Latest Crochet Today Magazine

The latest copy of Crochet Today arrived yesterday which was a suprise as I didn't expect any post as it was the Royal Wedding Day. This issue doesn't have much in it that appeals to me but that is the chance that I take when I subscribe to magazines.

Nothing much on this page interests me.

Nor on this page

I have seen designs like these many times before so nothing on this page interests me either.

The little amigurumi figures are quite cute but as I don't like crocheting dolls they are also not going to be on my list of projects still to make.

I do like this cardigan but it is only an advert in the magazine. Fortunately it is a free pattern from the Red Heart website so at least I can find the pattern there.

This Spring like waistcoat is also not in the magazine  but it is another free pattern from Red Heart. Thank goodness for the free pattern adverts in this magazine otherwise I would not have found anything in it that I wanted to crochet.

The sun is trying to shine today but it is really windy. I will be staying home and    doing some knitting. As it is a Bank Holiday weekend  here in the UK my steam mop will probably not arrive until Tuesday at the earliest so that gives me a good excuse not to mop the kitchen floor until then. Not that I need an excuse. Housework is something that I do when I have to. I am definitely not a neat and tidy freak. I like to have my things around me and not put away in cupboards. People have to take me as they find me these days. At one time it would worry me what people thought of my housekeeping so I would be always cleaning. Now I have realised that life is too short to fret about the small stuff like a bit of dust.

Coffee time and back to the knitting. I am really into this big super chunky knitting. Hopefully I will have my jacket finished over the weekend just in time for my next scooter ride.

Royal Wedding Knit In

Today, like millions of people, I have been watching the Royal Wedding on TV. I had a little mini Knit In (not a Knit Out as I would not have been able to see the TV outdoors) One reason why I wanted something very easy to knit is that I knew that I would be glued to the TV and so not able to concentrate on the cable stitch pattern that I am supposed to be knitting. The wedding was fabulous. I love all the ceremonial horse driven coaches, ceremonial uniforms, the horseguards, the marching bands, the ornate fashions (especially the hats) and of course the secrecy over the bride's dress finally revealed. On a day like today I am proud to be British as I don't think that anyone can do large events, containing so much history, as we Brits can. We can certainly put on a classy show. It must have been nice to be there in reality if only for the atmosphere and the party atmosphere.

I looked amongst the crowds but I didn't catch a glimpse of my niece and her husband but that would have been like trying to spot a needle in a haystack. My street unfortunately doesn't do street parties. We have lots of young couple who perhaps don't see why a Royal Wedding is so important from a historical and tourist point of view. Also my street slopes at a rather alarming angle so it would be a bit tricky to put a table up the middle of the street as all of the sandwiches would finish up sliding down to one end of the table! I have lived here almost 43yrs and never known a communal party for any event.

This is the pattern that I am using for my jacket in Sirdar Denim Ultra that I got from Kemps Sale the other day. The pattern is knitted on 10 mm needles but as I knit a bit loosely I am making mine on 8mm needles as I couldn't find any 9mm needles in my stash. It is turning out a nice firm fabric and I am sure that the yarn will 'give ' in wear and certainly when washed so even if it is a bit tight to begin with then it will soon ease as I block it or wear it. I have changed the pattern slightly and am going to put 6 buttons on it and I have lowered the garter stitch row more towards the waist than under the bust. As I have an ample bosom I find that things with high empire line fastenings make the jacket hit my bust and flare outwards making them look a bit like a pregnancy shape rather than a flattering fitted waistline shape.

I should go back to my niece's knitting but I am really into knitting plain on these big needles so I guess that I will be knitting this until it is finished which won't be long at this rate.

The weather is sunny, despite the prediction of showers, so Prince William and Kate were able to use the open carriage giving the waiting thousands a good view on them on their way back to Buckingham Palace. I wish that I was sampling their wedding meal. I bet that they are not having cheese and onion patties as I will be having later. I should have bought something a little more fancy in honour of the wedding. Perhaps with a glass of wine to wash it all down with. Instead it will be a glass of orange and my patties. Perhaps if I use a nice fancy glass, polish the cutlery and find a serviette it will feel more festive.

Although the wedding is long over the TV is carrying on covering street parties etc so it's back to the plain kintting until everything is over for the day. I do hope that if you were watching the Royal Wedding that you enjoyed the day.

I Think That I Own A Small Part of Kemps

I am definitely a Kemps groupie. One of their biggest fans. Since I discovered this site a large portion of my pension goes to Kemps. I simply cannot resist their bargains. I will have to get some therapy soon or I will be living the rest of my life eating baked potatoes with beans! I could not let the bargain of Sirdar Crofter Chunky pass me by at the price of £1.39p a 50 gram ball. I have often admired the Crofter in the DK but the price is really out of my reach, especially if I am giving the finished jackets away. I am looking forward to making myself couple of jackets with this wool. When the sun is shining I feel a bit silly bundled up in a fleece jacket but I do feel the cold on my scooter unless it is really hot. Chunky jackets will bridge that gap between winter fleeces and hopefully some sunny weather and being able to wear some nice summer tops.

This is the Sirdar Ultra in the red and black fleck and the Chilli colour of Big Softee. Both of these are super chunky and will be so fast to knit up. I could not wait to start myself a really chunky jacket to wear out and about now so last night I cast on the Sirdar Ultra. I must return though to my niece's purple chunky as I still have one front and the front bands to knit. It's naughty of me to start something else when I have things on needles but the urge to knit something plain overtook me last night.

Today the gardener came to trim the lawn and weed the flower beds. The lawnmower has to go through the garage, through my kitchen and out the back door so I will be glad when my steam mop arrives and I can attempt to keep the kitchen floor clean. I find that I cannot lift the mop bucket down from the sink with water in it, nor can I empty it later without my back starting to really hurt. The steam mop is supposed to be very light to use. Feedback that I read about the mop complains that it doesn't hold enough water in one fill to clean a kitchen but for me that is not a bad thing as it will not be as heavy to push as one that carries a lot of water. Feedback doesn't criticize the way that it works and as I only have a small kitchen it won't worry me if I have to refill it to finish the job. The delivery will probably be delayed because of the Bank Holiday and tomorrow's National Holiday for Prince William's wedding day. It could be Wednesday before it arrives even though I have had a confirmation e mail that it has already been sent.

I ordered a mop from another company last week but got an e mail yesterday saying they didn't have any in stock and so had refunded my money. As they didn't know when more stock would arrive I tried a different company. This one is more expensive than the first mop but Hey Ho - it's only money and I can't search around the shops to maybe find a cheaper one. Most of my shopping is done online these days.

I will be watching TV tomorrow morning. Not because I am particularly a Royalist but I do love State occasions and being a woman I am waiting to see what Kate's wedding dress will look like. Most women like a good wedding. I will be there in my armchair knitting away on my stocking stitch jacket so that I don't have to look down too often. I won't be wearing a big hat or waving a flag though.

Last of the Crochet Flowers (for now)

I have finished making the flowers for the Islington Mill Festival. Hopefully Rachael will take photos of the decorations when they are all in place next week. I love these daisies. I think they are so bright and cheerful and remind me of Spring.

These flowers are crocheted in a length and then rolled up. They do look somewhat like cabbages but I am sure they will look OK on the posts.

I am quite fond of these brightly coloured little flowers. They will bring a bit of Spring colour to the posts.

I decided to make something other than flowers so now I have an odd looking caterpillar, a strange pink butterfly and a very evil looking sheep that looks rather like a gremlin.

These are some of the flowers made by other members of the Kings Arms Knit Club. We should have quite a lot of flowers to attach to posts next weekend. The ladies were sewing buttons in the centre of some of the flowers and we put safety pins on the back of the flowers so that they could be picked from the posts and worn as brooches.

These 2 photos are taken of the lamp post outside of the Kings Arms Salford where we hold our Knit Club. It was a practise run at how the flowers will look on the posts next weekend. Roger has made absolutely loads of the green stems with a bobbin that makes i cords. I used to have bobbins when I was younger made from old wooden cotton reels with little tacks. I must have produced miles of this cord. I was always going to make something like a shopping bag with the cords but never got around to stitching them together.

This is another of my 'lodger' cats. This little lady, whose name I have forgotten, came in for a few cat biscuits and a sleep as her owners were at work. After she left my usual 'lodger' came in from next door for a sleep and he stayed in whilst I was at the Knit Club and was sitting on the window sill waiting for me to return. People have asked me why I don't get another cat or a smaller dog but I am happy with my daily feline visitors, plus Poppy, the little dog from next door who comes through the hedge to say Hello and of course sporadic visits from my doggy favourite ,Buster, my fur grandson.

Today I am going to try to return to the last of my niece's knitting but the housework really needs doing. It has been left whilst I have been flower making as that was to a deadline as even if I make any more flowers then I won't see anyone to give them to before the weekend. Rachael has another flower project at Just So festival so any other flowers that I make can go to that.

I was going to try machine knitting this week but not until I have finished off the chunky cardigan for my niece. She has waited long enough.

More Crochet Flowers

I am continuing making crochet flowers for the Islington Mill festival. Some patterns come from Ravelry and some come from my doodles. Hence the fact that some look far prettier than others.

The tiny sun hat was one of my designs. I started off with a circle and then diverted into a thimble and then a sun hat. I thought that it would make a change from flower brooches.

These are some more flowers. We are not meeting up tonight as it is Easter so we have decided to have our Kings Arms knit club tomorrow instead. We need to get the brooch backs or safety pins stitched onto the flowers ready for them to be pinned to lamposts on Saturday. I won't be helping with that bit as the old knees are not up to walking from post to post.

The weather is very changeable today. This morning was a bit dull then it went very sunny. I have a clothes line full of bed linen outside and now it has gone dull again. I think everything is almost dry so I will bring it in before the rain comes.

Neo the Akita from across the road managed to push the gate open from their back garden and was sitting on the front step. My neighbours had gone out so I had to ring their mobile to let them know that the dog was loose. I sat on their steps for a while and eventually Neo decided to walk back into the back garden so I closed the gate with a stone as I could not reach over the gate to fasten the bolt. The bolt on the inside of the gate mustn't have been fastened properly and when he pushed the gate, it opened. Fortunately I saw him before he wandered off. Neo and I have a bit of a love/hate relationship so I don't like to get too close to him. He is great with everyone else, even with their baby. I just think that it is a personality clash between he and I. Fortunately my neighbours were shopping locally and came back in a very short time.

I was going to sit in the garden and do some crochet but as the sun has gone in now I think that I will stay indoors and see if there is anything good on the TV to watch whilst I crochet some more flowers.

Happy Easter

I hope that you are having a good Easter Sunday. I used to try to go to church on Easter Sunday but I have to admit that I haven't been in quite a while. The church bells aren't ringing yet so it must be a later service today. From my patio doors I have the view of one of the oldest churches locally and I usually get serenaded by the church bells for services, weddings and even a tolling bell for a funeral. Sometimes in the past we have had some very discordant chimes but the set of bell ringers they have now seem to have got it right apart from the odd wrong note. When they got it note perfect my son used to say "They are playing a recording again today Mum." He insisted that they had a tannoy hidden somewhere in the belfry that they switched on some days.

No Easter Eggs at this end as I do try not to eat too much chocolate and I don't buy them for my Great Grand Daughters as they don't eat that much chocolate either. I used to discourage people from buying my son Easter Eggs when he was small as he wasn't a lover of chocolate and they used to hang around the house for weeks until eventually I ate them which didn't do my figure any good!

The flowers are some that I have crocheted for the Islington Mill festival in Salford next weekend.

This is a closer look at 3 of the flowers. I find a lot of the patterns on Ravelry but I can't tell you which ones they are as I tend to crochet one and then remember the pattern so I don't often print them out. This year it is intended to put pins or brooch backs on the flowers with a label on the posts saying 'Pick Me' Last year they were sewn onto pieces of crochet but this year they are being pinned to green i cords that represent stems. We would rather people took them and pinned them to their clothes for the festival than they get vandalised later or worse still left on the posts to get dirty from the rain and traffic dirt. I have been told that one is left on a traffic pole from last year and it is so black that it is now almost welded to the post. Roger says that he will cut it down whilst he is dressing the posts this year.

These two flowers came out rather large and remind me of waterlilies or cabbages as one of the ladies said yesterday. I ran out of wool for the end of one so I hope that no-one notices the deliberate mistake.

This little bunny is a Marshmallow bunny from a free pattern on Ravelry. I am going to try to make a couple more of these as I think he is very cute.

The bird is from another free Ravelry pattern and is supposed to be a cat toy filled with catnip. The owl is called Hoot Owl and is another free pattern. My finishing leaves a lot to be desired which is why I don't do amigurumi as a rule. They always finish up with cross eyes and lop sided features. The owl has a crooked beak and the bird has somewhat of a strange beak. The details are what let me down every time.

Today the sun is trying to shine but it is colder than yesterday. Hopefully it won't mar the Easter plans that people have. My plans today are to crochet more birds, beasties and flowers as we are having a 'sew the brooch backs on day' on Tuesday evening at the Kings Arms as the pub is closed tomorrow, our usual meeting eve, for Easter Monday and we need to get organised before the final pin on the stems day next Saturday. I don't mind crocheting flowers and things. It makes a welcome break from all the knitting that I have done lately and so I hope to make quite a few more before Tuesday evening. I have a few more ideas in my head for things other than just flowers.

Crochet Doodles

My Niece called today with the extra ball of wool, that I need to finish off her chunky jacket, and gave me permission to take some time off to crochet as she won't be picking her jacket up until next week. It is my Sister in Law's birthday tomorrow and so my Niece mainly called to pick up the beige cardigan that I have made for her Mum and the card. She thinks that her Mum will like it so that is a huge relief. I am really pleased with the RYC natural silk and as it took 15 balls I am pleased with Kemps for reducing it greatly as had I paid the full price then it would have cost me £75 for the yarn. My Sister in Law does appreciate quality so it was nice to be able to give it to her on this occasion.

I am going to get my niece to browse through my patterns and books and put stickers on styles that she likes and that she thinks that her Mum and Sister will like. That way I can be using up some of my stash and getting ready for the dreaded C nice and early this year instead of the mad gallop that I had last Christmas.

My niece has chosen her next garment. She likes one of Doris Chan's patterns and some Sirdar Silky Look DK that I got from Kemps in the sale. It is what I would call a Dusty Pink. I have accrued way too much yarn for my own personal use so it's nice to spread it around the family as they do appreciate the things that I make providing that they know the style and colour first.

Today I have been doodling about with a bit of black wool. I think that I mentioned before that the Islington Mill, Salford is having a festival with all sorts of things going on and I had promised to make some flowers for the lamposts which are being decorated around the Mill. I hadn't really started, even though I am going there tomorrow, so with my niece's permission I am going to crochet like mad tonight. I started with my rendition of crochet musical notes as we wanted some things not to be so girly. The idea is to put these crocheted things onto pins and so that they can be taken, worn and appreciated rather than just getting wet and dirty for weeks attached to the lamp posts. Roger, a fellow knit club member, is making loads of green stems for around the lamp posts with the idea of pinning flowers, butterflies, spiders, musical notes and other what nots to the stems. Nice idea for brightening up a corner of Salford.

I have lots of ideas of what I would like to make so my crochet hook is poised and ready for action tonight.

Yesterday I made some lovely stew from the leg bone of the lamb that I cooked earlier this week. There was quite a bit of meat on it so I boiled the bone, plus meat, along with some onions and garlic. When the meat was dropping off the bone I took it out and stripped the meat off and discarded the bone. I then added vegetables and it has made a lovely stew. I will eat the rest of it for my dinner tonight. I love to do the same with a chicken. Once it gets to the bits and pieces on the carcass then I boil it up and make stew with that. My Mother would be proud of me. She never wasted anything if she could help it. She would be horrified at the amount of food that gets thrown away these days. Even if there was no meat left on bones she would still boil them up to make stock.

All this food chat has made me hungry so I am off to heat up the rest of the stew and then it's feet up and crochet tonight ready for my trip to the Islington Mill tomorrow.

More Vintage Goodies

Spring is in the air today. I love my flowering cherry although it's flowering life is so short and the street looks like it is covered in pale pink confetti for weeks. It symbolises Spring to me and lifts my spirits.

This is my neighbour's tree. It is a different kind of flowering cherry than mine and her flowers are not only a darker colour but they are more robust than mine and stay on the tree for longer.

The postman brought me a package today which was a surprise as I wasn't expecting anything. When I opened it there were two vintage books inside sent to me by a Ravelry friend Maureen (Mehalah). I did a happy dance around the lounge. Well a happy hobble. The feeling that I get from getting and browsing vintage patterns is what I imagine it is like to get 'high' I have never taken any drugs apart from prescription meds but when I hear people describing 'getting high' then I get the same feeling from vintage pattern books. I haven't looked at the machine book yet but as I am hoping to get into the machine again after I have finished the chunky jacket for my niece then I am sure there will be many designs in there that will come in useful.

I do love the close stitch crochet and so this aran jacket is right up my street. Although I don't normally like crochet bags this granny square one would make a lovely craft bag for going to knit club with, provided it was lined of course. Otherwise I would be scattering crochet hooks behind me in a wake.

These waistcoats are lovely and cheerful and once again done in close stitch crochet patterns.

Once again this waistcoat and sweater are done in close two colour pattern stitches.

I remember a few weeks ago that Maureen had said that she had a beach coat pattern that she thought that I would like. I presume that this is the one that she meant. Oh how well people know me. I would probably use slightly muted shades for everyday wear though but I do love the design. Could be another stash buster. I have to say that the halter neck design is not for me but that is purely and age thing.

This 3 colour coat will be ideal to make for Autumn. My mind is aleady thinking of what colours I could put with the cream aran that I already have in stash. Whilst I like the colours on the photo I don't think that I have seen those shades in aran.

I absolutely love this white cardigan and this is definitely on my 'to do' list. I have a few shades in stash that will work well with this pattern. The sleeveless top is pretty but not for me as I don't bare the tops of my arms in public anymore. I have flappy bat wing arms or bingo wings as they are often called and so keep them covered up so they don't swing about as I move!
I also like the yellow coat as I do love the butt covering styles. I like to think they are flattering me by skimming over the fat bits.

The white flower top is not for me for the previous reasons and I don't think that the frilly top is my style but both are pretty for the young.

I don't have any men to crochet for so I don't know if any man would want to wear a crochet cardigan or waistcoat.

The baby cardigans are just gorgeous. I actually have the white baby set on a single leaflet from many years ago and made it smaller for my cousin's premature baby back in the early 70's. Nothing fitted her as she was just over 3lbs at birth so I had to hurredly crochet her some little cardigans and bonnets.

Whilst I am not sure about the tabards for children the hat patterns are a useful addition to my pattern collection.

I do love the lacy top cover up but I would try not to make it too large as I think big and floaty is not always a good look on someone larger. I would aim for slightly loose.

Unfortunately I don't have any little girls to crochet dresses for nor do I have any boys for the sweater but if I did then I would certainly try these.

Thanks once again to Maureen for your very kind gift. If I was asked how would I measure wealth then I would say that it doesn't always apply to material wealth. I am rich in friends in fact I am so rich that I am a millionaire. I would like more money, wouldn't we all in these trying times. but I think that the value of friendship is beyond a price. Thank you to everyone of my lovely friends both online and in person. You make me very happy with your e mails, blog comments and general chit chat. I think that most of us are loving, giving, charitable people. I was always taught that if you don't give then you don't receive. I am not talking about expensive presents here I am talking about the gifts of love and friendship and doing things for others without being asked. In other words you are MY kind of people.

My friend remarked yesterday that I was very cheerful and sounded very happy. I took that as a huge compliment as like most of you I have my pain days and general off days but I do try to make the best of things. The sun is shining today, the trees are in blossom, I have 2 new books to browse. How could I not be happy? I hope that you are having a good day also.

Old Patterns Bring Back Memories

I think that everyone knows that I have a passion for old patterns and not only buy 'new' vintage patterns I have a fair collection dating back from the 60's when I first started learning to crochet properly. Before that date I had just messed about with stitches and made up my own designs. I didn't start buying patterns until I learned how to follow them.
I regularly browse through my patterns and books. I can spend all day just looking at them all. Some I never got around to making and some evoke memories as does this one. When I got married in 1968 I just had the one bridesmaid, my best friend from school Anne, who was getting married the Saturday after my wedding. When I was going to get her a bridesmaid present she requested that I crochet her a top to go with her black skirt to wear for her graduation ball from Uni. Like us they were short of money as they had both just finished Uni so I was happy to oblige. I made it for her in emerald green with a very subtle hint of gold lurex. Anne had an olive complexion and black hair and so strong colours really suited her. She was as skinny as a rail and the top looked gorgeous on her if I say so myself. This is one reason why I could never get rid of my patterns as lots of them bring back lovely memories. My marriage wasn't the best but there are still some parts of it that I remember as being good.

I am still knitting like crazy on my niece's chunky jacket. Since I took this photo yesterday I have managed to finish off that sleeve and started the second one. When I go off knitting something I try to knit up the easy bits so that I feel that I am progressing which is why I left the back half done. I fell out with knitting the cables. Now that I have restarted the knitting I will go back to the cables and finish the back and make the fronts. My niece isn't well. She is prone to bouts of tonsillitis which makes me feel even more guilty that I didn't finish her jacket in time for her Birthday. Still I am back to it now so hopefully it won't be too long before I show the finished jacket.

The sun is shining today but not quite warm enough to knit in the garden so it's a mug of coffee and back to knitting in the sitting room.

Birthday Present Finished

I have finished my Sister in Law's birthday jacket in time for her birthday. I wish that I could say the same for my niece's jacket which has been put on hold. For this pictured jacket I used a pattern from Rowan called Buckland by Martin Storey. I followed the pattern for the 36" size but made the length as one of the larger sizes as my Sister in Law likes her jackets a little on the longer side. The Yarn is RYC Natural Silk Aran Shade 471 which I bought from Kemps for the bargain price of £1.79p a ball. The jacket has taken 15 x 50 gram balls.

It has a deep unusual rib with pockets. The ribbing is K1,sl1,K1, purl 3 on both wrong side and right side rows so it has a slipped stitch down the knit stitches on every row.

The colours are very subtle. There are slubs of a mink shade and even small flecks of blue. I think that I picked out most of the twigs and scratchy bits out of it as I went along. The yarn had long lengths of loose bits of yellow intertwined in it. I don't know if I was supposed to leave them in but I detached most of them as they too were a bit scratchy. The buttons aren't a very good match but I can't get to buy any different ones before her Birthday. They can always be changed at a later date.

The top buttonhole seems rather high but it was like this on the pattern so I left it in although I was in two minds. I don't think that my Sister in Law wears her jackets buttoned anyway. I do hope that it hasn't turned out too large for her as it is a heavy jacket. Luckily she won't mind hand washing it.

I was going to start some crochet flowers for the Islington Mill festival this afternoon but it took me longer than I thought to stitch the jacket up. I really have to continue my niece's chunky knitted jacket as she has waited patiently long after her Birthday for it. I will crochet her something else to make up for her long wait. When she calls for her Mum's cardigan I will let her browse in the stash room and pick some yarn and a pattern. The only stipulation is that it has to be crochet. I need a long break from knitting. Luckily my elder niece likes crochet for the summer.

Vintage Patterns From Australia

These vintage baby patterns arrived yesterday all the way from Australia. One of my Ravelry friends Margaret (Marg41) asked me if I would like some vintage baby patterns and of course I said yes. Vintage are usually knitted in fine wools but I don't mind that for a newborn baby. I think they look so delicate on a small one especially if they have a small birth weight. Thanks so much Margaret. Very much appreciated.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the Patons book (in yellow) and found on the first page the very shawl that my Mum knitted for my son 42yrs ago. I still have it packed away upstairs. I saved it for my granchildren but since my son married into a ready made family then I will save it and see if one of my nieces has a baby sometime. It is in almost brand new condition as the shawl was small and round and my son was big and tall. I will have to pray that any more babies in the family are more lightweight than he was,

My Mother knitted both of these designs of vests for my son as it was an extremely cold winter when he was born and he was inclined to be chesty so she wanted to keep his chest warm. He wore the ones with the buttons for quite a long time as they were pure wool and I had to handwash them so they seemed to stretch with him. There were no such things as automatic washers and tumble dryers when my son was small. Well there might have been automatic washers but they were very expensive so I just had a hand me down twin tub for his terry nappies and bedding and our clothes. Baby clothes were always hand washed years ago. Mums today have it far easier than we did.

This book also came yesterday from one of the second hand book sites. It is a Vogue pattern book revamping styles of the 50's - 70's into thicker wools and into 1985 style of fashion. There are still some basic jacket and sweater designs that I would wear today. I don't think that standard basic designs ever really go out of fashion. Well not for my age group.

I knitted until the sparks flew yesterday and now have a back to match the two sleeves of my Sister in Law's cardigan. I got up fairly early this morning and got my weekend food shopping done so that I can settle down for another day of knitting. The housework will once again have to wait. I am on a deadline.
I can't tell you how much I am longing to crochet. It is dangling like a carrot in front of me urging me to finish off both of the knitted jackets so that I can heave a sigh of relief and do some crochet.

Coffee time now and clickety click. Pass me my neoprene wrist straps as my arthritis is playing up as once again it is a chilly morning. Thank goodness I don't have any snow as Bev (Beverooni) does. I looked at her blog and she has inches of the white stuff. Brrrr.