Day 20: "Chooseday"

Over the years many of my more organised friends have extolled the benefits of bulk buying, batch cooking and a canny use of the freezer, but to be frank I've never really appreciated the attraction or the benefits.    

However I agree there is a certain satisfaction to opening the freezer, while the kettle for the morning tea is boiling, to select something for dinner and to have the choice of a whole range of homemade meals.  Despite the slight increase in temperature today over Monday's early morning -2.8C, stew and dumplings was calling to me and I took these out together with some of the mash potato I had left over from the shepherd's pies. Served with the penultimate portion of my apple crumble and yoghurt, this will be a satisfying choice for a Tuesday.

The most important decision for the day already made, my head was free to think about other things.  This week will be abnormal in that instead of my usual trips to the Needle and Natter and the quilt group, I'll have to stay in to receive parcels and workmen. Despite my best attempts to arrange for everything to arrive on the same day, the notifications tell me to expect knocks on my door every day for the next six.  There are benefits to this.  I'll need to pick up a few food essentials this week - milk and non-dairy spread for example, but the time restraints mean that I'll not be wandering around the supermarket bemoaning the prices of the things I can't add to my basket this month. The downside is that I'll not be able to identify reduced items that might prove useful constituents of £5 Christmas presents.

At this time of year supermarkets, garden centres, gift shops, delicatessens and other places selling what might be described as 'posh' food items are clearing their shelves of end of ranges, odd items of old stock to make way for all those Christmas specialities and packaged-for-Christmas items.  This doesn't mean that the items are out of date, or even close to it, the shops just need the space.  More about this later (when I'm more able to go out 'foraging').

For now, let's continue out discussion of other under a £5 presents.  If you don't think your skills are up to socks, then maybe scarf making is for you.  I am currently addicted to making these scarves - knitted in the round on four 2.75mm double pointed needles from left over sock wool.  Over the years I have made probably made hundreds of pairs of socks, but have never been able to throw away the ends of the skeins.  As a result I have the equivalent of a laundry basket-full of odds and ends.  Being knitted in the round means that one only 'knits' there is no 'purl' stitch needed to produce stocking stitch, all the loose ends from the joins are on the inside, so no sewing in is required, the scarf is double thickness and lies beautifully flat and the only sewing up required is the pom-pom on the ends (which is optional!).  So these scarves haven't actually cost me anything to make but will make lovely gifts.  If you don't happen to have baskets of spare wool lying around the house, each scarf takes about 200 grams of 4ply (about 800 metres, not including the pom-pom) and could easily be made for under £5 if you chose high-percentage acrylic yarn.  Budget supermarkets like Aldi, Lidl, B&M and Home Bargains often have special offers on craft materials, so it is worth checking them out for yarn, but be quick - Aldi's new range of 'Crafty Yarn' sells out the day it goes on-line/on-the-shelves.

Of course knitting isn't your only option for scarves.  I'm a beginner crocheter, but still managed to produce these scarves without too much angst. Again they use about 200 grams of yarn, but in each case here I've used a much finer yarn: 'lace' weight or 'fingering' as it is also known.  Harder to find in shops at reasonable prices, but not impossible.  Good places to look are charity shops which frequently have boxes of yarn the result of house clearances or crafters 'de-stashing'.  Especially useful are specialist organisations like Remake Scotland who specialise in collecting materials for repurposing, up-cycling and crafting.  Also check out free cycle networks like Gumtree and sites like Google marketplace and Ebay.  Someone out there has exactly what you are looking for at the price you can afford.

As my sisters will tell you I have no need to buy new yarn (probably ever) not of course that that would stop me, but I am particularly aware at the moment of my 'survivalist' mentality, a phrase coined by a Facebooker.  I now appreciate that before the start of my challenge my kitchen cupboards were stocked for war, and there is a reason my neighbours bought me this sign for my sewing/craft room.  So in addition to using up odds and ends of left-over yarn, I'm also planning to use up yarn that was bought with intentions lost in the mists of time.


This 400-gram ball of mostly acrylic has moved house with me at least twice, and possible four times.  I have no idea why I bought it and I'd need two balls for the sweater on the ball band, so having finished my latest scrap scarf this is my new project.  Serendipitously I found a pattern for a scarf that uses exactly 400 grams of aran weight yarn.  It's a bit more challenging than my normal plain knitting and I can't knit this and watch DVDs, but a good audio book is just the thing while waiting in for deliveries.  Not possible for £5 you say?  Think again.  Aldi are currently offering 400 grams of aran-weight yarn (only available in brown) for £3.99. Now I'd say that is a good choice for a Tuesday.


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