Stupidly busy

Recently life has been something of a whirlwind and I'm only just catching up with it all.

Last month:

I started a new job
I didn't go to Switzerland because of said job
and I turned 23

Last week:

was spent in the Scottish Highlands - walking, knitting and eating lots of tasty food with some of the loveliest people I know. It was the most amazing, and much needed, week off.

Lovely crafty weekend

Check out my lovely new cushion cover, made yesterday with some Amy Butler fabric that I had stashed away.

I quite enjoyed the process of piecing the fabrics together. I didn't let myself deliberate too much over what went where, otherwise it would have taken weeks! The back is a little busy...

Today I made some fairy cakes for my Aunt's birthday - Happy Birthday AJ! The cakes have splodges of black cherry jam in the middle, yum yum. Making the little cocktail stick flags was quite fun, I'm pretty pleased how they turned out.

Brownie Traditions

I really enjoy being a Brownie leader.

Obviously it is highly important every activity is properly risk assessed - this particular risk assessment was pretty tasty.

Finally finished

Having spent four days travelling on trains last week I got a fair amount of knitting done. I took an old unfinished project with me and now it is finished. Excellent.

I think it looks rather good, apart from being one stitch out on one part of the pattern on the left hand side (middle photo). This has happened to me twice now, but the first Ishbel I made doesn't have this mistake. It can most likely be put down to my inability to read things properly.

I used scrumptious 4ply in Oyster on 4mm needles, it's beautifully soft and has a lovely sheen. This was supposed to be for my Grandma, but I'm not sure I can give it away! It's lovely.

Procrastination

I could win awards for my ability to procrastinate. I think it must be innate. I couldn't stop the urge to knit today, so every half an hour I had to take a break from reading and knit a couple of rows. It's nice to have a reward every now and then, and in turn my Skylark cardy is coming along quite nicely!

So whilst today has been quite productive, I'm still yet to plan tomorrow's revision. Instead I'm looking through the photos I've take in recent weeks.

This cake plonked on my dusty bedside table was delicious. I didn't follow the recipe to the letter just added and substituted what I found in the kitchen. The icing was lovely but the recipe made vast quantities. A little dollop was all I needed. 

I've been going on lots of coastal walks recently as the weather has been pretty good. The photo above is of Tynemouth Pier lighthouse. I love the colour of the North Sea this time of year, it's lovely to walk along and hear the rumbly splashes of the waves.

Lovely buttons

Time seems to pass me by

The past few weeks have been spent;

cycling away anxiety and taking in the views;

attempting to untangle sock yarn;

volunteering in lovely surroundings;

and painting my room, a beautiful shade of french grey.

I really enjoyed the process of re-decorating and it's lovely to be able to display some of my creations on the wall.

Next week brings two three(!!) incredibly different and difficult interviews on two consecutive days. Yuck. Bring on the revision! Long division and microbial expression systems here I come...