Were Vintage Crocheters Quicker?

The reason that I am asking this question is that I bought this pattern earlier this week

I don't know if you can read the wording but it says make this sweater in an evening. I always thought that I was quite a quick crocheter but it took 2 evenings to finish it. I am trying to make my mind up if the ladies of the 50's were quicker as most of them didn't have the distraction of the TV. I don't think that there was such a thing as the trade descriptions act back then to stop people saying anything that they wanted to describe things.

I have a crochet sweater hardback book from the 60's that is called Crochet Sweaters in a weekend. Considering that some of them are multi coloured fair isle type designs I defy anyone to make a long jacket up in pattern in a weekend.

This crocheted up really quickly. I can crochet old type patterns far quicker than the modern patterns. There is something simplistic about the way that they are written that I understand. Modern patterns have far too much information for me and I find them harder to follow. I usually give up and do things my way in the end.

This sweater took less than 200 grams. I made it in acrylic as it is for sale and more expensive yarns, although lovely, would put it out of my customers price ranges. I would love to crochet in the finest yarns but I do want to make some kind of a profit at the end  of it. I can't afford to have expensive things that don't sell. Non crafters have no idea how much hand made things cost to make.

The bottom band is crochet afterwards and is tight fitting. The pattern gets around this by making splits fastened with buttons to be easier to get the sweater on. I would miss this bit out if I was making this sweater for myself as I don't have a waistline to show off so a looser edging is more my style.

I still haven't got around to the machine knitting. I seem to be having a bit of a mental block with the knitting. I have started another crochet shrug instead. It is slow going as I am using quite fine yarn and a small hook.

I am still waiting for the tailors dummy. When I phoned the store they said that I would not receive it until next week as the sale advert states 8-10 working days for delivery. I understand why they are maybe closed one day for the weekend but they seem to be counting both days of the weekend. The silly thing is that the store is about a mile down the road from me!. If it comes on Monday then I will have been waiting 13 days. I have never waited this long for anything to be delivered from Ebay except for when I ordered buttons from China. I will have to spend a whole day taking photos for Etsy once it does arrive as I have quite a few items to list.

I have joined another online community of Manchester crafters. I figure that the more that I chat to people having similar problems to me as regards marketing myself and selling things the better. I now belong to two of these communities so hopefully some good advice will come through these forums. I would welcome advice from people who are making sales and have good web sites.

I don't have anything planned for the weekend except for a little bit of shopping. I hope to settle down to my crochet and a bit of housework. Have a nice weekend folks.

Now Where Are My Knitting Needles?

My last order of trimmings arrived today. Some more rosebuds and bows from Purplelinda.

Yesterday I bought another 5 flat trays and re-organised my buttons and trims into colours. Everything is see at a glance and I even have one tray left over for any more trims or buttons that I need to buy.

The reason why I want to grab my knitting needles is this book. I bought it through Amazon from GB books and it cost £9.66p including the postage. It is rare that I buy a book and like almost everything that is in it. I am resisting picking up my needles at the moment as I could not make any of these for my store because of copyright reasons. I will certainly be making somethings from it for friends babies. 60 lovely patterns for less than £10. What a bargain. Because there are so many patterns in this book I will have to show them to you over a few days.

Awww super cute

The other side of the hat has the sheep's bob tail.

Modern stripes are so colourful.

Isn't this adorable?

Beautiful.

Head to toe prettiness.

So simple and yet so cute. One of my favourites.

I wish that I had the patience to knit this pram blanket.

Or this one.

A cute little cloche. I love the ribbed edging.

An unusual colour choice for a baby but somehow it works.

Lovely unisex hat with it's little plaits.

Another of my favourites. I am not sure that I would add the ribbon braiding but it would still be lovely without the trimming.

I will add some more photos tomorrow.

Today I got my copy of Crochet Today. I will let you see the contents once I have looked at it myself. I am going to make a coffee when I have finished this post and settle down for a good browse.

I think that I am gaining the black cat. She came in this morning like a drowned rat. I towelled her dry and she is sleeping somewhere. She has a home but she does like to visit me. At her home there is a black Labrador and an 18 month old baby to contend with and share attention. She is a very needy cat and wants to be stroked all of the time.I must make more effort into finding out her name I can't keep calling her the little black cat.

I have now finished crocheting the pink baby set and am onto a blue set now. I will have a full day's worth of sewing up and trimming to do as I keep adding finished items to the pile before I sew in all the loose ends and seams.

I didn't get much done last night as I kept nodding off. I decided to have an early night because I was so tired but the moment that I got into bed I was wide awake again. After a while I came downstairs and made a drink, did a bit more crochet and nodded off. I woke up after a few minutes and tried once more to get to sleep in my bed. No luck for ages. I don't know why I can nod off so easily in a chair and yet not fall asleep in bed! I would sleep in my chair downstairs except that I wake myself up all the time when sleeping in the recliner. Today I am yawning already and it's barely lunch time.

Maybe that coffee will wake me up as I need to get on with some crochet before I get side tracked by the new baby book. If the weather was nice I could open the patio door for some fresh air but it's raining again as per usual.

Bows and More Baby Yarn

Abakhan delivered another parcel today. I really wanted Lilac in the James C Brett baby 400 grans but it was out of stock so I finished up with some more cream. It is a useful neutral colour and I have asked Abakhan to let me know when the lilac will be in stock so that I can order it later along with some lemon. I could get it from other sources but the prices are more expensive and I have to take this sort of thing into consideration. I like good  quality but I need competitive prices. Some places have the yarn cheaper but only in 4 colours whereas I need the full range. I am hoping to be mobile enough one day to go and choose my own from the Abakhan shop in Manchester or get up to Bury market and see what bargain packs he has on offer there.

I found the bows in their wedding section. I had looked in the trimmings and the rosebuds section online without success and felt sure that they must have some bows tucked away somewhere. They have now gone into my last empty compartment tray but I will need some more trays as I still have some trimmings on order from Purplelinda.. At least now I can see at a glance what I have. I am finding some kind of neat gene in organising these boxes. So unlike the normal me.

I have been doing a bit more baby crochet last night but today I have been doing a bit of long overdue tidying, dusting and hoovering. The cleaning urge doesn't come that often so I might as well make the most of it whilst it is here as it won't last for long. At least with all of my yarn containers, plastic boxes and laundry bags my mess is more organized. Still messy looking to other people but more contained in my eyes.

Feet up for an hour with a coffee whilst I watch the 60 minute makeover which makes me even more guilty about the state of my house. Still I would absolutely hate them to come and re-do my house as they would never give me enough storage space for my needs. They rip out huge walls of fitted wardrobes and give the people one stylish but tiny wardrobe in it's place for 2 people to share. I would weep if anyone did that to my bedroom! God only knows what they would think of my yarn and crafting stuff. I bet that they have never had to make a room over to contain all of that!

I am still adding to my pile of baby crochet that all needs finishing off. I will have to set a day aside to sew on buttons, thread ribbons and sew on trims. I am trying to do as much crochet as possible as once the garments are completely finished then I will have no excuse not to start inroads into trying to sell them. I am putting this off  until I have at least 10 sets finished.

Like Riding A Bike

It's like riding a bike. Once you get on a bike after a long time they say that it all comes back to you. With regard to my machine knitting I think that I have fallen off my bike!

I struggled last night trying to get the ribber to work. I read the manuals once again and then resorted to reading the forum for machine knitting on Ravelry. From them I gained the insight that it might be something to do with the sponge bar. No we are not talking cakes here but rather a long slim bar made of metal with a sponge liner that fits underneath the needles under the machine bed and holds the needles in the correct place for the carriage to pass over with out jamming. When I took mine out it was like a flat pancake and perished. Hopefully this is the problem so I have managed to order a new one online which isn't easy when I have such an old machine. If it works I will give a big thank you to the Ravelry machine knitting ladies.

As I could not knit I decided to check everything else on the carriages. I found that one little wheel cog was clogged up with old wool and wasn't turning properly so I loosened the screw to get the wool out. Big mistake. Of course I dropped this minute screw on the patterned carpet. I spent an hour last night searching the carpet with a flashlight and after another hour this morning I finally found the tiny screw. Next time that I do anything like that I will make sure that I do it over the table with a cloth to catch anything that falls off. I am so glad that I found it as parts for my machine are next to impossible to find as it is so old.

For the sake of my sanity I decided to leave the machine until the sponge bar arrives and so I settled back down to the crochet that I started for my younger niece. I still can't get back into her knitting.I am awful with knitting. I have to go from start to finish without stopping or I put it down and then stop. I am, as you know, a crocheter at heart. I like the crochet top that I am doing now as although it takes longer as I am crocheting into the row below on every row I do like the close stitch pattern. My elder niece saw it yesterday and she also liked it. I did find out when I got to the armholes that I had forgotten to shape slightly outwards. My niece is so slim that I don't think that it will matter that the back is a tad small. I can always make a larger size for the fronts. As I am making the top a big longer I think that the shaping would have been in the wrong place anyway as it was meant to increase at the bust line so I should have put the shaping higher up rather than at the beginning. I am sure that it will be all right in the end. The day that I crochet a pattern from A to Z without changing something will be a miracle!

I got an e mail this morning from my elder niece and she said that she wore her Moiselle cardigan yesterday afternoon and it was so lovely and warm. Better on her back keeping her warm than in my stash room in a plastic bag.

Another Hot Sunny Day

A pattern with a photo of snow if just the thing to cool me down on a hot sunny day. It is the jacket that I am making in grey for Sylvia. I haven't got much done as it has been a bit hot even for me today and so I haven't done much of anything.

I put the garden umbrella out for Buster but as you can see he hasn't quite got the hang of lying in the shady bit. He has drunk gallons of water today. Yesterday he got too overheated and was so panned out last night that I had to put the ceiling fan on in the front room to try to cool him down. As he follows me wherever I go I have stayed indoors a lot today. It is killing me to stay indoors on such a lovely day but if I stay in then Buster stays in under the fans. He is getting older now and just can't take the heat like he used to. I haven't played ball with him much today as after 3 throws he has to go and lie down. Last night he had a bit of an accident. I woke up at 3am to let him out for a wee ( he has a very weak bladder) and trod in a pool of wee at the bottom of the stairs. At least he had enough sense to wee on the wooden flooring and not the carpet. I didn't quite plan to be floor washing and feet washing at 3am but never mind it's one of the joys of pet owning.I am not surprised as the amount of water that he drank yesterday and last night would have floated an ark so it was an accident waiting to happen. Another reason why we aren't outdoors today. The more heated he gets the more water he drinks. The patio doors are open so he can go in and out when he needs to but he doesn't stay out on his own. The sun has gone off the back garden now so we might have an hour or two out there with the ball now it is not so hot. Maybe I can get a few more rows of crochet done now my fingers aren't sticking to the hook.

As you can see from the photos I am crocheting something really suitable for this hot weather - Ha Ha. I have put a temporary halt on the baby knitting until we know more next week so I decided to use up some stash Patons Beehive Aran wool and crochet an aran type jacket for Sylvia.The pattern is from an older book of mine called Glorious Crocheted Sweaters edited by Nola Theiss which I think it is still available. I know that it's the wrong season for aran but it will be there finished and ready for when the weather changes back to cold again. I have made this jacket a few times but this time I am not putting a ribbed edge at the bottom as it pulls like mad on me and as Sylvia has hips like mine I think that it will look better left looser with just a small border of double crochet instead. I keep thinking that I will undo the bottom edge of mine but the thought of having to re crochet all of the bands again without any spare wool is a bit off putting. I always lose yards of wool whenever I unravel something.

They say animals never forget. Today the ice cream man's chimes could be heard coming down the street and Buster was up on the stool barking to attract my attention. He loves his ice cream on a hot day like today and when he lived with me I was not allowed to ignore the ice cream van chimes. He watched me like a hawk today through the front window as I bought ice cream from the van. When I was carrying his cone in he was drooling all over the stool. Good thing it is wipe able. I have never known a dog love ice cream as much as he does. He wolfed his ice cream down and then ate a quarter of mine! The poor ice cream man had to be subjected to the sight of me in my old garden shorts - not a pretty sight. Ah well I am sure that he will get over it after a stiff drink!

Right I am off to sit in the garden for a while and then it's shower time. I don't feel much like any dinner but I am sure that I will a bit later on once the day cools down. It's nothing fancy tonight. Just a couple of lamb cutlets or should I say one cutlet for me and one for Buster ;)

Sunday Outing to the Knit Club

Today I went to the monthly meeting of the Knitting Noras. I enjoyed it but my knees didn't. By the time I got home again my knees were well and truly knackered. I think that I will have to stop going until after my operations unless my niece can give me a lift up there sometime.

Last night I went to the combined 70th birthday party for my sister in law and 1st wedding anniversary for my younger niece. I can't believe that a year has gone by since they got married. Time really does whizz by in some respects but not in others. The meal was OK apart from one thing. My family had forgotten that I don't like curry.Yes I know,I must be the only person that I know who can't stand the taste of it. Luckily they had made another dish of aubergines and other veg so I ate that with Naam bread and boiled rice.

Mostly times flies by but I feel like I have been waiting for my operation date for absolutely ages. I think I will ring the hospital tomorrow and ask just how far up the waiting list I am. My son wants to plan a holiday as does my brother and my elder niece who lives nearby. It would be nice to have some idea of a date so I can let my family know roughly when I am going in hospital. I do hope that the hospital did put me back on the list as they promised to do when my water infection was cleared up with antibiotics.

My sister in law seemed pleased with her shawl. I modelled it before I gave it to her so that I could have photos for my Ravelry project site. I like the pattern and wool as it is quite soft and can be scrunched up to make a scarf like shape to wear over a coat in the winter. Today I did a bit more on one of the boy's crocheted sweaters as it is the Christening of the younger one next Sunday and the older one is 2yrs old next week. I have the Lacy Duster to finish but the wedding isn't until the end of May so I will try to finish off the sweaters this week. I was going to knit them little hooded jackets but I knew that I would not have time for those. I will have to give their Mum an I.O.U and start them after I have finished off the Lacy Duster coat.

Tonight I am going to rest my knees as I have an appointment with the practise nurse for a blood test tomorrow. The GP needs to know if I am still anaemic and I have routine blood tests every few months to look at my kidney function as I have impaired kidney function due the the amounts of painkillers I have been taking over the years and the alcohol that I abused them with in the years before my divorce. I am sad to say that I used alcohol as a crutch to get me through the last few years before we split up. It's not something that I am proud of admitting, as it damaged my relationship with my son, but it's something that I did change and I do feel pride that I managed to overcome the urge to drink. I didn't drink at all for many years but now I have the willpower to just have one drink and leave it at that.

Almost Finished

I have almost finished the first Blue Curacao shawl. I say the first as there will be enough wool left to make two shawls. As they are for gifts for different friends then Sylvia knows then they won't bump into each other whilst wearing them.

I have a couple of rows left to do on it so it is bigger than the photos that I took yesterday. Then I have to wet block it out so hopefully there will be some finished photos tomorrow.

My neighbour came to walk Buster yesterday but he refused to go with her. He got quite excited at the word walk but then wanted me to go as well. I feel sorry for him but I really can't take him out for a walk. The woodland is very uneven and quite slippy in parts so I am afraid d of slipping and falling even if I can manage to walk the distance. He has now de squeakered his new ball but I have managed to fish out the squeaker with the aid of a crochet hook and put it back for the moment although I know he will push it back into the ball by the end of today. It's amazing what other uses there is for crochet hooks. In the old days hairdressers used to pull strands of hair through plastic bags with a crochet hook to put streaks in ladies hair. Surgeons use fine hooks when doing varicose vein operations but I dread to think how they use them - the mind boggles..

Early this morning when I let Buster out into the garden it was snowing! Big flakes but thankfully they melted as they hit the ground. I am watching the TV news and lots of places have had lots of snow especially Scotland and Ireland. Awful weather when it is supposed to be Spring. Lots of teenagers injured and one killed in a coach crash in Lanarkshire. Lots of people stuck in their cars as the snow blizzards hit so suddenly.I do hope that the snow doesn't make it down to Manchester.