I Must Stop Bidding On eBay

My only excuse for too much bidding on eBay is that I have had some kind if a bug this last week which has made me so weak and tired that I haven't had much energy for anything. Unfortunately not crocheting much gives me too much time to eBay browse and for me that is bad for my credit card. I think that I will have to hide it for a few weeks.

These are some of my latest buys. Not just one ball ,of course, but varied amounts of each one. The white one by Ice on the end does not show that it is mohair and has multi coloured sequins wound into the thread. That will be turned into a shawl for Christmas. Not sure what to make with the other yarns yet.

These items came from Kemp's clearance sale. The pink and lilac 4ply cotton was only 99p for a 50 gram balls. That will be saved in my personal stash for Summer crochet. The rest is acrylic destined for fingerless mitts and headbands etc. Plus I needed more of the reduced price metal buttons for fingerless mitts. To buy these in a shop would put £££'s on the mitts. The circular handles are destined for crochet handbags.

I found this pattern in an accessories book. They have short row shaping which makes them a good fit. I did adapt the pattern as they were supposed to have 9 buttons on each mitt which would have out the price up. I am going to make myself a pair of these for the winter.

This is an adaptation of another pair of mitts. They were supposed to be in UK dc with a cable up the centre but the cable started looking as though it was slanting sideways for some reason. It looked OK on the hand but would have not looked good at the fair unless people tried them on. I changed the basic stitch and added a crochet bar with 2 buttons as a bit of a trim.

The patterns came from eBay bids but the Twilleys Goldfingering came from Purplelinda. I wanted that for Christmas decorations or lurex trims.

The turban style headband was so easy to make. It can be worn with the bow at the front or at the back.

This was my interpretation of a headband that I made before the pattern arrived. It is worked from side to side and I put buttons on it instead of stitching it together so that if it got larger with wash and wear then the buttons could be moved to tighten it back up again.

This cap was made from a vintage Paton's pattern that I bought from eBay. I used a DK pure wool crocheted two strands together as I didn't have any chunky in hat colours.

A couple of weeks ago I bid for a mixed bag of different balls of yarn mostly fluffy or cotton. I sorted the greens out and together with some balls that I already had in stash I made one of my multi coloured versions of Doris Chan All Shawl. They are brilliant stash busters if you have not already made one.

Today I didn't get up until lunch time but yesterday and today I seem to be sleeping the bug away. I am finally starting to feel a bit better. Thank goodness for food in the freezer as I haven't felt like stepping out of doors other than to chat to the postman for the last few days. The postman and I are now on first name terms!

I hate feeling one degree under. Anything that puts me off my crochet really annoys me. I tried to crochet but I either fell asleep over it or went wrong and had to undo it. Thankfully I think that my crochet Mojo is back today. I am making another headband. This time in a twisted imitation cable pattern. The parcel postman has just brought me two more packs of Ice wool from eBay so hopefully more photos tomorrow.

Crochet Shawl Finished Before Baby Arrives

Sorry that I haven't been writing my blog but I have been so busy for the last few days. At least I managed to finished the shawl for my 'adopted' niece Louise's new baby. I call her that as she shared a house with my niece for years before they both got married so I feel like she is part of the family. She is expecting her third baby any day now and I was worried in case her shawl would not be ready in time. It's all white as the baby will be a surprise. They already have 2 boys and Louise and her husband are convinced that this 3rd one is another boy but my niece and I have our fingers crossed for a little girl

The shawl pattern is one of Heather's from Just Crochet and the number is JC46. I had to thread white ribbon through the holes at the edge and sew on white bows. I would have chosen pink or blue ribbon but Louise wants to take the shawl in hospital for the new arrival. It's a sort of tradition. I made a new shawl for each of her boys to come home in so the third baby has to have the same. The wool I used was Sirdar baby DK in a lustre finish. It took 400 grams but it is quite a large shawl.

This is a little outfit for my Etsy store or craft fair. I am a little bit biased towards the girls which my crochet so far so I wanted something that a boy could wear. It has come out around 9-12 months size.

I put imitation leather buttons on it to give it a more 'manly' appearance.

I added a tab and put the same buttons on the beanie hat for the same reason.

Some 'new' vintage patterns from Ebay.

Some more patterns.

Some satin and furry motifs that I got from Ebay to use on pram blankets and jackets.

Some more yarn that I bought from Ebay. I will be sleeping in the garage soon as the house gets filled up with yarn. I will also be living on baked beans and jacket potatoes whilst I pay for these supplies. If I don't sell any of this stuff I will be eating yarn soon!

I used the the Wendy Moiselle to crochet up a small scarf.

As it was an oddment that I bought I didn't have enough to fringe it so it has a shell edging instead. It is much prettier in real life with the satin and organza ribbon threaded in with the yarn. That doesn't show up in the photographs.

Sorry if I am neglecting my blogging but I only have so much time to crochet until the first Craft Fair next month. I will try to write more this week. I still have to spend a day adding more things to the Etsy store. It takes ages to get the photos right and add them on to my shop. I think that I need a secretary but one who donates her time !

I went to the hospital on Friday and they want to operate on my left knee. Not a replacement yet. Just an arthroscope to have a good look around and hopefully trim the torn cartilage. This op wasn't a success on my right knee so I am not hopeful. They wanted me in before Christmas but I told them I had Craft fairs to do so to take me in after Christmas. They keep me waiting and cancel me all the time so now it's my turn to say no.

I Love This Pattern

I knew that I wanted this pattern. I will say thanks once again to Maureen for sending me her copy of the pattern after I got outbid on Ebay. I really love this pattern and I am so pleased with the way that it has turned out. I will definitely be using this pattern again.

My Ebay patterns keep arriving daily. I have got to the slow down stage now as I have bid (and won a lot of them) on most of the ones that I liked the most. I have probably paid well over the odds for a lot of them but they are such lovely patterns. Well I think so. That's all that matters.

These are all crochet. I especially love the crochet helmet in blue and white.

The middle design is knitted but the other two are crochet.

These are all in crochet.

The top two patterns are knitted and the bottom two are crochet.

I bid on this knitting bag and it arrived with 3 part balls of DK acrylic, some knitting patterns and one crochet pattern for babies hats and booties. The bag is practically new and is just the right size for carrying my crochet around to hospital appointments, There were also a few pair of old knitting needles in the bag but as they are short length I will be donating them to the knit club. Rachael is always teaching people how to knit and so knitting needles are always wanted to practise with.

These are some machine cones that I ordered from Ebay. I am not using them for knitting on the machine. I thought that they would crochet some lovely small shawls. It's so hard to find random dyed 4ply without paying an absolute fortune for the hand dyed wools. Lovely though these space dyed sock yarns may be, the price of the yarn would make the finished shawl far too expensive to sell. Nowadays it's not just a question of my liking something I have to take the price into consideration. If anyone wanted something in wool or merino then they would have to put their hand a lot deeper into their pockets. I love the colours of Noro but don't like the feel of it and definitely don't like the price of it even in the sales. I might splash out on it for myself someday but not to crochet and sell on. The cone in the right is especially pretty as it has a silver thread running through the colours.

I have almost finished another crochet baby cardigan. This time it is slightly larger than newborn size as the colour is a little bit darker. Tonight I am going to crochet some baby hats so that I can show something less expensive on my Etsy site. I am getting excited now as it should definitely be open by the end of the week.

My head is still buzzing with ideas and I have taken to carrying my notebook and pen around with me so that I can draw and describe what is in my head before it pops out of my brain again. I have a kind of short circuit brain. I have some brilliant ideas just as I am ready to fall asleep and then if I don't draw or write them down then I have forgotten all about them in the morning. I am trying my best to write down ( in my pidgin way) what I am crocheting free hand so that even though no-one else would be able to understand my shorthand at least I can make something again should it be needed.

Time to cook some dinner. Nothing fancy tonight. Just meatballs in a tomato and onion sauce with spaghetti topped with mozarello cheese. There will be enough for tomorrow too. I like it when I don't have to cook on certain days as it is already made.

After that it is back to the crochet.  I hope that there are some good programmes on TV tonight as the more enthralled I am in a programme then the faster I can crochet!