Knitting nerd with a whiteboard…

Hello! Not sure how to introduce myself here – I could use my Facebook bio (Small, blonde, teacher, writer, musician, pissed off… any other questions) but it might seem a little brash to start!

I was surprised and flattered when my fellow minion Karin invited me to write on her blog – and wondered what on earth I could write about (other than Rough Trade and Keira)!

Most of the time my brain is entirely occupied by my job; I teach year 6 in the UK (the last year before High School and a year with major exams) and currently have a class with 8 home languages apart from English which makes life interesting!

However, both in and out of the classroom I am a HUGE nerd, my geekery is immense – even my knitting projects tend to be named either in Latin (Februum) and Gaelic (Coire Bhreacain) or else after the film I’ll be knitting them through (Clint is Up All Night to get Bucky), what they remind me of (Shieldmaiden Lace) or just what they are (Shiny).

Purple for Clint in these socks for Mum (knit during Civil War)

The Whirlpool between Jura and Scarba.

Does this need explaining? #browncoat

My family support me in this (I blame mum for my love anyway, Blake 7 and Doctor Who as a very small child) – my love of Doctor Who and Tea (coffee too BTW) led to this birthday present from my brother led to this…

Rehydrate….. rehydrate….

Apart from my family, the other love of my life is Conall: Half Jack Russell, half Shih-Tzu, all adorable!

I rescued him at a really low point in my life, and having him has kept me together body and soul. I have clinical depression, he’s my little man and taking him out keeps me sane. He just knows when I need a push out the door (begging for cuddles and licking available skin to get me up) and when I have a horrendous migraine (cuddles close and stays quiet).

Migraines were the second bonding moment I had with Karin [and the reason this post is soo late!]. I was out of the classroom for three years due to chronic migraine – averaging 23 out of 30 days a month with headache – and thank the National Migraine Centre in London for getting me back up. It turns out I have an odd subtype, the problem is that the one med that helps I am allergic to so take three others to tolerate it! They are a family thing, I had my first one at 9, and are worse with hormones (the problem this weekend!)

I have written fanfiction for years, on and offline. My first published story was a Smallville X-Men crossover with Lex rescuing Remy from the Antarctic after the trial whilst most recently I’ve been part of Rough Trade writing for The Little Black Dress and Soulmate challenges. I have an account on AO3 as Caliburn – the first MCU Sentinel is up with another one to come as well as the Arrow piece I wrote this year. There will hopefully be more Potter as well as the Mulligan is very tempting for my soulmate triad series, I finished the first and the second stalled out due to work! I write original fiction as well, at the moment both urban fantasy and crime noir. Mum and Dad joke that as soon as I learnt to read I was away – as a child if I ran out of books I’d read a packet and some of the most boring of my childhood were when I lost my specs on holiday and could only read by balancing books or newspapers on my feet!

So, that’s me. The last thing to say is that I am Scottish by birth and inclination. I may have lived in the South of England since I was 7 but my accent is still very north of the border and I state my nationality as Scottish rather than British. I can sing a lot of old songs from the Rebellion years and play Bodhran (with several other instruments), know how to wear and arrange the Great Plaid (male and female) and can call a ceilidh with aplomb. Not a skill I’m called upon to use much now but I’m ready when needed!!

Many thanks to Karin for asking me…. maybe I’ll resurrect my blog – I was great in the Livejournal years (yes I’m that old) so watch this space….

Kira

[not this space, this is Karin’s space but you know what I meant!]