Monday 4 February 2013

Shhh - I've Been Knitting

As most of you know I crochet 90% of the time. The main reason is that I knit with one needle under my arm and so the weight of any knitting pulls on my neck and makes it ache. I have tried knitting free or on circular needles but 50 something years of knitting one way means that I just can't knit any other way.

I bought some super thick yarn from one of Ice Yarn sales just recently and thought that I would make another of these jackets as I have worn the last one that I made to a shred.


Thee pattern comes from an old Phildar book probably dating from sometime in the 80's. I have made every one of these tops as I find them so useful as a house jacket as the sleeves don't get in the way when I am doing chores. This time I have made the one that is shown but one button. I have added buttons all the way down mine. 3 of the designs are knitted but the one on the right is crochet. I have my eye  on making that again sometime soon.


My version has come out a lot longer as the wool is much thicker than the original Phildar Tweedy was. We used to stock Phildar in our shop and I have to say that Phildar tweedy was one of our best sellers. The Ice yarn that I have used is very thick and took 16 x 50 grams to make this jacket but it is so lovely, soft  and warm.


I have also finally finished the hoodie for my Great Nephew JP. I got this Patons yarn for 99p a ball from Kemp's Clearance sale. Although I am not crazy about the colours as one of the shades in the ball looks 'dirty' in my opinion. The yarn itself is lovely to work with and I bought a few more colours when it was on sale. It is now blocking as you can see as the jacket looked too small for JP because of the rib stitch. I am going to make him some more woollies as he coming up later this month for his Grandad's birthday. Unless I crochet the others I will be knitting them on the machine. I have had enough knitting for a while.

I still have to crochet two sleeves on Sarah's draped front sweater so that will be my next thing to finish. I also have to crochet a cotton Peter Pan collar and then start the doll's clothes that my Great Granddaughters ordered.


Buster is bored today. Despite about 5 minutes of glorious sunshine this morning the weather has turned out dull and rainy as per usual for Manchester. According to the weather reports we are in for some more snow later today or tomorrow. I feel like a fraud mentioning snow when I know that so many or my regular readers have snow up to their eyebrows whereas the UK grinds to a halt if more than an inch falls.

Today I had great plans to do some more tidying up but so far I haven't hardly done anything. I put the paper recycling bin out ready for the early morning emptying and the wind blew it over and the papers inside had to be rescued by a passing neighbour. I was in danger of becoming a litter lout as the wind caught the papers and whizzed them in the air. Our bin men collect any time from 7am - 9am so I have to put them out the day before otherwise I can miss them. My bin is overflowing as I have been sorting out some storage papers and packaging that I put into my garage over Christmas.

Happy crocheting everyone and thanks so much for the lovely messages that you have sent to me. Thanks for the advice Roger I will look into that and use your ideas to safeguard me for next time.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Jan! I want that sweater!!!! (The reason I stopped trying to learn to knit is because I kept putting the needle under my arm. I'm surprised you can knit that way -- boy, I can't. What a woman you are!!!!)

Hindustanka said...

Hello! I'm glad you are back and sharing your beautiful work with us :) You've done fab knitted sweaters! Have a nice day and keep on crocheting/knitting :)
Anna

Haylees Hats said...

I love that black and white cardi, it looks so cosy and warm x

Unknown said...

I am impressed by how fast you must crochet and knit due to the many finished items you show us. I am in my 60's and retired as well here in the USA. I love to crochet small projects or baby afghans. I have never attempted a sweater for fear of failure. I too have been in a crafting funk, or lull, as you stated earlier. I'm hoping to do better so I can help my daughter and granddaughter with their new Etsy store. I enjoy the Pinterest website for sharing things of similar interests. I would love to crochet more American Girl 18" Doll clothes for my youngest granddaughter. I have only tried crochet hat's and sewn outfits for them. Are those doll clothes on book cover crocheted? I've enjoyed reading some of your blog posts this evening! Betty

enthusiastic crochetoholic said...

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments. For some unknown reason Blogger or my e mail decided to show me these comments a year later! As for the 18" doll patterns I have bought pattern books for both knitted and crochet clothes for the dolls. I found them on Amazon. There are some patterns for the dolls on Ravelry and some of those are free. I probably have more time to crochet ( and knit) as I am retired now and because of arthritis and surgeries I don't get out and about so I have plenty of time to sit and crochet.