Preparing for Winter V

-taff

Elisheba said:

Despite buying an expensive pair of walking boots last year, they now let in water.  And the welly boots I bought last year were a terrible fit so I gave them away.  As I am out with the dog twice a day I'm definitely going to have to get some sort of supportive waterproof boots, but I don't know what ones I would like that will be within my budget and will last.  I have plantar faciitis and hyper-mobile joints so I need to be quite picky with shoes.

I've had plantar fasciitis and found Fitflops the best shoes. They have something called a wonder welly at the moment, not cheap, but I've never been disappointed with any shoes I've bought from them before. I started out prior to pf with only 3 pairs of shoes, one sandal, one dm and one pair of baseball boots. I'm now like Imelda Marcos...a shoe for every ocassion...

Elisheba

boultdj said:

Elisheba, if the boot's are leather then dubbin can help water proofing them, if material then nikwax has a range of waterproofing items. hth.

Thanks. I have waterproofer for them but there are already holes, and the top over the toes just seems to be made of normal material and even let's in dew. It's very annoying. 

boultdj

That's bad about the holes @Elisheba! 

Primrose

A little early but sorted out my two large plastic boxes of vegetable seeds.  I'll be growing less next year due to increasing disability and was rather horrified at the large numbers of seed packets I,ve acquired over the years, either free from magazines, or bought on a whim from garden centre displays and never grown.  Some of them date back to 2010 and would probably never germinate now anyway.

Viable  surplus unopened packets will go to our village "seed swap" event next spring and "no hopers" have now been consigned to the bin.  When it comes to sowing next year at least ai will now hopefully have a viable collection althiugh ai do need to save some climbing beans from this year's  crop.  The freezer is pretty full now so I can afford to let some plants  go to seed without regret. 

(I never did get round to growing a successful crop from those Horned  Melon seeds somebody gave me !! )

Laura_Elsewhere

boultdj said:

If they are the cloth incontinence bed pads Fiona236 don't use fabric conditioner when you wash them, it rot's the plastic water proof backing.  The joy's of having been a laundress in a nursing home I use to wash the cloth version daily, and for some reason they were called Kylie's.

And fabric condition makes fabrics much less absorbent, so never use the stuff on towels, bedlinen, clothing, tea-towels, actually just don't bother spending the money on it   

Laura_Elsewhere

For the shawl-lovers - there's a truly brilliant free crochet pattern called Edlothia which is superb, and if you can crochet a granny square then you can crochet an Edlothia. Pattern freely available online if you google... 

I've made half a dozen now, for friends and myself. Most recent is in two shades of very fine pure-silk, for getting married this winter, and most in laceweight yarn, but I made this one in thicker DK wool for a friend:

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Absolutely beautiful. Really wish I could crochet.

Novice_investor101

Laura_Elsewhere said:

boultdj said:

If they are the cloth incontinence bed pads Fiona236 don't use fabric conditioner when you wash them, it rot's the plastic water proof backing.  The joy's of having been a laundress in a nursing home I use to wash the cloth version daily, and for some reason they were called Kylie's.

And fabric condition makes fabrics much less absorbent, so never use the stuff on towels, bedlinen, clothing, tea-towels, actually just don't bother spending the money on it   

I think I’ll be ditching the fabric softener once this bottle is finished. I was amazed at the difference it made to my towels. I also don’t use it any time I wash my hiking clothes either. 

Frith

Gloves and hats sorted now. Just need 2 replacement pairs of gloves. 

Following on from my last post about car accidents and the police being slow to arrive... Yesterday's nasty car accident in the village involved 2 cars (they all seem to) and villagers again had to stop traffic in 2 directions and look after 2 different drivers. 50 minutes this time for the police to arrive and shut the roads. I had had to get out of my car (as the accident had blocked the road) and walk quite a way to offer to help, leaving my emergency blanket and hi-vis jacket in the car! I've got a hi-vis jacket in the house also but no handy blanket (though I suppose I could always run from the house to the car to the accident). 

Just tried the central heating. I've never had central heating in any house I've lived in, until last month. Swapped my electricity supplier today so will get an £18 "hello" plus £20 cashback from Quidco. 

Purple_kitten

That is a really beautiful shawl, I am inspired to continue learning to crochet now.