Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

OBL - I've knitted one pair of socks on straight needles as you describe, bit I prefer the traditional method on 4 DPNs because there are no seams to sew. Just two little ends of yarn to darn in from cast on & cast off, & that's it.

Katsu - That's a great idea. I am adding it to my list of sorting out jobs. I will find out which sizes of needles I don't have & add this info to my little notebook which lives in my handbag. Not that it should be an issue atm with 2019's embargo on new yarn purchases.
F

crazy_cat_lady

I'm on a yarn ban this year as well Foxgloves. I seriously think that my own stash takes up more than half of the space in my loft which is ridiculous. I bought it all so I'm blimming well going to use it. I was up there yesterday and found a load of beautiful wool I'd just completely forgotten about, so I'm like you - shopping from home.

foxgloves

Ooooh, CCL, let's see what we can get made from our yarn stashes. I received two lovely knitting books for Christmas. One of them is for blanket squares - the patterns make up into either the fabulous blanket projects provided, or you can just choose which charted patterns you like & simply knit up those & design your own. I am thinking this will be an excellent way of using up some of my random DK yarn because the patterns include squares featuring stripes, hearts, flowers, little beach huts, all sorts of things, so loads of opportunity to use up even tiny scraps. I'm so up for this. I am seeing all those drawers/bags full of yarn as a resource. I really don't need to be tempted into buying any more this year, however good a deal I convince myself it is.
Am also setting a little bit of time aside each day for knitting as it is a good de-stresser - useful at the moment with everything we still need to do regarding my parents' estate, the car negotiations & worrying about mr f's job.
So let's be awesome, CCL, & knit (& crochet....not me, am cra*p crocheter!) it up.
F xx

foxgloves

Morning Icicles - Oh isn't it cold today? I've already been out to thaw the bird bath twice. I couldn't work out why the birds weren't tucking into their porridge oats, then realised that they'd frozen to the ground (the oats, not the birds, though their little feet must be sooooo cold!)
I've just stashed the marmalade I made yesterday away in the pantry. I love home made marmalade. It's seville orange season now - they're the proper marmalade oranges (though of course you can use any oranges & citrus fruits) - & they only have a very short season. They appear mid-January usually, & by mid-Feb, they've usually gone. I didn't set out for this to be a thrift project, but that's how it worked out. I got this year's sevilles from the local market & paid £1.50 for a kilo. I used 4lbs sugar, so that's 2 bags, which were from Al*i, & I reckon I'd have paid about 59p each for those, as they'd been in the pantry since autumn. Two lemons (4 for a £1) at 25p each, then the only other ingredient is water. So in terms of ingredients, I make that £3.18. For that I got 10 jars of lovely marmalade, so that's just under 32p per jar. I recycle nice jars to use, & already had a pack of the waxed discs, cellophane toppers & sticky labels, so I call that a result. A jar of home made marmalade makes a nice gift & can be tarted up with a pretty paper or fabric lid (from home, of course) or brown paper tied with string for a more rustic look.
If sealed down well, it keeps for months, so I anticipate giving at least a jar or two for Christmas gifts 2019......but if you fancy having a go, do get those seville oranges while they are around, as they do make a fab product (& no, I don't work for the seville orange marketing board!)
OK, must go & sort out a healthy lunch & think about some more coffee.
Stay warm, all.
F x

carrielovesfanta

foxgloves wrote: »

One of them is for blanket squares - the patterns make up into either the fabulous blanket projects provided, or you can just choose which charted patterns you like & simply knit up those & design your own.

this book sounds amazing - what is it called please?

foxgloves

Hi CLF,
The book is 'Blankets & throws to knit: Patterns & piecing instructions for 100 knitted squares' by Debbie Abrahams. It's published by Collins & Brown & the ISBN is 978-1-84340-471-2
p.59 just makes me want to go on holiday right now!!
Cheers,
F x

foxgloves

Greeting Debtbusters,
Ooooh, it's a cold one again. I'm determined not to put the downstairs heating on until much later. Our monthly energy direct debit payment has been decreased starting this month, so I'd like at least to make a bit of a saving before they decide to hike it back up again! I've got a jumper on, a big hand knitted poncho, two pairs of socks & fingerless gloves.....though this is fairly normal for me in winter.
Well, I'm on a sort of virtuous use-it-up mission at the moment. Does anyone else suddenly get a thing about herbal tea bags, buy them in, then discover EVERY SINGLE TIME, that they prefer coffee or even plain hot water with lemon? I can't tell you how many times I do this! I think all those brightly coloured boxes showing healthy planty ingredients attract me. I had a look through my supplies yesterday, & really, these things need using up. I found myself looking at more in the supermarket last week,& really, no more must be bought until these ignored supplies have been used. I do like to keep a 3-ginger variety in stock.......I have a dodgy gallbladder & although it doesn't cause me too much bother, I have found in the past that this gingery/turmeric concoction is helpful. I also like the Clipper white tea with orange, although I prefer that in the summer when it feels too hot to drink coffee throughout the day. Delving deeper into my supplies, I found peppermint (yuk, can't bear it, don't even know where it came from), rhubarb......ok in the summer months, I generally drink about 3 bags worth then go off it, however, & rose....again, an ok summer drink, but 3 or 4 bags & I'm done. Then a detox variety......I must have got that free, I think, as one look at the ingredients tells me all I need to know about its dyna-rod effects, should I ever be brave enough to drink it. I think that one really will have to go in the worm composter.....
Currently, I'm drinking my way (at one bag a day absolute maximum) through a box of a coconut & fruit variety. It's OK. Just OK. Why am I buying things which are 'just ok'? If I fancy a herbal tea, I've enough in my garden to dunk a sprig of something aromatic in boiling water & brew my own for free. I'm worth more than 'just ok'. If I have money to spare for buying fancy teabags I 'go off' after 3 mugfuls, I'd be better choosing a really nice bag of single origin coffee beans or a nice bottle of cordial which I can drink hot or cold.
In the meantime, think of me later, warming my hands around a mug of leafy gubbins wondering why I'm drinking it. It's a kind of penance. I bought it. We aim to be a zero-food waste household, so as mr f would rather eat Whiskas than imbibe one of my weird tea bag collection, I'm on my own! Oh, & I like coconut, so it's a shame that these tea bags don't taste remotely of it (or if anything else, if I'm honest)
Hair shirt time......in the form of tea!
Cheers all,
F x

Onebrokelady

You could use them up by turning them into cakes in the shape of a nice tea bread, no waste and you get to enjoy them in a different way:)

Baileys_Babe

I can so relate to your tea tails.

My tea mountain is vast, black tea I have masses of teabags but this is intentional as my folks are living here for a few months, loose black tea various types. I'm currently having a pot of Earl grey a day (and have been for months) and still numerous packets in stock, numerous have been gifts, which is at least something. Mint - couple of different varieties, spearmint, peppermint probably a couple of hundred bags, I am planning to use some of these in cooking when ever they ask for dried mint. I have a good selection of fruit teas, some of which are better than others, but as ds says "they promise so much (their aroma) and deliver so little (taste)". I also have a good supply of raspberry leaf (think 4+ packets), which both myself and dd enjoy drinking, I also drink this to ease menstrual cramps.

Those are the ones I can think of from the top of my head, there are bound to be others I haven't mentioned.

Hello my name is Baileys Babe and I have a tea problem.

foxgloves

OBL - Yes, that's very true, I could feed some of them (especially the horrid ones) into nice fruity tea loaves throughout the year. I like that idea.

Baileys'B - Glad it's not just me. I'm a big coffee drinker (& fussy about it) & drink very little 'normal' tea, but I do think I ought to like these fancypants fruit/herb teas more than I do - maybe the trick is just to stick to my white tea with orange in future, as I know I like those & they are lovely & light/refreshing to drink in the summer, when I cut my caffiene a bit.
I went through a phase of trying raspberry leaf tea for time of the month - I used to suffer terribly from awful cramps, vile headaches, feeling wobbly & pathetic.....I have to say that the menopause is proving to be an absolute blessed relief from feeling so ill every month. I have occasionally made my own herb tea brews, as I have a very well-stocked garden & have been interested in our native herbal traditions since my teens. One of the nicest ones I made was a blend of lemon balm, grapefruit mint, vervaine & tangerine sage, which were all from my herb garden one summer. The first time I made it, I drank a mugful in the garden & fell asleep!! That was probably the lemon balm (melissa) & the vervaine. I NEVER fall asleep in the day unless I am really ill with flu or similar, so it must have been a proper relaxing brew. I haven't made it since because I now only have two of the herbs - the other two proved not to be hardy over winter, even in the greenhouse, & I haven't re-bought them. Mint tea is easy enough too, & sage, but as with all foraging type activity, it's really important to be 100% with plant identification.
Another thing I tried years ago was coffee substitute, as I read that it was good for the liver & obviously it's have cut my caffiene a bit, but I found it completely vile & I composted it.
All this is making me fancy a coffee now, so I'm off to fire the machine up.
Enjoy your Fridays, all - keep your hands on your pence!
F x