quick catch up, originally uploaded by lyndsey-jane.

I thought I’d do a quick catch up on whats been happening round here.
I’ve dug out my spindle and got some new fiber in. Can’t remember what the fiber on the spindle is except that I got it from esty and it’s BFL. The other fibers are Yarn Yard BFL in aurora, Spunky Eclectic Corriedale - Vacation to Canada (25g each of her Canadian colours) and Spunky Eclectic Wool Blend in Grand Opening.
The green yarn is also from Spunky Eclectic and is the Flying Cables kit in Sage.
The top is Green Gable in Cotton Fleece Robins Egg Blue, but is not quite finished as it is about 2″ too short so I have to rip back rib and knit some more.
Last two are pics of Karl and I and the Foo Fighters gig the other saturday.
I ordered Victorian Lace Today from amazon and what a book. It is amazing, so many beautiful patterns. I’m still deciding which one to cast on for Mums wedding but will let you know as soon as I do.
I’ve been busy plurking, come join, we have a real laugh over there.
I’ve been working mainly on RPM sock in some of my hand-dyed should have a finished sock soon, as well as the Summer Sampler Study - I’m almost caught up and really enjoying it.
Spring Things Shawl is blocking as I type and hopefully FO photos tomorrow.

Miss V (being the enabler of all things ever!) has introduced me to plurk

Kinda like twitter but less buggy and with a timeline

Come join and friend me

Have photos of WWKIP in cambridge but blog about it all tomorrow

Saw this over on knitXcorE and just had to play along

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Lyndsey-Jane
2. What is your favorite food? halloumi
3. What high school did you go to? Kings Langley
4. What is your favorite color? orange
5. Who is your celebrity crush? taylor hawkins
6. Favorite drink? diet coke
7. Dream vacation? kenya
8. Favorite dessert? creme brulee
9. What you want to be when you grow up? microbiologist
10. What do you love most in life? sunny days
11. One Word to describe you. bubbly
12. Your flickr name.

This weekend was a busy one and with university exams this week will be the same, and then next weekend we are off to see Foo Fighters so not sure when I’m going to have a chance to blog.
I have lots of photos from Colchester Zoo over on my flickr account (not all are uploaded yet or titled due to lack of time).

The moderne baby blanket is finished and I love it, not photos yet again due to lack of time.

There have been a few fiber and yarn related purchases which I will divulge at a later date.

As you can see things have been busy but I just haven’t got time to elaborate, i promise photos and explanations soon.

I was tagged by Rosie so here we go:

Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago
Um, I have such a bad memory (that or I just suppress memories so as not to have to think about them). I would have been 22, so I think I was just finishing of my A levels (2nd attempt) in history and politics and thinking about going to uni to study history and/or politics.

2. what 5 things are on my to-do list today (in no particular order)
Well as it is now 10.15pm, I’ll give you the list for tomorrow

Revise Neoplasia for pathology exam

Trial genetics exam

Relaxing pampering bath and hair wash ready for town thursday
That’s about it, but revision is pretty much it until June 6th. There will of course be knitting!

3. Snacks I enjoy
This I will break down into snacks I enjoy but don’t eat as bad for the diet, and snacks I enjoy which are allowed on my diet
Snacks I enjoy but not allowed
Milk Chocolate
Homemade cakes (esp Brownies from recipe from Kat)
Peanut butter on thick sliced white bread (esp when come home drunk)

Snacks allowed on my diet
Dark chocolate
Pitta bread and houmus
Cashew nuts

I don’t snack that much as I eat in such a way that I don’t really feel hungry between meals

4. Things I would if I was a billionaire
Buy a smallholding and have alpacas, sheep and other animals of Karl’s choosing
Travel (alot)
Fund research into cancer and other horrible diseases

5. Places I have lived
Croydon (Surrey I think) - were I was born until 18mths
Sandy, Bedfordshire - 18mth to 4yrs
Upper Caldecote, Bedforshire - 4yrs - 11yrs
Kings Langley, Herts - 11- 13yrs
South Oxhey, Herts - 13-17yrs
Kings Langley (again)- 17 - 171/2 yrs
Hemel Hempstead - 17-27 (with a brief peroids in High Wycombe Bucks and Nottingham)
Cambridge - 2003 until now

Ok now tag people, Kat, Robin and anyone else wanting to join in

I may have been absent from blogging but not from knitting.
Two recent FO’s are:

Burning Rings of Fire socks (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Sock Hop in Pink Cadillac
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony DPNs (2.5mm)
Love this yarn and love this pattern.

Baby Surprise Jacket (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Opal Rodeo Cotton
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony 3.25mm
Great quick knit, definetely planning more.
The only trouble with this is I am not sure it is neutral enough. It is for Karl’s niece or nephew (due sometime next month) but we are unsure whether this is suitable for boy. Would love to hear your opinions on whether you would dress a boy in these colours.

After the wonderful few days we recently had I saw a HUGE increase in my energy levels (and no brain fog for the duration either) I began to wonder whether the increased light was the cause.

I did some research into SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and found that I had pretty much all the symptoms (except for the depression, but as I am already taking the type of anti-depressants prescribed for SAD it seemed logical that I wouldn’t have).

I decided to research light therapy and found a company who sold lightboxes for SAD but with a 30 day money back guarantee. I started the therapy to day and actually feel better already. It is so simple, I just sit 50cm away from the box for 90mins a day and bright light should increase my serotonin levels and make me feel better. The amount of time spent in front of the light is dependent on the strength of the bulb(s). This one has one of the weaker daylight bulbs, hence the need to spend more time in front of it, some of the stronger boxes only require 20 mins. I can study, knit or watch TV whilst using it, in fact anything I want as long as my eyes are open and I am stationary. So I know have an excuse to knit for at least 90mins a day.

If this works I will be so overjoyed, and I am also looking to get a sunrise/sunset simulator. This slowly increases the amount of light at a preset time so your body wakes naturally to an increase in light, and vice versa at night.

If this does what I hope then I plan to start training to run the Race for If this year instead of walking. I haven’t yet got my sponsor page up but will do so soon, so anyone who wants to sponsor me can do so.

I’m off to make brownies again now as we have Karl’s parents coming over tomorrow.

Wow! What can I say, this was the most awesome parcel ever.
My partner was Kat (who did a great job of not letting on who she was considering we were still in contact from when I was her spoiler in the Hot Cocoa Swap).
The swap requirements were coffee, yarn and a handmade item. Kat made me a lovely coffee themed lavender scented cushion. Which takes pride of place on my pillow. The yarn is Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud and lovely soft laceweight perfect for the lace shawl patterns in my Ravelry queue. Among the copious amounts of other stuff there is the Street Smart pattern book from Patons (which has the Must Have Cardigan in it), a portable coffee mug, thimbles and t-pins, mirror & lipgloss keychain, notebook, coffee (lots of coffee) and a design a mug. There was also chocolates and sweets but Karl and I have already eaten them. He is now a big fan of Swedish Fish.
Thank Kat you totally rock!!!!

I’ve been really productive this weekend, and if I could find the camera cable I would be able to show you all. Whenever I need the cable for my Palm I can only find the camera cable and vice versa.

This weekend I have been such a domestic goddess. I managed to make my first skirt, it fits and I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow. I cast on the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting, and have nearly completed the third block.

Then I cooked, a lovely quiche lorraine, pastry recipe from Nigella and filling from food bible - Leith’s. Once in the cooking mood I baked some brownies, from a recipe sent to me by Kat - OMG are they good!!!!!

My camera has photos of blanket, quiche, brownies and skirt and I will search properly for it tomorrow.

My order from Possets came this weekend and boy do they smell good - and a real bargain! I ordered 2 packs of 6 samples and they added an extra 4 free for me, all of which smell great too.

I just a great book - Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale, it was really good and I highly recommend it and I have just started The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld which I am really enjoying. I totally lost my reading mojo for a while (well, over a year so more then just a while) and am so glad to have it back. As long as I can remember I was reading, and averaged a book a fortnight from about the age of 13-14, so loosing the want to read was actually really hard for me. I found audiobooks and this helped, but listening to a book isn’t the same as reading it. I like to listen to books, as I can knit at the same time but nothing beats curling up in a chair/sitting in the sun and loosing yourself with a book. I did just this at uni on Thursday whilst waiting for Karl to finish work. I sat under the semi-shade of the tree canopy and finished Notes from an Exhibition. I haven’t sat and read a novel for more then 10mins in one go for ages and ages, but Thursday I sat for most of the afternoon.

Hope you all had a great weekend, I’m off my paint my nails to match my new skirt for uni tomorrow.

finally got my bp meds sorted and the dizziness seems to have subsided but I am anxious about my appointment at the Brompton in August as last time the bp in my legs was really low, so wonder what it is now.

I have been knitting on the Honeybee stole, but wip pictures of lace are boring, so i will save you until I have something to show. I have nearly completed the quilting on mums wallhanging, so this should be done soon. I got some fabric to make some skirts with the other day and will try to remember to take some photos of it. It was from Cotton Patch in there bargain fabric section, very summery so perfect for skirts. Just need to find the time to make them now. I hope to make at least one before my exams start.

University is going well, this week is the last teaching week then we have two weeks for revision and then exam fortnight. I am lucky that my exams are in the last week so essentially get three weeks revision. Two of my papers are seen and my applied microbiology paper is nice, genetic will take some thinking but shouldn’t be too bad and Pathology isn’t a seen paper so its in the hands of the gods! The pathology paper is half short answer questions and then 2 or 3 longer answer questions, whereas the 2 seen papers are either 1 or 2 essay type questions (hence we get to see them before the exam). I am not too worried at the moment but I will still be listening to Overcome Exam Nerves CD each night starting monday. It really does work and has really helped me improve my exam marks as I am able to concentrate on revision and the exam rather than worrying. It also helps me sleep better in the run up to the exams.

Think I may get the sewing machine out tonight as there is nothing on TV and it may be my last chance for a while, but before that I’m off to the shower.