Kate Guest

@inky-fluff.bsky.social

411 Followers 336 Following

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

Edgbaston, covered in cricketers warming up.
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.
The cricket ground in Taunton under overcast skies. Somerset are playing Warwickshire.
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.
A green envelope-style folder with a pristine printed manuscript inside it, mostly covered in post-it notes of several sizes.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
Signs of spring, a pale green ale by the Stonehenge brewery, pictured in the left hand of a woman in stripy trousers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
Title page and frontispiece of a book entitled The box of whistles, which is about church organs. Published in 1877.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Handwritten crochet pattern.
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.
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...
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.
A cake with milk and sponge chocolate stars on the top, and a slightly off-centre blue candle. It's a gluten-free chocolate sponge with chocolate icing, and is very tasty.
A children's book with a brightly coloured cover showing three people on a beach with a yellow umbrella, the sea in the distance and two birds in the sky. The title of the book is "Rollicking times".
The left hand side of an unfinished cross-stitch project, the upper panel, most recently finished, is entirely dark blue. A small magnetic needle keeper is attached at the side of the new panel, it's in the shape of a pile of books.
1909 children's book entitled 'Pussies' with a picture of a kitten in a hanging vase on the cover.
The exposed root system of a fallen ash tree, which looks like some kind of ancient God which crawled out of the earth and wants to eat your soul, all thrashing limbs and bits of suspended rock and soil. Deeply creepy, just sitting there on an innocent Iron Age hillfort. My partner walked behind it, and I wondered for a moment it he would just vanish into an unspeakable he'll dimension, but he was OK. Phew.
A screenshot of my phone screen showing a Kindle notification that I have read for 666 days in a row.
Top of a cross-stitch panel, entirely dark blue squares. I have a cool magnetic needle-minder in the shape of a pile of books.
A large piece of white Aida fabric with a cross stitched picture across the middle: the lower half of a man's face rendered in various shades of grey and brown, with long nails protruding at intervals and casting shadows, above a suggestion of shoulders. The background is very dark blue. This is the Pinhead design by WItchykitt Designs. Started in February 2025.
Title page of a book: "Mr Pink-Whistle interferes" by Enid Blyton. Yes, my sense of humour is very juvenile, no, I'm not sorry.
Emergency services person on a motorbike. They are wearing all yellow apart from a red panel at the top of the jacket, and a red sign that says "Blood" across the back in big white letters. Two further packages of Blood are attached to the back of the bike with bungee cords, also labelled on white on red. Editing slightly to obscure the number plate.
Edgbaston. The pitch is covered by the hover-cover, but there are people on the outfield and the crowd is still largely in their seats. An e-shaped floodlight rises on its stem above the ground, the clouds dark behind it, and a rainbow arcs above the scene, bisecting the light. It's very pretty, and has extra stripes underneath.
The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, where Somerset are playing Birmingham Bears in the T20 Blast quarter final. Sunlight is slanting across the field, and everything looks lovely.
Yes, the idea for this post did leave me with "All the young dudes" by Mott the Hoople stuck in my head, why do you ask? Picture is of a number, possibly seven, small white sails passing a breakwater with a concrete monument which also looks like a sail to the left. In the far distance, an island, probably Mykonos, can be seen on the horizon. The foreground water is paler than the water beyond the quay, and the sky is clear.
A flight of stone steps leading up to the medieval town on the Greek island of Syros. A building with green shutters is on the left, and there is a metal railing on the right. At the top, a bougainvillaea is draped over the path, providing some shade. A white wall is just visible at the point where the steps turn to the left. A very blue sky is at the very top of the shot. It was bloody hot, but we found a nice café at the top, so that was worth it.
A view down a slope towards the beautiful Aegean sea, which is several shades of blue with a few white wave tops. A taverna is to the right of the picture and a building with blue shutters and white walls is to the left. A few tourists in summer clothes are wandering around, and in the centre of the picture, a cat reclines in the shade, secure in the knowledge that it will get fuss from roughly every third person who passes, requiring no effort at all.
An English hedgerow, dusty blue sloes hang in clusters among small, oval leaves. They're not very big, only just over a centimetre long, but there are lots of them.
A lion-shaped cloud in a blue sky with some trees in the foreground.
A bright blue manila folder on a red patterned rug. The folder contains a pile of printed pages. Artfully arranged on top are a pad of lined sticky notes and a pink pen. I expect it will look a lot less neat when I've gone through it.
Lord's cricket ground during a drinks break on the 4th day of the third test against India. View from the lower tier of the Grandstand, because we're fancy.
Edgbaston on day 3 of the second Test against India. By the time I'd written this, Stokes was out
A plush toy in the shape of a head of broccoli, with a fuzzy dark green top and lighter green body. It has big eyes and a whimsical smile, and four stubby limbs/branches, which are holding a yellow love heart sweet bearing the words "live life on the veg" in red letters within a red heart shaped line. It sits on a bookshelf, next to a digital radio and in front of some books.
The river Cherwell, seen from University Parks in Oxford, a bridge crosses the river to the right, and trees are reflected in the water. The sky is striped with clouds. It was about 28 degrees, but cooler near the water.
A view through an open door onto a balcony with grey railings. An orange flower is visible above a cluster of miniature pink petunias, and below the pink clusters of the hydrangea. I grew the nasturtium in that green tub from seed.
Edgbaston in overcast skies, Somerset are batting against Warwickshire. Zoomed in slightly to avoid the weirdo with his bare feet on the fence below where we're sitting; a speaker is hovering in the foreground.
Lords, at the beginning of day 4 of the World Test Championship final.
A large piece of white Aida cloth, with 3 panels of a big cross stitch picture of Pinhead from the Hellraiser films. The third, on the left, has been mostly background and seems to have taken forever. The mark from a very small hoop (4 inches) is visible on the bottom lefthand corner; I switched to a tiny one because the big one was making my hand ache.
A lovely photo of the remains of a Doric temple; seven columns are left, and six of them have intact capitals. An utter numpty has accidentally added her finger to the top lefthand corner, so it looks as if a vast hand is pointing at the temple.
A glass case containing five shelves of delicate glass vessels on a black background. Reflected in the glass is a woman with a purple t-shirt and burgundy hair. Her face is obscured by the phone in her hands.
A kitchen worktop and sink, the grey plastic drainer is piles high with plates, lunch boxes, a colander, and other things, with a few bits of recycling teetering on the top. I now have to dismantle it to find a cereal bowl...
A view through a west-facing balcony door, a small purple hydrangea is balanced on an upturned grey pot, with two circular pots and an oblong tub before it. The larger circular pot contains a stripy pink and white petunia and various seedlings. The smaller circular pot has several nasturtiums, and the oblong pot has two miniature petunias with pink flowers and another assortment of seedlings.
A view of the cricket ground in Taunton facing towards the Marcus Trescothick pavilion.
A fuzzy shot of a laptop screen, the words "The end" in the middle. The last line of text is visible but not legible at the top of the screen and the chapter outline on the left suggests this is chapter 54.
A pile of books on an ornate octagonal table: Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff, The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, Oracle by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, and Across the Sand by Hugh Howey. These are topped by a book of Sarcastic Quotes cross stitch patterns. Behind the pile can be seen three tentacles of a plush blue octopus, and in the background on the floor my current unfinished project (still wading through the dark blue).