Haru Jacket is Finished

Another Christmas present is finished. I have made this Haru jacket from Doris Chan's Everyday Crochet book for my sister in law. My niece chose a couple of things for me to give to her mum as she knows that I have trouble getting about shopping but I wanted to add my own personal touch. My sister in law has worn the shawl that I made for her last year almost every day so I wanted to make her a little pop on jacket that she could wear whilst in the house. I made it from 400 grams of Jarol double knit with wool that I bought on Bury Market. It is lovely wool to work with and feels lovely and soft.

I am still plodding on with the Sedgemoor jacket and have about a half sleeve to knit. Then I should go back to the scarf that I started a week or more ago but as that is navy blue then it's strictly daytime knitting. I still have quite a bit to do but as most of it is crocheted then I am not as worried as I was at the beginning of the week.

All I need is to get a couple of good night's sleep in. I was up at 4.30am this morning with the pain in my knee so am not exactly full of the joys of Spring today. I did manage a cat nap on the sofa for about an hour this morning but it isn't quite the same as a good long stretch of sleep. I can't remember when I last slept through the night.

I have just had a visit from a friend Sue who brought me some chocolate buns that she had made, I have eaten one for my lunch and very yummy it was too. Her daughter's baby is due tomorrow so she will have a new grandbaby for Christmas this year.

Back to the knitting now as I really want to finish off the last sleeve and stitch up my niece's jacket today.

My Knee Has Lost The Christmas Spirit

My knee has gone on strike. It has lost it's Christmas spirit and yelled Stop all of this walking woman and let me have a rest. So today is rest day.

On Monday I had quite a long walk from the tram to the hospital and yesterday I was off in search of dressing up outfits for my great grand daughters for Christmas. My son had suggested a shop which was in the retail park of Bury. Not that far away from the tram for an able bodied person but more like a marathon for someone with knee problems. The retail park is across a couple of main roads and the road winds around until you actually get to it. The planners design these retail parks for those who have cars. If you don't have a car then you have to wend your way on winding footpaths that go around the car parks or risk life and limb and cross the car parks where people are touring in ever decreasing circles trying to find a parking space.

I would not have minded this so much if the shop had what i wanted but no they didn't. I then had to trawl around the shopping mall before finding something suitable. They needed size 5 -6yrs as they are both tall girls but there was none to be found. They are now going to be pink fairies, complete with wings, but will probably be tripping over their fairy tutus on Christmas morning as they are size 6-8yrs. The bodices are ruched so are tiny enough for them. The tiara is I presume all one size but the dresses might just be a bit on the long side for now. I hope that the fairies will be wearing their T shirts underneath or they will be chilly fairies on Christmas Day.

As you have probably gathered I have not had much time for knitting and crochet over the last 2 days although I did manage to crochet a washcloth on the journeys over the last 2 days. My niece's Sedgemoor aran only needs a sleeve now. The collar is looking huge even though I have cropped quite a few rows off the pattern. I am sure that there is a mistake on the pattern as according to them the collar has 52 rows. This collar look massive to me with only 40 rows.

The Haru jacket has progressed a little. I have now worked 200 grams into that. I hope to finish that off today if I just sit and rest my knee.

I had taken in a parcel for my next door neighbour yesterday. I take parcels in for all of my working neighbours. It saves them time having to go up to the sorting office to retrieve them when they are all so busy. Anyway my neighbour has offered to drive me to get my Christmas food shopping at the beginning of next week which will be such a help as I was running out of the heavy stuff like washing powder and soft drinks from when I last got an offer of a lift. I tend to buy loads of heavy stuff when I get a lift and then I can manage my day to day shopping on my own.

Anyway enough chatter I have mucho knitting and crochet to complete and a load of washing to do.

Introducing Dillon

Introducing the latest member of our family. This is Dillon who is supposed to be an Akita cross but looks more like a staffy with big ears so we are not quite sure how or what he will turn out like. I mean - just what is going on with those ears? Was his father a bat? He does have a very cute face though. He is staying at my son's at the moment as he is very underweight and has no social skills or toilet training so he will stay with them until such a time as he is ready to either be re-homed or become a permanent member of our family, As you can see in the background Buster is keeping a very close eye on him!

I went up to Bury yesterday. I was supposed to be buying something for my great grand daughters for Christmas but Bury was so crowded and where I wanted to go was across the market and a main road and my knee just didn't want to walk that far. I will try again in the week when the market isn't on and then maybe I can walk without bumping into crowds with my trolley.

I bought more supplies of cotton for dishcloths. I have an idea how to use these dishcloths to incorporate them into the presents but I will reveal more once I have made the first two and see if my idea will work. I also bought some aran and some double knitting with wool.I bought most of the wool from the market stall and the cotton from Habiknit. I have already started the beige wool as you can see. It is going to be a Haru for those of you familiar with Doris Chan's everyday Crochet book. I have done the worst bit that haa all the shaping so it will be plain sailing from now on. It is for a present as you can see from it's tiny 10 size. I am making it for my sister in law to go with some other things for her Christmas present. As you can see I am progressing with turning the aran cardigan for my niece into a long sleeved version and am about half way up the first sleeve. It did feel SO good to sit and crochet last night. All of this knitting is making my hands hurt.

I got a surprise yesterday. My niece came to pick up the duck motif hats for posting and brought me a pair of purple boots that I had ordered from the catalogue ages ago. She gave them to me as the remaining part of my Birthday Present as she said both the Mary Jane shoes and the boots were half price when she came to order them so my nieces decided to pay for them both for me. How cool is that.I had thought the Mary Jane shoes were a lovely present from them both and so was really surprised to get the boots as well. Purple is my favourite colour and so I will enjoy wearing them. I will have to be careful not to wear them in the rain though as suede marks so easily.

Off now for another mammoth knit and crochet session. My housework has gone to the dogs but I will have a really good clean up before Christmas - possibly after I put the Christmas tree up. I have asked my neighbour if I can borrow her teenage boy to reach the tree down from the loft for me but I am not sure when he will arrive to do it.

My crochet jacket is finished but the sun has gone in

I settled down to another lovely day in the back garden but after a couple of hours the sun has disappeared and clouds are here instead.
I guess that I will just have to go food shopping instead. I have been putting it off for a week but as I really don't like shopping but as I have run out of bread and milk I guess I had better reach my 4 wheeler out from the garage, put some real clothes on and sally forth.

I have finished off the jacket. It is difficult to describe it. For anyone with a Doris Chan Everyday Crochet book - it started off as a Haru, has the sleeves of Jewel without the tapering and the curved bottom edge similar to the Mei Mei. I will continue with the 4ply cardigan as that will be prettier than this jacket and I may finish it off in time for the wedding on Saturday.

My knee woke me a couple of times last night so I didn't get a good night's sleep. I have rearranged my CPAP check appointment for Friday as I don't think I can walk from the Metro station to the hospital and back again. I don't want to ruin my trip to the wedding by making my knee too sore to walk on it.

Oh how I love the sun

I love the sun. I was meant for warmer climes. My tired old bones and my arthritis warm up lovely with a bit of sunshine. Housework - forget it for tomorrow it may rain.

I was out most of the day today crocheting and reading in the garden. My chest is as red as a baboon's bum despite my sunscreen but I am of the optimistic nature that what turns red will eventually turn brown. I want a bit of colour for the wedding on Saturday. I had tried some of the tinted suncream at the weekend and turned a streaky shade of yellow so I am hoping that the sun will rectify my stripiness. Another day of sun tomorrow please!
The only problem is that my colour will all be at the front as I can't lie on my knee on the sun lounger to get the back of me and my legs tanned. It's far too painful to put that kind of pressure on my knee. I will have to stay with my back to the wall at all times at the wedding. Perhaps I will have to stand with my back to the sun tomorrow.

I have almost finished the Haru/Cinnabar/Mei Mei cardigan I only have a couple more rows plain to do on the body before I do the
4 rows of bolero shaping and then will only have the border to do.

I didn't get to the Kings Arms Knitting Club tonight as Charlie isn't well and there is no way that I can walk far enough to go by bus and tram. The trams are stopping at Victoria for the next 5 months for track renovations in the city centre and I would have to walk from there to Shudehill to catch the bus. They are laying on shuttle buses but they run from Corporation Street and that is more than half way to Shudehill from Victoria so no point waiting 20 mins for a bus for half a stop. At times like these I really miss not having my car anymore but I am sure that once I am fully mobile again then I will be OK.

The flowering cherry tree is at it's best today and so far the winds haven't destroyed it and blown it's petals down the street. I hope that I will have another couple of days to enjoy it. It is a beautiful tree but it's blossom lasts such a short time. One year we went on holiday and missed it's flowering altogether. We went away when it was budding and came back to just leaves and no flowers. They had all blown away!

Apparently I am a Chanatic

Ravelry have a Doris Chan forum and yesterday Skeinfest started a topic on who was a Chanatic (Doris Chan Fanatic) and how many projects had anyone made plus how many had made a design more than once. Skeinfest has made 13 and when I counted up I was amazed to find that this latest project will be my 21st! A lot are repeats of the same pattern. Some are adaptations of her designs but I still attribute them to her as they started off using her patterns before they morphed into one of mine. Zuleika (Life in the Zu) said ages ago that I was a Doris Chan groupie and now I think that she might be right. In my defence I will stay that most of them were for family and friends and didn't finish up in my wardrobe.

Last night I started the Haru from Everyday Crochet but it will evolve a little as I will put long sleeves on it and some kind of a front fastening.It will be a bit of Haru but with the sleeves of Cinnabar. I may put the front shaping of Mei Mei on it but I haven't as yet made my mind up about that. I am using Robin Double Knitting that I bought from Abakhan yesterday.

I have taken a photo of the tree in my garden. It is one of the flowering cherry family but I have forgotten it's exact name. It flowers every year and the minute the flowers come out it is always a signal for the high winds to start and blow all the flowers away within a couple of weeks. Such a shame. So pretty for such a short time. The street will look like a churchyard scattered with confetti after a wedding in a few days time. I love the red colours of the bush underneath the tree. Again as I am not a gardener I have no idea what it is called.

I have strapped my knee up with a crepe bandage today and am staying home to rest it. I keep hoping that one day it will be back to normal. The sooner the better as far as I am concerned. I get stir crazy when I have to stay in for too long.