Birthday

It's my birthday today. It's 6.45am and I'm absolutly shattered following a rubbish night's sleep, which comprised of lots of short dreams about the lesson I am due to teach in 2.5 hours time. It's been prepared and changed more than any lesson really deserves to be. I'm not sure how it's going to go. I have another one straight afterward which isn't so worrying because it's A level, with less students. In 12 hours time, all being well, I'll be sitting in the Forth (hopefully awake) knitting at the special Rowan event. I hope people turn up. Can't wait for it.

I'm making it all sound very miserable. It's not that bad. I had a lovely time on Saturday when I went out for Tepan-yaki with my parents and a random collection of friends. I'd been worried beforehand because most people coming didn't know the others, but in the end everyone got on swimmingly. Thanks to everyone who came. Right, I'd better go and get ready so I can go to school and panic there.

P.S. I was so worried about my lesson I forgot to carve the huge pumpkin I bought. :S

Dramatic Cloudscapes

A sunrise over Sandyford.

And clouds over Druridge Bay.

Knitting Update

I thought this blog was a bit lacking in knitting so here's an update on what I've been working on recently.

I've almost finished rabbit no. 2, who is a ballerina. She just needs a skirt and a face. I'm not sure whether I want to buy a large quanitity of netting just to make one rabbit skirt. Maybe I'll knit her a friend.

She hasn't got a face yet. I don't feel like I can do the face until she's properly dressed.

I've also been knitting a cushion cover as a Christmas present for a friend, who doesn't read this blog (I think).

It's from a pattern that was in Knitting Today, the new magazine. I'm a bit irritated with it at the moment because the pattern is fairly dull and because of this I got distracted and moved one of the stripes one stitch to the right when I was in the Forth on Tuesday. I can't blame anyone else for this because I was sitting by myself when I did it, before anyone else arrived. I only noticed last night and had to pull out a 3rd of what I'd knitted. Grrr....!

I'm also working on this glove, which is from a pattern in Odham's knitting encyclopedia.

I already knitted one pair for the secret swap parcel I sent to Snaterkat. The pattern uses straight needles, but it is a pain in the rear end to have to sew up all those little seams, especially because it has to be done as you're going along. I decided to knit it in the round instead (on some old size 10 DPNs that used to belong to my grandma and probably date from the same time as the pattern book). So far it's going quite well.

I'm sorry to say that I still haven't got round to finishing Rufflette (picot cast off of about 400 sts on circulars - my personal nightmare) or the baby alpaca scarf I started a while ago. I can't actually remember the pattern I was using for the scarf so I'm going to have to have a dig around on the internet and try and find where it came from.

I'm meant to be knitting more Christmas hats for school and I've also got a few Christmas present projects waiting in the wings. So many things to knit, so little time....

Post number 101: Fascinating Fungi

On Sunday Snaterkat, Graeme and I went along to the fascinating fungi event at Thornley woods, near Rowlands Gill. Some people obviously knew what they were doing and quickly went and squirreled away large quantities of edible mushrooms. We spent a long time trying to find different types. We'd take them back to the table and add them to the group collection. Here's one of our hauls:

We saw some fantastic bracket fungi,


and some cool orange jelly fungi:

All together we ended up with a fantastic haul and learned lots about fungi. This is just some of it.

I'm pretty confident I could identify one or two species of edible fungi. We ended up bringing a couple home and friend them in butter and salt. They were very tasty. I really must find some more some time. I had a look in Jesmond Dene this afternoon but there didn't seem to be any at all. Wonder why.

Fudgaster

While making my secret parcel for Snaterkat I decided to make some fudge. I know she has a liking for rum and raisin. I looked at several recipes on the internet and in books that I had. I eventually chose one (they were all pretty similar) and decided to have a go. I couldn't get hold of any condensed milk and so I also found a recipe for making condensed milk out of evapourated milk (basically adding a lot of sugar). I followed the instruction and poured out the fudge into a lined pan and after it had cooled a bit I stuck it in the fridge. The next morning I got up expecting it to be set, but it wasn't.

I admit I could have started all this a bit more in advance but I wasn't sure how it would keep and I didn't think I would have much trouble. I've made toffee and fudge before. So, I sent the parcel without the fudge, thinking I would be able to pass it on the next day. People at uni assured me it would take longer to set, but I'm sorry to say that it never has. So I decided to make a second batch. This time with condensed milk and adding the rum just before pouring it out into the tin. It worked a little better. The middle seemed to solidify quite quickly, but the edges never did.

I don't quite understand what I did wrong. I'm pretty sure I got it to a hot enough temperature (i.e. vigerously boiling for 10 plus minutes) and it looked like it was beginning to solidify just after I poured it, so what stopped it? Any useful advice would be helpful. Now I should go and make a start on using up some of this fudge sauce. ;)

Parcel

Today was the swap day for the mini-secret pals swap which is being run by my friend Kay. I managed to get the majority of my parcel sent off at once. I have had some difficulties which I shall tell you about tomorrow.

I recieved my parcel this morning in the post.

I hesitated in opening it at first in case it was a birthday present, but I didn't recognise the handwriting or address. The card said there were some halloween items so I opened the first parcel to find this. :(

This isn't the first time I've recieved broken pottery through the post. I think safely packaging it is a nightmare. Fortunately the important part, the chocolate, was in tact. I'm not sure what it was meant to be. I did try putting the pieces together to reconstruct it, but I think there's just too many pieces. The second parcel was this:

A lovely recipe book. Many thanks to Luise for sending it.

Books

I was intending to do all sorts of things today, including writing a long blog post, but the whole day got taken over by building shelves we bought yesterday at Ikea and filling them with books. I love putting together flat packed furniature (well, the well made kind). It's like lego for grown ups. There's always tomorrow.

Milestone

I did my first teaching today. It was just half a lesson about volcanos, earthquakes and tsunamis to a small bottom set class. I was very nervous when I started but was beginning to feel a bit more comfortable towards the end. Hopefully next time I'll be able to keep my head better. There's so many things to remember all at once. Anyway, it's the first of many milestones in my PGCE course. Glad to have it out of the way.

Missed knitting

Missed knitting in the Forth today because I was planning a geohazards lesson. Bum!

Lots to post

The weekend has been fairly busy. Graeme's friend Lovett was visiting. We went to the coast on Saturday. It wasn't too cold but rather windy. I think it was the first time that I've seen Saint Mary's Lighthouse cut off from the mainland.

On Sunday we went down to Durham and stopped off at the Angel on the way. I haven't been for a while. The first time I went I was slightly disappointed by the size but this time it seemed much bigger than I remember.

I also managed to finish my first hat and knitted a couple of legs for rabbit number two, who is destined to become a ballerina.

I'm in school all week this week, but when I got home this afternoon I found a parcel sitting on my doorstep. It was from my cousin Gill in Canada. Inside was this amazing and highly appropriate T-Shirt.



Fantastic!!! I love it. Thanks Gill. I wish I could wear it tomorrow, but I have to be all teachery instead and dress smartly. I don't want to get mistaken for a sixth former. I think it will be very hard for anyone to top this T-shirt design. I am a happy bunny.

Operation Christmas Child

The school I am at for my teaching practice is involved in Operation Christmas Child, which involves sending christmas presents to children in desperate situations all over the world. The school is hoping to break their record, sending hundreds of boxes this year. We all know how exciting it is to get presents and we get loads. These kids don't get anything. I know the organisation is Christian, which might put some people off but we all love giving gifts.

I've agreed to knit some hats to put in the presents (which are in wrapped shoe boxes). The lady organising it uses a simple knitting pattern, which I've put below, but I'm sure all hats are welcome. If anyone would like to help out and knit a few hats bring them along to the Centurion or Forth knitting groups and I'll take them in to school. If you're not in Newcastle send me an email of leave a comment and I'll sort something out with you.

Simple Hat Pattern

Using DK yarn and 4mm needles, CO 104 sts.
Knit 45 rows 1x1 rib.
Row 46: (k1,p1,k2tog tbl) to end.
Row 47: p1(k1,p2tog) to end.
Row 48: rep row 46.
Row 49: (p2tog,k1) to end.
Row 50: (k2tog tbl) to end.
Row 51: Break yarn, draw through remaining stitches and pull together. Stitch seam.

Use brightly colours stripes or patterns where possible.
Key: k1 - knit 1, p1 - purl 1, k2tog - knit 2 together, p2tog - purl 2 together, tbl - through back loop

Free Post

I thought I'd post a picture of the socks I knitted with the sock yarn I dyed. I sent them to my cousin for a present and they arrived yesterday, so they're no longer a surprise.

It feels like a bit of a cheat, but I don't have much else to show just now. :S

A giant leap for rabbit kind

Here's my first finished rabbit.



There was a pattern for making a little jumper for it, but I'm not sure I like the look of a roll neck on a rabbit. As Graeme said, the rabbit looks better naked.

The felted bag came out quite well, although I made a bit of a miscalculation with the handle. I was intending to use a couple of rings and attach another piece, once I'd got an idea of the shrinking during felting, but the handle sections curled up so much that I'm not sure I'll be able to fold them over and put a rivet through properly. The bag started off 26 cm wide and 24 cm tall and is now 19 cm wide and 16 cm tall. It was even smaller when it first came out of the machine, but I stretched it out to a more reasonable size.

I need to line the bag. I think I'll have to force myself to do it next weekend. I have a big backlog of sewing jobs to do. Must get on with them properly.

Ring O' Ring O'Rosie

Becca and I have a long and illustrious history of getting lost at the end of coastal walks, usually when trying to find the metro to get home. Bearing this in mind you might have thought we would have taken a map with us on an excusion to Ring O'Rosie, but no. Maps are not for intrepid explorers like us. So, after a quick glance at multimap we set off for the coast.

We wanted to have a bit of a walk, so we got the metro to Tynemouth and after refulling on sweets at the market, we headed north up the coast. It was a really pleasant day. Surprising for late September. We had a lovely paddle on Long Sands and headed up towards Cullercoats. We had a vague idea where we wanted to be so we began to head inland, and soon realised that we we're quite sure of the way. So, being sensible woman we stopped to asked for directions. One woman told us it was far to far to walk and we'd have to take the bus. A lot of other people seemed not to know where Front Street was at all. But, undaughted (well, al little bit daunted) we kept going and eventually got to Monkseaton metro station.

We knew it wasn't right, because the shop should have been somewhere between West Monkseaton and Monkseaton metro stops and we'd passed them both. We decided to have a bit of a wonder around in case we found it. We stopped again at a news agents, only to be told that it was just a few shops down. And, there it was! We made it with 40 minutes to spare before closing.

I was intending to browse rather than buy. It seems stupid to buy much with my birthday coming up and I've got lots of things to be working on already. I was tempted over and over again by all the lovely goodies. I was particularly tempted by some Noro but I stayed strong. I did buy a couple of balls of tweed and got a free pattern to make some bunny rabbits. I thought they'd be a good baby present. I also got a ball of DB Baby Cashmerino for some booties.

The shop also had some fabulous quilting fabric and I starting to feel guilty for neglecting my quilting projects. I really must sit down and finish the beadspread I was making off.

Anyway, I'm so glad to have finally made it out to Ring O'Rosie and I'll definitely be going again in the not too distant future.

On a different note, my bag is currently in the washing machine hopefully being felted. I'm slightly nervous about how it will come out. Fingers crossed.

Some Knitting

I feel that my blog has been lacking some knitting recently (as well as posts). This is mostly because I haven't been doing much. I have a lot of things that I wanted to start and I haven't felt like beginning any of them. Instead I started knitting this scarf using some Debbie Bliss Baby Alpaca from my stash and a stitch pattern from this blog..

I was feeling a bit more creative on Monday so I started knitting a bag from the Lopi roving I bought at WoolFest. I intend to felt it when I've finished knitting. I've never felted anything before. Hope it turns out OK.

Today was my first day at my first teaching practice. It's only two days a week till half term and we were only observing. It was an interesting experience. I enjoyed it much more than being in university. I hope tomorrow is just as good.

Life Update

This PGCE lark is leaving me with little brain power for interesting blogging. Most nights this week I have lapsed into a vegetable-like state after getting home. This has been made worse by trying to fit in preparation for a job interview last Friday for the famous RA post which I have been going on about (though not here) for months. Well, I didn't get the job (I think), which was a bit of a dissapointment, but there is something very nice about having it all done with and knowing what I will be doing for the next 12 months. I should point out that I came second in the interviews and there's still a chance that the person who got it might not take it or might not get their PhD done in time, but I'm going to ignore that for now and get on with teaching.

On Thursday night we wanted potatoes for dinner, and too idle to go to the shops, I finally split open the two grow bags of potato plants in the yard to see what was there. They were a bit better than the first but nothing special.


Although I think I heard somewhere that vegetables grown in compost do not produce good yeilds.

I also pulled up my carrots.

They were all very tasty with dinner. I'd like to say they were much nicer than the ones from the supermarket, but there wasn't that much difference. They were perhaps a bit more potatoey/carroty tasting than the mass produced ones.

Finally, it's Purlpower's birthday today, so I wanted to say a big
Happy Birthday Helen!!!
We went to her party last night, which was in a curry house in Fenham. It was a pleasant evening and we had a good time. I don't think the restaurant staff showed themselves in a very good light, but we had plenty of alcohol and good company, and that's all that counts really.

Note to self: I really must stop taking photos at parties with my camera phone and use my proper camera. The quality doesn't compare.

For all your rabbit disposal needs...

Cragside

Jim and Dawn were visiting this weekend. I decided to have a total break from work yesterday and felt much better. We went to Rothbury and after a short walk to some standing stones, we had lunch in a pub. Lovely fish and chips. Then we went to Cragside. Cragside was the first house in the country to have electricity. They had hot and cold running water, electric lights, an elevator and electric spit in the kitchen, before most people even knew they could exist. All that was powered by hydroelectricity. The house turned out to be shut. Apparently the 130 year old wiring doesn't come up to modern electrical standards and has been condemned. The grounds were still open and we had a good time walking around the formal gardens, pinetum, lake etc.

There were more wild mushrooms around the grounds than I've ever seen. We almost had enough photos of different types for a mushroom calender for 2007. We decided that this one was the 'perfect' specimen.

There were several art installations in the grounds. One was a four poster bed, floating in the middle of the lake. Something about it made it difficult to stop looking at it.

There was also a boat shape made out of little paper boats.

Sockedy of Errors

After posting yesterday I decided to have a quick knit of the socks I was working on. Thinking it would be relaxing. I was finishing off the last couple of rows of the heel. I've already had to undoo it a couple of times because I made mistake during the week. All I did was drop stitches and get confused. I've ended up making a total mess of it because I dropped a lot of stitches from the very edge of the short row shaping heel and even though I thought I'd got them all back there's now a big gaping hole on one side. I tried un-knitting but I can't figure out what's going on. I think I'll just have to undo the heal and start again when I'm less tired. Maybe I should resort to a plain stocking stitch scarf or something. Sigh!

School

I woke up this morning with that 'Do I have to go to school feeling?'. It's was all dark and rainy. I was with year 5 (9-10 years old) today. They were all fidgety because of the close weather. Fortunately the rain stopped long enough for outdoor playtimes. I find doing something new and different every day exhausting. I feel absolutely shattered. I can't wait for the weekend. Hopefully I'll have more time to do some knitting.

I just got an electric shock from the aerial cable for the TV? How odd, it's never happened before. My arm feels all funny. Wonder why it is.