Dissertation

I've handed it in!! WOO HOO!! I did think about getting a photo at the dept. office when I handed it over, but everyone was already looking at me as if I was totally dotty anyway. That's probably because I had to get a year's extension to get it done, so I haven't been sighted in the office for about 18 months. Anyway, 'tis out of the way, which is an enormous relief, but a bit unreal still. I also managed to choose Wednesday (possibly the hottest day of the year so far?!) to go to London. Phew was it hot. I don't normally go on the tube anyway (too expensive) but the buses were just as bad then. The tube is terrible in hot weather as the only ventilation on the trains is the open window at the end of each carriage!

So, how did I celebrate? Well. First of all I climbed on board the no. 30 to go to Loop (virtually a door to door service between UCL and Loop on this bus!).


I thought Loop was quite small but I loved the layout and the "feel" of the shop. I'm not normally a boutiquey shopper (!!) so probably small is to be expected. The pic above shows the yarns and books there. I enjoyed seeing and feeling Colinette yarn in a shop for the first time, as well as GGH and a nice selection of Opal sock yarn. Downstairs there were some lovely cuddly cushions and a large pile of needles etc. It's probably the librarian in me but I find a box of needles annoying, I like to see them all laid out so I can see straight away if they've got what I want! I bought a Colinette pattern book, La Bella Vita, which has some droolsome patterns, two balls of huggable GGH Colorado in pink (for a Christmas present) and a ball of Opal sock yarn. Plus some more DPNs, another set of 2.5mm aluminium ones and some 2.5mm bamboo to try.


These are some of the ceramics by Annette Bugansky, which Mary Anne had mentioned on her blog a while ago.

Then I bussed over to St Paul's to meet up for tea and a chat with Lucy. Hadn't seen her for about six months so there was a lot to catch up on.
Then it was out to the East End to stay with David & celebrate handing the dissertation in.
David is a fantabulous cook, but refused to have his photo taken, so I took a pic of the cooking instead:


This is my favourite risotto recipe and was very very tasty. (Didn't Mr Bean take pictures of his food in Mr Bean - the Movie?) Then we attempted to watch The Truman Show, but the DVD wouldn't work, so we switched to Donnie Darko instead. I loved this film - I'd avoided watching it when it originally came out as I thought it would be scary, and I don't DO scary. But it wasn't (well, only a tiny bit) and was really fascinating instead. I'd like to watch it again at some point. I'm still trying to think my way through some if it...

There hasn't been a great deal of knitting content in this post, but I will try and do a knitting update tomorrow or Monday. There is some more to show off, as I got one sock finished in London.

Oh, yes, on the way home on Thursday I popped into Waterstones and picked up a copy of Scarf Style by Pam Allen - very groovy patterns and perfect for Christmas present ideas. But watch out if you're shopping in this country for books published in the US (or elsewhere) and which only have a price in $ on the back. Waterstones had stuck price labels in GBP on the back of the book - but the two copies of Scarf Styles had different labels on the back! One was £11.99, the other £12.99, so no prizes for guessing which I went for!