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.