Sorry, but I may be ruffling some feathers here, but what may appear to be a ridiculous substitution, is not necessarily so, for the following reasons. While I can understand your frustration at the substitution, there may be mitigating circumstances. First of all, let me say that I'm a free range e...

SunnyB - I'm crocheting squares for a blanket at the moment (I've got 515 squares done, so only another 45 or so to go). I'm using 4 ply pure wool (the only one that does this AFAIK is Rowan), and a 3.50mm crochet hook. Each one is as follows: Make a slip knot and work 6 chains, then join to make a ...

Just bought 4 x 420g tins of Branston beans from T*sco for 89p. So that works out at 22p per can.

I've got an Eglu Cube and its only a matter of time before someone spots it I know it wouldn't be very elegant, but how about painting your postcode on it - it doesn't have to be too large, but that would deter anyone from stealing it. My neighbour had a lot of trouble with lads pinching his custom...

They're smallish pale green pods, and contain small black seeds. The pods are crushed, releasing the fragrant seeds, and these seeds are then ground.

I have home-made cranberry sauce that's two years old. Looks fine, with no mould. Only thing is ... it tastes a little insipid. The flavour seems to have vanished somewhat. I must admit it's far easier to open freeze cranberries, then pack them in bags, and use to make sauce when needed. I buy them ...

Still have runner beans growing outside, and sufficient for a meal every now and then. Last year my beans lasted until Nov 5th, so this year may be the same. All my peppers have now turned a lovely pillar box red colour and are in pots which I've just moved into the greenhouse. Chilli plants still p...

It may be a little late, but how about this book? It's called Real Cidermaking, and is quite cheap to buy.

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSear ... 61955.html

Sounds to me a little bit like a sprain. My vet was a great advocate of human painkillers for the odd times like this when Homer might appreciate something to relieve whatever symptoms he has. He always used to say if only more people would treat their pets as they would themselves on the ODD occasi...

I've just been looking at all the pictures posted of the hats that have been made for The Big Knit, and came across one being modelled by a lovely hen called Debbie:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dixiebean/ ... -knit-2009

The album of all the hats is here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/innocent-b ... ool/page4/

secret squirrel wrote:We are hoping to have our own Dobe sometime next year. OH wants to call him Tollomey.

The spelling is more often Ptolemy, pronounced Tollomey.

There's more about the great Ptolemy here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy

It's a lovely name for a dog - very distinguished and top notch!

Officially speaking, in case anyone from the Ministry is reading this, suet, being an animal product, should not be fed to chickens. Suet's OK if it is vegetable suet - it's made from palm oil. There are some famous biscuit brands which contain it, ones which are particularly good for the digestion.

Meg, I believe they do it every year - they've certainly done it for the last few years anyway. If you root around their website you'll find videos, pictures, etc all from previous years. And of course some of the hats have been crocheted. All mine are knitted, and in bright fun colours. There are s...

Oh that sounds just so lovely - goslings are wonderful and fun.

How about doing a little knitting for charity? I've been doing some tiny hats which will each raise money for Help the Aged, in a promotion between Innocent Drinks and Sainsbury's. Last year I saw lots of little smoothie bottles each wearing a knitted bobble hat, and they looked so cheerful, as well...