Monday 24 November 2014

First Frost



What a stunner of a day, cold but it had a crystal clear icy beauty to it.  I couldn't resist pulling the car over to take some photos of this beautiful lake.  It is a bit of a shock to the system as we were walking into the city with no coats on Saturday it was so warm.  The trusty old ice scraper helped to get me on the road first thing as I headed off to my basket making class.   I'm knitting socks, cooking stews, casseroles, chunky soups and curries, putting extra layers on the bed and being eaten out of home by the birds who are flocking to the feeders.  Getting up in the night for a wee is freezing!  Yep it's winter.

We are trying to get the front door frame fixed as it is completely rotten and the wind would howl under it if I didn't have a draught excluder jammed up against it.   I have had three people out to look at it, but when they see that it is only a small job they don't want to know.  Isn't anyone interested in doing small jobs anymore?  I'm feeling very frustrated with the lack of progress on the house, it just isn't happening I need to get my ass into gear but life is busy busy busy at the moment.

I received the new Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall book from eldest son for my birthday, Light and Easy.  In this book he is looking for alternatives to using wheat, I've already spotted some recipes that look good so hopefully I will find some time to give them a try and let you know how I get on with them.














I will put the gluten free xmas cake recipe on the next post.  I am also trying to make some slipper socks with soles, I'm not sure how to make them so any ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes, it was a lovely weekend.

Keep warm,

Chickpea xx


10 comments:

  1. For the soles you could use two pieces of felt with cardboard sandwiched between them, or a cheap leather hand bag from a charity shop to cut out the soles.

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  2. For your slipper socks for the non slip bit underneath you can buy a bottle of sock stop and put dots of it on the bottom of the socks its a rubber soloution, or go to the pound shop and buy a roll of shelf gripper its the woven rubberr stuff cut to size and just stitch it onto the sole, you can also use insoles cut to size to reinforce the inside with some mountboard to make a sole.

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  3. We found that it was hard to get someone to do some of the smaller repairs that we needed on our house, so when we had our big repair job done earlier in the year - our rendering - we got them to do the other jobs as well. You would think that with work supposedly hard to come by they would be grateful and interested in doing it wouldn't you! Have you thought of perhaps trying a handyman type person as they are often good and might be more up for smaller tasks? I hope that you can get it sorted either way. I look forward to seeing how the slippers progress! xx

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  4. I'll be looking forward to your review of that cookbook. I have been tempted to buy it, but have been holding out until I could read a review.

    In my post last week you can see the leather slipper soles I sewed on the bottoms of my knit slippers. If they are available in the UK I highly recommend them. They last forever and make the slippers safe to walk in. The only downside is I really hate sewing them on.

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  5. Ooh yes, this cold weather is a shock after such a mild year, but it's really nice to have some frost at last!

    IS the H F-W book a gluten free recipe book then? Might look into it for my other half, he can't eat wheat either.

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  6. I hope you are able to find someone soon, it doesn't sound good. The cookbook sounds good, I will take a closer look.

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  7. Thank you Anne and Dawn for the suggestions, I will be experimenting :)

    Hi Amy, I have tried some handymen who have also turned their noses up at the job! Be easier for me to do a carpentry course and do it myself!!

    Kristie, I will let you know how I get on with the new book. I love your slippers!

    Hi Louise, it has wheat free recipes, so some include rye which isn't GF.

    So do I Joanne, you wouldn't think it would be so hard!

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  8. Love the frost pics. Wish I'd been able to get out with the camera that day but had no free time :o( x

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  9. It sounds as though you need to get hold of a couple of DIY books, our bibles are the 'Collins' 'Complete book of DIY' and a Readers Digest book who's name escapes me at the moment. We have built two houses and renovated at 500 year old farmhouse using these books as like you we could never find anyone who wanted work.

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  10. Thanks C.T. :)

    Hi Anne, I think we actually have the Collins book, I don't think we could tackle this job though. The people who have looked at is have said its a tricky job which is probably why they don't want to touch it. I'm really impressed by your DIY skills :)

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