about me

I love on-line personality tests. I waste vast amounts of time on IQ tests, "which city should you live in?" tests (San Francisco), "which Grey's Anatomy character are you?" tests (McSteamy & Yang) and any other relatively interesting (and free) tests. If it's a questionnaire, I'll fill it in! This is my guilty pleasure. I do not live my life by the results, I even enjoy when they get it wrong. Which to be honest is more times than not.

So naturally, when I stumbled upon a link (on Laura's Blog) to yet another of these personality tests, I of course had to see what this one was about. In my considerable experience, the results are never anything to write home about. 

This one's different though, it's better than most.

Your view on yourself:

You are intelligent, honest and sweet. THANK YOU You are friendly to everybody ...NOT and don't like conflict MEH. Because you're so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you. TRUE.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for: 

THIS WAS INACCURATE AND NOT APPLICABLE.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship. AFTER A FEW HOURS CHATTING, I KNEW I WANTED TO BE WITH S AND WITHIN THE FIRST MONTH, I KNEW I WANTED TO SPEND FOREVER WITH HIM!

The seriousness of your love:

You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like.   TOO TRUE! THIS INCLUDES FRIENDSHIPS. 

If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love. DONE.

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. - YES, YES, YES! You want to study hard and learn as much as you can. EERILY TRUE.

The right job for you:

You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. - MY LIFE IS CHANGING DIRECTION FOR THIS VERY REASON. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:

You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed - THIS IS SO TRUE IT SENT CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE! Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous. -I'M STILL WORKING ON THIS ONE.

What are you most afraid of:

You are afraid of things that you cannot control. STOP WITH THE CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE ALREADY! Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel. TRUE.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve. I BET YOU SAY THAT TO ALL THE GIRLS.


coincidentally, that was my 100th post. how apt that it's all about me!

last Sunday i...

    ...walked through wheat fields.

And so far today, I've sewn 

a little zippered pouch (using one of many useful tutorials on the interweb). 

There are a number of tweaks to be made. There are also zips to buy before said tweaks can be made; which means the final product won't be ready for a while yet. 

I bought 6 yards of the outer fabric for $1/yard 3 years ago, and I am still using it for mock-ups; that's what I call a good buy. I don't have much left so I'll be on the lookout for something to replace it in a short while.  

It seems my work schedule has changed. I read research papers and make notes in the day then write and run my programs late at night. I dunno if this is the best way but it seems to be working for me. Unfortunately I have some mornings like today where I can't face reading, so it's nice to be able to whip something up and quickly. It's a boost and gives me a mini sense of accomplishment, even if this is not the time to add notches to my craft board.

another year, another birthday

The day was planned by S and as is typical of him, it went like clockwork. I woke up in a funk - my thesis weighing heavy on my mind but I banished the thought, choosing instead to thoroughly enjoy the day. Usually, I insist on opening at least a few cards at the stroke of midnight, before I go to sleep, but showed a lot of restraint this year, I must be maturing.

The weather forecast was bleagh - not terribly inspiring for a day out and I considered staying home to get work done but at the end of the day, I was glad S twisted my arm into going out.

My big day began at Harewood House

where we spent a while exploring the beautifully manicured gardens and grounds. 

I particularly enjoyed the bird garden,

and countless beautiful flowers all over the place

After seeing all I cared to (we're saving some things to discover on our next visit), S found us a little patch of grass on which to picnic. Then I, feeling cheeky (and because it was my special day and why not?), told the dude in the ice-cream shack that it was my birthday and so got an extra scoop of vanilla (it's always vanilla) with flake! 

After lunch, S and I headed inside for a tour of the house (sorry, photography not allowed). As usual it was nice to see how things were done way back when. 

We left Harewood just after 3 o'clock and the next stop was the "pick your own" farm on the way home.

We weren't so lucky to escape the rain and got drizzled on as we picked: tayberries, blackcurrants, raspberries, redcurrants, gooseberries and strawberries. 

Back in town, we called by the bank to pay in birthday monies (henceforth known as The Knit Nation Fund) and a quick stop for some Laura Ashley twee on sale. I am not to be blamed for this lapse, I spent last weekend sipping tea from dainty little teacups while eating sandwiches off beautiful china and flicking through many, many, many issues of House and Garden!

As a treat to myself I splashed out on:

{Amy Butler fabric}

{a needle gauge}

and

                                  {a Norwegian knitting thimble}

Among the many texts and phone calls (I had the birthday song sang to me first by my niece and nephew  then again by my friend's kids! both times I was tickled silly.) was one call I didn't see coming. My best friend from high school, whom I hadn't seen or spoken to since our trip to Amsterdam in 2004, called to wish me a happy birthday! We'd drifted apart due to age (and discovering very different interests) and migrating (me to North America and she to Africa) but we're both back here now and have plans to see each other either this weekend or next.

And now, it's back to the grindstone. 

monks' trod

Last weekend was spent out west again. Mid-Wales this time. We visited extended family and also took part in the annual Monks' Trod. Well, one of us did. I don't recall why, but we missed this event last year.

It's almost two years since we saw all the cousins and uncles and aunts. The last time we were all together, S and I were newly-weds and had just moved back from Toronto. The whole family was sat in the top kitchen of the 400 year old house, having sandwiches, tea and cakes as our wedding photos were passed around. For various reasons we couldn't have as many family members as we would have liked at our wedding, so it was lovely to share memories of the day with them.

A fair few changes had been made to the house since our last visit but the views remain as stunning as ever. The front of the house looked out on this

Back to the Monks' Trod. This year, S and his cousins walked the full 25 miles while I stayed home knitting Selbu Modern - my first colourwork project.

Being a Fair Isle neophyte, I was intimidated by the prospect of this beret (so much so, I considered swatching!) but I reminded myself that, "it's only knitting" then jumped in feet first! and loved every step of the journey. 

There are so many elements that make this beret special. For instance, there's the simplicity of it - well written patterns are incredibly simple to follow - the decreases were well thought out and though I couldn't memorise the chart, I came up with a code to move things along. 

The strands were initially tricky to handle, I tried holding the yarns in the English + Continental way (i.e. one in the left hand and t'other in the right) but gave up after a few stitches, deciding to hold both yarns in the Continental way (my usual), this worked for me but every few rows the yarns would twist around each other and so I found myself wishing for one of these:

a yarn-separator-thingy which I couldn't get until today. On use, I found it changed my gauge (i'm guessing switching to this 5/6th of the way through wasn't too bright) so I ditched it and carried on as I was but this little gadget works so I'll return to it in future. I'm also on the look out for other designs - maybe something metal? I think I've seen those around.

Of course no trip to Wales is complete without the purchase of love spoons. Perhaps because the last trip was so recent, or maybe because we felt we've been haemorrhaging money but for whatever reason we settled on dinky ones this time

 but aren't they oh, so perfectly formed?

thruscross

 Last Saturday S and I walked around the Thruscross Reservoir. It was my kind of summer's day; neither too sunny nor too hot. The water in this reservoir sits on the remains of a derelict village (West End)  and with all the talk about water shortages and hosepipe bans, investigating one of our local reservoirs seemed a good way to spend an afternoon.

Just off the A59 at Blubberhouses, we walked through these woods

in which we saw common blue damselflies, a deer, sheep, rabbits and the teeniest baby frogs ever:

there were many of them and none was larger than S' thumbnail - so cute!

Another half hour and a clamber up some stairs brought us to

Spectacular views over the Washburn Valley.

We ran out of drinking water half-way around the reservoir. This probably wouldn't have been so bad had we not had the constant trickle of the River Washburn accompanying us all the way. 

Back on the A59, S walked to a nearby pub to fill our bottles with lemonade and water. Then we both sat on the tarmac of the car park and drank our fill while chatting about cricket(?!?) and going over photos taken on the walk before catching the last bus home.

Today, there's some excitement over the garden fence,

I don't know what it is but I doubt it's the Yorkshire Air Ambulance as their helicopters are yellow. 

Whatever the cause of the ruckus I hope no one was hurt. No doubt I'll find out soon enough - just another perk of living in a town where people stop to chat to their neighbours.

p.s. it was a royal!

two woollen mills

One good thing about having a generally acknowledged addiction is that your nearest and dearest take heed and sometimes (if you're lucky) go out of their way to feed this addiction. And so it was that on a day I was feeling not too bad we ventured out to two woollen mills; Tregwynt and Solva. Both were relatively interesting as I had not seen a working woollen mill since picking up sticks again. 

In my opinion, Tregwynt Mill shop lost points for not selling a single ball, skein, nor hank of hand-knitting yarn! They lost more points for not providing for their not-so-flush customers, and though I could have pocketed a woven coin purse for under £25, I would much prefer to have walked out with a blanket, pair of clogs or some other useful item that I liked but don't need.

The Solva Mill Shop fared a little better - they carry locally spun alpaca yarn as well as bedspreads, hats, toys and many more well priced items.

Both mills were interesting and hopefully the collage gives a feel of my experience.

{all pictures are from Tregwynt mill except the bottom left which is of the wheel at Solva}

bottles and glass

I was up ridiculously early (4:58) this morning. Lots of work to do and when I have work to do my mind/body just won't switch off properly! 
Then 8:30 rolled around and SammyB came to collect me for our day out at the antique fair. This was very exciting even though I knew I couldn't justify buying anything. The beauty of these fairs is that there's always something in one's price range. 

I love/hate that. 

I also hate how good things look - at least until you're home with your junk and able to scrutinise the lot under the harsh light of day.

                                {my junk}

Hanging out with Sammy and her kiddos was so much fun - it may have taken a while but the little munchkins warmed to me eventually and we had a blast! I keep threatening to meet with them but life gets in the way and so it was great to spend time with El & Bean today. I was especially touched when Little El asked mama if I could come home with them today. And I would have too but my master's thesis just isn't writing itself so I've had to be very disciplined and take a rain check.

The Elsecar antique bottles and glass fair was a pleasant surprise. Fortunately, I was in good hands with Sammy and didn't go overboard (but I exceeded my £5 limit). 

I also got a glimpse into the way things were.

                     {beer bottles on Mariane's Stall}

                         {good design is timeless}

                                   {inhalers}

And there were numerous other interesting bits and bobs but my favourite by a long shot were the cobalt poison bottles. 

It's back to work now. 

I hope you're having a good weekend.

p.s. this is a very jumbled up post. please see the first sentence.

way out west

We're back from our trip way out west and I am ever so pleased to be home again. I spent the week sneezing, coughing, up all night, tired & grumpy in the day, feeling poorly, miserable and sorry for myself. 

I had planned to rest, get some work done, knit, walk miles and draft knitting & sewing patterns. But no joy, talk about best laid plans.

What rankles is that I could just as easily have stayed home and felt shite at no cost but instead was tantalized by gorgeous weather and a sea that I could not enjoy. 

There was one day in which my medication kicked in and I was able to go sight seeing. And Boy! did I pack it all into this day. 

         {looking across Pwllgwaelod from Dinas Head}

the warning signs in these parts were graphic and grim:

do not adjust your sets, the sign is right way up.

St Davids Cathedral has got to be the most prettily situated cathedral I have ever seen.

                                     {St. Davids Cathedral}

And Finally, no trip to Wales is complete without an addition to my collection of love spoons. 

I love that this is part of S' heritage and the history behind the giving of these intricate, hand-carved spoons tickles my heart. 

I fell in love with (and began collecting) these spoons when I was introduced to S' relatives in mid-Wales. Then  the collection grew with the ones we received as wedding presents. Above are the most recent additions. 

Once our collection is complete, I'm thinking of housing them in some sort of shadow box which will include the meaning of each symbol and name of person or place we obtained each spoon from.