Progress on Short and Sweet

I have made some progress on the short and sweet. I rarely follow patterns to the exact and I have altered this pattern too. I have added underarm chain to give an extra pattern on either side under the arm as Sylvia, like myself, is blessed with an ample chest and it just gives that bit of extra ease for movement. I have included photos of every stage of the making of this so that I can explain on Ravelry how I do things. So many people have got themselves into a knot with this pattern that I thought that a bit of visual might help. As I mentioned yesterday I have to do a bit of pattern jiggling as my wool is thinner than the one recommended for the pattern so I already have more rows down to the armhole that the pattern does.It is quite a chunky raised pattern so it comes out quite bulky even with this fine double knit.

I have, in the past, made this shrug for a child by using finer wool and a finer hook as the first size is quite a small bust size. As you have probably gathered I do like to experiment with patterns and one day I would like to work out how to make this in fine wool for myself or make is as it is but with long sleeves. A couple of ladies on Ravelry have made the design longer with long sleeves. Sylvia wants her shrug to be more of a cardigan length so I have quite a way to crochet before I get to the end of the body section. My own shrug is waist length but I think Sylvia wants hers a bit longer than that.

Today has been quite warm although not much sunshine. Poppy came for her usual cuddle and to leave me a parcel on the lawn. She annoyed the Tesco delivery man this morning as she would insist on winding in and out of his feet as he tried to deliver the boxes of food and then insisted on giving every box the once over with her nose to make sure that there were no delicious doggy treats hidden in there. I always seem to spend twice as much money when I order online than I do in the store. I think that is because I add more of the heavy stuff like washing powder, fabric softener, fruit drinks and bottled water so that I don't have to buy and carry any for a couple of weeks. When I walk up to Tesco with my shopping wheeler I have to limit myself to buying what I can wheel home. I will have to walk up to the village tomorrow as I need to collect my prescription that I also ordered online. I could get that delivered also if I signed up for it but I would have to wait in all day as they don't specify a time for delivery as Tesco do.

I had a better night's sleep last night. I do when I can sleep without the duvet pressing on my knees. It was warm enough to be without the duvet for most of the night although I did wake up underneath it this morning. I got up fairly early as my Tesco delivery slot was between 9 - 11 and as I suspected he came just after 9am. Not many people want this early slot as they are either at work or doing the school run. I was glad to see him so early as I didn't have a scrap of bread in the bread bin or the freezer for my breakfast.

Time for a coffee and a search through the channels to find something other than football to watch on the TV. The alternatives are usually very old re-runs of series but if I am lucky I will find one that I missed the first/second/third time around.

Child Size Short n' Sweet Finished

The child size version of the Short n' Sweet shrug is finished and is blocking on the board. I decided to give it a good soak in fabric softener in an attempt to give it a bit of drape. I am still in the dark as to what the yarn is made of.

I can't find any information about Fantasia other than on Ravelry when they insist that it is wool. I did the burn test and the bleach test and it is definitely not wool. My guess is either cotton or one of those synthetics that mimic cotton. After soaking in bleach it had the consistency of hard string and in the burn test it flared up but there was no smell of burning hair as there would have been with wool and I was left with a hard black brittle fused thread that crumbled when I tried to break it.

The shrug or bolero took 5 x 50 grams of Fantasia but I found it to be very thick for a double knit. I think that the bolero would have looked better in a finer yarn. I put two buttons on to fasten it as I think a small child needs to have things fastened as they rush about. I ran out of yarn so there is a row missing at the bottom of the bolero but I don't think that it is really noticeable.

Today has been mixed weather. Mostly it has been pouring down with rain. At times coming down in torrents and then the sun would shine for a few minutes. I am still waiting for summer to start. Where is it this year?