Devastated

One of my wee Scots Dumpy chickens was killed  today - evidence looks like a cat got into the house somehow. Am down to 6 now. It's a chance you take on keeping poultry, I know, but when you watch them hatch on your dining room table and take care of them from little feathered scraps to good strong and healthy 6 week old chickens it hurts. There's a bit more to the story that I'm not going to divulge here, suffice to say that from now on I will stand my ground and trust my instincts - every time. Hardest lesson to learn this time, but this was the final straw.

Tablecloth imminent!

I couldn't resist this lovely cheerful fabric, so it's destined to soon become a tablecloth, and because I'm fairly sure I bought too much, I hope to get some matching napkins too :)

Sunday afternoon tea

It's been a long time since I did something like this for myself, so with a quiet and almost empty house this afternoon I did! Made a big mug of tea to go with  it, and thoroughly enjoyed it all :)

Frugal Friday - of wool and woolly things

I have a large (by most folks' standards anyway) stash of knitting wool. I buy for myself and for my knitting business, to swap, to barter - for knitting, crochet, weaving, all sorts. The vast majority, if not all of it, has been bought cheaply or dertainly not full price; if it was full price, it was probably a present or similar. I hunt out wool wherever I go, and have been successful at jumble sales, the tip, charity shops, online swaps, friends' donations, and good old e-bay ofcourse. Just recetnly, e-bay has been a source of unimaginable woolly joy for me, with a few pounds to spare I've been haunting the craft section several times a day. There is some lovely wool available there, and one of the joys of my life is vintage pure wool; was lucky enough to win these this week: They've been sitting out for admiration and sighing over - both lots for under £10 inc p&p, bargain :) Will be put away until the right order or project comes along that will do it justice. I also use the old tried and tested methods - pulling back, washing and rewinding useful wool from jumpers and other garments, crocheting up real oddments into blankets and striped things, knitted blanket squares, gloves and stripey scarves. Needles and other equipment can be got cheaply form charity shops or from friends/relations. Same with aptterns. I'm happy to spend about £5 on a knitting magazine if there are several good patterns in it - individula new patterns are a god £2 - £3 these days, so a magazineful represents good value to me really. For all its current trendiness, it needn't be an expensive undertaking if you think and plan ahead, with the odd impulse purchase thrown in for good meaure ofcourse!

Autumn.............

Start with a blog change for autumn :)  Hope you like it :)

This is how I started my day today

A cup of hot and sweet tea and a read of this: From: http://www.herondance.org/reflections/interview-joanna-macy/ So - what was your dream before you stopped dreaming?  That one pulled me up a bit smart and I hall be pondering on that throughout the day :)

- and here's to another 51!

Slainte!   Today is my birthday - again! lol  51 this time, as suggested by the post title. Today I have done nothing, because that's exactly what I felt like doing, so I didn't do it! lol Ofcourse, I did the basic animal  jobs that have to be done daily, but other than that have just pootled around on the web all over the world, dozed by the Rayburn, bit of reading and a bit of knitting, lot of musing and thinking. while I enjoyed today, am fairly sure I couldn't do it every day though, so normal service will be resumed tomorrow. Cheers to all my followers, you are all very much appreciated, as are the folks who pop in and read as they wish :)