Kate Guest

@inky-fluff

English librarian, writing a novel about aliens, slow runner, crafter (embroidery, crochet), opinions about potatoes, cricket, and human decency.

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Kate Guest@inky-fluff· 16d

Finished another row of this monster over the weekend. Thoroughly sick of dark blue, but the effect is worth it 👌

A cross-stitch picture of Pinhead, now reaching to the top of his forehead, you can see the circular mark where the hoop was for the last bit of the far end panel. He's looking at the box in his hand, which is visible at the bottom of the picture, but I won't get to that yet as I'm doing the top row next.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· 17d

I have tiny beans! I took a couple of runner bean plants from Mum with low expectations; it's just nice to have something climbing on the balcony, but then I went out this morning and realised that they're actually doing something! 🫛

Runner bean plants growing on a grey metal railing. They have scarlet flowers and, in the foreground, a tiny pod, about 2 centimetres long and slightly furry. It's adorable. There are several others in the background, out of focus.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· 24d

We're here! Finals day, the sun is shining, and I followed a man dressed as a steak bake into the ground 😍

Edgbaston, covered in cricketers warming up.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jul 4

I can't get over how gorgeous the yarn I'm using for this cardigan is. The colours are amazing!

A haphazardly folded crochet item with several stitch markers along the top edge. The yarn is a combination of blues, greens, purples and a bit of yellow, with a slightly iridescent sheen. It’s a colourway of the Winter Glow range by Hobbii.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jun 20

The wonders of real-time weather radar mean we know that these clouds aren't anything sinister, but that doesn't stop the people around us speculating...

The cricket ground in Taunton under overcast skies. Somerset are playing Warwickshire.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jun 6

Bit wet. The ground staff just went inside 😕

Lord's in the rain. The covers are on and the buildings in the distance are a bit fuzzy. The stands are fairly full, though, because nothing says English Summer more than sitting in a cricket ground getting wet.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jun 1

Printed draft 1 of book 3 of my alien romance trilogy with a view to getting on with draft 2 soon! (Yes, I know I haven't published book 1 yet... it's a process) #amwriting 📚

A green envelope-style folder with a pristine printed manuscript inside it, mostly covered in post-it notes of several sizes.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· May 27

Visiting my favourite prehistoric Greek hedgehog today 🦔

A small ceramic vessel in the shape of a hedgehog holding a bowl, in a display case of other, contemporary items including a lidded pot and a pot with two handles. The hedgehog is lit from above, and painted with a slightly alarmed expression. In the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· May 17

End of birthday week visit to the family, and excellent book-haul! 🥰 Not that I have space on my bookshelf, but never mind!

Seven books in a pile on a kitchen worktop: books 1,2, and 4 of T. Kingfisher's Saint of Steel series, 'Paladin's Grace', 'Paladin's strength', and 'Paladin's faith' of which I already have book 3 ('Paladin's hope') as i found it in a charity shop; 'Leech', and 'The works of vermin' by Hiron Ennes, an incredibly impressive writer, 'Empire of the Dawn' by Jay Kristof, and 'The end of the world as we know it', an anthology of stories set in the world of Stephen King's 'The stand'. The bottom 3 are hardbacks, and the top 4 are paperbacks. Now I just need to decide what to read first!

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· May 16

Off to Desertfest in London this afternoon, and dressing like a librarian as usual 🤘

A black t-shirt with a picture in white of a goat-like figure before an eight pointed stat. The goat is holding a book with an inverted pentagram on the front cover, and has a little candle on his head between his horns, so he can see the words. The lettering above the picture says READING IS FUN.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· May 11

Marvelling at the size of the mug which A got me for my birthday. The one on the left is a normal size, the new one holds a pint, which will make for some extremely caffeinated mornings!

Two mugs on a reflective glass surface. The lefthand one has a picture of an octopus in blue and green, and is a standard mug size. To its right is a vast purple and white spotted behemoth of a mug, both wider and taller, dwarfing it. Seriously, it's so big it practically has its own gravity. 10/10, no notes.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· May 4

Tiny petunias to cheer up the balcony! 🌺

An oblong green tub with three plants covered in bright pink trumpet shaped flowers, with grey railings, and grass in the background. To the left is a yellow pot with several seedlings, and another plant similar to those in the tub can be seen to the far left. I bought a pack of 4, but could only fit three in the tub, so I dug out an extra pot.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· May 2

Ahh.

Signs of spring, a pale green ale by the Stonehenge brewery, pictured in the left hand of a woman in stripy trousers.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Apr 30

Excitedly texting my mum because it looks like my hydrangea is getting flowers! First time I have successfully over-wintered a plant on the balcony.

A plant with shiny green leaves and a tiny cluster of not-leaves between two small ones which are growing close together at the bottom.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Apr 26

I bought a kit to grow my own sunflowers, and it was a bit more successful than I anticipated! Luckily, I know people who are happy to take one or two... 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻 The one on the left is a tomato, btw, which I rescued.

Twenty-two sunflower seedlings, four in a yellow pot, the others in smaller pots, on a wooden balcony. There is also an oblong green tub full of compost, in which I am yet to plant anything, and a tiny tomato in a pot which it will grow into, as it looks very small at the moment.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Apr 20

One of the books I catalogued today, and an earworm for people of a certain age 😁

A children's book entitled I am a rock, which meant I had the Simon and Garfunkel tune stuck in my head for about a week. The cover depicts a big grey rock rising out of a field of blue plants, with the ears and eyes of a strange brown animal peering from behind a smaller rock in the foreground. The sky is coloured red, orange and yellow. The book is slightly shiny reflecting an overhead light source, and rests on a wooden desk.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Apr 15

Getting somewhere!

The first few rows of a crochet square, in pretty turquoise wool, sitting on a paper pattern which shows the same square in crochet notation. I appear to have succeeded in the magic loop method, which has previously eluded me.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Apr 12

I bought some gorgeous yarn for my next crochet cardigan, and I was staggered by the size of the balls when it arrived, but realised that the first photo doesn't actually give any idea of how massive they are, so I added a pint glass for scale! 🧶

Three balls of Winter Glow by Hobbii, in a pretty turquoise, teal, gold and violet repeating pattern, on a multicoloured carpet. The yarn is hald together by white paper bands through the middle and across one side, and looks perfectly normal...

The same three balls of yarn, towering over the pint glass which I have added as a scale. They are absolutely massive, easily as tall as the glass, and hefty.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Apr 4

Fun evening, which involved cocktails served in an elephant!

A green ceramic cup in the shape of a seated elephant, a red and white papers straw, ice cubes and lime are visible in the top. The elephant is on a wooden table, another similar cup and several plates behind it.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Mar 27

Book title of the day!

Title page and frontispiece of a book entitled The box of whistles, which is about church organs. Published in 1877.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Mar 23

Number *something* in an occasional list of "Things you get funny looks for carrying on the bus": an olive tree 🫒

A small olive tree, with thin, dark green leaves, in a hessian bag, sitting on a balcony with grey railings. There is a brick structure behind it, and the side of a brick block of flats with similar grey balconies. A small magnolia tree is flowering in the background.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Mar 14

Pre-emptive measures to avoid another incident like last week, when gluten intolerant A accidentally ate one of my hot cross buns, which very severely did not agree with him. 🤢

A pack of lovely M&S luxury fruited hot cross buns, covered with a large yellow post-it note on which is drawn a skull and crossed ears of wheat, with the word NO! underlined on the top left corner. The skull has a stalk of grass sticking out of the side of its teeth, and the eyes are Xs.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Mar 12

Finished another panel of this fella the other day. Of course, he's going to be staring at me now. The details come out really well in the photos, but they're harder to see when I'm working square to square.

My current cross-stitch project, a partial picture of Pinhead from the Hellraiser films. A pale skinned man with numerous nails hammered into his head and face, casting shadows from a light source to his right. The latest panel includes his eyes, so now he's looking at me... brrr.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Mar 5

On my desk today: a piece of 1970s counter culture.

The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell, 1971, second printing. A large paperback book with a black cover, a white title and the author's name in red. Apparently, these days it's quite safe to allow readers to see it as most of the recipes for explosives etc are out of date. It does also have a list of drugs, which is how I know that if you eat enough banana skins, you'll hallucinate, but I'd think that was pretty likely anyway.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jan 17

I'm a sucker for pretty yarn 😍

The start of a crochet hexigan cardigan, made from multicoloured yarn: the centre is brilliant pink, gradually changing colours to orange, yellow, blue and green, with fine gold threads throughout. A green crochet hook can be seen poking from a corner of the shape, which is resting on a pair of legs dressed in dark blue trousers.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jan 14

Super simple, just five panels as shown. Squares are 5 inches each (for some reason imperial measurements work best for crochet 🤷‍♀️). I took the measurements from a hoodie which was a good fit. I added two rows of half-treble around the edges after sewing together, including the sleeves.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jan 14

Please excuse the shower room selfie, but I'm really pleased with how my 84 square cardigan came out. My mum bought the grey wool to make a jumper for my sister, but never got around to it, and the colourful stuff was in my stash. Toasty warm, too! 🧶

Me, wearing a colourful crochet cardigan made up of grey squares with variously coloured middles. Most of my face is hidden by my phone. I'm also wearing a grey top and greeny-blue trousers. There is a tiled wall behind me and my bag is on the floor.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jan 13

Another panel complete! The details are hard to see during the process. I enjoyed the blue bits after endless grey.

A cross stitch picture with another panel completed, showing the side of Pinhead's face, illuminated in blue, with the nails casting shadows. Kinda scared of the next one, because that's got his eyes on it, and he'll stare at me...

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Jan 3

Blocked my cardigan! Hopefully it will be slightly less lumpy now. Pleased to have finished it before the weather warmed up.

A crochet cardigan pinned to interlocking foam boards with a grid pattern printed in white. The cardigan is made up of grey squares with different colour middles. There are several boxes of Christmas cards in the foreground because I am a slovenly wench, and I'm going to put them away when I take the decorations down.

Kate Guest@inky-fluff· Dec 20

Happy birthday to my lovely partner, A, whose idea of a fun Saturday involved running 10 miles today. My gluten free cakes are excellent now, if I do say so myself. 🥳