Friday 6 January 2023

Let's sit and have a cup of tea

Our first Friday get together of the New Year!  How are you?  Can I offer you a biscuit to have with your tea or are you like me and trying to get back into good habits? 


It's been a busy few weeks since we last met for tea and I'm so thankful that we were able to do all the things we wanted to do despite the best efforts of the weather and the local water company to disrupt our plans.

The weather tried its hardest to spoil our plans to go out for a meal to celebrate Paul's 65th birthday.  It snowed heavily overnight but by mid morning the roads had turned to slush so with a reduced speed and careful driving we were able to get to the pub.

Then our regional water company (along with the weather) almost caused our town to have no water for Christmas Day!  After the snow and freezing temperatures at the beginning of the month, we had a sudden thaw when temperatures went from minus 10C to plus 10C.  The water pipes in our area could not cope with the sudden change and there were burst pipes everywhere.  We had no water at all for almost 24 hours the Tuesday before Christmas, then greatly reduced pressure for the rest of the week.  We even had to go to our local Community Centre to collect free bottled water as they thought it could go again at any time.  Fortunately all was fine on the day, but boy has the water company had a lot of bad press!  Some areas of town had no water at all for six days.

You'll notice that I've taken down the Christmas decorations, I'm too superstitious to leave them up past Twelfth Night so they're been down a couple of days now but I also felt they had been up long enough.  How long do you leave your decorations up? I think I will buy some flowers to make it seem more spring like, I saw tulips for sale this week and they always look bright and cheerful. 

You may also have noticed a lovely big bag of new wool and the beginnings of a new blanket on my hook.  


I missed having something crafty to make while watching tv in the evenings and saw this new pattern over at Coastal Crochet.  I'm a member of their Facebook group and kept seeing other people's interpretations and different colour combinations of the pattern, then I saw one which had used colours that would look good in my lounge and the rest, as they say, is history!  This first part is made with Tunisian Crochet and was a new technique for me to learn.  Learning new things always makes me happy!  Do remember the Christmas blanket I made?  
My friend saw someone taking orders to make one and charging ... wait for it ... £380.  Now, it is a nice blanket but I'm not sure I'd pay £380 for one!

Enough about me, how have things been for you since we last met for coffee? I'd love to hear your news!  And be sure to let me know if you want me to make you a Christmas blanket 😉





5 comments:

Patio Postcards said...

Oh no about the water problems, not good timing for those at home cooking Christmas dinner ... I'll pass on the biscuits thank you, you're correct in thinking I'm all about better eating habits this month. Your Christmas blanket is goregous, so I cannot wait to see the new one & yes it's fun to learn new techniques to keep the skill of crocheting at peak. The 380 doesn't surprise me at all. Our decorations come down tomorrow - it's Orthodox Christmas so there's a bit of a culture dinner going on, which reminds me I've got to get into town to pick up some cheese for those perogies. Thanks for tea.

Gail Is This Mutton? said...

No biscuits for me, those delicious Extremely Chocolatey biscuits are not on the shopping list for a while! Lucky you had water on Christmas Day. How horrendous! Our decorations were brief - up on Dec 18, down on NY Day. Good that you have a new crochet challenge.

Wildflower Adventures said...

We didn't have frozen pipes, but we did have a blizzard a couple of days before Christmas that left travelers stranded in town. The Rec center set up an emergency shelter. Santa was able to stop in for a visit. I'm not familiar with the 12th thing. I decorated very little this year. We didn't have anyone over; I worked & was too tired. It made clean up easy. Happy New Year! Karen

This West London Life said...

Drat, I forgot again!
Grim about your water shortage, but lucky you were able to have some.
Maybe there is a new business opportunity for you ... undercutting those sellers over charging for their crochet blankets!
I took our decorations down over a few days, with the tree being the last thing to go away on the 6th.

Susanne said...

I can have biscuits, but it cannot be too early or too late in the day, as I am toying with intermittent fasting to help speed weight loss -- do wish me luck. I love the colors you've chosen for your yarn, and they remind me of a certain wallpaper, if I am recalling correctly. Our decorations came down very early this year, and I am ashamed to say that I even took the Nativity down before the 6th. I am being punished for it, because I have yet to find my Lladros which usually grace the top shelf of the bookcase where the Nativity should have sat until Twelve Night. I must make a note for next year not to be so foolishly impatient.