Increasing My Stash Yet Again

Well I did go to the official opening of Purl City Yarns so how could I come away without buying something? I think that I was remarkably restrained considering all the goodies that were on display to choose from. Lovely as some of the yarns are as you know I do have a problem wearing anything wool so I chose some King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK as that is lovely and silky smooth and I know that it won't itch me in wear. I haven't yet decided what I will make with it so for the moment it is just in stash.

I bought 5 King Cole patterns. 3 for crochet and 2 for knitting. As the patterns are double sided I photographed them on one side and then the other so it looks like I bought 10 patterns. As you already know I find it very difficult not to buy every crochet pattern and book that I see but this time I didn't buy every one. When I manage to go down for another visit then the rest might get bought then.

I have almost finished my secret project and will photograph it and show it on the blog later in the week. I also crocheted a cuff for my jacket so that will be the next thing to get finished. My niece went to Yarn Barn in Shaw for some wool for me to make a scarf for a friend's birthday in December and my other niece's friend has chosen her pattern for a knitted cardigan so I will ask my local niece if she can get the wool for that. I think that this next couple of months is going to be a busy knitting time for me.

I went to the local Farmers Market on Sunday. They come about 4 times a year to the precinct. I just love the French bread. It does help that the two guys who sell it are very handsome and have such lovely accents! This time I managed to get to the stall as they had left a gap for my scooter to fit through. The downside of this was that I spent far more as I could see all of the wares. The pastries at the front of the photo were delicious. One was raisin and was similar to a Danish pastry and the long pastry was filled with chocolate and some kind of a custard cream filling and was truly scrummy.

I also bought some lamb for the freezer and some Greek Moussaka for later in the week. I cooked a Lamb Henry yesterday and there is enough left over for my dinner tonight. I am not sure which part of a lamb the Henry comes from but I roasted it like a leg and it was very tasty.

Time to finish off the secret project and then scoot up to the bank to pay something off my credit card. I have not been adding to the card but it does have the scooter and the recliner armchair on it. It will get paid off very soon but no doubt I will have to use the card over Christmas for presents etc. I am glad that I bought both of them instead of saving up for them as they have both come in very useful in making my life easier over the past couple of months.

It's cold again today and next door's cat is curled up on the spare bed in the warm.He is not daft. He leaves his house in the morning and decides it's too cold to be prowling the street so comes and taps on my patio door to come in here. No doubt when he leaves me he will tap on the window of next door to be let back in again. It's a cat's life!

Great Afternoon of Crochet

I had a fun afternoon/evening out at the official opening of Purl City Yarns. It was great to sit and chatter knitting and crochet with lots of crafty folk. Some that I had met before and others that I met for the first time. When these photos were taken it was late afternoon and so the crowds hadn't arrived by then. Charlotte's Father and Mother came and as the Mayor of Stockton resplendent in his mayoral chains he cut the ribbon that officially opened the shop and the gallery upstairs. There was a film show later in the evening but as it was upstairs in the gallery and it was heaving with people I elected not to slowly ascend the staircase and hold everyone up. Apparently it will be shown again so perhaps I can view it on a less crowded day.

I had a good chat to Sean and a couple of students from the MMU who are studying design and using crochet and machine knitting. Chatting to them and seeing some photos of Sean's work made me think once again about getting my bigger knitting machine cleaned up and working properly again. I have all the gadgets and gizmos for it and it would solve the problem of my slow knitting. Well it will once I remember how everything works. It has been many years since I used it properly. Crochet will always be my first love though.

As you can see from the photos there is plenty of stock to chose from and Charlie is adding more every day. I had a good browse and decided on some King Cole Cotton and a few patterns which I will show you tomorrow. A lot of the people who came bought something so I hope that they will make plenty return visits as it is good to have a quality wool shop in Manchester. I can't wear wool as you know but there are so many people in Manchester who appreciate the chance to view the top end wools in real life. I have ordered many things from the Internet as my shopping ability is somewhat limited at the moment and it is always a surprise when the things arrive as they are never quite the colour that I thought I was ordering. Purl City Yarns has the King Cole Riot in stock so when I need more stocks I know where I can see the colours properly.

For those of you unable to visit the shop I have been told that the website for mail. order will be up and running very soon - possibly next week. I have also put the blog link through my blog title so that you can keep up to date should you wish to do so.

At the moment I am crocheting a hush hush project so I can't update you on my work at the moment. All will be revealed at a later date. I still have the two sleeves to crochet on my jacket but that has taken a back seat once again as I push on with my secret project. I have just been asked by my London Niece to knit a cardigan for her friend. I did promise this friend that I would knit her one a while ago when we were chatting at my niece's wedding but she has had a baby in between and has only just got around to deciding on what she wants. My niece is going to get the wool for me and send it to my address. My niece is away in Spain at a family wedding at the moment but will be back next week.

I will have to be starting my Christmas presents soon as some of them will be knitted and my knitting is far slower than my crochet.

My knee has felt like it has been run over by a bus since the physio. I am back to day one pain wise. I know that it is going to hurt but what is alarming me more is that since my scar healed my knee is starting to swell back up again making the knee bends even more difficult to do. I just feel that if I could get this swelling down then the knee exercises would be a doddle and I would be walking again. I haven't felt much like blogging over the last couple of days. When I hit a down day I try not to inflict myself on other people. My blog would have just been one long moaning woe is me rant and not very interesting.

I have bought another subscription in for the Interweave Crochet magazine and I am hoping that they don't keep up the trend of adding knitting to their magazine. I debated whether to renew but as I find it so hard to find copies to buy in the newsagents I decided to take a chance on the new editions improving.

Trying To Remember The Pattern

I know from browsing on Ravelry that some people like to have loads of WIP on the go. I am terrible if I do that. Once I put something down it takes me forever to find out where I am up to on the pattern and forever to resume from where I left off. I haven't touched this jacket since before I went into hospital and today I managed to sort out where I thought that I was up to on the pattern and crochet the two fronts. Now that I have started the back the fronts look very small although the jacket does have a very wide front band. The pattern also looks a bit short in the armholes for my chunky arms so I may have to add a couple more rows onto each piece before I finish off completely for the shoulder seams.

I spent the other day unravelling a couple of WIP as I decided that they never would reach completion and so I was ruthless and ripped them apart. Once a WIP goes beyond a certain time I figure that I must not really want it or need it otherwise I would have finished it off by now. I still have a babies hooded jacket that I started just after Christmas that just needs a half of a sleeve the hood and the bands. As I mentioned the other day it will now fit the younger brother and not the older one that it was intended for. It is one of those pieces of knitting that I just can't seem to find enthusiasm for.In this case it is the colour that I don't like. I don't know about you but if I like what I am crocheting then it flies off the hook. If I don't like the pattern stitch or the wool that I am using then it can take me forever to make it.

My scar is now healing nicely. The District Nurse still hasn't been. I was supposed to get a visit on Monday but no-one called. I am out to the hospital tomorrow for physio so I bet that they call then. If they don't call soon then I will ring them up as they are supposed to sign me off from treatment on all of the paperwork otherwise it looks as though my treatment has not been completed. I was hoping to get out today for a bit of fresh air but it has been raining solidly since I got up this morning so I think fresh air will be delayed until tomorrow when I have to go out.

I am hoping to get down to Purl City Yarns on Friday for the grand Opening between 2 - 8pm. I now feel mobile enough to get a taxi there and see the shop and the stock for myself. This is an extract from the e mail that I got inviting me to the opening

***Join us at Purl City Yarns this Friday for a double whammy yarn filled event, that should not to be missed!!!

Between 2pm - 9pm we would love you to come along to our Grand Opening where we will have knitting, crochet and spinning demos throughout the day with nibbles, wine and much more ...

Then, at 6pm we have the very first exhibition opening at Purl Gallery (above the shop) of Knit and Destroy's new exhibition 'Knit and Destroy Goes To The Movies' by Kandy Diamond.
Join us in the gallery for wine and popcorn, meet the artist and get the first look at our brand new gallery.

To all of those yarn fanatics who have already visited the shop since we opened on the 12th October thank you for all your purchases, support and enthusiasm - we have been really pleased to meet you all.

If you haven't yet visited us then this Friday is the time to come and see what we have in the shop - we look forward to seeing you in the shop.

Until then please visit our blog to keep right up to date with everything that is happening at the shop:

www.purlcityyarns.blogspot.com

See you Friday :o) and please feel free to invite all your friends along... ***

I am going to try to finish off the bodywork on the ribbed crochet jacket tonight. Not sure if I will start the sleeves next or tackle the wide band that I will need to add. That will be like crocheting all around an afghan. It's a good job that the weather isn't warm as it makes a very good knee warmer as I am crocheting it.

Purl City Yarns

Purl City Yarns is opening in Manchester today. I have put a link in my blog title. There hasn't been a 'proper' wool shop in Manchester city centre for such a long time. Charlie (Charlotte) decided to amend this by opening up a shop that caters for the lovers of Indie yarns and out of the ordinary yarns combined with the commercially spun wools stock that some other wool shops have. If you read her blog then you will see the full range of her stock and accessories that she is stocking along with the progress of the shop from the lease signing to the opening. She will have some locally spun and dyed wools for sale and is going to be starting up some workshops very soon. I think that mail order sales via the net are another thing that will be added very soon - if not already.

I would have loved to have been down there today for the opening but I haven't been out doors yet and don't feel up to any travel even if it was by taxi. Hopefully I will make it there for a browse in a couple of weeks when my problems have cleared up.

My London living niece and her husband sent me the Get Well card which is rather amusing. I think that it is a bit of wishful thinking on the part of the man to think that he needs such a large ball of wool to cover his credentials.

The All Shawl is finished and is drying after it's wash. The wool had been hanging around for a while and was a bit grubby looking. I promise that I will take a photo of it soon. I have just been a little lacking in energy.

The District Nurse called yesterday and diagnosed my wound leak as serous fluid which is something that happens sometimes. I think it's just a case of changing dressings until it finally stops leaking out. As my knee swelling is going down perhaps this fluid is draining from around the knee. I have read about it online and unless it gets infected it doesn't seem to be an abnormal thing. It's just something that happens to some people. Perhaps my surgical drain was taken out too early. Actually it fell out on it's own and so the hospital removed it completely. I just have to be very vigilant to keep the dressings clean. My knee keeps going numb on one side which is slightly worrying. I will ask the nurse about that when she calls tomorrow.

Not much crocheting done again. I don't know what is wrong with me. I seem to have lost my Mojo somewhere. Hopefully it will return very soon.