Farmer,s weather

Raining during the night and dry in the day, not too shabby for the gardeners amongst us either.

A couple of days have slipped past, nothing much has happened really, I have knitted, searched for patterns, looked at the yarn stash in despair oh, and done the boring but essential household jobs.
Yesterday was a full on washing day, the sun was out, there was a decent and gentle breeze, and everything that was in the washing basket went through the machine. All line dried, even the door curtain that came down just because, it was a great feeling to tuck it all away.

Then the SO came home, showered and left another full load....it has been washed this morning and is ready to peg out. It is still a bit misty here, there is blue sky showing in patches, so it can wait a little while.

I am keeping up with the walk at home every day, I have been chopping and changing the workouts, I do not want to get bored. Yesterday I did a 2 mile "power walk" as well as up and down the stairs, in and out to the washing line and walking the dogs. This morning I did a new 1 mile walk and will repeat it later on. This one had lots of people taking part who were not super slim, much more realistic.

Dinner last night was chilli and garlic bread, I stuffed as many vegetables into it as possible and some mixed beans. My dried chillies are going strong (really strong, 1 is plenty) and hopefully will last until I have fresh ones on the plants.
Tonight we are having Mushroom Something, a new recipe that has not been born yet. I have had a rummage in the fridge and it will be another veggy meal, this time with ginger and garlic and a decent amount of lemon to cut through the earthiness of the mushrooms. There will also be courgettes involved, I do not want to waste a thing.

I managed to have a quick tidy round in the pantry this morning, I keep my kitchen hand towels etc in there and they had begun to wander slightly. All is regimented now, I had been through a little phase of "put it down" rather than "put it away". I need to nip that in the bud, if not prune it right out.

I am still pining to do some spinning.
I am still space poor.
I have had a very good look at my stash yarns.
I did not cry, nearly though.

I bought a huge amount of Acrylic Aran weight yarn very, very cheaply a couple(ish) years ago. There was the idea of a thicker blanket floating round my head.
The problem was that I bought baby Aran in pale shades, not at all my cup of tea, as that was what was on sale.

BAD MOVE.

I sorted it out, looked at patterns, sniffled a bit, went on Ravelry for more pattern inspiration, sniffled a bit more and threw the towel in.

I will not be using that yarn.

It will not be wasted though, my sister is a voracious knitter and crocheter, she loves the paler shades, she makes things for friends and neighbours as well as family. It will be in a box and on its way to her as soon as I get it packed away.

I figure that the space gained will allow me a drop spindle and some fibre to play with.
It will take something much more radical to make room for a wheel.

I will not let her know as we all love happy post, and if it is a surprise it is all the better.

I do have another surprise parcel to get packed and despatched, and as I am taking the car in for it,s MOT this morning I can get them both sent off. The garage is just near the local shop that is a drop off centre for a courier firm. Courier is by far the cheapest, and mostly the quickest,way to send a parcel.
The Post office has priced itself out of my business.

All those words and I have not really said anything much, they have been stored up since my last post and just had to escape.

A bit of knitting,

Francesca's cowl, I have chopped the point off so folded it for a better look.

It is very pretty in real life, soft and silky. perfect for a cool spring morning. It may well become an Easter gift and a warmer one will be made for the winter.

The Chunky, Furry, sooo soft cowl. Mine, all mine. I wore it last night to walk Herbie and it was super warm, super light and not a hint of tickle under my chin. Possibly because I made it deep enough to pull up over my chin.

Much as I love it I will not be repeating the exercise, sewing the ends in was an experience, it took me 20 minutes to find a needle with an eye larger enough, and joining the new skeins in was not easy, or tidy.

The new "sticky yarn" sock, I used Kay Jones,s short row garter stitch heel pattern for the first time. It was so simple, because it was so well explained

The second sock is 10 rows away from the heel, I hope to get it completed this week.

I will be ripping out the toe on the first sock and adding a few rounds to the foot. A foolish mistake on my part, I did not use the "umbrella toe" in the pattern, just my preferred wedge toe and of course it is shorter. No big deal, I will pick up the stitches just before the decrease row before ripping the toe back. I have plenty of yarn so no yarn chicken will be involved.

Now I need to get those parcels made up and print the labels off, they will be sent off today if I get them dropped off before lunch.

                     TTFN                                         Pam