Christmas Sweater

One of  the Beloved's Christmas presents this year was 12 balls of King Cole Explorer Super Chunky in the colourway Raleigh. This is being worked into a sweater. 

I'm roughly following a pattern.  The largest size is two sizes too small, so I'm grading it to fit. It was also written as flat pieces to be worked separately, and then sewn together. This is not my style at all! This sweater is being worked in the round, and will have Raglan sleeves rather than drop sleeves.... oooh, I'm going to make a 4 stitch cable pattern going up the Raglan.

The pattern was also created without a chart for the cabling on the front and back. One of my tasks this morning is to take the jumble of numbers and letters, and make a pretty picture. 

Mushroom Gloop

 My first attempt at Mushroom soup was not a success. It started out as a vegan experiment, and was only rescued by the addition of a pair of chicken stock pots, and half a pint of double cream!  These additions moved the soup from the 'It's food, I suppose' into 'Yeah, it's okay...ish'. 

My next foray into vegan soups will be spiced parsnip. This sounds like it has the possibility for tastiness.

Decluttering Clothes

From July 2020 for a year, I took part in a challenge not to buy any new clothes. There were a couple of exceptions, underwear and emergencies. The challenge went well, and I only bought two items outside of the exceptions - a party dress and a wrap.

In August, I bought 10 new tops, and two pairs of trousers. These were to replace worn out clothing. The worn out items have yet to be disposed of. That's what happening today. I'm going to go through my clothing and declutter.

In the past, I've asked such questions as:

• do I like it
• do I wear it
• does it fit
• does it need to be repaired

This year, I'm going to take a different approach. I shall be thinking about what I need and want, and whether my current wardrobe meets those needs.

I need 3 pairs of pjs, 2 night shirts, 3 bras, 14 pairs of knickers, 14 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of woollen socks, 5 pairs of tights, 2 slips, 2 strappy tops, 1 swim suit, 14 tops, 4 pairs of trousers, 4 winter skirts, 1 party outfit, 3 jackets, 5 sweaters, 5 cardigans, 5 pairs of shoes. (Closer to summer, I'll look at what I need for warmer weather.)

My clean clothing has been sorted and decluttered. As I work my way through Mount Washmore, I'll declutter as I go. 

Back to Decluttering

Decluttering isn't a 'once and done' event. It needs to be done again and again until people can find a balance of things entering the house, and leaving it. I'm good at decluttering, but woefully bad regarding bringing new items into the house. 

Being the boss, means I decide when the shop opens, and closes. This means the shop closes between Christmas and New Year to allow the staff to have a good long holiday. For me, this is 10 days. Three of these days have been used. One day for Christmas celebrations, and two days doing very little apart from resting. Now, my need to 'accomplish stuff' has kicked in, and it's time to turn my mind to decluttering.

• declutter DVDs
• declutter games
• declutter jigsaws

The grand total from this round of decluttering is 12 DVDs. In previous years, it's been far more. The objective is not to simply get rid of stuff, but to get rid of the things we don't need. I would happily have said goodbye to much, much more, however, I'm not the only person in the house who has a say in it.