work my way through this mammoth (for me anyway) project. I mean, the finished thing will be bigger than me! Or at least that's the plan for now anyway.

A little bit of sunday sunshine

Guess what? It was sunny yesterday!! And it stayed that way all day long - at last it's beginning to feel a little more like spring. Having said that it did then rain all day today, but at least I was able to absorb enough vitamin D to keep me going until the next sunny day, hopefully it won't be too soon...

Doesn't everything seem just that bit easier and brighter (literally I suppose!) when the sun is shining? I'm terrible with the weather, as soon as it clouds over and starts to drizzle I have the overwhelming urge to curl up with a hot drink and a blanket and hibernate until the sun come out again. Likewise as soon as it gets dark and I've had my dinner I am physically incapable of moving from where I'm sat, it's quite an occupational hazard!!!

So in our little patch of sunshine yesterday I'm proud to announce that I did indeed manage to get to the market before work, after an additional little detour to the bridge at the Cliffe end of the high street to look out over the river in the sunshine.

Whether it's a river or the sea I can't help stopping for a little look, whatever the weather.

My little detour then took me back past a certain coffee shop on way to the market, and eventually the shop, which proved just too hard to resist, hence the distinct lack of photos. Despite my best intentions (by which I the remarkable occurrence of me actually remembering to take my camera somewhere rather than relying on my iPhone), juggling a camera and on overfull frosted mint iced latte (how posh am I?) just proved too much for me. Especially given that I was wearing my new summer uniform and white, yes white leggings - I'm either mad or stupid, can't decide which!

Anyway, just to prove I went, I did manage to get one photo of the market from afar without any spillage...

Not the most exciting shot I know, but at least it proves I was there!

 It was a lovely quiet day at work, most likely due to the gorgeous weather, so I didn't feel quite as knackered as I usually do at the end of the day, giving me some time whilst the sun was still shining to do a bit of project photography at last. I've done a little more work to it since taking the photos, but I'm pleased to say that I shall be revealing my new ongoing project either tomorrow or Wednesday, essay permitting, so keep your eyes peeled if you want to see what I've been up to over the last couple of days' study breaks.

So that's all from me for today, I hope everyone managed to catch at east a little bit of sun this weekend, no matter how fleeting, and didn't find Monday morning too stressful!

Here comes the sun...

At last, a break in the rain clouds and some actual, real, warm sun that lasts more than 10 minutes! Just a pity that I had to spend the day cooped up at work really, but never mind, at east it's starting to feel like spring at last! Having said that I've now definitely set myself up for a rainy day tomorrow now haven't I?

The last week has been a bit of an odd one, and not exactly the most productive one on record. I had originally intended to have Monday off to do a bit of shopping and catch up with myself and then spend the rest of the week doing some exam prep and revision - a different exam every day. As you may have guessed from my post on Tuesday, things didn't quite pan out the way I expected, with life seeming to get in the way at every turn! Never mind, what's done is done and this week wasn't a complete waste of space revision-wise, it just didn't quite match up to how much I was hoping to get done.

On the plus side I did manage to start a new project with the wool I bought the other day, which I will be telling you about very soon, just as soon as I can get outside in the sunshine to take a few 'work in progress' photographs. I thought I had made a good start during what free time I've had, but working it out just now has revealed that I'm still only 0.0138% of the way through. Impressive, huh? Needless to say it is a rather large project, so my efforts so far do seem somewhat insignificant to say the least.

It being a Sunday I've got a shorter day at work tomorrow, so hopefully it will be lovely and sunny again. I don't start work until 10 on Sunday, so when it's a reasonably nice day (even if it is freezing!) I sometimes like to leave for work a little earlier and take a detour to the market that pops up next door to the shop every Sunday - an activity that sometimes needs to be accompanied by a trip to costa on the way, purely for medicinal purposes you have to understand, I have to have something to stop me from freezing over on fresh Sunday mornings. The accompanying caffeine kick and sugar rush can't do much harm either

So I wonder what tomorrow will bring? Another sunny day, a trip to the market and a spot of new project photography, or a dash to work whilst trying to avoid the puddles, a quick glance at the real hardcore stallholders and market-goers who show up whatever the weather and curling up on the sofa after work, complete with wool and a brain & behaviour textbook?

The former sounds much more appealing to me, but either way I hope you all have a lovely relaxed sunday, come rain or shine, and indulge in a little sunbathing/puddle jumping on my behalf.

Waterfalls and Wool

Today has been one of those days were it gets to about half 7 and you have to make the decision - Do I soldier on and try to achieve what I meant to today? OR Do I mark today as a write off, give in and have a bit of time off? Quess which one I picked?

Today started with me declaring that I could not possibly be getting a cold and should therefore get up and have a nice long hot shower and all would be right with the world. An hour later and I'm downstairs having done the mountain of washing up that I had left festering from the night before and, hmm... mysterious dripping noise, where's that...OH!

And so it continued, with drip turning to puddle, turning to full on waterfall. So you can see why I didn't get much done today, what with the new inbuilt water feature in the living room requiring large portions of my day spent emptying the various receptacles I had strategically placed, mopping up the mess and performing a spot of minor ceiling surgery to burst the newly formed water balloon before it exploded.

On further insepction it appears the living room falls had nothing to do with my shower (or at least we hope so!), thank heavens, but is actually due to a dripping pipe which I have since shut off - woo go me! Today fixing a kitchen tap and learning what to do with a stopcock, tomorrow the world!

Anyway, today wasn't all doom and gloom, despite the destinct lack or uni related productivity. I did at least manage to get my room back in order so that I an ready to make a good fresh start tomorrow with revision, even if I now have the distraction of Dad arriving to fix the offending pipe tomorrow morning!

On the way to my lecture I stopped off at the Martlets Hospice shop and found that they sell wool, and cheap reasonable quality wool at that! In the dimly lit corner of the shop it was rather difficult to tell the exact colours, but either way I liked them, they were cheap and the profits go to charity, so who cares if they're not quite right and they just sit in my stash? But when I got home, much to my delight, it appears the random assortment I chose are in fact the exact colours I have been looking for unsuccesfully for so long. Result! So at last I have all the colours I need, and what's more I know exactly where I can get more when I run out.

So, which of my various projects to start with first?
I've got a little quick filler project to be getting on with for now whilst I make up my mind, but more of that another time. For now, I'll leave you with this, can you guess where I got my colour choices from?

Today's excitement

So today is being spent revising and sorting through my mountains of notes to try and ascertain exactly what it is I'm missing - a task which seems to be taking forever and a day. I've also managed to be extremely productive on the procrastination front in discovering bloglovin' a great site for keeping track of all the blogs you read which is much, much more user friendly than the blogger dashboard. Indirectly this has also lead me to make a few changes round here, now that I'm a little more confident with blogging - how do you like the new look?

Anyway, I digress. Today I got a lovely little parcel in the post from my Mum. I love getting things in the post from her, she has the knack of sending the perfect things at just the right time! Anyway, for a while now we've been sending ginger bread men to eachother occasionally (don't ask me how that started), so I when I saw the small padded envelope with mum's distinctive handwriting I assumed it would be another gingerbread man to keep my spirits up. Imagine my surprise when I found the parcel actually contained this...

Jelly meerkats, MEERKATS I say!!!
I know, simple things please simple minds, but they're just soo cool!

Anyway, that's enough from me today, this blog is benefiting far more from my revision than my actual understanding of the course, so back to the revision notes. I dare say this won't be the last you hear from me today though.