Avoiding Things

I used to always watch the Eurovision, but I can't face it tonight. Once upon a time, it felt like it was a good kind of silly and a lot of fun. Now there seems to be so much tension and politics that I can't get into the mood for the daftness. Instead I've watched the FA Cup Final (was pleased with the result), several YouTube videos and I've got a load of knitting done. 

I'm actually using yarn from my stash and knitting a sweater. It's a nice, easy knit, the boat necked tunic here. I actually paid for the pattern! I'm using some basic, plain aran that I got from Aldi, which I don't think was much more than £6 for 400g, (around 800 metres according to the ball band, or roughly 875 yards). 

It's a lovely easy knit, and great to get on with while watching tv or thinking about something else. 

It's supposed to take 800g, and I have 1200g, so I'll have enough to make the fancy wrap that's on the inside of the ball band, that is, if there's no unpleasant surprises. 

I also, if I remember correctly, have another 800g stashed in green aran. If I have, and I make a similar sweater, I could make it a wrap in black as a contrast, depending on how tricky it was. 

Speaking of Aldi, I also picked up a pan.

They had some nice pans in Aldi for the price. This was £12.99 and I've been keeping an eye out for this size for a while. I was considering getting a few pans for bear for when he goes away, but he's not sure what will be included in accomodation, so he'd rather wait, and I don't blame him. I've stashed quite a lot of Clubcard points, though, and there's currently enough to pick up most of what he'd need for cooking if he shopped carefully at Tesco if he decides to go there. 

Going back to the knitting, I'm using some extremely cheap interchangeable needles from Temu. Normally I'm careful to say inexpensive but I suspect that these are just cheap. I can't resist copper coloured stuff though, and I weakened. 

I used them for all the hats that I knitted for the Mission for Seafarers, and I didn't have a lick of bother. As soon as I changed them out for a different size, however, they had a tendancy to loosen. One of the 'needles' detached from the cable in the middle of a row. The language that I used was appalling as I rescued my stitches and I'm thoroughly ashamed of myself. I've tightened them again with the gizmos, so fingers crossed that I can carry on. I may or not be eyeing up an extremely inexpensive blue set because I'm also a sucker for blue and an idiot.

I've promised myself that once I finish that I can have a go at a jacket that I've seen. It's a brutally easy cardigan/jacket, though it's knitted in one piece until you divide for arm holes and at my size that's a lot of stitches, but it's in chunky and I don't think that there's any chunky in my stash. I've seen some yarn that I'd like, but I'm finding it hard to justify buying any, especially as I'd have to pay full price! I may make a target that if I knit a certain amount and clear enough from my stash then I can treat myself. But it's a great size to go over thinner sweaters and under a coat, and it should be straightforward to knit so I may weaken early. I think I'll see how I'm going at the end of August. I've got a lot of started projects that I'm avoiding like the Eurovision and it wouldn't hurt to use the jacket as an incentive to get things finished. 

I am also avoiding the idea of planting potatoes. I absolutely could do that and I have plenty of containers. But I worry that I'd not keep up to watering and I'd get it wrong when it comes to digging stuff up and whether I'd actually eat them... 

Hugs and good health to all.