Saturday

Good morning, lovely people.  

I woke feeling so c-c-cold this morning and wondered why it was that cold . . . until I realised I had left the window on tilt overnight by mistake.  Thank goodness for electric blankets!

Yesterday was a lovely, gentle sort of day.  Slimming World was enjoyable and, for once, people arrived all through so there was never a big queue to be weighed.  That means Berny and I could have nice chats to people rather than rushing through.

I had a short shopping list but did get a few more things, including three biggish chicken crowns for a tenner which seemed very good value.  I prefer a whole chicken really because of the carcass/stock/etc, but it can give me rather too much meat.  Anyway, one is in the fridge and two are in the freezer.

I made the vegetarian sausage rolls - half for Beth tomorrow and half for Christmas Tree Day plus a bit more of the filling left over and frozen.  This year I cheated slightly and bought puff pastry instead of making it.

I finished off a bit of ironing after drying stuff on the rack in the sunshine. 

And I got on with a Sophie scarf (a Christmas gift for a friend).  
I did, however, forget to practise my continental knitting - bad me!

The Wool Warehouse order did arrive yesterday.  

I actually got more than needed because I wasn't sure which colour would work best and knew the extra wouldn't be wasted.

So the choices are . . .

. . . this or . . .

. . . this

The difference is the colour in the middle, silver-grey or taupe and this one with the taupe is the colourway I am going for.  Gray yarn is very useful so no worries.

When ordering, I dithered for ages between pinks and peaches and I'm glad I went with the peaches - it's a bit different to my usual choices and goes beautifully with the living room decor.

The CAL starts next Tuesday!

T was sorry to wake early (and cold) this morning because I have nothing in the diary until lunchtime and was hoping for a bit of a lie in.  I can still have a slow and lazy start though and I have some bread to bake which always relaxes me.

I'm meeting up with my SW Golden Oldies group for lunch.  A number of us can't go on the walks now (healthy reasons) and they have pretty much stopped, but it is nice to make time to chat together over a lunch.

And, of course, it is Strictly this evening.  There's been news coming out of the Strictly camp this week, hasn't there.
Firstly Dianne and Stefan have had to withdraw due to Stefan's injury.  I think Dianne is very disappointed - quite apart from not dancing in the shows now, she wanted to make a point about women's bodies being amazing and, with common sense and taking medical advice, not being a reason to stop dancing.  I agree with her - I enjoy watching the Royal Ballet classes for the annual World Ballet Days and there's always at least one dancer with a bump.  They interviewed one lady who was quite close to dates and she said that, obviously, she could no longer do the jumps etc, during centre work but the stretching and coordination work at the barre was incredibly helpful in keeping her strong and well through pregnancy.

And the other news is about Tess and Claudia.  Oh, dear, although I did wonder how much longer they would stay.  They must get some phenomenal alternative job offers and Strictly must take up so much of their time.
I wonder who will replace them.  

I am rambling now - I'd better go and see how the leaven has coped with a fairly cold night and start Beth's 'wholemealy, seedy gorgeousness' (her words) loaf.  That's two loaves, by the way, a yeasted one and a sourdough one.   :-)

Stay cosy and warm, everyone.  Happy Saturday to you all.  xx