Preparing for Winter V

mardatha

Mine seem to be airtight. I only use them for spare downies and blankets and they come out for winter.

Eenymeeny

Primrose wrote: »

Can you store your winter blankets under the mattress?
Or flatten them out and lay them on the seat of your cofa covered by a decorative throw?
Or in those transparent plastic zip cases which you sometime see in dry cleaners for storing duvets in have been dry cleaned?
Or in your holiday suitcases?

My sister keeps them on one of her spare beds. Luckily she has two singles in one room. Pointed it out to me when I was staying in case I needed another pillow/ quilt. Saves squashing them and readily available. I thought that it was a good idea,:)

[Deleted User]

I've just been out in the garden and picked enough of last years Bay Leaves to dry to last me through the winter. This is the best time of year to harvest them as the new leaves begin to harden on the tree. It means I've enough to see me through without having to pick from the tree in the colder weather. I dry them in the kitchen on a baking rack and they keep well for much more than a year when they're dried.

Laura_Elsewhere

I may try drying my own sage in the next few weeks too - any advice? I thought I would just pick good big sprigs and hang them upside down in a draught, out of the sun. Then when completely dry I can crumble them into a glass jar and save us buying the dried stuff all winter!

Laura_Elsewhere

Is anyone else starting to feel a quickening of the pulse now we're in June because soon, soon, soon it will be The Day and then we'll be into that glorious lovely approach to autumn and winter...

I'm handwashing all the hand-knitted hats and gloves and scarves and jumpers, and I am planning to give our leather gloves a good feed of cod-liver-oil (!!!!! a couple of capsules into a saucer, put both leather gloves on, apply oil like putting on handcream, massaging and rubbing it in well; lave overnight to air, by putting each glove onto a bottle, so they're waving upright) before, if necessary, giving them a tidy-up with boot polish.

I've nearly finished knitting the body of a good wool long-sleeved cardigan, only the sleeves and bands to do then - it will go with lots of my warm winter cloths and give me another cosy layer. It's striped in dark dark grey and deep deep pink, and there's enough of each, I think, to do a snug-fitted sleeveless pullover, a slipover, to wear under it, over a shirt or top; or each can be worn alone. It is yarn bought some years ago and unused, so that's good non-spending!

It's nearly time, nearly...

[Deleted User]

YES,YES,YES!!!!! and these very light mornings (sad about the evenings though) will gradually not wake us up at silly o'clock and the birds will begin their dawn chorus later and later and we'll start having a decent sleep again.....bliss!!!

VintageHistorian

Not going to lie, I'm looking forward it all too XD I know you shouldn't wish your life away, but I do prefer the cold over the heat.

And a definite yes to not being woken up so early! I had a blind panic this morning as I woke up to the sun out and the birds singing and panicked that me and DH had overslept because we hadn't set our alarms the night before.

Grabbed my phone, panic got worse when I saw it was 6:10 - and then I noticed that it was Sunday. But of course it then took me a long time to go back to sleep because of the light and the birds XD And that's with us having blinds and curtains in our bedroom windows!

mardatha

Ikea blackout curtains up here as it's light at 3.15am.
And gloves rubbed with cold liver oil will make every cat on the road your best friend ...

Laura_Elsewhere

beenthere_donethat wrote: »

I have a raised skylight on the bathroom, which sits approx 3' above ceiling height. During winter, this is a major source of drafts as it doesn't close tightly and there are gaps where the glass was raised.

I've started thinking how I can minimise the drafts. I can't cover the opening at ceiling level as we still need air to circulate in there. Would a thermal blind work, as it would need to lie flat against the ceiling? Not sure what else would help cut the draught in there.

My folks have a raised skylight on the attic landing which was a source of howling gales - Dad cut a pice of perspex, clear acrylic, something like that, to fit the frame, and then nailed bits of narrow wood round three sides of the frame. The piece of clear stuff could then be manoeuvred into position and then would lie flat, cutting the majority of draughts without any actual sealing.

Worth trying?

Laura_Elsewhere

mardatha wrote: »

Ikea blackout curtains up here as it's light at 3.15am.
And gloves rubbed with cold liver oil will make every cat on the road your best friend ...

Everyone always goes on about how dark it is in Scotland in winter (which I love...) but nobody ever goes on about how blooming dark it is in England in the summer... pitch-dark by 10pm in June - !!!!!!?!?! My fourth year here but I doubt I'll ever get used to the short dark summer evenings. Just weird...

I'm happy being woken at 5am by the dawn chorus - we have about forty thousand sparrows right outside, and it's lovely. Tonight we've stayed up late watching the Canadian Grand Prix, but normally I'm asleep not long after 10pm, so I get a good 7 hours' sleep. I believed I was an 'owl' til my late 20s, because I'd always lived a life staying up late either partying or reading - then I did shift-work and discovered how beautiful early mornings are and how much better my day goes if I start it really early, and remembered that as a schoolgirl I commonly was up at 6 to enjoy the solitude... I'm almost unable to wake if I set an alarm for 7:30-8:30, really sluggish til late morning if I wake then - but if I get to sleep at 10ish, then I can leap into action at 5 no problem!

Cod liver oil - nah, it doesn't smell! And you can always add rosemary oil if you like... but the great thing about CLO is it doesn't rot the stitching, which a lot of other oils can do. So for any stitched leather goods, I stick with CLO, by advice of friends who make a living hand-sewing historical reproduction leatherwork...