What on Wednesday

• What I'm reading: I'm still reading The Wonderful Weekend Book by Elspeth Thompson
• What I'm knitting: Not a Christmas jumper
• What I'm watching: cookery programmes
• What I'm eating: black grapes
• What I'm plotting: a knitting pattern

What's on Wednesday

• What I'm reading: The Wonderful Weekend Book by Elspeth Thompson
• What I'm knitting: mostly fingerless gloves and blanket
• What I'm watching: this evening I'm planning to watch an episode or two of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
• What I'm eating:pistachio nuts
• What I'm plotting: ways to beat the winter blues

A gloomy day

Today has been a gloomy damp day that has somehow permeated my mood. So to remind myself that life isn't all gloom, here are 10 things that have made me smile this week.

1. Making parcels to send to friends
2. A star-studded night sky
3. Organic, fairtrade, dark chocolate buttons - it's practically a virtue to eat them!
4. A carpet of leaves, golden in the sunshine
5. Clean kitchen floor
6. Bright red berries on a plant in the garden that was pronounced dead a few years ago
7. A phone call from a friend I've not spoken to for a while
8. A long soak in a bubble bath with a book
9. Cosy, clean pyjamas
10. Making this list - the reminder worked!

What …

• What I'm reading: in my rocking chair - The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater and Money for Nothing by PG Wodehouse; in bed - I've just finished A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey, so will be picking out something new tonight

• What I'm knitting - the jacket I definitely don't have enough yarn for

• What I'm watching - later tonight, the last Poirot

• What I'm eating - dark chocolate buttons I found in a shop at the weekend; they are yummy!

• What I'm planning - ways to get the house clean, tidy and organised

For the sake of two buttons

If I could just get around to sewing on two buttons, I'd have another finished project to show you.

While I procrastinate from that I'm knitting away at a jacket. However, I am starting to have a  sneaking suspicion that I am going to run out of yarn before it is finished. This will be particularly annoying as the pattern calls for 11 balls of yarn and I started off with 12.

It's the little things

Ten things that have made me smile this week:

1. Chats with friends on twitter
2. Sunny, blue-skied Autumn days
3. The sound of gentle rain as I snuggle down to go to sleep
4. A text message from the blanket recipient
5. Old episodes of Friends on TV
6. A gorgeous miniature tea-set in a charity shop
7. Chocolate
8. Seeing the clear space where I tidied away a pile of things that has been waiting for months and took just a few minutes to deal with
9. Making Christmassy plans
10. Playing around with pretty fabrics

New in October

The monthly challenge:

• Read a new author, or just a book I’ve been meaning to for years
• Try a new ingredient/food/recipe
• Explore a new place
• Something knittingly new

My new author in October was Kate Summerscale - I read The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House. It was interesting and for a factual book not too dry - I found it very readable.

My new food was a new recipe I tried - chocolate-covered Katie's Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Bites. They are easy to make and very moreish! In fact, I might make some more this evening.

I didn't explore anywhere new in October, I hoped to explore the new Cheese shop opening in a nearby town, but was not well enough towards the end of the month to go and visit it. I hope to venture there soon.

I failed again with the knittingly new part of the challenge. Mostly all my brain could cope with was garter stitch, so lots more mitred-square blanket was knitted.


Well, just look at that - I'm all up to date!