Some knitting

Firstly don't panic, after this short knitting interlude your usual random posts will continue.

Written while sitting school waiting for the end of the day! I have made that most basic of knitting errors and only bought 1 project along to walk on, and I have finished it. The leaf motif blanket in lilac is done. Well the knitting bit is, I still have to join the m of edging to the blanket…


(this is the darker version, for some reason I have no photos of the completed lilac one)

If you are the sort of person who likes watching the progress bars in the side (are there any of you out there?) you’ll have noticed that since I finished my Nutkin socks I have not made any more progress on anything.



This is not to say I have not been busy knitting, on the contrary, I have knitted possibly my coolest thing yet, and they’re for a swap, so are going to someone else, so you can’t see them. I had the feeling I was going to like this project though so I bought double of the most lovely softest 100% Alpaca ever. When my swap partner gets hers, I’ll cast on some for me, and you will be able to see exactly what they are.

I’m going home for a weekend to see my poor parents who have been very neglected recently, only problem is what knitting to take, I need something that I can knit while talking, which means simple. All my projects at the moment are far too complicated, so I need to start a new one, but that means winding another skein in to a ball… and I’m going out tonight to celebrate teaching my last ever lesson for this academic year. I’m teaching climbing tomorrow morning, and then going over to my parents, so when is this ball going to be wound. As a guide it takes about an hour for me to wind a ball by hand.

Fix it Friday is m.i.a this week, I have no ideas, none, zip, nada. Anyone want to share any good sites, good recipes, good ideas with me?

Edited to add that if you're interested in knitting I can't recommend that you join Ravelry highly enough. It's where I get all my patterns from, find out how to fix mistakes, learn new techniques, and drool over gorgeous yarns! If you're on there or do join then I'm hilltopkatie on there, feel free to add me as a friend.

My first ever proper meme!

I'm so proud, this is the first meme in which I've actually been tagged in!

This one came via Laura at Domestic Blissless who I met via Ravelry in the teachers who knit group because we are both trainee (though not for much longer) secondary science teachers. Speaking of teaching I have one lesson left to teach, and it can't come to soon. I feel as if my professional development has ground to a halt, I'm ready to be let loose on the kids for real. Ask me again about this opinion at the end of September, I'm sure I will have changed my mind!

Anyway, where was I? It's been that kind of day, I ended up trying to sing our goodbye song at the start of Rainbows tonight... maybe it was wishful thinking? Speaking of Rainbows I am ready to strangle 2 of my parents. If you get handed a letter about an event and it has a deadline for it's return to book your daughters place, and you want her to go on the event, then you return it by the deadline. You do not appear 2 weeks before the event as I am handing out information about said eventand wonder why your daughter doesn't have the information... Luckily for them I was in a kind mood, so smiled sweetly and said I'd email the organiser and see if there were places left.

Ahh yes, I was meant to be doing a meme, anyway, here we go.

'The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then go to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.'

1. What was I doing ten years ago?
In 1998 I would still have been at school, I would have been the grand old age of 12... By my reckoning this means I was just finishing Year 8, so was just about to leave Middle School and go up to High School. My local area had a funny education system where there were 3 schools instead of the more usual 2 in Britain. You went to first school from age 5-9, middle school from age 9-13, and high school from age 13-16 or 18 if you stayed on in the 6th form. As for any more detail than that, I'm a bit clueless, can you honestly remember what you did age 12, I think it might have been the summer I went to Canada, but I may be wrong (Mum?)


2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
Write more of my final ever essay (done!)
Go to Rainbows and not strangle any of them (done)
Get the letter signed to change the signatories on the Rainbow bank account (done)
Make sure I rescue the tea from the oven before it burns (also done successfully mid way through writing this)
Knit some more on my swap for the climbers group on ravelry and also shower (this one is looking doubtful)


3. Snacks I enjoy:
Crsips, nuts, ice cream

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Give most of it away, really honestly, I'd probably buy my Mum the house on the pembrokeshire coast she has always wanted, make sure my family and friends were sorted out, invest enough to keep me comfortable and then donate it to Guiding, Mountain Rescue and various other charities.


5. Places I've lived:
A town in North Staffordshire, and a city in Yorkshire. You're not getting any more detail than that folks!

6. People I want to know more about:
I'm going to pick the people whose blog I've commented on today as part of NaComLeavMo.

1) Katt
2) Love, Hope and Faith
3) Resplendent Quetzal
4) Surviving Single Motherhood
5) Nervous breakdowns are highly underated
6)The only constant is change

June

I love June, it's my favourite month. All the trees are now green, things are starting to flower, and the whole summer is ahead of us. British Strawberries have just started to arrive in shops, and while they're not the same as homegrown ones after a winter f apples and oranges they taste like liquid nectar.
Somehow despite a weekend at home relaxing before going back to school I managed not to update, and even worse forgot to go commenting on Sunday (I think!). Looks like I'm on double dose today!
School today was slow, I'd just got in to holiday mode this weekend and came back to school today. I'm now exhausted, to tired to think about trawling through holiday photos and write about my trip to Thailand. That post will come I promise!

Fix-it-Friday

Ok todays post is another make it post. While I've not made this yet myself it is for an outdoor science day I'm doing soon.
Make your own.... catapult! These look really cool and could be great if we ever get any hot weather to fire water bombs. You can just use garden canes, elastic bands and plastic cups.
I've got a couple of links to point you at, but I'm sure kids could come up with their own designs to. Anyway the sites are here and here.
Have fun!
Be sure to head over to Jo to see the other posts.

More answers...

Wow the questions just keep coming.
Here are a few more answers, I promise I'll do a post about something else soon. I've fried my brain in the beautiful sunshine we've had today (well the half pint of cider is also making me sleepy) so I'm not up to much more than this!

How did you hook up with the NaComLeavMo thing?
I found out about it via Eliza at Doolittle and just thought it seemed fun. also with not belonging to any of the blogging communities I've never had many visitors before.

How do Rainbows get on with Brownies?
Just fine actually, I think we run Guiding in the UK a little differently than you do in the US with Girl Scouts. In my Rainbow unit are 15 girls aged between 5 and 7, at the end of every school term I pack a couple who have turned 7 off to Brownies, and at the start of the next term I take a couple of new 5 year olds. Most of the Rainbows can't wait to go to Brownies, like all kids they want to be big and grown up, and to them the Brownies seem so adult!

Climbing always seems very scary and dangerous to me, have you had any scare?
I'll come out and say this right at the start, like a lot of rational people I am scared of heights. I don't like being very high up and looking down! However I do love climbing, but most of the time when I climb I'm concentrating so hard on what I'm doing I don't notice the height. In the style of climbing I do (ie. not mountaineering) I'm more likely to get hurt in a car accident than I am get hurt climbing. We are a really risk averse society but all think nothing of getting in these metal killing machines on a regular basis. Having said that yes I have hurt myself once, this was the result.

That was after two weeks on crutches and regular icing and using a compression bandage, my ankle is still a little bit dodgy now, but I gain so much enjoyment from climbing I'd never not do it.

Have you done something that turned out to be a mistake but that you would do again if given the chance?
I think I can honestly say no. While I have made mistakes I would change most of them, but none of those mistakes have been so disastrous that I have major regrets about them. I hope to continue in this manner!

Ok come back tomorrow for Fix-it-Friday where I will share with you some sort of wondrous tip, or website and point you towards Jo for some more good ideas from her and her readers.

Answers...

Ok I promised you answers, and answers you shall have. though first I swear that I need to start leading a more exciting life, even one person who knows me in real life could only come up with a question about the best place I'd visited abroad (seriously A, after all we've been through and the potential embarrassment you could cause you only came up with that!)

Anyway my answers-

What is a Rainbows unit?
Rainbows are the youngest members of Girlguiding UK, basically they're 5-7 year old girls, the equivalent of Daisy Scouts in the USA.

What is your Rainbow leader name?
I'm sorry to report that my Rainbows call me Katie. I couldn't think of a name I'd want shouted at me in the street so I decided that all the leaders having their first name was for the best. The leader I took over from was called Bluebell however.

North or South?
There are beautiful parts of both, but I think my heart is Northern. Before I came to university I was more of what you'd call a Midlander, I've never really wanted to be one, but my home town is in the very northern limits of the Midlands, so I transplanted quite easily when I moved North to come to university. My heart is very firmly in my current city, I love living here, and have built my life here, at the moment I can't see me moving away.

What is the best trip abroad you have been on and where would you like to go?
This is really hard, I've been to so many awesome places. I spent 2 months in Thailand, it was my first time away from my parents and I think it really helped me grow up. I wouldn't say I'd repeat it now, but at that time in my life it was the best thing I could have done. I think it helped that I was there with a purpose and working at a gibbon sanctuary. I don't think I could have done an aimless gap year wander, I need to have purpose in my life! (In fact I think I'll write another post about this with some pictures at a later date during NaComLeavMo.) I also had a wonderful time bouldering in Fontainbleau this year despite some less than great weather I had a blast with some really good friends. I've also had some really great holidays sailing in Greece (maybe I'll get my Mum to scan in some photos for me to post), backpacking and sea kayaking in British Columbia (again maybe in another post I'll go in to more details.)
As for where I'd like to go again that's tricky, I'd love to visit the northern parts of the USA, I love reading Knitting Iris because the photos she posts of the countryside surrounding her are so beautiful. I think I'd also like to go to Egypt but only if no one else was allowed! I'm not too fond of lots of the touristy options, I enjoy my solitude too much, but I am blissfully content in the UK, I really don't have much of a wanderlust.

What would you like to teach and what age group?
I'm three weeks away from qualifying as a secondary science teacher, secondary school in the UK is for kids age 11-18. Officially I am a Biology specialist, however in practise I'll teach Chemistry and Physics as well until age 16, only specialising for A-Levels (16-18).

Can you tell where a British person is from by their accent?
(And no it's not a dumb question!) To a certain extent yes, I sound very vaguely northern. There are some people who are very clearly identifiable as from a certain city, or area, others like me just sound Northern or southern. You can pick out a Geordie, or a Scots person, or most Welsh people (I say most as one of my friends is Welsh and doesn't have the accent!), Yorkshire is also quite obvious as are some London accents. As you can tell it's quite complicated, a bit like many things on this wonderful little island!

Anymore questions?

Questions???

I'm having a bit of a blogging blank. My life is pretty dull right now. I'm in university for the holiday week and it is meaning that i have quite a bit of free time but not very much excitement. All my friends are busy doing university exams so really don't have the time to be out doing exciting stuff!
Anyway in the spirit of trying to keep this place fresh for all my new visitors I felt I should write a post, this will however require a bit of work on your part! I'm probably very guilty of leaving out key details when I write posts and forgetting that you guys don't know me in real life, so do you have any questions, anything whatsoever?

In the spirit of openness I'll answer anything,



as long as it doesn't involve giving away my bank account or credit card details!

Come back tomorrow for some answers.