Woolfest Part Three and Other Things

I had gone to Woolfest wearing my Circles Jacket but I knew in my heart of hearts that it was not meant for me. As soon as I tried it on I knew that it had Ambermoggie written all over it. As the day turned out so hot I had to take it off and carry it so that was the omen I was looking for. It was definitely meant for her and so I left it with her at Woolfest. I had made the Farpoint Topper for Ambermoggie from the two balls left over from my version as she had admired mine so once again I just knew that the two balls were meant for her. She plans to customise her version with beading around the edge and I hope that she sends me photos so that you can see the finished result.I crocheted around my version to make it longer in the body but I had thought of making another one and maybe long fringing it so I will be interested to see what Ambermoggie's version looks like for inspiration.

I often make things and when they are finished I think this is more such a person than me and so off it goes to a new home. I get as much pleasure from giving as I do from receiving.

Talking about receiving I was given a beautiful shawl by Ambermoggie. These photos don't do it any justice as it has glints of lurex peeping in and out of the black mohair plus beading at the bottom edge.As you saw from my previous post I was wearing a choker neckband with my name worked in colours and this shawl has picked out the exact colours of the band. It's like Ambermoggie knew I would be wearing it. Strange how things evolve isn't it. I rarely keep any shawls for myself so it is a lovely surprise to be given a knitted one especially as I would never make one due to my hatred of circular needles and probably being unable to squash so many stitches onto a pair of needles. Plus the weight on my poor aching wrists these days.

The Debbie Bliss alpaca silk wool pictured is absolutely glorious to crochet with. I am making a Blue Curacao shawl for Eadaoin with it. The only problem is that although it is truly gorgeous it only has 65 yds per ball, is very thick for an aran weight and I only have 10 balls. I have dropped everything else to crochet this as I have a horrible feeling that I am going to need some extra balls and want to get on with it whilst there is a chance of the same dye lot.

The blue mohair squares are destined to be a sweater for Kath. I have now made 12 squares which is half of the amount required but this crochet is on the back burner until I finish the shawl.

Yesterday I went for my first hydrotherapy session at Hope Hospital ( Salford Royal as it is now known). Just the thing for a sweltering day. Exercise in a very warm pool. I felt fantastic whilst in the water and could easily do all the exercises but when I got out and had to walk for the bus and then the tram it was entirely a different matter. My knee felt ten times worse than before and the last few hundred yards from the metro station to my house nearly finished me off. I had to keep sitting on garden walls and bracing myself to walk a few more steps. It must have taken me over 30 minutes to walk a journey that used to take me less than 10 minutes. Next week I am definitely taking my rucksack instead of a bag and then my heavier wet swimming things will be on my back instead of my arm.

Today I will be in the garden resting. The weather is fine but dull but I have my shorts and vest top on as it is so hot and muggy. I am like my maternal grandmother in that I get a tan just pottering about even if there is no sun. She used to say that she was weathering so I guess I will be out there weathering also.

Not much knitting done today - phonecalls got in the way

Too many phone calls today. I don't mean the nice phone calls from friends which I am always glad to receive I mean the try to sort out what went wrong phone calls.

The postman brought me my bank statements this morning. They had also sent me one for an almost dormant savings account as they do from time to time and to my horror I discovered direct debits coming out of it to some insurance company. I rang the bank and they gave me the phone number for the company taking out the money. I rang them to be informed that my name was Mark blah de blah I was 23 yrs old and it was my car insurance and I must live at 55 blah de blah. I assured them that I was a female of advancing years who didn't own a car any more, who didn't know Mark, and was at the opposite end of the country from 55 blah de blah. Ah but he has given us this bank account number with Lloyds bank. I said well there is one mistake right away as I don't bank with Lloyds bank. You have the right account number but the wrong bank. They refused to stop the direct debit and refund my money and told me to get in touch with my bank.

I did so and I must say that the bank were immediately helpful especially since I was able to give them so much information about Mark. They stopped the direct debit and applied for my money to be refunded immediately which leaves poor Mark driving around now without his insurance. It's scary isn't it that they can take money from an account that has the same number but a different bank and a different name.You would think that alarm bells would have rung long before I had paid Mark's insurance for 2 months. I am just glad that the bank chose to send my statement today and not wait for a few months as they usually do with this account.

My brother called this afternoon and brought me a bottle of wine that was from my niece's wedding. Apparently they had some bottles left undrunk that they had ordered for the wedding meal so my niece wanted them distributing amongst the family.That was really nice of her to think of me.

I have made a name band for Woolfest in case anyone is in doubt that it is me. I have also made some initials that may get sewn onto my knitting bag for good measure. As I am not by nature a shy shrinking violet I don't mind wandering around looking like a right plonker. I am an individual, very chatty, larger than life blonde so why not celebrate the fact and announce my presence to the world ( well Woolfest's small world)?

Thanks to everyone for the lovely comments about the Drops circles jacket. It is a very easy project to crochet so anyone dithering, as I did for ages, whether to make one I would say if you like it then go ahead and make it. It is very easy pattern to make (is free online) and to size no matter what wool thickness you use as you just keep trying it on to make sure that the armholes are in the right place and the circle is large enough at the end.Mine is a bit on the smaller side for me if I am honest but I know of old that James C Brett's Marble yarn gives a lot in wear especially in such a lacy pattern so no doubt it will be a lot looser by the end of a day's wear.

The baby cardigan is stitched together now so I just have the front and neck bands to knit. Hopefully a photo tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have to do some shopping and collect a mystery package from the post office that apparently they tried to deliver this morning with postage to pay on it. The postman must have knocked on the door with a wet sponge, as my dad used to say, as I was in and never heard a thing despite not having the TV or Radio on.

Crocheted Circles Jacket is Finished

I have finished the Drops Circles jacket. It's a free pattern if you visit the Drops Garnstudio site. Overall I think I am pleased with it but I have had to make a few amendments to make it more my style. I haven't made the circle as big as the pattern states but as I mentioned before I am not overly fond of huge jackets that swamp me. This version took exactly 3 balls of James C Brett's Marble Chunky but I did narrow the sleeves as they were rather huge so it probably would have taken more wool had I not done this.

After trying it on I had to run a couple of drawstring threads through the back of the neck to gather it up as I found it impossible to keep it up on my shoulders. The collar just would not sit right at all. I have quite narrow shoulders compared with the rest of me so I am used to having to narrow shoulders on garments that I make for myself. Also after trying the jacket on I decided that I needed to add a third button as I didn't like the way it gaped at the waistline. Probably something to do with the fact that I didn't make my circle large enough and the fact that I don't really have a waistline!

It is a gorgeous day so I am out in the garden doing a bit of crochet. I have just had lunch of some lovely garlic and herb cheese with tomatoes and cucumber. I had a little laugh to myself as I though no wonder you are still looking for Mr Right when you snack on things like this! Not exactly Miss Sweet Breath am I?

Circle jacket progresses

As per usual I am crocheting the sleeves before I finish off the body of the circle jacket. I don't like crocheting sleeves at the end as it is more weight to heave around whilst I am making them plus I am not sure if I have enough wool and so might need to nip up to Bury market on Wednesday for another ball to finish it off. I will have a better idea once the sleeves are finished. I think that I might have to run a strengthening thread across the shoulders as when I try it on it feels like it is falling off all the time. When it is all completed I will have a better idea of how the collar sits. I read on Ravelry that a few people have had difficulties with keeping the jacket on their shoulders with the weight of the collar.It might need reinforcing with a piece of narrow ribbon as we used to use to stop shoulder seams drooping years ago. No-one does that anymore. It was quite a normal thing to do when I was a girl to strengthen the shoulder seams and cardigan button bands with petersham ribbon to stop them stretching out of shape.

I popped up to the local shops today for some food shopping. I didn't go out at the weekend so essentials like milk and bread had run out. I always glance, usually in vain, in the local charity shops in case someone has donated wool. Today I was in luck I got 12 x 40 grams Lindsey brushed chunky for the princely sum of 50p a ball. Yes I know that I am going to Woolfest at the weekend but they won't have any bargains to equal that there.

I not only did the sleeve of the baby cardigan that I had set myself a task to do last night but I also almost finished the second sleeve so only have the bands to knit and the sewing up to do. Then of course there is the second cardigan to knit. I will use another pattern for that one as I was not over fond of this pattern. It was one of those where it writes lines of pattern and then you have to decipher the bits in brackets whether or not you actually do that bit or another bit depending on what size you am doing. I have done that before but not when there are 3 separate bits of instructions before the actual pattern repeat starts. Patterns never used to be this complicated. I should have photocopied it and crossed out all the bits not relevant to the size I was knitting before I started.

I have put a new link to Jam and Jerusalems blog as she has been having some trouble with the old blog and as it seems to have vanished overnight without a trace she has made a new one now. I have ammended the link on the right hand side of my page. She has got a free pattern for a cute crochet chick and an adorable knitted sheep on her blog.

The Lure of the Crochet Hook

I heeded the siren call of the crochet hook. After falling asleep 3 nights in a row mid row over the baby knitting I decided that to save my sanity I would have to also have some crochet as well as the knitting. I have been promising myself that I would make a circles jacket ever since I saw the magnificent version made by Svetlana. The pattern is a free one by Drops 99-3 and is called circle jacket. There are many versions of this jacket on Ravelry some good, some bad and some just plain ugly but Svetlana's version (2nd photo) really caught my eye as I am not a lover of anything too big and droopy. As I am a big girl I don't think it does me any favours wearing something huge. I then saw another finished version on Queen Belicious's blog Crochet Therapy and looked at her photos on Ravelry (she is Angrysnail on there) and that made me decide to start one.

Incidentally if you are a member of Ravelry check out Svetlana's projects. That lady is one heck of a great knitter and crocheter. Everything she makes is superb. I wish that I had her skills.

I am making my circles jacket in totally the wrong wool. Well I do like a challenge. I think that I should be using something equivalent to a thick double knit but as I am using a 6mm hook and wanted a firm rather than floppy design I am using my favourite James C Brett's Marble Chunky. It's always rather a gamble when using patterns from the US or the continent as their interpretation of wool thicknesses is entirely different to the UK versions so it's always hit and miss unless you manage to scour the net for the exact yarn which I mostly can't be bothered to do. So far my version seems to be turning out to size which is pretty amazing considering. The big loops that are either side of the circle will eventually be the sleeves. It looks a little strange at the moment but hopefully it will be alright on the night as they say.

I have completed the back and two fronts on the baby cardigan so am going to make a sleeve before I allow myself any crochet today. It is rather like bribing a child to take it's cough medicine with the promise of a sweet at the end. I used to sit and knit for hours a few years ago but now I just get very bored and want to crochet. Not much hope for all of my languishing sock wool then is there? Maybe the knitting bug will strike again if I get fed up of crocheting.

My knee isn't too bad today but that is mainly due to the fact I have not stepped out of my front door since Tuesday. Although it is the short term answer to my knee pain I don't want to spend the rest of my life not going anywhere. I hope that my referral to hydrotherapy comes through quite quickly.