Now that we are in the proper throes of winter, I can indulge my 2 favourite winter pass times.  Numero Uno is snuggling up next to the roaring fire with a good book and coming in a close second is wearing all my cosy handknits.  Unfortunately I don’t have the patience to knit myself a whole jersey.  I tried once in the 90’s but ended up getting someone else to finish it for me.  Lucky for me I have a very talented Mother – In – Law who loves to knit and can whip a jersey up in a couple of weeks.  I have just sent off another jersey lot of wool for another surprise to add to my collection.

In the meantime, I have been giving some love to my woolly collection.  I have given them all the once over with the new lint shaver that I got a couple of weeks ago (very addictive, there is not a bobble or pil in the house)

Over the summer I store them in a drawer with some home made moth repellent bags.  I don’t like the smell of moth balls and they are carcinogenic so I make my own using Wendyl Nissens natural recipe from her book Recipes for a Cleaner life:

50g dried Rosemary
50g dried Mint
25g dried Thyme
25g Ginseng (I get mine from Commonsense Organics but any good health food shop will stock it)
200g whole cloves

Mix together and put into sachets.  I made mine from some leftover bits of polar fleece I had and tied the top with string.  Your jerseys will come out at the end of summer smelling wonderful!  There is also an alternative recipe on Wendyl’s blog here.  I buy my dried herbs in bulk from Moore Wilsons and double the recipe to make a good number of bags that I use anywhere I have woollen items in storage.  They last for a couple of years before you have to refresh them and I just put the old mix into the compost bin