Wednesday

 Good morning, one and all.

I had a very pleasant time with Val.  We changed our plans and went to Blake House Craft Centre instead as we both wanted something that we can get on with on these longer and darker evenings and I also wanted to get a bit of sale fabric with an autumn vibe and if you read my other blog, you will see why.
Val was very quick to agree - we both love it there and it's pretty close to where she lives.

We started off with a coffee (me) or cuppa tea (Val).  There's a splendid yarn shop at the centre, Sconch, which, until Covid came along, ran classes, had knitting groups, coffee and craft, that sort of thing.  All that stopped, sadly (restarting this month, I believe) and they went over to online sales.  However, the shop has taken over the coffee shop so you can buy your yarn and pattern and then start it there and then over a nice hot drink or a light lunch.
Maybe another time . . .
Anyway, we had a good old chat over our drinks before exploring the shop.

It took me a while but I found a pattern for a jacket in a chunky yarn.  See, I don't NEED any more hand knits but I would like a chunky cardigan/jacket thingy to put on as it gets colder when I'm indoors.  Here's a link to it online although I am adding considerably to the length as I think it's too short for the style and certainly too short for me and, looking at the measurements, it will be looser fitting too.  I've never made a collar like that before but it looks easy enough.  I didn't get that yarn though; I don't want self stripes and anyway they didn't have it.  I found a heathery coloured chunky yarn in the shop but, when she had done the length calculations, allowing extra for my extra length, there wasn't enough in stock, sadly.  So when I came home, I looked online and found something quite different, a marbled chunky in a warm red.  I also found the heathery yarn.  You know what I'm going to say, don't you?  I ordered both and another pattern - I found some free patterns and downloaded them.
Ooops!

At least I will have plenty of knitting to keep me and my fingers occupied now.

Val also bought some yarn to make a baby blanket for a friend; she makes lovely blankets.

Then we moved on to And Sew On where I found my bit of fabric in the sale room.  It's like an Aladdin's cave in both the main shop and the sale room and I could very easily have spent a total fortune.  I just adore wandering around, looking at all the patterns and colours and just soaking them in.  Much of the fabric is for crafting but they also have other fabrics, including for dress making and curtains.  Val found a blouse pattern she really liked, disappeared upstairs and came back down with a roll of fabric that was just perfectly her all over.

We've set a date for our next get together.  Weather permitting, we will have lunch and a walk around Cressing Temple and if the weather fails us, we'll have lunch at mine and have a knit and natter session.  Both will be lovely!

To my delight, as I was feeling quite cold yesterday, my new duvet from John Lewis arrived in the afternoon.  I let it air for a couple of hours and then changed my quilts over.  It worked, I was toasty warm through the night but not too hot.  It's lovely!

The other thing I did that took some time was my nails as they were looking a bit battered.  Nail varnish and computer keyboards are not the closest of friends - at least I assume that's why the fingers I use for my typing (I'm a useless typist!) were the ones with chipped nails.
Anyway, I now have gold nails (which aren't as lurid as it sounds) and have come to a decision about my Christmas nails.  My decoration colours are always the very boring and traditional red, gold and green.  I already have gold varnish so if I can find a nice dark red and a dark pine green, I will have red, green and gold nails to match!  Silly?  Of course it is but it'll be fun!
I'm thinking alternating nail colours but I might experiment with splodges beforehand (and then clean it off again), just for fun.

Today there's one thing in the diary, personal training with Lindsey which should warm me up good and proper.
I'll do some housework as always and might get some allotment digging done, you never know.  However, if any of the yarn arrives, all of that will go by the wayside.  It seems ages since I did any knitting and I do enjoy it so very much.  My fingers are twitching at the thought.

Have a great day and I hope that, as it gets chillier, you are able to stay snug and as warm as you want to be.  xx