Making Good Use

Information Superhighway - Pah!

I've recently heard the internet being called the 'Information Superhighway' - hmm, well my connection today has been more like the 'Information Bridle Path' - rutted, barely passable, and with puddles and overgrown hedges.  I seem to have spent the entire day trying V E R Y  S L O W L Y to list things on ebay.  I've finally finished now but am totally boss-eyed from staring at a computer screen for so long.  I tell you, this bl**dy computer doesn't know how close it came to being hurled through the French windows this afternoon!!!!

Anyway, deep breaths and a few Tai Chi moves, and calm will be restored.  Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day.

Can You Tell What It Is Yet?*

It's a finally finished pile of HUGE dishcloths -  ten of them, each measuring 12 x 14 inches.  Phew, I'm mighty glad that particular order is finished.  When I started off I thought I had made a terrible mistake in agreeing to knit them at all - I could imagine myself being bogged down with dishcloth knitting for the foreseeable future - but, in actual fact, they were quite quick to knit up and so mindless to do that I could easily watch TV and knit at the same time - which is not always the case with me!  When I finished sewing in the loose ends and ironed them over yesterday, I was surprised how pleasing they looked piled one on top of the other.

Now, at last, I'm free to knit other things, maybe a pull-on hat for P's upcoming birthday, or, perhaps for a change, a bit of embroidery.

*For anyone too young to remember Rolf Harris's Saturday evening TV show (yes, Rolfie was once prime-time viewing), this was what he always said when he was about half-way through one of his ginormous paintings.

5:15 pm

When I used to work this was the time of year I longed for from the time the clocks went back at the end of October - daylight at the end of the working day.  These last few glorious spring-like days have really lifted my spirits (and everybody else's I'm sure), and it is so wonderful to find that daylight is now lasting past 5.00 pm.  In six weeks time it will be light until 8.00 pm (helped immensely by the fact that the clocks will go forward an hour at the end of March), and I can't wait.  Then full steam ahead to mid-summer and daylight lasting until 10.30 in the evening.  I can already picture sitting outside and enjoying the summer twilights with a cold drink and a barbecue (if this summer is anything like the last one that probably won't happen - but it's nice to dream.)

Everything in the garden is now coming into bud, and today, whilst walking back from the station (had to accompany poor P to the dentist in Billericay - a root canal filling, very nasty!!) I spotted daffodils in full flower, what I think was a hawthorn bush covered in creamy white blossom with the leaves just waiting to pop open, and a clump of beautiful little violets on a grass verge.  As my Dad used to say "spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies is?"  Actually, I do know where they are, flying about and twittering like mad things in the garden trees.

An Eclectic Mix

Today was the 'Coffee and Jumble' at the local church again.  I didn't get anything as brilliant as the Cath Kidston / Ikea duvet set I picked up last week, but I did get one or two useful bits.

A very nice (small) piece of raspberry-pink velvet.  Not sure what I'll do with it but for 20p it was definitely coming home with me.  A box of 12 unused white Chinagraph pencils - wasn't sure why I picked these up but I'm glad I did as they seem to sell very well on ebay, 25p.  A 40w screw-in small lightbulb, also 25p, which should be the right size for my bedside light.  The two packs of tiny cards with a black cat on the front (Mum, not sure if you can see from the photo but the cat is just like Tammy) were from one of the charity shops and were 20p per pack.  These wil be just the ticket as a small 'thank you' card when I sell any of my hand-made items.  I always like to nicely wrap any hand-made items I sell in tissue paper and string, and usually decorate the parcel with a vintage button and a small thank you note.  There are at least 20 cards in each pack so these will last me for ages.

Also in the charity shop I picked up these four silk ties for 25p each.  Three of them are by TM Lewin and the other is a Thomas Pink tie - so all really good makes.  I'm not sure if P will like them as he usually wears Liberty ties, but he'll get first refusal and any he doesn't want will be listed on ebay.

All in all, an odd combination of bargains, but a good haul and an excellent way to start the week.

Oddments

Because most of the wool I purchase comes from charity shops, I tend to only have small amounts of any one yarn - usually too small to know quite what to do with.  The same is true of material, I pick up odd bits and pieces here and there even if I don't know quite what I'll do with them.  Today I found a couple of useful little booklets that could be very handy when it comes to using up some of my thrifted wool and material. 

One of them was a vintage Patons Bazaar booklet, I remember these well as my Mum always seemed to have a few of these useful little booklets about (in fact, I think she still has them), and the other a vintage King Cole booklet.  There were some useful ideas in both of them.

From the King Cole booklet was this knitted pencil pencil case - I rather like this one.

And some unusual hat-shaped pin cushions - my favourite is the little clown hat.

From the Patons booklet are these teapot or cup-shaped pot holders.

And, again on the tea-cup theme, a nice pattern for a gingham apron.

And I do like this sweet little kitten hot-water-bottle cover.

Of course, there are the usual 'dodgy' bazaar (or should that be bizarre) items also featured.

The 'spawn of satan' knitted cat, guaranteed to give any small child nightmares.

The court jester type fireside slippers.  With the added bonus of a trip to A&E when you slip whilst trying to wear them on any floor surface that's not shag pile.

And the 'why on earth would anyone want one of these' embroidered Radio Times cover!!

I Won

A couple of weeks ago Ali, of Domesticali fame, had a prize draw on her blog, and I was the lucky winner!!  The parcel arrived this morning.

There was a copy of Selvedge magazine.

I've heard a lot about this magazine in blog-land, but have never got my paws on a copy - until now.  I shall look forward to having a good read of this later on.

And also a bundle of fabric pieces all neatly folded and tied with a button decorated ribbon.

There are some lovely fabrics here, I'm especially taken with the two on the left.  I've got some plans for these little beauties - but for the time being it's a bit hush, hush, as it will be a present.

Thank you so much Ali, it's all gorgeous, and it was really kind of you to be so generous.

Love / Hate

I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with Billericay - I love going over for the morning to search through the charity shops and buy a few tasty treats in Waitrose, but I absolutely hated living there. 

I think a lot of the problem was to do with the fact that we had a VERY unpleasant, if not somewhat deranged, next-door neighbour.  He was a man of limited stature and, very unkindly, I started referring to him as The Hobbitt.  The poor man was rather hard of hearing so always had his television at full blast - so loud in fact that we didn't have to bother having the sound on in our house if we happend to be watching the same programme!  Obviously he couldn't help being a bit deaf, but the blasting telly was not the only nuisance factor from him.  He appeared to have a collection of metal ladders which he used to get out of the garage and polish every weekend - I kid you not.  He was often to be found up a ladder too, tinkering with something or other on his house - usually right next to our windows - at some God-foresaken time on Saturdays or Sundays.  He was also a demon grass cutter and would tool-up (don knee pads, tool belt - sometimes two at a time, ear protectors, and a French Foreign Legion-style hat) on a ludicrously frequent basis and proceed to cut everybody's front lawns in the row of houses (they had open-plan style gardens), whether you wanted him outside your living room window or not.  When the spirit moved him, he would also proceed to cut the field grass on the patch of wasteland opposite the houses!!!!  Yes, an odd ball to say the least.  I was not at all upset when the landlord said he wanted us to move out as he was moving back in - rather him than me was what I thought!  We subsequently moved to the next town down the line and have been as happy as pigs in muck ever since.  Especially as now we've got the nicest next-door neighbours in the world.

Anyhoo, to cut a long story short, I had my fortnightly morning-out in Billericay today and thoroughly enjoyed myself as always (although I still tend to keep a weather-eye out in case I should encounter my ex next-door neighbour.)  Today I managed to find two large pieces of material which should make up into some nice spring / summer book bags.

They're certainly very 'loud and proud' prints, both in shades of mauve.  One piece was 65p and the other 45p.

I also found this charming little chap to add to my collection of Scottie dogs.  One day, when we're in a bigger house, I'll be able to get all of them out again.  I've even got a nice set of shelves to display them all on but that, and the majority of the Scotties, is packed away in the loft.

Billericay - you're such a nice little town, as long as I don't have to live there!!

Spring-Time (Knitted) Flowers

About this time last year, Samantha at Plump Pudding kindly offered some space on her stall at the Country Living Fair to other crafters.  I was very lucky in that she agreed to take some of my knitted corsages with her.

I was thrilled to actually sell a few at the CL Fair and it was a great buzz to see them displayed on Samantha's beautifully presented stall when I went along to visit.  When I got the rest back I neatly put them away and forgot all about them until today when I stumbled across them again.

The corsages are hand knitted using Noro Kureyon yarn which gives lovely shading to the various colours.  Each corsage is then trimmed with one or two pure wool felt leaves and finished off with a vintage button in the centre. 

I picked out the most spring-like colours and have decided to put them up for sale on ebay at the special price of £4.95 each (plus a little extra for postage).  If you're at all interested, either check them out on ebay.co.uk (there's a link on my sidebar to my ebay sales) or send me an email ([email protected]).  I'm happy to post anywhere in the world. 

Coffee and Jumble

The local Methodist church holds a 'Coffee and Jumble' sale every Monday morning.  I only discovered this little gem just before Christmas when I was desperate for a loo and saw a sign saying the church was serving coffee, so in I dashed to make use of their 'facilities', (our public loos being out of action then as some 'delightful little soul' had seen fit to set fire to them!!).  I didn't realise jumble was on offer as well as the sign nearest the road only mentioned coffee - you've got to be right by the church door before the jumble is also sign posted.  Anyway, in I strolled and picked up a couple of bargains, and I've been going back every Monday since.  Today was particularly fruitful.

When I first spotted this lovely paisley material under a pile of other bits and bobs, I thought it might be a genuine old eiderdown but, in fact, it's a very nice pure-cotton double duvet cover and four pillowcases.  Although it is from Ikea there is something very Cath Kidston-esque about it and I was delighted to find it for the bargain price of £2.00 for the lot.  The other duvet cover I've got in pastel shades has definitely seen better days with the fabric having got very worn and thin and even gone into hole in places.  Also, the old one I've been using is poly/cotton which is nowhere near as nice to sleep under as pure cotton.  All in all, I was well pleased with this purchase.  At the same jumble I also picked up a couple of thrillers for me to read for the princely sum of 25p each, and at the charity shop up the road I got these bamboo knitting needles - also only 25p per pair.

I've never knitted with bamboo needles and I'll have to see how I get on.  As the lady in the shop pointed out - they are rather bendy!!  Still, at that price I thought it was worth a punt.

Mellow Yellow

I couldn't resist these cheery British daffodils this morning, they bring a real breath of spring into the house, and I'm looking forward to seeing them unfurl their buds in the next few days.  Despite the arctic winds which are blowing across the UK today (although, thankfully, it looks like here in the far south we'll escape the worst of the snowfall), even the daffs in the garden are beginning to come into bud.  Now we've got the long dark days of January behind us it seems as if spring is just waiting round the corner.

More yellowy goodness with a stack of pancakes freshly made this morning.

I know I'm a bit 'previous' for Pancake Day, but I had a lot of eggs that needed using up.  Some of these will be eaten as a main course - stuffed with cottage cheese and baked in a spicy tomato sauce - some will be eaten as a dessert by P with lots and lots of apricot jam, and some will be eaten by me in the 'traditional' way with a good dredging of sugar and a nice squeeze of fresh lemon juice - YUM (as DN would say!)