Try Not to Snigger

I'm just passing through as it's too hot to breathe. Of course, when I say that it's too hot, we are talking about 30C or 86F. For many of you reading this, that's sweater weather. Meanwhile there is actually a weather warning out about the heat. Amateur weather forecasters are having fits about thunder and hail, most of which seems to be destined to miss us which is a shame as I love a good thunderstorm. One commentator has even muttered about a tornado which is sort of implausible. There are a lot of tornados in UK. They're not usually that big, but they're still there. The Met Office (government weather office) have a video on it.

Small but comparitively frequent. Yes, people from places like the USA can snigger at this as well. 

Anyway it's still too hot to be reasonable. Houses like mine are designed to keep in the heat, to garner every crumb of warmth and lock it into the rooms. This is an absolute blessing for nine months of the year and can even be a bonus during summer if it's a colder one. It is not currently a blessing.

Yesterday, because I love the men, I baked a cake. However, did I mention the heat was getting to me? I added ingredients in the wrong order, I'm fairly sure that I should have whisked instead of beaten and I suspect that I added at least twice the amount of vanilla in the recipe. It sank like the Titanic. 

The men had some last night and said it was great. I had some tonight and it really wasn't. I may try the recipe again if I can find the whisk, but I'll aim for a better reading of instructions. I may make Cherie's microwave chocolate cake tomorrow.

I finished my brother's/brother's partner's scarf. 

It came out at roughly 60 inches long (152cm) and 10 inches wide (25cm). It's interesting as the pattern from Mission for Seafarers has 200g of DK yarn, cast on 40 stitches, plain knit until you run out of yarn, and stipulates no wider than 10 inches and no longer than 60 inches and the scarves so far have come in at around that size. This is random yarn from Temu. 

I thought it was in 50g balls, possibly aran weight and bought four to make a scarf, casting on 36 stitches and using 6mm needles. The above scarf took one ball. I checked back and I think I may have made something of an error. The package was described as 80% wool, 20% acrylic and when I looked further, it recommended a 4mm needle, but I think that would have made the fabric far too dense and stiff for a scarf. As I was looking further I saw that it was described as '200g, 2 pieces' which I would normally take to mean two balls of 100g each. Upon reflection, though, I think it was two lots of 200g. I bought it in two colours to allow them to negotiate over who wanted what colour, and because, as I said, I thought they were 50g balls, I think I may have ended up with over a kilo of yarn. I'm far from convinced that it would knit as DK, though, as I used 6mm needles and it's turned out fine. I've started a second scarf in that colour, which will still leave me with 400g left over which may end up as scarves for the Salvation Army. 

This leaves me with the other colour. 

I love this colourway. And the scarf is wonderfully light and soft and warm. I absolutely could make a blanket, using the same needles and casting on four times the number of stitches. I don't think that it would take long to knit up, either and I would adore a blanket from this. But I wanted to give more than one colour to my brother/his partner and if I try and make a blanket out of the leftover yarn of both colours, I think that it would look awful. I'm considering my options and I can postpone the decision as tomorrow I'm knitting for sailors as it's Sunday and it will take a while to knit up the scarf. 

The weather should break tomorrow, son fingers crossed that I'll have more to talk about. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

At Least the Knitting is Progressing

We had a splendid Father's Day here. Bear and DH ended up playing a video game late into the night. It was lovely to see. As it was Sunday, and I try to knit for sailors on Sundays, and as the blue scarf was finished, I started another hat. 

I did so much because it was just so wonderful, all of us hanging out together, all being calm and relaxed. Then I had an horrific night, followed by a tough day, and today wasn't brilliant either. I haven't watered anything in the garden so I'm hoping that there's something to save when I manage to get out there. By the way, as I find sitting in the car and knitting while it rains, I find it ironic that it's been the driest spring in 100 years, according to some sources, certainly around here, and when it has rained, it's been overnight. 

When I dug out the hat, I thought I'd share what I've started calling my 'Knit To Go Bag'. It's one of those things that I've sort of slipped into having. Big projects, like sweaters and blankets, generally stay in the house these days. However if I'm out feeding the crows with DH or hanging around waiting for bear, I like to have something smallish to knit. And when I've gone to get the car serviced, I'll sometimes take a blanket or sweater in a big bag for life and add in the 'knit to go bag'. The contents currently look like this.

That's the scarf for my brother/his partner

The hat as above and a piece of paper with the pattern, from when my laptop and the printer were still on speaking terms.

My necklight, as I'm often knitting in the dark while waiting for bear.

An extremely inexpensive set of interchangeable needles that aren't brilliant but fine for grabbing and going, together with things like scissors, wool needles, stitch markers, point covers, a tape measure, stitch holders etc.

I bought this big box of stitch markers quite a few years ago and I'm impressed with myself that I haven't lost so many yet. 

I didn't take a pic of the wet wipes or green biro that are also in there, but I have a notebook that must be around 20 years old and still going - mainly because not only do I sometimes lose it, but I rarely pick patterns that need me to count rows. 

And a roll of pretty bags for either using for rubbish when I've been hanging around in the car eating snacks but also I like to keep my yarn in bags to stop it getting dusty or dirty, especially in the car. 

I kept this kit in a small, overflowing reusable bag but recently upgraded to a cheap bag with a zip closure so that I no long worry about it tipping up and yarn and needles rolling everywhere.

I've also bunged in stuff like bottles of water, extra yarn, and a book to read at times. It means that if I decide to go out, I have something that I can just grab, dump in the car and get out. I thoroughly recommend it. 

Bear had an exam today and he felt it went well. He has two tomorrow, which is tough, so I'm keeping everything crossed for him. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Still Thinking About Yarn and Chillies.

The chilli plant that I got from the garden centre has buts. It's covered with tiny white flies. I've put it out on the step while I consider my options. I think I'll try spraying it with soapy water. 

I haven't kept a close enough watch on the plants, and that needs to change. DH and bear are really keen on chillies and it's the least I can do to try and grow some.

I meant to post last night, but we all got talking - bear, DH and I - and we had such a great time until quite late. I've heard so many horror stories about teenagers, but we all seem to get along and bear is an absolute star. I'm so proud of him and I enjoy his company. There's still the parent/child dynamic, but it's not the only part of the relationship. He's a legal adult now, so I don't feel that I can order him around - not that I ever did. I've never been able to make him do anything since he was in nursery. I can, however, suggest and advise, and I'm not stopping that. 

Angela mentioned that she had the same yarn as I was using. I got it from Temu, and I was knitting it today. I made a point of taking it slow and enjoying the relaxation of knitting and the scarf is now roughly triple the length. I took some pics.

I'm knitting 36 stitches on a 6mm needle which is giving me 10 inches across. It's knitted up quite loose and drapy, especially the lengths that aren't fluffy, which is what I want from a scarf in garter stitch, but I think it would be fine on a 5mm. I guess it's something to play with. 

I remembered why I got a couple of seriously big batches of yarn - this pattern, the Ombre Ridge blanket. You start off with three strands of colour A, then after 26 rows you switch to two strands of colour A and one strand of colour B. 26 rows later, it's one strand of colour A and two strands of colour B, then three strands of B, then two strands of B and one of C, then one strand of B and two of C and finally three strands of C, all in an odd rib pattern. I've knit it before, years ago, and if I remember correctly, it's a quick and easy knit. I may prioritise this over the sweaters once I've finished the scarves as I think that it will get rid of a huge amount of yarn and I'll not only enjoy knitting it, but I'll enjoy the result. It's lovely and warm and squishy. I wish I could remember what happened to the one I previously knit. 

I'm still incredibly sleepy. I had a two hour nap this afternoon and I'm falling asleep now. I have quite a scratchy throat and I'm a little sniffly, so I'm willing to believe that I may have a mild bug. I'll see how things go. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Yarn - Oh Bugger

I am still somewhat limp brained and nodding but I'm slightly better. I love reading comments that people have kindly left and I will hopefully answer all of those soon. I always feel a hug with a comment. I wasn't fit to drive today, but I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll improve. 

I harvested 245g of chillies.

One of the plants hasn't set any fruit and another is looking decidedly sickly but I gave them a feed and I'm keeping everything crossed that harvest will continue. I checked about waiting until they turned red, but that could take up to 100 days, apparently, and I didn't want to wait that long. 

I had planned that today I would go in the garden, but rain was forecast and I'm not sure that I'm safe to make decisions, so I thought that I would stay in and perhaps work on some writing stuff if I could concentrate. I stopped in my bedroom and remembered that I'd dug the scrubby yarn out of a heap on the far side of the bed in the eight inches between the bed and the wall. I thought that I may as well have another furtle. It was a shock.

There were some bits that I could get rid of. I don't know what this was supposed to be, but I rejected it and disposed of it, along with all sorts of other rubbish. 

In fact, I got rid of quite a lot of rubbish that I excavated from bags containing unfinished projects. Those bags also contained receipts, scrap notes, elderly hand cream and a can of Diet Coke that expired in 2022. Then there were bags and bags of yarn that hadn't been touched. I would say at a guess there was easily ten kilos of untouched yarn and at least that again in projects that I'd begun and forgotten. There must be a similar weight in yarn next to my chair with the yarn for the various bits I've got going on. And there's well over ten kilos that I've already sorted through and stashed in places like my wardrobe. What was I thinking?

I need to keep yarn in front of me and get working. All of that yarn is stuff that I want to use. I've been here before, and I'm just so disappointed in myself. I'll have to work out priorities and just enjoy the knitting. I find it so relaxing and I'm making a conscious decision not to stress while I'm knitting. If I'm not going to enjoy it then I may as well dump the lot - and I'm not going to do that. 

Still, I've finished the pale blue scarf for the Mission to Seafarers and I transferred the dark blue scarf onto the shorter circular needle then walked away as the dark colour has been hurting my eyes. Instead I got stuck in to my brother's/my brother's partner's scarf. There are two colourways and I'm letting them decide between them.

The above pic has washed out the colours and I don't have the energy to take it again, but the scarf colours are much more vivid. The brother's scarf yarn is a little fiddly, but it will keep whoever gets it nice and warm and it's pretty soft.

Bear had an exam today. He told me about a question that he enjoyed which was something to do with a trapezoid, vectors and ratios. Nope, not a clue, but he seemed happy and fairly confident that he'd worked it out. I keep worrying that he's over confident, but all I can do is encourage him and let him get on with things. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

This is the New Normal

I can't stay awake and when I'm technically not sleeping and have my eyes open, I have the brain power of a neglected philodendron. 

In brief - bear's exams continue and he continues awesome.

Car had MOT and huge service and it not only passed but they gave us a really good price. It's In n Out at Stanningley, Leeds and I can't recommend them enough.

I bought yarn. I shouldn't have bought yarn. But it called to me...

I've set it aside for this really easy pattern here. It's a very basic easy knit jacket that will be brilliant over lighter sweaters in the winter. I've got the yarn in front of me because I didn't finish the dark scarf for the garage but I've almost finished the light blue scarf and once those, the scarves for my brother and his partner and my sweater are finished then I can start on the jacket. Fortunately the Women's Euros are coming up, a football tournament that I plan to watch as much as possible. 

I'm trying to write but, as I mentioned above, my brain is the equivalent of a drooping geranium. However I posted an article on my blog here about whether I use AI when writing. I don't, partly because I'm nervous about new tech and I'm not sure how to use it and partly because I'm not sure that it would work with my attempts at writing. 

Hopefully this will stop being normal soon. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Feeling Sleepy

My sleep is more disrupted than normal. I didn't post on Thursday because I fell asleep and Friday I was away with the fairies because I felt so drowsy. I accidentally cast on a hat in dark navy blue. Fortunately I hadn't gone far before I came to my senses and ripped it out to start a scarf instead. Navy blue is so hard on the eyes and straight knit is better than 2x2 rib. I jerked awake this morning and looked at the clock. The hands were on '9' and '3' and I was in a total panic because I thought it was 9.15am and I was oversleeping as I would be late to leave to feed the crows. I was all of a dither and somewhat dazed and it was only when I opened the curtain to see the weather that I realised that not only was it still dark but it was actually 3.15am. Today I dozed off while watching the Wales v Liechtenstein match on catch up. I refuse to comment on the England v Andorra match. 

The hat idea went something like this... I am taking the car to the garage for a service and MOT on Tuesday. The very nice man that took my call is always joking and asking when I'll make him a sweater (because I stay and knit) and he's always sweet and explains things to me. I, in my befuddled state, considered making him a hat but I found the dark yarn first and I decided that it was probably easier to knit a scarf. If it's finished on Tuesday, I'll hand it over to him, otherwise I'll pass it on to the seafarers, as I've made no promises to the mechanic. I'm not optimistic as I've only got so far.

But Wales are playing Belgium on Monday, so I may make it. 

And speaking of yarn, if you remember the evil multistranded yarn, my brother's partner said that they wouldn't mind a scarf in that. As you know, I decided vehemently against it but somehow ended up getting some weirdish yarn from Temu to knit two scarves for my brother and partner. 

And while I was on Temu I must have been in a strange state of mind because I bought this.

It's currently £13.45 but I'm sure that I didn't pay that. I am usually silly on prices under £10, but who knows? Anyway, it's not a bad book for someone who likes knitting blankets and I may one day want to do something more complicated than straight knit. It's got clear instructions, some great pictures and it gives both charts (which I've never been able to understand) and text instructions, and it even shows whether it's reversible. The only downside is that it doesn't show the reverse for the patterns that aren't reversible. I'll try and make use of it, but not with the weirdish yarn for brother and his partner.

Gladys continues but frail. 

And while there have been some very small efforts in some ways, I got some mushrooms in the delivery. They were 79p for 250g instead of 90p and they looked lovely so I got a couple of packs to chop for the freezer.

Bear had an exam yesterday and he seemed to feel he had done 'okay'. 

I can feel myself nodding off again, so hugs and good health to all. 

Not Greenfingered

Three of the coriander seedlings have been transplanted to bigger pots.

First off, I put the copper tape around the bottom of the pots - and it wasn't a thing of beauty. The best I can say is that it looks like an attempt was made. 

The coriander wasn't looking very happy. 

I didn't get a pic of the salad, but that wasn't thriving much. Mind you, it's only day two of being planted out. 

Bear had an exam today, A level Maths. He came home feeling confident, so keeping everything crossed for him. He was pleased because I'd made another banana and chocolate chip loaf and it went very nicely for supper. 

So while today wasn't brilliantly active, small steps continue. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Making Decisions

Ages ago, I mean, many years, I bought some scrubby yarn because I liked the idea of making my own scrubbies for washing myself and dishes. I knitting some, stashed the yarn and... 

I looked at it today and decided that I prefer my microfibre and plain cotton cloths for cleaning dishes and the houes and that I don't trust the sparkle in the yarn to wash me so I'm getting rid. There's lots of 'I ought...' and 'I should...' and 'I've wasted...' But I've enjoyed the sparkle, I've had a play, I'll take that at getting my money's worth and it's all out of the house. 

I've gone from hardly posting anything to posting a load, but I feel that this is a big step for me - not holding on to 'it cost x and I should do y' but making space in my life for other things. Those things may or may not include the yarn for the cardigan I want to knit that I weakened and ordered but heyho! And I plan to donate the yarn so that someone else can also enjoy the sparkle. Anyway, I'm posting this and taking the win.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Small Steps

Leg continues uncooperative.

I finally transplanted the salad greens outside. I got a trough and put copper tape around it, which is supposed to deter slugs. To be honest, I had a bit of a fight with the tape, and it's not at all even, but hopefully it will work.

I thought that I'd soak the seedlings under a tap before I planted them out. Unfortunately, I usually rinse things under the hot tap, and muscle memory had me holding the seedlings under hot water until I realised and doused them in cold water. I hope that the seedlings survive being blanched. 

I was in a lot of pain so things got shoved in, but we'll see how they go. I also potted up the rosemary. I was planning on using the pot that the previous rosemary was in. 

However that rosemary has been in there for around a decade and I couldn't budge the soil in the pot. I may need specialist equipment if I want to use the dratted pot again, it was set like concrete. Instead I bunged some extra compost on top of old soil in what I think may have once held bulbs, or possibly a tomato, back when bear was in primary school and added the plant. 

Fingers crossed that it will survive.

Joy very kindly offered to brief me on Essex if I needed information, and I may well take shameless advantage of that in the future, but I'm not currently on a deep dive on Essex. I thought I'd explain how my mind, such as it is, works. The best analogy is a blue bottle on a sugar rush in a hurricane. It went something like this. 

I referred briefly to some ancient papers in the latest instalment from the White Hart (here). They were copies of originals that had been found in a rectory. The papers could have originated anywhere, but I wanted them to be found in a rural location with perhaps a reputation for dealing with the supernatural. If I remember correctly, because I didn't check, the majority of the Witch Trials in England were held in Essex, a rural county, at least at the time. So I went on Google maps, zoomed in on Essex and picked a likely village which could have a rectory 'nearby'. This took me a few moments then I was back in the middle of dialogue. But that is a significant part of my writing process - my mind zigzagging around all sorts of topics. 

(I did some research on Witch Trials, many, many years ago, and the methods used to obtain confessions and the hysteria that surrounded them left me very distrustful of populist movements and somewhat cynical).

Writing stuff - It's late, but the latest instalment of the White Hart is here. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Leg Continues

I'm currently struggling to bend my leg. It happens and will settle soonish. It's just currently a dratted nuisance. 

I had a delivery today full of fuel for bear. While it was delivered, I took this pic.

I just thought that it looked glorious. 

I've done all sorts of bits of things today, including some writing. As you know, I'm a fiend for research and when I was looking for a place name in Essex (I do a lot of research on Google maps), I found a company called Dragonfli. I haven't tested it or had any sort of contact, but I've saved it because it sells nematodes that prey on garden pests, including ladybirds. They had sold out of slug nematodes, but I'm thinking about the aphid countermeasures. I'm fairly sure that the ants on the rosebushes would stoutly defend their aphids, but it has to be worth a go, right? I feel more comfortable with that sort of pest control than I do with chemicals. If anyone has any opinions or information, please share. I know that I had really good results from the slug nematodes many years ago. 

I also made Cherie's microwave chocolate cake, recipe here. 

(I remembered how to insert video!!!). Mine wasn't as good as Cherie's, perhaps because I used self raising gluten free flour instead of plain flour and baking powder, and I perhaps could have put it in the microwave for 3.50 minutes instead of four minutes.

But it was incredibly tasty and the men have requested that we have it again. It was lovely and light, and a little crumbly. I can imagine having it warm with custard. 

Other than that, it's been wonderfully boring and I'm basking in it. 

Hugs and good health to all.