Two More tea Cosies for Towneley Hall

I have finally finished two more tea cosies for the Towneley Hall Burnley project. If you click on my blog title it will take you to Artyarn blog page and that will show you more photos of the tea cosies already made by different people and keep you up to date on what is going on next.

The first tea cosy was inspired by Spring and the sighting of the odd butterfly here and there when the sun comes out. My butterfly is meant to be a red admiral but I know that it's markings and colourings aren't right, so those of you interested in butterflies please accept my apologies. Call it artistic licence. I decided to embroider the stems as I am not much good at making crochet chain go quite where I want it to go. The flowers are just simple 5 petal flowers and I decided to stick with one colour rather than do a variety as in nature a stalk usually has the same coloured flowers in it. I was intending to make a bee instead of a butterfly but after three failed attempts I decided a butterfly was easier.

The second tea cosy was just an experiment. I made a mesh tea cosy and intended the thread ribbons through the spaces but they kept doubling up and folding over so I changed it to lengths of wool instead. I sewed all the ends in at the bottom edge but got so bored with all of the tails that I decided to tie the strands together at the top and give it a sort of top knot. I would like to try the ribbon threading technique on another project but I would have to make larger holes in the mesh or go out and buy some finer ribbons. Somewhere in my pattern stash I have a cushion that is made from threading 1" satin ribbon in and out of a mesh crochet and over itself in a criss cross to make a woven appearance. It is a very pretty technique. One of those things that you mean to make one day and of course never do so put the pattern away somewhere.

The day is somewhat dull but hot and muggy. I have chanced the washing on the line as it is bedding and it seems to be drying fast. I am keeping my eye out for the rain, My gardener lady is coming today and somehow she always manages to bring the rain with her. She mows the lawn and gives the weeds a pull once a fortnight.

Once she has gone I must try to go to the supermarket as I am out of food basics. I thought of ordering online but I might be out of the house on Tuesday and Wednesday so didn't know when to say I was in for delivery. That's the only problem with online ordering they don't always have time slots when you want them,

I am hoping to make another tea cosy and then it will be back to normal crochet after that.

My new friends through internet blogs

I just want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who leaves comments for me on the blog. It's nice to know I am not chattering to myself (although I do that from time to time, if anyone catches me I say I am talking to the dog) I wish I was talented enough to put those box links down the side of my blog like the US girls do linking all you lovely ladies together, and crediting the blogs that I read, but as I am a true internet dummy I just about know how to type. Maybe one day I will catch up with technology but by then it will have moved on!

Thanks Juno for your comments on my last post I would like to return the favour of reading your blog but there wasn't a link for me to follow. I did manage to find several of your blogs Ambermoggie you are such a busy busy girl!

The photo today is of a crochet bolero I would like to make. it is in one of my new books "Positively Crochet". It is done in Sari Silk (http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk/indian_silks.htm) which looks very beautiful but is also quite expensive for something that I would only wear now and again. Vicky (http://web.mac.com/vhjeffery/Site/Welcome.html) had also had toyed with the idea of using the yarn for a shawl but decided that it had no stretch and would be difficult to work with. I had thought of using instead the Marble chunky that I had found on Bury Market but knew they didn't have the colour I wanted. This is where the wonderful world of the blog kicked in. My internet friend Ailsa (http://nettc.blogspot.com/) found out that I could get the yarn on line from Readicut. Cheers for that. I can now get the colourway I want. It is a bit more expensive than the market was but still a fraction of the price of the Sari Silk. Unfortunately it's not as vibrant as the Sari Silk but infinitely more practical for wash and wear.

The exercise class went well. They are a cheery bunch although a lot of them are on crutches or in a wheelchair. We have great hilarity and a sort of strange humour going on. One guy in a wheelchair has just one leg so when she said now tap the other leg he says I am tapping it - you just can't see it! Julie the instructor will say things like -squats and jogging next - and when everyone looks at her a bit startled she says "Aha gotcha that time that's next week!" It was as usual an undiciplined class with lots of wayward twanging or uncontrolled bands flying about. A lot of ladies have problems with co-ordination which is hilarious. As for the pelvic floor exercises - well I will leave the comments made to your imagination. The men find it especially humorous. No matter how old guys are they still keep the schoolboy toilet humour thing.

I have finished the second piece of the man's doubled helmet and started on the first piece of the ladies. I can now make them without looking at the pattern I have made so many of them. No progress on the socks. I am longing to do something other than the hats but orders come first. I knit a lot slower on the 5 needles than I would on a pair so am chomping at the bit to get some straight needle knitting or crochet so I can feel I have achieved something for a week's knitting.

The sun is shining and the garden is such a mess. Overgrown plants and dead plants in pots etc. I am not in the mood today but must get to grips with it soon as Spring is around the corner and it will soon be time to attempt to grow some vegetables in pots again. Last year I played at it and wasn't very succesful but I am determined to make more effort this year. The dog has killed what was left of my lawn and it is very unattractive with huge dead patches and mud in parts. Hopefully it will recover as it did last summer when the sun shines.

The joys of a bad back

No crochet today as yet. The sun was shining for once. It doesn't happen that often at this time of the year in rainy Manchester so I decided to venture out into the place that I laughingly call my garden. It wouldn't be so bad if the grass wasn't mostly moss and if next door's holly bush had remained a bush instead of being allowed to revert to nature as is now a massive tree. I have to wage a weekly war on the horrible prickly holly leaves that only blow on my garden and never the neighbours.

I decided to treat myself to a leaf hoover blower thinking it would make the job easier. Big mistake. I am waiting for major back surgery and that thing was not designed for anyone who has even a twinge of backache. I keep thinking of ways to modify it so that I would not have to lean slighty forward supporting the full weight of the contraption whilst it hovers about an inch from the ground. If I stand straight then I can't see the leaves! My back starts to protest like mad from the first minute and by the end of the hoovering session is screaming for the mercy that only a hot bath can give it. If anyone does read my ramblings I would welcome any suggestions. A neck harness like a ploughman's yolk maybe? At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that the noise the hoover makes kept next door from their Sunday afternoon nap! When I asked about maybe chopping the tree down or at least trimming it so I could get a modicum of sunlight on the lawn I was told it was a feature of the garden!

Not a great day all in all. I was awakened at 7am when I put my hand in a wet patch made I presume by the cat who must have had a wee on my bed (with me in it!) I think the poor old soul has finally lost it. He is almost 15yrs old and has thyroid trouble and now maybe kidney troubles as well. I will see what the vet says. Has e lost his marbles or what? I love him to bits having adopted him when his owner, one of my neighbours, moved to a house on a main road and as the cat is deaf as well as old was not going to keep him as there was no garden for him. Like all pet owners I am dreading the day when I have to say enough is enough so hope this morning's mishap was a one off. I can't face washing the duvet every day!

Maybe tonight I will finally get around to my crochet again. Last night I fell asleep watching the tv. Another sign of me getting old! The cat and I are well matched I think. The photo is Ollie having a rest after trying to attack the baubles on the tree at Christmas!