Nearly There

I have been playing with the laptop and am almost there, I still have to check that the printer will respond, but the rest can wait a while.

I have mentioned that I was planning on something new, here is a little taster, the plans have been put off for a while.

 

 

 

These bobbly strands were the devil to wind into balls, they had been twisted into very tight skeins.

 

The balls are looking sparkly, that is just the light bouncing about. The yarn is Sari Silk, what is left at the end of a run is cut into long strips that then roll up from the sides to form a yarn like texture. It is not at all even and I am intrigued as to how it will crochet and knit up.

I saw it on a TV channel when visiting Maggie, I did a search online but could not find a better price so ordered 2 skeins of each colour. This is destined to become a scarf, I will knit and crochet a small amount to see which I prefer.

 

 

 

My bargain CS door curtain is now up and doing a grand job.

 

 

The small Ripple has become a cushion cover and Ben has claimed it as his own, although at the moment he is stretched out over half the sofa and 3 cushions.

 

 

The quality of this photo is dreadful but I had several attempts and each got progressively worse. I treated myself to this, I am a fan of Debbie Shore and it was well worth buying.

 

As part of my aim of sewing through my stash I am hoping to work my way through the book, this little bag caught my eye.

 

 

I have made several now but only captured these 2 so far. The pink bag is to the size from the book and was a gift for Maggie to store her crochet in. The large one is twice the pattern size and holds a sweater or cardigans worth of yarn, the pattern, knitting pins and all the bits required with ease. It will also hold a well rolled double bed quilt so there is one in Christmas (there, I said it at last) fabric on it's way for Fran. The quilt blocks are done and waiting to be sewn together.

The weather forecast is rain till Sunday, I really do not mind. Ben and I both have coats and are not scared of getting a little wet. I have more bags cut out ready to sew, a few quilt tops to layer and Fran's Christmas Quilt to finish. Then there is the sweater to finish, the big Ripple blanket, enough yarn for another and some Aran Yarn on the way for a Cardie for me.

 

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned the unpleasant stuff, laundry, dusting, polishing et al. It will all happen I just do not like to dwell upon it.

 

I had a spendy day on Tuesday, I checked with Which and bought a tumble dryer, the running cost for a year is £65, based on an average of 3 loads of cotton per week. That is not likely so it will be easily affordable, if I had the luxury of an open fire I would not have considered it.

 I have found in the last few weeks that it is too warm to have the heating on and too cool/damp to dry the laundry so bit the bullet and coughed up the money.

 

I also replaced my microwave, also with a Which best buy, and my kettle decided to leak so a new one of those, again a Which best buy. Both of these were from Tesco and were almost covered by my club card, mainly from petrol, thanks to boost. The microwave is a combi and works wonderfully, 2 large jacket potatoes in 12 minutes with crispy skins......Yum.

 

I have just looked out at the rain and Ben and I will have to don our waterproofs for the 1.00 walk, not to worry.

 

Reasons to be grateful.

 

1.  A well stocked craft room to keep my hands busy.

 

2.  My new book for inspiration.

 

3.  Rain to stop me feeling guilty about crafting.

 

4.  My new appliances to make life easier.

 

5.  All the lovely blogs on my list to keep me entertained, and in touch with the outside world.

 

On that note I think that a cup of tea and a half hours light reading is called for, I hope that you will all enjoy your day as much as I will.

 

     TTFN                                                                             Pam



A Spend and Save Day.

Oh Dear I did manage to spend a lot today, I went to 2 places and spent £45.49, but that was all that I spent.

I followed Dawn from Doing it for our selves in Wales and went to Wyevale this morning. Look what I found.

Red Windsor Apple

Katy Apple

James Grieve Apple

All three were reduced from a penny short of £40 down to £10, a saving of  £90 as near as dammit.

BTW , The Bamboo is there to keep Ben off my newly planted garlic, so far I have put about 50 cloves in. I will not grow all that I use, a, the garden is not big enough and b, I do not have the room to dry and store it. I use lots of garlic, I love it.

Then I decided to go and have a dig amongst the reduced seeds.

These are almost all the seeds that I will need for next year, I will not be setting all of them so they will hopefully do 2 years growing.
I will also be swapping plants and produce with my neighbours.

I do like a home made Chinese fairly regularly and these mung beans will give me a good supply of bean sprouts.

I also like an egg and cress sandwich and that little packet will make at least a hundred. The cucumber is Marketmore, my Dad  used to grow them. I have not had them for several years, I normally grow a Ridge Cucumber , these will be inside and outside to see how they do.

The total value of the seeds was £47.83, I paid the grand sum of £9.50 so a saving of £38.83, nice.

On the way back I stopped at Aldi in Cross Hands, just to have a look.

They may be small but with a little TLC and some well rotted manure they will grow fast.

Four evergreen shrubs, £1.79 each, total spend here £7.16, I still have to find a Berberis and 2 Flowering Quince for the front garden, both of these have pretty flowers followed by edible and tasty fruits. I have spring flowering bulbs for the front and will grow some bedding plants as fillers while the shrubs grow.

I have put a few plants and a whole heap of bulbs on the left side of the greenhouse steps.

I forgot to tell you that I am finally picking tomatoes from my 2 plants, enough for my needs as I do not have the freezer space to make gallons of sauce. Quite a good thing after my exploit during the week.

The apple trees are on semi dwarfing rootstock and have been pruned to grow into an open cup shape, this is how the professional fruit growers like them, the sun can get at all the fruit and you only need a set of steps to harvest it. Both the Red Windsor and James Grieve are suitable to cook with, I have never grown Katy before so it will be a voyage of discovery.

I still have to find a Plum and a Damson, there are several places that I have found them and it will be an on line purchase. None were reduced at Wyevale and they  were over £40 each.

I looked at the Pears that were reduced but they were not as good quality and I am not too worried about them, now if I could find a Robin Pear it would be a different story.

Reasons to be grateful.

1.  My amazing bargains today.

2.  The still glorious weather.

3.  The faint smell of wood smoke wafting from the odd chimney.

4.  A Sweet Chestnut tree that I discovered yesterday.

5.  Watching Ben playing for an hour this afternoon with his doggy pals.

There were 3 small dogs and a Springer and they were in motion for a solid hour, Ben is now snoring beside me.

A very good day, I may have spent a fair amount but my savings on the actual value was £128.33. Goodness knows what the end savings will be, it would be an idea to weigh and value everything that I harvest but I do not see it happening.

I have found a source of well rotted Horse Manure, I have 10 bags coming on Monday. If it is good I will be getting several more.

My bread is out of the oven and I think that I may have to try a piece, in the interest of quality control.

     TTFN                                                     Pam.