The blame lies Where?

For most of my adult life I have shared my home with dogs and cats, sometimes 1 of each and at one point 4 dogs and 2 cats. All of this time I have vacuumed at least once daily (often twice) and muttered about hair and fur. I have taken washing out of the machine and pulled off little clumps of matted hair, and the pets have had the blame laid firmly at their door.

Now I only have Ben who does not shed much hair at all, and still I have the same issues. Just not so intense. I washed a load of tights yesterday and the amount of hair and little" bits" that I pulled off the feet was ridiculous. I took a closer look and Oh Dear, the hair was mostly mine. The little bits were a mix of tiny cotton threads, bits of yarn fibres, tiny slithers of fabric and so on.

It was all generated by me.

Yes there was the odd strand of Ben's hair but it was minimal.

All those years I have blamed the pets when some, possibly half, the fault was mine.

Hey ho, it is history. I will put it behind me.

I am off to the hospital later and the sun is shining, that possibly means a surge in traffic levels so I will leave 10 minutes earlier.

Oooh, I nearly forgot, last nights dinner! A fabulous Tagine, gently spicy, very fragrant and delicious. To put the icing on the cake it came with freshly cooked flatbread. I had to force myself not to eat far too much. No pudding needed.
Almost better is the fact that there are leftovers, mmmmmm. I like leftovers.

Now I am going to peg out the last of the washing, the laundry bin is empty, woo hoo.

Have a lovely day, I hope that you are getting some of this glorious sun.

                         TTFN                                       Pam

                  

huffing and puffing

But no house blown down.
I think know that I overdid things yesterday, today I am fairly drained and as it is my cardiac clinic tomorrow I will be taking it very easy.
Some YouTube watching, some knitting, a modicum of snoozing possibly and some catch up blog reading are the order of the day.

The SO is cooking dinner, it sounds a bit spicy as he is muttering about cumin seeds. There are mushrooms to use up and quite a bit of cold roast lamb so I will be sniffing like a Bisto kid all day.

Ben got me up quite early this morning and is now flat out snoring. Nothing new there.

We have had pouring rain and bright sunshine this morning and the sky looks like a calico cat in shades of grey and blue, big splodges of colour with the odd ray of light fighting through the grey.

I do have laundry to go out but it can stay in the basket while the weather makes up its mind.

I am on the verge of a spending spree on books, there are a couple of Kate Davies on my mental wish list, Yokes and Inspired by Islay. Then the new Susan Crawford Vintage Shetland is tempting me silly. I do not buy many knitting books as they soon go out of fashion but these are timeless.

I have been searching for a changeable circular set of 40 cm needles, I could buy one from the States but the price and cost of postage and customs duty have stopped me. I do have some fixed circs and will add to them as I need them. 

If I buy all the books I will not be buying anything else for a few months.

I think that it is time for tea now, I am very thirsty and I want to have a peep into the kitchen.

                  TTFN                                             Pam.

A touch of kondoitis.

AKA putting the house back to rights. When I was getting ready for Francesca's visit I moved a few things around. This happens every visit AND it is always the same few things, they do not have a "home of their own" but, wherever I put them, they gravitate back to Francesca's room.

ENOUGH. I have taken the bull by the horns and made a large pile in the middle of my bed. Once my cuppa has been drunk I am going to come over all Marie Kondo and  have a mega sort out. 

(I have already made a cheeky start by going through my undies, socks and tights) One small bag of textiles for recycling. BOOM.

As a "self improvement exercise" he he, I aim/hope/aspire to carry on through the house. I may have to devote a month or two solely to the sewing room. However with 2 quilts on the go and 2 more planned the stash level will sink dramatically.

It is the kitchen that will give me most work and grief.

I love to cook, I cook every meal from scratch, I make all our bread and cakes and the majority (who in the world makes cream crackers?) of our biscuits.

I have lots of equipment, oven ware, pots and pans,bowls and knives, and then a few more knives.

Each and every piece is used, with the exception of the maslin pan and my deep pan for whole hams, probably weekly.

I do use a steamer for veg but still use all my smaller pans. I cook for W at least twice weekly and he is vegetarian, that is no big deal until the days when I am using meat or fish stock for our meal. Then all the burners are in use with perhaps 2 or 3 steamer inserts. 

I think that another (sigh) reorganisation of the storage is called for.
At the same time I would like to cut down on my food stock.

I spent my childhood and large chunks of my adult life living miles away from any shops. The result is that I like to have at the very least a months worth of food in. The reality is that I probably have nearer to 3 months worth of many items.

I do not have millions of ornaments, years spent dusting my grandmothers china stopped me from developing that particular vice. The dresser is full of my Royal Albert but we use that, some daily.

There are many books, all on shelves, and a decent collection of DVD's all of which are watched on a regular basis. Even with sky cinema it is still the easy option to laugh through a Despicable Me or wallow in nostalgia with an Astaire and Rogers extravaganza.

I do not buy magazines on a regular basis but there is a healthy stack to go through. These are all sewing related as the kitting and crochet ones were sorted last year.

The time is whizzing away, the sun is shining and there is laundry to peg out before I get cracking.

See you on the other side.

If I do not surface within a week send a St. Bernard. (soo cuddly)

               TTFN                                                     Pam

Mmmmm,mmmmm,mmmm

That, along with the occasional sigh, was the sound of Easter Dinner disappearing into various mouths.
We had roast lamb that was meltingly tender and all the usual extras and Yorkshire Pudding. We have it with just about every roast, I even made one for W to go with his nut roast. 

Pudding was crumble, mincemeat and apple for W, apple and blueberry for us. Lashings of custard , cream for the SO, and we were replete. 

We watched the new Murder on the Orient Express ( I still prefer David Suchet as Poirot ) and while we enjoyed it I feel that Depp and Branagh were in each others roles. Kenneth Branagh was far too staid for Poirot and would have been eminently sinister as the baddy, and Johnny Depp would have been suitably quirky as Poirot. But that is just me.

I have not touched my sewing since Francesca arrived but the Carbeth is coming along nicely. I have already altered the pattern by knitting 14 rows of rib rather than 6, I felt that the ribbing was far too short for such a robust garment.

I was going to add about 2 inches to the length but, after looking on Ravelry saw that many people had done just that and then said that it was not necessary.

We have all been very abstemious with the chocolate today, I think that subconsciously we were saving ourselves for the dinner.

There is some banal film on the TV and the SO and Fran are deep into  it, perhaps I will get some sewing in after all.

First things first though, it is time to get the kettle on.

                 TTFN                                             Pam

Another wet day

JanF  asked what the Walkaway dress was, well this is it. The reasoning was that you could cut it out in the morning and walkaway in it later that day!!
There is a lot of fabric there and miles of bias binding to stitch in place. I have the pattern and one of these days will make it, but it will take me at least a day to make all the binding.





I have made a start on Fran's Carbeth, just the cast on and a few rows of rib. I will be knitting on it in the evening while she is here. In the mornings, before she gets up, I am working on the birthday jumper. The front is now on the needles so it will not be much longer. The yarn is very warm so I want it off the needles, buttons attached and wrapped and put away before the weather warms up. Always supposing that it will.
I know that the Carbeth will be a warm knit but it is cropped and the pure wool is lighter to handle.

We did dip a toe into the chocolate yesterday, in the interest of quality assurance you understand, but it remained untouched for the evening.
For dinner I made a chicken, bacon and leek pie, the SO made cauli and broccoli cheese, roast parsnips and carrot and swede mash.
Then to completely wipe us out I made a steamed syrup sponge pudding with real custard, of course I took a healthy slice and a jug of the custard to W. It went down very well, and very fast I suspect.

In my defence I lay the blame at Kay Jones of the Bakery Bears podcast, she made one on during a recent episode. I was late watching it and the SO was watching with me. We exchanged a glance and as one said We Are Totally Having That On Friday.

NOW we have 5 egg whites in the fridge, there is only one thing for it. Meringue. Woo Hoo, Pavlova anyone? Eton Mess (with raspberries)? Lemon Meringue Pie?

To make it worse I am planning on making a baked cheesecake for Sunday. I may have to reconsider in case we burst.

At least I didn't make hot Cross Buns, b u t there is a load of ribs slathered in a barbecue sauce in the fridge. 4 - 5 hours in a low oven then 30 minutes at the hottest setting and they will be meltingly tender. Sweet potato wedges and home made coleslaw and dinner will be finger licking wonderful. 

I do push the boat out when Fran is home, this was meant to be a full week but work demands have put paid to her days off and she will be back in harness on Tuesday.

Now I have to go and collect Rufus, he is spending the morning with us.


                            TTFN                                      Pam


PS Kay has started a Pudding Club on the podcast and will be working her way through some family favourites. The next one is Spotted Dick, love it. xx

Sweet and sweeter.

Here is Francesca's Anouk, luckily she loves it as much as I do.(I will be making one for myself)

I knitted it with Berroco Vintage colour 5121  worsted weight, never again. I did not like the yarn one little bit.  Yes it was buttery soft and no, it was not splitty. It just had no substance, I bought it for the colour. It was the exact shade that Francesca wanted so I persevered. She is happy therefore I am happy.

On a sweeter note, just look what she ordered.

No, not the chocolate! look at the hamper! It is lovely.

The contents will be removed and I will make a liner for it.

Then it will be filled with my luscious skeins of sock yarn, they are in a plastic tub and deserve better, much better.

I have bought the Carbeth Cardigan pattern, written by the amazing Kate Davies. It is next on the list for both Fran and myself, I thought about using a chunky yarn but will use DK held double.

I have some pure wool in a dusty pink in the stash, Fran has laid claim to that. Guess what will be cast on later?

I have ordered some West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley in wine for another for her. I have used this in several projects and love the way it knits up, and it washes and wears beautifully. I will be knitting myself a colour block version from stash, fingers crossed that I have enough bits and bobs to make it up. There is always the option of stripes, or even a fade.

Anyhoo, time is running away with me and I am taking Fran out for the afternoon.

                            TTFN                                         Pam

PS. Go steady with the eggs on Monday, I will. I have antacid for the others. xx

A little sewing attack coming on.

At last I have unpacked my fabric haul. You could say that I am a happy bunny. You would be spot on.

I have 4 mtrs of this, it was a great find. I have a dress in this fabric that I made about 2 years ago and have been looking for some more ever since. They had it in green as well and now I could kick myself for missing out.

This is destined to become a quilt back at some point.

As is this, it is a pretty print and I have a plan in mind.

This will become a dress and maybe a blouse, I have plenty of fabric and it even has a chance to be  a Walkaway dress.

There is a baby on it's way this summer and this print just sings out to be a quilt. or two.

I know, it's so wrong. It was also very, very cheap. With some backing fabric from the stash it will make an Advent calendar for the grands. each stocking will hold 3 gifts.

These are more like it, part of an Easter Panel. This will not be used this year but next year will make a play quilt for that baby I mentioned earlier.

My knitting is going well, apart from that very old WIP, the front is finished and the sleeves are started. Oops, I forgot to say that I am knitting Fran a cardigan ready for her birthday next November. I have had the yarn for ages but only found it during my Spring cleaning flurry.

I know that there are months to go but "That Time" will be on the horizon so the birthday stuff needs to be collated in good time.

It is a 30/70 blend of wool and acrylic so easy care for her. Very soft and very blasted splitty.

The fade between colours is soft so matching a new ball in was not easy, even getting the sleeves to match was not a  2 minute task. I will show you how well (or not) that I managed it when they are finished.

We have just finished dinner, a chicken and veg curry that was not too bad at all.

I went to the Flying Goose Quilt shop this morning, I needed some fabric for a quilt border and some white on white for the sashing in Lucy's quilt. I had meant to pop into debs wool shop, but when I put my fabric in the car I was on automatic pilot and just drove home. DUH.

Now I think that it is time for a brew followed by some gentle knitting.

                  TTFN                                              Pam