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Oaklie

Friday 23 July 2010

Can't sleep...

...time to knit!
Anyone else use knitting as an insomnia-buster?


- ^.^ sprinklelight's out.

52 Pair Plunge

Ok, so on Ravelry.com they do this thing called 52 pair plunge, during which knitters attempt to knit 52 pairs of socks in a year, i.e. one pair per week.

As usual I didnt realise a new one had started and joined nearly 2 months after it started, only having knitted one pair of socks, meaning im 7 pairs behind now. So I'm still going to try and catch up, so I'm currently compiling a list of patterns to knit on Ravelry and will give a knit report after each pair has been knitted.

Pair 1/52
Pattern Name: Kai-Mei
Designer: Cookie A. (from her book "Sock Innovation")
Yarn used: Regia multicoloured Kaffe Fassett variegated yarn
Time taken: Altogether around 5 days, but I actually began these in October '09!
Opinion: These were easy and a joy to knit. The yarn looks beautiful, and although I used the wrong size needles (2.75mm instead of 2.25) they still fit my mum so she'll have the joy of wearing them. The panel was really nice to knit and the pattern was easy to remember so I rarely had to look at it, so I managed to knit these up pretty quickly. All in all a lovely way to begin my plunge!

Friday 7 May 2010

Election Tweets

My personal thoughts on the UK Election 2010 on Twitter.

'Off to vote with my mumsykins!' - 6/5/10 14:14

'Ugh. If BNP win in Yeovil I will throw up and move away. I'll throw up on him in fact. http://twitpic.com/1livmc' - 6/5/10 15:37

'Also, our Tory candidate lives in Surbiton. How the hell is he going to help our constituency from there? And lol @ undisclosed BNP address. http://twitpic.com/1liy2a' - 6/5/10 15:46

'AND might I add that Yeovil is where the Lib Dem takeover all began. Paddy Ashdown's memory remains!' - 6/5/10 15:47

'Rerghh Tories winning exit poll. Oh geez. It's gonna be hung parliament isn't it :(' - 6/5/10 22:21

'#c4altelection um, what has @charltonbrooker done to his hair?' - 6/5/10 22:28

'#c4altelection LOL Edwina Curry eating that fish soup.' - 6/5/10 23:14

'Brian Cox is apparently 42 years old. Then again, he's such a great physicist I reckon he has a time machine...' - 7/5/10 00:16

'#c4altelection LOL I WANNA BE ON TEH TELLY!!!!!!!!!' - 7/5/10 00:24

'Lmfao grotbags #c4altelection' - 7/5/10 00:30

'Remind me to add Brian Cox to my +44 list in 2 years time. (+44 list = men over 44 years of age I would screw)' - 7/5/10 00:58

'Thank god that liberal democrat held their seat in Yeovil. Go David Laws!!! Phew.' - 7/5/10 01:40

'Big swing in Bridgend. No change there then... Ouch! #ukelection' - 7/5/10 03:18

'Yeahhhh go Jenny Willott! Both constituencies I'm elligible to vote in got lib dem seats! Rather chuffed :)' - 7/5/10 03:20

'So drunk. #intrainingforahungparliament' - 7/5/10 03:25

'Fuck. Tories in the lead now. Scalpels at the ready...' - 7/5/10 03:27

'Guy on BBC Wales is an incredible ventriloquist!' - 7/5/10 03:28

'Tories pulling ahead. Glad I'm drunk. Hoping for a hung parliament now? :(' - 7/5/10 03:33

'Possible recount in Cardiff North?! The sheep have worked hard enough tonight!! #ukelection' - 7/5/10 03:44

'I think we're gonna have a hung parliament. Better than Tories tbh #ukelection' - 7/5/10 04:03

'LOL Ed Balls #watchingtheelectiondrunk teehee' - 7/5/10 04:12

'D'aw. 'Esther Rantzen has a paltry amount of votes despite a considerable amount of work on the streets.' ew. I don't wanna know #ukelection' - 7/5/10 04:29

'Gah. Politics is el sux0r #soreloser #ukelection' - 7/5/10 04:42

'So who was lying about voting liberal democrat? I can't believe this whole debacle #ukelectionffs' - 7/5/10 09:08

'http://linkyy.com/K8 Yeovil lib dem candidate gains biggest victory since Paddy Ashdown, beating tory candidate by over 13,000 votes. Proud.' - 7/5/10 09:19

'Oh ffs hung with Tory majority. Time to put your bloody touchscreen away. I trust no one now. I'm off to get in my bomb shelter #ge2010' - 7/5/10 09:22

'Oh hay hung parliament. It's all very exciting #lies #ge2010' 7/5/10 09:43

'rofl Nick Clegg fangirls at the back of the pack on the BBC. I actually LOLed' - 7/5/10 10:40





I have opinions. Enjoy them, ignore them, whatever! :)

Tuesday 13 April 2010

Mehrrrr

Right, stupid university changed half my year 3 modules. So here is a list of books to buy, then books that I already own which I have to read:

Arthurian Romances trans. By William Kibler
Merlin and the Grail: Joseph of Arimathea, Merlin, Perceval: The Trilogy of Arthurian Prose Romances Attributed to Robert de Baron trans. By Nigel Bryant

Cathleen Ni Houlihan by Yeats and Gregory
The Shadow of the Glen by JM Synge
The Playboy of the Western World by JM Synge

Waterland by Graham Swift
Another World by Pat Barker
Austerlitz by WG Sebald

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
Miguel Street by VS Naipaul
Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
Voyage in the Dark by Jean Rhys
Selected Poems by Derek Walcott

Tristram Shandy by Sterne
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Amadeus by Peter Shaffer

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ed. and trans. by WJR Barron

The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne
Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce
The Owl Service by Alan Garner
Carrie's War by Nina Bawden
Madame Doubtfire by Anne Fine
Wolf by Gillian Cross

Books I already own:
Le Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory
Richard III
Richard II
Henry IV
Henry V - Shakespeareeeee
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Room With A View by EM Forster
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Pericles
Cymbeline
The Winter's Tale
The Tempest - Shakespeareeee
Winnie-The-Pooh by AA Milne



- ^.^ sprinklelight's out.

Location:Rhymney St,,United Kingdom

Thursday 8 April 2010

Preliminary book review: 'Mysteries of Udolpho'

'Mysteries of Udolpho' by Ann Radcliffe is a real struggle to finish. Just when you think you've settled into the story, you realise you're still 350 mind-numbingly small-print pages from the end. And, might I add, that Miss Radcliffe was partial to dubious, and, often, unnecesarily tedious, amounts of clause-continuing punctuation. Dull.

(Note how that penultimate sentence was written in the style it denoted yoy!)


- ^.^ sprinklelight's out.

Location:Corscombe,United Kingdom

Monday 5 April 2010

PROVISIONAL YEAR THREE READING LIST

Because I'm lame and want to get ahead of the game (which I just lost; dammit!) I've provisionally chosen my modules for the third year of my degree. Here they are with a reading list!

AUTUMN SEMESTER

CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN FICTION
Ceremony - Leslie Marmon Silko (1977)
The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster (1986)
A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley (1992)
Cosmopolis - Don DeLillo (2003)

DISSERTATION
Subject not chosen yet D:

GOTHIC FICTION: THE VICTORIAN ERA
Selected works of Edgar Allen Poe, Sheridan Le Fanu and Henry James
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - R. L. Stevenson (1886)
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde (1891)
Dracula - Bram Stoker (1897)

INTRODUCTION TO OLD NORSE
Njal's Saga - trans. Robert Cook (2001)
A New Introduction to Old Norse, Part 2: Reader - ed. Anthony Faulkes (2007: 4th edn)
A New Introduction to Old Norse, Part 3: Glossary and Index of Names - Anthony Faulkes (2007: 4th edn)

SHAKESPEARE'S HISTORIES
Richard III
Richard II
Henry IV (1)
Henry V


20TH CENTURY CHILDREN'S LITERATURE (NOT A COP-OUT SHUT YOUR FACE)
Winnie the Pooh - A. A. Milne
The House at Pooh Corner - A. A. Milne
Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransom
Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton
Tom's Midnight Garden - Phillipa Pearce
The Owl Service - Alan Garner
Carrie's War - Nina Bawden
Madame Doubtfire - Anne Fine
Wolf - Gillian Cross
ALSO: Matilda (Dahl); Johnny and the Bomb (Pratchett); Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling)




SPRING

CARIBBEAN LITERATURE
Extracts from the letters and journal of Christopher Columbus
Extracts from The discoverie of the large, rich and bewtiful empyre of Guiana by Sir Walter Ralegh
'Ode to George Haldane' - Francis Williams (1742)
Extracts from James Grainger's 'The Sugar Cane' (1764)
'To Touissant L'Ouverture' - William Wordsworth (1802)
20th Century poems by Claude McKay, Derek Walcott, Grace Nichols et al.
ALL ABOVE PROVIDED IN COURSE HANDBOOK
The Lonely Londoners - Sam Selvon (1956: Longman)
Miguel Street - V. S. Naipaul (1958: Penguin)
Annie John - Jamaica Kincaid (1986: Vintage)
The Collected Short Stories - Jean Rhys (1990: Norton)

LITERATURE INTO FILM
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov [FILM= 1962: Dir. Stanley Kubrick; 1997: Dir. Adrian Lyne]
A Clockwork Orange - Antony Burgess [FILM= 1971: Dir. Stanley Kubrick]
A Room With A View - E. M. Forster [FILM= 1885: Dir. James Ivory]
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen [FILM= 1999: Dir. Patricia Rozema]
Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne [FILM= 'A Cock and Bull Story' 2006: Dir. Michael Winterbottom]
The Talented Mr. Ripley - Patricia Highsmith (Vintage) [FILM= 1999: Dir. Anthony Minghella]
Amadeus - Peter Shaffer (Penguin) [FILM= 1984: Dir. Milos Forman]

SHAKESPEARE'S LATE PLAYS
Pericles
Cymbeline
The Winter's Tale
The Tempest


THE IRISH LITERARY REVIVAL
'To Ireland in the Coming Times' - W. B. Yeats
Cathleen Ni Houlihan - W. B. Yeats and Augusta Gregory
The Shadow of the Glen - J. M. Synge
The Playboy of the Western World - J. M. Synge
Selected Poetry of W. B. Yeats

WAR AND MEMORY
Waterland - Graham Swift (1983)
Another World - Pat Barker (1998)
Atonement - Ian McEwan (2001)
Austerlitz - W. G. Sebald (2001)

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Success and Stuff

I passed my driving test! With only 2 minors, in speed control and parking brake control.

I also bought a car - a lovely little Nissan Micra Shape. I've called him Bug, because he looks like a Ladybird and the belt making a whirring/buzzing noise because it's ever so slightly stretched. I'm driving Bug back to Cardiff tomorrow :]

In other news, I've heard nothing from Rowan so I'm presuming for now that I'm not going to be offered the John Lewis job. So, effective tomorrow my 10 step program to freelance artistry begins!

I'm also signing the contract for and paying the bond on my new house tomorrow!

So tomorrow I have to get Bug taxed, get insured on Bug, pay for Bug, drive Bug back to Cardiff (first motorway experience) and sign and pay a bit for my new house! Big day! So I'm going to retire to bed and watch Outnumbered then get a good nights' rest.

Monday 1 February 2010

Progressions

My driving test is tomorrow, I've pretty much finished my new passport application and the interview went well I think, but I've not heard back about it yet.

However, I have decided that if I don't get the job I will start my own small business making clothing and gifts.

It's also time for a big website update methinks; coming soon!

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Interviews, Exams && Everything Else

Ciao, darlings. If you read my last post you will know that I was contacted by Rowan Yarns about a job in my local John Lewis.
Well, the other day I spoke to the woman again and I have my interview on the 26th (January) at 2pm!
Naturally I have to take along some knitting, as that would be the job. So I've been trying to decide what to take along. I'm thinking at least 5 projects, some completed and some WIPs.

I will of course mention Ravelry, my website and the wonderful Glove Wars. It shows I'm up-to-date in the knitting world.

The projects I take along will have to display a wide range of skills (which I know I have) to show the woman that I am a competant and helpful knitter.

Apart from that, I'm in the middle of exams. Well, I'm more toward the end of exams: my final one is tomorrow morning, Shakespeare's Comedies.
Hopefully it will be fine. I doubt I've got a First though. My Old English exam went exceptionally well, even by my reckoning. Victorian Novel exam was a tad dismal. My Austen essay was good I reckon, but my Tennyson essay abysmal. I mean, literally. It was dire. :/

In lieu of everything else, I'm happy and upbeat. My driving test looms on the horizon on February 2nd, and I've got 3 hours of driving in before that. Ergh. If I fail it I will have to retake everything, which I won't do and I'll never be able to drive. Yay D: