Where Have You Been All My Life...

...I refer not to the crocuses, though they were lovely while they lasted...

...nor to the cat, though she's quite cute. This pic taken by A.

 ...the sun has re-appeared, washing has been on the line, the garden's a mess, brambles are taking over...

...my commuting trips on the train into town for uni are coming to an end. Aside from one day next week that's all our lectures and tutorials finished. I start another placement tomorrow. It's for P1-3 (age 5-7), I'll be in one class though I don't know which yet. I'm worried I'll be rubbish - the theory is all very well, but it's the putting it into practice that's the most important thing. I didn't enjoy the nursery placement and my first P7 placement (which I did enjoy) seems a long time ago. I had such a good class teacher for my first placement, can I be lucky again?

 Smudgy view from the train.

 Hidden treasure - coins in a wishing well.

Here are my uni buddies. I've been lucky to end up in a lovely group. They're all so much younger than me - at one point I was twice the age of the youngest (she's since had a birthday), but they don't seem to mind at all. We were in the middle of an outdoor learning lecture here, sent out to explore near the lecture theatre we ended up in garden of Provand's Lordship examining the well.

 Back to our garden, there are nice bits despite the brambles. This is the first year my hellebores have flowered...

Now to the THING I have just discovered, that for some reason I never knew existed...

...a favourite cosy, woolly cardigan. Bobbled and not looking great...

 Tada! Transformed.

Accomplished using a simple pilling comb, bought for a couple of pounds from ebay. I've lots of cardis needing the treatment. It's not the most exciting job though...

 and it does create some amount of fluff!

 Another restoration project: my favourite purple jacket. Looking faded and past its best. However, the fabric is still in good condition, and I still like it as it fits well- jackets with long enough arms can be difficult to find. After seeing Lucy's post I was tempted to try this for myself. What colour to use though. The "intense violet" looked too blue and the "burlesque red" too red. Well, two packs were required so I decided to use a one of each.

 And here it is. The sun was a bit strong (not a complaint!) so not the best photo, but you get the idea. I was very pleased with the results and look forward to wearing my "new" jacket. The two packs of dye cost just over £10 altogether, plus you need salt and several cycles in the washing machine, but still a lot cheaper than an actual new jacket.

Shepherds pie from last night. It looked and smelled yummy and the camera happened to be nearby. Tasted good too!

Lastly some cat and crochet photos. I caught her lying on A's bed...

Pretty! And the cat's not bad either...