Happy, happy post.

Monday morning, warm, slightly wet and windy. Housework day. The day when furniture gets hauled around, the vacuum cleaner goes into warp speed and the whole house has a miasma of polish, Zoflora  and bleach.

I love it.

But this Monday was even better than all that times 5.

The Postie brought me a little parcel of squishy loveliness.

I only ordered these the other day from Rosie's Moments.

This is 50% Merino 50% silk. The colour is garden flowers.

It will be a gift, once knitted.

It came with a lavender bag and this cute little sheep progress keeper.

 

This skein is 70% superwash Merino, 20% Yak and 10% Nylon.

It will be knitted into socks for the SO, I did tell him that it was Pink and Purple and I am sure there was a look of relief when the parcel was opened.

I am itching to get them cast on but have resigned myself to knitting through the sock WIPs first.

I have 7 pairs on the needles, my fuzzy ones and 6 pairs for Fran. They are to be part of her Christmas present, and the start of a new Tradition, I have got them all to the start of gusset increases so it will be a fairly quick job.

I have been galvanised into this plan of action by a new Craft Along. I have been watching The Project Bag podcast and Gemma has started this off to help her work through her own WIPs.

Just what I needed to get me focused and pointed in the right direction.

This has to be a quick visit ,coffee break, as I still have the bathroom to bottom and another load of laundry to do. I would normally leave it till I could peg out but the forecast is pretty dire and it is all the sofa throws and cushion covers. I have no room to keep those bulky items except for the bathroom or utility room floor. That is so not going to happen.

See you tomorrow, all being well.

                          TTFN                              Pam

Socky Wocky Doo Dah

What a glorious day, if you are a duck maybe. I guess that even Ducks get fed up with the rain.
I got up to leaden skies that seemed to be skimming the roof line, out of that came drizzle, pouring down, a bit more drizzle and then the heavens really opened.
I did manage to get Herbie out for a quick walk, more of a mad dash truth be told. Ben took one look out of the front door, shook his head in amazement at my foolishness, turned round and marched to the back door. It was obviously garden time for him.

The SO and I were in agreement, sofa surfing was the order of the day. We did do all the normal chores first though.

I did the fridge sort and tidy, there is now a wonderfully aromatic veg curry cooling down, tomorrows dinner.

A puff pastry lattice filled with salmon and bechamel sauce is in the oven, along with a sweet potato in it's jacket, we will share that. A small tray of chopped courgette is in there also and there are carrots, broccoli and cauliflower steaming on the hob. I am looking forward to that.

fast forward..... just as I typed the last paragraph the timer pinged and dinner was ready. It was delicious.

I have been knitting, of course that is what rainy days were made for, and one sock is finished and it's partner started.

The yarn is Drops Delight Print, a very plump 4 ply with a halo.

I knitted the gusset and heel in eye of partridge stitch and it is really soft and a bit bouncy. These are going to be lovely and warm in my boots when the cold weather gets here. I only wear short socks with boots as I either have trousers or thick tights on.

I have enjoyed my lazy day but hope that there are not too many of them. I like to keep busy and soon get fidgety if I am idle.

I need to check to see if a walk is on the cards, Ben will keep the sofa warm for me but Herbie needs to burn up some energy.

I feel much the same, I need a walk and some fresh air. If it is still hammering down I will wear my dryzabone and see if I can wrestle Herbie into a coat.

                    TTFN                                               Pam

Spot the mistake.

My pink and sparkly socks are off the needles, I cast off the last stitch last night (Thursday)  and darned the ends in. I whipped my socks off ready to try them on but could only find one.

Then I looked right and the SO had the other one on!

The mistake was to take my eyes off them when he was around. he is a real sock fiend and would indeed wear them, with pride.

,

So there they are. His feet are longer and thinner than mine.

I soon rescued it and tucked them away ready to be washed.

Here they are, I love them.

A bit of a close up to show you the Dittany stitch pattern.

Of course I cast on another right away, I just made up a little yarn over knit 2 together eyelet pattern. A 4 row repeat, totally mindless knitting. I am now on the gusset increases and as the yarn is super soft I am using the eye of partridge heel stitch. I will carry that on up the heel for extra strength.

I will be wearing the pink ones while I watch Strictly and knit another pair, I better get busy finding the right yarn.

.
Problem solved, I just too a minute to pop over to Rosie's Moments and picked up 2 skeins. Yes, I did say 2 but I do knit fast and they were on sale, they will also be gifts.
That's it I have no more reasons to give. I will share when they arrive and you will see why.

This is now the next day and my yarn has been posted, such service is amazing.

I do have 38 grams of the pink yarn left, I will be on the lookout for a contrast to use for toes, heels and cuffs and another pair will be born.

My name is Pam and I am a full on sock knitting addict.

I hope that I never recover, there is always a pair of feet somewhere that deserve a pair of hand knitted socks.

More garden work happened yesterday, that is why this has run over. By the time that we had cleared up and showered all I wanted to do was eat, walk the dogs and knit for a while. We were in bed by 9 and asleep in seconds.

Now it is lunch time, and a good thing to as we both have the rumblies in the tumblies.

All that lifting and walking burns up the energy reserves P D Q.

                    TTFN                                              Pam

Whinge of the week

Why don't:-

People with aggressive dogs walk them with a muzzle.

Drivers leave 10 minutes early so they do not have to take chances, and cause accidents like the one on the Neath road this morning.

Dog walkers clean up behind their dogs.

Parents walking children keep them on the side of the pavement away from the road.

Walkers leave their earbuds out so they can hear the traffic.

Pedestrians stand still while texting, rather than wandering into the path of others.

Car drivers who have their windows open turn the volume down on radios.

People who smoke stub their cigarettes out rather than flick them willy nilly, regardless as to where they may land.

On line retailers take things off their website that are no longer in stock, or even sold by them now.

All supermarkets sell wonky fruit and veg boxes.

Clothing manufacturers get together and implement a cross the board sizing policy.

Advertising standards crack down on the proliferation of ridiculous claims, just how many different brands of toothpaste do you have to use to protect your pearly whites.

I think that's enough to be going on with.

Just taking a coffee break before going back to the garden.

                 TTFN                                             Pam

Off to a flying start

The rebuilding has started,not as intended though, as the wall came down it was evident that a great deal was comprised of old bricks, lumps of concrete and other rubbish.
The SO was emphatic that nothing but stone was going into his wall!
Luckily there are stones scattered through the garden, I seem to be missing a few slabs from the path though. He also decided to use mortar as even with my path (!) there might not be enough for dry stone. I am pleased as there is a lot of soil behind that wall and the garden drops down to the it. Probably the reason that it was in such a bad state.

Down.

The stone waiting to be cleaned.

My job.

The SO at work.

So far, so good.

Very good.

I am very happy with how it is turning out and am looking forward to seeing the end result.

While I had the camera out I thought that I would share these with you.

I bought these plants for the front window box but decided to put them here.

I am sure they are happy here, they seem to be smiling widely. There are some miniature Penstemons in there, I found them in

 B & M a few weeks ago. If they turn out to be too tall I will fit them in the garden somewhere.

I have done my usual inside jobs and taken the dogs out as well as labouring for the SO. At a loose end after lunch, more yummy soup, I took some cuttings. I know that it is a bit late but fingers crossed they will come good.

I had a couple of Pelargoniums that put on a good show so 3 of each of those have been tucked away and then I started on the Hydrangeas. I know that it is a bit late but I have 3 cuttings from 2 of my plants and another 3 plants to go. That will be tomorrows task, there is some ironing that needs my attention (drat and double drat) so that is next on the agenda.

I have nearly finished the Strictly socks, soooo I shall wear them while watching, if I stick with it, and knit another pair. Or two.

I just have to say a big hello and welcome to my new followers, I hope that you all enjoy my babbling, I have a grasshopper mind and it tends to bounce all over the place.

Talking about bouncing, Herbie went to bed the other night as a proper little Jug and got up as a cross between Zebedee and Tigger. I had to borrow Rufus from W and take him for a long walk. I was exhausted just watching him tearing around like a mad thing.

On that note I will go and tear into that ironing.

                     TTFN                                     Pam

She's no lady.

Alchamilla Mollis, AKA Ladies Mantle, is the "She" here. More like Bill Sykes,s coat as far as I can see.
 Don't get me wrong, the acid green flowers are often in my vases. The froth is a wonderful way to make a few blooms fill a vase. There were 2 fairly small plants in my garden last year, but the heat wave seems to have put them into overdrive. I spent a very sweaty couple of hours digging a veritable forest of them out this afternoon.

They were growing like Triffids (and breeding like rabbits seemingly) along the front bed of my garden. I had noticed but the significance of such a proliferation escaped me. Then this morning I realised that they were choking the life out of my roses and fuchsias. Not Good.

The SO is taking down a dry wall in the back garden, resulting in mountains of soil, and I saw a way to kill 2 birds....

The front bed had a very low soil level, the retaining wall was standing almost a foot proud the whole length, not a real issue but annoying.
I removed nearly all of the offending plants and saw that there was room to build up the soil level around the roses, without burying the graft too deep.

Cue some more sweaty work shovelling soil into the barrow, wheeling it to the front garden and then shovelling it into the bed.
I have almost finished, an hour tomorrow should see the back of it. It looks so much better, I did take the opportunity to remove some very straggly lavender plants and now have some gaps for more plants. Woo Hoo.

First thing tomorrow we are off to the builders yard for sand and ballast. There is talk off a concrete ring beam that will morph into a potted herb garden, I did hear the words patio and seating  but by then I was deep in what herbs, how many and have I got enough pots.

Once finished in the garden I took the time to make soup, a small butternut squash, 4 smallish carrots, 2 sweet potatoes and an onion were peeled and chopped. A chilli from my plant and 5 cloves of garlic were peeled and minced.
A little oil in a pan, 1 tbsp fenugreek seeds heated till they sizzled a bit then a tbsp or so of ground cardamom a little ground ginger and cumin joined the party. In with the veg and a good stir round and 5 minutes on a low heat. Then I covered the veg with boiling water, added 2 veg stock cubes and a good grind of black pepper. Brought back to boil and then simmered for 35 minutes with a lid on, the veg was soft,the smell was making me swoon so in with the wand liquidiser. 
Oh My Word, delish, Oops I forgot to say that I threw in some fenugreek leaves when the soup hit the boil mark.
The chilli note was there so I spooned a little soup into a bowl for a taste test. 
It's a hard job but has to be done.
Very nice, but just a little too much burn at the back of the throat, I have Greek coconut yogurt in the fridge at all times and a dollop of that tamed the beast.
Once cooled down half went to W, along with some yogurt, and the rest is in the fridge for tomorrows lunch. 
The wall will be put back tomorrow, the SO will be the builder and I will be the labourer so it will be most acceptable if not downright essential, with a slice of bread possibly.

It is now walkies time so I better get a wriggle on. 

                      TTFN                                        Pam
PS I did have a shower before cooking, it was really necessary.

Hunter gathering.

Not too good on the hunting side (It was never going to happen in reality) but a full on Gathering afternoon.

Once all the chores were done and lunch was made, eaten and cleared away I put on sturdy boots and a thorn proof gilet, collected various receptacles with lids and a decent bag to carry them in. I set off "down the stones", that is the common term for the disused railway track that runs through the village. Most of the sleepers and track have gone and the ground spread with large chippings or "stones". 

I had eyed up a good stand of blackberries and was hoping that the recent wet weather had not ruined them. I am happy to say that I was soon blessed with about 3 kilos of large juicy berries, purple fingers embellished with a goodly collection of prickles. 
I also spotted a wealth of rose hips that may be coming home with me at a later date.
On my way back I remembered spotting a crab apple tree last year, it had hardly any fruit but thought that I may as well check it out.I am happy to say that I topped up the carrier bag and filled all my pockets with apples. I have just used the last jar of Rosemary and Apple jelly so that is in my to do plan for this morning.

Dinner was a full on winner last night, although it was a bit on the fiery side, I added half of a chilli from my new plant and that was plenty.

The bacon pack had 2 very chunky bits of smoked bacon in and I used the largest. I cut it in half and put one half to cook in one of the cans of fizzy orange, this was after it had been soaked in several changes of cold water. It is now in the fridge waiting to be used later.

The rest I cut off every scrap of fat and then diced up ready for cooking. I then prepped and diced a red onion, red pepper, 3 sticks of celery, 2 courgettes (from the garden) and sliced up quarter of a cabbage that was lurking in the fridge. The chilli and 2 cloves of garlic and the kernels off 3 mini corn cobs and then I measured out 2 Tsps Chinese 5 spice and 3 Tsps garlic powder ( no vampires in this house). Along with half a carton of passata and the can of fizzy I had some fry light and blackpepper.

I sealed the bacon bits in the oil, added the onions and celery with a splash of water and cooked for around 4 minutes. In went the rest of the veg ( minus the cabbage for another 4 - 5 minutes, I then added the passata, seasoning and gave it a good stir. Poured in the fizzy and had another stir up, once it came to the boil I stirred in the cabbage then turned the heat down and let it burble away till everything was cooked and the sauce was nice and thick. Served with a sweet potato it was delicious, there was enough for 3 portions so one is in the fridge.

This morning I woke to a wet and windy day, not sorry as I want a day indoors, I aim to make the most of it. First job is to get those apples chopped and on the stove, I will venture as far as the herbs to grab some rosemary and aim to have the jelly bag set up asap.

Now I am in dire need of a cuppa and maybe a slice of toast.

                    TTFN                                              Pam