Knitted face cloths/flannels?

Well, here's a strange thing and it seems has an enthusiastic following...so I couldn't resist it to see what all the fuss was about! People across the globe are comparing patterns and knitting these squares to wash their dishes and their bodies...(ahem different cloths for different jobs...oh for goodness sake!)

So I did my research :) Off I went into town, returned with two balls of cream coloured 100% cotton which can be washed at 95°. (A few days later I also bought some organic cotton (wash at 40°) in an apricot shade as I remembered the health issues facing farm workers in some countries with the non organic cotton. As this was "Made in India" and even better, half price, I may just have to buy some more!)

The cream colour seems to knit up slighter thicker and may therefore make a more absorbant cloth (Gosh, I bet you guys are rivetted!!!) The pastel shades are obviously more attractive. My plan is to buy fragrant soaps and give them as presents. I may even use the idea to do some fundraising for Asha in the future.

The result? I am impressed! I have to say, I love my new flannel and no, I wouldn't go back to the old one, which incidentally resembles a board when dry, whereas I have to just keep stroking and squeezing my new one.....yep, I know, there are no words.....

I cannot bring myself to knit a dishcloth yet as I can't bear the idea of getting it dirty and the risk that the stains won't wash out and I am a sad woman who is obviously losing it bigtime!!!!!





The pattern I use says start decreasing about 45 stitches are on the needle, but I find 70 stitches is a good size for an adult flannel/dishcloth. The pattern is SO easy and the item can be completed in a few hours in front of the TV. I will try and get the link as I got it off some knitted dish cloth forum....and believe me they DO exist!!!!

This is the pattern:
http://www.groovy-mom.com/crafty/patterns/dishcloth.shtml

This is the ardent following they have!!!! LOL!

http://dishandwashclothmania.com/about/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/knitting/discuss/72157594270653708/




The Journal you can see above will be explained in another blog, it isn't a personal account of anything, just a snapshot into each day I decide to write in it....




This flannel and soap will be part of my mum's 70th birthday present when I visit her in a week or so!

So that's it for now...off to complete a few more rows and reflect on my day before I turn out the light!

Night night all!
xx

Fox poo at dawn....nice

Just in case I needed reminding of the fact that we appear to have "Fox Patrol" in our garden regularly, I was greeted with "View of the Poo" at 06:45 as it was *my* turn to let the girls out this morning. I can think of better sights on an empty stomach but at least had the satisfaction of knowing that he/she left without causing any disturbance last night. The times I have listened in bed (with banging heart)to the "screams" of foxes in the field behind, praying that they will stay away from our girls. The memories of that awful night a few years ago are still with me and cause my risk assessments to be totally off the scale...

All the chickens are now wide awake each morning and in the case of Dolly, Xena and Connie, hurl themselves down the drawbridge as soon as it is lowered. Gert, being Gert, takes her time. If ever there was a lazy chicken, our Blue Orpington ticks all the boxes! Hattie is always straight out with her head in her food by the time I have checked in her nest box for the first egg of the day. Hattie lays hers early and you have to be quick these days otherwise she will destroy it! This morning I reached in to discover a softshelled egg...again not a pleasant feel, I left it there to deal with it after breakfast....she has probably eaten it now :( . Hattie still lays most days despite by quite ancient by exbattery hen standards. We have had her 16 months and she was probably that sort of age when we adopted her. She makes contented little Happy Hattie noises when we give her grass or corn. We will all be so sad when she dies...I think Ramzi will need counselling!

The new exbatts are still in the greenhouse with a couple of panes removed at the apex. They are thriving well and feathered up nicely. There are intrigued by our presence and peck at whatever part of our anatomy that is within reach! Four of them insist on sleeping on top of their house, the remaining two sleep inside...strange creatures. They are now extremely interested in any person seen digging the raised beds in front of the greenhouse. D has a fascinated audience each time, all six pushing and shoving for the best vantage spot!

Anyway, here is a short video, if I can do it (!) (I have issues with my layout at the moment, so if anyone can help me with the photo, text alignment problem with the egg posting I would be SO grateful. I stayed up to nearly midnight trying to get this right last night....and failed....and for those of you that know me...10:30 is late for me!!!)

Now that's what I call an egg!

Thought I would just share with you the biggest egg that one of our exbatts laid recently! No idea which lady it was or whether she announced the arrival in style, but you have to agree that it isn't bad for a hen who would have probably been dog food or a gravy cubes by now if not for the "Battery Hen Welfare Trust".



















Just to make the point!!




































I had to fumble around in my knitting bag to find the tape measure...
before I would let D eat it for his tea!




















Made a mental note to replace my griddle liner at some point....which is crying out for mercy!


















I wanted to cut a slither of red pepper to make a smile, but held back!!!

Making my own washing powder

Having been inspired by reading various “Simple Living” blogs, I have decided to have a go at making my own washing powder. The ingredients are below:

CONCENTRATED LAUNDRY POWDER –

4 cups grated laundry or homemade soap (2 150g bars) or soap flakes (Lux)
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and store in a plastic container with a lid.

Use 2 tablespoons per wash. This powder will not make suds, this is perfectly okay.

The only item that gave me some grief was the Borax and that’s because I didn’t look in Tescos first! If anyone is interested, it is in the Green Cleaning washing powder section. Boots had run out (shelves at the back near the Pharmacy bit) and no other Pharmacy keeps it in stock anymore….perhaps it will soon make a come back in the same way as soda bicarbonate and vinegar have for cleaning the way Granny used to! I couldn’t see Lux flakes anywhere, but the soap wins as far as cost is concerned.

I have started with half the quantity which has given me enough powder for 14 washes and I have costed it at about 90p in total.

An update will follow when I have done a few washes! Here is also a liquid wash alternative and loads of other inspiring “recipes” on the link below.

I now use the vinegar option as a fabric softener; just a glug in the conditioner dispenser and it works fine with NO smell lingering on the clothes. I use white vinegar but malt is okay, just avoid the fancy ones!!!!! It also helps the machine innards as we live in a very hard water area.

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2007/08/various-recipes-for-green-cleaning.html

I have taken some photos for the visual learners amongst us and also because I probably need to get out more…..

"A little bit of Monica in my Life"

Feeling all pleased with myself today as I managed to get through most of “My list”. Those of you with a “bit of Monica in them” will appreciate how rewarding this can feel as you strike a line through the item, especially the ones where you have refused to procrastinate and just “got over it” and did it! The only things left off were “endeavour to do some Pilates” (ha!) and BSL homework which can wait a bit….

So here I sit in the gloom with one solitary spotlight for company because I am not going to answer the door to any little kids who want “treats” and would prefer to let them think I was not at home…but then that means I have the dilemma of wondering who it is (in case I am ignoring a friend or family member who has forgotten their keys…..) which would then entail me having to peek surruptiusly (spell check suggests scrumptiously…um no…but I can’t be bothered to get the dictionary….) through the curtains without being seen (perish the thought…) Am I the only one that does this?! Yeah, yeah, I know I could get out there and do lots of positive opposites etc, but tonight all I can think of are the old ladies who will be scared witless.

Today then was another good day in the life of Julie’s jelly jamborees!!! Wahay! But now no more crab apples and garden apples left so I will have to switch my attention elsewhere! Having watched Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall create a squirrel casserole last night, I spent the morning trying to dissuade Ramzi from planning a trap. What do you do when you have a frustrated hunter as a lodger? All he wants to do is shoot stuff! Thankfully the deer he photographed in the field behind us this morning were simply admired…He has informed me that we have “an animal that cannot see” making hills in our vegetable patch…If he gets his way, the aforementioned mole will be lured by an onion concoction (made by chef Ramzi, who needs Gordon?) to the surface where it will receive a hard blow to the head and thus our carrots will live to see another dawn….sigh….You see with these Urban Warriors….”life really is like a box of choclits”….but I’m glad we got him!!!! Tomorrow, I believe he will be emptying our pond with the device I purchased online that siphons off the water. It is really meant for our bath water but that’s another story for another day!

This week I eagerly anticipated the arrival of our “Farmer’s Market order”. I was not to be disappointed. Having not ordered on line for a while, we have decided to make more effort to buy our meat, vegetables and other bits and pieces from farmers in the local area. This also sorts out my milk dilemma as I have been told that 75% of the cost of the milk goes back to the farmer if I buy it this way. Okay, the milk is more expensive, but that wasn’t my concern as you know. We hope that our supermarket bills will decrease and that we will be investing more into the local economy in a small way.

I am still refusing to begin any Christmas shopping or even to entertain the thought…much…except that to say the Christmas cake is ready to be taken to the garage where it will stay for about 6 weeks in the Roses Chocolates tin, The Christmas pudding is soaking in Newcastle Brown Ale overnight and will be cooked in the Slo Cooker tomorrow. Yet again I know I will fight the urge to run as far as I can from all “I must have it for Christmas” hype, when I know the important stuff is being with the people you love (and possible those you don’t….) as we celebrate Jesus’ birth and what that means for us and in turn how that affects the people we rub shoulders with on a regular basis through the year. So this year I will celebrate well and decorate the house, probably with a monster tree (because I can….in my hallway) but the gifts will be thought about carefully and simply and I will try and I mean really try not to be a bah humbug!!!! So perhaps I have started thinking about it after all…….

Do you think it is safe to put the lights on yet? Surely no one is going to come at 8:30…I shall in a bit, I don’t want the others to come back and the place is in darkness…Ramzi suggested wiring up the doorbell so that people would get an electric shock…the boy has an evil streak…..

Now I have to attack the kitchen which looks like the proverbial bomb has hit it…albeit in an industrious sort of way and then I shall wend my way bedwards with all my gardening, cookery and green lifestyle books, my “to do list” book, don’t even go there,,, read a bit of Ezekiel…these prophets had a rough time, just finished Jeremiah, now I know why he was called “the weeping prophet” Blimey I would have been suicidal…..anyway, now I’m getting flippant, so that’s me signing off. Night allx