Prettifying my Desk

My desk at work was looking a bit boring - not at all pretty and colourful like my flat.  Admittedly it is mostly covered in paper when I'm working on drawings.

I decided that it needed some crochet treatment, namely a bunting because it is my favourite simple decoration and it brightens rooms up so much (I have 3 in my living room now).

After browsing Ravelry for a while I found this cute little pattern for a bunting which I modified a bit to make smaller flags.

Yesterday I attached the bunting to my computer screens (with some funny looks from my line manager) and I'm thrilled by how cute it looks.

It makes the desk feel like it's really mine now.

All settled in

Firstly, hello.  Starting my new job and moving has seen me rather busier than I expected so I haven't been around recently.  I've done so much in the last few weeks that it may take a couple of blog posts to talk about it all.

As I mentioned a while ago, I was moving to Sheffield for my new job and... well... I'm settled in my lovely new flat now and getting used to my job.

The van is completely full ready to move me to Sheffield

My flat now I am properly unpacked 

  Moving was fun but I am glad I have everything unpacked now and it is feeling like home.

Exploring A New City

I mentioned here a few months ago that I had received a job offer to work in Sheffield starting in September.  Since I came back from holiday, I've been searching for somewhere to live and have visited Sheffield twice.

I have to say it is a lovely city (which is a relief!) and I am starting to know my way around.  Here are a few photos that show-off the city nicely:

Nice Buildings and Open Spaces...

...Tonnes of Theatres...

...and lots of beautiful parks

Even better news is that I have signed for a flat!  Rob and I visited Sheffield at the start of this week to view flats.  Two viewings were cancelled while we were there but we still got to see 3 different flats and agreed on a favourite.

Anyway tomorrow is a big day for me and Rob as it is our graduation.  I can't believe 4 years of university have flown by so quickly.  The ceremony is at the same concert hall that Rob and I saw Al Murray at (The Liverpool Philharmonic) and my family have seats in one of the boxes

Catching-up

I feel like a lot has happened since I last posted so we'll have a quick catch-up.

As you may know, I graduate from university in July so have been searching for graduate jobs for several months.  I have been to a couple of assessment centres including one adventure to Leeds.  I got a job offer after the interview in Leeds!!!  I have accepted the offer to work in the company's Sheffield office starting in September.  I've never been to Sheffield but I have friends who went to university there and loved the city.

I'm the first out of my uni group to have a job offer which is exciting but I was one of the first to start applying and the company was unusually quick in offering the job - some companies make you wait a month before letting you know whether or not you were successful.

Another fun event was Rob's birthday (which happens to be Valentine's Day).  His mum and brother came to visit and took us out for a meal - it's amusing seeing people's reactions when you say that you and your boyfriend are being taken out by your boyfriend's mum for Valentine's Day.  

I made Rob a card using an idea I saw on Pinterest:

I also used the fact it was Valentine's Day to include some heart-related gifts:

I used an old jam jar and filled it with hearts

The hearts are made using this pattern - I will include full details as part of tomorrow's FO Friday post

I also decided to make shortbread as I didn't have the right ingredients for any other cookies

These are a couple of the projects I'm working on now that I thought I'd keep you up-to-date with

My granny striped bag

I have now sewn the lining to the crocheted granny square so now I'm about to start crocheting the sides to make it more bag-like.  I'll be using this tutorial for how to do the sides of the bag

Converse Baby Booties

A friend is expecting a baby in March so I'm making some little booties for the baby. 

 The booties shown above use this pattern.  They are really quick to make and so cute!

#reverb12 Days 3 and 4

I have struggled to think of things to write for days 3 and 4.  I'm not sure what to wish for in a year's time.  Hopefully I will graduate well, I wish that I'll have a good graduate job which I enjoy, and I hope I won't be too far from The Boy.  Neither of us know where we'll be based after graduation which will be weird after 2 years of living together.

Day 4's suggestion is to think about how we are celebrating ourselves this month.  Tomorrow is an important day for us at uni as we have to give an oral presentation about our project work so far and what we plan to do next semester.  It is only worth 10% of the overall project but it is the part most people are nervous about.  I've made The Boy a little 4 leaf clover to put in his advent calendar for the morning as he is nervous too.

Another fun thing I have tomorrow is my first real job interview.  It is just a phone interview so luckily I have plenty of time for it after my presentation. It should go fine though as I have prepared well for it but it is a bit nerve-wracking.

We'll be celebrating tomorrow night with a nice meal out which will be lovely after an intense day.

Serious Stuff

As I've just started my final year of university the time has come to start applying for jobs.  By this time next year I will no longer be a student but will (hopefully) have a full time job - scary stuff!

I've spent most of this afternoon filling in online application forms for various engineering companies and sending CVs with the knowledge that I have many more to go.  I hope it is all worth it in the end!

On a sillier note, I'm back visiting my parents this weekend because I haven't seen my Mum for a few weeks.  We got to watch the Formula One together and while Dad was out today Mum and I watched Four Christmases.  It is such a funny film!  I haven't seen it before but Mum had and we were both laughing out loud at several points in the film.

FO Friday - My first present finished

I was working on wednesday at the place I did my summer work and it was great to see everyone.  I figured it would probably be the last time I'd see my Best Friend before Christmas so I had to rush to complete my present for him.

He's been making me watch Star Wars because apparently it's such a crime that I haven't seen them already so I had to make him a Star Wars present.

I chose to make R2D2 by Penelope Senior (pattern here)

The colour-work looks really effective and I was thrilled by the way it looked when I finished it.

I think I'll be making myself one! My Best Friend loved it too.

Back at Uni

I've finished at my summer job and am back at lectures now.  I only have twelve hours of lectures per week (down from about 25 last year).  Although it does mean that we have to spend lots of time on our group project  - Augmented Reality.  We had to set up a blog to keep our supervisor up-to-date on it but it is blank so far (ARLivUni.blogspot.com).

The flat is looking A LOT tidier!  We've assembled almost all of our furniture and unpacked all the boxes. However there are lots of cardboard boxes lying around everywhere.

Chester Races

The company I work for won an award (the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation) recently so decided to go to Chester races for the 'Ladies and Gents Evening' to celebrate.   We were in the open part of the course, rather than the formal part.  It saved a lot of planning what to wear as we went straight from work.

I didn’t place any bets but some of my friends did and one even allowed me to pick some of their horses for them (which sadly didn’t prove lucky).

We had a barbeque set up and so there was plenty of food.  Our marquee tent was right next to the 2 furlong marker (technical sounding at least) and the horses were only about five metres away when they passed us.

Astronomy Lecture

We got an email sent around at work a few weeks ago about a public lecture about the Hubble Space Telescope.  I've always been interested in astronomy and, as one of my friends at work said, there would at least be some pretty pictures.


So last Thursday a small group of us made the journey after work into Liverpool for the lecture.  We turned up very early for the lecture and managed to find a pub that had nice food not too far from where it was being held.

The lecture itself was really interesting and talked about the advances that have been made in astronomy with the help of the Hubble Telescope in the 20 years it has been in operation.  Of course there were some amazing photos that Hubble has taken too.


If you want to read more about it you can find it here.  That page also has a link to a video of the entire lecture.

Looking For Inspiration

I've been busy scanning Ravelry looking for some ideas for what to crochet.  I'm thinking of a crochet motif t-shirt or a japanese doll amigurumi but I can't seem to be inspired to choose a project or start anything.

Eve sent me this funny picture the other day as she knows I love Disney Beauty and the Beast:

 

It made me laugh so much when I first saw it.

At work today they were impressed with the work I've done this week - which I was very proud of!  We're sat watching Pushing Daisies now as it is so cheerful and sweet.

Anyway I ought to be choosing a project to keep me amused, or maybe I should just get back to my knitting Beau for The Boy.

Totoro again!!!

After another hard day of work today we've decided to watch My Neighbour Totoro again as it's such a lovely film.  Here is the mini Totoro I made recently:

At work they ran out of jobs for me to do so I was assigned transferring questionnaire results into a spreadsheet and then making pretty graphs so they can be presented some time next week.

I love Venice, even though I've never been, and so when Mum and Eve went shopping in Chester a few weeks ago they got me this little porcelain mask as it looks a bit like a Venetian mask:

As well as some books to read on the long train journeys to work every day.  I've almost finished the first one though so it looks like I'll be asking them for more books soon.

First Day of Work

I survived!!!  I'm home now.  Not feeling as tired as I thought I'd be.

I've been assigned a task to work on but it's analysing data using software that I'm unfamiliar with and my supervisor has gone to Cambridge so I am left on my own struggling through the work.

I have to get up at 6am tomorrow as I start work at 8.30 so I'll be in bed very early tonight to catch up.

We're sat watching Hot Fuzz now as the DVD arrived while I was at work (it feels weird saying that).  I ordered some presents for The Boy as rewards for working hard during exams and they've arrived now too.

Hopefully I'll be more awake tomorrow night - I'm not getting much of Beau done.