Sad About Soap

It's finally happened. Some time last year I got a deal on a bar of shea soap from Morrisons, a 'when it's gone, it's gone' offer as they were getting rid of the last of the stock. I put it in a mesh bag that I got from Temu and I've used it ever since. It's been wonderful - lovely and rich, and the mesh bag really helped to not only grip the dratted thing but also to keep the bar going long after it was plausible to hold the last sliver outside the bag. It finally washed into nothing. 

I feel unreasonably sad about losing it. 

I've replaced it with a bar of Pears lemon scented soap. I got a deal on a pack of twelve for £16.99 from Price Panda, and they will probably last a good while. The mesh helps me get the lather and it's still nice, but not nearly as good as the extremely cheap bar of shea soap from Morrisons.

The soap is apparently lemon flower scented, but it's not a strong scent and it does great for washing hands, so I'm not complaining. 

The mesh bag is double walled and a lot finer than the string bags that I've tried before. Those thicker bags aren't nearly as nice, and if or when I run out of the mesh bags, I may try putting some together from the mesh of produce bags. I say if or when I run out because the five I thought I was ordering turned out to be 100 so bear is likely to inherit a stack of them. Me and Temu, well, it's always a little hit or miss. 

I realised early in the week that I hadn't driven since I took the car for an oil change. DH has taken it out once or twice since then, I think and that's not good for a car. One good thing about keeping a blog is that I could check when I'd last driven - and it was 9th May! I took it out on Wednesday night, confident that the roads would be emptier as England were playing, and the poor old car grumbled along. I was thinking of trying the motorway next time England played, but I'm not sure the old girl would make it up to 70mph. I need to check the tyre as well, as I scraped the kerb at one point. 

One thing, we are definitely hiring a car when it gets time to bring bear home. Red isn't a bad little car, and she's very economical to run, but she's not a big car, and bear has accumulated a few bits in his year away. Add to her age and her reluctance to hit 50mph, and it's better to get something for the weekend. I hope DH gets something that's fun for him to drive.

I've been meaning to share this. I know the creators, and I love the song. It takes me back to when I was young and hitting the dancefloor. 

Writing stuff - it's been a bit aaaaaaaargh for me for the last few weeks, but another instalment of The Guest was posted last Monday here. At least that bit isn't a problem. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Failure to Photo

I haven't done much to take pics of, so I didn't feel that I should blog. I made a decision and tonight I sat down with a scarf and settled to watch the opening game of the World Cup. At the start, it was this big.

It had been longer, but I kept changing my plans for the pattern, undoing it, starting again, then changing my mind, undoing it, etc. By the end, it was this big.

However I'm not sure that I won't have to start again. I've only got two of balls of yarn that I picked up from Aldi ages ago, and it would be impossible to match. The scarf so far is 10 inches, or around 25cm, and I think I must have used nearly a quarter of the yarn, that is, half of the first ball of yarn.

I may not have got fully half way through the ball, but there's not much more than half left. If it is a quarter of the way through the yarn, that would give a scarf that was 40 inches long, or around a metre. I would say that my minimum preferred length for a scarf is around sixty inches long, so I'm going to have to undo it and re-start the scarf again. 

I also accidentally left the door of our freezer open. It's a full, upright freezer with five shelves. It was open for, I guess, around 24 hours and when I tried some of the frozen fries that were in there, I made myself poorly. DH had to do a special run to the tip because the freezer was crammed. I was so despondent. I lost out on the rosemary that I put up with oil that I hadn't got round to, the last few portions of the extremely pleasant soup I made with the cheap veg at Christmas, not to mention the veggies that I'd prepared myself. 

I've started restocking it with basics, but none of my favourite stuff to stash is currently on sale! I got a couple bags of Quorn mince and chunks, which DH likes, that were around 25% off, but it wasn't the best sale I've ever seen. 

 Writing stuff - apart from grumbles, the only thing I have to share is a Research and the Author post about the hazards of getting geography wrong. You can find it here.  It was prompted because someone posted on Reddit complaining about an author putting mountains in the wrong place. I suspect that the internet is awash with complaints like that.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Sorry for Absence

I'm determined to catch up with everyone over the weekend. This week, well, I watched an instalment of Welcome to Wrexham and did a little knitting with the yarn I picked up a few months ago from Aldi.

The rest of the week, well, there's been issues with the writing stuff and it currently looks like this.

Hopefully back soon. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Have No Idea What's Happening

It's been a scattered couple of days. Whenever I started doing something, I've been interrupted. Today it was a very lovely man installing a new alarm system. I've got all sorts of writing stuff that I want to do, but I'm getting disrupted from, and I don't know if I'm coming or going.

I'm not impressed with the new yarn. I think I've been here before. I bought this yarn thinking that it was one solid strand with pretty bits. Instead, it's awful to work with. So far, it looks like this.

And I think I'm just under a quarter of the yarn in.

The smaller ball is much looser and feels significantly lighter. 

I feel like if I knit it, it will be like my Everest - knitting it because it's there. It will be an achievement. I'm not sure that I'll want to wear it, as it's scratchy. I can't imagine using it as a decoration for anything, even though it's shiny. I don't bother with fancy gift wrap and I don't do much crafting apart from knitting. At this point, I wonder why I want to invest time in it, apart from the challenge, which I'm loathing. 

I decided that I was feeling called to knit a blanket. I had a rummage around the back of cupboards and found a project that I abandoned a while ago. It's knitted in stocking stitch with two strands. 

I've cut the yarn and I'm starting with new yarn, and I'll join it up and knit from the piece once I've got to the ends of the cones. I thought that the stocking or stockinette stitch wasn't working, and, besides, I wanted something to knit while watching Welcome to Wrexham, so I settled down to cast on loads of stitches. I haven't written off the fancy yarn yet, but I'm considering options. 

Writing stuff - nothing today, but yesterday I posted an article in the Research and the Author series, which you can find here. I was reminded by a post on Reddit where inaccuracy in costumes had irritated a reader so that they couldn't finish the book. I thought that it was worth a quick mention that it's good to check on details, even if you think you know - I would absolutely got that detail wrong, but that's why I'm carefully vague about a lot of things. 

It's Finished!

 

That's 200g of yarn (no idea of the yardage), 32 inches long, around 81cm, and roughly the same wide. It's lovely and snuggly and I plan to use it. 

Co-incidentally, look what arrived today after a moment of weakness.

I didn't realise that it was multistranded.

I guess that I'm making a scarf. If I can knit it, I know that I'll wear it, but that's if I can knit it. Wish me luck. 

Hugs and good health to all

Drifting Along

I wanted to do so much more today than I managed. Still, I've got some things to post. Perhaps the biggest event from last week was my washing up bowl developing a split in the base. I haven't got a dishwasher, and I don't have a second bowl to the sink, so I like to have a washing up bowl so I can dump the slops down the side of the sink as I'm washing up. DH leaves a surprising amount of coffee in his cup. If I was organised and sensible, it wouldn't matter, but I'm not organised and rarely sensible.

I ordered a fresh one online. I mentioned that I wasn't sensible. My sink is quite small, so I can't just get any bowl. However, I got a couple of sheets of kitchen roll, roughly measured it against the old bowl and folded it to size. Then I brought it upstairs where my knitting tape measure was and measured the kitchen roll. This was not a good plan. The bowl that arrived is amazing, waterproof, and fits easily into the bowl. Sadly, it's too small to hold one of our dinner plates.

This, to me, is two shopping opportunities. One is obviously to get a bigger bowl. The other is the possibility of replacing my plates. I broke a cereal bowl a couple of weeks ago, the pasta dishes are looking the worse for wear and at least one has a major chip - very visible when it's white pottery under a black glaze. The plates are also showing signs of scratches. And a smaller dinner plate is supposed to help with portion control, which I absolutely need. I ordered another washing up bowl, but I've held back on the table ware. The plates and stuff weren't expensive and we've had them a few years, but it seems a waste to buy new if we don't need to. But on the other hand... That was the drama of our weekend. 

Writing adjacent - I got a chance at an advertising slot for a very reasonable amount on a YouTube Channel called AshLG. They run a sewing channel, and yes, I am not much to do with sewing but they are entertaining, pragmatic and cover a lot of historical and fantasy costumes. And the adverts, including my slot, are at 15:45 on this video. 

And I found it fascinating. I loved seeing the hand sewing stitches laid out, though what they called a catching stitch I know as herringbone stitch. So those who like sewing may like to have a look over there, and I get a chance to do a little giddy dance at my first advert.

Writing stuff - I'm way behind everything, but the latest instalment of The Guest is here.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Thank You!

I had no pics, but was determined to post, so I went out and spent a few minutes in the garden. It started like this.

It ended like this.

And I got nettled as I went, but while you can barely see the difference, I did more than nothing. If all I manage is five minutes at a time, it's better than no time at all. I wouldn't even have done that if it wasn't for this blog.

Besides, the lilac is gorgeous

The yellow rose is flourishing.

And Gladys is doing better than ever. This time last year, she was mainly bare sticks. Now there's plenty of leaves and even the hint of a few flowers despite it being colder than average.

There is still this problem. 

The tyre is from when I had the honeysuckle planted against the fence, years ago, back in 2015. They looked lovely when they were first done.

But time took it's toll, and most were evicted. Here's a pic from a few years later which is too cute not to share.

The tyre is the last left. Bear evicted it when he cleared out the honeysuckle. It will find it's way to the tip, but it's the pot that's the problem. 

Many, many, many years ago, I planted a rosemary in there. I neglected it, and it became too entrenched in the pot, straggly and woody. I've been trying to dig the dratted thing out for ages, now I'm reduced to turning it upside down and hoping that gravity will kick in. I want to get the plant out, refill with decent growing medium and plant something new there. If I can't get the soil out, I can see me resorting to a hammer to crack open the pot and get rid of it that way!

Here's hoping for more pics tomorrow. Thank you.