Packing up Christmas, stash sorting and sock making

Another day of being effectively snowed in.  In fact, when I first looked at the weather report this morning, it claimed that the current temp was -7 degrees.  I found it a little hard to believe, but then again, I was inside under lots of clothes and blankets with the heaters firing up.  The snow is still lying around thickly (well for the little patch of the world that I could see out of my window).

Since I was skiving another day, I decided I should be pro-active around my flat.  I took down the Christmas tree (only a day late!) and it was sad in a way to be packing away everything that I had spent so much time making, but I'll be able to dig them out for this year's Christmas too.  And maybe make some more if I have the time.  So here they are, tucked away for now:

I had a bit of a desperately needed clean of my flat, unpacking my suitcase properly (only took two shameful days!) and did some putting away.  It's still a tip, and I never got round to vacuuming like I wanted, but ooohhhh well, it's nearly the weekend, and that means a little more time for these things.  I also had a good sort out of my yarn stash.  It's almost a little shameful to see what I have accumulated in just a few months.

pre-sort

mid-sort

the wool I brought on Monday in the sale, which I'm thinking of (eventually) making a lace shawl with

I also made a bit of an effort with my dinner tonight.  I was going to make some soup, roasting some sweet potato and butternut squash.  But as it was roasting, I had a change of heart, and I went for shoving it in some pasta with some pancetta.  It was very tasty and un-soupy!

And my final activity of the day (wow, it's been a fairly lazy day!) was to make a start on my socks, the first of which looks a little like this:

I'm loving the colours of the wool, a bit brighter than I usually go for, but it's so pretty and I love the combo.  Really excited about them :)

Oh Christmas tree, oh christmas tree!

Yay, FINALLY got organised enough to do this:

 

 

 

 

(Sorry, not the best pics ever!  Bit out of focus, but you can get the idea!)

Still have a couple of decorations that I need to let dry and pop on the tree, and I'm still debating if I should make a star for the top, and if I should (decorate? and) use the snowflakes I made a while back with Mary.   I'll get it all finished eventually! I was so excited to finally get it up.  It really feels like Christmas is getting close now.  So seasons greetings everyone! 

I've almost used up both the balls of wool I brought yesterday, and I've discovered I'll need another one.  Bugger!  I only justified getting this wool (which is gorgeous and I lust after everytime I go to the wool shops) as I thought, although quite expensive, I'd only need the two.  Now costs have just gone up by 50%!  But I don't really mind as it is gorgeous, so pretty and vibrant, I'm fairly sure that it will be adequately loved by the eventual recipient and I'm so happy with how it's worked up so far. (I'll put up pictures after the intended has recieved it.) Ohhh dear.  Seems like my wool addiction has got the better of me... again!

And thank goodness it's Friday.  I'm just so ready to get this week out of the way.  I'm much, much better now, just mainly the sinus headaches that are bugging me now.  I've got quite a busy weekend ahead.  I really, really need to tidy my flat - vacuum, recycling (for some reason, when I put my recycling out, it doesn't get picked up, so I end up storing it up and then taking it to the local supermarket), tidy away the crafting stuff (ready to make more decorations next year.  Yipee!).  I also have two shifts at work, which I really am grateful about, because my MOT is due in the next couple of weeks, so any money will be coming in handy!  I'm just hoping I won't be feeling to lousy or headachy because that would just make for very long, horrid shifts.  And finally, one of my old uni friends is coming to visit us in Bristol, so Mary has arranged for a mulled wine and mince pie evening at hers tomorrow night.  Just a bit annoyed that it clashes with work - why can't I actually have it all?  So I'll make a mad dash from work and probably be about an hour and a half late!  Just hope I have the energy for all this, the way I've felt this week makes me feel a little worried about this.  But I'm determined to give it a go!

Progress is being made

Not a completely wasted day for a change.  I forced myself into a really early bedtime last night, in bed just after 11, which is hours earlier than I've been managing.  Actually manage to get a good night sleep, better than the last week or so, but still not perfect.  I was awake fairly early this morning, but still didn't manage to get on the go till lunchtime.  I'm still getting nasty, sinusy headaches.  This morning I did a bunch of catching up on emails that I've been neglecting and trying to organise myself.  I headed into the hospital just after lunch, but I never got as far as the wards.  My head was just so fuzzy and not in concentrating mode.  I didn't think that I would make much sense over the course of an hour long clerking.  So I did some research that I've been meaning to do for the last week whilst I was off, and I got a new swipe card, something else that I've been meaning to do for a while.  I was a bit annoyed at myself for not having clerked, but I do feel that I was pro-active about other stuff, and this was a huge improvement on the last few days.  So, only a small "yay!".

I also got paid today.  Not much, as it was only one shift's worth, but enough to justify giving myself a treat, so I went shopping for my Christmas tree, and did grocery shopping, hopefully enough to see me through to Christmas holidays, and got some more wool (lalala!) for a special pressie for someone special.  And I stupidly decided to treat myself to a trip to the cinema.  Boy, did I regret this.  I picked Orson Welles and Me, and it was the closest I've ever come to walking out on the cinema.  I nipped to the loo and totally didn't feel like I was missing out!  I only stayed because I thought that since I spent the money, I should stick it out.  Mmmm.... Zac Efron may look pretty to some, but I really didn't rate his acting!  The story was slow and didn't really hold my attention.  Well, that'll teach me!

So, tomorrow's course of action - clerk!!!  (Mary has found me someone who she says is pretty good.)  Tutorial in the afternoon, then all things Christmasy in the evening - decorating my tree and my cake.  :)  Can't wait!  Glad to be finally getting round to it! 

Saturday musings

Hi!  (Hi Sam, now that I know you're reading this!)   So, today was a more typical sort of Saturday.  It started very lazy, as I was up reading till nearly 3.30am (when did it get so late?).  Didn't get out of bed till nearly 12 this morning.  Oh well.... win some, loose some.  I never get round to early nights.  This morning, once eventually up, I started to make some progress on my snowflakes - so weird to be crocheting.  The Just Soya wool is interesting to work with, it's quite soft, but the individual threads seem to seperate quite a lot, which is frustrating as I have to pay that slight bit more attention.  Don't think it's the best wool to be using, but the overall effect is okay.  I think I like the colour best, it's such a brilliant, pure white, that lives up to it's name "coconut"!

Four snowflakes so far, not sure how many the wool will allow.  Next to them, you can see my most ambitious project - my zig-zag strippy crochet blanket that I made about three years ago.  I really shouldn't be allowed to get bored!  It's about double bed sized - I just carried on going until spring got too hot to allow me to work under it.  You can also see to the left, my huge box of wool, currently over flowing!

Then it was off to work, thrill of thrills.  It wasn't too bad, again it was one of my less favourite wards, but it was at least a better shift than last weekend.  It was short staffed, but it was a smaller ward - only 20 patients so that helps.  Still felt like I perhaps didn't really have time to do everything.  Then one of the nurses had the cheek to get annoyed with me, when she tried to ask me to do something (menial as always, they always palm off the menial stuff on to Bank HCAs) when I tried to point out to her that I was already in the middle of doing something for one of the other nurses, when the third nurse had told me about two things she wanted me to do.  I mean, come on!  I've only got one pair of hands, and I feel like I'm letting down the patients enough as it is, without adding even more workload!

Then I had a very pleasant surprise when I got home - my SamSam phoned me.  Had a lovely catch up and chat.  Twas nice to have the company!  I'm really going to hold you to that Choc Orange pudding fest, yu-ummm-my!

Progress is being made on Chistmas decorations.  Since I'm still lacking a tree, I've been hanging most of my completed decorations up on my mobile - which is a present from my parents when they had visited family back in Zimbabwe a few years ago.  And a mini-Stieff bear that my mom gave me as a good luck pressie for my exams a few years back.  I think I'm going to get the tree tomorrow.  I'm too excited to put it off any longer!  Still have loads of decorations that I want to make, but at least they'll have somewhere to hang when they're ready!

I'm quite proud of this one - I sat and glued on loads of green seed beads on their side.  Great texture effect.

My growing collection, which now includes a couple of the polystyrene balls.

The mess that is my dining table, a.k.a. my craft table.  This pretty much sums up my life - the bright yellow paper is part of my uni timetable, there's lots of random experimentation remnants (e.g. the paper painted red), a nice smelly candle (winter berry, I think!) and part of my alcohol stash.





And finally, I've uploaded photos of the hat that I made for Mary.  She wanted a slouchy hat, and choose the pattern.  I got my lovely teddy to model again, because lying the hat down on a flat surface didn't allow for the full effect.  Only problem is that Teddy has a smaller head than Mary, so he looks a little drowned by it!

 

Glitter. glitter, everywhere glitter!

Yay, it's the weekend.  Booo!  It's the weekend.  This is my typical response to Friday nights.  It's nice to have the week over and done with, but the weekend also brings work.  Boohoo.  But on a more positive note, work gives me money, which helps with the bills, and leftovers for buying new wool/enjoying myself!  Oh well... trying to look at the silver lining!

Today was more recovering.  I've definitely got over the exhausted achy phase, but for some unknown, but very annoying reason, the sore throat has come back with a vengence.  Yuk! 

I finished Mary's hat, haven't got round to uploading photos of it.  But I did get a chance to give it to her, and she loves it.  She says it's her new fave hat.  This is always such a relief.  When I'm making things, I always end up thinking about the things the intended person won't like about it, or concentrating on the bad things/mistakes, that I always feel very encouraged when I here positive reviews.  So, thanks Mary, very glad indeed that you like it!

I also got round to making some more Christmas decorations today, both at home and at Mary's.  I finally started adding more decoration to my polystyrene balls, I give up trying to paint them anymore!  They've come out quite nicely, so am eager to make more progress.  Again, haven't taken/uploaded photos yet, but I will get round to it at some point over the weekend.   Still haven't got a tree, having a big debate about what sort of tree to get and how much money I am prepared to spend/can afford to spend.  Part of me really likes the idea of a real tree, but it's a little more hassle, getting it, disposing of it.  And then there's living trees, I think my future is too indetermined for this, and they are much more expensive.  Then there's fake trees.  At this rate, this is the most likely option, but decent "bushy" ones are quite expensive.  Oh man!  Such debates!

This evening, I picked up Mary and we went to Hobbycraft to pick up some bits she wanted.  I kind of inspired her to have a go at homemade decorations.  She has gone down a completely different path to me, choosing to use pinecones (something that hadn't even crossed my mind, despite it being somewhat obvious!!).  She has decided to use a combination of silver spray paint, and various colours of glitter paint.  So she invited me round to do basically what we had planned for last Sunday and did less successfully, we had takeaway (Chinese this time, my fave takeaway, so yummy!) and made decorations.  No mulled wine this time... which was probably just as well!  It was really good fun, and as always interesting to see how different people interpret the things they have in front of them and come up with completely different concepts.  Mary had got a whole bunch of pinecones online, so she's going to let me have some... once they're dry.

And that's about it.  I'm home now, watching CSI that I Sky plused whilst out.  Or rather, CSI is watching me type my blog.  Good thing I can rewind it!  My next craft is something for me for a change, something that hopefully won't take long, then I can get back to Christmas pressies, since I've only made one present so far.  I'm going to crochet (fancied a change! and also the effect I want is better in crochet) a snowflake garland for my tree, in this very white wool I found in the wool shop earlier this week.  It is derived from soy fibres, so I'm quite curious to see how it is to work with.  I'll let you know. 

Right, full attention to CSI now!  Have a good weekend everyone.

This is what weekends are for

Ahhh, I just love Sundays, ones that I don't have to work that is!  And today was the perfect example of that.  Nice lazy lie in, then laze in bed until I started to feel guilty about being such a sloth!  My landlord and his wife popped in, so I had a bit of a catch up with them, they've just got back from a holiday in Dubai, visiting their daughter.  And now they're getting ready to go on a month long cruise.  Ahhh, nice to see where my rent cheque is going!  They're such sweeties and I do so enjoy chatting with them!

Today was another one of those can't be bothered to do much on account of the crappy, crappy weather.  So slouched around the house for most of the morning and afternoon.  I finished Connor's sweater, so kindly modelled by my teddy bear!

Then had a little tidy up and whilst giving the polystyrene yet another coat of paint, I started thinking about how Mary sounded quite enthused about my homemade attempts at Christmas decorations.  So I thought I'd invite her round for mulled wine (I love this aspect of winter nights, a nice warm cup of mulled wine to snuggle up with), takeaway and decoration making.  I got the flat looking fairly tidy and got everything ready on my table to make the decorations.

We managed to drink copious amounts of wine (and I for one certainly felt a little tipsy!) and had a lovely Indian takeaway from this great little vegetarian deli just down the road.  Then we never really got round to making stuff.  We watched a bit of telly, and chatted a bit.  And then made snowflakes.  We were mainly experimenting with different patterns, but I think I will have to think of some way to use them.  I think that most of them will be too big to look proportional on the tree, but I'm pretty happy with the results.  May try get some nice coloured paper and adapt some of the designs for the tree.

 

And that was about it.  Lovely, relaxed, weekend day.  And now it's time to get ready for the new week.  Back to the boring routine!  And on that note, need to get on with washing hair and getting ready for the week.  Night night, y'all!

Doing my 10,000 steps

I had a surprisingly busy, and somewhat energetic day.  I walked in to town today, as I was meeting Mary halfway in, there wasn't any point in catching a bus.  Approximate step count to walk to town = 5000 (my iPod has a pedometer, in case you were wondering how I know this).  Had such a lovely morning wondering round the shops with Mary, and chatting and catching up.  I know it's not been that long since I went to the cat show with her, but it felt like we had so much to talk about!  This is what good friends are all about, being able to talk and talk and talk, and then be comfortable with silences when they do happen.  We were mainly looking at things for Mary, and we weren't that successful in the end, but we did come across some very interesting styles of clothing - when did fashion become so hideous?  It was a fairly girly morning all-in-all, which is a bit strange, as I don't think either Mary or I are particularly girly girls!  Thanks Mary for being a fantastic friend, who I love very dearly!  So I'm thinking walking around the shops for about two and a half/three hours, at least 500 steps.

Then I had an opthalmology revision session.  Opthalmology is one of those little specialities that we do for about a week in the third year, so come round to the fifth year, it's a very distant memory!  So our unit co-ordinator is trying to organise some revision sessions so we can "recall" what we learnt, or at the very least be told what we should remember.  It was a fairly useful thing, but I had revised it a little for finals last year, so I wasn't as rusty as some of the others, but I certainly wasn't slick.  After the lecture, we had a little practical session on using an opthalmascope to look into eyes, and at the back (interesting fact for non-medics, this is the only place in the body when you can directly observe/see blood vessels and nerves/brain matter - the retina being an extension of the brain!  so this is pretty cool, and something that us medics get potentially excited about).  It's a hard skill to master.  And one that brings back bad memories for me - in the third year, when I did do opthalmology, we were looking in each others eyes, and someone found a serious abnormality in my eyes, which lead to about two years of various investigations, e.g. "next we have to do an MRI to rule out a space-occupying lesion" (medic-trying-not-to-scare-the-patient for brain tumour) and uncomfortable tests e.g. lumbar punctures (a massive needle being shoved in you back to get some of the fluid that surounds the brain and spinal sord) and medications (for which I needed regular blood tests and gave me horrid perma-pins and needles in my hands).  I had something called idiopathic intercranial hypertension, and I'm okay now.  So all in all, don't have fond memories of opthalmology.  But on a positive note, the doctor had a look today at my eyes, and they were fine.

And then, I walked home (approximate step count = 4500).  I wasn't originally going to walk home, I was going to catch the bus, reassured that I had already walked this distance today.  But there were a couple of things that I needed to do on the way home, so before I knew it, I was home and had, for once, completed over 10,000 steps!  I feel really proud of that, I usually a fairly lazy person.  It's also good to know that I can do it.  I don't think that I'll be doing it again in a hurry, but it's definitely something I want to try and do more often.  It's the closest thing that I get to exercise!

I haven't really done much in the way of Christmas decorations today.  I've given my polystyrene balls a couple of licks of paint, so they're now looking a little like this:

Still need to do several more layers.  I ignored what I read, and decided I didn't need primer, but I think I probably shouldn't have been so head strong.  It's taking ages to get a good solid colour on them!

I've been powering through with my knitting.  I've done the front, back and one sleeve of the sweater for Connor, so I should have it finished and ready to post by the end of the weekend.  It's coming along nice and fast.  Really need to start thinking about my next project.  There's one pattern that I really want to try, as it's soooo cute, but it would require a trip to the wool shop, as it really needs to be a solid colour, and all the odd balls that I have wouldn't be enough!  And I really do want to try and use up some of these balls.  So I will have to have a long hard think about it!  Either that or go and get a new pattern that would be ok with multi-colouredness.  Oh it's a tough life!

I am a weak human being...

I know I said that I wouldn't get anymore Christmas decoration craft stuff until I had used up the stuff I already had.  I realise that my actions today make me a weak person.  I know that I was only meant to be going to get some glue.  I know that this should not have taken me 2 hours at Hobbycraft, and cost me nearly £24.  Oh screw it, I had FUN!  And I'm really enjoying making these decorations and experimenting.  You'll get the idea when I mention that I've not even knitted a stitch yet today.  This is what I got today:

Also, again in my defence, I didn't buy any wool, or any knitting patterns, which is a big thing for me! 

So, my efforts today are:

The last one here was an idea that I got for my lecturer today.  She was wearing a necklace in this style of pearl beads threaded on ribbon.  I was mesmorised by it and kept staring at it!  It was so simple and elegant, and I thought it would make a lovely alternative to tinsel in my quest to make a homemade decorated Christmas tree.  This started as an idea to make a few things for my tree and have a little fun and a break from my knitting.  But it's taken on a mind of it's own.  I'm really enjoying it! 


I had a really fun tutorial today.  It was about ECGs, the last in a series of four being giving by some middle level doctors.  It was fun because we were doing various scenarios.  Case 1:  Dave goes.  Is stumped.  Lecturer says he can phone a friend.  He chooses me.  I answer flawlessly (Lecturer visibly impressed!) .  Case 2, after discussing a few points:  Hannah picked to answer.  She gets stuck.  Lecturer says:  "Alright then, you can phone a friend, but not Ashleigh".  Oooops!  Was I showing off too much?  Maybe a little.  But it was fun!  It also reassures me when I can demonstrate that I wasn't a complete loser and dounce that failed.  Later on, she kept on asking questions, and we came across one that no one could answer, so I had to ask if I was allowed to answer.  I know that this might sound a little vain, but it was a fairly relaxed and light-hearted atmosphere, and the other students are all pretty cool about me having failed, and I didn't get the impression that they minded!  And I don't always get it right.  I often just get used to blurting, or giving it a go.  They don't always remember that I get stuff wrong every now and then, they just think that I'm a fountain of knowledge.  I keep on getting approached about revision techniques and what I did last year.  It's flattering in a way.  I do try to tell it as it is though, and point out what I think were the mistakes that I made, so I give a balanced view of what happened.  I feel that I owe them at least that.

My arm is still hurting.  It looks a little like this, or maybe even a little worse!:

Right, back to my knitting.  Gonna try get a couple of rows done before bed, whilst I watch stuff I sky plused earlier.

Christmas decorations!

As I've mentioned in earlier blogs, over the last week or so, I've been accumulating random beads, card and ribbons with the intention of creating some Christmas decorations.  I didn't really have any idea of what I was going to do.  I had spotted some ideas in a hobbycraft (as in the shop) magazine, but didn't really like all of them, or want to do all of them.  My collection of oddments ended up looking a little like this:

So today, I decided that I should try make some progress on it.  I know that it's over a month till Christmas, so I shouldn't really be thinking of putting up a tree anytime soon... but there are several reasons I think it's justifiable to be thinking about making my Christmas decorations:
1) I live alone, so am responsible for no-one else's home asthetics!
2) I live alone, it's nice to have something to cheer me up, and what better than a colourful tree!
3) I live alone, so it's nice to have projects to work on to keep me occupied and not lonely
4) I live alone... have I flogged the "I live alone thing too much"?
5) It'll take me a while to make the decorations, so it's not like I'll be putting the tree up anytime soon
6) I won't actually be spending Christmas in my flat here in Bristol, I will be heading home to Derby.  So that means I miss about 3 or 4 days of the pre-Christmas period and some of the days after.  I need time to enjoy it!
7) Haven't got a tree yet, so will need to buy one before I can get too carried away....
Can anyone guess what I was thinking about whilst making my first attempts at decorations?  Speaking of which, here they are.  I've been making them very organically and just seeing where my hands lead me!  Any suggestions or ideas will be greatly received.

My swine flu jab is still giving me hassle.  Mainly just the local reaction.  I suppose that this is just my body mounting the necessary immune response.  But that doesn't mean I like the hot, red, tender lump on my arm, and the fact that my arm has been aching all day!  Grrr.  I've had the seasonal flu jab before, and it's not given me problems like this.  I was relieved when I was talking to some of the other Med Students today and they seemed to be having similar if not worse experiences.  I still say getting vaccinated is worth it, and I know that some of my friends don't really agree with the concept, I'm all for it!  It's for the greater good in my case, I'm around so many frail people that I wouldn't like the responsiblity of being a disease vector destroying my patients!  Also, worse case scenario, either in my capacity as a medical student or a nursing assistant, the NHS could be more heavily dependent on my services if swine flu really hits hard.  Just doing my bit, and in a selfish way, don't like being ill and missing things and feeling lousy.

Mid-week laze

I've been fairly naughty today. It's not that I feel a-motivated or couldn't be bothered. Just haven't been busy. Looking back, just going into hospital for one lecture is an utter wasted day. I kept on meaning to clerk, but put it off and put it off. And I got a return ticket for the bus today, as the weather was awful on the way in, thought that it would be awful during the walk back, so I didn't think I'd want to do it.

Brought some more crafting stuff today, in preparation for making tree decorations. Still have limited ideas of what I'm going to do, but I'm getting excited. Will definitely not buy anymore stuff, at least not until I've given it a go and seen how it's gone. Watch this space for if I ever get round to it.

I'm hoping to finish RoRo's cardigan tomorrow, I have a few rows of the second sleeve left and then it's just sewing it all together and doing the banding (i.e. the two bands that run up the front where the buttons and button holes will be). I've enjoyed it on the whole, but am beginning to fatigue of it. Glad to be almost done so I can move onto something new. This is why when people ask if I have plans to make something for myself, I generally say no. I know I'd get bored of it, and run out of steam and put it down and forget to pick it up again. Baby/child size stuff is great, I generally finish it in about a week, working on it full time, it's slightly longer now that I'm back at uni.

I have about three or four things that I have all the wool for and I know I want to do. Just don't know which one I'll pick next. Then there's a myriad of other little projects that I want to do at some point... not sure if I'll ever get round to it. No danger of running out of projects anytime soon! This is great when you live alone like I do. Ways to keep occupied rather than staring blankly at rubbish on tv is very good.

I should be going to a cat show at the weekend. My friend Mary is cat-obsessed and has always wanted to go. I'm fairly indifferent to the idea, but am excited to have something to look forward to, especially spending a day with my friends. It's in Birmingham, and I'm the designated driver person as Mary doesn't keep a car in Bristol. Not sure if I could be bothered with the drive, but I know it'll be a lovely day and that this will make up for it.

Anyhows, gonna get back to the knitting. Been working on this for about three weeks, it's time to finish!