Friday 20 April 2012

Farewell Barry, Hello Neville

No crafty content on the blog this week, as I have been monogamous with the knitting and have only completed the front of the Rowan Ariadne project. 
But we have an addition to the family to announce.  Barry the much loved yellow 107, has been replaced with snazzy Neville, another 107.  However crazy it sounds, I felt very traitorous when I left Barry on the Arbury forecourt when driving off in Neville.  We both said in unison "bye bye Barry" as we left the premises!  Poignant moment that.  But Neville is fitting in with us nicely!  So here is Barry
 whom I hope finds a nice home.
Here is Neville (who has found a nice home!):

Friday 13 April 2012

BAGS I THE BAG!


This week the theme is bags!
But first.....Now that the budget is biting its no surprise that I have been looking for ways of economising without adversely affecting my standard of living.
So this week I have downloaded a wizard app.  It means that any 0800 numbers I want to call from my mobile will not be charged outside my inclusive minutes allowance.  It is available for iphones, and blackberrys and androids.  It is, of course free, and called 0800 Wizard.
Ian has not been well and so I have been shopping less and using more items in the larder.  This was no bad thing as it is amazing how much stuff I had stashed in there that was just languishing, much of it forgotten, and now I have the satisfaction of knowing there is nothing in there in danger of going out of date.
Of course, every woman knows that money is not saved if a bargain has been missed.  And I saved a packet on my lovely new handbag in a Beatty’s sale.  Just think, if I hadn’t spent on it I wouldn’t have saved anything! 

On the topic of bags, I was listening to Nic on  her podcast Yarns from the Plain
http://yarnsfromtheplain.podbean.com/feed  and she mentioned this lovely site http://www.sheepfold.co.uk/.  Wish she hadn’t!  They have lovely kits to make felted bags and scrummy yarn, so take a peek.  Of course there are savings to be had on there too! They have special offers on their product page.  I am wondering if I shouldn’t save something on there too!

Bag a freebie or two…..try http://www.freesamples.co.uk/  interesting offers on here including the Kenco one where you get free bar of chocolate on your birthday!
Or /http://www.free-stuff.co.uk (scroll down for the free sweeties one!)

For those with a bag of stash…….there are lots of free patterns to use it up by making bags.  Ravelry of course has plenty, and there resources like these too: http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/bags_totes_purses.php 
just put “free bag knitting pattern” in google and enjoy a coffee whilst browsing and choosing a project.

Bag a free ebook or two for the kindle by visiting such sites as
these sites make finding these books easy, they are often on Amazon, but the search facilites make finding the books easier than on Amazon.  It is important too to remember that books may only be free for a specified period, so keep a regular watch on the type of book in which you are interested.

Finally: cooking in bags.
The bags, of course can be made of foil, parchment, or "polythene" type.  But less washing up has to be a plus!  So if this is a new concept, take a look at these sites to get the idea.

If anyone is old enough to know about haybox cooking, there is now a modern version, and it is a.....bag! http://nb-wonderbag.com/content/what-wonderbag
this is sooo economical, so I end on a thrifty note this blog entry, just as it started!