Mei Mei Is Finished

I have finished the Mei Mei. It has taken 10 balls of Patons Moonglow Winter White which although thicker than the wool recommended for the pattern has turned out quite well. I have added a little extra length to the bolero as being fuller figured anything that reaches the bust line and then stops is guaranteed to stick out at the front. I need to block it out before I give it a photo shoot as the bottom curves of the bolero are pulling slightly and could do with a good wetting and pinning to stretch out the edges to make it hang correctly. Some balls look whiter than others so I am glad that I chose to crochet it instead of the knitting as I think it would have looked more stripy in knitting as it changed from ball to ball.

I don't know if you can see but I sew my buttons to each end of a small tab instead of trying to connect them with a chain or elastic as suggested on the pattern. If I do it this way then I have a choice of wearing the bolero with the buttons or without. As the buttons are threaded through holes in the pattern stitch it looks equally as good worn either way.

I have placed an order for a replacement hook. The hook was a lightweight acrylic hook and I am not going to name where it came from as I am quite hard on my hooks and I was trying to force the hook through a tight chain when it broke. It snapped across the thumb rest so I don't know my own strength. I have been crocheting with this brand for a long time and nothing like this has happened to me before so I will just put it down to accidental damage.

I have added 3 photos from the Crochet Today magazine that I got yesterday. The first cardigan is unmistakably a Doris Chan design and is worked from the neck down. The cabled bag is by Kim Kotary and although it is nice I think that if I made it I would alter the handles and would line it with fabric to stop it stretching.

My great grand daughters love dressing up so I may make the pixie dress and fairy wings as they love new dressing up clothes. You can't really see but in the centre of the picture is a fairy wand and a tiara with shiny buttons, ribbons and sequins attached. I could perhaps make them and put them away until Christmas. I know it sounds a long time away but I could possibly be having my knee op in the middle of the year which could delay things.I should at least buy the right wool for the dress and the cotton and wire for the wings so if I am housebound whilst I recover I can crochet the time away.

I rang the hospital today to speak to the pre op sister who has been on holiday for the last 12 days. It is a good job that I did as no-one had followed up my notes whilst she was away so I hadn't been put back on the waiting list. As this is a similar situation to what happened to me before my spinal op I was more aware of what could go wrong this time. I am now going back on the waiting list but of course I will get added to the bottom so I will be a month behind when I should have had the op. I am thinking more May or June for the first knee replacement now. If I had not rung up I could have waiting a long time for them to call me about my op. With my spinal op they said 4 months on the waiting list and when 4 months had gone by I rang up to see how near to the top of the list I was only to find out that they had forgotten to add me! It could only happen to me. I told this to the sister when I rang this morning and said now do you see why I am so nervous?

I am still trying to drum up enthusiasm for returning to the ice cream coloured sweater knitting. I think that I am going to have to force myself to knit a bit each evening but start another project. If I don't then I am in danger of stopping making anything at all. I will finish it in time but my heart just isn't really in it. I think it's because it is so stripy and I don't want to look like a mint choc coloured deckchair.