A Previous Playtime

 Writing about my lino cutting playtime reminded me that I haven't blogged about some playtime I had in July.  I went on a hand sewing workshop but I have to confess I brought my stuff home and finished it by machine!

Several ideas for small gifts I feel.  

But maybe without the wobble on the coaster.

Fabric pot

Wobbly coaster

Notebook

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Key fob

An Unanticipated Difficulty

 I thought I had it well planned.  I recorded midday temperatures for nearly a year before I started to knit my scarf and found we had a range of 1C to 30C here in Caistor.  I bought thirty one colours, reasoning that if things got very hot I would use my final colour for any day at 31C or higher.

But 2022 beat all records and we had 40C on 19th July.  I wanted to mark that on my scarf.  What to do?  I didn't want to buy ten more colours, but to use just one for everything above 30C seemed inadequate.

So I compromised.  I took the extra colour I had bought and used it for 31C to 35C, bought an extra colour for 36C to 39C and used white for that one day at 40C.  

And yesterday I got my knitting right up to date.

Playtime

 So many things close down in August!  What I really miss is opportunities to craft.  I enjoy going to craft classes both for learning and also for the socialising.  Socialising still happens in August but learning doesn't.

So I decided to give Hobbycraft on line courses a try.  I hadn't done any lino cutting for about fifty years so that seemed a good one to try.  £30 sounded reasonable.  

Last week I received the kit in the post.  There was basic lino printing equipment: a lino knife with three interchangeable blades,  a plastic tray (for ink) a brayer (paint roller) two lino sheets and some black printing ink.  They also sent an A3 artist's pad, an A5 notebook, a pencil, a hand safety guard and a couple of templates.  I priced the whole lot on-line at £33.50.

The course was on-line and there were eight participants.  The instructor was very good and I did this print.  It was much more enjoyable than I remembered.  The lino is now much easier to cut and the hand guard takes away the danger to one's fingers!

I shall definitely have another playtime but this time on my own.

Sorry about this one

 I know many people are allergic to any mention of C*******s before mid-November by the very earliest, but if you make your own cards and presents you will know that not starting before November means not starting at all.

My first job is always making cards.  I make around 100 each year, most of them the same.  I also address the envelopes but leave the card writing until November.  I've gone back to writing envelopes by hand as I found seeing endless address labels as I opened cards last year made everything feel a bit impersonal.  

So here's a batch of this year's effort.  

Fifteen more finishes

 I belong a "Knit and Natter" group but we have been meeting via zoom for a while.  At first it was the pandemic which stopped us meeting face-to-face,  but now it's the cost of petrol!  

Yesterday though we met up for real!  About a dozen of us went for tea and cakes at Sylvia's home.  And a noisy time was had by all. 

Sadly one of our members has had to go and live in a residential care home but she had said we could share out her wool stash and she had certainly known how to stash!  Most of us knit for various charities and we have a special concern for homeless people so any cash we have gets spent on thermal socks, gloves etc. for them and we knit hats and scarves.

(I've shown you one of these before)

So this was my contribution for the year.  Four scarves, each about six feet long, and eleven hats.  

Enjoyment and Grief

 Hi Everyone!

It’s time I did another post.  I hope you are all fit and well as can be. 

The world’s a funny place at the moment.  Global warming is giving us a few problems as is the conflict in Ukraine.  Everything is going up: petrol, energy, food, but let’s not dwell on that.  I’ll do my best to make you all feel better in yourselves1

OK, the enjoyment.  This came about because at long last I took my good friend the vicar for a day out.  We went somewhere I hadn’t been for about forty years – our county show in Lincolnshire.  I drove to the vicar’s so she could take her car along with her mobility scooter.  We arrived at the showground by 7.40am which enabled us to park right by the entrance.  Already a queue was forming but we were allowed in thanks to the other very good friend who gave me free entry tickets.  The first thing the vicar wanted was a bacon buttie (she always gets her priorities right).  As she may tell you, I never refuse food!  Then we decided to split for a couple of hours.  She wanted to go shopping and to look around the many, many stalls and exhibitions.  I went to look at the animals.  With it being a red-hot day we both had water with us.  While we went our separate ways, I met another good friend who had arranged two members badges for me and the vicar so we could get free food and drink in a posh part of the showground.  The vicar had a glass of water, I had a coffee but it was such a nice thought and we could mingle with the gentry!

After six hours in the blistering heat, I knew the vicar must have had enough so we made tracks for home.  I do hope the vicar enjoyed her day out with me as much as I enjoyed her company.  Oh dear. There I go again, being nice to her!

Now to the grief.  Well, she has now stopped saying things about my hair or lack of it and now she’s on her high horse about my eating habits.  Can you tell me what’s wrong with porridge with a nice slice of corned beef on it to give it some oomph?  Or may porridge with (yummy, yummy) barbecue sauce on? 

My cooking skills came to the fore last week when I got out my biggest pan and put a pack of low-fat mince in and seared it.  (Can you see my culinary terminology is improving?)  I added water and a Stock Pot plus an Oxo, three onions, two shallots, (both chopped of course) broad beans, peas, mange tout peas, swede, leeks, thirty-nine small new spuds, a tin of sweetcorn, a vegetable Cuppasoup, onion gravy granules, runner beans, an apple, and three glugs of Jamieson’s whisky and then simmered it thirty minutes.  When it was ready 1 got two slices of seeded bread and poured the mixture over.  Oh, what a delight for the taste buds!  And the best part was I had enough for five more servings.  If any of you would like to pop in to sample my culinary efforts it’s in boxes in the freezer.  Sorry to tell you, the vicar doesn’t think much of my cooking.  I think it’s unique!  (Note from the vicar: I hope it is unique!)

Now when I visit my friend, she gives me a menu of three or four items to choose from.  What a kind person she is.  I’ve been nice to her again – that’s twice in one post!).  I’ll have to be careful.  She always has the upper hand anyway but in being nice, I am digging myself a big hole which I might not be able to get out of.  We still chat every morning, mainly to check we’re both still breathing.

Well, I hope I’ve made you all smile: happiness is a cure for most things but if that doesn’t work the next things are all FREE – fresh air, exercise and God’s wine (water).  Get plenty of these and it will help you to have a long and fruitful life.  Take care, look after your neighbours.  And, Vicar, enjoy my niceness while it lasts.

God bless you all.  That’s you as well, Vicar

 

Jack