Oh What a beautiful morning.....

I woke far later than usual, probably because Ben decided that 1:35 was the ideal time for a jaunt round the garden.
Not his usual dash out and back in before I had time to get the door fully open, and then be on his bed and snoring by the time I got it shut and locked.
Oh No. last night he did the full tour, and of course I then had to to towel him dry and pull various bits of undergrowth from his coat.

I crawled back upstairs to find him On The Bed, and On My Pillow pretending to be fast asleep.
When I went to pick him up to move him it was PLAYTIME! at least that is what he thought.
He is such a determined little dog and although old loves a little play so I gave in and five minutes later he settled down, on his own bed, and went to sleep. 
I, though, was fully awake and desperate for a cuppa, it was almost 3:00 by the time I was back in my bed. Ben was still sound asleep.

Anyhow, I am up now, if not fully awake and alert, I have a cuppa and there is a new Cherry Heart Podcast to watch.
I may be doing what the lovely Mandy calls negative knitting today. I cast on a new sock last week and am halfway down the foot. I love the yarn, a WYS 4ply, and the pattern but not together. I struggled to knit a few rounds and cast it aside in disgust. 
I had another look at it this morning and NO, I do not like it at all.
Methinks a little frogging is on the cards.

Knit and Natter was fun yesterday, I picked Chrissie, AKA The One Armed Bandit, up and we sailed off to Llandeilo. Lunch was enjoyed very much, we had a pot of tea and a vegetarian sausage roll, an experimental recipe, with some smoked mushroom chutney. That was a combination made in heaven and the wonderful proprietor shared the recipe!! Double Whammy for Pammy.
Guess what I will be making soon.

I took my Snuggly to work on and made decent progress but today I will be casting on the fronts of the cardigan, I have a birthday party to attend soon and would like to wear the new cardi, and maybe a new dress.  That would be the one that has been cut out for a couple of weeks at least tut tut.

Dinner last night was a haphazard affair, Sweet  Potato baked in the skins, cold chicken and salad and a dollop of my carrot and garlic chutney. I need to make another batch of that, it is a Sophie Grigson recipe that I make frequently, it is very heavy on the garlic and is divine but needs a year to mature. At least that is when I like it best.

I will be mainly playing in the sewing department today, I have my stack of stretchy fabrics that I was sent, the correct needle ready to put in and a selection of various threads to try out. I will also be trying out the overlocker.

Dinner tonight will be shepherds pie, I love it and while freezer diving found a pack of Lamb mince. Oh Yum, I will make a mash with root veg with a dollop of whole grain mustard instead of butter and cook shredded leeks and cabbage to have with it.

Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that I started a batch of Amish Friendship bread last Sunday (or did I tell you? no matter I don't mind repeating myself). Today I added to the mix and should be making the first loaf next Monday, I only made a half cup size starter because it does grow quite substantially. I had a batch going for a long time, well over 5 years, in Tydd but it did not survive the move.  By chance I caught a You Tube video about it last weekend and Bingo, I was off to the kitchen to get the starter made.
It is looking healthy and starting to develop the "beery" smell of sourdough. I will keep you posted.

I have Rufus coming for a weekend soon and am looking forward to that, he is the perfect house guest. He never complains, eats everything that is put in front of him and doesn't interfere with the day to day running of the house.

There is nothing more that I can think of today, like most of us I don't have heaps of exciting  things happening on a daily basis, my life is slow, reasonably gentle and as happy as I can make it. 

OOH that was nearly a lie. Something exciting did happen yesterday. The Marvellous Mandy custom dyed some yarn for me, brace yourselves for a blast of glory.
She took her inspiration from the families goldfish, How brilliant.

Isn't that just fabulous? The remit that I gave her was, mmm a bit on the vague side to say the least. "Orange, bright, speckles or stripes" I am so glad that Mandy speaks vague. You can find her on Etsy as ToDyeForYarnCo. (hope you don't mind this Mandy)

Once my yarn diet is over we will be planning a sweaters worth, it will not be quite as loud as the Goldfish, much as I love orange it is so not my colour, RATS!

On that blaze of glory I am off to get the kettle on and singing.I have sunshine outside and it is in danger of being overshadowed by my Goldfish yarn.

Oh Oh Oh, I have not broken my diet, this is a gift for someone who has inspired me to really expand my sock knitting and try new patterns and variations.

And now for that kettle.

                                 TTFN                                     Pam

(I nearly signed off as Mandy then. Do you think I am starstruck?)