Definitely WANTS.

I WANT the spring to arrive. 

I do not want to see any more of this. I know that lots of you have had real amounts of snow, and thankfully this did not settle. There was a sharp frost last night so the roads would have been treacherous, as it was drivers were being very steady on their way through the village. Quite surprising really.

I WANT to buy the yarn for a new sweater. I watched Arne & Carlos steeking a cardigan this morning and now I am all fired up. I do not want to knit the cardigan, but I do want to knit a sweater in the traditional way. Colour work in the round and then steek to add the sleeves and cut the neck shaping. Exciting and a bit of Exploring.

I WANT  W to get more good news this morning. It is time and past time that the tide turned for him.

I so WANT the SO back on his feet, he hates being ill and he has had a quite bad time of this virus, I have had it also but a very mild dose.

I WANT to get both of my cardigans stitched together before the weekend. That is entirely down to me. I need to focus and not allow myself to get sidetracked, but it is so much fun.

I WANT to get through the rest of this month without buying anything but fruit, veg, milk and eggs. I will need to buy some bread flour at some point. This again is down to me, focus.

I have cut my spending back, the Tesco clubcard points dropped through the letterbox, £6:50. Last year at this time it was more than double that.

I shop much wiser now, thanks to Meanqueen, I had let things slip quite considerably but am right on track now.

I WANT to strip a room out and then rearrange it. That is my Grannies fault, she used to get "twitchy" at this time of the year. Something to do with the early spring sunshine searching out all the forgotten nooks and crannies.

Now I need to get a wiggle on as it will soon be time for the hospital run.

                          TTFN                                 Pam

Need or Want

The North wind did blow,
and we have got snow.
So what will the Pammy do now,
poor thing.
She will sit in the warm,
wrapped in some wool thing.
Tea at the ready,
Knitting and sewing away.
Poor thing? 
I don't think so.

I was walking Ben and really thought that I was seeing things when the odd flake or three floated past. Then I lifted my eyes towards the mountains, they were clothed in a swirl of gossamer.
That stuff was coming towards us, fast. 
Did Ben care? Of course he did not give a fig, he was enjoying the scents and taking his time. Did I care? Not really.There was no wind and the snow was that very fine soft stuff so it floated and danced to the ground. 

I have no plans for today, if I am not sneezing I will go to knit and natter. If I am still explosive it will be as my little attempt of ruining an old rhyme goes. There will be tissues as well as tea.

I am ready to take Rufus out, as long as it doesn't turn into a full on snow storm. Fingers crossed and all that jazz.

Dinner tonight will be something easy cobbled together from the fridge. The SO has not got much of an appetite, and I am not fussy what we have. I do have a meal plan of sorts, it is really a list of possible things that I can make from what we have. Nothing is set in stone and I am easily sidetracked. I saw a recipe for Corned beef Rissoles on The Frugal Factor and instantly thought, Pasties. I happen to have corned beef in the fridge and can soon make some pastry. It takes moments to chop veg and microwave it.

I quite fancy that idea, with some gravy and green veg it will make a decent dinner.

I am off now to see if Rufus is willing to venture out into the snow.


                                  TTFN                             Pam

PS. Mean Queen has a new You Tube offering,do you know the difference between need and want?  Ilona does and so do I. I know that lots of you lovely peeps do also.
But there are many, many more who do not, and live their lives in a spiral of debt and despair. Perhaps our school curriculum should include Home Economics, of the real sort. I remember learning to make Rissoles for a family using the smallest amount of meat.

                                                     Pam

My Monday.

Woke up sneezing, Duh.
Shower with eyes shut, clean teeth, get dressed.
Load the washing machine.
Tea,and repeat. ( go and press start on machine)
Change sofa throws and cushion covers.
Winkle Ben out of bed and take for walk, feed on return.
Empty washing machine and refill.
Make tea for the SO.
Peg out washing Woo Hoo
Collect Rufus and walk him, very chilly but bright and dry. meet and greet regular dogs and their slaves  owners.
Make more tea and it seemed to evaporate.
Empty and refill washing machine and peg out.
Strip bed and scoop clean linen out of cupboard.
Scoot off to Neath, run errands. Find Semolina in Morrisons. Yaye
Fill up with petrol on way home, slither round Teco and find 2 yellow sticker bargains. Excellent. Cold roast pork to make a sandwich for the SO reduced from £5.20 to £1. 15. Treacle tart for 12p !! I think that may have been an error, but it will be good with custard later.

Back home.
Empty and refill washing machine, take things off line, peg more out.
Make and drink 2 cups of tea PDQ. It,s cold out there.
Make bed, clear the little bit of washing up.
Tidy kitchen, sanitise work tops with vinegar spray.
Empty washing machine and refill, PHEW, get things off line and peg more out.
Make and drink a cup of tea.
Make bed, look at polish and duster and walk away. Tomorrow will suffice.
Empty line and start finishing it all off in the dryer, it will not take long.
Now it is time for the dogs to go out again. The I will be sitting on my btm with more tea and knitting.

                         TTFN                                        Pam

2 Hours gone forever.

That was my shopping trip yesterday, I do not enjoy shopping. I do not like pushing a wonky wheeled trolley up and down. I do not like searching for elusive "exotic" ingredients like Semolina! I asked 2 separate employees where I may possibly find some and both looked at me as if I had asked for a class A drug.
To gather all the contents of my quite small list I had to visit 5 shops. Tesco, Lidl, Home Bargains, Poundstretcher and Farm Foods. Thankfully the last 4 are all on the same small complex.

I should rephrase that. To get the most for my money I had to visit 5 shops.
I could have got the lot in Tesco, but at a price that I would not be happy to pay.

I did go on to the shopping comparison site but halfway through compiling my list I almost lost the will to live. The cheapest option was Asda, but only compared to doing the entire shop in Tesco, the petrol used would have wiped out the savings.

The only item that I bought in Home Bargains was a 3 pack of Hartleys jelly for 89p, they are over 50p for one block every where else.Yes I could have bought leaf gelatine ( another exotic item!) at a price.

I only bought a jar of coffee in Farm Foods, I saved a whole 1p, but I do that every week, 52p per year, do that on every item and it is a considerable sum.
look after the pennies......

I did stock up on pulses 79p per 500 gms and tinned chopped tomatoes, 25p per tin in Poundstretcher and very good quality.

The largest part of my Tesco shop was fruit and veg, both fridge drawers were empty as was the fruit bowl. Btw the root veg packs were 49p so I bought 3 and as a bonus they come on a clear plastic tray that will fit over my small seed trays. perfect for window sill sowing. Along with a huge cabbage from Lidl 65p  and the cauliflower that I froze last week I have plenty of veg for the week.

Unless I have a house full of hungry people I will not need to shop any more this week, and only for milk, fruit and veg on the next trip.
  I will be in Neath on Monday and will go into Morrisons in search of semolina, if they have it I will buy 2 packets. I use it in my shortbread, crumbles and Bakewell pudding.

That,s enough of that.

No sewing happened, I concentrated on my knitting. Both sleeves on the Miette are done, I did not bind off but left the ribbing stitches on waste yarn. Once the body is done I will try it on and see if the length is okay. I must look for button for both my cardigans in Deb,s wool shop on Tuesday, and a set for Francesca,s cardigan. I must print the pattern off as I will be casting that on next.

The SO has picked up a nasty strain of the cold come flu bug, he spent most of the day in bed. There has been lots of honey and hot lemon and as much sympathy as I could muster. He sounds dreadful, bunged up nose and raspy throat and he doesn't look that wonderful either.

Today I hope to clear the heart sewing and get the bunting strung together ready to hang.
The weather forecast is pretty dire so it will be an indoor day.
porridge for breakfast sound good, soup for lunch and something comforting for dinner. I will see what the SO fancies.
Ben has had his walk and breakfast. Now I am off to make that porridge.

                     TTFN                                          Pam

Cut, pin, dig,dig,sew.

I did venture out into the garden after my walk with Rufus. My timing was absolutely spot on, just as I walked through the gate it started to rain.
I went back and did a little sewing,  well cutting to be precise, then pinning and finally (a good while later) some sewing.

A little stack of smallish hearts in various shades of pink, destined to become bunting, all with the same backing fabric. A light weight 100% cotton home dec fabric, bought many years ago in Dunelm for £2 a mtr. 

A few medium size and even fewer bigger hearts, more pink prints, same backing. These are as yet in the "I am not sure how to use them yet" category.

This is half made and will be on the bed, possibly with a supporting cast of some of the medium sized ones.

These are all a little "bling" to decorate Fran,s room for her next visit.

This is just a reminder for me, I need to open it and get the pattern pieces out and pressed flat. I like to measure the pieces before deciding what size to trace off. The fabric is ready to go and I am thinking of extending it into a dress as well. I have a double sheet to have practise run and if it works I have the fabric ready to use.

I did get back outside for an hour or so later, it was considerably warmer than Thursday. I did not do very much but you can see were I have been.

The SO has a cold, poor thing, so tonight,s dinner will be a butternut squash and chickpea curry to warm him up. It will be going in the slow cooker and burble away with no attention while I play in the sewing room.

Enjoy your weekend, were ever you are. keep warm if you are in cold snowy climes and stay cool if you are in the sunny side of the world.

                                  TTFN                                           Pam

3rd time lucky.

Three attempts to get my photos loaded, Grrrrrrr.

Yesterday was bright, dry and blooming cold, all day. I went into the garden and lasted all of 15 minutes, I had to come in my teeth were chattering and I am sure that someone else,s nose was on my face.

Never mind, I got warm and headed for the sewing room.

When I came out I brought this with me.

It needs a belt but I was too idle to run up and get one, I will wear it with one of those 3" wide elastic ones. I selected high contrast colours and am pleased with the result although I intend to take the pattern down a size for this construction method. The yellow fabric has a pattern of bees and the teal has tiny gold dots.

I fancy scarlet and aqua but do not think I have enough of either so it will have to wait.

Dinner last night was another mushroom and chestnut tart, I had the rest of the jar of pesto, some mushrooms and peppers that needed using. There was a tub of Quark in the fridge so I finished that off rather than buying creme fraiche, it was not quite the same but still very good. As there was so much veg in it (I added extra) we had it on its own. The puff pastry was a yellow sticker 28p bargain and provided enough carbs to make it very filling. I had enough pastry left to cut into 2 x 5" squares and cook, they will be used as a pudding today filled with apple and raspberry and a little greek yogurt.

W had to take Poppy, one of his cats, to the vet in the afternoon. Our one time neighbour, Dai, was visiting so took them and I dog sat. Dai has a little Jack Russell called Dewie who is a little cutie. Ben was over the moon, they are much of a size and the three played till they collapsed.

He is sprawled out on the SO, who in turn was sprawled out on the sofa. Rufus and Ben were with me on the other sofa.

Poppy had stopped eating and W was concerned that she might have teeth problems, but it was a gland problem and was dealt with there and then. I took the dogs home and she was back to her old self, head in her food dish.

Today is a blank canvas, I would like to get out in the garden but that is weather dependant. I need to clean the sewing machine and overlocker, replace needles and wind some white bobbins. I have a blouse pattern that I want to open and I need to trim a size off my shift dress pattern hack. I do like my clothes loose but have decided that it is a bit too large.

Liver and bacon for dinner, I have some cauliflower and broccoli to use up so will have the cauliflower as mash. 

I want to empty the veg drawer and make a batch of veg hash for the freezer and if I have enough leeks I will make a pot of Leek and potato soup, a dollop of greek yogurt will make it creamy.

I am busy making things to decorate Fran,s room ready for her visit at the end of the month. I know that Valentine,s will be long gone but am planning on a heart and roses theme. I will share the photo,s tomorrow (fingers crossed) I have a little hand stitching on one item and need to rake my fingers through the little grey cells and come up with something else.

I need tea and may get my brain in some sort of working order while I drink it.

                                 TTFN                               Pam

Ice Ice Baby

I must begin by saying Hello and welcome aboard to my new followers, I have been intending to say this for some time. The problem is that I have the idea for a post and just dive straight in. Then about five minutes after pressing publish I remember. So I apologise, profoundly.

Yesterday afternoon the temperature dropped alarmingly and a nasty icy drizzle set in. I expected to get up this morning to frost, luckily my expectations were not fulfilled.

There was that yellow thing in the sky, a sky of clear, cool, baby blue decorated in a conservative manner with wisps of cotton wool and a few larger clumps here and there. Very Pretty. 

BUT as we all know, pretty is as pretty does. Today was not doing pretty, apart from the fact that it is Pretty Blooming Cold out there.
The wind is still on the icy side of cold and there is the odd drop of almost frozen precipitation ready to catch you unawares and trickle down your neck. Brrrrrr. Yup, it got me. It was a shock enough to make you have a little accident, luckily I managed to avoid that particular hazard.

The SO was binge watching QI, from the beginning early evening. Much as I like the show I soon clocked up Overload. Off I went to the sewing room.

The latest pattern hack is finished and I am inordinately pleased with the result. This version of the pattern is my 4th and it still delights me, I did lengthen the bodice by an inch and that worked well.

I hacked the pattern to use the pocket from the Hollyburn skirt, I like this much better than any inseam pocket that I have used.

Sooo I then took my shift dress pattern, New look 6352, traced it off and cut it in half at the waistline. I added a seam allowance to top and bottom pieces as I do  not want it any shorter.

Later today I hope to cut a dress out using 2 coordinating fabrics, or maybe not so coordinating. I will share with you tomorrow.

I am thinking that this is the way forward, it will enable me to have every dress with my favourite pocket. I also intend to try this with the stretchy lilac and white fabric,and may make that the next project.

Now I need to get wrapped up for my walk with Rufus, no more icy trickles down my back.

                        TTFN                                       Pam