Merry Chrismas!

I hope you are all having a great festive day with your loved ones...

German Christmas Market 2009

Every year Birmingham hosts the largest German Christmas market outside Germany. There is plenty of traditional food, souvenirs and glintwine! Here in England it's been a cold and snowy weekend, so we had had an amazing Christmas experience despite me being sick... and a national traffic gridlock. Here are some of the pictures I'd like to share

Small things

that make life brighter ;)


There are no new pictures of knitting today, they are all in a complete UFO state and not yet to be seen. Instead are some lovely vintage things I have recently purchased to spice up my wardrobe. The shoes are absolutely stunning and should go very well with some of my vintage bags and hats form the early 50-s, late 40s period. All purchased at etsy And photos are courtesy to sellers

Cross roads

my work sucks big time right now, there is soooo much politics involved, there is no time or energy left to actually do science. And when you do it gets blown into pieces. Do you guys ever have days when you just do not want to leave the house and would prefer to quietly hide in the distant corner? It has been tough here for the past 2 weeks and I have to push myself every single day. Why or why I take work so closely to my heart... I think I might go for a looong run today just to clear my head

What I really need though is a long weekend away hiking, just like we did this summer

CRUK 10K in Cambridge

I've run my second race today and oh boy was it a difficult one for me! For starters I do not like running on the grass particularly if it rained the night before, I also do not enjoy running on the grass where cows roamed... It is very difficult to believe but here in Cambridge there are cows roaming large public grass land. Since it is "public", animal right activists think they have the right to put their cows there and apparently they do. I've been a vegetarian for the past 9 years now but even I cannot stand them, they block the path and they do their dirty business everywhere... So imagine 2000 people running on that field, I was not impressed. But some of the path was through colleges and fellow gardens and that I have to say was amazing, particularly once the sun came out.



By the time I've done 5K I thought I would die and during the last one I was literally counting meters down. I thought that was strange since I always do 10K on my practice runs now and this Tuesday I went all the way to 10miles... so I was pleasantly surprised at the finish line to find out I run my fastest 10K ever with just over 60min (usually I am 10-15min slower!). I have another 10K race coming in just under one month in London, so hopefully I will improve my pace even more...



And on the knitting front I am slowly but surely sticking to my sweater, I am now about 25% done (based on the overall number of yarn); I am knitting the main body in the round since I do not like sewing parts together (particularly stripy ones) and it must be about 1/2 of the length...hopefully in 2-3 weeks it will be finished, so I can finish Camden sweater for my DB birthday

Back...

It's been a long time since my last post and I was around all this time, just not writing. In the beginning I was too busy with summer and not knitting. Really this non-knitting for about 6 months completely demolished any desire to write.
My last post was on cross-stitch and since then I have not done a singe stitch, I am not allowed to due to recurrence of visual problems. When you spend a lot of time in front of the microscope or even worse a confocal microscope, cross stitch is not the best idea.

Also I discovered the joy of outdoor activities such as hiking, scrambling and running. Running is a separate topic since I am seriously getting hooked on it. I used to be one of those people who hates runners or just not sees the point in that. In fact if anyone had told me I will be running 4 times a week 6 months ago I would have laughed. But ever since loosing weight in the spring my body was aching for exercise, so I started running once or twice a week. I am slow, really slow but it doesn't bother me any more; I do my 10-12K in over an hour with every single other runner overtaking me and I like it. I run for myself for the joy and freedom it brings. And today I did my first fun run of 4.5K. Running a properly organised event is a completely different experience, it has it's ups and downs but it is simply great. I am running a 10K race in Cambridge for Cancer Research UK next Sunday with friends, so hopefully large crowds will not scare me any more.



Oh and now the most important part ;).... I am slowly starting to knit again! That's right I am still a knitter. To get back into it I even bought more yarn and started a new project!

Life after fasting

I haven't died. I fasted for two more days following the last entry and then started to feel pretty sick and had to slowly start eating.
I am doing fine and put on very little weight in the past 1 1/2 months of eating. The lowest weight went down to 62.8kg and now I am 64.5kg. My life had changed in the process, I fell in love with the food I could not stand before and stopped liking many things I did.

Unfortunately, I have also stopped knitting, the more I fasted the more I wanted to stop. I am into cross stitching now, something I had stopped 5 years ago when I picked up knitting. I did put on weigh around that time, so maybe there is a connection. I like looking at my yarn and do feel guilty about not knitting but really don't want to do it now.

Here is how I look now (with my mum visiting Ely)

What I did this summer

Well... I am not blogging again. This past month was pretty hectic, not only from work point of you, but also socially. We had 3-5 afterwork things a week and I did make it to most of them. DB and me also travelled up north to visit the Peak district and Chatsworth (the house of Mr Darcy ;)). I was not really taken by it, but grounds are stunning, a must visit for everyone.



Knitting-vice I finished one pair of socks, started another pair, bought quite a bit of yarn, and selected my Ravelry-Olympic project. It's German Stockings by Cookie A. Something I long wanted to knit and something I know I will wear a lot because Anna socks have been worn extensively though winter.

I leave you with Kusha Kusha scarf pics ( did I tell you I LOVE it)
Enjoy the rest tof your knitting weekend ;)

Project: Kusha Kusha Scarf (Kit-78) by Setsuko Torii
Yarn: 1 skew of Habu Silk Stainless A-20/21 1/20 in black and 1 skew of

Habu Super Fine Merino A-177 in colourway 56
Needles: 3.25mm, 3.5mm, 4mm and 5mm

Splash of colour

I love bright colours: oranges, raspberry pinks, all shades of yellows and greens. Over the course of my life I've lived in different professionally decorated houses: form 18th century rococo museum type to Kelvin Klein minimalistic ones. I am not comfortable in any of them, I feel out of place, it is either way over the top or scarily clean. I like airy and colourful flats, where I do not feel guilty for leaving a cup of coffee on a table, where I can store all my books and just a right amount of clutter ;) Currently the flat I'm renting is quite frankly boring and since I cannot do any proper changes, I am left to play with decorations. So yesterday I got 9 lovely prints from a great etsy shop I've been eyeing for some time now. I will frame them in a pine wood frames (2 inches deep), all identical size and display above the sofa.
Я очень люблю яркие, насыщенные цвета: все оттенки оранжевого, малиново-розового, жёлтого и зелёного. За свою жизнь я успела пожить в разных домах, все они были префессионально декорированны от Барокко 18-го века до полного минимализма. И во всех них я не чувствовала себя камфортно, тк все они были доведины до совершенства: либо слишком напыщенные, либо до ужаса стерильные. Сама я предпочитаю много света и цвета, квартиры в корорых я могу оставить кружку из под кофе на столе, поместить все мои книги и кучу моих мелочей ;) В настоящее время я снимаю очередную квартиру и в ней нельзя делать ничего в ремонтном плане, но можно играть с декором. Вот так вчера я ноконец-то купила 9 принтов, которые оформлю в одинаковые рамочки из светлого дерева где-то в 5-ть см глубиной и повешу как группу(как на картинке) над диваном в вязальном углу зала. Купила их в давно мной посещаемом магазинчике на (см ссылку выше)

Waiting /Ожидая

Recently my life is all about waiting: for the rain to stop and summer to come (seriously it is like +15 in June!), for my flies to hatch, so I could get on with my life, for my holiday break in a week form now, for buttons to arrive (Jasmine is done but there are no buttons), for my extra pounds to drop off...
В последнее время всё, что я делаю-это жду чего-то. Жду когда же прекратится доздь и потеплеет (+15 для июня слишком холодно), жду когда вылупятся мушки и я смогу начать экперимент, жду начала отпуска через неделю, жду пуговицы для Jasmine, жду когда же начнут таять мои кг.


I am knitting in a meantime, my long going-never-lasting-shawl. It was supposed to be a present for my grandma, but I know I would not be able to finish it in time. I do NOT like the yarn, have to push myself cursing at every row (it is 144 now).
А пока я жду я вяжу мою никогда-не-увижу-ей-конца-шаль. Задумывалась она ещё для бабушки в подарок, но теперь уже точно не успею закончить. Меня просто бесит в работе пряжа (помните я ещё долго не могла модель на неё подобрать), вяжу и хаю каждый ряд (так уже до 144 дошла)

At least I finally received some lovely yarn to make B-Side Cardigan
А ещё я получила вот такую красивую пряжу на кардиганчик (по ссылке сверху можно посмотреть)

pre WW

Last week I had my mum and bro visiting for a day (actually they came for UEFA Cup final in Manchester, but after the game made it down to Cambridge). I am not really keen on being photographed as I am never happy about the way I come out, but my bro had an interesting lens. These are my pre-WW pictures. I am in my week 2 (have a weighting on Tuesday), and so far it looks like I've lost 2.5kg (5.5lb)!!!

Hеделю назад ко мне приезжали мама и брат (вообще-то они приезжали на матч Зенит- Rangers), даже сделали несколько фотографий. Решила их поставить дабы документировать как я выглядела до "очковой диеты". Уже минус 2.5кг!






The last pic is me at work in one of the 25C CT rooms for fly husbandry. I am holding a tray with Alzheimer model flies, see how happy I look. Love my new lab!
А это я в комнте-инкубаторе со своими мушками, больными Алзгеймером; я даже выгляжу на ней счастливой, первая моя такая фотка!



Also last night Russia won at Eurovision! I am a huge fan of the show(although it is considered bad taste, frankly I don't care;)) and Russia never won before, I am very-very happy. Next year competition will be in Moscow and I will definitely try to go in person.

А ещё я так рада, что Россия победила на Евровидении, я большая фанатка конкурса (хотя это и считается показателем плохого вкуса), раз на следующий год будет в Москве, попробyю сходить (ну если время урву)

WW and going bi-lingual (possibly)

This again is a non-knitting post, just an update on what I am up to. Well.... I did a lot of misery eating during my rough times and put on 10kg, which is a LOT of weight. I kind of was in denial about it as I naturally prefer hugging clothes. But 2 weeks ago it struck me that I was completely out of breath after running up the stairs. It wasn't just about the way I looked it was about not being fit enough for my job (I run and stand a lot). It was time to do something.

A friend of mine told me about Weight Watchers, she wanted to go herself, so we ended up signing up together. Yesterday was my first proper weighting (after 1 full week on the points system), and I've lost 1kg (2lb)! So, I am definitely sticking to it.

Another thing is, I was thinking of carrying this blog in two languages (English and Russian) but seriously is there a point in doing it?

Changes

No I haven't fallen of the Earth... only just. I went through quite a bit of changes in my life since my last post, such as completely leaving my PhD, and then fortunately starting afresh in a new lab. Its been over 6 weeks at the new place, so I am starting to feel as my former self (although I doubt I will be the same as these things change you). I haven't been knitting at all since February until last weekend, didn't have any incentive or energy to do anything really. But I am hoping to come back soon.

This a picture of me with my parents' cat last month.