Making Good Use

Two-Needle Beanie Pattern

 
Whenever I check the stats for my blog, I'm always struck by how many people are looking for the Two-Needle Knitted Beanie Hat Tutorial that I posted on the blog in October 2009. 

 
As the weather is still pretty arctic in the UK at the moment, I thought it would be a good idea to repeat the tutorial in case anyone wants to knit themselves a quick and easy beanie hat.  Sadly, Typepad had other ideas so all I can do is give you a link to my original post.

 
I've been wearing one of my knitted hats whenever I'm out and about at the moment, and have been known to wear one round the house too this last week or so.  Having my head covered really does help to keep me warm and cosy.  And you know what they say - if you want to get ahead, get a hat!!

 
Most of the hats featured in my original post have been sold over the past year or so - although the grey Rowan one with pink felt flower is still looking for a home on ebay at the moment.  Most of the hats above are also listed on ebay for the next day or two but once their listings end that'll be it for me and ebay for this year - thank goodness, I'll be glad of a break from it over Christmas and the New Year.

Cabin Fever

A small dose of cabin fever had set in with me today so P and I slipped and slid our way down to the High Street.  I had to go to the Post Office (roll on the end of ebay listing for this year - not long now) and we also needed a few supplies of veg and meat.  The pavements and roads were really treacherous and I was wearing an old pair of P's boots as none of my shoes where high enough up the leg to stop them getting filled with snow.  It normally takes 10 minutes or less to get from our house to the High Street, today it probably took at least half an hour. 

To celebrate having got out to the High Street in one piece we treated ourselves to a burger and chips in Wimpey.  I have very fond memories of Wimpey when I was a child in Bristol - they had a large restaurant halfway up Park Street - and it was a real treat to be taken there for burger and chips in the 1960s.  I thought Wimpey had disappeared for good but P and I encountered one in Torquay a few years ago and when we moved to Essex we found that all the little towns here seem to still have a Wimpey.  There is something so old-fashioned and British about a Wimpey - the coffee comes in glass cups and there is still waitress service - so much nicer than McDonalds or Burger King.

Whilst out and about I popped into the one charity shop that was open and found a gorgeous piece of cotton Christmas fabric for £1.

 
I'm sure it was originally used as a tablecloth as it is hemmed all round and is 52 inch square, but I'm thinking it would be great turned into re-usable drawstring gift bags.  Just another thing to add to my ever-growing makes-for-Christmas list!!

Six Inches and Counting

 
This is the accumulation of snow on our really-should-have-been-put-in-the-shed-weeks-ago garden table - six inches at 3.30pm today and there has been more snow since!!  Flippin' 'eck, that's a lot of snow.  Even P, who hails from Alpine Switzerland, was impressed by the amount of snow we've had in the last couple of days.  Roll on Spring, that's what I say!!

Deep and Crisp and Even

 
The widely-forecast snow for Essex arrived overnight Monday and was topped-up by frequent snow showers all day yesterday too.  Today it is only very fine snow that is falling but the wind is bitter and blowing hard, and it's definitely another day for hunkering down at home and keeping as warm as possible.  Even the children who were out throwing snowballs earlier have retreated indoors now - with a windchill of -7 degrees I can't say I blame them.

We're fine for food for at least a week, although by the end of that time we may well be eating things we don't really like that much.  Fresh milk might prove a problem eventually - but I do have a large tub of dried milk powder which would do at a pinch.  I'm so glad I heeded the weather forecast and went for some quite serious stocking up of food on Monday, although without a freezer it's difficult to stockpile meat and things like that.  Never mind, we've got plenty of tinned and dried foods and we certainly won't starve.

Knitted hats, scarves and gloves are being worn pretty much constantly, outdoors, indoors and, in P's case, in bed too, and my charity-shop crochet shawl that I found last year has proved to be invaluable for keeping the chill off my back.  Warm food in our bellies helps enormously too and I'm going to cook a beef stew for supper this evening - that'll warm me twice, once when I've got the gas on to cook it and again when I eat it.  How is the snow in your part of the UK?