Latest project

So, I just made this for my friend who has recently welcomed a small person into the world.

The pattern is courtesy of Subversive Cross Stitch (www.subversivecrossstitch.com). I wouldn't advise a visit if you're easily offended by curse words, though. The whole site is about slightly 'alternative' embroidery...

Egg cosies

Just before Christmas a friend of mine asked if I would knit her an egg cosy. The interesting thing is where the request came from: having visited her friends for the weekend she was scandalised to discover that they did not possess egg cups for dippy eggs, so purchased them some for Christmas. Whilst on the website she saw egg cosies, and thought how cute! then looked at the price and changed her mind.

Having looked into this I can confirm that a nice-looking egg cosy will cost you between four and ten pounds online. The cynical part of me says that this is the price of modern society, as this one cost me two hours and about 10p in wool. I am considering going into business on etsy.com!

Darn it!

I have a confession to make...

Last weekend I darned one of my husband's socks.

*gasp*

What's more, it has to be one of the most satisfying tasks I have completed in recent months.

*double gasp*

But why? Sock darning seems so boring... I think it's because of our throw-away culture: all my life my thought has been to fix my socks, but I never do it and end up spending money on a new pair, and throwing away a pair of socks whose only fault is a hole in the toe/heel.

There's something very satisfying in only spending 48p on a roll of darning wool, that to date has fixed 4 of his holey work socks. It's also really simple, and I think it looks pretty good. (Really good tutorial here if you fancy learning)

I also am now learning to knit socks, in an attempt to increase the value of such a vital item (and my skill set). I mean, am I going to chuck away socks that I've spent several weeks (months, years) knitting? You must be blimming kidding!

Besides, home made socks are purty!

About me

My name is Bee, and I am a PhD student in agriculture, studying the diversity of a nifty bacteria called rhizobia which, through a relationship with legumes fixes nitrogen in the soil (you may remember it from GCSE science). This means I meet a lot of interesting people, and learn a lot of interesting stuff. It also means my work is never done!

I love nature, people, growing my own food (and doing a bit of foraging, too), being creative (mainly knitting, crochet and making a mess with paints) learning, and reading stories. On any given day, the chances are that I would rather be at the allotment with my husband, or pottering in the garden with the cat - unless I'm already there, in which case I'm as happy as anyone could be.

When I'm done I want to work alongside farmers and community groups, helping people to grow food and translating academic-ese into language people (including myself!) can understand. I could also be tempted into any number of jobs that feature the words 'organic', 'Fairtrade', 'policy' or 'development'...

I've started this blog to share some of my experiences, pictures and links. I hope you enjoy it!