Firm textured aran - 2nd attempt

These are a couple of photos of the still very rigid aran I am making for my friend's brother. The second attempt is working out well size wise but it is still very heavy going on my hands so I am going to limit myself to a pattern (16 rows) at a time. I think it will soften and loosen up with it's first wash. It's funny how dye can affect yarn in different ways. The cream aran (same brand) I used last was a lot softer in texture and easier to work with. This colour has a tendency to split so I often have to retrace my stitches to sort out a dropped strand. Since my right hand carpal tunnel operation last December I can't work too long on large or heavily patterned garments as it makes my hand and wrist ache. I try to alternate between knit and crochet in the course of the evening so have many projects on the go as a result.

My niece is coming around tonight to help me lift my knitting machine down from the loft. I have not used it for many years so it will be interesting to see if I can still remember how to use it and more importantly how to set it all up with it's ribber and lace carriage. Luckily I still have all the instruction books stored in my under bed storage drawers. I guess not a lot of knitting or crochet will be done this evening as I will be cleaning the machine and setting it up ready for use.

I don't have any projects in mind for my machine but I am sure it will come in useful if only for using up the smaller amounts of yarn. I was donated a lot of dark colours when I asked on Freecycle for any yarn suitable for premature baby blankets. I can always knit striped dog and cat blankets for the local rescue centre on the machine. I will just put a crochet edging on them to finish them off and so reduce the stash of odd balls I have accumulated. I was looking at the stash of oddments the other day and thinking it was getting a bit overwhelming. I would have to crochet for months to get rid of it so the machine will help with the plain projects and the animals will benefit.

Crocheted novelty pillow

I found this wonderful picture whilst browsing on Flikr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mel_ancholy/1713061424/ The creator's name is Mel Ancholy and she calls these SchmusenBusen (for obvious reasons I think). Just the thing for Christmas for the man who has everything? He would be happy sleeping nestled between these pert boobs. She has a web site (link printed under the photo) selling these and I am sure she has many purchasers.

I am still in the unripping mode. I started knitting an aran sweater for my friend's brother. I was making the same pattern as before using the same brand of aran so I thought hmm no need to swatch. I did think that the yarn felt a little thicker running through my fingers but pressed on regardless. After a few inches I realised that the sweater was more a fit for the incredible hulk than Kevin plus it could stand on it's own in the corner. Unravel, unravel. I must love sitting with a pile of wool around my ankles. I knit from the centre of the ball so it is impossible to stuff it back in again. I started again with a different pattern and larger needles and whilst it is still somewhat rigid I am hoping it will soften when washed. I did quite a bit of cussing whilst I was re-knitting the spaghetti mess the yarn had tangled itself into. I read somewhere an article that said any yarn that is left loose will knot itself up. To think someone had spent huge amounts of money on this survey when they could just have asked any knitter or crocheter and got that information for free.

I read in the Manchester Evening News that the council is suing the makers of B of the Bang sculpture for 2 million as it is an unsafe structure. Why anyone paid so much for a rusting spiky creation amazes me. I think they should sue whoever agreed to buy it in the first place. They could have got any college to rustle something better up in metalwork class for free. Any fool in the street could see the dangers of it right from the start so how come the members of the public who criticised it in the beginning got shot down in flames for their opinions.