Wednesday 31 October 2007

And they're done!

Have now finished the socks. Yay! They are truly fantastic and I am very very much in love with them. The finishing on the final one leaves a little something to be desired but I think after they have been washed and blocked this will be a minor imperfection. Compared to my last pair they are perfect regardless of this. Just as soon as I have finished tidying up all the ends I shall take a picture of them for you all to have a good appreciate of and then you may lavish me with much praise. The only problem with the whole thing is that I think that they just might be too lovely to give away as a gift. I'm not entirely sure that they will be properly appreciated as it is anyway and the thought of sending them off to be abandoned in a drawer somewhere, unloved and uncared for is painful to think of.
Am just a big sock softie obviously

Monday 29 October 2007

RED SOX ARE WORLD SERIES WINNERS!!!

Wohoo! The red sox have won the world series this year! Yay! Am terribly surprised at just how happy I am about this as I have never really supported a team (in anything) before now but I am. I'm really chuffed. Of course, the sox are a winning team as far as I'm concerned as they have won twice in the four years I have been supporting them. I missed out on all the heartache and pain that came before that for all those other more long term and hardcore fans. Oh well, lets just get on with the winning!

Long time no hear from me

Have been hiding out in the wilds of Devon for the last week- hope that y'all missed me ;)
It was meant as a bit of a respite cure so that I could have a proper break from work and all that is making my head spin. It has worked to certain degree you will all be pleased to hear but I have to say, it was the most exhausting break I have ever had. Up early every morning, out walking the dogs for miles in drizzle and howling winds. Out in the car every afternoon rushing around trying to get things done. Because of course, you can't go anywhere without getting into a car and driving miles, public transport in practically non-existent and wherever you do go anywhere, you have to take a dog with you. If you are wearing wellies and have your trousers held up by bailing twine then all the better. Dartmoor proved itself to be one of the wettest, coldest and windiest places I know once again. If you've been away for a while you tend to forget that it blows a whoolie every time you walk around on it and remember only the glorious sunshine and picturesque views. That you only experience this in the lee of a large chunk of granite is completely wiped from the memory. My beloved seaside beaches where all that I remembered them to be however and I bemoaned my lack of bucket and spade at every occasion. I was very restrained on this trip however, and only came away with a modest collection of pebbles and shells with which to fill my already overflowing plant pots.
I did have time to do a small amount of thinking however and one of the things that I have decided upon is that I m not ready to move down to the southwest yet. The hubby and I have been discussing the future over the last few weeks, trying to plot our escape as some may say, but really just trying to work out what the next step is in the great game of life. I think that we are city bound for some time yet but I also think that this is a good thing. Life just seems so much easier when all the stuff you need is only ten minutes away! Nothing beats modern convenience let me tell you. I figure that if I feel the need to wear my wellies then I can just hop in the car and head for the nearest muddy puddle.

Thursday 18 October 2007

I've very little to talk about

I have been hard at work all day, transferring my precious collection into new storage. Unfortunately this has left me with very little to talk about as all I have been doing is putting tiny labels on things and moving them from one place to another. Quite tedious really.
One thing that has been keeping me entertained is audio books. So far I have ploughed my way through an Agatha Christie novel, Robinson Crusoe and some miscellaneous short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.
At the moment I am tackling Treasure Island and it is a particularly humorous version. The site I download most of my books from is a provider of read texts for blind people (I should just point out that these where all recorded some 30 years ago and have now been made available to all on-line rather than me being some sort of opportunistic git) and relies on volunteers to do the reading. As many of the books are quite long they often just get people to do a few chapters rather than the entire thing so every now and then the reader changes. What I love is that they make no attempt to put similar sounding people together, or even categorise them by sex. Whilst everyone reading is American and usually from the south they have little else in common. The accents alone vary enormously. Treasure Island started off with a man reading it, who had a lovely baritone voice. I now have a woman from California reading the next few chapters who is a bit nasally and tends towards the higher pitches when excited.
I nearly fell off of my chair with laughter earlier when the switch over came. I love it. The books I download are all free (you won't believe how expense they can be!) but I think that I might be tempted to pay for these ones if I had to :)

Tuesday 16 October 2007

That's it! I'm outta here

Have spent today struggling with the painful fact that I am really really going to have to give up entomology. There's always going to be a small part of me that is going to hold out and just hope that something comes through. That maybe someone will suddenly wake up to the fact that I am fucking brilliant at my job and that I deserve to be able to pursue it as a proper career.
As this isn't going to happen I am going to have to think of something else. Scrub 'entomologist' from occupation box and fill it in with my newly designated character of life. Time for a little reinvention...
Not much else has been happening so I have been unable to divert myself or think of anything more entertaining to write about. Other than the fact that I have been out for a cream tea at the Old Parsonage today and it was good. Really good. And this is coming from someone who considers themselves as a bit of a cream tea expert. Mmmmm, clotted cream.

Monday 15 October 2007

Job hunting

Argh! I have been starting the long and tedious process of job seeking today. This is made particularly hard by the fact that I have no idea what it is that I want to do with myself. I'm trained in one of the most obscure careers ever and it is very unlikely that I'm going to be able to find a job in it which just leave me, well, stuck really. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

I've already done a bit of thinking about this of course. I did suggest tattoo artist as a possibility but this was ruled out by the other half. Acupuncturist also has a certain charm but I don't have the money I would need to retrain. Knitwear designer is just not going to bring in the cash. After a while I realised that all of these potential careers involve some kind of pin or needle so I figured maybe I should go in for a job that involved pointy things. Kebab expert maybe? Fakir in a circus? One of those school nurses that gives the kids their vaccinations?
Unfortunately there just aren't that many jobs that involve sticking pins through things in a precise and steady manner. Other than torturer that is and I'm not sure I have the stomach for it.
Having said that it would of course depend entirely upon who it was that I was asked to torture. Mwhahahahaha.

Friday 12 October 2007

Ooooooh dear...

How is it that I manage to be the unluckiest person in the world? Am on my own at work today and considering all the implications that that entails, I have to say that I have been working damn hard with minimal internet surfing or distractions of any other kind. In fact I have been trogging quite happily through the transfer of an insect collection and have really failed to be distracted by anything.
So why is it that on the rare occasion I think to take a break and say, get a cup of tea, check my e-mails or have a quick stretch, why is it, that it is on these occasions that someone comes into the department. I have had loads of visitors today coming through the department including the director, the administrator and our curator. These are people that I might see once a month normally. On top of this there have been at least four other people, all timing their visits so that it looks as though I'm not doing anything with my time. Argh. Awful lot that they are.

Wednesday 10 October 2007

PS

COME ON RED SOX!!!

Long departed

Am finally feeling a bit better! Yay! Still have a bit of a cough when I do anything to shake the gunge around in my lungs but other than that I am feeling pretty perky. Well at least as perky as one can be when you get up at half six in the morning. I think this is because knitting group was great last night. We have a new person who I have started to teach to knit. This has inevitably led me to believe that I am a rubbish teacher but its really nice having a chance to sit down and go through the basics with someone- and to see how much I've advanced in my own knitting. I would never have believed it but just in a few months I've gone from fighting the wool with the needles to smooth automatic knitting that is frankly just a pleasure in every way possible. I've even learnt to feed with my right hand so I've sped up a bit.
And someone even asked my opinion on sock knitting. Me- have an opinion? I've always thought that I was at the bottom of the heap as far as skills and experience go but it turns out that I'm a bit further up than I thought. At least in some respects. I think that there are a lot of the ladies there who are much better at the basics than I am as they have taken the time to make sure that they have a solid foundation in it all but they are now scared to take the next step into the more difficult stuff. Whereas I have just ploughed on with reckless abandonment, hopping from one project to the next as I get bored with something and need to move on. I think that this is turning me into the bit of a jack-of-all-trades which I shall have to be careful about as I don't think I'm really learning anything along the way.
Ah well, whatever keeps me interested I suppose. Talking of knitting I'm going to get back to my socks. Am onto number two now. The last one came out very nicely indeed which has prevented me from getting 'second sock lethargy'. So- on with it!

Wednesday 3 October 2007

I think I'm dying....

Urgh. I have a horrible, horrible cold. I think that I caught it from my boss who is officially an evil man for being so free with his germs. It has kept me away from work, away from my blog and worst of all, away from my knitting! You would have thought that I'd have relished being at home for a couple of days but as it is I was so ill I could hardly do anything expect groan, huff and whinge at the kittens. Whenever I did try and knit my wool got pounced on by some over excited furballs who were enjoying having me around. Or rather, they were enjoying having someone around as it meant that they could run from kitchen to lounge, lounge to kitchen, kitchen to lounge.... up and over, through and round. It also involved destruction of the shredding and spiking variety. I am covered in scratches from were they fought over me, on me, around me or, on at least three occasions, just fought me. I think I have suspicious looking toes.