I'm a proper Cantabrigian now

I've lived in Cambridge for fourteen years and before that I was a regular visitor to the city for three years. When my foodbank warehouse colleagues learnt that in all that time I'd never been punting on the Cam, we decided to arrange a punting trip. After our shift on Friday the six of us hired a punt and went for a lovely river pootle along The Backs and then out to Grantchester Meadows.

King's College Chapel

It was the hottest day of the year so far and as such the river was very busy and at various points along The Backs it was a bit like water dodgems. It's so pretty, though. I'd never seen Cambridge from this angle and situation before and I had a few "Wow, I'm so lucky to live here" moments.

Mathematical Bridge

When we reached the mill pond we had to use the boat rollers to move the punt up the slipway, across the footpath and into the next stretch of river. Sounds easy but oh my word punts are heavy, and we were grateful when a couple of kindly passers-by stopped and lent us a bit of grunt to complete the task.

This next bit of the river was full of swimmers, paddle boarders, canoeists and kayakers, and everyone was so chirpy and polite. We saw moorhens, a heron, and many ducks. I was really taken with the bright blue and black banded demoiselles we saw flitting about. I'd never seen them before and to start with I thought they were butterflies because of the way they fly. They were so beautiful. (I haven't got a photograph because they were a bit far away for my iPhone to successfully capture them.)

After a little break and some refreshments we headed back. A female mallard took to following our punt and I thought she was going to be alongside us all the way down the river but in the end she got distracted by a young boy on a paddleboard feeding her snacks.

When we got back to the mill pond (shifting the punt down the rollers was way easier than up!) there was a man serenading some gorgeous cows with his guitar.

The river was even busier along The Backs by then and people were feeding the Canada geese as we came to the end of our adventure.

All in all I had an absolutely brilliant afternoon with a bunch of utterly lovely people and I've been happy and smiley about it ever since.

In garden news...

The intense sunshine has finally made my first two sunflowers bloom.

I planted an assortment this year and so far I have one yellow and burgundy one, and one mostly burgundy one.

In bead news...

I made some cosmic-looking blue beads and turned them into a bracelet.

The beads are Double Helix Triton wrapped with fine silver wire which I melted into droplets. They're encased with Effetre pale aquamarine 038.

I've strung the beads with sterling silver beads and the extender chain is finished off with one of two silver star charms that I've had in my beads and findings stash for almost twenty years.

The bracelet is currently available in my webshop.

If you fancy making your own cosmic-looking jewellery I'll be adding some of the blue beads to the shop in the next couple of days.

In crochet news...

I've started making a grey blanket for our lounge; I seem to have fallen into a habit of making us a new blanket every year.

This blanket is one heck of a task as the squares are quite complex. Each one is about eight inches square and takes me approximately two hours to complete. I need forty-two and so far I've made fourteen.

The pattern is the Book Sale Blanket by Julia Hart of Draiguna who is one of my absolute favourite crochet designers, and the yarn is Stylecraft Special DK in Silver 1203 and Grey 1099.

Non-bead gubbins

Where the heck is time draining away to? I cannot believe how fast the last year and a bit has whooshed by. How can doing nothing, going nowhere and seeing nobody eat time at such an alarming rate? It feels like about three days since my last non-bead post but that one was at the end of March. Crazy.

Anyway, again, not much to report. I had a trip into the city centre for an eye test a couple of weeks ago. I'd not been there since the beginning of March last year when I did the Cambridge half marathon. That event started and finished on Midsummer Common which is home to the Camcattle cows at this time of year so I stopped by to say hello to the beautiful creatures before my eye appointment.

They are Red Poll cows and they are so calm and happy munching away as people go about their business on and by the common. Here's an article about the cows from a couple of years ago.

There follows a random photo of one of my favourite Cambridge post boxes which I walked past on the way to the optician.

We have quite a few Victorian post boxes in the city and I love that they're still in use after all these years. I think I was just excited to be not in the shed and out and about and I was like "Oooh, cows! Post boxes! The Hot Sausage vendor! Greggs!" and had to take some photos to mark the moment.

My eye test was meh. I've had glasses for short sightedness for a couple of years now and I only had to wear them when I needed to; for televison watching, the cinema (remember the cinema?) and basically whenever I wanted to properly see anything further than four feet away. The optician said I've got the same problem that watchmakers have in that with the beadmaking I've spent so many years looking at stuff a few inches from my face, my distance vision has suffered. My right eye is particularly bad and I was quite alarmed when I couldn't read the top row of the eye chart with it. It's got much worse since my last eye test so I have new glasses that I have to wear all the time now, so that's taking a bit of getting used to. My up-close vision is crazy good and the new prescription enables me to wear my glasses without them interfering with detailed work, reading and the like. This means I now have to wear prescription specs for making beads so it was goodbye to my didymium glasses and hello to some polycarbonate purple clip-on and flip-up jobs that make me feel like I have the eyes of Johnny 5.

I'm sure I'll get used to the new flameworking face furniture shortly but in the meantime don't be expecting any kind of complex beads because my eyes are still in the process of reprogramming my brain as to where the flame actually is.

In crochet news...

I finished my Rainbow Sampler Blanket on Saturday! 

I got the blanket all washed and dried the same day and let me tell you it's a flipping delight to cosy under in the evenings.

I enjoyed crocheting every single row of this blanket, even the ones I had to frog and redo whenever I muffed up.

So many stitches...

...so many rows

The blanket is H U G E. It's just under two metres square so it's about the same size as a double duvet.

Thanks to Kirsten of Haak Maar Raak for such a brilliantly-written, clear and highly enjoyable pattern.

So what's next on the crochet front? Well, I'm working my way through a marvellous book called Granny Square Flair by Shelley Husband of Spincushions. I also have Shelley's Siren's Atlas book and I have learnt so much from both of these books - false stitches, standing stitches and other ingenious ways to create seamless-looking crochet. So yep, I'm making every square from Granny Square Flair at the moment and no doubt they'll become yet another blanket. I have fifteen squares done. The latest five are currently wet blocking but here are the first ten I made.

I'm using Rico Creative Cotton DK in the shade Natural. These squares are 150mm and I'm loving all the different patterns and textures. I'm also really enjoying the single colour thing, mainly because the crochet becomes all about the stitches and the pattern instead of colour, but also because there are way fewer ends to weave in!

I started a concurrent crochet project last night (I always like to have two yarn things on the go at once so I can switch between them) and this one is a way to use up some of the massive amount of spare yarn I have left over from the Rainbow Sampler blanket. The pattern I've gone for is the Flowers in the Snow blanket from the Solstrikke blog. Yes, it's another blanket but I adore the challenge of a blanket. There's just something about them. My family had better prepare themselves for blanket gifts because I already have enough of the things here. I'm very much a process crocheter; I like the finished item but I love the process of making of it.

But yes, I started making a bunch of motifs from my leftover Scheepjes Colour Crafter last night. I've put all the yarn in a box and I do a lucky dip of three colours and then make a motif with whichever trio I've picked. This way I'm not overthinking it and I've been pleasantly surprised with a couple of the resulting combinations. They give me bead colour ideas.

Alas, each one of these motifs has six ends to weave in and then there will be two more ends per motif when it comes to the joining part of the process so what I'm lacking in ends weavery on the Granny Square Flair squares I'm more than making up for here.

Right, I think that's way more than enough chatter from me. I need to get my arse down the shed, don my Johnny 5s and make some beads. Have a good day!

Saturday Stroll

Chris and I caught the bus into town this morning but the bus was so hot we decided to cut the journey short and walk over Victoria Bridge and across Jesus Green.  The photo above was taken from Victoria Bridge and you can see people punting on the River Cam.

As we strolled across Jesus Green we walked through the Plane Tree Avenue which is just beautiful.  

A bit further on we saw some ducklings and their mum.  The little noises they made sounded like my guinea pigs!

It has been such a gorgeous day.  Are you enjoying your Saturday?

Beautiful Sunflowers

When Chris and I were shopping in town the other weekend we noticed that a massive crowd of sunflowers had been planted in one of the flower beds on Christ's Pieces. I knew that they would look fab when they flowered and I've been really looking forward to seeing them.

Today the sunflowers were in full bloom, standing tall and proud, all facing the sun. They are absolutely beautiful.

There were lots of people taking photos of the sunflowers - they're such a wonderful sight! The bees and other buzzy insects were loving them too.

Almost There

While I was travelling home from Cambridge yesterday I started doing some rough calculations in my head. Maths and I do not mix and we try and avoid each other as much as we can but I found myself working out a few train-related stats.

I have been travelling to see Chris every other weekend for almost three and a half years. That makes :

• About 90+ return train trips, not including random ones here and there
  
  
• Approximately 340 hours of travel
  
  

• About £3,100 in train fares (thank goodness for my Network Railcard!)

I have also consumed umpteen travel sandwiches, bottles of water and packets of Wine Gums while journeying. I have read many books on my travels too. I've got through two little wheely suitcases - a wheel fell off the first one and the second case is hanging on for dear life but I can't complain as it was only a tenner from Tesco.

I have also discovered that :

• A lot of people do not understand the concept of 'Keep Left' and 'Keep Right' when using the escalators and walkways around the London Underground.
  


• The idea of letting people off the train before you get on seems like a pretty simple one but it challenges many people.
  


• Some passengers on trains do like to sit and call everyone in their phone book and relay the same story over and over beginning each conversation with 'Yeah, I'm on the train' with no awareness that the person sitting next to them might not want to hear about their relationship woes or office-related talk. This is where I heartily thank Apple for inventing the iPod.
  


• It is actually quite satisfying to ask someone if you can sit in the seat next to them, upon which they have carefully arranged their bag, coat, laptop case or shopping in an attempt to stop anyone sitting next to them. Why do people do that? Everyone deserves a seat on the train. Stick your luggage up on the luggage rack and prepare to interact with fellow passengers - I've had some really good conversations with total strangers just because the seat next to me was free.

So what's with the calculations and train talk?

Well, pretty soon the regular train travel will stop.

Like, next month.

I feel that we're pretty much through all the niggly might-go-wrong stuff now so I can tell you that Chris and I have bought a house in Cambridge. Almost. All the big things are done and we're waiting for the solicitor and contract malarkey now. The survey, mortgage and other big scary things are all sorted and we're in that house-buying limbo. We put in our offer about ten weeks ago and I've managed to keep quiet about it all this time - I didn't want to jinx it, you see.

So that is why I was compelled to work out all that train stuff. Obviously I will be using trains to travel back to see Dad and everyone but not on a bi-weekly basis. I think I may have to make about two more Cambridge trips before the move and that is such a bizarre feeling, I can tell you. I'm almost there .....

Slap my wrist

I can't believe I haven't posted since Friday. That is lazy blogging!

Mind you, we have had the Bank Holiday weekend and I didn't come home from Cambridge until yesterday morning. Chris and I had a fab Holiday Monday. We had a delicious barbecue in the park. It was one of those cheap disposable barbecues but it did the job lovely. We had burgers, sausages, pasta salad and civilised wine. Such a nice day! Here's me enjoying said wine. Please ignore my messy hair. (And Kerryn, yes, that is a dress! Over leggings, but a dress nonetheless.)

I've been making beads today - that pretty heart trio at the top of the post and also some more 'Storm Cloud' ones. You lot seem to love those!

Good Weekend

I always enjoy my weekends with Chris but this one was particularly nice. When I arrived at his flat on Friday night Chris had cooked me dinner which was lovely. His parents were down for the weekend so it was really great to see them too.

I didn't find the bridge that I was on about last week but Chris reckons he knows where it is so I'll go and see it another time. We did go and see the Corpus Clock, though. This sculptural clock is on the outside of the Taylor Library at Corpus Christi College. It has no hands and the time is displayed by blue LEDs. A sinister-looking grasshopper type insect called a 'Chronophage' sits on top of the clock and due to some clever technical-mechanical wizardry he blinks every now and then. My apologies for the naff photo above. The clock is behind glass, hence the the terrible reflections. If you'd like to read more about the Corpus Clock please click here.

I still can't believe how fab the Oxford-to-Cambridge train journey is. It took me just over two hours to get home today (it used to take three when I lived in Southampton) so I was able to make a few beads this afternoon. They're cooking away in the kiln as I type so I'll post photos tomorrow.

These beads need a name

I'm back from my mini-holiday in Cambridge which was great. It was very odd to have nothing to do! I know I said that I was going to blog while I was away and I tried but while I was in the middle of drafting a post there was a power cut in Chris's flat. He was at work and I had no idea how to get the power back. This happens occasionally and normally Chris goes out to some wooden hut place out the back of the flats and twiddles some switches and the magic of electricity is restored. But I don't possess any magical-electricity-restoring-switch-twiddling knowledge and therefore my blogging plans went out of the window.

We went to see Star Wars : The Clone Wars on Monday. Oh dear. So bad. So very, very bad. I mean, I watched all three prequels with an open mind. I put up with the terrible scripts and dialogue, Ewan McGregor looking like Noel Edmonds, Anakin's constant whining, Boss Nass and the CG Yoda. I didn't even hate Jar Jar Binks half as much as most SW fans do. Because I love Star Wars. I've loved it since I was six years old. I spent every breaktime running around the school playground with Trevor, Tim, Paul and Mark (who were Luke, Han, Chewie and a Stormtrooper/Vader respectively) with my hair in side buns, firing my imaginary blaster (with terrible sound effects - try as we might, us girls will never be able to make proper gun noises like boys can) generally really wishing I could be Princess Leia. But The Clone Wars - aarggh! George Lucas, what have you done?! More bad dialogue, more annoying characters, more totally pointless stuff but most of all - most of all - Ziro The Hutt. Chris and I laughed out loud when he appeared on the screen, and not in a good way. We knew of Ziro and his make-up wearing ways but nothing could have prepared us for the sheer ridiculousness of him. Seriously, George Lucas needs to be stopped. Enough is enough! I said to myself that I wasn't going to mention The Clone Wars on my blog but I feel I have to because it's narked me so much. Actually, this morning I found the cinema ticket stubs from the movie in the back pocket of my jeans. They'd been through the wash. Those Star Wars ticket stubs - in pieces, tattered, scrumpled up and broken - summed up my feelings regarding Lucas's latest offering. *Sob!*

Anyway, enough of my Star Wars anguish. You want bead talk, right?!

On Saturday morning I posted the 'Psychedelic Peacock' beads to their new owner, Jennifer Borek, in Texas. Less than a week later they've reached their destination and have already been turned into wearable loveliness! Jenn has done a wonderful job with them and she's also written a lovely blog entry about my beads.

I didn't get many beads made today. Those five up there at the top of this post are the result of today's glass melting action. I reckon it's about time for a bead giveaway so if you can think of a name for these then please post your suggestions in my comments section. The person who picks the name I like the most will get a lucky dip bag of my lampwork beads. You've got until 8.00pm on Sunday night and then I'll announce the chosen name on my blog. Get naming!

Refreshed

Last week I literally ran out of energy. The past few weeks have been so mad what with all the tarting-up-the-house stuff, people coming for viewings and me trying to fit beadmaking in with all that. Plus there's the emotional side of things - selling our family home is something that I always thought would be done a couple more decades down the line. Then there's the thought of moving to a brand new place away from my sisters and my friends. I hate uncertainty and it plays havoc with my general mood and bead creativity.

So when I got on the train for Cambridge on Friday evening I breathed a huge sigh of relief. A weekend away from house stress and sitting next to my torch literally forcing myself to make beads seemed very inviting.

And what a lovely weekend I had! The weather was great and on the Saturday Chris hired us bikes and we cycled to Waterbeach and had lunch at a really nice pub/restaurant place. The cycle route went right along the river - very picturesque. I took the photo above with my mobile phone.

The weekend break seemed to help with my beadmaker's block. I went down to the shed this morning feeling quite refreshed, armed with a sketchbook full of doodles of potential bead designs. I put some of them into practice and I'm pretty pleased with what's in the kiln. I'll post a photo of the resulting beads here later on this evening.