Blue Curacao Shawl

Everytime that I use the Blue Curacao Shawl pattern by Doris Chan from tne Amazing Lace Book I promise myself that one day I will make one for myself. This version has been changed to add two more rows of pineapples as the wool was finer than the wool specified for the pattern. I used 6 x 40 grams of Patons Promise Brushed DK for this version, It is now in the post and I hope that Debra will get it on Monday or Tuesday.

I got a Tesco online food order today. I always seem to spend far more money when I shop online than I do when I visit the store so I hope to be out and about and doing my own shopping very soon.

I have spend a bit of today tidying up the plastic set of drawers that I keep my WIP in. Today I was ruthless and took back and rewound a couple of WIP that I just know that I will never finish. I decided to unravel the Tunisian crochet as it was working out rather thick in my sample so would have made a rather rigid baby cardigan. I have found the long jacket that I was part way through making before I went into hospital and found the rest of the wool so I am poised to crochet some more on that after dinner.

I have been feeling rather tired today so I doubt that much crochet will get done today. Oscar, next door's cat has been asleep on the spare bed for most of the day but has now decided to go home. He had his breakfast at my house and when I made no moves to feed him again he decided to go home! Hopefully I will get some crochet done tonight although unless there is something on the TV to grab my interest I will probably have a doze in the recliner. I hope that I don't do that as then I won't sleep all night through.

My dinner is pinging. My menu consists of very easy or ready to eat meals as I just don't feel like chopping and cooking at the moment. Another thing that will hopefully come back soon. It takes me all of my time to cook a bit of bacon for a breakfast sandwich. Today I just had a piece of toast. I would have stayed in bed for a little while longer but I knew that my niece was calling early as was Tesco Direct so no chance of that happening.

Cruel To Be Kind

I have to do my exercises. I know this and yet I shilly shally about and don't do them as much as I should. When the physio made me do the exercises in hospital I know that she was being cruel to be kind in the long run but it is so much harder to motivate myself into causing myself pain. I have constant arguments with myself on a daily basis but they still don't get done as often as they should. I am walking about a lot in the house and the pain levels are decreasing daily so I keep hoping that tomorrow will be the day that I can push myself more.

I don't want this operation to have been in vain and I want better mobility so why is it so hard to motivate myself into doing the exercises as often as I should?

The nights continue to be a trial. My knee hurts more when I try to sleep than it does during the day. I am now back on my prescribed pain killers as the ones that I got from the hospital have run out and to be truthful they were not doing me much good so maybe tonight I will get a decent night's sleep.

My crocheting is progressing very slowly due to my being Mrs Sleepyhead. The chunky crochet is a shrug for a friend in James C Brett Marble chunky. The pattern is basically a rectangle done in UK double crochet but through the back loops. Whilst this is easy to do I find it slow going and a bit soporific. I decided to start the white Blue Curacao shawl by Doris Chan as I wanted something to stimulate my brain. This is for a lady that I was in hospital with and as she has already given me the money for the wool I had better get it finished and sent off. I would hate her to think that I have just taken her money and am not going to make her a shawl. I only have her address to post it so I can't even phone her to say I have started it. She has been through a really rough time lately and it is her Birthday on Oct 21st so I hope to get it finished and posted by then. She has had multiple operations on her leg and is now attached to a metal cage with bolts that have to be tightened on a daily basis to try to lengthen her leg. Being in hospital makes you realise that the world is full of people far worse off than yourself.

My clips are due to be removed on Friday by the District Nurse so I may have more flexibility then. I have around 40 or so to be removed. They put clips close together rather than stitches to give the skin chance to heal even though the knee has to keep bending. They look funny. It is like someone went crazy on my leg with the office stapler. I am not bothered about scarring. Let's face it at my age I only flash my legs in my own garden in the summer, in the swimming pool or in the privacy of my own bedroom anyway I don't see operation scars as anything to keep covered up. They are part of life. I might feel differently if the scar was on my face and ugly. I have 3 small scars on my face since a teenager and they have never worried me in the slightest. The world puts far too much pressure on people to be body beautiful. I am glad that I lived in an age when I was growing up where people were not so cruel about anyone who was slightly different. Perhaps I was lucky but I never remember one instance where I was bullied about the way that I looked. We made fun of each other at school of course but only in a childish way and I don't think anyone was permanently scarred by any of the jokes.

I am having a bit of a slow start this morning. I need to get a shower and get dressed. My neighbour's cat came in earlier and will be fast asleep on the spare bed by now. There are 3 teenagers next door and I think Oscar comes in for a bit of peace. He will sleep until lunch, have something to eat, and then sleep until tea time when he will go home again. I feel sorry for him when Buster is here as he can't do any of that. The little black cat comes to my patio but I can't let her in as well otherwise there would be the cat fight from hell!

A Nice Spring Morning

It's a lovely spring morning - well it is when the sun stays out. Buster is making the most of it and wants to play ball. When I have finished washing the dishes I will put my jacket on and play out with him for a while. I feel so sorry for him not being walked but there is not much that I can do about that. People have offered to walk him for me but he just won't go with anyone else. It will soon be Tuesday and he will be back at home with the other dog. Thankfully the pup had now gone to a good home so the atmosphere in the house will return to normal. Buster has recovered well and apart from a few scars and a bit of tenderness he is almost back up to strength.

I put the two shawls side by side to show the slight difference in the size. I mad the second shawl on a 6mm hook and the first shawl on the 5.50mm hook as recommended in the Blue Curacao pattern.

I have started an All Shawl from my oddment stash. As usual when I get anything given to me it comes without a label. It is some sort of mohair or imitation mohair and has faint flecks in which you might be able to see in the close up photo. I only have 6 x 25 gram balls so the lacy edging will have to be a mix of different colours but the warmth will be at the shoulders which is the mohair. This shawl is probably destined to an old lady who Sylvia knows as I have run out of old ladies in my family and friends. I have already made shawls for people that I know. I don't make enough to donate them to an old people's home although it is an idea for the winter months in between when I start making homeless peoples hats again.

Today I got a first class letter from the hospital and my heart skipped a beat as I thought that it might be my call up for my operation. When I opened it the letter was recalling me for more tests following my mammogram. It was a bit of a shock but I am thinking positively. I have lumpy breasts which is why I started having mammograms in my 30's so I am hoping that it is just something like that. My Dad always used to say don't worry about anything unless you get told that it is bad news so I am trying to put it put of my mind until my appointment on Thursday. My mother had a non cancerous cyst removed and we both had cysts aspirated so I am keeping that thought in mind. I have no symptoms and can't feel any more lumps than usual so fingers crossed all will be well.

Buster is waiting patiently with his ball in the back garden so I had better do some dog amusing and leave the dishes for a little while.

Second Blue Curacao Shawl

The second shawl is now finished and is wet blocking on the boards at the moment. I haven't taken any photos of the second shawl as apart from the colour splodges being in slightly different places it looks like the other shawl. I will take photos of the two shawls together when the second one is dry. The second shawl is slightly larger than the first as I decided to use a 6mm hook instead of the 5,50mm I had used previously.

I started the second shawl with the part ball of the previous shawl and so have managed to make both shawls from 900 grams of the unlabelled brushed chunky. Each shawl I make varies in content dependant on the brand , thickness and the wool content, I find it really difficult to know exactly how much each shawl will take unless I have used the wool before.

Buster is getting very bored with me now as we can't even play ball in the back garden today as it is raining hard. Typical Easter weather. Tempt people in the middle of the week with a bit of good weather and then after they have decided to go away for a break change the weather to rain. My knees don't like the rain and are waiting for some sunshine to warm the old bones.

I think that I am in a shawl mood as I still cannot return to my niece's crochet until Buster goes home on Tuesday. I have made several stash buster shawls from my stash and I always enjoy making them. I will probably made another couple as they always come in useful for myself or my friends to give to elderly friends and relatives. I think my next one might be shades of blue as I have a big bag full of different types of blues. Of course I may change my mind once I go into the box room and stash rummage. Watch this space.

Multi Coloured Blue Curacao Shawl

The first Blue Curacao Shawl is finished and I am part way through the second. I always feel that it sounds funny calling a shawl Blue Curacao when it is a different colour. It is, of course, the name of the beautiful shawl pattern by Doris Chan. Today the weather is quite sunny although it is still a bit cold so the shawl will soon dry. The shawl looks quite scrunched up until it is wet blocked. I am making the second shawl on a larger hook as I think that will open up the pattern better.

The shawl has taken 500 grams of the brushed chunky so I have enough to make the second shawl. I like making this pattern when I don't have to alter the pattern. Friends who I have made the shawl for have sometimes brought me Double Knit thickness wool and I have to juggle about making the shawl bigger and I tend to lose my enthusiasm for the pattern then. It works best of all in an aran thickness but it does make a very warm shawl when done in a brushed chunky as this one is.

Buster and I have been playing ball in the back garden today making the most of the wee bit of sunshine we are having. We haven't seen any of the snow that other parts of the country are experiencing. I can remember years ago my Mum and Dad went to Wales for Easter with their brand new red car and my Dad took photos of the car in the thick snow. I do hope that it doesn't snow again this year as a lot of my family and friends are going away for an Easter break.

Easter always makes me think of my Dad. Up to him becoming very ill he never failed to buy me an Easter Egg as to him I was still his little girl. He took great delight in buying eggs for the kids and members of staff. I don't buy any eggs as my great grand daughters get a lot bought for them and their parents aren't that keen on them having too much chocolate and sweets. When my son was small my family thought that I was awful when I said don't buy him any eggs - buy him a toy instead. He was born without a coating on his baby teeth so I was doubly aware of tooth decay and limiting his sweet treats. When his second teeth came through I paid to have each tooth coated and he has only lost one tooth to tooth decay and that was because he neglected a broken tooth.

It's washing day today as I don't like doing housework on an Easter Holiday weekend unless it is necessary. I have to hoover daily, of course, because of the dog hair.

Almost Finished

I have almost finished the first Blue Curacao shawl. I say the first as there will be enough wool left to make two shawls. As they are for gifts for different friends then Sylvia knows then they won't bump into each other whilst wearing them.

I have a couple of rows left to do on it so it is bigger than the photos that I took yesterday. Then I have to wet block it out so hopefully there will be some finished photos tomorrow.

My neighbour came to walk Buster yesterday but he refused to go with her. He got quite excited at the word walk but then wanted me to go as well. I feel sorry for him but I really can't take him out for a walk. The woodland is very uneven and quite slippy in parts so I am afraid d of slipping and falling even if I can manage to walk the distance. He has now de squeakered his new ball but I have managed to fish out the squeaker with the aid of a crochet hook and put it back for the moment although I know he will push it back into the ball by the end of today. It's amazing what other uses there is for crochet hooks. In the old days hairdressers used to pull strands of hair through plastic bags with a crochet hook to put streaks in ladies hair. Surgeons use fine hooks when doing varicose vein operations but I dread to think how they use them - the mind boggles..

Early this morning when I let Buster out into the garden it was snowing! Big flakes but thankfully they melted as they hit the ground. I am watching the TV news and lots of places have had lots of snow especially Scotland and Ireland. Awful weather when it is supposed to be Spring. Lots of teenagers injured and one killed in a coach crash in Lanarkshire. Lots of people stuck in their cars as the snow blizzards hit so suddenly.I do hope that the snow doesn't make it down to Manchester.

The Sun Didn't Last Long

Well the sun didn't last long. It isn't raining today but it's gone cold again. I managed to mow the lawn today. Well managed to mangle the grass with my lawn mower is a more accurate description. My lawn mower doesn't like grass that is even the slightest bit damp.It just chews it up and wraps it around the blades.

I am still crocheting the Blue Curacao for Jen but as the wool is very fine I am going to have to do a lot of adaptions as I am at the two thirds stage of the shawl according to the pattern but as you can tell the shawl would fit a 2yrs old at the moment and not an adult. I will have to work out how to keep increasing the pattern out to make it large enough. It will be a finer shawl altogether instead of the sturdy shawl it is meant to be.

I have seen the first photo of the front cover of the Naked Knitting Calendar with a photo of Linda wearing my pink crocheted coat. It was on Bev's Flickr site and taken at the I Knit in London. I won't get my copies of the calendar until Wednesday so I can't give you a glimpse of it until then. I must confess to being slightly irritated by the front cover as I hate it when Naked Knitting is written as naked knitting. What is it these days when people don't use capital letters? Is it supposed to be trendy to write everything in lower case? I am old fashioned and like to see things written down properly. I also would have liked to see Bolton Knitting Noras written on the cover to show who was in the calendar but I guess that wasn't trendy enough either.

Poppy is fast asleep at my feet. She has deserted her mistress (my next door neighbour) as she is painting her lounge and Poppy got paint on her ears yesterday and had to get bathed. Poppy spent most of yesterday with me also. I think she likes a break from time to time from Buddy the spaniel as he is much younger and more boisterous than she is. She is so quiet though I keep forgetting she is here and have trodden on her tail already today as she will tuck herself under my chair whilst I am on the PC.

I Love A Sunny Day

Isn't it great how a bit of sunshine can lift spirits. Yesterday was sunny and I have woken up this morning to another beautiful day so sorry housework you are on the back burner. I am going to sit outside and relish the last of this weather as it might be gone tomorrow. I should be cleaning windows and hoovering today but instead I may mow the lawn before settling down to my crochet in the sun. That way I will feel that at least I have done one chore today.

I have almost finished off the duplicate sweater and cardigan. The cardigan just needs stitching together before I crochet the edgings.

I have started a Blue Curacao shawl for my friend Jen but as the wool is very fine for the pattern I am going to have to make adaptions to the pattern to make it large enough. At the moment her shawl is turning out child sized. The pattern should be crocheted in an aran type thickness and the wool that Jen bought for me to use is more of a double knit. I can't tell you what the yarn is as it was one of those bargain packs from the Black Sheep that is sold without labels. They guy did say that it had been £10 a ball which considering it is a 25 gram ball I think is far too expensive and no wonder it finished up in a sale. I can't remember if he said it was alpaca or merino as I really do have brain fade these days. The wool is very loosely wound and is splitting like mad as I crochet so I can foresee a bit of swearing going on this weekend as I have to unravel part rows when I see a looped strand further back down the row. Plus the fact that I am going to have to try to work out how to extend the pattern to make the shawl large enough. I have done this once before but as per usual I didn't write down what I did! I am always getting in trouble on Ravelry when people ask me what I did and I can't tell them! Why is it that the more expensive a yarn is the looser it is wound? I never have any trouble crocheting or knitting the cheaper yarns but anything expensive is a bugger to work with.

I am glad that you liked my mother's granny square afghan. I had to laugh at Ailsa's (Mad about Craft - not enough time to craft) comment when she said she thought I had made it in an afternoon.Now that would be something to put on my list of achievements. Something like that would probably take me years. My largest granny square project was the Granny Takes a Trip jacket that I made for Lisa and that had 70 something squares and took me about 3 weeks to make.

Beansieleigh and Mattenylou have actually made afghans and not just thought about it as I have. I think Matttenylou's comments about starting off using stash then having to buy more wool and finishing up with more stash sounds like something that I would have to do. Whenever I do a stash busting project I never seem to make a dent in my stash. Maybe it's because I am the same and buy more colours to make my stash buster more interesting ;)

June thinks that crocheting could be hereditary. I agree in certain respects but in my case it was from my aunt that I gained my crocheting skills. I remember watching her turn out the most amazingly intricate mats, gloves for church and handkerchief edgings without ever using a pattern. My mother used to crochet sometimes but as she was a hand and machine knitter it was limired to edgings on garments. In fact she saved up enough money to buy our first wool shop by machine knitting socks and garments for people. My Dad even erected a huge shed in the back yard for her to knit away into the wee small hours and not disturb anyone. We even had a telecom system of a series of bells and buzzers installed in there to attract her attention. One bell meant one thing and the buzzer another. My mother had her own sweat shop out there recruiting my Dad and myself to knit the plain bits on one machine whilst she did the shaped bits on another. Pleated skirts were all the rage for little girls back then and my mother made literally hundreds of skirt and sweater sets. We made the main skirt pieces and she made the sweaters. I think she must have shod half of our small town with the thousands of socks she made. She even offered a re-footing service when the holes in the soles and heels became too many. She had a customer in Scotland with very large feet who used to order a dozen pairs every year. He only ever had them made in grey or in lovat so that he could match up socks when one sock got too holey. I wish I had kept those industrial machines, her sock machine and especially her overlocker, swift and electric ball and cone winder. I don't think that the neighbours or the planning authorities would like me putting a huge shed in the bottom on my garden though.

Well I am off to get dressed and enjoy this wonderful day. Happy Birthday to my friend Mike in the Isle of Man. He is 21 again today. I doubt that he reads my blog but just in case I hope that you have a good day Mike. Any man who regularly tells me that I am gorgeous deserves a good day in my opinion. Hey I have to take care of guys like these as men who give me compliments are a little thin on the ground these days!

More photos of Blue Curacao

Here are some more photos of Deb's Blue Curacao shawl. It is so hard taking photos in between the rain showers and with my web cam indoors which alters all the colour. I am pleased with the way this shawl has turned out mostly because I loved working with Rowan Cashsoft aran and because I managed to get a single point, well fan, on this shawl for the first time.

I have another shawl wet blocking outside at the moment. Wet being the operative word as I have to keep an eye on the rain or it will be wetter than when it went outside. I will post photos of it tomorrow. It is just a triangle shape shawl that I ran up yesterday (sign of an idle day or what?)

I am still thinking of small items to crochet for the Knitting Noras raffle and have come up with a few thoughts but nothing on the hook so far. Planning takes much longer than the crochet sometimes.

I have had an e mail today from a friend who has just come back from a holiday in Tenerife and said it was hard coming back to all this rain after wall to wall sunshine out there. I wish that he could have brought me some sun back in his suitcase and I am getting really fed up with this wet weather.

I haven't spoken of my knee in the last couple of posts. Let's just say nothing has changed which is why I am in the house 24/7. I think this is why I am feeling so miserable about the weather. When the sun shines I feel better inside no matter what ails me.

I am the same age as Cher

Today is Cher's birthday. She is 63 - the same age as me. I know, I know you can't quite believe it as obviously I look so much younger. Pause here while you to fall on the floor laughing. OK so I don't look younger than her but at least all of my bits (lots) are my own and I haven't had inches of skin removed by a scalpel. It's just pure jealousy on my part although I doubt if I would be brave enough to go under the knife for vanity even if I had all of her money. I will just stick to slapping on the wrinkle cream that we all know doesn't really work but we keep on buying it just in case. I might get tempted into having at least 16 pints liposuctioned from by belly and thighs if I could afford it.

I have finished Deb's Blue Curacao shawl by Doris Chan. It is made in Rowan Classic Cashsoft Aran which is lovely to work with. It has 57% extra fine merino and 10% cashmere. She has the honour of having the first shawl that I managed to make absolutely to the pattern. Doris Chan was kind enough to point out to me where I was going wrong when I asked for advice on Ravelry. Thanks to her explanation and following the close up photo of the bottom fan, showing it from it's start to the edge, that she sent to me I managed this one just fine. Yeah for Doris! At the moment the shawl is outside drying from it's wet blocking. There isn't a mistake on the shawl edging on the bottom left hand side by the way. It was just me I put a pin into the wrong place on the edging which I have now rectified. More photos tomorrow.

Another dreary day but at least it is not raining. I really wish that the summer would arrive and bring some sun and warmth with it.

I am off to think about which crochet project to start next.

The calm after all the excitement

I think that I am starting to calm down after the excitement of the last couple of days. Firstly I would like to thank everyone who stops by and leaves comments. I really appreciate them even though I rarely mention it on the blog. You really lift my day ladies. In answer to a couple of comments I have copied the link to the TKN blog to take pre-orders for the calendar and if you click on my blog title it will take you there. If you know that you are definitely going to buy one (or more)once they are available it would help us greatly to get a general idea of how many we are needing to order from the printer when the time arrives. The more we order the cheaper the printing costs will be but we don't want to over order and be left selling the calendars to any people passing by. Mind you I am up for a bit of pouncing, if needs be, provided they let me "mug" the handsome eligible men of my neighbourhood and frisk them down to find their wallets. I think the threat of that alone will make them give me the money for the calendar and run!

Ailsa I will definitely sign a calendar for you and will even throw in a personal appearance for free, as I can't guarantee it will be signed before posting, if I can find the right bus to your area. I will do anything legal to sell a few calendars as all the money is for such a good cause (Christie hospital for anyone who might be reading this blog for the first time)

The soon to be famous "As seen on TV crochet sweater" is progressing and is starting to get sleeves. I still have no idea of the finished result as I now only have 2 balls left and really need longer sleeves and a bit more on the body length. The tie is actually at empire level on me (downside of having boobs) so although it looks long enough on the photo it is still stopping at waist level on me.

I have started another Blue Curacao shawl in Rowan Cashsoft Aran for Deb one of my fellow Knitting Noras. The colour is closer to the photo of the ball rather than the start of the crochet one. The weather is so dull today that the camera flash brightens up colours and makes them appear lighter.

I am making this shawl and a couple of others for fellow Noras as my personal fund raiser for the calendar. Before any copyright police start screaming at me I am not infringing the copyright rules of patterns (or at least I don't think that I am) as I am not selling them or asking for any money from the shawl recipients for my labours. I am using their own wool and saying that if they are pleased with the end results then please give a donation to the calendar fund. One day I will have a site and be able to sell some of my crochet but until I can use some patterns that are all my own designs that idea is still a pipe dream for me.

I am hoping that I might settle down to some crochet today as the old knee could do with a rest after my walk up to Tesco yesterday but looking around me I think I do need to make an effort to tidy up. I love chaos when I am crocheting and it usually looks like an explosion in a wool shop all around the house. Having said that eventually I take a hard look and think enough is enough - it's time for a tidy, dust and hoover, I think today is one of those days.Perhaps if I can find a cupboard with some empty space so that I can scoop it all up and hide it in there?

Blue Curacao modelled

Oh the North wind doth blow and we shall have snow. I woke up this morning to snow. Not the inches of snow that my cousins in the US and Canada are experiencing but an inch or so. I was supposed to be sampling the wonderful coffee and cakes at Slattery's today with Vicky but it has been postponed. Not just because of the snow but Vicky thinks she is coming down with a bug of some kind.

Everyone I know has had some virus or another over Christmas. My friend Charlie has not recovered from her bout of glandular fever and Marie has a cough that put her in hospital for a few days and is now on steroids. I can't get rid of my cough and am having a few Tena lady moments when a racking coughing fit overtakes me. My cough does seem to be slowly recovering but I have had it since before Christmas. I had originally blamed the calor gas fire for my cough but I now think it was a bug. I hope all this snow and cold weather kills some of these bugs.

I have now almost finished the second sleeve on my chunky crochet jacket and will post a photo tomorrow. I started the wrong way around as I wanted to make long sleeves and there was no point in making the bolero if I didn't have enough for long sleeves. One 200 gram ball has almost made 2 sleeves so I think I will have enough to make the bolero long enough in the body for me.

Today the photos are once again the Blue Curacao shawl but this time being modelled by it's new owner. The shawl laid flat looks a strange shape and I wanted to show how the shawl sits on the shoulders in wear. I will make one for myself one day but for now I am still stash reducing. I still haven't worked my way up to knitting the socks yet but I can feel the urge building up for a bit of knitting.

Julie has lent me her Paul McKenna book "I can make you thin" and I have been watching him on the TV this week. I hope that something works soon as I was looking through my wardrobe to find something to wear today and the only item of my best clothes that still fits is a necklace! I will have to try and find some cheap, warm filling diet meals that I can eat. The cold weather makes me think of potato hash and stews rather than things that are slimming. Yesterday I made a big pot of Leek and Potato soup so that is my lunch menu for the next couple of days. Not particularly slimming but cheap, warm and cheerful.

Blue Curacao finished

It always feels strange calling a shawl Blue Curacao when I have make it in a different colour. Should I call it Green Curacao? I finished the shawl and have given it to Julie who is delighted with it. I have taken these photos of it but Julie has promised to call around tomorrow so I can take a photo of her wearing it. She was still in her pj's when I called this morning so didn't want to be photographed then. No I didn't call around that early - she was just having a pj day!

The photos don't do the shawl justice but it is hard to photograph as it is a strange shape when it's not being worn. This version took 450 grams of brushed chunky so it should be lovely and warm.

Why is it when we say we have finished something we don't include the time that it takes to sew something together. I have been rather spoilt of late making Doris Chan patterns which do not need much sewing up. It has taken me most of this afternoon to sew up the blue cardigan and crocheting the front and neck bands. I am going to block it out tonight so should have photos of it tomorrow.

Now what shall I knit or crochet tonight. I am not really in the mood for the socks as I am in a crochet mood. I will decide after dinner and let you know tomorrow.

Spurred on by a broken resolution

Thank you Crobbles and Knitting Nurd for making me feel less guilty about breaking my first resolution. A bit of guilt on my part worked wonders though and spurred me on to finish all the pieces of my blue cardigan. I still have to stitch it all together and crochet all the bands as you can see but I feel fairly chuffed that I have managed to get rid of a 5yrs lingering WIP.I have managed to find some buttons in my stash which although not perfect will be in keeping with my "not buying anything unless I absolutely need it" resolution.

My excuse for carrying on with the green shawl last night was that I would need to lay out and pin all the pieces of the cardigan to stitch them up and I didn't feel like crawling about on the floor whilst watching Poirot on TV. I still have 10 rows to crochet to complete the shawl so that will take me a while as the rows get wider and so take longer to crochet. The shawl will certainly be warm as the wool is thicker than the one recommended on the pattern. I was making the shawl for warmth rather than decoration so I am not unhappy with the result.

Although this is the second shawl I have made from this pattern I am still struggling with the way the Blue Curacao pattern is written. Too many * to * and ** to *** including one more * to ** for me. I understand that the pattern would have been very long to write out fully but I do think it is really off putting unless you can crochet to a half circle diagram where following the rows isn't easy either. I have the added drawback of learning crochet UK way and using UK interpretation of stitches for 50 yrs and now having to relearn all the names of the stitches when following new crochet books.

My name was mentioned on Ravelry as a suggestion for leading a CAL (crochet a long for people like me who had no idea what CAL meant) on Tall Latte. I don't feel confident enough to lead anyone even though I have made 3 so far. I still have to watch every row and count every increase plus the added thing that I still convert the stitches to UK which would just confuse everyone anyway! I have replied that I will try to help anyone who is stuck but I don't want to lead. I don't want to make another Tall Latte at the moment as I have other things planned. Plus I don't like the short sleeves and have only made one with those sleeves and that was for my niece. I presume that when you join a CAL or KAL then you go along at the same pace as everyone else row by row and that alone would drive me potty :)

First resolution broken

OK I admit it - I am weak. It's only the 3rd and already I have kind of broken one of my resolutions. I caved in under the pressure of counting up to 9 over and over in my head. The blue cardigan got to me last night. I am on the second sleeve as you can see. It is worked downwards so I was not only counting to 9 (for each shell) I was also counting rows to decrease and all on a 3.50mm hook. I have promised myself to work on it today and try to finish it over the weekend.

Last night it was either stop crocheting and just watch the TV or start something new. Since I hate sitting idle I decided to start another Blue Curacao shawl from the Amazing Lace book by Doris Chan. This time however I am using some stash brushed chunky and making it to the pattern. Last time I used finer wool and hook and so had to improvise and add lots more rows to the pattern. This shawl is for my next door neighbour Julie who is recovering from several ops for cancer. She mentioned that she is often cold in the house but wary of having her central heating on too often. I decided to make her a shoulder shawl to wear indoors to ward off the chill. I find my crochet shawls, and the knitted wrap made for me by Ambermoggie so useful for warding off the chills. I am making it in chunky to be warm instead of just being a decorative accessory. I just hope that she likes green as I am trying to use up my stash instead of buying more wool.

I must go to the shops to get some bread and milk. I am not going to Tesco as I go in there for 2 items and come out with a trolley full. I still have so much food in the freezer that I over bought at Christmas so this year I am trying to only buy in food that I actually need and not things that I finish up putting in the bin because I forget about them and they go out of date before I get to use them.

If you will forgive me for starting something else then I promise to do some more rows on the blue cardigan when I get back from the shops!

Blue Curacao Shawl - reprise

As promised better photos of the Blue Curacao shawl on holiday in Menorca wth Vicky. What a difference a professional photographer makes to my work!
The shawl is Blue Curacao from Doris Chan's Amazing Lace book.
As these photos were taken by Laurie please don't reproduce them without permission as he has been kind enough to let me put them on my blog.