Holidays

 

Firstly, thanks for the advice that was given re my camera - it is definitely an error with the card, so when I have a moment or two to think about it, I shall try some of the suggestions.

I am a bit miffed that my pictures of Zurich seem to be 'lost' but let's face it. with all the awful things that happen, it shouldn't even be on a list of disappointments...

Last week I was on Skye at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, the Gaelic college. This is the third year that I have gone up for a week's tuition and I have been filled with vim and vigour! We had a wonderful tutor for the week. Therefore I am forging ahead with my Gaelic studies and have applied for An Cùrsa Adhartais - according to the college, at the end of this two year distance learning course I should be fluent......I am hoping to add another language or two to my repertoire, so soon I'll be unstoppable in about 3 languages :0)

Number Guy had a great week while I was in class - I would like to think the fact that I was in class had nothing to do with it...anyway, he went to Applecross and I was more than a little jealous, since the day was marvelous and hence the views were also. He did make it up to me though - we went to Kinloch Lodge for dinner. It was marvelous. It was expensive. So we went only once ;0)

Of course, I cannot show you any pictures from Skye since I didn't have a working camera....but having bought a new card today, I decided to try it out. Without much to inspire me, I decided on a few garden pics - here is a a wee comparison of the yarn bought in Zurich our very first clematis.

And this is kind of how I would like our back garden to look - a profusion of tumbling flowers. At the moment we have a profusion of overgrown grass and weeds

Right, back to the grindstone - I've been LaTeXing the little bit of the assignment that I've done. I can do only so much work on the PC before I need a hard copy to be able to make sense of it all. For those of you not familiar with LaTeX it is a really useful document preparation tool, which I have mentioned previously. However, one has to type in all the formatting commands and then instruct the programme to build the document. Inevitably there are errors, so then one has to go through the work and painstakingly fix these before the file document can be built. As I am a new user, I have more errors than most. One it's done, though, a rather nice PDF is created which I can print and read.

But only once it's done....

Il est arrivé

 

Ulp.

Edit: I think I may have casued a little confusion with just the pic and no explanation - this is just the start of the course, I am just about to begin....

Confidence boost

 

So, I was sitting in class at uni tonight when one of the secretaries brought me a VIE - Very Important Envelope. In it was my marked Additional Support for Learning assignment that I sweated buckets over last year.

Ulp

Even though most folk didn't know what it was, since they hadn't done the module at the same time as me, I mentally prepared a 'face.' The kind that doesn't let anyone see you're gutted. Cos I fully expected to be.

I opened the envelope a smidgin, slid the mark sheet out just far enough. There it was. The mark.

And it was.....Satisfactory. Yep. You sweat blood and tears and at the end of the day there are two options - satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Hmm, not very....satisfactory.

However, I got some excellent feedback - both in term of the quality of the feedback and what it said about my work. I'm delighted, to say the least. I done good.Real good :0)

But one of the best bits of feedback was about the two appendices, which contained 'Excellent work.' The reason that I am so pleased about this is that while this particular section of the assignment is research-based and grounded in all of the right 'stuff' like the rest of it, it is real work that I have done as a teacher.

Maybe I'm not so bad at this after all :0) ;0)

Socks

 

Look, some nutter left their socks in my garden. Oh, it was me....oops.

There's been other strange goings-on. Napkins. Quite a few. With mitred corners. Honestly, I reckon life is far too short for this kind of carry on, but I just can't help myself.
On a more serious note, I'm trying to stop contributing to landfill so I reckon napkins are a better (and more stylish?)option than paper towel. But being green isn't that simple. What about the whole cotton production process. Definitely not green. Re-using would be good. So I bought what looked like a cotton/linen mix in a charity shop, reckoning on about 6 napkins worth. Only one problem. Managed to lose the darn thing on the way home.
How? No idea
In the meantime, when I am not sewing napkins, I'm frying my brain with my pedagogy research assignment. Kind of handicapped by the fact that absence from work means I can't collect all of my data. More handicapped by the fact that my assignment mojo isn't worth a hill of beans.
Ho hum. Off for a discussion about validity and reliability. What a hip happening life I lead!

I love Latex

 

It's true. And if you want to love it too,have a peek here.

But why do I like it so much? Because I'm fed up of Word messing up my text.
Sorry?
What was that? You're looking for the rubber section?
Can't help you, I'm afraid - this kind of LaTeX is the documentation kind. I can't help it if you were trawling the web looking for salacious content, can I ?

As I was saying, it really naffs me off when I'm writing an assignment and word processing packages take over. Number Guy (aka Mr India) has been threatening to show me some LaTex (oo-er, missus) for months now and he finally got around to it. It's cumbersome at first, but I'm getting used to it.

SO, now that I've got that off my chest* (!), back to the work
India
*That was my attempt at salaciousness so that those looking for same wouldn't feel too disapointed.

I think he's still talking to me...

 

Mr India, that is. Just finished the very last part of the case study, frantically hunted around for that *&@("$& reference that I couldn't find, tried to remember that if it was anyone's fault it wasn't mine his.....and emailed the damn thing. I need to hand in two hard copies, it isn't electroninc submission. But just in case anything goes quince-shaped tomorrow...(and the way things are going, it's possible....)...the assignmebt is over, finito, ended, done, gone yada yada yada

a mere detail

 

I still have to do the case study - BUT THE BLOODY ASSIGNMENT IS DONE!!!!!!

Listen to the voices in your head...

 

But only if they relate to your knitting.

There I was , happily knitting away on this: BUt when I got to the short rows to shape the top of the front, this little voice in my head was saying 'Wrap the stitches. Wrap the stitches.' But I ignored that voice. told it to shut up, I was following the pattern, thank you very much. It didn't say to wrap anything, never mind the stitches. So of course, when the time came to pick up the stitches to knit the bodice, there they were - holes, all over the place. That frog pond sure was cold and lonely (except for the voice of course, sniggering and whispering 'Told ya!").

Next, I've ripped out, re-knit and am up to the shaping for the armhole. And I'm a-thinking 'This doesn't look right.' Have a quick check of the pattern, keep going. Finish both sides. Still thinking it doesn't look right, but the voice has a plaster (Band Aid) over its mouth, so all I can hear is a vague mumble in my head. Finish both sides, try to set the sleeve in and guess what? It still didn't look right. Thought about it some more and I reckon that I started the shaping at the wrong side.

I have now made a big, BIG pledge to myself. When I start hearing the voices, start getting the 'Oh s*** feeling, I'm gonna step away from the knitting. And keep away until I've figured out what the problem is....

I also have evidence of an FO. For your delectation, we have :Tithe. Da dah!

Knitty gritty:
Pattern from Noro Unlimited
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, colourway 87
Size: Small
Needles: Bammboo circs, size 5mm
The fronts and back are reverse stocking stitch, the sleeves regular stocking stitch.
Do I like it?
Nope.
Nope?
That's right, I.Don't Like.It. I LOVE IT!!!
Lots of folk, even non-knitterly strangers in coffee shops, have been complimenting me on this little beauty.To be honest, it is one of the few patterns that I like from this book. In future I am going to have more confidence in myself as a knitter and refuse to buy something for ONE pattern. Surely I am capable of designing my own garment by this time? I really felt that the designer had let the side down. It wasn't that the patterns were too simple, it was that they look unfinished, as if not a lot of care and attention went into them.Disappointing. Ho hum.

Been working on the assignment today. Think I may achieve some major progress soon. Mr India reckons I will. He has identified several stages in the assignment-writing rpocess. You know the ones he means - the 'Don't talk to me about it, I have too much oven cleaning to do.' or the well known 'Of course I need to go to Outer MOngolia for 3 weeks, with no books, mobile, internet connection.' phase. Not to mention that much-loved and misunderstood stage - 'Assignment? What assignment?'. So I am apparently close to 'The end is nigh' phase. He means the damn essay. I mean myself.