Power failure and op shop finds.

 Here I am at the last of my three rostered days off. I haven’t achieved all that I hoped to, but there’s still time for more.

Yesterday’s rainstorm brought a power failure and left me sitting in the dark. I could just about see well enough to cast on some knitting. Yes, I know I said I was “off” knitting for a while, but it was all I could think to do in the almost dark and I wanted to make a couple of wash cloths for my Secret Santa gift at work. I cast on for a pretty flower‑shaped cloth I’ve done before, but this time I kept making mistakes. I can’t blame the lack of light or the weather — I just kept losing count! Even with a row counter at hand, the errors crept in.

When the power finally came back, I opened the garage door and headed out for a break and some op shopping. That turned out to be a good decision. In one store I scored three bags of fabric — the Christmas piece is a full metre cut, while the others are smaller but still useful. Do I have a plan for them? No, they’ll simply join the stash for now.

The next shop offered up a big bag of tapestry yarns for $15. No, I’m not about to take up tapestry, but they’ll be perfect for scrappy crochet projects. 

And while browsing the games and puzzles shelf, I spotted a box that looked like it might interest Tony. The tiny label said “as is,” meaning some parts might be missing, but at $5 it seemed a fair gamble.

When Tony opened the box he found lots of small parts already cut off the sprue. He spent some time reading the booklet and sorting through those tiny pieces. There are plenty more to go, but he’s confident he can make a robot out of it.

They are now resting on a tray rather than the floor.  Hopefully they will keep him busy for a good few hours and we will have a friendly solar powered robot sat with his collection of fine scale models. 

So you could say yesterday wasn’t a total write‑off. This morning I cast on a different knitted wash cloth and, happily, managed to keep count. The result is a neat little square, now pinned to the blocking board.

This afternoon I might be brave enough to have another go at that pretty flower‑shaped cloth. Wish me luck — I think it deserves a second chance.

Before I finish, I have to share my latest recipe experiment. You know I can’t resist tinkering with the chocolate and coconut slice (you’ll find the basic recipe in my recipe tab).

This time, inspiration struck at work when the girls were sharing a chocolate bar studded with little fruity jellies — bright red and pink, chewy and sweet. I got to wondering if I could make a keto version.

So I followed my usual recipe, then chopped up a packet of sugar‑free jelly sweets into tiny bite‑sized pieces and stirred them through. The result? A chewy surprise in every bite.

Tony has declared this his favourite variation yet — apparently it even beats the peanut butter version. High praise indeed!

I'm planning to have left over chicken for my lunch, then it's back to the flower cloth. I'm determined to give it another go. Hopefully I'll get another hexie flower made too. 

Then back to work tomorrow.