OK, so I lied

The last post isn’t the last one before Christmas.
I just logged on to my university’s website to accept my degree and I found out the classification.

A closer look?

It’s a 2.1!!!!!!!I’m not normally a fan of the over-use of the exclamation mark, but I think it needs it!
As I mentioned previously, I thought I’d get a 2.2, so this is a complete surprise. I hadn’t felt like celebrating yet, just in case they’d made a mistake and were going to take it away from me. Bring on the Dandelion and Burdock* – let the part-ey begin!

And now, I promise, that’s it. Really. Totally nothing until after Boxing Day. Or at least Boxing Day. Christmas Eve?

*I can’t drink alcohol for medical reasons (well, I could, but I’d have to have 999 on speed-dial) so this is as wild as I get!

Small scratch

EDIT: Apparently, Internet explorer doesn’t like my new fangled left align thing with the pictures. [insert weeping here]

Well, I couldn’t very well say little prick, could I? Oops! Well, that bruise is the result of have four (or was it three?) vials of blood taken for a battery of tests. Yes, my good people I finally have a consultant! Woo hoo – happy dance! This neurologist is only the second specialist I’ve seen in fourteen years of being ill. The first one was a paediatritian. That’s how long ago it was!

Knitting?

Bonny Charms is moving apace and I’m now on the armhole bit of the back. Have I mentioned that there’s an error in the chart in the magazine, and the numbers you end up with after the ribbing don’t add up to a full repeat.

This is the HORRENDOUSLY ORANGE YARN I got to do the arigu.. agium.. those wee Japanese crocheted thingys. All I have to do is teach myself to crochet and how to design those crocheted doll-things. Easy. Right?

Snake Skin socks have been started and put down frequently. The pattern is fairly easy to remember, but it’s just finding the time and energy to work on them.

Science news round-up:

o:Etna ready to go “Boom!”
o:Is the Liang Bua “Hobbit” really a new species?
o: Cows have regional accents!

SCORE!

I love the library! Clockwise from top left: Sew Basic, Sashiko, M.E., Scottish Highlands and Islands, Making Knitwear Fit and 2oth Century Fashion.

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting;

Nearly there

I just have one more “thing” to do on Acorn, and then I can call it finished. All I have to do then is write up the pattern, test knit it, or find somebody I can trust to help me out, and I can send it to Kerrie.

In the meantime, look at the amazing pooling I got with the yarn!

I’m not saying whether or not this is the “right” way up, sideways or inside out. You’ll just have to wait and see!

From the BBC News Online pages

For your scientific-reading. The ones that I’m thinking of getting from the library are marked in red. I’m a great fan of accessable scientific liturature, or “pop Sci lit” if you will! I hope to be able to do this kind of thing for a living one day, either in books, journals or newspapers. Do you think I’m gobby enough? Actually, don’t answer that!

The full longlist for the 2006 Aventis General Prize:

Electric Universe – How Electricity Switched on the Modern World, by David Bodanis (Little Brown)

Collapse – How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, by Jared Diamond (Penguin Allen Lane)

The Elements of Murder – A History of Poison, John Emsley (Oxford University Press)

The Gecko’s Foot – Bio-inspiration – Engineering New Materials from Nature, by Peter Forbes (Fourth Estate)

The Silicon Eye – How a Silicon Valley Company Aims to Make All Current Computers, Cameras, and Cell Phones Obsolete, by George Gilder (WW Norton)

Parallel Worlds – The Science of Alternative Universes and our Future in the Cosmos, by Michio Kaku (Penguin)

Power, Sex, Suicide – Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, by Nick Lane (Oxford University Press)

Venomous Earth – How Arsenic Caused the World’s Worst Mass Poisoning, by Andrew Meharg (Macmillan)

Empire of the Stars – Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes, by Arthur I. Miller (Little Brown)

Seven Deadly Colours – The Genius of Nature’s Palette and how it Eluded Darwin, by Andrew Parker (Simon & Schuster)

The Truth About Hormones – What’s Going on when we’re Tetchy, Spotty, Fearful, Tearful or Just Plain Awful, by Vivienne Parry (Atlantic Books)

Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis – The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers, by Dan Rockmore (Jonathan Cape)

The Fruits of War – How War and Conflict have Driven Science, by Michael White (Simon & Schuster)

Hmm … I have quite diverse interests, don’t I?!

And finally, a slightly bizzare request…

Do you work for/study in an institution/organisation that has an online subscription to the Journal of American Medical Association? There are a couple of research papers that could be key to my dissertation, but my uni doesn’t subscribe, and there isn’t a work-around (I’ve tried).

***ADDED*** I just tried something and it worked! I registered for the free content, and that means I can get hold of most things over 6 months old. This is great, but be on stand-by in case I need something younger! You have been warned!