Wednesday 6 March 2013

New Magazines, Wool, CDs and Crochet Books

I have been progressing on the Elegant sweater and finished off the back and crocheted more than half of the front. No photos of it today as all I have to show is still pieces of crochet.

Instead I thought I would share with you the things that the postman has brought over the last few days. Today it was my delivery of Ice Yarns from Turkey.


You are not seeing double. I ordered another pack of each of the packs on the left hand side last week. I decided that for what I wanted to crochet I would not have enough with one pack. I am so sorry that I didn't order 2 packs of each of the Colorway wool last week as two colours that I bought are now sold out so I will have to make something with those colours that only uses 8 x 50 gram balls. I forgot to take into consideration the high wool content and that has an effect on the yardage. I usually read all the info given on the Ice site before ordering but my brain must have been having a day off when I ordered the other order. They still have some colours left in the Colorway but not colours that I want except for the one on the right of the photo which is quite pretty. .


I don't often buy CD's as I tend to watch the TV whilst I crochet but I decided that it was time to buy some easy listening. I like the one on the left better as it contains show tunes and I am a lover of musicals although I don't have the cash to splash to see any of them live.


These are 3 books that I bought recently. The middle one is very new and I had to send to the US for it but I picked up the other two from Amazon UK. There are lots of designs in them that I like and I am sure that I will be crocheting something soon. The first one that I want to make is the waterfall front cardigan on the far left. Is is done in a bulky yarn so shouldn't take long to crochet.


These are the latest copies of my subscrioption magazines. Not being able to get out to the larger newsagesnts means that I have to subscribe.My local small newsagents doesn't have it in stock. Often that means that I would not have bought some of the magazines had I browsed it first but that is the penalty that I pay for subscribing. Usually there is at least one pattern that I like.


I am determined to get to grips with Tunisian crochet when I have some spare time to dedicate to it. I am ever hopeful that I will master the different stitches and have even been optimistic enough to buy a Tunisian crochet cable booklet! Yes, Beverooni, I will succeed in this Tunisian crochet one day. If you are interested in learning Bev is doing a crochet a long on her blog One Yarn After Another . I didn't have the time to crochet along with her at the moment but it will be there on her blog for me to refer to once I start.


I have also bought a book on learning Hairpin crochet and bought a hairpin tool from Purplelinda. Very reasonably priced and half the price of one that I saw advertised on EBay. I did try many years ago  but in those days hairpin was done on tiny prongs and I never got the hang of it. The hairpin prongs of today are adjustable and much wider. The other two books are secondhand ones bought through Amazon. I always browse to see the secondhand cheapest offers. Often it is still Amazon new ones that are the  best bargains as they offer postage free if I choose the Super Saver version. They make take a bit longer to arrive but it saves £££'s on the postage.

 
This is a better photo of the Susan Bates hooks that I have fallen in love with . For those of you living in the US there is nothing new about these hooks but for the rest of us living in the UK they are a style of hook that I have not had access to until I ordered these sets from the US. I just love working with them and find that I can crochet faster when using one of these. The hook end has a deeper cut so the yarn doesn't slip off the hook as easily. I thought at first that they looked flat and wide but once I got used to them I prefer them now.
 
 
 
In order to try the different US types of hooks I also ordered a set of Boye hooks as some peoople swear by these hooks. These have the more bulbous hook end that is more akin to the UK hooks. I can use them but I do prefer the Susan Bates hooks. The only thing about the US hooks is that they have some sizes that don't exist in the UK which are great for when I am using US patterns that call for these in between (to us in the UK that is) sizes.
  • Buster has fallen out with me as I promised to take him a walk today but I had to wait in for the delivery man and he didn't call until 3.30pm and by then the weather had gone really cold. I don't like going out in the cold as it stiffens up my joints.I also need to do some food shopping. I am not expecting any deliveries tomorrow except the normal post so I must try to get out then.
Happy crocheting. I am really enjoying my crochet at the moment. If I am making something that I am really happy with then I can race along.
  1.  

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your new yarns are gorgeous! I just discovered your blog and am just this year falling in love with crochet.
Thanks for the tip on the Susan bates hooks. I am going to try them.

Kris, Eastern OR. US

Heather said...

Thanks for the tip on hooks Janet, hope you're well, I have been trying different one's for yonks, I will try these.

anju said...

love your work... I am a crocheter too ..I do a lot of sweaters and cardigns for my two daughters.