Hats and Booties

I have been browsing through the cheaper books through Amazon again. This Hats and Booties book came from a book company with a lovely name - Smile Books. I will let the photos speak for themselves. Each hat has a matching pair of booties.

The CD is Mary Byrne who won a talent show on TV. I don't watch these kind of programmes so had never heard her until she came on Loose Women TV show the other day. She sings cover versions of big songs previously sung by the likes of Shirley Bassey and Cilla Black. It's not often that I buy CD's but I have been listening to this all afternoon and really like her style of singing.
















The vintage circles waistcoat is progressing slowly. I still have a few more rounds to crochet and as the rounds get larger and larger they take me longer and longer to crochet.



I presume that these circles will be the armholes but I haven't yet tried it on.




Buster should be going home tomorrow. It will take me a few days to hoover everywhere and change and wash the cushions, throws, bedding and anything else that he has laid on. After that I will be able to get back to my niece's knitting and start the cardigan for my sister in law's birthday. I spent a lot of the morning pattern browsing on line as I didn't find one in my pattern stash last night that I thought was suitable for the wool and her. If I get time to blog tomorrow then I will update you.

Will Wet Blocking Rescue It?

I am hoping that when I finish and wet block my shawl that it will somewhat resemble the first photo. As you can see from the second photo I think it will take a miracle for that to happen. Admittedly I am not using the correct yarn as when I priced it up on the net it made me take a large gulp so I had to opt for a much cheaper substitution. The wool that I am using is 4ply and therefore thicker than the one recommended. You would imagine therefore that my shawl would come out bigger and not smaller than the pattern. The first time I started it I used the hook recommended and it was turning out to be the size of a small doily. I have upped the hook from 4mm to 6mm and am still in doubt that it will be anywhere near the right size even when blocked.

I will finish it off and pray that a good wet stretch will work wonders. If I had bought the correct yarn I seriously doubt if it would have turned out the right size. Very unusual as I normally crochet loosely and use hooks smaller than the ones recommended on patterns. I am loath to make it in thicker yarn as the whole effect of the shawl is ethereal and not substantial. The only thing I can do is to up the hook size even more but then it could look rather stringy.

I have found the pattern a bit difficult to understand especially this last row so I am doing a bit of my own version for the flower type edging. I am not the only one to do this as I read on Ravelry that Naelana has had difficulty with this pattern also.

My niece came today and played ball with Buster on the lawn but after only a few throws he was knackered so I don't think he will be going on a walk today. He is far too hot even though it is not really sunny today. I will see how he is when the sun goes down in the early evening. The area that I walk him in is quite wooded and so is shaded from the hot sun in most parts so it should be cool later on. If he gets too hot then he can paddle in the stream.