A Hint Of Calendar

I have got my copies of the calendar. Some of which are now on their way to the US and the Isle of Man as well as exotic Manchester. The photo is only part of what appears in the calendar- well you didn't expect me to reveal the whole me on here did you? I thought just a hint and then if you buy a calendar then you can see the full photo plus the other 11. All I will say is that I do cover a lot more of the page than the others but as a neighbour remarked "They get more for their money with you love" I do hope that he meant that in a complimentary way.

I haven't done much crochet or knitting as I went back up to Bolton today to pick up my calendars which Deb kindly got for me. Otherwise I would have had to wait until the knit out to see one. I must admit when I posted the calendar to the US I had to take a deep breath as even sending it printed paper rate it cost me £6.27p. Good job it is for an old friend. I have got a friend from Facebook ordering two calendars and a neighbour is ordering another two and this is only my first day of having a calendar to show!

Another shameless plug here - click on my blog title if you wish to support a good cause (Christie Cancer Hospital) and order a calendar for yourself or for someone that you think would like one. If the blog title doesn't work then you can always find the link on the right hand side of my blog. Please feel free to tell all of your friends. Order and tell them Jan sent you. It won't get you any discount but it does help us to find out how people found out about the calendar.

I have managed to crochet up the tangle of 3 balls of wool that I had to unravel and so am back where I was two days ago with the shawl. Hopefully this time I have kept the pattern and the increases straight. Wish me luck as I crochet away.

Time is ticking on and still not a pot washed so I had better get on with some chores before I pick up my hook again.

Crochet Bed Cape

I have now finished off the bed cape for the Knitting Noras raffles. It is made from some quite thick pink double knit that Sylvia donated. I have used an old Patons Cover-ups pattern 3005 which is probably well out of date by now. There are remarkable similarities to the All Shawl by Doris Chan at the start having the same segment type shaping. The edging is different though more ruffled. I had taken a close up of the ruffles and one of the ruffle spread out flat so that you can see how it is constructed. The bed cape is the bright pink of the first few photos and not the pale pink of the web cam ones.

I have almost finished an All Shawl in shades of brown. It is another stash buster shawl similar to the one I made for Lisa. I will photograph it tomorrow when it is completely finished and the tails sewn in. That is the worst part of using up odd balls. I am not a good sewer at the best of times so why I keep choosing to make things with loads of tails amazes me. Perhaps I like punishing myself ;)

I have had loads of favourable comments and e mails about the You Tube videos of the Knitting Noras that finished up on the cutting room floor. Everyone is very complimentary and say what a shame that we didn't make it to the programme.

Funnily enough there was an old programme repeat on Sky circa 2005 last night going into the spate of nude calendars that followed the famous WI original calendar. It was about the pitfalls and why some calendars were a huge success and some a failure. The opinion was that the more tongue in cheek and humorous the calendar was the more it appealed to everyone and not just a select few. I do hope that we get the balance right when ours is finished.

Poppy has just been for her daily visit and tummy rub. Next door's cat has been for his food and a sleep. Luckily they didn't arrive at the same time as Poppy thinks poor Oscar is fair game and chases him all around the house. He looks as though he has got scratched up in a cat fight so is feeling a bit sorry for himself today.

I have managed to get some washing dry before the rain started. I guess we are in for another day of drumming noise. I live nowhere near Heaton Park and yet I can hear the drums from Oasis and Kasabian. They sound like the Indian war drums in an old cowboy B movie from here. If I could actually hear the music it might not be so bad. I will be glad when they are gone though as we have had this all week. When it first started I was blaming the teenager next door until I saw him come back home and realised he had been out all the time this noise was going on.

Off to stitch in a few tails!

The Knitting Noras on You Tube

Bev has put the video of our Channel M slot on You Tube. When I watched it I was stunned. Not by Lisa and Bev who were extremely eloquent on it but by myself. To quote the words of Robert Burns - O would some Power, the gift to give us. To see ourselves as others see us.

I knew, of course, that I had put on a lot of weight but since I retired, and more so since my spinal op, I live in sweat pants and loose tops and glance at myself in the mirror merely to brush my hair or occasionally put on some make up. When I was working I always gave myself the once over in the full length mirror before leaving the house. I did get a big clue this week when I tried on most of my "best" wardrobe and hardly anything fitted.

After seeing myself on You Tube I have come to the conclusion that everyone who is gaining weight should be videoed by their doctor who then plays it back to them. If that doesn't bring them to their senses then nothing will. It was an eye opening shock for me and from now on I shall be taking my diet far more seriously. I will also be seeing my doc again about my cough after hearing my croaky voice in the video. I lost my voice for a couple of weeks but I hadn't realised just how deep and rough is still sounds. I sound like a hardened smoker and I have never smoked. I think a another trip to the ENT is next on the agenda.

The Tall Latte crochet sweater has grown a little since the photo above and I have decided to use the two other colours pictured to devise some way of making the sleeves and body longer as I have no desire to unravel it and make something else. I did some work on the sleeves last night and am quite pleased with the result so tonight I will work on the rest.

I have a lot of housework to do today as my house is looking untidy even to my eyes and I know my son is coming on Sunday for Mother's day and possibly bringing my great grand babies so I had better make sure nothing lethal to children is lying about. Put away my sharp pointy sticks, scissors and stitch markers etc before little fingers get stabbed or stitch markers get swallowed.

By the way you can view the You Tube video. I did try to add it to my blog title as a link but Blogger didn't like it. I am rubbish at posting links as you know so you will probably have to cut and paste to be able to view it.

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=d0wzyHg7FIc

I shall hide away doing my housework in my over sized sweat pants whilst you watch.

The Knitting Noras were on Channel M News today

Today I had an early start. I was so afraid of over sleeping and missing the alarm that I kept waking up all through the night. I met up with Lisa, Bev and Eadaoin in Manchester as we were being interviewed by Channel M News. Channel M is Manchester's local TV channel and they wanted to interview 3 of the Noras about the Naked Knitting Calendar. It was all very tranquil and not at all scary but I still managed to be the fat one looking scared (or should that be scary one) on the end of the sofa. They say TV puts pounds on you but when I caught sight of myself out of the corner of my eye on the screen I think it put 2 stones on me. No wait a minute, that really is the way I look. Memo to self must stay on my diet!!!

We just had to sit on a sofa and be interviewed. Luckily they only asked me one question but Lisa was animated as usual and managed chat away to the presenters without any signs of nerves at all. Bev and Lisa managed to get most of the details about the calendar across and thankfully the interviewers didn't dwell too much on the naked aspect and make fun of us. They dealt with us very professionally.

Bev had brought sock monkey with her and he was on the table whilst we sat on the sofa being interviewed. He stole the closing shots as the camera gave him his big close up. Sock Monkey is something that Ravelry started. Apparently people knit a sock monkey and post it off and it stays with it's new owner for a month whilst you knit it a set of clothes and then pass it on. Bev's sock monkey is in New York at the moment. The sock monkey we had today was knitted by a lady in Ireland. I think in the end you get your own sock monkey back again but I am not sure about that so I must ask Bev.

Eadaoin came with us and has taken some more photos of us whilst we were in the studio. Hopefully I can post more on here later. The top that I finished up wearing had rather a low neck and so I was wearing the necklace and bracelet that Eadaoin made for my birthday. Now Eadaoin can put "as seen on TV" on her Etsy site (link is on my favourites) The photo of the four of us outside Channel M was taken by Lisa's son. He did well. Most children his age would have chopped all of our heads off!

Bev is going to see if she can post a video of our interview on You Tube later. I will post the link tomorrow if she managed to do that.

My knitting and crochet has rather been over looked this last few days so now the excitement is over and my five minutes of fame have gone I shall have to settle down to a bit of normality.

I need a lie down now as my knee is aching with the walking about in Manchester. I hope that they manage to fix it for me next week. It makes a change from saying my thumb is hurting. That will be when I start crocheting later. I still haven't decided what to do with the sweater to make it longer as I will have to introduce another colour to eke the wool out. I got the wool in a sale ages ago and so cannot get any more.

The Knitting Noras are in the newspaper

The Knitting Noras are in the Bolton Evening News today. Anyone who regularly reads my blog knows that we are in the process of making a Naked Knitting Calendar and if you click on my blog title it will take you to the article in the Bolton Evening News web page featuring some of the members. I am not on the photo as it was taken on one of our evening Knit Outs which I didn't attend as I no longer have a car and I am such a wimp about travelling after dark on public transport on a couple of buses and a tram.

I hope that all of this publicity will help us to sell loads of calendars once they are published. Some of the members are working very hard behind the scenes to publicise and attempt to get some sponsorship to keep any overheads down to a minimum.

My Tall Latte is progressing slowly. Yes Zuleika I am turning into a Doris Chan groupie. I like the fact that her designs have no seams to sew after I have finished crocheting. I don't know if I have enough wool to make it the same size as the Tall Latte which you can see underneath the one I am now crocheting. I have a few ideas on how to eke out the wool but it may have to finish up with the shorter sleeve and not the long one that I prefer. I haven't done any more on the baby cardigan. I will finish it off soon.

New Bootees book

I had to order gifts from Amazon for one of my niece's birthday present and of course a book for me jumped into my basket. 50 baby Bootees to knit by Zoe Mellor. I have this involuntary reaction whenever I go on Amazon to order something for someone else. Well that's my excuse anyway.

I haven't had chance to really look at the book as yet but at first glance there looks like quite a variety of lovely bootees, shoes and socks. The review on Amazon was slightly disconcerting as one person found mistakes in the patterns. I will update on this after I have knitted some of them. I will post a few more photos tomorrow.

Not much to report on the knit/crochet front. I have been busy with other things and my knitting and crochet has rather taken a back seat. I have now finished the blue baby crochet cardigan that is shown on here. I just have the buttons to stitch on now. Finished photo tomorrow.

There has been lots of interesting news on the Naked Knitting Calendar scene with interviews and photos of Lisa and the Noras who met up on Tuesday which will hopefully appear in the Bolton Evening News. We also have other interviews and possibly a TV appearance lined up which I will update about later. All of this has resulted in more time on the PC with e mails flying back and forth and less time doing any crocheting or knitting.

The last bit is from a letter sent to my GP from the consultant that I saw about my knee. Isn't that sweet. What a good bedside manner he has. I must say he was very patient and answered more of my questions about my knee, spine and general bone condition than anyone ever has in the past.

Not much knitting done this week

There has not been much knitting done for a couple of days. Not only was the base of my thumb aching (arthritis I think) but I got sidetracked by an old school photo.

I recently started chatting through Facebook with an old school friend and we got talking about school reunions and old photos. He has lost all of his school photos and I only had 2 class photos as my full school photo had been lost a long time ago. He knew someone who had been at school at the same time as me and had a full photo. He kindly scanned it and sent a copy over to me. I have been poring over this photo for the last few days trying to put names to faces. He couldn't find me on the photo until I pointed myself out to him. I think my mother must have cut my hair as I have a rather alarming hairstyle that would not be out of place in the Adam's family. Why do I have a point in my fringe? I am sure it wasn't the fashion in 1960. He told me that there will be a school reunion in October so I am going to try to get to that as I have never been to one. I hope that people wear name badges or it could be very embarassing.

I have managed a small baby cardigan for my friend's foster baby. I have made it a slightly larger size than he is but I am sure he will soon grow into it.

Today I went to see my friend Charlie to hear all about her working charity trip to India. We had a good knit and natter and caught up with the news she had missed whilst she was away. She is going to get all of her photos into order and make a photo slide show for me to see next time.It sounds like a great charity and is making a big difference to the education of Indian children.

Tonight the Knitting Noras are having a bit of a press conference about the Naked Knitting Calendar. I could not be there as I don't go out alone on public transport after dark these days and it would have involved a tram and a couple of buses each way for me to get there. I will find out what went on and post an update on here tomorrow.

Doris Chan put a comment on Ravelry about my scalloped capelet and she likes it !!!

Doris loves her pineapples

I have started the Scalloped Capelet from the Superior Crochet booklet. There is no mistaking who designed this. It has to be Doris Chan as she loves her pineapple design so much. If you read her blog though she says that they always remind her of little fishes.

I am making this with Sublime kid mohair Shade 025 and am still on my second ball. The capelet does go a lot wider in a similar shape to the Blue Curacao shawl so I imagine that it may take a lot of the 5 remaining balls before I finish it.

I took my crochet with me to the hospital today but didn't get much done. It was for my bone density scan and they took me out into the car park to be scanned in a van in a matter of minutes after I arrived. It wasn't one of those scary thread you down a tube scans I just had to lie on a bed whilst a small overhead scanner passed over me around the hip area. Apparently that is the best place to scan on a lady to see osteoporosis. The technician was quite enthralled by my back as she had never scanned anyone with pins and a plate in their back before so she asked did I mind if she had a closer look. I was quite comfy so I laid there with my feet propped on a big square cushion whilst she ooed and aahed with the other technician over my metalwork. At least I know she did a thorough job!

Vicky has updated the Naked Knitting Calendar page today with a lovely photo of herself. Lisa and Francesca. If you click on the blog title you can read all about the fun that they had on the first photo day. I only hope I look as gorgeous as they do when it's my turn. I suspect that I will need the whole shawl that is covering the three of them just to cover me!