Blogtober 2021 : Day 10

Today, I have washed and mended my car seat belt cover.

I have done other things as well, such as my menu plan for the week – I do this for a while and then forget to do it for a while, but it really is so less stressful to have your meals organised! – several loads of laundry, provided a knee for a cat to sit on, and caught up with social media.  Maybe not a high-powered kind of day but it is a Sunday, after all!

So, back to the car seat belt cover.  I made it a long time ago … I’ve just checked the blog post and it was 2016!  Blimey, the time doesn’t half go past, doesn’t it?  Anyway, I was fed up of the seat belt rubbing at my clothes and either wearing away the printing on t-shirts or creating bobbles on woolly jumpers so I decided that instead of buying a cover that would sit between the seat belt and my clothes, I would make one from leftover yarn.  Don’t all of us creatives work out first if we can make something before we buy it?!  Anyway, I figured that it shouldn’t be too difficult and I decided to crochet it because I knew it would grow faster than me knitting it, and also the crochet stitches are more dense than knit stitches so I knew it would be sturdier.  You can see my blog post on how I made mine here.

Fast forward a few years and the cute ladybird buttons I used have all but fallen off and I was starting to get a little embarrassed at how grubby the cover was looking so off it came for a wash and mend!

The yarn I used is leftover Stylecraft Special DK so it was easy enough to give it a good wash and know that it wasn’t going to do it any harm.  Then I hung it over the Aga rail to dry (Agas are useful for that kind of thing) …

and then it was just a case of finding some new buttons.

I found the other half of the packet of ladybird buttons which contained bee-shaped buttons (they had been a free gift on a knitting magazine) but decided not to use them as I felt that something that lay a bit flatter might work better this time.  I’m pretty sure I’ve got a tin of vintage buttons around somewhere but could I find it?  No, I could not.  I’m not someone who can’t resist buying buttons and I don’t tend to use them very often so the tin will have been put safely away somewhere but luckily, I found six buttons in another tin that were all about the right size and shape.  I think they might have been the spare buttons that came with suits my husband has bought over the years and they may not be as cute as ladybirds or bees, but they’ll do the job!

And that’s it all ready to go back into the car.  It still looks pretty well-used and there were a couple of marks that just weren’t coming out, but I know it’s clean now and it will attach to the seat belt all the way down instead of me having to try to wrap it around because it had come unbuttoned.  Sunday result!

I promised that I would tell you about the Naan bread I made yesterday as well – that was a Saturday result!  By the time I went to get the super-sticky dough out of the mixing bowl and roll it into the right shape, it wasn’t nearly as sticky and this is what they looked like by the time I got them on the baking tray.

I think I should have made them a bit bigger and thinner and perhaps cooked them three at a time but that’s for next time 🙂  I used coconut yoghurt and a dairy-free butter substitute so that big daughter could have them as well, and this recipe from Doves Farm.

This is what they looked like when they came out of the oven.

They’ve got melted (not) butter on them which is why they’re shiny and they’re still a bit thicker than they should be – but they were really good!  I’ll definitely make them again, and perhaps add some garlic and coriander too.

Lynne left me a comment on yesterday’s post to tell me about a gluten-free Naan bread recipe on the Becky Excell website and I think I’ll have to try that one too – and probably most of the other recipes on there!  Oh my life, if you’ve got food intolerances then this website will be right up your street if you haven’t seen it before!  One of my best friends is coeliac and I messaged her to ask if she’d seen it and she told me it her’s go-to website so I know that if she thinks that, it’s got to be very good.

Do you know, I didn’t expect that I’d talk to you about food as much as it feels like I have this month but it’s good to be able to have all these conversations, isn’t it?

I’m going to change the subject back to yarn again now, and to my friends at West Yorkshire Spinners.  Have you seen that they have recently collaborated with British fashion icon Dame Zandra Rhodes to create a new range of yarns?

Source: West Yorkshire Spinners

They’ve been produced in both Signature 4ply so ideal for socks 😉 and also Colour Lab DK which is also good for no-nylon socks and the yarns and accompanying pattern book are available in yarn shops now.  I’m going to be writing a blog post about them as I was incredibly honoured to be asked to be involved in the creation of the patterns that have been produced to support the new yarn – wow, it’s not every day that you get to say you’ve been involved with a Zandra Rhodes collection, is it? – so do look out for that one, although I’m not quite sure yet when I’m going to post it.  I just wanted to show you the yarns in case you hadn’t seen them yet.  They’re inspired by a wildflower meadow and you can really see that as you look at the way the yarns knit up.  There are lots of photos of the yarn and how it knits up on the WYS Instagram account and if you follow the hashtag #zandrarhodes on Instagram, you can get a peek at some of the patterns too.

I’m looking forward to telling you more about soon – but for now, that’s me over and out for today, and I’ll see you tomorrow! xx