Lovely day

I had a great day today. I got a visit from my friend Vicky http://web.mac.com/vhjeffery/Site/Welcome.html and we had a chat and a discussion on crochet hats - technique and stitches to use etc. Vicky in embarking on one with some lovely yarn (chenille I think) in my favourite colourways. I am sure it will appear on her blog any day soon.

I got a lovely gift from Vicky of some Rowan Kid classic in my favourite colour of purple. The packaging was a work of art as you can see in the photo also the card. I love anything handmade as it shows that a great deal of time, thought, effort and love has gone into the packaging as well as the gift. My skills with paper, glue or sellotape are legendary in my family. I would never make a presenter on Blue Peter that is for sure. I can manage to turn anything into a tattily wrapped mangle in no time at all! Glue welds itself to my fingers and that in turn welds my fingers to the parcel. Sellotape has a life of it's own even with a dispenser. I have yet to place one piece of it on anything without a copy of my fingerprint and a fold in it. My family were amazed one Christmas at my parcelling skills. I had curls of ribbon etc and everything was wonderful. I had to confess that a friend of mine who is skilled in the art had visited me just before Christmas and taken pity on my Klutziness and done them all for me! Why did she have to marry and move away?

The scarf to match the Kilim cap is finished and fringed. It really was a labour of love as darning in ends of yarn in is not my favourite task and as the colour changed with every row you can imagine how many tails I had to stitch. Luckily for me my niece isn't a perfectionist so won't mind if she has little ends of wool working their way out of the scarf as she wears it. Adds to it's homemade charm?

I have started the openwork crochet cardigan for my other niece Kath. The pattern stitch is quite straightforward but the garment has lots of shaping for the waist and wrap over fronts so the pattern was labelled as for the experienced so I hope there won't be too much cursing tonight.

I have crocheted half of the mohair scarf for my sister in law so hopefully that will get finished off tonight.

Back to crochet for a while

I have used some of the yarn bought yesterday in Ramsbottom. The colours are my niece's choice as she wanted subtle colours for her Kilim cap. I had to buy 50gram balls of 4ply in 3 colours and the black was in 100grams so it seemed the obvious thing to make a matching scarf with the large amount of left overs. There is a huge snag with this as you can see from the photo. The pattern has only one row of each colour so the yarn cannot be stranded up the sides. No - it is not a fringe that you spy up the sides - it is a huge amount of tails that will all have to be woven in once the scarf is finished. Don't you just hate it when that happens? I have managed to complete the hat and about a quarter of the scarf. I think I will try to weave the ends in every now and again rather than leave them all until I have finished the scarf and it becomes an overwhelming chore.

I haven't done as much on my Christmas projects today as I would have wished as I gave in and did some housework. The dust bunnies were breeding like mad and the dog hair was collecting. I usually hoover every day and if I miss a couple of days then it is amazing when I empty the vac afterwards just how much dog hair and dirt there is in there. I take off my boots at the front door and wipe Buster's feet but it still manages to work it's way in. I had another chat to the builder today and he assures me that he hasn't forgotten that I need a new garage roof and doors. He is just up to his eyes with work at the moment. Once that work is done then I can come into the house through the garage and into the vinyl floored kitchen area after wet muddy dog walks. I need my carpet cleaning but there is no point until I get my garage entrance sorted out.

My back has been very bad today. Stabbing pain and leg weakness. Culmination of two things. On Thursday the swimming baths had apparently had a leak overnight so the water was lower than usual as it was filling slowly and was colder than usual as it heats slowly. I usually exercise in water above my damaged back area and in warmish water so I came home with an aching back. On Friday I went to Tesco and had to use one of their larger trolleys as I was buying a large washing powder and several tins of dog food plus my week's shop. I don't know who designs these trolleys but they cripple my back. It's not just the pushing, it's the unloading at the till. Having to bend right into the trolley and put the articles on the belt made my knees buckle as the pressure it put on my back made my legs go numb. I hate it when that happens in public in case people think I have been on the vino when I stagger about. I had to cling on to the trolley to walk back to the car. Then the loading and unloading of the car finished my back off altogether. Buster is sulking today because I only managed one walk this morning. I just couldn't coax my back and legs into the second walk in the rain.

Tonight it was head pads on the back whilst I crocheted but I stopped around 10pm instead of continuing on until bedtime as usual thus losing a couple of hours crafting time.

I have had no side effects from my flu jab despite the nurse using a blunt needle. Just a slight bruise is all I have to show for it.