Making Good Use

Good Intentions

I think there is a saying 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.'  Well, I certainly had good intentions of making the most of my few days alone, sadly very few of the planned tasks actually materialised.

I did sort through my large box of buttons and decorated a few more luggage labels with them.  I also got to grips with printing out some computer labels (without too much swearing and gnashing of teeth!) So that was something!

I also dug out a bag of leftover bits of Blue Sky organic cotton yarn and have started knitting up a few more facecloths.  I completed two and am about a third of a way through a third one.  They're a bit hit or miss pattern-wise as I'm using up what I've got, but they seem to be working out OK.

As regards any sewing - no nothing, nada, zilch.  Somehow I just couldn't get into the right frame of mind for using the sewing machine, so all my good intentions in that area have definitely bitten the dust.  I did toy with the idea of getting the sewing machine out this morning as the weather was so wet and stormy, but the rain soon cleared up and I knew it would be most sensible to get in some supplies from the High Street whilst the weather held rather than mess about sewing.  I'm glad I did go out then, as from lunchtime onwards the weather has taken a distinct turn for the worse.  Poor P was last heard of stuck in Zurich airport with all flights to the south of the UK cancelled until futher notice.  The reason given there was 'fog'.  When he phoned up and told me that I'm afraid my answer was 'fog, my arse', there's a force 10 gale blowing that's why the planes can't land.  He was trying to get a flight to Birmingham, but as I've not heard anything more since I fear he may still be stuck in Switzerland.  Roll on some decent weather, spring cannot come quickly enough for me this year!

Home Alone - The Sequel

I'm home alone again this weekend and I'm hoping to take advantage of the extra time to do a bit of crafting.  I have great plans for setting up the sewing machine in P's study - where it can remain as long as I need it, with no necessity to have to keep putting it away when we want to eat (normally, I have to doing any sewing on the dining room table).  I hope to finally sew together two bags I cut out weeks and weeks ago.

I have a plan for something from this combination of items.

I want to sort through my large stash of buttons and make a few more of these labels, which will also involve trying to print out some sticky labels to go on the back - printing labels on a computer can drive me insane so that should lead to a fair bit of swearing!!  Never mind, at least there's no one else in the house to hear me.

So far, of course, I've not actually sat down and done anything useful except pick in some forsythia and 'artistically!!' arrange it in a vase.

I was sorely tempted to buy some daffodils this morning, but suddenly thought of the profusion of forsythia buds in the garden, and decided to be an utter 'tightwad' and chose the, ahem, cheaper free option.

Not Exactly Seasonal

I was really lucky today and managed to find this Jo Sharp 'Village' knitting pattern book for 59p.  I'm always intrigued by books on shelves that don't have any title on their spine, and was delighted when, having spied a plain grey spine, I pulled this out.

The patterns are described as 'Jo Sharp's collection of comfortable weekend wear', and there are indeed some very nice patterns for jumpers and cardigans which look uber comfortable.  However, I knew I wouldn't have the patience to knit anything that time-consuming (nor would they be big enough for me I fear), but I was very taken by the numerous patterns for scarves, hats and mitts.

I like the look of this scarf in particular as I've been wanting to try out some cable knitting for a while now.

These ones are very pretty.

And I like the look of this little hat too.

I know the patterns are not exactly seasonal - what with spring being on the way 'n' all - but this is the sort of knitting book that has such lovely photography it's a pleasure just to flick through it now and again.

First and Last

This afternoon I decided to tackle the first grass cutting session of the season.  I'm not overly keen on grass cutting at the best of times, and find the first cut definitely the hardest so I'm glad to have got that particular task out of the way.  The lawn mowers have been buzzing in a lot of our neighbours' gardens lately so I really felt the time had come for me to get on with it.

It went from this,

to this in about 20 minutes.  (No, I can't see much of a difference either!)  I'm not sure, now I'm looking out of the window at the back lawn, whether it actually looks better or not - shorter, granted - but still rather a mess.  Never mind, its done.  One thing to definitely cheer about is it was the last grass cut I'll ever have to do when I've then got to empty the contents of the grass box into a plastic garden waste bag which is not much bigger than a conventional carrier bag.  I don't know which joker thought of that concept, but it was plainly someone who had never had to force bits of cut grass into a slippery plastic bag!!

Farewell garden waste bags, and a very fond hello to a garden waste wheelie bin which will be delivered any time soon.  Goodness knows why Basildon District Council have been so tardy in introducing wheelie bins as we had them in Bristol approx. 15 years ago, still - better late than never, even if we are only getting one for the garden waste and still have to use evil black plastic sacks for our household waste.  The timing couldn't have been better as this was our last garden waste sack too and I sure as hell wasn't going to be paying for any more.  I personally think the council should have been paying me for the darned inconvenience of using the bl**dy useless things.

A Candlelit Supper a Deux

Yes, thanks to the vagaries of EDF Energy, our ordinary Monday evening meal was turned into a candlelit supper.

We were just sinking our teeth into the first few mouthfuls of the evening meal when, PING, all the lights went out.  Fearing that Maurice had finally chewed through an electric cable my initial thought was that it was only us who had been plunged into darkness.  Fumbling my way to the front door showed us that the street light in our garden (yes, we do have a street light planted at the corner of our front lawn) had also gone out, as had all the other street lights and every other light in the road.  Breathing a sigh of relief that we had not succumbed to rodent sabotage, I set about finding a torch and then the tealights and a box of matches so that we could continue our meal.

For some odd reason we have a lot of power cuts here in south Essex - at least three or four per year.  Again, oddly enough, they usually happen during the day, often when I'm out, and it's only when I get in and find the answerphone is off and there is no light on the oven that I even realise we've got no power again.  One particularly annoying occasion I'd put the bread maker on before I went out and came back to find no electricity.  As I had no idea how long the bread maker had been off I couldn't even start it up again when the power came back on and had to ditch all the ingredients and start again from scratch.

Luckily, yesterday evening the power was restored after about an hour and twenty minutes - just as the house was getting rather glacial because the gas central heating had also switched off when the power was cut to the electric pump it uses.  For someone who vividly remembers the power cuts of the early 1970's when the miners were on strike, this was merely a small blip.  But it did bring it home to me how much we all rely on an uninterrupted power supply to enjoy our modern comforts.  Never mind, how many Monday evenings are livened up with a candle lit supper for two!

Only A Day Late

I finished knitting P's birthday hat on the actual day (albeit at 11.30 pm), but didn't manage to sew it up until this afternoon.

P is very pleased with it and has been wearing it about the house this afternoon.  I'm hoping as it is 100 per cent wool it will be more comfortable for him than the acrylic one he has been wearing up 'til now.  The forecast for the morning is icy so I'm pretty certain this will get its first airing on the way to the station tomorrow.

This hat is not only 100 per cent wool, it is also 100 per cent thrifted.  The wool was thrifted (a rather nice Jaeger wool), the pattern was thrifted, and the knitting needles were thrifted - the bamboo knitting needles I got recently had their first outing with the hat (not sure how I felt about them, I think I'll reserve judgement for the time being).  The only 'new' item used in the whole venture was the needle for sewing it all together.  That was new at the time but I've probably had it for 20 years plus!