Sunday 31 August 2014

What a lot of stitches

Stash reduction continues, I have sold some yarn on ebay, given a lot to a charity knitter and seriously parred down my stock.  I've been knitting up this unknown yarn, that feels quite oily and a little harsh, using a free pattern Simple Lines.  I really don't like knitting on circular needles so I just kept going on the straight ones and ended up with more than 400 stitches.

I'm not exactly short of scarves and wraps, when walking round with the removals estimator I opened a drawer that was full of them but shifting these is the least of our worries. 


Knitting is keeping me sane, with less than four weeks to moving day I feel slightly sick but we have a few options now, we may have a plan soon. 




Monday 25 August 2014

Weekend highlights

I've been absent for a while but you know I've been busy continuing to prepare for the move.  We now have a signed contract, we definitely have to go.
Meantime we had my eldest niece, her husband and two little girls, Amelia 4 and Esme not quite 2 here for a long weekend.  It was lovely to have them around, the first time the little ones have been to the house and sadly the last, they had lots of fun in the conservatory, out on the balcony and in the garden, especially the secret lawn.
We spent Friday in Edinburgh at the festival, just like their Mum Amelia and Esme loved the street theatre and were mesmerised by the jugglers, dancers and magicians, though watching a man swallow a sword and then hammer a 6" nail up his nose wasn't my kind of entertainment and it had to be stressed by him and the parents that it wasn't something to try at home.  



We did a park and ride from the edge of town which gave the girls their first ride on a bus and also their first trip on a double decker, it was pronounced excellent and amazing.  
Saturday was our village show and Yorkshire cleaned up with Esme getting a first for her decorated paper plate in the pre-school section and Amelia a second.  Their auntie Jen took a first for a sale of work item, baby socks, and a third for a premature baby cardigan to be donated to charity. Apparently there was some controversy as I'd used a pale beige yarn which the judge said she would never put on a baby, well I never.
Today I'm faced with a lot of laundry and a slight feeling of sadness, that the house suddenly seems so empty and that we won't be sharing it again with the girls.  I'm determined we shall find somewhere as exciting for them to visit and hopefully a lot nearer because I can't wait to see this gorgeous little smile again

When asked what were the best parts of her visit, Amelia's choices were the bus ride and getting to use our bidet, so we need a house with a bidet on a bus route, simple.

Monday 11 August 2014

Bored now

My regime of popping into a charity shop with a bag of items every time we leave home really isn't making much of a mark.  We've now agreed to leave our house by 24 September, slight panic is setting in.
We want to continue enjoying the house as long as we can so we are not parting with major items yet, plus we have no idea where we are moving to so we don't really know what we shall need or be able to keep.  Every day has become declutter day.
Mr FF has been scanning documents and photographs mainly relating to when we built this house more than 20 years ago.  Yes that will make a big difference to an office with floor to ceiling engineering books but we all have our displacement actitivies and I've been procrastinating by shuffling round my knitting accoutrements.
I have sorted out some yarn for charity 
and put some on ebay, which is selling well.  That only leaves the yarn in the bottom of the airing cupboard, the yarn in the chest in the hall and the yarn in the wicker hamper in the morning room.  I kid myself I am knitting away at this huge stash and it will be gone in a month or so.  Right, even if I did knit it all up I'd still have the same cubic area in finished articles.
I have disposed of some of the many patterns I've printed over the years and never tackled, but I still have a few shelves of books I'd like to keep. Then there is my collection of Rowan magazines, they don't seem to have much value and I may never use the patterns but then they are lovely to have.
This is not easy, its tiresome and boring and in some ways it will be good when we can eventually start seriously stuffing things into boxes.  But how can we book the removal people until we know where we are going.

Tuesday 5 August 2014

The veggie thief strikes



We've been back down in Yorkshire for a few days, basically house hunting, so we spent a few days staying with my brother and his wife. On Friday evening I offered to cook dinner and suggested I make something with pasta using up the plentiful supply of veggies in the kitchen garden. My SiL and I collected red onions, carrots, peas, beans from the crop and I also took a couple of round courgettes.  I was busy chopping and mentioned to SiL how delicious they were as I munched on some raw pieces, I'd given them the zucchini tondo seeds I bought in Italy.  
During the meal we were chatting and again I said something about the round courgettes from the Italian seed, my brother asked if I'd taken a small marrow by mistake, no I said definitely courgettes.  He then told me he hadn't grown any courgettes round or any other shape.  I explained where in the plot I'd found them and he then told me that they were my great niece Amelia's embryo pumpkins for halloween.
We left yesterday, apparently there were only 5 pumpkins so someone needs to explain to a 4 year old that her evil great aunt has eaten half of her 31 October display, it isn't going to be me.  They did taste good though, I'd recommend them.