Followers

Friday 7 June 2019

The times they are a'changing.

So sang the mighty Bob and I seem to have caught the drift and gone along with it.

I used to watch several, if not more, podcasts and read loads of blogs that are not on my list. Recently that time has gone to other pursuits, not the least of which is sewing through the stash.
There are still some podcasts that I want to watch, Sew Sweet Violet in one and there was a new one to watch this morning.
I do miss Katy from Inside Number 23 and of course Danni from Little Bobbins. Both of these ladies have babies and no doubt have precious little time for much else

Many of the others seem to have become all about how much yarn they have bought, most of it top end, Indie dyed. There is no way that the majority of knitters and crocheters can and do have that sort of budget available. I did sit through one a few weeks ago and noted what she had bought, then did some research and discovered that it was more than most peoples monthly income. if she knits all day and every day till she is 100 it is doubtful that she will knit through her wall of yarn, never mind the stuff in other places.
Jealous? maybe a little.
Would I emulate? Not on your Nelly. ( A few years ago I may have bought more but then I was working and did not have the time to knit so much. So still a no I guess)
'Nuff of that.

What I have moved over to is reading, I have always been a bit of a bookworm but it had slipped from at least 3 a week to 1 every now and then. That changed when I was sent a book and then read about The Letter and then The Key, both by Kathryn Hughes. I read the gift (and passed it on to a friend) then found the other 2 on Amazon and signed up for Kindle Unlimited. I am 8 books down the line and picked up 3 from the Charity books in Tesco yesterday.

It seems that I am a "feast or famine" type, I know that my Mum fell well into that category. She would have looked at podcasts and knitted her heart out all winter and then lived in the garden all summer. 
She never had WIPs and Project bags, just 1 thing at a time and it and her needles and "wool" (I never heard her refer to YARN) all lived in a tall fabric bag that was supported on a wooden frame. A bit like a laundry bag, there was always a bar of Cadbury's Whole nut in there and quite often in the winter a small bottle of scotch, To Keep the Cold Out.

I am getting into the garden most days, it did start off today with the rain that was forecast so I will be inside. I have managed to put Blue and White flowers in my tubs this year. Totally unplanned but there were some wonderful White geraniums on sale and trays of Ageratum and Blue Lobelia at amazing prices. They had been woefully neglected but some TLC, water and a light liquid feed soon had them sorted.

I still have a considerable amount of swelling in my right hip and my knee was also affected, no spinning on the wheel for me. I have dug out the drop spindle though and will try that out later.

I hesitate to say that I am finding sock knitting a touch tedious. That of course means that by the end of play today I will be aching to cast on at least 5 pairs.

I do however want to cast on a summer cardigan, I am currently flicking through patterns on Ravelry. I only have a dozen or so on the short list. This technology gives me far too many choices and I end up dithering for ages.

I have turned the heels on my hand dyed socks, I have changed my mind about the leg and will be knitting 4 rows in pattern and then an inch or so in stocking stitch for roll top shorties. I have worn my Rose City Rollers to death and could do with a few pairs. See What I Mean.

The So has been rained off but has 2 more jobs to look at today, goodness knows when he will be starting those.

Dinner will be Pasta with the Tahini Mushroom sauce that I found on Loving It Vegan. We both liked that very much and it will be appearing fairly frequently. 

I think that will do for today, I have a cuppa and possibly a slice of cake to enjoy.


Oooh, I watched Kay Jones of the Bakery Bears making coconut Victoria Sponge and had to copy. It is Delish. I did not have coconut cream so opened a tin of coconut milk and used the thick layer off that. Way To Go, I tell you.

                        TTFN                                          Pam


13 comments:

  1. Yarn is not a natural word for me, I have always used wool, often without any wool in the mixture. I am an all or nothing woman, but I can live with it.

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    1. I am getting used to concentrating on just a couple of things. I have spent far too many years spreading myself too far.

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  2. It was always 'wool' to me too and in truth it would have been acrylic I now call it yarn even though I mostly buy wool. I've been buying cheap books off amazon and am enjoying Carol Mathews and Jenny Colgan novels.... I have quite a collection now but will put them in the loft and read them again in a few years. Not exactly brain taxing novels but light chick lit.

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    1. Mum used pure wool most of the time for adults clothes but the children always had man made fibres for the ease of washing. I don't mind a bit of Chic Lit every now and then.

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  3. I read a blog where the writer had bought some wool to knit herself some socks. I followed the link and found that it had cost in excess of £50. She clearly has a very different budget to mine!
    Like Poppypatchwork, I refer to it as wool, even when it's acrylic or cotton, as it all came from ' the wool shop' when I first started knitting as a teenager.
    I've currently got 2 different baby blankets on the needles. One I can knit without thinking, the other is a pattern that I need to take a bit more notice of; the mindless one is winning the race to be finished!

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    1. I cast on a cardigan last night using some wool dk, it is a little bit "toothy" but will soften with washing. I have knit with a wool/cotton blend and loved it but never tried pure cotton.

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  4. I always said wool until I managed a 'yarn store' for 5 years. It makes so much more sense to say yarn than wool. I used to be an avid reader but it took over all my time so I've replaced it with the laptop and that sucks up even more time,lol. I only read when I go to bed now and so I only seem to average around 25 books read a year now. I do craft shows every fall/winter so it will be time to start knitting again soon. I sell lots of kids sweaters and cowls.

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    1. I tend to use yarn all the time now, a habit that I have only acquired over the past few years, even though I mostly knit with wool.

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  5. I use the term yarn, but I think that is because I actually use very little "real" wool. Mom always called it wool.

    I only have one (or perhaps two projects on the needles) mostly because I would never get anything finished.

    God bless.

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    1. I have a few long standing WIPs but only 1 project on the needles that I am working on and 1 crochet blanket.

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  6. I get frustrated with blogs that show constant home decorating, really who has the money for that? I do buy yarn, and tend to buy more expensive yarn but my purchases are very few and far between these days. I shop my stash first and have made a considerable dent in it. I say yarn, but I am from the United States where we refer to it as yarn.

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  7. An enjoyable and thought provoking read. My mum, and both grandmas, who were all enthusiastic knitters bought wool (not yarn!) specifically for the project they were going to knit. I think in those days there wasn't enough money to waste on yarn that might never get used so there were no "stashes", although there were odds and ends that got passed to me and my sister for knitting dolly's clothes and blankets for our toy pram and cot. Hand knits were a way of life back then. I remember before we went away on holiday (always in the UK) both grans would knit us a sweater or cardigan to take with us and there was always something knitted as part of a Christmas present.

    In these times of austerity I think it would be good to have podcasts that help people to find bargin yarn and patterns that look good knitted in cheaper yarns. I see yarn in Poundland and Aldi for example. Many people are very snobby when it comes to yarn but man made yarns are usually easier to wash and dry, an important consideration for many people.

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  8. It was always wool when my gran was teaching me to knit. She only ever had 1 project on the needles and as soon as it finished another was cast on - usually cardigans or jumpers for the family or a waistcoat for herself. There wasn't the stuff on the internet to entice everyone, you just went along to the shop, bought what you wanted (quickerknit, remember that one?) and took it home and made a start. Noone has hoards of stash that they looked at and didn't use did they.

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