Now I know why he is my ex !

My ex husband called around today to see how I was and ask about the impending operation. He did plant the Hibiscus for me that Eadaoin had bought me and cut the top of the hedge that I couldn't quite reach but then started his usual rant about how my house was cluttered. He used to like the house with everything in it's place and when we were married and I spent years running around constantly tidying and cleaning to try to please his exacting standards. I was a nervous wreck every time he came home as he would always find something he didn't like and criticize. But hang on this is now my house and I can have it the way I want. I can't do the housework even to my usual standards at the moment so telling me that every surface is cluttered and I should get rid of a pile of stuff does not come under the heading of cheering up the depressed. I did clear him a small space in the middle of my knitting and crochet on the coffee table to put his beaker of coffee down so what more does he want?

The last straw was when he said he couldn't see the point of hand knitting socks. I had just tipped out my sock wool pile onto the table just before he arrived so that didn't sit well either! Not seeing the point of hand knitting socks? Now I truly know that we were never suited. Keeping my knitting and crochet neatly in a basket? No - I am creative I like my stuff around me so I can switch projects at a moment's notice. Arghh. I am glad I made him cut the hedge now! Wish it had been the whole hedge and not just the top. I hope he doesn't call around for another couple of months although next time the house will be worse as I will be in my 3 months no housework at all after my operation period! If he doesn't like it then he can just get the hoover out and do it for me!!! On second thoughts no - I would wind up with everything he thought unnecessary in the bin. You can imagine how many rows we used to have about my knitting pattern collection! Thank God I never caved in over those. Ya Boo Alan I still have most of those - all 4 storage boxes of them!

Rant over. Aren't these socks just simply gorgeous. I have almost managed to pair them up colourwise. They have been a joy to knit and so fast. Less than a week which isn't bad for me as I have been doing crochet also. They are definitely a house or boot sock as they are thicker than any other sock I have knitted. They are in Regia 6ply Crazy Colour 5404 if anyone wants to know the specifics and I just LOVE the colours. I have thinner sock wool to knit her other pair in but I think I am already using the needles for the socks for myself that I started a week ago and left to do Vic's socks. Maybe I will finish mine off first or maybe I will put them onto bamboo needles just to store them as I love knitting with my shiny Knit Picks needles. Knitting just flows off then and I knit so much faster - well except with lace where if I drop a stitch then it unravels a mile a minute. Then I do fall out with them slightly.

I will definitely buy some of the Regia yarn for myself but as I have all the balls and skeins in the last photo to knit I think I had better curb my buying instinct for a while. I have won a £5 voucher for Amazon books so I will no doubt be browsing on there very shortly to see which book that will go towards.

I went to the Salford Arms knit out last night. The knitted chandelier is now taking shape and one of the girls has a machine that knits i cord at a remarkable rate and so was churning out miles of the stuff. She just cranks a little handle and out churns i cord. There is even a mini weight to hold the right tension as it flows ever downwards. It's quite a neat gadget but not something that most knitters would ever really need on a daily basis. Perhaps if a club bought one for communal use it would be OK.

Today is lovely and sunny but a little windy. I am off to walk Buster in the sunshine before deciding which socks to knit next. I have finished the body of Jewel and just have the bottoms of the sleeves to crochet next. I think I will have to narrow them slightly otherwise they might be a bit wide at the cuff. I can see another try on necessary before I continue with those. That's the beauty of top down crochet. not only is there no seaming but trying on at every stage makes the garment so easily adapted to fit different body shapes. I can really see her point in that. I just wish the penny would drop with her instructions.

Doris Chan - love your designs but your instructions drive me nuts !

Everyone loves Doris Chan. There is a Ravelry Group named "I love Doris Chan" so I guess I must be the only person in the world who loves her designs but find her instructions baffling and bewildering. I struggle somewhat with US terms but have learned to disregard 40 odd years of calling a treble a treble only to have to be told it's a double crochet according to the US designers. I have learned to live with that annoying though it may be.

I got my Everday Crochet book and drooled like everyone else over it's contents. They are amazing designs. Simple yet effective or so I thought until I was poised with hook in hand ready to start. I started Tall Latte with my base chain. Then it got confusing flipping pages until I found the instructions for the size I was making. Ah found it - oh bugger it says rows 1-3 are the same as size 33 so back flip pages. Then I look for abbreviations oh they are on page 37 as for Jewel - OK more page flipping. Back to Row 4 - 6 to find they are the same as size 42 then row 7 - same as size 39. I am sure that by now you have got my drift. My poor book is dizzy and keeps falling off the sofa with all its twists and turns. It gets worse the further down the sweater it gets. I understand that you try to cater for many sizes Doris and you do have to repeat yourself a few times but I would far rather have a larger book that takes me from A-Z without all this page and size flipping.

By the time I had reached the joining together of the body underarm and neck (it is worked top down) I had lost the will to crochet (plus it was far too large) and so from then on it was a Jan inspired by Doris design. Sorry Doris but I winged it from then on and guess what my sweater fairly zipped off the hook from them on! I do love her ideas and will use them again but in my own way. From now on I will look at her photos and in the words of Frank Sinatra - I did it my way!

I guess people who learned to crochet the US way will understand her terminology and let's face it there is a dearth of good UK designers and even UK learn to crochet books so the younger crocheters will probably grow up learning the US way. Everything is US these days. Even the spell checker on my pc tells me I spell the words colour and labour wrong. Nope I don't - well not according to the concise English dictionary I don't.

The good side is that the jumper looks great and fits wonderfully well. I will give you that bit Doris. Using shell stitch makes the garment wonderfully stretchy and it flatters the figure ( well not mine as the last photo shows) and feels so comfy when it is on. I like her idea of adding a couple of rows for extra bust room on the front. It makes the sweater stretch less across the bosom as in previous sweaters. Plus I shaped the body in as per her instructions for shaping sleeves to add a waistline as my niece, like me, is a typical hour glass figure type and so many sweaters end up like tents with the correct bust size. I didn't shape back out I relied on hook changes to give room for the hips.

I slept until 10.15am this morning. OK I did wake up at 4am for a wee (Buster as well) break and a dry off as I was having one of my hot wet flushy moments but after a drink I went back to sleep and slept dreamlessly (well no bad ones) until the postman woke us up. Waste of a day as it is now lunchtime and I have only just had breakfast and done nothing except shower. Time for Loose Women now so I guess not much will get done today. Great Carol McGiffin is on a rant about phoning customer services for the Internet. You go Carol. We have all been there phoning number after number at 40p a minute only to get passed around and around to people who barely speak English and and keep advising me to check my connection wires. Already done that dummy ! I did all that before I rang you! I am not that thick. They will never admit anything is their fault.

Ah well tomorrow is another day. Maybe today I will get to the Salford Arms for a Knit Out tonight. For the last 2 weeks things have happened that made it impossible for me to get there.

Good news and scary news

I had to go to the hospital today for my pre-op tests. The good news is that in between all the poking, prodding, X-Rays and blood tests I managed to finish the first Tiger sock that has been on the needles since time immemorial. I hope the second sock doesn't take as long! The needles are US1 and whilst the look is fine and tailored it seems to take a lot of knitting to grow an inch. Kath's cardigan is almost sewn together as you can see. I need to finish off the pockets and attach the belt before blocking out. I will probably rinse it through to try to detach Buster's hair which seems to be interwoven in the crochet.

The scary news is the detailed description of what the operation entails. Having it explained in graphic detail is somewhat scary. More scary is the information that due to my sleep apnoea I will have to be in intensive care post op as I need one to one nursing because the morphine they will have to give me will make me drowsy most of the time. I think this is one of the reasons they are a bit scared of doing the op. Frightened that I might peg out on them possibly and ruin their operation results. Plus the fact that I will have to be lying on my front (visitors will see my better side!) means I can't even knit or crochet to take my mind off the pain. Even more scary is that they have told me that it is a 12 months recuperation and for the first 3 months I am not allowed to push a hoover, carry shopping or lift anything remotely heavy as it might undo all the work. Any visitors will be politely asked if they will shove the hoover around for me. I am more worried about the dog hair than anything.

The theatre sister asked who was going to look after me, make me meals and drinks etc. when I first go home. I shall just have to stock up on ready meals as apart from the first week or so I shall be left to my own devices. I have arranged for a dog walker for Buster. Sounds like I shall be doing a lot of sitting on my bum knitting and crocheting for a while. In the old days I would have been in hospital for quite a while but nowadays its 5 days stay and recuperate at home.

I hope to be going to the Salford Kings Arms knitting club tonight and am waiting for confirmation of a lift. I drove to the hospital today and my back is protesting. I think I shall get rid of the car, or take it off the road, as I probably will not be able to drive it for a while after the op anyway. It has a slow puncture anyway and I am always having to pump up the tyre. I will have to ask Ian to change the tyre next time he comes to see me.

Bit of a gloomy post today. I will be back to normal tomorrow. I still have the booklet to read detailing what to expect during and after the op but I can't face reading it today. Not exactly good bedtime reading is it?