A step along the path.

Yesterday was Knit and Natter, lots and lots of Natter and quite a lot of knitting, even more yarn stroking and a little buying and ordering.

There was tea and coffee and a pack of the naughtiest biscuits in the world. Choc chip cookies, multiple chips, half covered in a thick layer of chocolate. MMMmmmmmmm. 

Shhh...I had 2.


I took this book with me,

and had fun with some startling loud yarn.

Is it a bird?

Is it a plane?

Course not , it is a slightly wonky pair of socks. I finished one last night and made the other today. I made the largest size and they are too big for me.

The cast on was too loose but I am as pleased as punch with them

I will be making another pair in the next size down, just taking 2 rows off the foot length. I made the toes blue on a whim and will repeat the colour change on the next pair.

There are some gorgeous patterns in the book and once I feel comfortable with all the stages, and get the tension right, I will be working my way through most of them.

I have had a request for a Knitting bag with Owls, purple was mentioned. I had a quick look on the internet and found some fabric, it should be here by the weekend.

Apart from that it is still raining, and blowing. Tomorrow should see an improvement, I care not. 

I am in socktopia, floating on a cloud of brightly coloured balls of yarn dotted with stitch holders.

Dinner last night was a chilli made with Quorn mince, and very tasty it was too.

Tonight it is beef casserole in a Yorkshire pudding, if the rain stops as forecast I will cut a cabbage to have as well.

I have a stack of RTC meat in the freezer and will use some each week. I can see Ben doing very well indeed out of it.

Now I am off to find some more bright, in your face, yarn for my second attempt.

      TTFN                                                                          Pam

Enough is Enough.

I am tired of all the repeats of the repeats of the best of the repeats of the results of Brexit.
I personally do not think that the majority was big enough to start proceedings to leave.
 BUT I do not want to read another endless whine about it.
 So the Labour MP,s are leaving, okay, it is a free world so just go. Do not drone on about it, I do not particularly care why they went I have left jobs on a whim and for good reason, lots of people do.
Shut up and get on with the rest of your lives.
Whatever happens the world will still keep turning, half of us will be on a diet the rest will either be thin or obese.
Some of us will be crafting, some will be grafting and some will be skiving.
The sun will shine or it won't. It will rain or we will have drought.
Night will still follow day and some of us will still be walking the night away with the glazed eyes of the insomniac. ( Ben will still be snoring while I pace.)

I am a bit peeved that I can not find the exact zips that I want without paying an arm and a leg for them. I do not whinge, I have altered my idea to fit what I WILL afford. No way will I pay over £5 for a zip.

My tall peas are full of flower and thin pods, I look every day waiting for the first fat pods. The mange tout are in flower. I expect them to suddenly produce more pods than I can possibly cope with. The Rocket potatoes in buckets are wonderful, each is giving me enough for 2 meals and a gift.
My spring cabbage is sweet and crisp, just as good raw as steamed.
The carrots are not quite ready yet but the strawberries are bountiful. I could make jam but still have 5 jars from last year, so I am eating them warm from the plant, what sacrifices we gardeners have to make.
Ben has had a bath and is lying in a sunny patch, snoring his head off. He has chicken and veg for his dinner tonight. I am having my spicy chickpeas and mushrooms on a bed of lightly steamed cabbage. I am quite off meat just now.
Not a bad thing really, I watched a program last night about healthy diets across the world. We did not fare too well, all the better ones had a very low amount of meat, much more fish than we eat but many times more veg, fruit and whole grains.
 I already eat in a similar fashion but will do some more research. It was awful to see that the Designer Chefs have pushed the price of Quinoa out of reach of the people who grow it, I am surprised that it is not farmed in this country, I was growing it many years ago when I had a large garden. 
There is also the weed I know as Fat Hen, it produces tall spikes absolutely loaded with seeds, during the last war years these seeds were dried and ground to a flour consistency, my Granny did it and used it half and half with wheat flour.
There, now look what I have done, fell off the soap box and wandered off up the garden path.
Better make a brew before I go chop mushrooms for dinner.


                TTFN                                                Pam

Sunday sew off

I was determined to finish off my trial knitting bags today, I had planned for yesterday but time ran away with me.

It did not take long and I am reasonably happy with them, I will be tweaking the pattern to make a longer one. I like to knit on the longest needles for sleeves and fronts and do not want the needles poking through the fabric.

 The first one, 12" long, 9"wide by 4" tall, because it is soft it is very flexible and will hold loads.

The lining is a cotton lawn remnant.

It held this lot easily, I like to have a little pouch for scissors, tape measure, sewing up needles and so on handy.

This is some of my Texas wildflower fabric, I made the handle shorter and put it on the zipper pull end.

I think that it is much neater this way.

The lining is almost the last of this cotton lawn print.

I also altered the box corner size to make it wider and shorter.

13" long, 9 1/2" wide and 3 1/2" tall. 

Again the handle is shorter and on the zipper pull end.

The lining is a yellow polka dot on white.

I will be cutting fabric later to try another size, I am not that hot on the maths involved but making these has given me insight as to what to do next.

The weather here is a bit dull today, warm though and very little wind. I will be pottering in the garden later, I need to get some  new potatoes for dinner and maybe a spring cabbage. Much as I love my salads it is lovely to have hot veg, specially when it is from the garden. There may even be some carrots. I also have strawberries to pick and possibly some rhubarb to pull.

Now it is time to get the kettle on, all this photography is thirsty work.

                            TTFN                                        Pam

PS. Does nobody fancy joining in the parcel round robin started off by Mum?

 Perhaps if I put one of the knitting bags in someone might be interested in joining in.

Let me know, I am easily persuaded.

Pam

Will we stay or will we go now.

I went and made my cross on the ballot paper this morning, we will just have to wait and see what transpires and whether we benefit or not.

My cold seems to have been fleet of foot, it came and left in the space of 24 hours. Mind you I did wonder if it was rising damp or if I was just water logged after all the rain and mist.

I have spent most of today in the garden and will be going out again later.

This morning I was interrupted by the post man, the lovely man brought me this.

A box full of goodies from Mum.

A frothy scarf in 50 shades (well several) of blue.

Notice the sparkly bits that went all over the floor.

A book full of lovely things to crochet.

Cards and papers for crafting.

Stamps and a dolphin cutter.

Lovely decals for scrap booking and a letter opener.

A pink necklace and a sparkly hair comb.

This card was in the box, perfect for me.

And here are the instructions.

I am keeping the crochet book and the scarf, both for me, myself and I.

I will also keep the pink necklace for Kaitlyn, she has a passion for dressing up and this will go into her birthday present.

In their places I am putting these.

This book is very good, I think that it would suit everyone from a beginner to a patchwork veteran, so to speak.

5 decent sized bits of fabric, around fat quarter size to give you something to start off with.

And a lined bag to store your project in, or for knitting, crochet or what ever takes your fancy.

If anyone fancies joining in the round robin drop me a comment and I will put names into something hattish and pull one out.

Two of the pouches are on the way to there destinations, the third one is still waiting because after turning the house inside out and upside down I had to ask for an address, of course it will be the first thing that I see once the parcel is gone.

I am working on a new pattern for a zippered knitting bag, long enough to take the needles and deep and wide enough for yarn and finished bits, plus the notebook, pen, tape measure etc that you need.

I have looked at various patterns but none were quite right for me. Not that what I end up with is guaranteed to be perfect, I have 3 on the work top and will share as soon as they are finished.

Now I better get a wiggle on, there is washing up to do and I want a bit more time in the garden.

                          TTFN                                           Pam

pass me the tissues, please.

I am snuggled up with a head cold, lots of lemon in hot water, mountains of tissues and salve to stop my nose glowing.
I will be back later, you will possibly smell the faint hint of Friars Balsam and hear the wheezing and odd sneeze or three.

I am watching Death in Paradise from the beginning on Netflix, I could do with a blast of tropical sea breeze just now. Instead it is mountain drizzle damp air.

I am determined to sweat this out so will be having a fiery Thai curry tonight, it will be a fridge bottom dish, there are lots of veg in there to go at.

Pudding will be fresh mango and melon with a few strawberries. Must get the vitamin C into my system, well that's my excuse anyway.

Normal (!?) service will be resumed ASAP.

               TTFN                                                           Pam

Butterflies, flowers and a bargain.

I had to go to Neath this morning and to while away the time I had a scoot round Wilkinson's, I found a bargain.

Less than half price at £2.25. There are also good offers on Pantene  shampoo and conditioner.

Then I went to Shaws the drapers for a pair of 6mm knittings needles. I have put the posh circular set away, I could not keep the sleeves under control on it. I spotted these little buttons, I will use them on something for Kaitlyn. She wants dressing up clothes for her birthday in August.

I have this fascinator tucked away and will be looking for a feather boa on my next shopping trip.

I managed an hour or so in the garden, dead heading roses and lupins. Weeding and picking wild strawberries, if we get a couple of days sun I will have plenty of the cultivated sort as well.

The lupins are in full flower and I hope to keep them going with regular beheading.

This is my new rose, just the one bloom on it. I will be cutting it later and then getting the plant into the garden. The perfume is amazing, you could get drunk on it.

Apart from that not much is happening. I have made veggie burgers for dinner and will have them with a salad. 

There will be rhubarb for a crumble tomorrow, I will probably dig in the freezer for "one that I prepared earlier" and have an easy day of it.

Rain is forecast and I have plenty to do indoors.

I must get a trip to the CS in on Monday, I have a small hill of stuff to take and I do not want a single bit to slink back into the cupboards.

Ben is making time for a walk noises so I am off now.

I hope that you are all enjoying your weekends.

                      TTFN                                             Pam

See what I found.

The first week that I went to knit and natter Debs had a delivery. In one of the boxes were several of these.

There were only two designs, both  appealed to me.

Sewing kits, nothing remarkable.

Except for the thread plaits.

I did not see thread.

I saw cuffs and maybe a stand up collar on a white blouse, or perhaps pocket trims on a pair of jeans or a dress.

I bought both the tin designs and I am sure that the right project will come along, in the meantime I will have the tins to look at.

I have had a Bleh day, I woke after a good nights sleep feeling decidedly under par. Nothing specific, just a general "off" feeling, a bit light headed and woozy. It felt as though I had a night on the tiles last night,

 Tea and a walk with Ben, Dolly and Archie helped a little. 

A shopping trip did nothing to help but it had to be done.

I drank more tea and then some coffee, had a light lunch and walked the dogs again. 

A little knitting and some online shopping helped some more. 

I was given a potted hybrid tea rose called Mum in a million. It needs to be put in the ground soon, there is one bloom on it and it has a pronounced scent. That also helped.

I do feel much better now but not 100%, hopefully I will be back on form tomorrow.

I have 2 days of blogs to catch up with and comments to answer, I also have to look for a boxed pouch pattern.

Now I am going to have more tea, and perhaps something nice to nibble on. Nooooo nothing naughty, I have a fruit platter out, a selection of fresh fruits peeled and sliced and diced into mouth sized morsels. That way I can use a fork and not get my fingers sticky. I want to get on with the  sleeves on my jumper, I have finished the rib now and want to get them knitted up.

                        TTFN                                               Pam

The day that the rains came.

It has been a mixed bag today, two loads of washing done and line dried this morning. The last bits came in a 11:50 and within seconds it was raining so hard that I could not see the garden. There have been a few more sessions through the afternoon with hot hot sunshine between them.

The buttons are on my cardigan, it is too big, I am not pleased. I knitted a smaller size than I usually do and I haven't lost that much weight.

I have the yarn to knit it again, smaller, but will think about it for a little while.

As you can see Ben was underwhelmed by it all.

I have done some sewing, three of the zippered pouches are made and will be winging their way to ........ No I will not say, it will be a surprise.

A blue one.

The back.

One in red.

And the back.

Both have this lining.

The third pouch.

The back.

The lining.

I want to make a few more of these and then find a pattern for a boxy version.

I got the bag zips from Jaycotts and they are lovely to work with and I will be getting a stock in.

I am off to get a brew on before I cast on the sleeves of my jumper.

                    TTFN                                             Pam

Knitting

Knit and Natter this afternoon was very nattery, new yarn to ooh and ahh over. A drop dead gorgeous hedgehog with a new yarn from Stylecraft, with the promise of Owls to come.
I do believe that I may be driving over again before Tuesday to have another look.

My cardigan just needs the buttons and I got them today,

I am very pleased with the end result, I have almost 2 full balls of yarn left so bought 2 more. I intend to knit it again in a size smaller for Fran.

These are the buttons, they have a mother of pearl type finish and are more purple than they look here.

The back, I just love the patterns.

I have started a jumper in chunky yarn and although I haven't done much yet, told you it was nattery this afternoon, I am already itching to wear it.

The back, on a fancy pants circular needles.

They are Knit Pro interchangeable and I am loving knitting on them. I will be adding more sizes as I need them.

I had a delivery of some bag zips this morning, I want to use them on the large zippered pouches.

The tape is a bit wider than on clothes zips so I can sew them on to quilted pieces with the walking foot rather than changing to the zipper foot. They also have a large hole in the pull tab, that means that I can add a chunky zip pull.

It is still raining, just stopping every now and then to hammer down, well it is Wales after all. I really don't mind, there is always something to keep me busy.

 The oven timer just pinged so I must dash.

                          TTFN                                 Pam