My Last Personal Post

Trigger warning: infidelity

Well, it's been a hot minute since I wrote anything of substance on this blog!

Way back in 2019 I wrote a post called "Happy Endings- I'm Engaged!" I don't know why I called it happy endings, in hindsight, as it should have been happy new beginnings. I was very happy, for a while. I found my person, we bought a house together, our future puppy had just been born...

So to set the scene: (This is just before the first lockdown was announced.) It's a month before our wedding is due to happen, everything is going swimmingly, we're literally in the car on the way to pick up our gorgeous little 8-week-old puppy.

And then I get this message from my friend:

"Hi Limpet, I have to tell you something. X and I have been sleeping together for the past 4 months. I’m telling you this because he wasn’t going to and I think you should know the type of person that you’re marrying. We’ve seen each other in your house, my house and in (place that's an hour's drive away) during his work hours. After speaking to X it seems like he would have continued this throughout your marriage"

And suddenly... everything changes. My mouth goes dry, there's a sinking, awful, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The first emotion's anger, then shame, then inadequacy. What had I done wrong? What signs had I missed? I started remembering things that now made sense, like how they used to hang out but he hadn't mentioned her in a while, how he worked a lot of late evenings, how she'd bailed from the hen party. Things that, if you trust your partner, you don't think twice about.

Anyway, there's no way I can write down everything that happened after that, because it was a mess. I was a mess. I thought I could forgive him, and stay friends with her even. We picked up the puppy and didn't cancel the wedding. I let him go see her to 'get closure', we tried counselling which he barely participated in and constantly interrupted me, but he was such a smooth talker, always talking his way out of it and telling me he couldn't live without me. I let it go on for months, and let COVID postpone the wedding for a year. In my defence, we were stuck in a small house together and not allowed to go outside more than once a day, that has to do strange things to your critical thinking.

I think my last straw was when he constantly complained about the dog fur in the house. I said:

"How are you going to cope with having children if you can't handle a bit of dog fur on the sofa?" 

To which he replied:

"Children are going to be way less messy than a dog." ... I know, right? 

I could tell he was gearing up to ask me to choose between him or the dog, so I decided I'd make his life easier and choose the dog. I moved to a completely new town because I could barely find anywhere that would let me rent with a dog. Splitting the house and finances and belongings was a nightmare. The rumour-mill of family members calling to ask what had happened was a nightmare. I just wouldn't wish a bad breakup and all that uncertainty on my worst enemy.

I am also much more wary of big-age-gap relationships. I was eleven years younger than my ex, and my ex-friend was fifteen years younger than him. Still, there's some Schadenfreude in that fact that he's rapidly approaching 40 and is unlikely to find anyone better. Hey, it was a traumatic experience! I'm allowed to be a little bitter about it, right?

Aaaaanyway, now we teleport to the present day!

I have bought my own house. Just me! It's small but nice. My gorgeous puppy is now a gorgeous grown-up dog. We go for runs and cycles together. I have new friends, and a boyfriend who's kind and hot. I don't defer to anyone else's decisions any more; I do what I want, basically.

So I think this is going to be my last personal post on this blog. I was naïve to think that getting married at 25 was going to be the most exciting event of my life, and have learned that it's bad to depend too much on others for your happiness. The main thing I learnt was self-respect, though. That is so, so important.

Take care of yourselves, and make good choices!

Limpet x

Tiny Bulbasaur (Free Crochet Pattern)

I have just set up an Etsy shop for crochet/cross-stitch/art prints/pyrography/3D-printing (I have far too many ideas...) and to celebrate, here is a free crochet pattern of my favourite Pokémon, Bulbasaur!

If you'd like to support me or get the whole set, this pattern and the other Kanto starters can be found on my new Etsy:
Tiny Bulbasaur
Tiny Charmander
Tiny Squirtle
or save money and get the whole set!

As always, if you have any questions about the pattern or notice any problems with it please contact me through the comments section. I love to see pictures of the things people make with my patterns so if you make a Tiny Bulbasaur and post it online, send me a link.

Level: Beginner, but can be fiddly to sew together

Ingredients:
Small amounts of Bulbasaur-coloured wool (I used DK weight)
Crochet hook (I used 3.5mm)
Fiber fill or stuffing of your choice
Two safety eyes (I used 10mm)
Tapestry needle
Scissors

Abbreviations:
Sc - single crochet
Inc - increase (2 single crochet stitches in one stitch)
Dec - decrease (I recommend the invisible decrease method)
Sl st - slip stitch
Ch - chain, followed by a number indicating the number of chains to make

Pattern use:
You can do anything you like with the finished product, but please do not sell this pattern or redistribute it without credit. Please use your own photos to sell your products.

Bulbasaur is part of the Pokémon franchise and does not belong to me in any way; it belongs to Nintendo.

The pattern!

Head:
Using turquoise wool
Round 1) 8 sc in a magic ring (8)
Round 2) inc in each stitch around (16)
Round 3) *sc, inc*, repeat around (24)
Round 4-8) sc in each stitch around (24)
Attach the safety eyes between round 5 and 6, four stitches apart.
Round 9) *2sc, dec*, repeat around (18)
Round 10) *sc, dec*, repeat around (12)
Sl st to finish, leave a long tail and stuff the head


Body:
Using turquoise wool
Round 1) 6sc in a magic ring (6)
Round 2) inc in each stitch around (12)
Round 3) *sc, inc*, repeat around (18)
Round 4-6) sc in each stitch around (18)
Round 7) *5sc, inc*, repeat around (21)
Round 8-10) sc in each stitch around (21)
Round 11) dec in each stitch around to close, stuffing the body as you go
Finish stuffing, sl st to finish, and sew the body closed

Sew the head onto the body, using pictures as a placement guide. Get Bulbasaur's eyes as forward facing as you can so he's looking straight ahead.


Legs (make 4):
Using turquoise wool
Round 1) 10sc in a magic ring (10)
Round 2-5) sc in each stitch around (10)
Sl st to finish, leave a long tail

Stuff legs lightly and sew onto the body, using pictures as placement guide.


Ears (make 2):
Using turquoise wool
Round 1) 6sc in a magic ring (6)
Round 2) *sc, inc*, repeat around (9)
Round 3) *2sc, inc*, repeat around (12)
Sl st to finish, leave a long tail

Squish the ears flat and sew the ears onto the head, using pictures as placement guide.


Bulb:
Using green wool
(leave a long tail at the start for sewing)
Round 1) Ch 12, join to first ch with a sl st (12)
Round 2) inc in each stitch around (24)
Round 3-4) sc in each stitch around (24)
Round 5) *2sc, dec*, repeat around (18)
Round 6) *sc, dec*, repeat around (12)
Round 7) dec in each stitch around (6)
Round 8) sc in each stitch around (6)
Sl st to finish, weave in the tail. (You can sew the neck of the bulb tighter to give it more shape.)

Stuff bulb from the bottom and sew onto Bulbasaur's back.


You're almost there! Take some darker blue wool and embroider small triangles/squares on Bulbasaur's forehead, sides, and legs. You could also glue on small pieces of felt. This is the part that really brings it all together. Now hide the ends of your thread and enjoy your #001 brave boy Pokémon!

This crochet pattern is © Kate Tuck, 2020. This pattern may not be sold, re-written, or re-posted without the author's permission.

Teeny Tiny Trilobites (Free Cross Stitch Pattern)

Hello all and welcome back! This is a project that, to my shame, I started three years ago and then promptly forgot in a corner of my sewing box... but what's a better lockdown activity than finishing old craft projects?

Presenting my teeny trilobites! These critters were once so prevalent that they're now excellent marker fossils for dating the surrounding rocks. (As much as I like how this turned out, I'm not sure I ever want to stitch on 28-count fabric again.)

These trilobite patterns were generously posted by Adventures in Stitching, so I decided to stick them together and add the genus names underneath for a little natural history style sampler:

Purple: 1100 stitches

Brown: 504 stitches

Total size: 95 x 55 stitches

Since I never actually buy proper DMC or Anchor colours, the colours I used were 'lavender' and 'dark brown', which I think look great in contrast to the off-white linen.

I hope you enjoyed this little make and it will inspire you to maybe try something a bit out of your crafty comfort zone.

Limpet x

 

Happy Endings- I'm Engaged!

Back in January of 2016 I wrote my first post here and talked about why 2015 was both the best and worst year of my life so far. The main reason was that I met Mr Limpet (best) but had to deal with a very spiteful ex-girlfriend (worst). There's nothing like some social trauma and a lot of vicious rumours to test your exciting new relationship! However, now the air is clear, the ex is long gone (turns out she cheated on at least two boyfriends since then), and all that's leftover is the fuzzy nice-feeling bit.

Little Limpet and Mr Limpet are soon going to be Mr and Mrs [REDACTED]; We're getting married!

Spot the octobobble!

In the interests of transparency we actually got engaged in the summer whilst on holiday. There was no fanfare and no public displays of affection (embarrassing), I just opened my ''surprise present" in the hotel bed after watching Ratatouille on TV. We'd spent the day diving and meeting octopuses and a mother cuttlefish, so the fact that the ring has a little octopus holding the stone is just super special.

So for me the new year and 2019 brings all the good feelings and the knowledge that life is plodding along as it should. I may have mentioned before that I never thought I was the sort of person that could settle down with someone, but we've even started looking for our first home together. The right person can change everything. I'm hoping for a whole wall just for books!

Limpet x

Card Suits Cross Stitch Free Pattern

I had someone ask me for the pattern of the card suits I used in my Alice cross stitch which I'm happy to share. Like this person, I couldn't find any satisfactory patterns online, so I made them up.

Here they are:

I'd have no idea how to translate clubs or spades into corner squares...

Each card suit measures 9x9 stitches which makes them nice and easy to place in borders. The smaller squares in the rounded parts of the hearts, clubs, and spades show where to put your half cross stitches. I think they give a nice shape without having to make the design too big, as you can hopefully see below.

My first cross stitch... ah, the memories...

So there we are, card suits. Please use them as you wish!

Limpet x

GIR, Reporting for Duty!

GIR: Oh. I left that at home.
Zim: You left what at home?
GIR: The guidey chippy thingy.

Zim: You! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!?

GIR: To make room for the cupcake!

GIR is a robot alien in a dog suit from 'Invader Zim,' a show that was unfortunately cancelled due to a lack of any educational value. He's not stupid, he's advaaaaanced. 

This pattern is wonderful and Gir looks just like his cartoon counterpart. Since he stores his cupcake in his head I also added that, because why not. The head is reinforced with card so he's still structurally sound without his cupcake inside, and the ears are kept up with some bent paperclips.

I have to say I'm beyond happy with how this turned out. Who couldn't love those boggley eyes?

Just going to skip over the fact that it's July and this is only my second post of the year!

Limpet x

How I lived on £5 per week as a student

This may potentially be the most boring post ever™. I don't really feel like a student now, mainly because 1. it's almost over, thank god, and 2. I gave up on that whole living with 6 people thing a while ago. When I was a studenty student I *hated* spending money (and I still do really). I was determined to live off as little as possible. Of course some weeks my shop would be slightly more/less expensive but in general I was living off around £5 per week.

First a disclaimer:

1. I am a small female. At 5'1" and 50kg (110lbs), I do not need to eat as much as the 'average' person. Even now I eat 1000-1500 calories a day.
2. This £5 is just for food. Alcohol and nights out are extra but if you save this much on food you can still have fun while everyone else is in their overdraft!
3. Since fruit and veg is sold by the kg I didn't know how to add this to my list very well, sorry.
4. It's much easier to spend £10 for 2 people rather than £5 for 1, which is what happened most of the time. We shared vegetables and cooked up a stir fry to use up leftovers.

This table gives an idea of what was in my cupboards/fridge/freezer. The freezer is king. Sometimes I would even buy the biggest bottle of milk and freeze some of it to save money. Haha, this post is really making me realise how much of a miser I was. But seriously, freeze your bread.

	Food	Price	How long will it last?	Cost per week
Essentials	Milk	£0.75	1 week	£0.75
	Eggs	£0.85	2 weeks	£0.43
	Porridge oats	£1.60	10 weeks	£0.16
Meats	Chicken thighs	£3.15	2 weeks	£1.58
	Frozen white fish	£2.00	3 weeks	£0.67
	Frozen prawns	£2.50	3 weeks	£0.83
Stodge	Lentils	£1.15	8 weeks	£0.14
	Potato	£0.25	2 weeks	£0.12
	Wholemeal bread	£0.40	3 weeks	£0.13
	Couscous	£1.20	12 weeks	£0.10
			Total:	£4.91

(apologies for the table formatting, I'm not the best at html)

Other essentials like onions, garlic, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes and other veg it's really hard to remember how much I'd get through. There was a very cheap vegetable market that my house would take turns getting stuff from and sharing it which is a great idea.

The key to my frugality was making food in batches and then freezing. A nice big chili con carne can last for an age and you don't have to eat the same thing every day. I liked having the prawns to mix up with couscous and salad stuff when I wasn't feeling the stodgy homemade meals. Frozen fish you can cook in tin foil with some potato and lemon juice. Lentils are great for filling out stews and soups.

So in conclusion, my tips:

1. Buying big bags of lentils/rice/pasta and keeping them in the cupboard is a great way to save. The weeks when you have to restock these it'll be more expensive, but will even out in the long run.
2. Supermarket own brands are fine. If in doubt just look at the price per kg.
3. NEVER buy basics mince though, that is my exception to that rule. It's not worth it. In fact, meat in general. However stodgy things like bread and pasta there's no difference.
4. The key to cheaper cuts of meat (like thighs rather than breast...heh) is to cook it slowly in stews or casseroles. They're a bit fattier but also tastier because of it.
5. If you're worried about not getting your nutrients for strong and healthy growing you can buy one-a-day multivitamins for £3 that will last you for 6 months.
6. Make the most of university events! Career events particularly provide free pizza, and if you help at open days and school visits you get food as well as money. They used to send around an email in the physics department if there were leftover sandwiches on offer in the seminar room... cue a not-so-subtle upstairs migration of PhD students.

Hope you can forgive my dodgy maths and appreciate this as more of an idea I was trying to get across!

Limpet x

Time and Space Squid

What kind of science fiction makes a grown woman invest emotion in a genetically enhanced squid?

The book is called Time by Stephen Baxter, and it's about space squid. No joke. It's great.

This book is called Time. I'm only half-way through it, and already it's managed to walk through the whole future of humanity up to 10¹⁷⁰ (that's 170 extra zeros) years away, past when the only light in the sky is the brief flickers of matter as it passes through the event horizons of black holes. Of course this kind of time is incomprehensible, that's the whole point of the book. Does it make life any more precious, any more different? Is it comforting if you knew that your descendants would be there right up until everything has just, sort of, drifted away and died. Such a long time away that even the protons and neutrons have decayed? Sometimes life feels like a struggle for meaning, and it goes back to what I've always thought. That there is no "meaning" to it all, we just exist. Sorry, not sorry. Religious ideals and other spiritual callings have never cut it for me. They seem cowardly, giving importance where there isn't any. We just survive and reproduce and then our children survive and reproduce, and try not to mess up the planet on the way to eternity. You can spin it in that depressive way, but it's also awesome. I mean that by the definition of the word, inspiring awe. There's so much around us, and it's refreshing sometimes to be reminded how small we are. Because in 10¹⁷⁰ years, who's going to know about it? Scrap that, even in 200 years I'll have faded out of memory. I exist for myself, and for my loved ones. We can comfort each other in the emptiness.

I crocheted some space squid on their space rocket, too. The rocket is a christmas present for a not-quite 2-year-old. I'm planning to start him thinking about this stuff early. So he's prepared, you know?

Limpet x

Things I Want to Change About Myself

The 'S.S. Kate', because one of my pen friends is adorable.

This is a list! A short list of things I want to change about myself:

Mental:

Get off antidepressants

-it's time and I think I'm ready. If you guys want to hear more then let me know and I'll be open about everything.

Be able to code for simple physics

-it would make my job so much easier if I knew what physics would do before it did it!

Physical:

Cut my hair short?

-I've been almost sitting on it for years now and fancy a bit of a change

Have a six-pack (of abs, not beer!)

-I know it's there, just need to go the final push and lose the last centimeter

Give blood whenever I can

-this was important to me, but I keep making excuses

Get a tattoo

-it's my body and I want to make a mark on it

Stretch my ear lobes

-being brave and looking a little different

More piercings

-as above

There are many more 'physical' than 'mental' items which I know may seem shallow. But on the whole I'm happy with myself and doing well in the great ol' journey of life. I feel like it's just time to make my mental self image line up more with what the rest of the world sees. I couldn't tell you exactly what that is, but it involves not being a little girl any more. All a part of growing up I suppose.

Limpet x

Optics on the Surface of Mars

You know sometimes when I don't post for a while it's because I feel uninspired or I just haven't done much worthy of posting or there's so much going on in real life.

I just wanted to say that I am so happy. I'm doing my year in industry placement and I get to play with lasers and improve things that make an actual difference. My company has optical fibers on the surface of Mars for goodness sake, I'm doing real proper science!

I'm doing as well as humanly possible there, I love making my own experiments. I love talking to everyone from all different backgrounds and hearing how they got there. On Monday I'm going on a field trip to the National Physical Laboratory in London, and they're sending me on my own! I'm so looking forward to the future. Just a few short months at university afterwards and then I'm free!

I hope everything is hunky-dory with you too,

Limpet x

Watercolour Adventure (Goal 54)

So this has kinda been my motto as of late. Physics, kung fu, painting, calligraphy... 

You always start off suckin' at it, but that's ok!

Who doesn't love a good photo-enriched blog post? Painting was a really fun thing for me as a child, and I'd gotten out of the habit. Goal 54 on my big old to-do list was to complete 5 watercolour paintings. I ended up doing more because it got more fun as I improved, and I wasn't sure what my definition of 'a painting' should be.

Commence photo dump!

Starting off copying my old nature reference books.Obviously some attempts turned out better than others, but this was my main learning stage!

Calligraphy experiments and some watercolour cards I'm pretty proud of.

Nice simple cherry blossoms and a slightly mixed-media crow and magpie for Mr Limpet's birthday.

Look on YouTube for a watercolour galaxy tutorial. Trust me, they're so easy and look awesome.

I hope you've enjoyed looking through my watercolour adventure. It's been a very enjoyable process, and I've liked having a little sketchbook to do quick doodley paintings when I feel like a bit of alone time. During a stretch of insomnia the doodley paintings also helped me forget I was meant to be sleeping, which helped me chill out enough to sleep.

Limpet x

P.S. Recently, goal 43 has also been reached, which was to move out with just my boyfriend. It's glorious, it really is. Things stay clean and, as if by magic, everything stays where I last put it down! Maybe more on that in a later post, because I had a lot of fun organising my book shelves in particular. They're pretty now.

D&D Dice Bags

D&D, or Dungeons and Dragons, is a game that I got into completely by accident. A little group of the Physicists have been playing it for a while, and I went along with a friend because she liked a boy there and didn't want to go on her own. It took a little getting used to, but I loved it.

My first campaign is finished now, and I had an awful lot of fun with Nini the goliath barbarian. Imagine a huge ginger woman who thinks she's only ten because she only has ten fingers to count on. Nini believed she was raised by rabbits, but it turned out they were just small fur-cloaked people that raised her after her barbarian village was ransacked. It was a lot of fun sending her on a voyage of self-discovery from which she learned very little. (Good at swinging a great-axe though!)

Campaign number two is going to start soon, where I will be playing as Ib Layzafeyse, a goblin who calls herself a laser monk. To be honest I just wanted to be able to use the kung fu/tai chi motto -"You're f*cking with my chi."

Instead of borrowing dice from the DM (dungeon master), I decided to buy my own. And all dice need a dice bag!

Dragon egg dice bags! As always it's a free pattern on Ravelry. The one on the right I made first, and it's so big I can fit my fist in it. I did 3 rows of 8 crocodile scales following the pattern, two rows of 7, two rows of 6, then one row of 5. I did a row of hdc at the top. 

Let me tell you how to reduce by one scale neatly:

The usual v-stitch pattern is this: 

*(dc, ch 1, dc) in next st, skip 2 st*

To reduce a row by one scale: 

*(dc, ch 1, dc) in next st, skip 2 st, (dc, ch 1, dc) in next st, skip 3 st*

To reduce a row by two scales:

*(dc, ch 1, dc) in next st, skip 3 st*

Then just sl st to the first v-stitch as before and carry on with the scales like usual.

The first one I made I'm calling my prototype. I next made a smaller one which I much prefer (otherwise I'll be tempted to buy enough dice to fill it!) by discounting step 4 in the bottom. At the end of this one I did *dc, dc, skip 1 st* around the top and then threaded my string through the skipped spaces, which makes it look a bit more eggy when it's closed.

I hope my little modifications are clear enough. The big scaly bag I'm going to give to 'girl who fancied boy' to foster a new character alliance, although Miss Layzafeyse does not play well with others.

I'm excited for my dice to arrive! Expect more photos when they do! (They're so prettyyyyy.)

Limpet x

It's Been a While

It hasn't been that long, but still, a while. I write this sitting in Krabi airport, Thailand, waiting to catch a flight back to Bangkok and from there, home.

It's been two weeks since I went outside without suncream on. I am the poster child for paranoid factor 50 application. It's bizarre because most Thai women I meet will comment immediately on my "lovely pale skin" but every other English girl wants a deep dark tan.

Waiting to take off. Bangkok airways keeps feeding us on this local flight. There's a lounge in the airport with food and drink, and they're just about to bring us another meal when we're in the air.

We came to Thailand because it's my uncle's 50th and his wife is Thai. It was a bit of island hopping, from Bangkok to Pattaya to Phuket to Phi Phi to Krabi to Bangkok again. I was expecting the whole family but it was just some of his middle aged friends and my cousin who I've never really talked to before. They organised it all quite badly and we were a bit of an afterthought because we weren't staying in the same hotels as them. On Phi Phi island we had a bad experience. Check out was at 11am, and the ferry wasn't leaving until 4pm. We planned to drink cocktails by the pier until then. However, the power to the whole island was out, and everywhere was shutting because of it. 30 degree humid heat without even a fan, dragging 20kg of luggage in a suitcase with missing wheels. I was starting to feel faint just sitting around so we dragged the suitcases to the other side of the island where my uncle and co were staying. They were just in their air conditioned pool, and it turns out they weren't even going to walk to the pier, they had a small boat booked. That coupled with having to get coaches from their hotel meant a lot of walking around for us, and a lot of waiting around. Anyway the point I'm trying to make is it would have been much better if we'd done our own thing and organised it ourselves.

Please excuse the rant, I wasn't intending it to be one.

Give me a few days to collate my photos and thoughts, and I will write a nice picture laden post all about my trip.

Khop kûn ka!

Limpet x

Prettifying Storage Drawers

It's probably been almost a year since I actually completed this DIY, since it was back in March that I did my coat hooks. I came across the photos in my "miscellaneous crafting" folder and the sooner I get the writing down the better.

So here we have: a handy little set of pretty wooden storage drawers.

rarrrrr!

The original was something I got for my birthday. I was after one of those colourful plastic ones for all sorts of bits and bobs, but I thought this shouldn't be too hard to spruce up.

1. First paint about the outer edges of each box and down the sides too if you're a perfectionist. I just used acrylic since it won't be getting much wear and tear.

2. Next unscrew the tiny handles on the front and set them aside.

3. Glue some nice paper on the front of each box, making sure each square is the same size. I used origami paper, but anything will do. Use a screw to poke through the paper where the original holes were before the glue dries.

4. When it's dry, screw the little handles back on.

Et voila! One prettified storage box!

What do I keep in mine?

• Dinosaurs (occasionally)
• Hair bands
• Hair clips/bobby pins
• Buttons
• Those bits of ribbon that I guess are for hanging clothes but you always cut them off anyway
• Sequins that fell off a top
• Used stamps
• Paper clips
• Washi tape

So there we have it! I think I've run out of things to cover in paper now but I'll see what I can do.

Limpet x

Free Geometric Skull Cross Stitch Pattern

As a lil' sorry for it being a while since posting last, and because I've been meaning to do it for a while, I wanted to share my skull cross stitch with you along with a free pattern.

So this was the teaser I posted just before the new year, along with a filter-less photo of what it actually looked like. I decided a geometric rainbow border would contrast with the realism of the skull nicely, and designed it so it fits snugly inside a 6 inch frame.

I also think he'd look great with a wreath around him and a Christmas hat, but maybe that's just me! I kind of want to do one for each season of the year.

The pattern:

The pattern shown is 83 x 83 stitches, meaning that on 14 count aida it's almost exactly 6 x 6 inches. Of course you can adjust the border as you see fit, and I'm more than happy to assist if you'd like it in a different size and want some help.

In a black 8 inch frame with a black 6 inch border, under Alice on the living room wall. The angle is pretending to be artistic but really just avoiding the light reflection on the glass.

As someone who struggles to finish projects, I'm glad it's finally out and on display. I've actually been working on this for quite a while, but I lost my darker shade of grey and was forced to tidy the house to find it again!

Limpet x

Student Debt

I've been thinking about finances again, mostly because I strangely enjoy sorting them out. Maybe I was an accountant in a past life, or it's just because I enjoy maths.

There's an advert for a popular bank (the one I used to work for actually) that irritates me so much. Some young people are jumping on a sofa and reel off about how "it's so great that they give you an overdraft, I was in my overdraft by the third week, hurr hurr hurr I'm so silly." Literally every student bank account gives you an overdraft, it's nothing to write home about. Don't infantilise a whole group of people.

But anyway, a friend of mine was fretting about his student finance application recently. He was trying to work out how much he needed to live on and therefore how much maintenance loan he needed to apply for. So I said "why not just apply for the full amount? You probably won't end up paying it back anyway." It's the same reason that I chose to start third year again from the beginning rather than just coming back for January exams. I wouldn't have been able to attend lectures or redo coursework, just for the sake of saving an extra £3000 on my student loan. Seeing as this degree will cost me over £40,000 in loans anyway, what difference would that make?

The fact is that a student loan is going to be the cheapest long-term debt I'll ever have. Since it'll just take some from my earnings, I'll probably forget it's even there.

I really would recommend students just starting to work a part time job. I wish I had earlier on, but it baffles me how people can go into their overdraft so quickly. Sure, I'm pretty small and not materialistic, but some people were living on houmus and buying new clothes for goodness sake Because I make enough money working to cover my living costs right now, the maintenance loan I'll get this year will go straight into savings.

Money isn't supposed to make you happy and all that, but it's got to help...? Maybe I really am turning into an adult, if the prospect of financial security gets my blood pumping.

Apologies for the rambling post, but it's exam season and I'm procrastinating!

Limpet x

Moon Phases Bookmark

Just a short and sweet craftspiration for you today. This is perfect for when you want to spend a few minutes crafting something you can actually use, or slip a little something into a letter for a friend. (Did I tell you I have pen-friends again? It makes me very happy.)

Some very simple watercolour bookmarks!

Watercolours lend themselves perfectly to moon-like things, so here's how to do it in 5 easy steps.

1. Draw 5 circles of the same size in a line on watercolour paper, with a compass if you have one, or just draw around something.
2. With water, paint the moon phases using your circles as a guide.
3. While the paper is still wet, dab a few splodges of your chosen colour into the shapes, being careful not to use too much paint.
4. Add more colour as required and then leave the paint to dry. You can use a dry tissue to dab off paint while it's still wet if needed.
5. Draw on any details with a pen if you like. I couldn't decide if I liked it more with or without the pen, but it definitely looks neater.

So there it is. Make just one for yourself or loads at once to give to everyone you know!

Limpet x

Come on in, 2017!

The last post was about 9 little things that helped me in 2016. It's almost a year since I started this blog and honestly I think it's been pretty helpful for me to see what's been going on and to vent my thoughts.

Here are some changes I'll be making in 2017. Just a few goals, no need to get too ambitious.

1. I have decided to do away with the Reading List on this blog and instead start using Goodreads. You're all welcome to add me as a friend, please give me lots of book recommendations! https://www.goodreads.com/littlelimpet. My 2017 reading goal is 26, one every two weeks. I read a bit more than that last year but I don't want to put any pressure on it.

2. Yoga! I mentioned in my to-do list that I wanted to save up my pub tips for the new year. I have done exactly that, and I have ________. When I first looked at yoga I got a bit sad because £5 per session is not cheap, but now I have the perfect use for those tips.

3. Bullet journaling. I discovered this new concept a few weeks ago and have started one. I may do a little post later on what mine looks like at the moment. Hopefully it will add some much needed structure.

4. Try and keep a 9-5. It's so hard getting work done without having to be anywhere, and it ends up ruining my evenings. I plan on doing 2/3 hours work, then 1 hour off. The hour off has to be something productive like kung fu or crafting instead of just browsing the internet. This'll be a hard one, but the bullet journal will help.

Some quick stats for 2016: (I've recently set up a Google Analytics profile so they'll be more accurate for next year.)

53 posts (at least one a week, good job past Limpet!)
~15,000 page views
In the first month we had about 100 views, and in the last we had about 4,500. I don't really know what that means, but it sounds good.

Onwards and upwards, friends!

Limpet x

Two Thousand and Sixteen

So this year I did a lot of things differently and am living more like a human being than a messy smelly poor student. I thought I'd share with you all as a parting gift 9 little things that have helped me in 2016. It's mostly word vomit as usual but maybe there's some new ideas in there that could help you too.

1. Make your own space
Especially when two people shoehorn their houses together, it can be hard to find your own quiet space. A whole wall of our bedroom is taken up by my OH's very large computer desk. I've got just enough space at one end to fit my laptop, so the cramped space made it hard to work in there. However, I've put up some shelves above it for storage and covered the bit of wall with things that make me happy. Little bits of origami, photos, watercolour experiments, letters from friends. It's nice to have a little colourful (or not colourful if you like that) space that's your own.

Like these little origami totoros that make my storage space prettier.

2. Presents spreadsheet
This year I started keeping a spreadsheet in google drive (for on-the-go access) with family and friends I buy presents for and columns for 'past presents', 'Christmas 2015', 'birthday 2016' etc. There's two columns for each category, one for presents given and one for presents received. It's made it sooo much easier when keeping track of everything, especially this Christmas when I don't want to accidentally get someone the same present as last year.

3. Money spreadsheet
(I sure love spreadsheets!) This one I really like more as a visual aid for keeping track of spending. At the end of each month I go into it and put in the end totals for each of my bank accounts (student account, savings account, Help-to-Buy ISA etc.) with a column at the end for a running total. There's a line graph linked to it that lets me see what money was where at each time with a nice green line above them all that shows how much money I own in the world. I went back and did this all the way from 2013 when I first opened my student bank account with £50. From it I can already tell that I am so much better at managing money and having a job is so worth it. For extra fun I even went and added a big negative line for how much student debt I have. Sorry, did I just say extra fun?

4. Give yourself a pep talk
The bank was a horrible place to work in over the summer, just horrible. There's such a phobia of technology that people would rather queue up at the one business desk than let me help them use a machine, which makes the queue ridiculous and makes everyone there angry too. Ugh. But occasionally there'd be a person, a nice old lady perhaps, that'd say to me something like "don't let the bastards get you down, you're always cheerful." I kept a note of all the nice things customers had said in my phone to read through after a tough one and give myself a little kick back into gear.

5. Making the most of crafting time
Keep a list of projects to refer to when you feel like doing something different. I've got a big to-do list with no end date of all the things I'd like to crochet or cross stitch or sew. Write ideas down as you think of them so you'll never be sat around racking your brains for ideas.

6. Use photos
Take photos of everything! I take photos of books when I start and finish them, finished projects to refer back to and show others, car park numbers so I don't get lost, everything.

A photo posted by Kate Tuck (@phystuck) on Dec 30, 2016 at 6:36pm PST

Taking a photo of this cross stitch, for example, so I can remind myself to finish the border later.

7. Conditioner before shampoo
When you used funky coloured hair dye, it gets washed out a bit when you shower. 'Shampoo > rinse > conditioner > rinse' means it gets washed out doubly as much every time I shower. So I switched to 'Conditioner ends > shampoo top of head > rinse' and honestly my very long hair is in so much better condition for it.

8. Streamline your morning routine
Little things like putting a heater in the bathroom for those extra chilly mornings, making a cup of tea for when I get out of the shower, getting clothes out beforehand, that sort of stuff. Just to minimise the 'just got of the shower freezing with wet hair dripping everywhere' moments.

9. Say hello/smile/wave a little bit when people walk into a room
It's a simple one, but it feels nice to be noticed by others. If that person is having a bit of a hard day, you looking pleased to see them might just make all the difference.

There you have it, some things to make your life just a little bit easier. Doing a bit of work at the time to make things easier in the future. In theory, anyway.

It's been a pleasure to have been here blogging for a year now. The word of next year is 'focus'- being determined and working hard to get where I want to be.

I hope your 2017 is excellent,

Limpet x

"It Takes Years to Develop a Personality."

Working in the pub last Friday afternoon, things got quite jolly. One of the regulars, a nice fellow called Jim, decided he was going to get into the Christmas spirit and drink Irish coffees. For some reason everyone joined in with him. So all the painters and decorators and plumbers that are usually downing beer were just sat at the end of the bar sipping from latte glasses. Don't get me wrong, they still had 7 or 8 of them, but the combination of whiskey and sugar and coffee really changed the usual atmosphere. Everyone had something good to say and I've never seen them more cheerful. It felt like Christmas! Even I was feeling tipsy by being around them.

Anyway, drunken cheerful Jim said something to me like "You're a really nice girl, Limpet. You've got a fun personality. It takes years to develop a personality, but you're cheeky and clever and it's good." Of course being in a pub I'm used to being flirted with 24/7, but this was different and once they'd all left it got me thinking.

It takes years to develop a personality.

I will admit that during 'The Bad Time' I sometimes felt like I wasn't my own person. I remembered being carefree and happy with myself when I was in school. Then after 'The Events' and having to take time out from university I was surrounded by a completely different group of people. This group were all at least 5 years older (from the kung fu club where I met my OH as well as others) and were settled in their jobs and lives. It felt almost like I was borrowing pieces of other people's personalities. I wasn't spending any time in my student house because nobody left their bedrooms and it was too isolating, so of course I felt like I was intruding in the house where I was staying. I spent months tiptoeing around not doing much with my days, waiting for my boyfriend to get home and not wanting to disturb his housemates. Going outside and meeting up with friends started to feel scary, which is partly the reason why I started doing so much crafting.

I digress, but Jim is right. It does take years to develop a personality. It's ok if you're not sure what kind of person you are when you start making your own way in the world. It's the experiences and how we deal with them that define us. I'll continue trying different things and keep doing the ones that I enjoy. My life will slowly build itself up around me as I slowly let go of those insecurities. And when my guard is down, the cheeky and clever Little Limpet that was hiding will shine out for everyone else to see.

Limpet x