Een Perfecte Dagje

I was not back in the Netherlands long before I was rushing to get in my first re-visit to one of the most beautiful cities the world has to offer - Haarlem. On Sunday, after spending a good long while somehow accidentally illegally locked in my university (oops), I spent 3 hours on trains before I was walking down the sunny streets (a break in the rain) towards the hostel.

Overjoyed to be back, I felt utterly overwhelmed at how warm the welcome was. The hostel was hosting a big dinner that evening, so it provided the perfect chance for me to see almost everybody (a few notable exceptions) in just one short day - a day that was over far too quickly.

Too preoccupied with catching up and exchanging stories, I took absolutely no pictures of the amazing dinner and drinks we had, so you'll have to believe me when I say how wonderful everything was. The entire day was so great that the train ride home was acutely bitter-sweet. I feel so lucky to have such great friends to miss, and such a great atmosphere to go back to. I will have to spend much more time Haarlem in the future, and I'm even thinking about moving there after I graduate.

Haarlem

one very very notable exception (who is still cracking me up via Skype)

I had such a perfect time, it was a day I will not forget. Until next time, Haarlem.

3 ingredient breakfast cups

Currently, I am living in my apartment in Maas still without a microwave, oven, or fridge. This has been presenting many challenges (one of which is the necessity of walking to the shops for groceries every single day), but a large one is the lack of normal breakfast. No cereal, no porridge (that takes far too long on the stove!), no yoghurt, no smoothies, just bread every day. So, I raided my cupboards to create something new out of my favourite ingredients, and came up with this.

ingredients

- 1 cup oats
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup

I started with measuring out all of the ingredients. Then I melted the peanut butter on the stove top, folding in the syrup when it was liquid, then removing from the heat to add the oats.

warm together on the stove

mix in oats

Once everything was totally mixed, I divided it into 6 portions and spooned into cupcake cases in a tray, and left to cool. The simplest thing I've ever made - and so tasty! I ate one with a cup of tea after my dinner in the evening, then had another with a banana for breakfast the following morning. They leave a lot of room for improvisation with adding in nuts, chocolate chips, or fruits, so I will give these a try and report back! Tot zo!

6 perfect cups

2 knitted jumpers

In the past, the majority of my knitting projects have been socks. I have tried textures, colourwork, fair isle, lace, and have enough socks to go through all winter, so earlier this year I decided that I would turn my hand to knitting something new - a jumper. Year before last I knitted the Purl Soho short row sweater  in fingering weight drops baby alpaca silk, which took me several months to complete (not surprising for such a large surface area in such fine wool!), so I set my plan for knitting my first proper jumper at the beginning of summer thinking it would be ready and finished just about in time for the start of autumn.

my short row sweater

The Chuck sweater 

Aware that knitting a jumper is quite a large undertaking, I opted to start out with a slightly smaller cropped one - the Chuck sweater. It also appealed to me because of the number of cables on it, as cables are something I particularly enjoy in knitting, and something I am confident with so I was sure I could complete the pattern well and without getting bored. I bought my pattern, caked up 4 skeins of aran weight Cascade 220 in the Pumpkin Spice colour way from wool warehouse, and cast on to begin.

pumpkin spice colourway

The top-down construction of the sweater was interesting but very clever, it grew nicely and I was happy to begin the cables which were complicated enough to require a bit of concentration every now and then but not too challenging that it was a pain. Before I knew it I was knitting the waist band of the jumper, with just the sleeves and ribbing to be done, and this only motivated me to push through and get it finished so I could wear it.

the finished sweater

back shaping

Part way through finishing up my second sleeve I noticed a mistake I had made in one of my cables (perhaps karma telling me I was a little too relaxed and overly confident knitting them), however at this point it was far too late to rip it back and change it, although I think it gives it character and isn't too noticeable.

the cable mistake

I completed this jumper in 3 weeks time, it knitted up very fast. The pattern was easy to follow, and interesting enough that I felt compelled to keep picking it up and working on it. The size that I made fits perfectly for me, and I am really impressed with the outcome as it is a great design which I think looks great in the colour way. The only note I would make on this before knitting it again (which I most definitely will), is that I will need to look into a few different types of bind off. Initially I had bound it off too tight, so it fit nicely around my waist once on but was difficult to pull of quickly over my shoulders, so I tried again with a looser bind off but this just made it gape. In the end I tried to aim for a mid-way bind off, which I blocked to be a little larger, which works well but isn't perfect.

sweater modelling 

Although I was happy to finish this project so quickly, I was done just before the start of summer when I couldn't wear it, and it left me at a loss for a summer knitting project as I thought it would last at least until September. So, of course, I decided to knit another different jumper.

front detailing

The forest cardigan

I felt more confident now with one complete jumper under my belt, so I was more ambitious in selecting a second jumper. I landed on the forest cardigan, a staple which has long since been missing from my wardrobe - a long, cozy, and practical cardigan (and again featuring lovely big cables). I ordered 6 skeins of caron simply soft heather in the charcoal colourway - and in the end I used only 4 and a half of these (about 1100m).

the finished cardigan

Sookie approved of the colourway

I had a very tough time getting good photos of this on!

I stitched a 'hand made' label in to finish 

The pattern started out a little tricky for me, as it begins with a raglan construction from top down which is unlike anything I've ever knitted before, and it required a lot of charting. However once I got to grips with the chart I'd made it grew quickly, and I especially enjoyed the new type of cable on the sleeves.

raglan construction

sleeve cables

I'd never knitted pockets before and it was interesting to try this, but I am not totally sure I am happy with the outcome. The top of the pocket opening is the same size as the beginning of the back part (29 stitches), which made the top of the pockets loose and drapey, I think the structure would have been more stable if the outer part had slightly fewer stitches at the top. The lower part of the back of the pockets are slightly larger (2 stitches) than the front, so when I stitched them together in addition to the loose top of the pockets there was now puckering towards the edges. I haven't yet blocked the cardigan, but I hope that this will even the pockets out a bit.

pocket detail

pocket

I initially knitted the sleeves the recommended length from the pattern, but when I tried it on they were far too long so I frogged about 4 inches - perhaps my gauge was too loose or maybe my arms are just short? The sleeves are still pretty long though, which is nice and also gives the opportunity to fold up the cuffs.

Maybe it was the thick wool, maybe it was that I was so interested in the way the pattern was building, maybe I was just on a roll, but I completed this cardigan in 15 days. I really enjoyed knitting it, and I am so happy with the outcome, it is a warm and cozy cardigan, and the wool is so soft and squishy - I'd very much like to make it again.

so happy in this jumper!

Now, with 2 new jumpers in the hottest week of the year so far, I am thinking of planning another more elaborate sweater, perhaps something with colourwork on the front in a lighter weight of wool. But this is all I have for now, tot volgende keer!

Birthday Bullet Journal

Recently I had my birthday (now I am no-longer feeling 22), and one of my absolute favourite gifts was something I wanted for a while, a gift from my mum; a black, A5, dotted, 250 page moleskine notebook. This was of course to start one of the big journaling trends from earlier in the year - a Bullet Journal. Although I was intrigued by the idea when I first came across it, it took a fair amount of looking around to really understand what the whole idea was about, as a lover of journaling I didn't mind putting in a bit of time to this but for those less dedicated to researching the best diary keeping techniques, here is a basic description of what a Bullet Journal is, and how to set one up for yourself.

I think it is a characteristic of creative people to have almost an overwhelming number of thoughts and ideas and lists they want to explore in their heads at any one time, this often results in decreased productivity through lack of organisation of these ideas. This is certainly something I've seen in myself, and its always lead to frustration and even further decreased productivity - the Bullet Journal is the perfect remedy for this. It basically combines a year calendar, a day-to-day schedule, to-do lists, progress trackers, daily private journal, inspiration board, memory log, and really whatever else you may wish to write down. The flexible nature of the layout means you can really make it anything and everything you want it to be. There are some key elements which create the backbone of the bullet journal, I've used some pictures of mine to demonstrate these.

my bullet journal

1) The Index

All the pages of your journal should be numbered (most notebooks aren't already numbered, I just add mine to the pages as I go along), and the index is the front pages of the journal which acts as a contents. Using this you can easily find whatever you're looking for at any time.

attempt at my own calligraphy

2) The key

The whole idea behind the Bullet Journal is that you write mainly in short notes rather than full sentences. This is achievable by using a notation system in place of classic bullet points, which you can decide for yourself (although there are a standard few which are pretty clever and widely used!) and then adapt to your own needs. Somewhere in your journal you should write out a key for these notations as a point of reference.

my key is in the corner of my year overview

3) The "Future Log"

Although this sounds pretty fancy, it essentially means calendar. As always it is adaptable to your own needs, it can use more or fewer pages if required, but typically a bullet journal has a double page spread at the start for the year overview, and then a double page spread at the start of each month for quick reference. Searching on pinterest or instagram you can easily find loads of cool layouts to try, or can design your own. I added a tasks list to my month overview for things I needed to do in that month but hadn't yet set a date of completion for.

August overview & tasks box

4) The "Daily Log"

Once you have set everything else up, you can create a space for your daily appointments, notes, to-dos, memories, or whatever else you'd like to write. Again you can design this for yourself, or there are loads of available layouts to try depending on how much space you need, what you want to include, and how much time you want to put into setting it up every week.

the first week of the month

I use the empty space at the end of the month for illustration & motivation

Each month has its own colour scheme 

5) Other things

After you have put in the practical elements to your Bullet Journal, the real fun things can be added - something which I consider another key part of the whole Bullet Journal concept. You can add trackers for anything at all, and the beauty of the flexible system is that you can add them in at any point in your journal - just put the page number in the index. Just after my month overview, I added a double page spread for a habit tracker (something I had already been working on as part of another project - the journal pulls everything together!), a sleep tracker, and a mood tracker. I later decided that I also wanted to add a page to review books as I finished them, a page to track what I'd been spending money on, and a page of 'important stuff' (usernames and ID numbers not to forget!).

I am currently reading Vagina: a new biography, and Girl on a Train

This was trickier than expected as half of my money is in euros and half in pounds

My initial month overview included a space for general tasks I knew needed to be completed over the month, but which I hadn't yet assigned specific dates to. Within about the first 3 days of August this was already totally full, so for September I changed it to have a whole double page spread dedicated to various tasks.

September calendar without a side bar tracker

new tasks page 

I may have gotten a little carried away with my daily trackers when I started, although I felt I significantly held back (many people track virtually everything they do right down to exactly what they eat and at what times). I wasn't finding time for everything everyday, and I know I this will only be worse once I begin university again in September, so I removed almost everything in my revised the page. I found the habit tracker particularly problematic, as there were often days in which I had legitimate reasons for not achieving everything and I almost wanted to write these as side notes to prevent it from looking like I'd just been lazy on a few days. Another thing I noticed was that some items I'd put on the habits list which normally made me relaxed (yoga and meditation) had now become a source of stress as I was unhappy when I could not tick of those boxes on a day. Because I want to do at least one of these everyday but almost never fit in all 3, I condensed them into one tracker.

One of the trackers I was surprised to have found most insightful was the one showing my sleep pattern - I had always thought I had a fairly regular pattern but this clearly not the case! Its something I can work on in the future. Although I like the mood tracker, and it provides a nice insight, I was just not finding it practical to keep all the coloured pens with the journal at all times.

I thought in September I'd try out a gratitude log, to write something that made me happy or that I am  grateful for everyday, perhaps later I will write another post on further things I have added (I'd like to add a page documenting running progress) and how they went.

the August tracker

the September tracker

Although it may seem like a lot of effort, once you have started up the basics you can really put as much or as little time into your journal as you'd like. I really enjoy the opportunity for small creative outlets (especially in times of being super busy) in designing motifs for layouts, and I like finding inspirational elements to add in, while at the same time its really nice to not have the pressure of making everything perfect first time. If you forget something, you can add it in later. If you don't like the layout, you can change it next week or month. I thought it was important to hold back a little at the beginning to not over complicate things, to make sure I would still actually be able to practically use it.

I am so happy with my little birthday Bullet Journal - nicknamed "the B-day-Bu-Jo", and am interested to see how it develops over time. Keeping it has been a very enjoyable and useful process, something I'd recommend to everyone, and I hope my description can be of some use!

“I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.” 
― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Tot volgende keer!

The (Great) British round-up

I returned to my home town in South West London about a month and a half ago, with an aim to enjoy it as much as possible before beginning with my Beschouwend internship in Roermond in September. Combining this with administrative work for the master, and practical preparations for working with ECGs, blood work, and my first progress test in Dutch, I have been kept fairly busy and my blog has languished a little. I decided to put together a sort of highlight-reel of the last few weeks (omitting things which have already received their own posts), before its time to crack on with more studious activities back in the Netherlands.


London

I was lucky enough to have a few days overlapping with my visit back to my sisters visit home, as she is also reading medicine meaning that in the past it has proved difficult for us to find time to spend together. Along with our mum we spent an afternoon walking along Richmond riverside, finishing at the Petersham Nurseries, which housed a gorgeous garden cafe spread over several greenhouses.

Richmond Bridge

Richmond riverside

greenhouse teahouse 

family in the greenhouse

super soft at Twickenham riverside

The Cathedrals Express passing through Hounslow station

Also in my first week back in London I visited Mayfield lavender field with my mum - I added a couple of pictures of the lavender to one of the parts of my short story - which was pretty and made us both (unsurprisingly) pretty relaxed (on the hot summers day it felt a little like swimming in a cup of warm lavender tea).

Mum selfie

lunch

fields 

Falmouth

One of my closest friends had just graduated with a bachelor of science in zoology at the University of Exeter (Falmouth campus), so we went to her house for a week to get a bit of studying done by the beach - and tick off a few of the things she'd always wanted to do there but had never found the time for.

Falmouth beach

possibly the fanciest dinner I have ever eaten (I didn't even know what
 half of the ingredients were in any of the 3 courses)
with these 2 cuties for graduation!

look out point

Falmouth highstreet

home BBQ & ECG notes

Pendennis Castle

breaking the camera with sick poses

On our penultimate day in Cornwall we took a drive out to the beautiful sleepy town of St Ives, where I was overwhelmingly happy to be able to buy a print of a painting which I have loved as long as I can remember (my parents have a copy which hangs in their house in London, and this was the first time I have seen a print outside of the States), and enjoy a few hours on the beach.  On the last day we discovered what is now my favourite pub - the Pandora Inn which sits on a pontoon in a calm part of the river. We enjoyed some local ciders until dark, before heading back to London together the following morning. 

St Ives

just literally a really huge banana we bought

Pub on a pontoon

Pandora Inn 

Cornish raddler

London (II)

Back in London for a few more days before heading off again, I was thrilled to hear there was an opening of a new exhibit at my favourite museum - the Natural History museum in South Kensington. Part of the specimen archives have been made public to promote conservationism, it was exciting to see them, and it was very informative. 

The Natural History Museum 

Dippy the Diplodocus

Red Zone

Specimen archives

Animals in jars

My friend's recent acquisition of a car following just recently passing her driving test (hooray!) meant that we were able to make a few excursions to Bushy park for running trips, ending in thankfully few disasters involving getting lost, traipsing through stinging nettles, and getting chased by deer.

Bushy park

sunny park

With an aim to sewing one of Tilly and the Buttons new patterns, I spent a day with my mum looking around the fabric shops of Goldhawk road. I bought some high quality viscose, and we had a lot of fun touching all of the fuzzy fabrics which seemed to be more prevalent than you'd except for dress-making shops.

fabric!

silks

I am Zim Bo (Zimbabwean state of mind)

3rd time trying to spell 'remnants' was still not the charm

Nottingham

I spent the following week with one of the most awesome people I know, my sister, in Nottingham, at her 'house of medics'. Her boyfriend also came to stay that weekend, but before he arrived we managed to fit in time for a catch-up lunch at a trendy vegan cafe in the centre of town (The Alley Cafe), and a few study sessions at her university library.

mmm spicy tempeh

At the weekend with the new addition of my sister's giant-human-of-a-boyfriend (6ft5!) we packed some food and headed to Batman's house (Wollaton hall) for a picnic. Despite the fact we didn't go inside, and there was a slightly disappointing lack of Dark Knight memorabilia (not even a cut out in a window!), the food was delicious and the surrounding gardens were lovely so we had a great afternoon.

picnic fooooods

Oh deer

team at the lake

Wollaton Hall 

In the following days we rounded up a film afternoon (Now you see me, Antz, Alfie, & Shawshank redemption) by going to see Finding Dory at the adorable Savoy theatre (which was hilarious if a little emotional), went for a night out at a local club, and ate a fantastic meal at Annie's Burger Shack - which offers absolutely any of its food (including 32 different types of specialty burgers!) in vegetarian or vegan form!

terrible pre-drinks-panorama  

sister sister (and we will leave the photos of that night, at that)

post-night out brunch

brunch is the best meal of the day

following up food with more food at Annie's 

vegan chocolate milkshake

vegan Hawaiian burger: burger, mayonnaise, grilled pineapple ring, melted cheese, 'bacon strips'
(+ curly fries) - according to trip adviser this was regarded as the
best vegan burger of all time, and I have to agree!

My sister's Johnny Vegas burger: burger with bacon, toffee apple butter, grilled black pudding, sweet chilli paste, mini Guinness jelly doughnut (also + curly fries for obvious reasons)

Having eaten far far more than we should have, in a poor attempt to exercise a little we had a look around a small park nearby before I headed back to the coach station to go back to London - where I planned to not eat anything again for a very long time.

London (III)

Down to my very last few days in London, I had a couple of last big outings planned: seeing the fashion rules exhibit at Kensington Palace with my mum and another friend, having a (birthday) breakfast with my aunt at Westfield shopping centre, and a trip to see the other exhibits at the Tate Modern with a visiting friend from Kent.

Although fashion is not really a major interest of mine, the exhibit at Kensington Palace was lovely, and I learned a great deal about Princess Diana. I hadn't realised how much thought and planning goes into the appearance of what monarchs wear, apparently quite a lot is read into the colours and designs and how they show understanding of other nation's culture, and the current events for the time!

Kensington Palace

An embroidered French dress which took 3 years and a team of women to finish

Diana wallpaper

Dresses of Princess Anne

*A brief disclaimer* having arrived at Hampton Court Palace a little too late a few weeks ago, my mum and I had just missed out on the opportunity to dress up that all the other visitors had had. Feeling a little left out being the only people walking around the grounds in normal present day peasant clothes, I'd said that if there were any opportunities to dress up at Kensington Palace then I'd be sure to take them.

I put on this replica gentleman's jacket in front of a room full of people
waiting for a tour to begin. It was warm

Although when I put this on there was no one else in the room, while I was in the process of trying to get out of the unnecessarily complicated skirt (in my own unnecessarily complicated skirt with which it had become tangled) a family with children came in who asked to wear it after me...

I went with my mum to Westfield shopping centre (because its the centre point of where we live, funnily not because any of us needed to buy anything) to meet her sister for breakfast on the morning of my birthday. We ate at one of my favourite cafes, Le Pain Quotidien, and had a massive breakfast of a whole host of different things, as well as a pot of fresh mint tea and a slice of pear and chocolate birthday tart.

breakfast

pear and chocolate

When visiting the Georgie O'Keeffe exhibit a few weeks ago, another exhibit had caught my eye which I returned to see with a good friend from University while he was staying with me in London. I love the Tate gallery, and was pleased for another opportunity to check out the new switch building. We saw the Mona Hatoum exhibit which was nice, but I was particularly impressed by the Bhupen Khakhar exhibit - an Indian artist I had not heard of before.

Ai Weiwei at the Tate Modern

Mona Hatoum

Duchamp's fountain

The artist Bhupen Khakhar could not be anymore dissimilar to me, however I found his work to be so moving that it offered an actual insight to the things that he had been through, it has been said before that it's possible to get lost in his paintings. His work depicts the struggles of coming out as gay in a community it where it is frowned upon, struggling with feeling he is trapped in a place he can not leave, and battling illnesses which severely impact his quality of life (cataracts, and later prostate cancer).

"You can't please all" - painting based on one of Aesop's fables 

"You are not allowed to smile during this season which lasts for ten months of the year. If you are sensible then try to look as grumpy as possible. The English people appreciate sulk." - Khakhar on the English

"Safety is a word you should all hate. In education, in marriage, in journey, in job, in neighbourhood, on a picnic - anywhere we definitely need safety. The safety of people and places we already know well. Who are familiar to us. The moment you are with strangers, whether on a train, or in the street, or in a classroom, you become uneasy. Uncomfortable." - Khakhar on getting out of your comfort zone. 

out over London from the viewing gallery, showing the original Tate power station building, the walkie talkie,
 the Shard, and others over towards Canary Warf

Fountains and love flags at the Southbank centre, by the London eye 

Hooray friend selfie!

I managed to squeeze in a few more running sessions through Hounslow heath (only a 20 minute walk away from my house, a lot closer than Bushy park!), taking my audible account (to listen to Girl on a Train) as well as my mum and dog who walked at their own pace before we met up (after I'd done a few laps) at the end.

reunited with Sookie!!! 

poster informing about wildlife, and warning to watch out for Britain's
 only venomous snake (the adder) 

stormy skies and wild flowers

On my last full day in London, I had an operation to remove my 3rd, and seemingly most problematic, wisdom tooth. This was bound to be a joyous occasion after the last one took several hours and resulted in over a weeks worth of hilariously swollen face (for which the immense pain was not sufficient to protect me from perilous mockery). Luckily this op took only a little over an hour and was less traumatic than I'd expected, so still swollen and bruised but much less than the last time. 

This concluded my weeks in England before beginning the masters, and I thoroughly enjoyed every day (with the obvious exception of the last). It was time to head back to Maastricht to move on to my now criminally long to-do list, although hopefully I will still have time for at least a few fun things to post about! I managed to complete a lot of projects I'd be wanting to do for a while during my time at home, so there will be a few posts about those finished objects in the near future as well. 

The upcoming months promise to be busy, intense, and undoubtedly stressful - but infinitely exciting. Until Christmas, London, cheers!

Me and my swollen face got the front seat on the coach back - woohoo!