That hat

Lesley has a better picture of the colours of one of these yarns in the sunlight, but the idea is the same - to be able to knit a simple and economical hat for winter, as a gift for a friend or relative, to support a charity or to sell to raise funds for a favourite cause.

I am not publishing the pattern on the blog, because it is not mine to publish - if I am honest, I do not know whose pattern it is as it was given to me typed on a piece of paper - but what I have done is typed it out again and saved it to my computer.  What I will do, though, is happily email it to anyone who leaves me their email address in a comment, which won't be published.

I am currently knitting number ten and when it is finished, I am getting back to my crochet, as I am missing that.  I want to get the hat done this week!

Mistaken identity

The YFG has been interested to see who the new Doctor is tonight, and so we were all watching tv tonight at 7pm for the big reveal programme.

I had seen this photograph on a website, talking about bookies no longer accepting bets on this chap being the new Dr Who, but I took one glance at him, decided I hadn't a clue who he was, and moved on.

(image from mirror.co.uk)

Boy, was I surprised tonight to see this chap walk out onto the stage - Peter Capaldi, a Scottish actor who is 58 years old.  The first photo is unrecognisable to me as the same person, but of course I knew him when I saw him clean shaven!  Funny the difference that wisp of a beard could make...

(image from imdb.com)

It will definitely be interesting to see how the story pans out with a slightly older actor - Matt Smith was only 26 when he took on the role - but I think that the YFG will keep me up to date when the take-over happens!

Weekend treats

Treats come in various guises, and last night, I cooked a special casserole which we love but I don't cook too often - chicken legs with bacon in a vegetable stock with some veggies chucked in for good measure.  It was delicious, but the chicken wasn't "cheep" and so it was a treat.  Tonight we have gone back to the more economical gastronomical delights and they have had macaroni cheese with peas and just one slice of bacon through it for a touch of flavour.  I have had a portion of home-made ready-meal mince from the freezer which I made earlier in the week - half a pound of mince, padded out with lots of veggies, including courgettes!  I then froze it in six portion pots, so I fetched one out tonight and served it on some rice for my supper, not being able to eat either the macaroni or the cheese that the others enjoyed.

My other big treat of the day was sitting in a chair outside and reading a book with my feet up.  I was babysitting the washing machine and hanging up loads of washing in the verandah as they finished in the machine, but it still gave me about three hours of sitting and relaxing - that is what holidays are all about, surely!  I shall have a "to do" list for tomorrow as long as my arm, so I thought I would indeed have a day of rest today.  I am off to watch "The White Queen" in a minute with a cup of tea and my knitting: I have one last hat to finish for the Operation Christmas Child boxes.

I do hope that you have enjoyed your weekend, and had some rest, ready for the busy-ness of the week ahead xx

Value range shopping

I went to Asda today to find some school shirts for the YFG and to do our bit for our most local food bank.

(image from telegraph.co.uk)

 I pushed a trolley around the store, and inserted a basket into it, so I put the donations in the basket for ease of packing them separately at the checkout.  I have to say that I was very pleased to have a chat with one of the volunteers, who told me that there is a new food bank in the process of being opened in the town closer to us.  The one I donated to today is just for the folk of that northern Fen town.  This does seem to be a little issue with the food banks in that they perhaps only support the people of the town that they are in, whereas their donations may come from further afield, but they would be challenged to support all the little villages like us as well.  But we are probably too small to run our own........catch 22 I think.

(image from trusseltrust.org)

The Trussell Trust seems to be doing an amazing job helping communities to set up local food banks; the shame is that they are necessary in this day and age, as so many of us have already said.

So, I bought lots of bits and pieces. The volunteers were handing out lists, asking people to consider donating items from the list.  I had also had a look on their local website where they tell people what they are particularly short of in this area, so I varied it a little, and used some of Jack's suggestions, too.

I bought Asda own-brand STs (£1.80) because if you have no money for food, you may be in need of those too!  A packet of biscuits [40p], a three for £1 offer on some sweets, two sachets of make-it-with-hot-water custard [30p], chicken noodles [11p], pasta [32p], a tin of meatballs [40p], coffee [47p], UHT milk [53p], tinned tomatoes [31p], jam [29p], squash [42p], peanut butter [62p], fish paste [48p], sugar [88p], jar of pasta sauce [39p], tin rice pud [50p] and tea bags [27p].

I was very pleased at how much I managed to get for just under a tenner - this lot came to £9.49, which I was happy to spend as I have never donated to a food bank like this before and wanted to do what I could.  The website list had also asked for nappies, but I had a look and there are so many sizes and kinds that I left well alone, not having a clue which would be the most useful size to buy.

I did have a twinge of guilt when I was looking at the pasta in particular and I was putting two packs of conchiglie pasta in my part of the trolley and yet picking up smart price penne for the donation basket.  I still have that twinge - if smart price is good enough for the people who are going to receive the donation, why isn't it good enough for us?  Well, the honest answer is that it is, in many cases; we do buy a lot of items from the value ranges in all the supermarkets, and I have no qualms about shopping at Lidl either.  Today, I bought most items in the value range because I wanted to get as much as I could for the amount I could afford to spend, and that is the bottom line.  If my children were hungry and I was desperate for food for them, I would be glad of anything as long as there was enough to fill their bellies and let them sleep soundly.

I hope that the food banks have had their shelves re-stocked in abundance today.

Reality is hard - some links

Jack Monroe has a new way on her website for people to donate to support food banks, if we are not able to actually get out to physically donate food - check that out here

Frugal Queen pulls no punches when she writes today about the reality of living the right way to conquer and then avoid debt, and to build up savings.  She is absolutely right in everything she says, and much of what is going wrong in today's society is about the feelings of entitlement that some have towards what are actually luxuries like mobile phones, cars, computers, and expensive television viewing packages.  We all need to make a clear distinction between what is necessary in life, and what are luxuries, and Froogs does that in this post very well - very well worth a read today, as she is everyday.   Thanks for such wise words, Froogs. She has been posting some great recipes lately, too, and we are going to be trying some of the latest out this week, when I sort out the meal plan.

I've been mooching around on the MSE website, and found a wealth of ideas for using tinned potatoes - they range in price, apparently, from 14p a tin to 25p a tin, but they are a great storecupboard standby, and with the price of potatoes bound to rise after a dodgy harvest, probably a wise investment as well.  I will be looking for the best prices in Morrison's and Asda tomorrow when we go shopping and I think I will be investing in a tin or three.  I'm planning to build up my storecupboard in preparation for winter, and to that end, I placed an order with Approved Food yesterday.

Off to bed in a minute - just fell asleep watching a programme about the demise of bees, presented by Bill Turnbull - which I am very miffed about as I really wanted to see it.  I'll have to look for it on the i-player!  This could have really serious implications, so I wanted to learn more about it and find out more about what we could do to help bees, beyond the massive lavender hedge we have planted, which the bees absolutely love.

See you tomorrow - hope you have a great weekend xx

Three is a magic number

Jack Monroe has started a campaign on her blog to ask people to donate £3-worth of food to their local foodbank, and she has detailed what they could buy for that £3, which would provide someone with 22 meals.

Foodbanks around the country are having a big drive at Asda stores this Saturday so I am planning to head north to my nearest Asda and do some shopping for the foodbank in that town.  

I am interested to find out more about who benefits from foodbanks - for example, where would people from my village go to access a foodbank?  Is the foodbank in the big town to the north only for the people there?  I'm going to be having a bit of a look around for more information, but I think that it is an excellent campaign to support and I would encourage anyone with a spare £3 on Saturday to go to their nearest Asda and do their bit, or support a local foodbank in their area.  None of us know what twist of fate will bring us to our knees and in need of such support.

August Challenge

Inspired by Elaine at MFin3, I have begun a big decluttering project.  Yesterday, I removed 100 items from the house, and I was rather chuffed with that.  They were such a mixture of items and most of it went to a local charity shop in town:

• unused bedlinen which has been stored in the drawers under my bed for at least 5 years and never used - lots of it!
• clothes that the YFG has grown out of, including some school uniform shirts
• clothes that I haven't worn for years
• clothes I have bought in the hope of fitting in to one day [a dress and a pair of jeans]
• books we don't want any longer
• a pair of trainers I hate and never wore
• ballet shoes - the schedule changed and the YFG doesn't do ballet any longer.
• the tv and dvd player which were casualties of the lightning - these went to the recycling centre

All that moving-on was very therapeutic and it has cleared out lots of space. I'll be honest about things, though, in that I was given about 20 books relevant to my F&W studies at the weekend, and I bought the YFG a small new storage unit for her room, in the hope of some of her stuff being placed on it rather than the floor.  I need to find space for those books....

So the challenge for the month of August is to continue in this vein.  I want to aim to move on 100 items each week.  I may be struggling by the end of the month to find 100 items to move on, but this first week or two will be a doddle.  It will be a case of deciding what to do with the items - some may be worth eBaying, or car booting, and others may just get booted straight into the bin, with the rest going to an assortment of charity shops we have in the area.