#hooksforeverything

[hooksforeverything]

Ivy

“How right it is to love flowers and the greenery of pines and ivy and hawthorn hedges; they have been with us from the very beginning.” ~ Vincent Van Gogh

“The graceful ivy, clasping the oak that supported it, would form a whole in which strength and beauty would be equally conspicuous.” ~ Mary Wollstonecraft

“Oh roses for the flush of youth, And laurel for the perfect prime; But pluck an ivy branch for me Grown old before my time.” ~ Christina Rossetti

Pluck?

Pluck, Christina?

Have you ever actually tried to break off a piece of ivy? It isn’t so much pluck as we’re going to need a bigger angle grinder, Christina.

Other common names common ivy common English ivy bentwood bindwood ivory ivy gum plant love united

No, I hadn’t either.

[autodidactylous]

Thank You SO Much for 100 Followers

Yesterday I just hit 100 followers. I’m thankful for all of you who follow and interact with me– the studyblr community has been so kind and welcoming, even though my study is self-directed, rather than through a formal school.

I hope to bring you all more original content, masterposts, and reviews as I further document my learning journey. I’ll be creating and sharing my efforts in the hope that it might help supplement the studies of others, or at least be a little bit entertaining.

Shoutouts especially to @piies, @maddysstudiess, @jessastudies, @exceli, @hooksforeverything , @gottastudygottadosonow, and many others for being really nice! I hope to get to know you and others better as I continue here, and everyone really should check out their blogs as they share and post great content.

Thanks again everyone, and keep you eyes peeled for more content from me.

–Kimiko

[hooksforeverything]

Astronomical Summer 01

20th June

It’s after dark, at last, and I’m closing the windows on moths and the neighbours’ conversation. They say they should really get back in touch with their friends who live on a boat, you know, for summer. I imagine people who live on boats notice very clearly who only gets in touch over summer.

21st June

This morning we went to my allotment plot to apologise to it & get my jar of seeds back.

The radishes had grown in my absence. “You’re going to eat that off the floor?” “It’s not called the floor, it’s called the ground, and yes I am.”

A classic quiet Sunday evening, Arvo Part & two cushions & a new list on a fresh page.

[hooksforeverything]

Tuesday’s three things

Did not get the Etsy listings live yesterday, because my desk wanted more tidying than I remembered before it was fit for photos. Did not put the vision board up because it turns out I don’t have any rawlplugs left? And I did not do any notes on edx because, uh, novels and the puppy seemed like more fun. 0/3 for yesterday!

I did plant out some corn and courgette seedlings, and it was good that I’ve tidied my desk properly now.

Read Akenfield because it’s a library ebook and will return itself today.

Collect and bin all the cardboard Priscilla has been playing with and shredding, because the recycling gets collected in the morning.

Ask for a rawlplug at work so I can put up that frame.

[hooksforeverything]

Sunday’s three things

I got all pretentious for a month or so there about what was worth posting, completely forgetting that either all of it is or none of it is, and that there are literally millions of people online who don’t let that stop them.

The coffee is filtering, the little speaker is playing my Discover Weekly playlist from Spotify, and it’s going to be a bright day.

Because it’s Sunday, I have eleven tasks I could do today to make the week just gone look better in review, but because I’m still in sleep debt I’m going to pick three.

Prepare the A5 paper I’m not going to use for its Etsy listing (count off batches of 32, photo on a white background, make listing live)

Find a rawlplug in my toolbox so I can put my vision board up over my desk securely and reclaim that inch of desk space at the back where it’s been leaning

Make notes on the videos of module 6 of Disaster Risk Reduction on edX

Right after this coffee.

[hooksforeverything]

State of the Yarn Stash April 2020

Hey, remember that time I got a yarn winder from Amazon and turned my crate of spaghetti into a neat drawer of yarn cakes so that I’d use it up? Well, part of that plan worked.

Not pictured: the WIP blanket that started as a way of using up mismatched blue ends and is now getting dappled pink yarn from Poundland added to it. Wait, no, I do have a photo of that.

It’s just moss stitch in a square. I want it to be the size of our bed by the end of lockdown, and then I will call it Plague Blanket because making horrible jokes while complying with guidance would be on my CV if I still had one.

Not pictured: a literal kilo of grey DK the Tank and Healer sent me in thanks for helping with some tidying. It’s going to be a jumper, probably, which means I have until autumn to get brave enough to crochet shoulders.

Stick around, it’s going to get messier before it gets tidier. Mwah.

[hooksforeverything]

w4 review: aaaaatchoo

Tuesday night after realising I had everything figured out, I cleaned the guinea pigs’ hutch. Because Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. They seem happy with it, after the usual nose-bomping their toys back into the Correct places.

A few things combined to make Wednesday very useful. I woke early and journalled and then wrote the next part of Lark’s Guests. I’m unpicking the aesthetic destroyer leg warmers that I started with hot pink yarn because I want to make an aesthetic destroyer blanket instead. I’m looking forward to how comfortably hideous it’s going to be. Crocheted on both my bus trips & then while catching up on podcasts (Stella Rae and 99pi), because it’s only moss stitch and I don’t have to count or think.

On Thursday it was too cloudy to be truly cold so I raked and weeded between the beans and brassicas (one of the cabbages has mildew but we’re leaving it in until someone feels brave enough to touch it) and mended the bird netting with square knots. Things I did not do in the afternoon include: going to the coast, writing the novel, sweeping the living room floor.

Friday afternoon the bad throat I’d woken up with developed enthusiastically into a proper cold, which knocked Saturday into orbit. I did nothing but cuddle the puppy, crochet and take paracetamol. The Big Spoon has been majestically supportive about making sure I’m tucked in but can reach a hot drink at all times. I’m very lucky.

Two new notebooks onto society6 this week: some daffodil shoots and a patch of silver birch bark. I quite like how the silver birch one lined up – you could write the title of the notebook in that paler section.

The new moss stitch blanket has been an excellent companion on six bus trips and three sofa evenings and it’s really helping me get through my yarn stash crate – I can crochet straight off the older pieces I’m reusing, skipping the stage of turning them into a pretty ball. This also means that Priscilla can do limited amounts of damage if she does get hold of it. A few rows of undone crochet is far easier to tidy up than a ball with the heart ripped out.

She has been a total honey these last few days while I’ve been ill. Very forgiving little poppet. I suppose it helps that she’s a lap dog by nature and when I’m swooning on the sofa I become five foot six of acceptable lap substitute. But I truly appreciated her offer to help me sort the laundry. Maybe next time, baby.

I’ve just looked at the long range weather forecast and it’s seriously not expected to freeze again all of February. It’s not quite as noobish of me as one might think to sow some seeds next time I get up to the allotment. That will not be today because, did I mention, I’m so ill.

Looking Glass (The Naturalist, #2) (Kindle)

[hooksforeverything]

six hundred pages

Saturday morning I woke up when the sky lightened at half past seven, which was too late to get three pages of journalling in before Priscilla woke up. Slung some peas and sausages in the slow cooker as a compromise between how we’ve been eating and the whole foods ideal – I vaguely think my sleep patterns will improve if we eat better, but normally my skin is the first to complain and it’s been remarkably placid lately.

Imma pin all the photos from this project to my Novel: Fen Pinterest board: https://www.dezeen.com/2020/01/12/james-casebere-on-the-water-edge-photography/

I wasn’t in time to read the story in question, nor am I in the discussion spaces where the hurtful responses happened, but the editorial response to the outcry about this story can be read as a short story: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/fall_01_20/ …oh, hang on, I was in time after all – I sent it to Pocket as I send all the Clarkesworld stories – and I read it as a crisp and interesting exercise in ‘yes, and’ so I hope the outcry doesn’t stop her writing in public.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Kindle) The Robot and Automation Almanac – 2020: The Futurist Institute (Kindle)

Sunday morning I woke up at nearly eight again, and only wrote one page of journalling before Priscilla woke up needy. I wondered whether it would be good to skip morning journalling for the next week and go straight into trying to write Lark’s Guests, because I’m behind with it.

Thinking about that, I drew the card The Empress, and took Priscilla downstairs for breakfast.

The Future of Feeling: Building Empathy in a Tech-Obsessed World (Kindle)

Reader, I did not stop journalling, I have been scribbling like a loony thing for like three days and reading about project management. Tuesday evening after a morning of allotment & work and an afternoon of writing & planning with The Blue Planet score playing on Spotify I think I’ve got my quarter figured out.

[hooksforeverything]

Thursday’s three things

Finish this black hat

Clean kitchen

Not nap this afternoon

[hooksforeverything]

Wednesday’s Three Things

It’s not even seven pm, I may be in my dressing gown but I can still pick three things off the to do list and make today a win.

Sweep living room floor, because someone seems to have given the puppy an envelope again.

Copy out the first part of the rewrites of Lark’s Guests, so it’s in the same place & format as the rest will be.

Put my phone out of reach, recline with my tablet and watch American Gods.

[hooksforeverything]

Wednesday words

Things I have had to look up or check I remember correctly for my stories so far this week:

Hero’s Journey. Yes, all of it.

Whether tvtropes has a clever archetype name for the pathologically unimaginative system-following spoilsport or buzzkill character, but could only find Obstructive Bureaucrat.

The expression argumentum ad crumenam – defending a point by saying its followers are rich and its opponents are poor.

The actual plot of the Tempest, because I want to use its aesthetic but couldn’t actually remember anyone’s motivation except Ariel’s.

Chintz (fabric)

Paisley (pattern)

Iran in the fifties (no, not all of it, just an overview)

Messenger goddess names (Iris, Arke, I’m always surprised to find new ways Wikipedia is eurocentric)

Mercury project first cohort

[hooksforeverything]

w52: 23-29 December

It’s been a useful week, apparently, from the look of my completed items log, but I don’t seem to have journalled. I bought two new desks with Christmas money so now the Big Spoon and I each have an office. It’s very tempting to spend my time making the desk pretty instead of writing.

I made a bag out of hexagons, which is now in the ‘Try To Sell’ category because the colours are so brash.

The moss blanket has paused at puppy size.

I love moss stitch too much. This snooooood used up two blobs of leftover beige.

The internet says dogs mustn’t eat cherry wood because cyanide. The internet really likes saying mean things like that sometimes, have you noticed? These cherry twigs are in a tall vase on my desk.

[hooksforeverything]

w50: 9-15 December

Priscilla went Very Fast on Monday morning’s walk because the pavements are wet & it’s just above freezing. It’s also pretty windy & two advertising boards blew over as we crossed the river bridge, startling us both. We had a cuddle of reassurance which left a precise wet-dog print on my t-shirt.

At work, among the usual things, I wired a new bulb socket onto a lamp base without finding out why one of the bayonet terminals had crumbled into dust. Will keep an eye on it for repeat failure.

I carried on with my red sparkly Secret Paths shawl on the bus. A lady who’d been meditating opposite me complimented me on it as she left, which was nice. More winding up yarn into cakes when I got home, although puppy was being enthusiastic around my ankles.

Tuesday Priscilla came to work with me. The idea was that she’d be so tired from the lovely visit that she’d sleep all afternoon and I could get on with crochet or writing, but I forgot that I’d be tired too. We both napped hard.

Wednesday morning at work was raking and tidying around the compost heaps because it’s garden bin day and they like to get it out full. It was a gorgeous bright crisp day and I’m glad I was moving around; standing still would have been very cold.

Murder is Easy (Kindle? library? paperback?)

Voted. Worried.

Ok, I shouldn’t have looked at the exit poll at 10pm. I should have waited until morning.

Friday I’m just stunned by the election result and it’s hard to think of good things to say. I didn’t get rained on. I stroked two cats at work and came home to the Big Spoon and the puppy for coffee and cuddles.

Saturday I’m up early again, still processing Thursday night’s election result but my group chats have had some ideas of how to get through this. For me, spending more time on the allotment is going to be a big part of it. I don’t think I was even up there an hour, but I cut up some brambles and raked a bit more of the South end that had suffered in the strong winds, dug out another pound of Jerusalem artichokes, and started pinning down the mesh I’m going to use for paths.

It’s truly weird how little I’ve read this week. Is it election information overload or would I have had no attention span this week anyway? Hey, there’s a robin on the neighbour’s roof, I should put more mealworms out.

Sunday morning another hour at the allotment: didn’t sow anything but turned some earth and raked out some long grass and inconvenienced some more brambles. Came back to fling all my clothes into the washing machine and myself into the shower. Feeling pretty accomplished tbh. The week ends strong with a roast meal and catch-up chat at the cottage.

[hooksforeverything]

Saturday’s Three Things

Good crop of rocks.

Marked out and raked another square metre at the allotment. I’m going to sow radish in it – I know it’s madness to try in December but nobody knows what the weather’s doing and I’ve got radish seed anyway.

Dug up another bag of Jerusalem artichokes, which when washed turned out to be just over a kilogram. There’s probably another 2kg still in the earth, and I’m dropping the smaller ones back in to grow next year.

Stress-crocheted a corner-to-corner moss stitch square in the silver bamboo yarn my Southern friends sent me. It’s nice and silky.

Priscilla seems to be getting the hang of ‘yarn in use is not a toy’ but any yarn she can reach that I’m not actually holding is still fair game. I don’t get cross with her because she always looks so blissfully happy when I find her surrounded by the multicoloured entrails of craft supplies.

Moss stitch

[hooksforeverything]

Amoretti LXII: “The weary yeare his race now having run”

BY EDMUND SPENSER

The weary yeare his race now having run, The new begins his compast course anew: With shew of morning mylde he hath begun, Betokening peace and plenty to ensew. So let us, which this chaunge of weather vew, Chaunge eeke our mynds and former lives amend, The old yeares sinnes forepast let us eschew, And fly the faults with which we did offend. Then shall the new yeares joy forth freshly send, Into the glooming world his gladsome ray: And all these stormes which now his beauty blend, Shall turne to caulmes and tymely cleare away. So likewise love cheare you your heavy spright, And chaunge old yeares annoy to new delight.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50429/amoretti-lxii-the-weary-yeare-his-race-now-having-run

[hooksforeverything]

w40: 30 September to 6 October

Monday afternoon after work I napped so long that the dog walk was both after dark and in the rain. We stuck to the route that’s lit but of course that’s also the route with all the dropped food, so I wouldn’t say it was a relaxing promenade.

Lately I’ve been having dreams on the theme of suddenly having to look after small animals. Every time, they get out of their enclosure, and I dream-panic, and every time they don’t actually run away. I find them sitting comfortably beside their door or near the food, and I dream-scramble to grab them and put them back in. Last night I didn’t panic. I dream-sat down and it climbed across me, little pointy dream-feet, to tuck itself back in.

Tuesday morning at work I did actually work but the highlight was learning how to use the new power wheelchair. In a few weeks when we’ve all got better at manoeuvring I shall repaint the door frames…

Wednesday at work I put a second coat of paint on the cat scratches, moved the healthier geraniums from the patio pots to overwinter out of sight and binned the geraniums that wouldn’t have made it to spring. I crocheted on the bus! Mainly because my phone was charging in my bag, but it’s still good. 

Home to pick up the puppy and back out again on another bus to the cottage. Good chat about anxiety and depression with the Healer while our dogs played kiss chase. The Healer and the Tank then went out to fetch a foster dog. She’s very lovable, but if we’re going to be four dogs we need to end capitalism and get some Land to live on quite soon. 

There might be a lead on that plan, actually, but the Tank needs to have a conversation with someone who’s very busy, so I am telling myself not to think about the specifics too hard. 

Thursday morning I woke from a dream that they’d privatised the fire service. I do wish my brain wouldn’t do satire at me. Thursday night I pulled the sofa forwards, cleaned behind it and pulled all the half-used white paint cans out from the cupboard that the sofa blocks. I wanted to know if I need to order any paint to get started on the kitchen but I don’t think I do; we have regular wall paint, damp-proof paint, gloss (for the door and doorframe) and the extra-hard floor paint I used in the bathroom.

Friday at work was very positive: went to an orthopaedics appointment and found out that her foot is healing without the need for surgery. She’s adamant that she won’t stay inpatient again and I quietly agree: every hospital stay seems to set her back. Home is best.

Friday afternoon I roughly sanded and sugar soaped the kitchen door, and then started putting white gloss paint onto it. I’d forgotten how intrusive the smell of gloss paint is.

Learned how to double crochet from a YouTube video. Adding ‘slow motion’ to the name of the stitch when I search is very helpful!

I’m expecting to be told I have an allotment very soon. I have three data points for my position on the waiting list, and the line of the graph should be reaching zero now. I know, really, that it can’t be a consistent smoothable trend, but it’s very hard to tell myself that.

Saturday morning I woke feeling competent and alert, so I finally got around to doing my 2018/19 tax self-assessment. It’s really not difficult, I just wind myself up about what They’ll Do if I tick the wrong yes/no. I knew darned well I hadn’t earned enough to owe tax, but it’s always nice to see that £0.00 on the screen.

Saturday afternoon at the cottage, crocheting and playing with dogs and talking about robots. Blissful.