Making Good Use

Checkmate

 
Today is P's birthday, and for one of his presents I made him a large bag to hold his travel chess board and chess pieces.  He took the chess items with him to Champneys and was saying how much he would like to have a bag to carry it all round in.  Ah ha, I thought, just the thing to make for his birthday. 

 
First task was to find some black and white check material - which proved surprisingly easy via the wonder that is ebay.  This is actually material for making chef's trousers from but as it is quite heavy and canvas-like it proved to be ideal for making the bag.  Once the material arrived it was just a case of cutting it big enough to hold the board and stitching it up - very easy and satisfying when you can use the checks on the material as guidelines for cutting.  A couple of sturdy handles finished it all off nicely.  I was quite pleased with the end result and, as I've plenty of material left over, I might make myself a couple of really sturdy shopping bags from it as well.

Knitting Natter

A few weeks ago I stupidly ordered the wrong type of Rowan Felted Tweed wool - I'd actually needed chunky not aran weight.  It was all a bit of a pain in the proverbials at the time but another quick order later and I got the correct weight wool that I needed but was still left with £15.00-worth of Rowan wool that I didn't quite know what to do with, but I did really love the rich purple colour.

 
Cue a new scarf in the making.  I'm not totally convinced that there is quite enough wool for the scarf to be as long as I would really like it but I can either a) order another ball of wool, or b) make do with what I've got - the more likely scenario if I'm honest.  Being on the cusp of Spring is probably not the best time to be knitting a new scarf but who knows, we could still have snow for another six weeks or so!!  And besides, it'll be all ready and waiting for next autumn otherwise.

 
Yesterday, I found this incredibly psychedelic knitting needle bag in the charity shop.  It has had a bit of wear but the colours are so extraordinary and bright that at 50p I thought I'd buy it.  A good soak in biological washing powder seems to have improved it no end.  It is a little worn in places but the zip is still good and you certainly wouldn't mislay it in a hurry - not with those zinging colours.  I'm going to give it a whirl on ebay and see if anyone is interested.

After buying the knitting needle bag, I was checking out the prices for vintage knitting bits and bobs on ebay and was astonished to see a zipped case of Aero knitting needles had sold for over £100!!  What!  I've got one of those zipped cases myself, although as I use the needles frequently I certainly won't be selling mine any time soon.  However, I will be keeping a weather-eye open at the boot sales this summer.  In fact, vintage knitting equipment seems to be fetching very good money on ebay at the moment which is a bit of a b*gger as I passed up a bakelite kntting needle box stuffed with knitting needles at the 'Coffee and Jumble' yesterday.  In my defence, the whole thing was incredibly heavy and I needed to get quite a lot of shopping as well.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed it'll still be there next week - if it is, it will most certainly be coming home with me.

VW Camper Vans

When I was a child I thought there couldn't be anything more cosy than spending the night in a VW Camper Van.  This was in the late 1960s when those camper vans were all the rage.   Someone who lived across the road from my parents' had one and it had one of those stripey roof-extension things - I thought it was the most amazing looking vehicle ever (although I was also rather taken with those cars that were sort of Tudor-looking with wooden bits in the bodywork.  Not sure what those were called, anyone know?)  Anyway, I'm still very fond of VW Campers even now and would really love to own one.  Sadly, I don't think my finances or driving skills would ever stretch that far and these days I'm not too sure how comfy they'd be to bed down in for the night either - not with my dodgy hip!!

 
Still, I was pleased to find these three VW Camper egg cups in the charity shop 20p box this morning.  The lady behind the counter asked me what they were for as they'd had no idea what they were.  Which probably explains why they were stuffed into the 20p box.  I'm hoping they'll do OK on ebay in the run-up to Easter, though if I had a bit more space I'd be tempted to keep them.

 
Continuing the vintage-camper-van-type of theme, I also found this rather spiffy crochet granny blanket in the junk shop last week.  It was only £2.00 and is a good large size.  I love the colours its been made in and again I wouldn't mind keeping it (especially as it's now had a good wash and dry in the fresh air) but I simply don't have the space.  It'll be another one for ebay.

 

Low-Fat Living - One Month In

Apart from the blip caused by eating boiling bacon the other week, the low-fat diet is going really really well and my gall bladder is pretty damn good.  Having totally given up chocolate of any description, I thought I would be having serious withdrawal symptoms by now but nothing - apart from a sudden craving when a Twix advert was on telly the other evening.  There are still a few unopened packets of chocolate-covered raisins and some white chocolate buttons in the kitchen but I have no interest in them whatsoever.  Not that I'm doing without sweet stuff at all - oh no, I'm happily wolfing down marshmallows,  jelly babies, liquorice allsorts, parma violet sweets, crystallised fruits and dried fruits.  Anything I fancy really as long as it has very little saturated fat.

Lunchtimes usually consist of home-made soup followed by plain cottage cheese, marmite and a bagel (I never knew bagels were low in fat until recently) or sandwiches made from things like salmon and cucumber, extra light Philadelphia and cranberry jelly, hard boiled egg and salad cream, or Quorn slices with mustard.  Anything really as long as it doesn't contain much saturated fat and as long as there is no butter on the bread.

Evening meals have been a bit hit or miss lately as I'm still experimenting with what is tasty as well as low-fat.  A stir fry with some Quorn chicken-style pieces added was a great success and the chicken curry I made last week with low-fat plain yogurt and korma curry paste tasted divine - trouble was the yogurt had separated over the heat so it didn't look so nice.  Next time I try it I'll add the yogurt at the very last minute.  I also enjoyed a marinated tofu and noodles recipe I found in a low-fat cookbook but my low-fat lasagne (veggie base layer with plain cottage cheese on top and a home-made tomato sauce on top of that) was only very so-so.  A good old-fashioned beef stew seems to suit me well and I'm going to try a beef stroganoff this week made with very low fat creme fraiche. 

Puddings for me now mainly consist of either low-fat organic yogurt (as long as there is no aspartame in it) or fresh fruit - often a banana - or stewed fruit.  I've found that the vanilla low-fat yogurt makes a great topping on stewed fruit - just as nice as custard.

Bearing in mind that I used to eat industrial quantities of cheese, butter and cream on a daily basis I am astounded that I've not had major cravings over the past few weeks, but not a one.  I know I have a lot more energy than I used to have, a lot less wind than I used to (apparently a sure sign of a grumbling gall bladder) and I think possibly, just possibly, I may actually have lost a bit of weight too - bonus!

Low-Fat Living - One Month In

Apart from the blip caused by eating boiling bacon the other week, the low-fat diet is going really really well and my gall bladder is pretty damn good.  Having totally given up chocolate of any description, I thought I would be having serious withdrawal symptoms by now but nothing - apart from a sudden craving when a Twix advert was on telly the other evening.  There are still a few unopened packets of chocolate-covered raisins and some white chocolate buttons in the kitchen but I have no interest in them whatsoever.  Not that I'm doing without sweet stuff at all - oh no, I'm happily wolfing down marshmallows,  jelly babies, liquorice allsorts, parma violet sweets, crystallised fruits and dried fruits.  Anything I fancy really as long as it has very little saturated fat.

Lunchtimes usually consist of home-made soup followed by plain cottage cheese, marmite and a bagel (I never knew bagels were low in fat until recently) or sandwiches made from things like salmon and cucumber, extra light Philadelphia and cranberry jelly, hard boiled egg and salad cream, or Quorn slices with mustard.  Anything really as long as it doesn't contain much saturated fat and as long as there is no butter on the bread.

Evening meals have been a bit hit or miss lately as I'm still experimenting with what is tasty as well as low-fat.  A stir fry with some Quorn chicken-style pieces added was a great success and the chicken curry I made last week with low-fat plain yogurt and korma curry paste tasted divine - trouble was the yogurt had separated over the heat so it didn't look so nice.  Next time I try it I'll add the yogurt at the very last minute.  I also enjoyed a marinated tofu and noodles recipe I found in a low-fat cookbook but my low-fat lasagne (veggie base layer with plain cottage cheese on top and a home-made tomato sauce on top of that) was only very so-so.  A good old-fashioned beef stew seems to suit me well and I'm going to try a beef stroganoff this week made with very low fat creme fraiche. 

Puddings for me now mainly consist of either low-fat organic yogurt (as long as there is no aspartame in it) or fresh fruit - often a banana - or stewed fruit.  I've found that the vanilla low-fat yogurt makes a great topping on stewed fruit - just as nice as custard.

Bearing in mind that I used to eat industrial quantities of cheese, butter and cream on a daily basis I am astounded that I've not had major cravings over the past few weeks, but not a one.  I know I have a lot more energy than I used to have, a lot less wind than I used to (apparently a sure sign of a grumbling gall bladder) and I think possibly, just possibly, I may actually have lost a bit of weight too - bonus!

Lovely Linens

 
I called into the excellent new junk shop again yesterday morning and came away with four nice vintage Irish linen tea towels.  Much as I really like all the designs, I have more tea towels than I know what to do with - one of which I know for a fact I bought in Habitat almost 30 years ago, and it's still going strong (which either says a lot about how well it was made or, more likely, how infrequently I use it to dry my dishes), so all of them have been listed on ebay.

 
I've had some reasonable successes with re-selling vintage linen tea towels and, round here at least, they are not that difficult to find.

 
I don't think any of these have actually been used for drying dishes, more likely they were pinned up and displayed in a kitchen or kept folded up in a drawer.

 
This one depicting the original Severn Bridge is lovely and reminds me of being taken by my Dad to see the Queen when she opened the bridge in 1966.  I vividly remember being told off by a policeman for standing where I wasn't allowed to (I was desperate not to miss seeing the Queen and saw a gap in the crowd and so headed for it - big mistake!)  I also remember moaning and whinging when Dad decided he wanted to walk across the bridge over to Wales.   Not sure how far we got as my little six-year-old legs really couldn't cope.  It was a memorable occasion though and one I'm very pleased I was a teeny tiny part of.

Des. Res.

 
We had no idea this bird's nest had been constructed in the forsythia until all the leaves came off in the autumn.  It has been totally exposed to all the harsh winter weather we've had, and has been tossed and buffeted by some very strong winds.  And yet here it still is in (almost) Spring-time, looking pretty solid.  I wonder if anyone will move in soon.

Second-hand Rose

I rarely think twice about it, but my wardrobe contains an awful lot of second-hand clothing and accessories.  I did wonder, as I was thoroughly enjoying myself in both the jacuzzi and swimming pool last week, how many other guests were sporting a swimming cossie that cost £2.00 in a charity shop (and a bloomin' nice fit it is too as it seems to suck my tummy in quite nicely - plus I'd taken a spare cossie with me that was second-hand from somewhere or other but I've no idea from where now.)  

Dinner was a very casual affair (the only rule being that you should be wearing something other than the Champneys white towelling robe) which suited both P and I very nicely as neither of us do 'smart' terribly well.  Most evenings I was wearing a charity shop top teamed with either black trousers (a recent and necessary Evans purchase) or a pair of jeans (bought in a charity shop in Chipping Sodbury last time Mum and I went to a Vintage and Handmade Fair.)  I seem to have amassed quite a reasonable collection of smart casual (with the emphasis on casual) tops over the past year or so including this purple batwing jumper and this beaded Ann Harvey top - and all of them were from charity shops or car boot sales.  I certainly felt nicely enough dressed, and on a considerably lower expenditure than if I'd bought those items new.

My beloved boot sale Radley handbag came with me and proved extremely useful (it doesn't get that many outings, sadly) but has unfortunately now got a broken pull-tag on one of the zips.  I was probably a bit forceful when using it but I was tres upset to have damaged the bag.  Oddly enough, I have another Radley bag (a much smaller over-the-body-type one that was a gift some years ago) and I don't use that often either but the lining is already beginning to pull apart.  Perhaps it's me being a bit rough with my usage, but I do wonder exactly how well Radley bags are finished as they are not cheap items to buy (unless you get them at a boot sale, of course!)

 

Latest Second-Hand Bargains

I was so relaxed and languid whilst staying at Champneys (which was, of course, the whole point of going there) that I couldn't even be bothered to visit Aylesbury - about 15 minutes drive away.  This was despite that fact that P was quite happy to drive me there and, much more importantly, despite the fact that the Association of Charity Shops  (a very useful website) said that Aylesbury had ELEVEN charity shops.  I would never have believed that I'd have turned down the chance of a mega browse for second-hand treasures, but I did.  We did, however, stagger as far as Tring to check out the bargains.  There were only three charity shops there but I managed to find a huge piece of silky paisley fabric for £1.50 and two Ruth Rendell audiobooks for 75p each -  I really must be getting old as I love listening to audiobooks these days.

 
Yesterday, I had a mooch round the new Sue Ryder shop that has opened in Wickford but, as I suspected, their prices are a little too high for my purse.  The other two charity shops - which are much more reasonably priced - yielded two rather funky floral pillowcases for 50p (destined to be made into tote bags) and an unused Aquascutum pure wool scarf for £1.00.  I was delighted to find the scarf as they sell really well on ebay but this one has had a bit of a mauling from moths and there are six little moth holes in it.  Ah well, I'll try it on ebay anyway. 

Totally, Utterly, Out of This World Fab-u-lous

We had the most a-may-zing, fabulously-wonderful time at Champneys.  The food was five-star dining but all of it was low-fat, low-salt, totally delicious and beautifully presented - my gall bladder didn't grumble once.  I'm now approaching my fat-free lifestyle with a lot more zeal and zest and have already been closely studying various cook books to try and pep up our daily diet a bit more.  We went prepared with some snacks for P, should he find the portions too small for his appetite, but he didn't feel the need to plunder the bag of 'goodies' at all. 

The facilities were first-rate and we both really enjoyed the outdoor jacuzzi - so deliciously extravagant to be able to sit in a hot tub outdoors in England in February and to watch dusk creeping over the wonderful parkland that Champneys is set in.  The swimming pool was gorgeous too and although that was indoors it had a large glass section to the roof so that you could see the trees whilst swimming on your back.

 
This was the view from our room looking towards the main part of the spa, which is in an old Rothschild mansion.

 
And this was the view looking in the other direction towards the many acres of parkland that surround it.  It must be even more stunning in spring and summer when the leaves are on the trees but we found it breathtakingly gorgeous even in late winter.

We tried meditation, did a bit of Tai Chi again, and had a go at salsa dancing which just confirmed to me that a) I do have two left feet and b) no wonder people struggle on 'Strictly Come Dancing.'  Salsa was a lot harder, and more strenuous, than it looks!

I had a couple of massages - something I've wanted to try for years - which were as relaxing as I'd always imagined they would be, the best pedicure ever (well, again, I'd never had a pedicure before but this one was fantastic and involved a paraffin wax treatment for my hideously cracked heels - which worked a treat,) and a session of reflexology.  I'd had reflexology once before and remembered it as being quite a revelation as well as totally relaxing, this time I was even more surprised that the therapist picked up on my gall bladder problem, without me having mentioned it, just by manipulating my feet - quite amazing!

We both enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn't want to come home.  We're hoping if we can find a good deal on the price again that we can head back to Tring as soon as bloomin' possible.  Seriously, it was heaven on earth.