Knit Your Square to Give Your Share - PART 4

mioliere

HI everyone

Shaz - thinking of you. I hope the meeting went well and was constructive.

Mrs MP - you'll deserve that bar of Galaxy tomorrow. Good luck with everything.

Jean - sounds wonderful. Hope we get some photos of the new camper soon! You'll enjoy the paperwork side of things, I'm sure! Like you, I absolutely love watching the birds that feed here. I'd never heard of the tealight thing, so I will bear that in mind. For the last two days, I haven't had to bang the ice of the water bowl but before that it was always iced up in the mornings. The birds are really getting through the fat balls, though! I shall have to buy some more tomorrow. I wanted to try and make some but I can't find lard here - any idea what I should be looking for in the supermarkets, please?

Pippa - the scarf looks lovely, and I love the colour!

We have a Lidls here but don't think we'll get the same offers plus, at the moment, our Lidls is being revamped so it's been closed for weeks.

Kinsey - hope the winds have died down.

Well, I'm off for a cuppa.

KathyXX

Kinsey

mioliere I made fat balls today as they'd eaten all the ones I'd got, but I only had vegetable lard and they don't seem too keen on that, so I'll get some suet tomorrow and try again. Didn't think they'd be so fussy.

mioliere

Kinsey - I can't get suet out here! Unless Jean knows any better......?

KathyXX

Seakay

Give them time Kinsey - could be that they need a bit of time to get used to a new sort of food! I usually use dripping (from the butchers in blocks, not the sort with jelly under) because it sets really hard and if the sun does come out (later in the year!) it doesn't melt as quickly as lard tends to do. Suspect that it is the same thing as suet but melted into a block rather than grated.
Mioliere: found this on another website:
jonnyonthebal wrote...
I live in France, and have been asking friends to bring back Atora for years. Asked my butcher for graisse de boeuf today in large supermarket which he didn't have, but suggested instead graisse de veau, assuring me it was the same product. He gave me a huge bagful free. Since returning home I've realised it can be substituted for beef suet. I'm chuffed with this discovery. It's not often you get anything for free nowadays!!.

mioliere

Hi Seakay - thanks for that. I shall take a look tomorrow and see what I can find, especially now I've realised that 'graisse' is French for fat! I wouldn't have known but for your post!

KathyXX

roamin_in_the_gloamin

I forgot the TREECREAPER...SAW it in the summer and infrequently during the winter...LARD is SAINDOUX (sandoo-if you are asking for it) near the cooked meats in the fridges at the supermarket.SUET - only from butchers graisse de boef or graisse de rognon (Kidneys). I bought some coconuts hung them all out in halves first till they scoffed them then in Magazine Vert or co'op agri they sell the cheapest of bird mix I melt and put into the halve shells...I bought some fat slabs from the school fete at Christmas time the kids had made them in yoghurt pots and they were more fat that mix, using a paperclip as the hanger iykwim the birds did like them tho. there will be photies but just not yet. Boys and toys come to mind today, he has played with it since breakfast time....he he happy bunny he is too.
x
THEY WILL BE THE BEST FED BIRDS IN THE WHOLE AREA - when you get through making them Kathy
grasse de veau (veal)

mioliere

Thanks for the info, Jean. Glad he's pleased with his new toy! Hope you get a chance to play in it, too!

KathyXX

dpixie

hello all - i am exhausted - shopping here is always a marathon! we went looking for light fittings (a couple of years with bare light bulbs has started to get to me, and now that the electrician has us in his sights, and knows what we need fixing, we may as well make hay and all of that) however, it took os all day - 9am to 4pm to go to 3 shops and 110 miles round trip, can you believe it!

love to see that others love the bird activity. i feed the birds here, at the moment, it is costing me about €10 per week, but i will try and find a cheaper option. i give them the fat balls, bird feed (which is not as nice here) and also fruit - the love apples and clean the apple, leaving only the barest bit of core and the seeds. jean, did you say that you mix the fat and the seed and put it in the coconut halves. do you think i could make my own fat balls? our neighbour (one of the 2 other permanent families in the village) is the chap that mans the local butchery counter at the supermarket, i am sure that if i ask for some graisse de veau or saindoux, he will produce what he can. how exciting - i could make something myself, i like that. to be honest i dont know all the types of birds that we get, but i know that if i dont feed them, they make a huge din and get me out of bed to feed them. on the coldest of days they go through about one kilogramme of feed, but they come from far and wide.

shaz, sorry to hear that they boys are still playing up.
isom - sorry to hear that you didn't have the best of weeks, however, its weekend, and time to chill.
kathy - hope things are okay with you.
jean - glad that the camper meets your standards - do you know, as a kid, i envied all our friends that had a caravan, i still think i would love a caravan holiday... only with my hubby being 6' 3", its a bit tricky. seeing him in my car (nissan micra) today was a laugh, his knees are around his ears and he has to unwrap himself to get out of the car! so very sad. perhaps he will pull his finger out and choose a type of car to buy some time soon - then we can start the process of buying something that he will fit into.

not sure who asked what cardis i was making, but its the crocheted one from cozy's corner - i love it and think i have about 13 in stock now, running out of wool and storage space ... will have to find someone to visit me or invite me to visit them so i can do some mega purchasing.

have a lovely evening everyone and hope that the sun shines on you all tomorrow!

dpixie

psso

Morning all,

Been a bit of a week here and haven`t had much chance to pop in.

Mrs moneypenny & Pippa - thanks for your pm`s. Have now finished the Diva books and about to start on the others. Made a change from the ones my son in law gave me to read, they were a bit :eek: gruesome in some parts. Written by a local author Stuart MacBride, so the settings are easily recognised but they are `police` stories and quite descriptive of the `crimes`. )))shiver(((

Now I wonder if any of you can help - I`m on the hunt for ivory / cream fluffy yarn as I have been asked to knit shrugs for 3 flowergirls. Have had a look on t`internet and so far come up with ....zilch. I know the wool shop I usually frequent doesn`t have anything like that, so I wondered if any of you had seen or used something which might be similar.

Had a wee fashion show here yesterday when the girls came and tried on their dresses and as they only have straps, no sleeves, DD1 said, `Och it`s OK, Mother will just have to knit them shrugs or capes`. Wedding in September so might be a tad cool.
Hmmm, you can go off some people quite quickly can`t you ?

As I have said I`m trying not to buy wool until I go to the knitting show in Perth in May, must use some of the stash up before then, DD3 is not happy with me. She physically dragged me away from a wool stall when we were in the Big City last week much to the surprise of the lady on the stall. Told the woman I had more wool at home than she had on her stall .Lies, all lies. Well.........maybe not.

Haven`t had much sleep so think I`ll pop back into bed for a while as I can feel a bit of a headache starting. Will nip it in the bud with some tablets and a cuppa methinks.

Will try and pop back later, but in the meantime have a good day everyone.
Best wishes to poorlies and MIA`s and hello to all lurkers. Come on in, the water`s lovely - maybe that should be the wool is lovely in our case.:)

Elaine.x

schumie

Hello i am a lurker. I'm not crocheting anything exciting just a blanket to keep me warm (next winter!!)