New socks

Three weeks ago I had a little accident down the allotment and cut my leg, nothing too serious just a deep graze, but it left my leg sore for a while, and it helped me realise that it isn’t just my joints that are getting older, my whole body is!

With my leg sore I noticed that both legs actually swell through the day, not something I had paid any attention to until then, especially round the ankles. Now if I was working I don’t think the level of swelling would be as much because I would be wearing tights, but I spend most days down the allotment so I’m in the toughest pair of trousers I own, and socks, and those socks have strong elastic round the tops to hold them up, and make the swelling worse.

As Christmas is coming I thought I’d do some research and tell hubby what socks to buy me and where, that don’t have elastic ribbing. Was I in for a shock! £10 for one pair of socks of dubious quality! Hmm, that needed a re-think.

So I looked through my collection of sock patterns, (those who know me, know I am an avid pattern collector, so I had to search through quite a few!), and decided to make myself some instead. I chose to crochet them as the cuff would be stiffer and stand up on its own. The choice of yarn was easy, my friend Linda had given me some lovely scarlet wool and enough to make several pairs of socks if I so chose.

After starting and discarding several patterns because they weren’t working up the way I wanted, I finally settled on a free slipper sock pattern I found on line some time ago and had already made in to the best pair of slippers I have ever owned! They are warm, thick and have a cuff that can easily be made longer or shorter to my hearts desire, which is thick enough never to slip down and bunch around my ankles.

The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn, (which is double knitting to us here in the UK) but I had originally made the slippers in chunky as I feared they wouldn’t keep my forever cold feet warm enough with double knitting, so I knew they would work up a little smaller in the double knitting.

The feel of the socks in the shoe is totally different from a normal bought sock; there is actually some degree of friction due to the stitches being bigger, but this brought an unexpected bonus, it increased the circulation in my feet so even though the last few days have been a bit cold around here, my feet, and hence the rest of my body, have been toasty warm, and I haven’t had to turn the central heating on!

The pattern is super easy to make, so I have whipped up a couple more pairs, and to be honest I don’t think I am ever going to go back to shop bought socks again!

Another added bonus to these socks that only appeared after wearing them for several days is the increased circulation has reduced the hard skin around my heels and toes markedly, to the point where I suspect I won’t have any hard skin in another two or three weeks!

So last night, as I settled down to sleep, I did my usual thing of thinking what I had done that saved me money during the day, and my mind instantly went to my new socks. I have saved the cost of buying socks, at £10 a pair, (and I now have three pairs so that’s a saving of £30!). I used a free, online pattern, so saved about £2.00 there. I used yarn that I had been given, so saved £4.00 there. And since wearing them I haven’t had to turn the central heating on, so who knows how much I have saved there! So in all I have saved £36 plus for only four hours work, that’s better wages than I could earn out in the labour market, after tax, so I’m a very happy bunny!

Lucy, the flour used to make pasta is plain if you want to go cheapskate. There are some fancy ones you can buy to make it special, but you’d have to look at the packets to see which ones are specific, because I really am a cheapskate, and don’t have a clue!

Angela, Linda, Lucy and Posh and Trendy, thank you for your kind words about the fox. My head knows there are many foxes out there, and they are a problem in urban areas, I also know I did as much as I could for her under the circumstances, (the RSPCA doesn’t like coming out for foxes as they consider them vermin). But my heart tells me I had formed a bond with a wild animal, which is a rare thing to happen and that I should treasure it, and I will for the rest of my life. My consolation is the foxes injuries were such that she must have died instantly with little or no pain, and at least I gave her the time to experience some of her life. I am grateful she didn’t have time to give birth to a litter of pups, which would have really torn me apart emotionally.

When did things get so complicated?

Ever since I can remember I have loved pasta, right from my very first taste of spaghetti on toast. Of course my taste in pasta has grown up a little bit since then, but I still enjoy the odd ‘on toast’ experience too. But for some strange reason I have always thought pasta was something you had to buy because it was so complicated to make. In my mind I had images of Delia Smith rolling long thin strips of pastry through a machine and hanging the resultant strands on the backs of dining room chairs to dry for 24 hours. Don’t ask me where I got that idea from though, maybe an old program of hers?

Anyway, there I was tonight, sitting crocheting away like an old granny, with half an eye on the Jamie Oliver program, Ministry of Food, (Boy do I admire that man’s passion and common sense!) and he pops out with a recipe for pasta that even I could make on the busiest of days!

100grms (4oz) of flour and one egg. Mix to a dough, roll out thin, curl the edge over and roll in to a tube, then slice the tube, and hey presto, you have manageable lengths of pasta ready to go in the pan!

Guess what I’m having for dinner tomorrow….

If it is so easy to make, how did I get the idea it was so hard? The simple and obvious answer is I have fallen victim to clever marketing, yet again! They should teach consumer skills in schools I tell you! And you should be able to get a degree in the science of debunking advertising!

Any one who is interested in reducing their spending has read one of the many posts online about making your own washing powder, and that too is a lot simpler than marketers would have you believe, so I wonder how many other things that I now buy, thinking I can’t make a reasonable version myself, are on my shopping list.

Think about it, a 1.5 kilo bag of flour costs (if you buy the cheap stuff) £0. 46p, half a dozen eggs are £1.30, so that’s 3p for the flour and 21p for the egg, a total of 24p! Pasta if you buy it dried is 90p, and upwards of £1.90p if you buy it fresh!

Yes it takes a little longer to make your own than to buy it, IF you don’t add in the time it takes to go to the shop, find the pasta, wait in line to pay, and then transport it home, but if you do factor that in, then if you make your own, from things you already have in the kitchen, you are ahead monetarily and time wise BIG TIME!

I’m off to go through my shopping list again, just in case there is something there that I could be making myself for a fraction of the cost.