Reclamation and refurbishment 1

I don't often buy knitwear. I knit a lot and have so much yarn stashed in the house that I've taken to calling it insulation and am contemplating getting Kevin McCloud round to do a feature on my sustainable approach to tackling keeping the house warm.

But, I do love a bargain and a poke around in a charity shop. Not going to tell you where my favourite ones are in case you get there before me. Last year, I was almost attacked in a branch of Age UK. I found a size 10 merino dress from East. Still had the £97 price tag on and was still on the website. AgeUK price :£9.99. I picked it up and continued to browse, when a larger woman tried to take it our of my hands.
'Are you buying this?' 
'Yes,'
'But I like it,'
'I like it too, it's in my hands and it's my size,'
'I don't care what size it it, for that price, it can stretch! Are you sure you're buying it?'
'Yes!'

I've had a lot of wear and pleasure from that dress this winter.

Anyway, last week's bargain was a sweater from Pachamama. I've always had a love for their sweaters, but they are expensive, usually too big for me now, and (shhh, say it quietly) quite badly made.
I bought this one - looks like it was never worn - for less than half the price of a ball of Malabrigo (which is the closest I can get to the yarn.)

Needless to say, it was huge on me.
So, I frogged it.
Do you know how horrible frogging badly-knitted intarsia is? Very horrible.

I reskeined it, washed it and rewound it.
I've got more than 700g of the pink and about 200g in total of the other colours.
I'm just waiting for inspiration, now.

Whitby Goth Weekend

I love Whitby at Halloween.

Wish I was brave enough to dress up. Maybe next year (although, I think I said that last year...). I think it would probably take that long to make the costumes. I think J would be up for it.

Home made Saturday Kitchen

I love the Autumn. Autumn half-term is probably my favourite of all the school holidays (except the long one, of course, although I think I'd rather have that in the Autumn).

I love the range of produce available at the moment. We've been getting organic veggie boxes delivered each week and I've been challenging myself to use all of the vegetables in our meals.

This is tonight's dinner - beef and root vegetables in a Rigwelter gravy sauce. It smells wonderful.

Veggie soup with haricot beans. For lunches.

I really need to find something to do with the ruby chard that is still in a bag at the bottom of the fridge. I shall consult River Cottage Veg Every Day later on.

Went to the knitting group at Nature's World this morning. Had a relaxing time working on this:

It's a top-down cardi/vest I'm making from the yarn I spun from the top I dyed back in the summer.

I'm pleased with how it's working out so far.

Browsed through a couple of charity shops in a reasonably affluent area near us this afternoon. Best buy has to be this dress. Still on the website for £97, but hanging, with tags still on, on a rack in Age for £9.99. Did think I was going to have to wrestle for it as another lady came up behind me as I picked it up.

"Are you having that?"

"Yes, I think so."

"It's just that I really like it."

"Yes, but so do I and it's in my hand."

I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils

It's probably a teacher thing, but I think I've always felt this way. I have always loved September. For me it feels like the real 'new year'. It isn't just about the start of a new school year. Who would really enjoy returning to the real world after six weeks of personal time? Although, I do have to say that I, and the majority of my colleagues, do.

For me September signals change: weather, harvest, garden changes, starting to clear the overblown things and fresh starts.


I love the cooler weather and the excitement of new knitwear. The favourite phase of my wardrobe starts in Autumn. I love the colours of Autumn. It's my favourite palette of the year. I love browns and greens and plums and teals.



I always feel refreshed when I go into the shops at the end of August and the racks and manequins are filling up with the Autumn ranges. I like cardigans and opaque tights. I love boots and jackets. I love tweed and corduroy and merino and cashmere. Dare I say it? I like coats!









Happy New Year!


Here's a bouquet for you.

How I spend my days

Lately, my days have been spent, largely, shopping for building and decorating materials and then trying to find space to shoe-horn them into the rooms that are not being refurbished. I am currently squeezed in the dining room between a pile of new curtains, rolls of wallpaper and an oak fire surround. Some of the temporary changes, I like and they will be here to stay. I've grown accustomed to the comforting glow of a small table lamp that has been rehomed onto the dining table that is my desk. I'm going to keep it.

Other temporary changes are a bit wearing. All the downstairs windows are open and, despite it being August, I'm freezing. The weather is grey, overcast and rainy. It's about 11 degrees outside and feels the same in here.

To combat this, I'm wearing a sale purchase intended for the Autumn.



Except mine is shiny black and has a detachable fur hood (which I am also wearing). I was very pleased with this. Thought I looked sort of stylish, yet warm. It's a far remove from the bodywarmers advertised in the Sunday supplements for people of my age, in what j describes as 'paedo-beige'. Don't ask me why, but I know what he means.
Anyway, in the hour and a half I have been wearing this I've weathered 'funny looks' from j and his girlfriend. "ok, is that a gilet you are wearing?". Not as bad, however, as J's response when I passed a mug of tea up the ladder to him.

"Why are you dressed as Eno?" Honestly, some people have no sense of style!

As I can't get on with any proper cleaning, housework or work work at the moment. I have fallen back on knitting. I've got an acute case of startitis and have cast on two new projects:

Fiddlehead mittens:



and Turmeric, in the thinnest yarn imaginable. This will keep me busy for a while!