Not Really Here

I've had a dreadful night and I've been a zombie for most of the day. It's like the laptops booted up but none of the programmes are loading. I'm still not sure which way is up. But I dropped bear off for his pub quiz then parked up in the fancy Aldi and got my knitting out. There are rooks nearby.

I think that's the best chance of showing all the nests in the trees near the car park. I may not be the most competent human at the moment, but I had a wonderful time watching the rooks tumbling and playing in the gusty wind just for fun. I may feel like my brain has been disconnected from the network, but watching the joy of those rooks was a breath of pure relaxation and a moment when I felt completely calm. It was pretty awesome. I'm glad I found the good in the moment. 

I'll be back tomorrow when I hope that I'll make more sense.

Hugs and good health to all

Normal for Me

I got around thirty minutes sleep on Sunday night and I spent most of yesterday in a daze. The times of me keeping going for 48 hours straight are long over. 

Things are ticking over. I repotted all but one of the surviving chilli plants.

I got the self watering tubs, but I plan to keep spraying the surface of the soil anyway. There are six plants left. 

Cherie recommended forgetting about the chilli plants, but I have high hopes of overwintering them and that would make it okay. All but one of our windows face south, and I can get a table set up next to the window in my room, which is always warm. I'm looking forward to seeing how your basil grows. My experience with mint is that there isn't that much difference, but that may be because I'm a philistine.

I took a pic of the scarf. 

I like the colours. I hope that some seafarer will get the benefit from it. I haven't sewn the ends in as I've lost my good wool needle. 

Hugs and good health to all.

Quiet Day

I didn't get home until 2.30am this morning. Bear had a good time and I was happy to pick him up. It was strange driving around at that time of night. The roads were so empty apart from taxis and it was such an uneventful run. 

I finished the scarf and started a hat, but I haven't got pictures yet. I don't want to put off posting any longer and my phone's battery is almost empty so I'll take pictures tomorrow. I do have some pictures of me trying to be growing things. Cherie, you talked about a race. Well I planted some parsley, basil and coriander in those mat things. The plant pots are quite small.

But they're slightly bigger than the ones suggested on the packet. The packet says to sow any time, though I have my doubts, and to put in a pot, sprinkle a thin layer of soil over them and then water. I'm fairly confident that the kitchen stays between 15-20C as it says in the instructions, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

I'm not sure how many will germinate. If even half grow, I'll have to split them up and hopefully get a garden full of them. I've got rocket and mint to plant as well, which I may do tomorrow. I have a load of chilli seeds that I could still plant, though it's desperately late, but I may still go for it. I also need to replant the seedlings that have survived as they've outgrown their original pots. 

I'm putting all the info down in case anyone else is considering the discs with seeds in them. I'll share how they go.

Hugs and good health to all. 

I Wish My Mind Was Different

I've had a few really bad nights and I woke up this morning so tired that it hurt. I gave up trying to stay in bed, had a longish nap in the chair, then was still yawning so I made a decision. I was absolutely definitely going to settle down, watch some YouTube/listen to music and finish off the scarf I'm knitting as part of the Lent knitting for the Mission to Seafarer's I'm doing. It was straightforward, uncomplicated, and nearly finished. In other words, a perfect project for when I was too tired to think. Besides, once it was finished, I could take a picture and use it for the blog.

How much knitting do you think I did?

To be fair, I've knitted a few dozen rows while I was watching Gladiators, but otherwise, for some reason, I got stuck in on some writing stuff. I had a piece published in an anthology, Grumpy Old Gods III back in 2019 and the rights have long since reverted to me. I'm not exactly sure what reminded me of its existence, but I woke from my nap with a purpose. So far today, I've dug out all the bits I wrote for the Grumpy Old Gods and I've republished them on my blog. The original story is here and the collection is here and I honestly believe that it's two of the best characters that I've ever written. It was quite a job as I'd made a complete mess of the punctuation which needed correction and I had to search through a lot of old files, but it was worth it. 

I've also written down two more cat stories for when I republish Cats in the Bible and sketched out the next chapter for the White Hart. So much for knitting. 

As well as all the writing, there were a few more tiny wins. My lunch was using up the last of some chorizo that bear had opened, chopped and sizzled up with some mushrooms and onions from the freezer, so I'm using stuff up and avoiding waste. I also got a better pic of the apple blossom while I was taking out some recycling. 

And now I'm going to have another nap as my eyes are closing and I'm picking bear up at 1am. He's supposed to be out somewhere in Kirklees celebrating a birthday but he's promised to take an Uber to somewhere that I can easily collect him. It's nearly 10pm now and I'll need a little shut eye to be safe to drive.

I just hope that my mind will co-operate for once.

Hugs and good health to all. 

A Good Day

First things first, the creeping toadflax that is allegedly a weed has started flowering.

I love its delicate flowers. And I need to get a better pic of the apple blossom.

I keep thinking that I'm going to get rid of the tree and it keeps surprising me with pretty flowers.

Dinner was what has become the Friday night usual - a version of oven chips, nice sausages and gravy with veg. The men almost inhaled it tonight. It's one of their favourite meals so it gets trundled out on Friday. Usually I cook frozen peas, but today we had carrots, and I'm sort of proud of that. The meal planned for Sunday is Moroccan Beef, which has two carrots in the recipe. I can only get a 1kg bag in the delivery, so I have a lot more than two carrots. Tonight we had a sort of fake roasted carrots. I peeled four big carrots and cut them into chunky batons. I stirred them around in some oil, garlic powder, onion granules and italian mixed herbs. There were recipes around that included things like lemon juice and nutritional yeast, but I stuck to the absolute basics as these carrots were going to get covered in gravy. Then I cooked them for four minutes in the microwave, gave them a good stir, then cooked them for four more minutes. They were gorgeous and I will definitely do that again, possibly with lemon juice if gravy isn't involved. As I'll no doubt have a few carrots left on Monday, I may do that to have with veggie sausages and some of the leftover chips. There aren't enough chips in the bag to do for all three of us, but they would certainly do for a couple of servings for me. Or one serving for bear, perhaps with beans and bacon.

Bear finished his final coursework before his A levels with two hours before the absolutely final, no more excuses, last gasp deadline. The last couple of days have been tense but he's worked hard and I'm proud of him. 

And I'm proud of myself for chasing down on the waste. It may be very small triumphs, but they're triumphs just the same and I'll enjoy them.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Look What I Did!

We had a very pleasant Moroccan lamb and lentil stew on Sunday, which required half of a red cabbage. We all enjoyed it a great deal, but we used 300g of lamb instead of 500g and it was still about double the amount we needed. There was half a red cabbage left, so I pickled it using this recipe and it looked like this.

I was most impressed by the pretty colours staining the kitchen roll I used. As far as I can tell, that's the only thing that got stained and I'm taking it as a win. It has to settle for a couple of days in the fridge, but should be great for the men's sandwiches at the weekend. Of course the kitchen smells... intense! Normally I put out little saucers of vinegar to get rid of bad smells, but as it's mainly spiced cider vinegar that's causing the problem, I'm not so sure that it would do much good this time. 

This Sunday coming, we're likely to have Moroccan beef. It will use up the leftover apricots and some prunes that need finishing off, and we have all the spices. I'll have carrots left over from the bag that will come in the delivery for that recipe, but I've seen some very pleasant recipes for carrot and lentil burgers so I'm not so worried about that. Having said that, every time I try and plan food, something goes wrong, but I think I've got a fighting chance this time.

I've had some good coupons from Tesco this week, including 10% off herbs and spices. I added some coriander seed to the order, as that was about the only spice missing from the selection of allllll the spices. There was a good deal a month ago and I stocked up on our favourites, so there isn't much to get.

... you ever have that sinking feeling? The recipe for the pickled cabbage called for either coriander seeds, fennel seeds or caraway seeds to go with the mustard seeds and peppercorns as the spices. I ignored the caraway seeds, which I normally have with cabbage, and added fennel seeds. Except now I can clearly visualise the label. I didn't read the recipe properly. Instead of fennel seed, I've added fenugreek. 

Bugger.

This is why blogging is so useful. I honestly wouldn't have realised without posting this and checking over the recipe to talk about the choice of spicy seed. I wonder how it will affect the taste? 

Here's a question - I've added a small jar of Tesco own brand coriander seeds to the order. It's £1.00 for 26g, or 38p per 10g/£38 per kilo according to the website. I could buy some Natco coriander seeds at £1.75 for 300g or 6p per 10g/£6.00 per kilo. Is it worth buying the bigger bag? I'll be honest, I'm not sure that I'd ever use 300g of coriander seeds, but for only 75p more, it seems insane not to get them. There's a whole section on BBC Good Food here but it's still not a guarantee against waste. I suppose it depends on how much pickling we do. 

I need to go away and add fennel seed to the grocery list (small Tesco own brand jar of 36g costs £1/£28 per kilo or Natco 300g is £2.65 or £9 per kilo, though I could get the 100g for £1.30 or £13 per kilo) and to drag everything out of the kitchen cupboards to see what I can use up to avoid waste. There are worse hobbies than avoiding waste. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Slight Improvement

I'm pulling out of the pity party. I was so annoyed with myself. Still, I've got a few things done today. For example, I threw some stuff from the garden into the bin - just before bin collection day! It's stuff that I'd been meaning to get rid of, like old plant pots, and today I actually got rid! The garden is a mess. I want to cover up the bed in the middle as it makes it hard to enjoy the garden, but I kind of like the japanese maple.

You can just about see it. I wonder if I'd be able to transplant it. The pic also hints at the dandelion situation here.

I can feel all the real gardeners out there wincing. I was plotting to get rid of a lot of these, but they are such a resource for pollinators at the moment, and they're so cheerfully sunny. Still, the laurels opposite are in full flower (and triggering my sniffles), so there are some other blossoms available.

There are also ivy, brambles and nettles in the garden to contend with - I ought to make nettle soup. It's the right time of year and it's supposed to be good for the blood.

I've thrown a few things out, fiddled around with some bits and I ate a reasonable lunch! It was chicken nuggest and mushy peas, so not a brilliant lunch, but it's adjacent to some nutrition. It's a work in progress. Besides, I love mushy peas. 

Hopefully I'll have more progress tomorrow. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

I'm Annoyed with my Waste

I love sweet and sour sauce. I have to be a little careful as a lot of jarred sauces contain gluten and I really couldn't be bothered to make my own, but it doesn't stop me liking it. Over the last year or so, when they've had the offer of three for the price of two, I've picked up a couple of jars of sweet and sour, usually one or two a year. I thought that I was being sensible. Today I threw out three jars of sauce that had significantly expired. 

Yes, there was probably a margin for error but I didn't feel like risking it. What is even more annoying is the reason that they didn't get used up. You see, bear doesn't like sweet and sour, so I don't bother making it when we're eating together. Besides, bear makes his own arrangements most of the time. DH eats pasta bake four nights per week and he and bear construct fancy sandwiches on Saturday. I make something for me five nights per week but it's usually something like soup or I'll cook store bought veggie sausages and have it with pasta or baked beans, or, most likely, I'll stuff myself with really bad junk food. Last week I decided that I'd make a big pot of sweet and sour and have it over a few days. I have a freezer full of prepared veggies, some quorn chunks, which only I seem to like, and I could use a jar of sauce and have three or four meals. Except those jars were out of date.

I'm frustrated that I've wasted the food. I'm frustrated that I've wasted at least £2. I'm also frustrated that I've obviously spent at least a year happily sorting things out for DH and bear but not having the energy or the inclination to eat reasonably. No wonder I'm run down. 

At this point I ought to promise myself to eat better, take more care, and perhaps turn out the cupboards. The chances are minimal, but I suppose that they're statistically above zero, so I shouldn't write it off. I'll post about any successes on here. 

Writing stuff - finally another chapter from the White Hart here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Technology Continues Troublesome

I can't believe how many work-arounds I currently have going. I'm also facing up to the grim reality that I'm going to have to use G Mail and I loathe Google Mail. I can't shunt stuff off into folders so that they're out of the way and not cluttering up the inbox like I can in Hotmail. I have also lost a huge swathe of games that I used to play to calm my mind. 

The weekend was pretty good. We fed the crows on Saturday, well, crows and magpies. Some of the magpies have obviously been living dangerously as some of them were missing tail feathers - some almost completely! Here is a poor shot which I hope shows a magpie with a bald backside.

It's hard to see, but the one at the top has a normal end, and the one at the bottom has been severely posterially pruned.

Mother's Day was good here. I got candles, of course. I love candles. I've always got one burning whenever it's practical so the men know that it's a safe gift. I got candles in cute owl holders.

They are all strongly scented, and I can't wait to try them out. I'm trying to think about how best to save them and what I can use them for.

The Lent knitting is also coming along.

It's a scarf that should be finished by the end of the week which will make two scarves and a hat. I want to try and add at least another two hats before Easter. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Feeling Ungrateful

The stuff on my old laptop was supposed to be kept in the cloud. Last I checked, when I first fired up the new machine, it was all there. Regrettably, the dratted stuff has disappeared. Apart from things like important documents and knitting patterns, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands of words that I really would like to have access to. Just the White Hart collection is over 200,000 words. I've also lost some of my favourite games. They weren't particularly sophisticated or clever, but I found them soothing and I liked them. Their creators don't support them anymore, so I can't transfer them over. Perhaps it's a sign that I should look into getting some games that aren't older than bear. 

It may have something to do with passwords. I'm having all sorts of problems with the Microsoft passwords. They don't seem to be transferring over as they should and it's driving me nuts. The codes that are supposed to have been sent don't turn up, my phone is sulking and I feel like all my electronics are ganging up on me. But I have a functional keyboard, and that's something! I should be more grateful. 

Yesterday we attended a webinar on Student Finance. It all looks incredibly complicated. It should all be manageable, though. Bear should be able to get loans to cover his tuition and a maintenance loan that should hopefully keep him in pasta and pesto. He already has an idea about getting himself a lunch and keeping himself fed, so hopefully it won't come as too much of a shock. We talk about stuff all the time and he knows how to cook, so I'm not too worried. He has a lot more sense than I have. 

I spent far too much time fiddling around with settings today so I haven't caught up as much as I would like. I also don't have a picture, so please accept this. It reminded me of my driving lessons. It's almost exactly six years since I passed.

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

 Hugs and good health to all. 

I Have a New Laptop!

There'll be a short period of catch up, but I can't tell you how wonderful it is to type on a keyboard that works!

I've been keeping busy. The chilli plants that have survived are doing well, all things considered, though I need to transplant the little ones that stopped growing.

And today I made a pot of lemon curd - we had leftover lemons. I'm not convinced that it's turned out correctly. I suppose the proof will be in the eating. 

DH has done wonders setting everything up, but the layout is taking a little getting used to. I've also finally transferred to Windows 11, so I'm working out where everything has gone. 

And if any unexpected # turn up - the position on the new keyboard is roughly where the return key was and so paragraphs come with hashtags.

And I found a new Aldi! I dropped bear off last night and instead of parking in a corner, I drove to the Aldi, picked up a few bits and then parked at the end of their car park. The lights for the car park were so bright that knitting wasn't a problem.

The brightness isn't from the flash. The lights really are that good and that particular spot has three of them all overlapping. 

Anyway, I thought that I'd post here before I did anything else. Now I'm off to see how much of my work has saved to One Drive and how much is going to have to be transferred long hand. 

Hugs and good health to all. It's good to be back. 

Procrastinating

Tomorrow I'll catch up with all the blogs I love. Definitely. I'll do it tomorrow. Right now I'm becoming expert at dithering. But tomorrow I'll get caught up. 

Today has been tricky. I've finished a hat, but not sewn it, as I wasn't very focused. I really want to keep knitting for Lent. It looks like this at the moment.

I also cast on for a scarf for the Mission to Seafarers, as I thought that it may be easier on my shoulder. I may only have managed a row or two, but it's something. I've promised myself at least two more rows tomorrow.

I need to do more about the chilli plants. I've managed to kill a couple off. I think it's negligent watering together with being on a south facing windowsill above a radiator. 

I think that I need to transplant the small ones in the rectangular container. I don't think that they're getting enough nutrition to grow. And while it's wildly late to be planting further chillis, it's not beyond reason. Of course, I'm not looking forward to sorting that out with one functional arm, but I'll get there. I'm determined to go for it. That won't be tomorrow, though, as I have more to sort out, but I can't leave it too long.

I also have a lot of lemons that need using, eggs, butter, sugar, some small jars and a recipe for microwave lemon curd. That needs to happen soon before the lemons get past their best. 

I'm in a lot of pain, and from what they said at the clinic, I'll have a few weeks of this. I'm going to have to be strategic. However, I'll think about it tomorrow. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Further Grumbling

My left shoulder is pretty much frozen up and I'm in a lot of pain. This has left me taking codeine and paracetamol and codeine sends me loopy. Or loopier. Typing is hard even without he keyboard challenge and I can't knit. 

It's an awesome excuse to binge watch loads of tv and films and take things easy. 

DH and bear have been brilliant looking after me. 

I went to the urgent care clinic, where I was seen pretty quickly, and they think it may be tendonitis and if it hasn't gone in a couple of weeks then I should see my GP. I have the pain and weakness that it had last time it was dislocated, but they ruled that out. I am patheticalllly grateful fo that. 

I'll hopefully have something to share tomorrow. Until then, here is a pic that I thought was pretty. 

Photo by Redd Francisco on Unsplash

Hugs and good health to all.

Just Continuing

My keyboard is problematic. Some keys work if you hit them hard enough. Some refuse and then disgorge ridiculous amounts of the letter, eg nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. I have decided to get around it with firm and repeated pressure on keys and cutting and pasting from existing posts/stories/letters when all else fails. 

I was determined to post this. Unfortunately, my body has decided that having my hips in agony isn't enough. My left shoulder is, I think, frozen. I can't raise my arm properly and the pain is fairly bad. Like, not functioning well bad. It's a shoulder that I've already dislocated three times, so all bets are off. 

Hopefully normal service, whatever that is, will resume shortly. 

Writing stuff - today is the saint's day for St Gertrude of Nivelles, apparently the patron saint of cats and I was reminded of Cats in the Bible so I posted a chapter over on my writing blog here. 

Photo by Hümâ H. Yardım on Unsplash

Hugs and good health to all. 

Oops!

 

I'm having a few technical difficulties, but I'll be back soon. 

Mea Culpa - I Have Shopped

I didn't post yesterday because my laptop keys weren't co-operating. So many keys were acting up that I was driven daft(er). So, from yesterday...

I dropped off some stuff at the charity shop. I was really worried because I'm not walking well at all, but, by a stroke of luck, I snagged a place right opposite the entrance. Not only that, but I reversed almost perfectly into the space next to another car first time. I was so thrilled, I took a picture.

There were a few bags, and a very kind gentleman helped me with them, but getting in, a quick look at the bric a brac and then out just about finished me off. 

Other news from yesterday is more yarn arrived. I picked up some bits from Temu, which I need to stop doing, and it included some yarn. 

It looks weird and wonderful, I really didn't need it, and it's probably the first thing I will pick up after Easter to knit myself a scarf. Or at least, I'll try to knit a scarf but the yarn looks complicated. My only excuse is that I bought it before I started sorting out my yarn stash and I'd been longing for it for a while. 

Today we called into visit the crows, who were all very enthusiastic. It was a really beautiful morning and I've completely failed to get any pics. I'll have to have another go some other time.

My room is still a heap, almost literally. I spent some time sorting through some stuff, and I feel that I have to make choices. I've quite a few sewing projects stashed and I wanted to do them and still want to do them. However I'm not sure when I'll be able to get to them. I have finite time and I need to make choices. I've decided to choose knitting and writing (when the keyboard finally co-operates). 

It's hard letting go of some of the projects, because I know that I would have enjoyed them if I ever got around to them. That's the thing. I would see something online, buy it, really want to start it, something would happen, I'd get distracted, I'd see something online, buy it, really want to start it... I'm making deliberate choices and I'm not trying to get everything done straight away. It's proving quite hard. 

I start with - am I going to keep it? If so, it's getting shoved into storage or bags until I can have space to find a decent home, or until I've worked through more of my stash. If I'm not going to keep it, I ask myself if I think it will sell. I'll have a few things to put on eBay on Monday. Then if I don't think that it'll sell, I ask myself if it is fit to donate. That goes into a separate bag. I throw out the rest. 

It's hard making some of the choices. As I reduce the mounds, I expect that I'll find duplicates of stuff and get rid of more things. I'm finding it exhausting, though. 

In other news, bear is going out clubbing tonight. He's been out late and overnight for parties, but this is the first time he's headed into Leeds with a group of his friends. I promised that I wouldn't wait up, but I don't think that I'll settle until he gets home. I'm being ridiculous, of course. Bear is a sensible lad and knows that he can call on me and DH any time in the unlikely event that he runs into a problem. I hope that he has a blast.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Frustrating Day and Signs of Insanity

Our lovely plumber came out this morning and prodded our boiler. It turns out the boiler was fine. The problem was that the gas meter had stopped working and so no gas was reaching the boiler. Lovely plumber couldn't touch it, but he spoke to my energy supplier, Octopus, on my behalf and they agreed to come out 'within four hours'. This was around 11.30am.

What I didn't notice was the email from Octopus and they needed answers to the questions in it before they logged the order. They needed to know if there were pets, if the could park, would they need a ladder etc etc etc. I didn't notice it until around 3pm, so I answered it and then rang their (actually quite pleasant) customer service. I then got another email from their customer service asking for a picture of the meter, followed by another email from the works supervisor asking for a picture of the meter, followed by a phone call confirming that the call was booked followed by a call from the man mending the meter letting me know he was on his way followed by yet another email requesting that I let them know when it was sorted.

It was a lot.

It felt very bitty because I couldn't settle to anything, not even knitting, as I felt that I could be broken off at any time. I didn't even want to make anything to eat, just in case I was disturbed. It was all very frustrating. Still, we now have a new meter as the battery in the old meter had given up. Apparently they only last 10-15 years. The heating is back on and I could wash up without boiling a kettle, so I'm happy. 

I'm making no plans for tomorrow, just in case.

I also got some seeds. I don't need any more seeds. I absolutely do not need more seeds. But these are herbs, and they can be transitioned outside. 

They're called seed mats and you just place them on soil as is, cover them with a sprinkle of soil, keep them watered and they should be fine. I got parsley, basil, coriander, mint, chives and rocket. I think I'll start off with one mat of parsley and see how I go - if I can find space on the dratted windowsills! I've still got loads of chilli seeds, and I'm planting them even if it is late. 

I just hope I don't kill them off. 

Now it's time for an early night in a nice, warm house. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Yarn, Yarn, Yarn, Yarn, Yarn, Yarn...

And yet no pics of yarn - I'm slipping!

I managed to get through to my plumber today. He's an absolute sweetheart and a safe tradesman. He explains what he's doing, is clear about pricing, and will call if he's running late. And he can come tomorrow morning. It's not too bad. Apart from boiling a kettle to wash the dishes, it's been fine. 

It's been a funny sort of week. I was planning to leave the house super early Tuesday morning because I wanted to drop off donations at a charity shop, and I can't walk very far at all so I'd have to park close, which means leaving the house at the first chirp of the sparrow to make sure that I got a parking space. However I didn't get to sleep until 5am Tuesday morning and I decided that I probably wasn't in a good place to drive. I decided to go today instead. I didn't go today as I was trying to get through to the plumber, and as he's coming tomorrow, it looks like I'll get to the charity shop Friday if nothing else happens. I am not convinced I'll get out of the house on Friday, but who knows. Something may actually go to plan. 

My bedroom is a pit, an absolute disaster, mainly marked by a huge heap of bags for life filled with knitting projects. I bought some things from Temu. They're basically hanging storage. I'll treat taking a pic from there the same was as I do taking a pic from Amazon - I'll give an attribution and a link (and I don't profit from links on here). I hope that's fair play.

Yarn organiser

They were a bit of a pain to set up and they're not exactly exquisitely made, but as long as I'm not opening and shutting them all of the time, they'll do. I've filled three. I've barely made a dent. 

There's a lot of yarn, but there are also so many half finished projects. I'd forgotten about a few of them, including the blanket with yarn that had yak wool as part of it's fibre content. I want to knit this stuff. I got this yarn and started these projects because they called to me. They're still calling to me now. I want to get this stuff finished and done. I want stuff out of the bags for life and into sweaters, scarves, blankets, curtains and jackets. I feel like I could sit and binge knit, just to get some space cleared. 

However I'd already decided that, as I fail at giving things up, I was going to spend Lent, which starts today, knitting for Mission to Seafarers. Most of my mother's family had connections with the sea. Some were Royal Navy, including my insane great uncle who learned how to eat mangoes in Palestine during shore leave during WWII, and the brother of my great grandfather who ran whiskey to the USA during Prohibition. Uncle was a ship's engineer for nearly twenty years. I know how much the Mission to Seafarers can mean to sailors in a strange port. I've got loads of yarn, including that sent by a lovely friend who is no longer with us, so I thought I should set to it. 

This is the religious bit and you can skip to the next paragraph if you prefer. My understanding of the Bible, and I'm not claiming to be any sort of authority, is that if you promise something then you should follow through, even if you didn't have to promise in the first place. I may not have promised in front of a panel of bishops, but I feel that I have to follow through. I feel a little frustrated, but it's not exactly a huge hardship and the yarn will still be diminished. It just won't be the projects that are currently calling. Regardless, I worked on this today, which will be donated. Besides, it's forty days, not years and decades. I'll get stuck into the outstanding stuff soon enough. 

While I was rummaging, I filled two black binbags full of rubbish and another bag for donations. I'm looking at a few craft projects and considering my options. Do I really want to take the time to eg stitch a cross stitch when I could be knitting (more relaxing) or writing (more energising). I could even be doing useful stuff like housework!

Once the plumber has been tomorrow, I plan to return to finish clearing and sorting stuff in my bedroom. Due to the way the light falls and the narrow windowsills, my bedroom is perfect for a chilli nursery and I've got a load of seeds that I can sow, even if it's a bit late. Once that is done, and I've moved some furniture around in the living room, I can get on with things. I've even got some herb seeds to plant as well, although I plan for those to go outside fairly soon. 

I don't have a brilliant track record at following plans through, but I'm hoping that the urge to plant chilli seeds will keep me going through any hiccups. I'll share how things go.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Sort of Normal

My usual February brain-switch-off seems to have been delayed until March. Hopefully I'll get an early night tonight (my sleep has been all over the place) and be back and with it tomorrow. 

I have to be somewhat with it as the boiler stopped working this evening so we have no central heating. The shower runs on electric, so that's not affected, and we have electric heaters in DH and bear's rooms and in the study, so we certainly won't freeze, but I'm a little annoyed. I'll call the plumber tomorrow.

I have also knitted the shawl. It will be perfect for the car. 

It's a good size but lightweight and warm. Close up it looks like this.

The knitting came out looking great, but it was horrible to knit and I'm sort of glad that it's over. 

Bear is having a tough time with his course work. DH and I are keeping a safe distance and letting him get on with stuff. Even if we understood it, we aren't allowed to help him with it. 

The chilli seedlings seem kind of stuck, so I'm hoping I haven't got things too wrong.

Hugs and good health to all. 

 

The Yarn is Winning

It's been another quiet day here. I'm feeling a little under the weather and achy, so I thought I would work on knitting, particularly that fancy yarn. 

It's a struggle for supremacy, a battle to see who's will can prevail. The yarn is winning. I cast on, knitted and unravelled five times! FIVE!

I tried all sorts of cast-on methods. I've used the cable cast on plenty of times, like this scarf that I plan to donate. This was a cable cast on.

It's a nice, neat, unremarkably start to a piece of knitting. With this stupid yarn, it's an incitement to riot. 

In the end, I cast on three stitches and started a triangular shawl. I want one for the car anyway. I have a blanket over my lap (that I knitted) and a warm hat (that I knitted) so a shawl around my shoulders would be a great addition. I think that I have enough yarn to make a really good sized shawl, and I've made a start. 

I'll see how much I can do before the start of Lent. After that, all knitting will be for the Seafarers' Mission (crises permitting). 

Tonight's dinner was the now traditional one with sausage, frozen potato chips, peas and gravy. The men really enjoy those chips/fries/product-type-things - products by Lamb Weston like these ziggy seasoned fries. The price that they have as their base price is £3.00 to £3.30, but I think that's the price that they have the sale from. I've seen them as low as £1.65, but I suspect that's not common. They're currently in a sale which is 8 items for £10 which isn't a bad price, but I haven't much room in my freezer. It's tempting to work out how to tetris more into the freezer as the sale ends on 9th March, but I have a suspicion that this sale comes around a lot. If the price is 8 bags for £10, or £1.25 each, and each bag will do two meals, then it's getting close to the price of non-bargain fresh and normal potatoes. As it is, the men enjoy them so much, and I certainly can't duplicate their fancy cuts, that it may be almost worth paying full price (though it would make me cry).

I need another freezer. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

A Little Drama

Today bear had a couple of exams. These are mock exams, sat under the conditions of the real thing and the grades will be used in letters of recommendation and such until he gets the results of the proper exams in August. They're not vital but they're quite important. 

Bear overslept. He overslept by nearly two hours. 

I have made it a practice to let bear get up and out by himself for the last few months. I want him to be used to it when he goes away. I'm usually up before him, but I don't chase him. Today I slept in after one of those 'so tired it hurts but can't drift off to sleep' nights. I was woken by bear's cry of horror.

He flew out of bed, rang school and they followed the procedure that they'd use if it was the real exams and sent a taxi for him. He got there in time to join the exam and fingers crossed he will still get a decent mark. It gave the household collective heart failure, but I'm hopeful that he'll never oversleep on exam day again. When the real exams come around, of course I'll be up at 6am anyway, ready to encourage him out of the house in plenty of time. 

I refuse to write about chillies today but I'm incredibly grateful for the advice and feel free to add more. I'll hopefully be able to post more soon.

Normally I'm a wreck during February. I tend to shut down and fester at this time of year. I've not done too badly this year but I suspect that I'm getting some of it now. But March is the day after tomorrow, and I'm determined to get things moving.

Knitting is definitely not moving. Do you remember the fancy yarn and I was knitting a ruffle scarf but it wasn't working? 

I decided to undo it all and knit a throw. I got so far with a knit two rows, twisted dropstitch one row pattern when I realised that the cast on edge was far too tight. 

I don't know if you can see it, but it was pulling the bottom edge in almost like it was gathered, which isn't good for a throw. I used bad language, undid the dratted thing again and tried with plain knit. Once again, despite my best efforts, the cast on was bunching up too much. I considered digging out a bigger knitting needle for the cast on, but I think it may have been my technique. I was using what I know as a cable cast on, which works just fine most of the time. It's great when you're casting on rib, and it's the way I was taught when I was eight - many, many, many years ago.

So I dug out a knitting book.

And hopefully I'll find a nice, loose cast on that isn't the long tail cast on as I'm casting on 100 stitches. 

Hugs and good health to all.