She is not THAT small !

I finished off the super chunky cardigan from "Fitted Knits" last night and I guess the Lidl wool wasn't chunky enough for the pattern. I am very bad at doing tension squares I only do them when I am making something important. The rest of the time I just gauge it by " rack o' th'ee" (my dad used this expression when he judged things purely by eye and didn't measure it and it usually works for me also). Because this was knitted all in one top down my ee failed me this time! I did choose to knit the smallest size as my friend Caroline is only size 8 but there was no way the finished cardigan would have fitted her. I gave it to the "small for her age" 13yrs old I have living next door and she was thrilled to bits as it fits her beautifully. Her mum doesn't knit or crochet and as she is on a small budget is always grateful for anything I make for her daughter. I feel a bit mean sometimes as her other two kids are boys and although I had a boy myself I am very guilty of not doing "men" type knitting except for hats. I can't see the boys wanting any of the "turned out too small for Caroline" garments that I pass on.

Undaunted I started another project. I just could not wait to start something from my new books. I am really impressed with the Doris Chan Everyday Crochet book and can see many things in there that I would wear myself but yet would still be fashionable enough for my nieces. A lot of the time I love the look of something in crochet books but realise that for my stay at home life style they are just not "me". I have in the past made many lovely things for myself and find they are now languishing unworn in the wardrobe as I think they are too nice to wear for cleaning and dog walking! Doris Chan says in the book introduction that we should wear our crochet every day and not save it for special ocassions and I must admit that her garments are every day weareable so anything I make from this book will we worn!

I did, however, decide to start something from the other book of Crocheted socks as my need for socks over rode my need for something pretty to wear. I did start a pair of crochet socks ages ago from a magazine pattern and was very unhappy with the way they fitted so I unravelled them. This book appears to have patterns that I would wear although I must admit some do look a bit chunky for wearing with shoes. House or boot socks maybe. I had to smile when I got to the page showing a model wearing a pair of transparent boots made especially for sock knitters so that the colours of the hand made sock showed through them. Only the Americans could think of something like that! I started with the pair marked "easy to crochet". I will let you know if they are easy once I reach the heel shapings. Vicky will recognise the sock wool as she gave me the ball some time ago and I have just got around to using it.

Ailsa commented on her blog (Not Enough Time to Craft) about the fact that we crafters have a good rapport between ourselves. I joined a knitting group (The Knitting Noras of Bolton) and started a blog and have gained so many new friends both in person and via the net. I think it's great when we bounce ideas off each other and share thoughts and ideas. It's a good support network for me and I suspect other bloggers also. I love to get an insight into other peoples lives on a daily basis helps me to get my problems into perspective on bad days. This time a year or so ago I thought I was a lone knitter/crocheter and now I find there are hundreds of us out there crafting away!