Friday 13 January 2017

Finished At Last

We've been lucky so far with the weather. We've had some snow, lots of rain and cold winds. Snow has settled a bit on some of the higher ground around Dover, but the town centre has remained virtually snow-free. There was a reasonably heavy snow fall for about 30 minutes while I was out this morning but the ground was already so wet it just melted and thirty minutes late it was all gone. This afternoon has been cold with bright sunshine. 

I had a call on Monday to say our buyers had decided to have a full structural survey done, so an appointment was made for Thursday morning. Much nail-biting at our end because we know the house needs a lot of work but that's why we're selling at substantially less than the properties on either side of us which are also on the market. All went well, as far as I can tell. The surveyor was very nice, and seemed to think the house is good value for money so hopefully when our buyers get the report next week there won't be any issues to delay the sale. The seller of the house we're buying is eager to go ahead and has expressed hopes that we might be able to complete by the week starting 13th Feb. That's half term week and like DH she's a teacher so that would suit us both to move that week. Of course it also depends on the people she's buying from...so glad there isn't any more of a chain at either end of this transaction. 

We can't wait to move now; our troublesome set of neighbours have been right pains in the rear for the past week or so. In fact, I can hear their music blasting through our wall as I write. DH went round to complain last night but the message never seems to get through. The dad just says, well you know what teenagers are like. Well, we had 5 teenagers but didn't allow them to annoy our neighbours! Also, one day this week I went outside to find some dirty bugger had allowed their dog to poop right on top of our low front wall. I had to clean the mess up. Just about sums up the mentality of a large proportion of the population round here. 

In between clearing up dog poop, usual housework, accompanying DS1 to various appointments, filling out paperwork for the house etc. etc., I finally picked up the cardigan I'd been knitting. I'd had the second sleeve on the needles for months and between yesterday afternoon and this afternoon I've managed to finish the sleeve, do the front borders, sew it up and add the buttons. So I can finally show you the end result. Not very flattering photos, and the house is a mess with us starting to clear stuff out, but it gives you an idea of how it looks.


I can't say I enjoyed knitting with this super chunky wool. It might have knitted up quite quickly (when I actually sat down to work on it) but the thick needles were unwieldy and make my wrists ache after a while. I don't think I'll be doing any more like this in a hurry. The buttons are courtesy of my dear mum. She died 11 years ago but I inherited her yarn and button stash and there just happened to be 5 perfectly coloured, perfectly sized buttons in the tin. Thanks, Mum.

That's all for tonight. Enjoy the rest of your evening and have a good weekend.

Love, Helen xx







6 comments:

  1. Lovely to be able to use up something of your Mum's, you'll be reminded of her every time you wear the cardi.

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  2. I love the cardigan and it is more special because your mum is now part of it.

    I have spent the last week in England and as we travelled to France on the Eurostar I enjoyed seeing your homeland sprinkled with snow. Such cherished memory already.

    Good luck with the sales.

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    1. Thank you, Suze. So glad you had a lovely time over here, and got to see the snow. We only had a few flakes here in the south-east. It's still cold though. Safe journey home if you aren't there already.

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  3. I am with you on very large needles, my hands ache just looking at them. The cardigan is lovely and the colour suits you perfectly. Fingers crossed that your house sale gets a wiggle on, not much worse than selfish neighbours. I had some at one time and we went out early one Sunday morning leaving 2 tape players on loop play. One had AC/DC on and the other had Black Sabbath. When we returned they were beside themselves. I just smiled sweetly and said " remember this next time you want to rev your trike up for hours on end every evening. There were no more noise problems.

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    1. Thank you, Pam. I finally decided it was time to stop prevaricating and get on with it and managed to get it finished in only a few hours. I read your comment about neighbours out to DH and he loved it. I told him we're just too nice, put up with an awful lot without complaining and then complain as politely as possible. Neither of us like confrontations. Well done for standing up for yourself. Love, Helen x

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