Steampunk Ragamuffin!!

Well, that's my name for it anyway! The skirt is finished. I took it up from the waist, then sewed some vintage lace around the diagonal slash in the middle, and around the asymmetrical hemline. I used a scrap of the material to make a round raggy rosette which I've sewed on with a caramel coloured vintage button. It falls to about knee length now and I'm thinking of wearing it with some lacy or fishnet type tights and some big boots.

I haven't got very much further with my knitting this week I'm ashamed to say. I've been revising for a grammar test which is tomorrow. I've been stressing about it a little because I know grammar is my weak point anyway, and after my stroke, my memory is appalling. I finally made the decision to talk to my tutor about it, because I don't want to fail the test and have to explain, because that will feel like I'm making excuses. I didn't really want to mention it, but I know my memory is worse when I'm stressed and I'm very stressed at the moment. I do feel a little better after talking to her, but I still feel like I'm admitting that I can't keep up with the work. 

Apart from that, I've received two gifts through the post this week. The first was an angel parcel from Addicted2Knitting for an MIA OWS 38 swap parcel over on Craftster. What a sweetie, she sent me not one, but two books from my wish list and ordered them straight from Amazon UK so they would arrive to me quickly! I can't wait to get stuck into these fantastic books! There's so many projects I'd like to do!

The second surprise was a Blog competition giveaway by Ceci from Intarsia who sent me this lovely merino variegated sock yarn and a beautiful set of delicate stitch markers from Ana at Entrelac.

Other news this week? I've been doing camera obscura with students. Did you know that the Dutch artist Vermeer (the creator of Girl with a Pearl Earring) is believed to have used camera obscura to create some of his art work? The principle of Camera Obscura is that a tiny hole will project an upside down image into a darkened room.Using this principle, you can create a pinhole camera (a light tight box with a piece of photo paper in, and a pinhole to let the light through.)You open the pinhole to expose the paper, and seal it again once the paper has been exposed for a good time (time depends on how sunny the day is). You develop the paper to get a negative, then expose the negative picture on top of photo paper to get a positive.

Sorry about the rubbish quality pictures; the originals are at college, I snapped a quick copy with my phones camera to show you.

Oh yes, I had my hair cut today!