It is one of those things that I suspect a lot more people do than actually talk about it. And although it is often done out of a sense of necessity: to save money, prevent waste, encourage healthy eating; it is actually quite a lot of fun. For me anyway, I may just be a little strange…

We really plan our weekly dinners for all three of those reasons. It always amazes me how easy it is to pop into the supermarket needing just milk and to leave with milk, crisps, apples, chocolate, some discounted meat…and so end up spending £10 or more where you only needed to spend 90p – and suddenly you have a glut of junk food in the house too.

So a while ago we decided that it would be a useful thing to do regularly. Not that we don’t still manage to overspend/waste food/eat junk sometimes, but at least we’re a bit more aware of what we’re doing!

So, having said all that, here is the dinner plan for the coming week! This week’s menu is brought you by trying to finish up a lot of fresh veg that is on its last legs and buying as little as possible over the week as frankly we have quite enough food, really, to eat quite happily with a few small additions.

Monday: Chorizo and vegetable stew (it isn’t a stew at all, but I never know what else to call it! Chorizo and veggies cooked with tinned tomatoes)

Tuesday: Pasta with peas and corn and pesto

Wednesday: Salmon with veggies and boiled baby new potatoes

Thursday: Takeaway night!

Friday: Cauliflower and bean soup

Saturday: Sausages and mash with fried courgette and roast carrots

Sunday: Leftovers

Depending on how other parts of the week go, and therefore depending on my stress levels, I also want to experiment a bit with some wheatless baking. It is a while since I’ve done any, and there is something galling about the price of wheat-free breads (which I don’t buy. They’re generally rubbish in terms of taste and texture, and even those that aren’t do a miserable job of making you feel full!) and of rye breads when compared to the price of wheat bread. So working on a viable home-made alternative would be great. Even if I was too lazy to do it more than occasionally!

I know it’s controversial, but I have actually started my Christmas knitting already. You are allowed to be outraged, but the hope is that I won’t be knitting until 3am on Christmas morning trying to finish things. We shall see!

I have also decided on my first winter garment for me. Which is mildly frustrating as I have quite a lot on the needles already! But I have decided to knit Fallen Leaves by Tanya Alpert. I will knit it out of some yarn I have had knocking about for ages. Some Sirdar Big Softie that I bought on impulse and then couldn’t think of anything to do with. The pattern will need a little adapting to match the yarn, but not much, I think. It’s very loosely spun, so a tight gauge would be helpful there!

I have been very busy doing something scary: planning and beginning my Christmas knitting. Of course, there is a limited amount that I can say about that here as there are people involved who do read the blog. Mostly I’m mentioning it because I know it is outrageous that I have already begun in August. In my defence, one of the items I am knitting is black. And black knitting is hard on the eyes, and I want to allow as much time as possible!

But I am also knitting for myself. I am working on a very brightly coloured version of Stephen West’s Mystery knitalong shawl, called Earth and Sky. No pictures yet, but you can’t overestimate how brightly coloured it is. It is a shawl in three colours, and they are red, orange, and turquoise! Yes, I had fun with my colourwheel when deciding. I am not totally sure how wearable it will be in colours like that. But sometimes the knitting itself is why you knit – rather than the finished product. It looks fabulous either way and I’m really enjoying the knitalong.

So, that’s a little bit of an update, and I will try to update more regularly!

I did this a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. In the last couple of years I haven’t done any, for one reason or another. This year, I want to make mini hats!

The deadline for sending in the hats is 10 October (if you’re sending them to Age UK, I think it’s the 14th if you’re sending them to Innocent), which is 13 weeks away. So I’ve decided that I will do at least one hat a week and send them off in early October as my contribution!

You can read about it either on Age UK’s site or on the Innocent Smoothie site, and all the information is there. Why don’t you join me?

So, on Saturday we beetled off and I was so glad we went! Like I say, it was only a small event, but it was a good one. It really showed that you don’t need to be as big as Woolfest to do a good woolly event. There was a number of local and semi-local producers there, covering an impressive variety of fibre types: alpaca and many types of sheep: Ryland, Zwarbles, Gotland, Leicester Longwool, Common or Garden sheep (what are they called!?)… There was a shearing demonstration, and therefore a small collection of sheep ready to be shorn. There was also a guild and Yarnmaker magazine was also represented.

After a good wander and spending money on things I shouldn’t have (I was doing fine until I decided to buy a whole gotland fleece!) but love and will keep me busy for some time to come, we went to get ice cream. And I can definitely recommend the ice cream! My Partner-in-Crime (technically, my charming boyfriend who acted as obliging pack horse for me) had mint choc chip and I had some nice toffee-y ice cream. It was such a good afternoon!

And now I just have to get down to spinning a huge amount of fibre… Sadly my wheel is full of pre-Wool Experience BFL, and until it’s finished my new purchases will have to wait. But I’m terribly excited!

Yesterday my parcel arrived! It was delivered by my unfailingly cheerful postman, and totally made my Wednesday morning. My parcel, I discovered was from littlelixie. And a lovely parcel it was too! Of course, it had some yarn. In this case, some lovely sock yarn in shades of purple. But it also had a copy of Greetings from Knit Cafe, a copy of a pattern from my Ravelry queue, some ribbon and little gift cards to use on knitted gifts, some gorgeous olives, a notebook and an ebook. I think the ebook was the biggest surprise and so so cool. The ebook was Hair Romance: 30 Days of Twist and Pin Hairstyles. This was totally inspired. If you know me, you’ll know that I have long hair. Mainly because I’m lazy about going to the hairdresser regularly. Partly because I’m a bit obsessed with braiding and arranging it. So I absolutely loved that part of my parcel!

Of course, I could buy another ball, but considering it would cost me more in postage than the yarn costs, and considering how little I actually need of it, it seems pointless. I’ve looked in Ravelry stashes, but no one is looking to sell or trade the colour I want, so that option is out. I’ll find a solution. I think somewhere I have some purple fibre I could press into use here. It wouldn’t match properly, but such is life.

I honestly think the thing that makes me the most grouchy about this experience is that I had thought it would be a quick project. On and off the needles with impressive speed, and hey presto, I’d have some slippers, and I wouldn’t be adding to my pile of unfinished projects that are starting to stress me out. But simply for the lack of literally a few yards of yarn, it has become a faffy project.

After a nice cup of tea I’ll feel better, and I will find a solution.