To frog or not to frog - that is the question

Frogging to me conjures up pictures of my youth when my friends and I would slop merrily along in our overly large (you'll grow into them) Compo style wellies armed with a fishing net and a jam jar into the fields to the local ponds. We would then proceed to deprive Momma Frog of her frog spawn and take them home and then on to school to watch the evolution of nature. We always kept our frog spawn in a fish tank on the window bottom at school and every day we had to search (and draw) for any changes in the tank, The poor little beggars used to be poked and prodded on a daily basis and always managed to make the final stage of turning into frogs over the weekend and so annoy the school caretaker and scare the cleaners half to death as there was always a few Houdini frogs that managed to escape the tank and make a bid for freedom.

Anyway I digress as per usual. I was searching through my stash and found a half made jacket in mohair that I had started many moons ago for a friend who after I had knitted the back and 2 fronts told me that she was allergic to mohair. She didn't know I had been making her a jacket as a surprise present so I just left it as it was. Too small for me to finish for myself I decided last night to re-use the wool. Thoughts came into my mind as to why the Americans and increasingly the Brits have started using the word frogging to describe the process. I looked in the dictionary and frog still has the same meaning as I remember it. An amphibian creature or an ornamental fastening. So why do we frog wool? I then looked up my word - unravelling and that meaning hadn't changed either. To undo or ravel knitted fabric separating tangled threads. Unravelling is a wonderful word it describes the action of parting the superglued together strands of mohair with loving care. I will leave frogging to Kermit and from now on I will unravel!

I started using the unravelled mohair for the crocheted bolero that I was toying with the idea of using the purple wool for. I thought a 6.50mm hook would be too large for double knit but on starting the pattern with the mohair I realise why they have used a large hook. The pattern stitch is really closely worked as it is mostly double crochet and half trebles. I worked about an inch or so of it last night whilst watching a programme about a couple who had 12 kids.Lovely kids but rather them than me. The father was a real hippy type when the going got tough he would take to the hills and play this wooden hurdy gurdy instrument and at one stage I thought his wife was going to chop it up! She kept saying how can he go off and make that awful noise when there are so many chores left undone. That's a man for you! I wasn't too keen on the bit where they emptied the septic tank. I was eating my supper at the time!

The hat is something I made up from left over wool from a couple of previous hats. Not enough of each colour to make a hat I decided to combine them to make a dog walking hat. The pattern is one of my own and it kind of twists when its on so the "cables" don't lie straight. I quite like the style though and may make it again one day in a nice yarn. I need to make it a bit shorter though as it falls over my eyes. All of my hats do that. I must be lacking in brains to fill up my head and make it the same size as everyone elses.

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.

Crochet yarns at a bargain price

I went into Dunelm to buy a new lasagne dish and came out with bargains galore but no dish! I was distracted by a whole pile of yarn marked down to 99p per 50gram ball. I could not, of course, being a true crocheter pass anything by that is a bargain. I snatched up 13 balls each of Coats Gedifra (50% linen) marked down from £3.95 in 2 shades of dusky pink and 16 balls of Jaeger Roma (15% angora) marked down from £4.95. They had a glittering aray of fancy yarns with lurex and furry bits but I refrained as my retired life style of dog walking and chores doesn't usually run to lurex garments. I already have far too many fancy garments unworn in my wardrobe so decided to stick with the practical yarns although on scrutinising the labels I find they recommend hand wash (bummer) for all of the yarn I purchased.

I started crocheting Gedifra to a DK pattern I already had but decided it had all the attraction of a dish cloth so I am going to browse my stitch pattern book and choose a more attractive denser stitch. I liked the chevron edging of the sweater I have chosen so I will leave the beginning and just change the main body stitch. I will post a pic when I decide on the chosen stitch. It will probably have to turn into something short sleeved instead of a regular sweater shape as the yarn does not seem to have a very good yardage. One ball did about 6" on a mostly treble (UK term) with filet spaces so a closer stitch will be maybe more like 4 - 5". I will work a sleeve next and see if half the yarn will be enough for that. I am getting quite an expert at unripping ( or frogging as the US bloggers call it)

My sock knitting leather belt arrived today from Jamiesons Shetland Wool site and I am really impressed with it. I had a trial run this morning and my speed has really picked up. For years I have never knitted anything using 4 or 5 needles as I have to knit with one needle firmly wedged under my right arm which as you can appreciate is not possible with short sock needles. I remembered my father telling me that when he was stationed in the Shetland Isles during the 2nd world war that ladies used to walk along the road knitting away with a Makkin ( a leather belt with a horsehair pad) with one needle firmly wedged in it. I found this amazing site http://www.shetland-wool-brokers.zetnet.co.uk/accs.htm and found out that the ladies of the Shetland Isles still use these belts on a regular basis for their wonderful fair isle knitted yokes and fisherman seamless jumpers. I ordered one and am now happily knitting away. Sock knitting rocks! Thanks to all the amazing free patterns on Knitty.com (and those lovely ladies with sock knitting blogs in the US - Sockapalooza sites etc) I will be wearing lovely lace patterned socks this winter. I never thought anything would tempt me away from my crochet but this has. It's so addictive!

Thanks to Freecycle I am now the proud owner of a lovely filing cabinet in beige and brown and once I find a web site that does cheap hanging files I will organise all my crochet and knit patterns into one space. No more hunting about the house for that certain pattern I crocheted in 1968! I organised the loft space last month. Retirement is turning me into an organised person instead of the hobo gypsy I usually resemble. They always say creative people are the messiest so that is my usual excuse for my crochet and knit corner in the living room that looks like an explosion when I am in one of my more frantic moods. I now have stacking wicker boxes so it is getting a little tidier when I am not working on anything. The filing cabinet will now house the spare needles etc once I drag out the sewing machine and make some rolls to organise my knit pins and crochet hooks. There are some marvelous ones on the Flikr site that make me think that with a little imagination and perhaps one of my unworn skirts or dresses I could make similar rolls for my needles to keep them together in pairs. One for metal. One for bamboo. One for sets of sock needles and one for crochet hooks. Gosh that's a lot of sewing, perhaps I had better buy a couple of metres of fabric from the market!