Wednesday, December 09, 2009

A day without rain

That's it, really.......

No, of course it isn't! Just worth remarking upon, that's all, and the fact that it inspired me to clean and iron and stuff a veggie casserole on. Well, the good old faithful onion, potato and tofu hotpot, which started out as bacon, but smoked tofu works brilliantly.

Notice the lack of fibre content (apart from the potato) in the above. The other necessary activities do get in the way. Ah, well, the house might have been condemned by some authority or other if I hadn't started in on it. The truth of the matter is that the upcoming visit from the Extended Coven is concentrating my mind wonderfully.

I have a little more time to play with, although I am not best chuffed about it. I had been hoping that the first day of strike action EVAH was going to occur for the DSM tomorrow, and we were going to bugger off to Ilkley for a little necessary Xmas shopping, such as wot cannot be done in HB and around. Not to mention lunch at Bettys as a reward for all our labours. But the terminally inept management at the jolly old place of work have decided to return to the negotiating table (and did, I wonder, lemon curry figure??*) H'mm. I'm not convinced it ain't A Ploy, but himself seems to think not. This from a global enterprise that thinks it reasonable to halt pay increases for the staff and gives the Big Chief $14 million as a bonus? We shall see - but our nice little day out is now off the table, and I had been looking forward to it!

My yarn crawl did not quite go as expected, but was fun none the less. Moral Fibre is a nice spot, and definitely worth a visit, although not massively stocked with goodies. Friendly welcome, and the prospect of a knotting group dangled in front of us, which can't be bad. I fell for some strung beads, to knit alongside some handspun, I think, and a skein of something or other pretty, also beaded, with a pattern to make a neck thingy. And no, I can't be more precise than that. Also, a set of 2.5mm Sox Stix. I have always avoided these before as too frightfully expensive, but apparently they do come with a genuine lifetime guarantee, and as the shop is only just down the road.......

The other shop on the itinerary turned out not to be open on Mondays (I hadn't thought of this as a possibility, and as they don't have a website (amazing, in this day and age!!) I didn't think to check by phone. Still, we pressed our noses up against the window, and it looks pretty ace, so we will return. Dashed back to HB and had a nice soup and sandwich lunch in town, and then a cuppa at home with some knitting. Good way to spend a day, eh??

In some small consolation for that, I just went and had a good look around the Wollmeise website. I really, really want to try this fabled stuff. But it is going to be a challenge. Apparently the trick is to hit the site just a few minutes after it has been updated, but as I am not telepathic, I'm not sure how to do that! The other suggestion, by one of the Bear Knitters, has been to have a trip to Munich. I could be up for that :D

OK, once the lid is off the hotpot for browning purposes, I am done with domestic duties and can go spin - I have finished the yak and silk and started some very, very nice dyed mohair that I bought at Rhinebeck last year. I'm not going to know exactly what I am going to do with it until it is finished and samples, I haven't used handspun mohair all that often. Shawl or throw, I would guess.

Pictures at some point....

*Anyone getting the reference??

1 comment:

Dianna Rubidge said...

I love to read your blog and visit England through your photos. Just in case you are feeling done in with your weather, picture me here in Saskatchewan where it is minus thirty-seven degrees Celsius.

Perfect knitting/spinning weather.