An Old Photo of Me

I have an embarrassing picture circa 2010....

I wore that hat or all four DofE expeditions I trudged my way through...

Perhaps you'll get some earlier ones at another time...

Silver DofE - Completed

DofE - Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Basically, the award is for character building in young people between the ages of 14 and 24. There are 4 sections: Physical, Volunteering, Skill and Expedition. The first three have a set time that you must partake in for one hour per week, the latter is a set route and distance that one must walk and camp for.

I completed my Bronze award last year, which included: 3 months of Volunteering - I ran a sports club at a local school; 3 months of Skill - Playing my cello; 6 months of Physical - I did Archery. The Expeditions were 2 days long and between them we walked 15 km.

Not too bad...

Silver I eventually ended up calling Hell.

6 months of Volunteering.

6 months of Skill.

3 months of Physical.

3 Day expedition, now with HILLS, walking 30 km over the days.

Blergh.

What made things worse was that all through the expedition it rained, and it never stopped. School tents leak, waterproofs have a limit to how waterproof they are and it was cold.I didn't like it to say the least. I hated it.

But, the good news is, County have just approved and signed me off - I never have to do it again! And for that I am truly grateful. I now dread any mention of  the peak district,or hiking carrying 30 kg on my back, or any mumbling of the word 'camping'. Never. Again.

I lived in this hat for the entirety of the silver expedition. It's warm, doesn't fall off and vaguely waterproof.

I volunteered at the library for the summer Reading Challenge. The theme was circus. This meant I had to dress up like an idiot and take the train...

The Green ande purple thing in the background? Yeah I took the train like that.....

But as I said-good thing, I never have to do it again!

Craft Review: Weeks 6 & 7: Sunday 29th January - Saturday 11th February

I apologise to begin with, as I was away last weekend, and then digging through two feet of snow to get to the door..... It was.... Interesting, to say the least. So, to remedy my absence (and because I can't remember what happened in the past fortnight, when). I will give you a rundown of what I've made.

Yes, unfortunately, that is me...

1) I finished my Fluffy Scarf!

One 50 gram ball, knitted in Garter, on 7mm needles, with only twenty stitches.

It was nice and simple.

However, while finishing, It did occur to me that the wool not only looks like muted Ravenclaw tones (Blue, plus both book bronze and film silver), but it also looks a bit like the mottled feathers of Buckbeak. So, I now rename the Fluffy Simple scarf, The Buckbeak Scarf.

^Buckbeak====>Scarf ^

2) I made 2 owls and 4 flowers. Random? No.

This was part of my 'Just because', because I only had one flower (which I made in January) and one owl, and I didn't want to wait until after half term... My favourites are the owls... They're so cute!


3) I've done an awful lot of art. Finishing off my coursework, and starting my exam work. It's tiring, but fun, and I love working on it, so I don't mind. I did however, have problems with my circle project on Thursday, because something didn't look quite right. I will have to try and fix it after the half term....

4) I've been taking photos! But they're not very good, and mainly for my art exam work anyway... I did do a drawing on a chalkboard while away, and I wonder whether it's still there... It took ages...

5) I  experimented in painting my nails in different patterns using sellotape.  It sort of worked, but it could have been better, hence why I'm not showing you. you can be assured though, that they are in Ravenclaw colours.

6) Using my owl pattern, I began knitting an R2D2 (Yes, I'm a star wars nerd too...)! I love R2D2, I think he's so cute, and making up a pattern is a lot of fun!

7) I did a marathon 'upload onto DofE' session yesterday, and found a few things which I finished, but never showed you. Perhaps I'll get round to it another day...

I think that's it, but I may have forgotten a few things...

Toodle Pip, for now!