All Set!

Living Below the Line

Tomorrow, with just £5 in my hand, I'll buy all the food I'll be eating for the next 5 days.

To follow my progress, and learn why I've accepted this challenge, click here.

And, if you feel moved to do so, please sponsor me.

All proceeds to Oxfam.

52/365

Four lines.  Four mistakes.

Oops!

51/365

Recycled & Recyclable

Look what I found in Aldi today!
Might go back and buy another box tomorrow.

The Rubbish Diet Challenge

I've just signed up for another of Mrs Almost Average's Rubbish Diet Challenge.

To find out more about this challenge click here.

And to follow my progress click here.

Millennium Development Goals

5 April 2013 marked 1000 days to the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, the most successful global anti-poverty project in history.

The target of halving the proportion of people who live on less than $1.25 a day was met five years ahead of schedule.

However, given the projection that in 2015 almost one billion people will still be living on this amount, there is a lot more work to be done.

That's why I'm going to Live Below the Line for 5 days from 29 April - to try and illustrate what this means in practical terms and to raise funds for Oxfam.

So far I've had two generous supporters, but I'm a long way off my £250 target.  Please consider giving as much as you can afford.

You can follow my progress and donate here.

Thank you!

50/365

Here's one I made earlier ...

I'm on a roll.  However before you go thinking that I dashed these off today, I will confess that they were knitted sometime last year, leaving only the grafting of one toe to finish late last night.  Having produced a pair of socks and a cowl for my older daughter last week I thought her sister deserved something for herself.

I used a Red Heart pattern and a self-striping sock wool (Ricoh Superba Mexico in Green/Lilac).  I love watching the pattern emerge as I knit.  I don't want to stop.

49/365

When my older daughter was home for Easter she took a fancy to her younger sister's cowl.  So I said I'd knit her one.  I chose Jen Geiegley's GAP-tastic pattern on Ravelry and Sirdar's Big Softie wool in graffiti.  I had a day and half to finish it and I did it - just!

I hope it will keep her warm in her cold student flat until the sun comes out again.

48/365

Ta da!

My elder daughter, who lives in Glasgow where is it often cold and wet, requested a pair of thick socks to wear with her Doc Martens.  So I knitted her these.

I found the pattern on Ravelry (Sarah Moore's Snow Day socks which you can find here).  I used Rico Essentials Soft Merino Aran, of which I bought three balls but used just over two.  They are a softer green than the photo suggests.

In contrast to all the other socks I've knitted these were worked from the toe up, which I think I now prefer.  The heel was a doddle to turn.

I love the way they slouch round the ankle.  So much so that I think I may knit another pair for myself!

47/365

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
 and their spears into pruning hooks:
 nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,
 neither shall they learn war any more

If I had £100 billion would I spend it on ...

... building more hospitals, employing more doctors and nurses, ensuring that every child had access to a good school, investing in the public transport infrastructure, supporting individuals and their families with physical and mental needs, sponsoring medical research, providing shelter for the homeless, funding research into sustainable energy, ensuring that everyone is paid a living wage, eradicating extreme poverty ...

or would I spend it all on a nuclear deterrent?

Hmmm.