Spring break!

So the time is upon us at last! That time of year which used to be called Easter Hols and is now dubbed Spring break by the Educational Authorities, they who must be obeyed. I don’t care what it’s called, I just know that I have two weeks off from the educating of young minds (whether they want it or not!) – hurray! Mind you it’s been full on so far, I’ve had my haircut, a slightly different cut which parts more to the side than before and a soft side fringe. It really needed it, I’ve always had fine hair, but there’s always been lots of it. Since I started on the Warfarin I’ve noticed that my hair is a little thinner on the top – not quite the crown, but more towards the front and it made me self conscious, so now my hair parting is a little more on the side and covers it. Yes ladies, I have a girlie comb-over! The Warfarin’s also made my nails really soft and brittle, so I’ve been taking calcium tablets to strengthen them again. I’ve had my friend, her partner and her adorable daughters over for a visit. I’ve been to our local S&B meeting in which we totally ripped the piss out of the knitting magazines which we’d all brought in to swap. Someone bought in the Son of Stitch n Bitch to give away, but to be honest, looking through the patterns, I don’t know any male who would have been happy to wear any of the knits in there. Am I alone in looking through a magazine and feeling lucky if I find one pattern in there that I want to knit? This is why I stopped buying magazines. And since the advent of Ravelry, you can find so many wonderful free patterns out there, I have no need to. I taught a friend to crochet and I took my Baroque and see how much more I’ve done? That’s nearly two whole arms now! Don’t worry, there won’t be any more! I do have to do the front panels though, because no matter how rose-tinted my spectacles are, I know that I’m not that skinny at the moment! *lol* I might even get it finished in time to wear over the summer! And then what? Hmmm, what to knit/crochet next? Better check the Ravelry queue!

Look, I finished my cardigan recon! I’m quite pleased with it, it looks completely different! I used the crochet corkscrew technique as my inspiration and after cutting of the unflattering ribbing and the ugly ribbed collar, I used a crochet hook in approximately the right gauge to crochet along the edge of where I’d cut. I did this once in sc to secure it, then in dc, then again in dc in another colour.

Each time I crocheted along I increased to give me that ruffly look, so the first time was just a single stitch in each stitch, the next row I did two stitches in each stitch, then the last row I did two in each stitch again. It took forever but I think it was worth it.

I did a row of sc in each colour on the pockets and on the left pocket I added a jaunty little crocheted flower.

I like how curly the ruffles are. I’m now checking through my knitwear to see if there are any other unloved garments there that are likely candidates for the old cut‘n’shut treatment!

Did I tell you that I had my eyes tested recently and my prescription’s changed a little, so I needed some new specs? No? Well I don’t need glasses all the time but I do need them for the pc and driving (I’m long sighted), and I lost my driving sunglasses recently so I thought I’d check my prescription before I got some new ones. And I also wanted to try out buying my glasses online which I’ve heard is soooo much cheaper than buying from the opticians. I don’t really know anyone that’s done it, but I’ve seen articles in magazines and online so I thought I’d be a trail blazer and give it a go. So armed with my prescription I went a hunting. I have quite a small narrow face and while I kinda know what suits me, I do like to try specs on for fit, because if they’re too wide, I look ridiculous. But I tried out a few of these virtual mirror type of applications and I found one or two sites that gave really detailed measurements of the frames, so I grabbed an old pair of mine and matched the dimensions, and found a couple that I liked. This pair cost me the whopping sum of £15 and have dark red frames. The other pair (which are in the car already sorry) were black decorative acrylic frames with a black tint to use for sunglasses and cost me the princely sum of £39! And they’re both lovely and at that price I could probably afford to have a pair in each room! Sometimes taking a risk is soo worth it!

A week or two ago, the college I teach at had a staff training day with what they laughing called a Learning Fair (sadly no fun involved though, despite the jocular name) and lots of ‘educational’ lectures. The Learning fair consisted of lots of stalls from teachers unions, Human Resources, and various support departments within the college. Boooring! Most of us signed in (gotta make sure you get paid!) and then whizzed round the fair collecting all the freebees. This was one such freebee. A very plain black bag with long shoulder straps which is big enough to get an A4 folder in. Now the size was perfect but I was less than thrilled about the advertising blurb on the side.

One choppedy chop later and I had a piece of white felt cut out which covered that motif nicely, thank you very much!

Then I crocheted a black flower from some regular black acrylic yarn using SkaMamas pattern for a crochet picot flower and sewed it all together. Tada! Much better! I’ll try to get a better picture of it, the background’s a bit dark to see the bag properly. It was late. It was dark. I was tired and excited at finishing it!

And while M spent yesterday travelling up to Manchester to see his footie team play, I spent the day shopping with my Mum, then came back to have a peaceful evening with a glass of wine, playing Mario Galaxy and chomping on Bourneville Orange! (Yummy). Today has also been productive; I’ve been out to lunch with the girls and then I’ve completed an assignment! That feels so good! While I’ve been doing teaching practice the assignments have kind of been put to one side. M’s back at work tomorrow so I’ll get the place to myself for a few hours and hopefully I can get some more work done tomorrow. I need to get enough to to be able to go to London to see Graham Norton in The Birdcage without guilt! I wonder if they’ll let me take piccies? Have a good week folks!