I'm Taking The Day Off

I think that I overdid the tidying and house cleaning yesterday. Perhaps the final straw was bringing the big Knitmaster 360 knitting machine downstairs which along with it's ribber and many attachments weighed far heavier than I remembered the last time it was moved. I haven't used this machine properly for about 20 yrs and have forgotten so many things. It also needs a clean and oil to get it moving properly again before I start knitting anything on it. Fortunately I have all of the manuals belonging to the machine so I will have a mammoth reading session before I embark on any knitting.

I prefer to knit by hand but as I am not a lover of hand knitting very fine wools I think that the machine will come in handy for lacy tops and cardigans for summer wear. I also would like to see if I can design a combo lacy knit centre with a crochet edge shawl in fine wool. I also used to make small lacy baby cardigans in very fine wool which are great for newborns.

I was so tired last night that after my shower and dinner I just collapsed into the chair and didn't pick up any knitting or crochet. Even though I was in bed for just after midnight (which is early for me) I zonked out until the postman woke me up at 11-15am.

He brought my Crochet Sweater Book by Sylvia Cosh which I have been looking out for quite a while. I balked at paying the £30 that some sellers were asking and was lucky enough to spot this book at the World of Books for £2.90. I paid more for the postage than I did the book.

I don't know why I didn't buy this book the first time around but maybe it was because when I look at the printing date it is 1987 and yet the styles are more reminiscent of the 60's and 70's. Perhaps I deemed them to be a bit dated when the book first came out. I love so many of the designs in there but there are quite a few dolman sleeved sweaters in there which haven't as yet made a come back. I have fallen in love with the cardigans in shades of purple and fawns. I am already going though my stash to see what colours I already have and what I would need to buy to compliment the stash colours. The cover sweater is actually worked in stripes or variegated coloured strips and stitched together and another one is worked in squares like patchwork and stitched together. My mind is whirling about using oddments. I think that the trick will be colour co-ordinating and that is what Sylvia Cosh and her crochet partner James Walters did so well. They started off using natural dyed wools using things like onion skins to give subtle colours for their crochet.

I love the child's striped sweater but not sure about the large sleeves which still have a dolman look to them. Maybe I could make the sleeves in the conventional manner instead of adding them on as in the pattern.

There are also quite a few poncho type shawls and sweaters with texture and colour which although beautiful some of them are too bulky to be flattering. Sylvia has a great love of large bobbles within the crochet which aren't exactly flattering to a larger sized figure such as mine.

I think that I am going to put my feet up for the rest of the day and try to pick up some knitting. I am still in the house cleaning mood but my back and knee say 'Not today thank you' Hopefully I can continue tomorrow.

Knitmaster or mistress?

I have reflected on my knitting machine and decided that as I think of it as female it should be re-named Knitmistress. I wonder how come it was named Knitmaster in the first place? I am not saying that men cannot use a knitting machine just that in general it is the ladies who have the patience to coax these machines into co-operation. My day has been a little hectic today so I decided that I will give the mistress a miss today. Thanks Susan for the comment on my last post. I will indeed look at the sponge bar. (I could say is that where Sponge Bob drinks but that would just be too silly!)

I have also discovered small spots of possibly rust on some of the needles so think I should give them a little rub with a fine emery sandpaper as that also could be contributing to the problem causing them to stick a little on their journey up and down as the carriage passes by. Methinks the mistress is demanding a little TLC before she agrees to co-operate.

I went back to knitting by hand last night. Kevin's suit of armour (sorry Kevin's aran sweater) is progressing slowly. I have reached the armhole shaping and as you can see from the pattern it is a raglan sleeve so hopefully I should finish the back tonight. The eagle eyed will have noticed that the pattern is a cardigan but I am adapting it into a V neck sweater. I will have to do a bit of math for the neck shaping. The pattern book is very well loved and full of Sellotape. I would say I have had very good value from Patons paying two and six (25p) for it originally. Over the years I have made about 6 of the designs from it.

I am also making a shorty cream aran cardigan for my friend Caroline (sister of Kevin) and have so far just knitted one of the fronts . The pattern has bobbles on it but I have missed them off. Last time I made this cardigan, with bobbles, 2 of them were positioned inappropriately in the bosom area and I spent half the time when I wore it adjusting the fronts of the cardigan to move them off the spot so to speak! I didn't want to inflict this problem onto Caroline so this time have omitted the offending bobbles altogether.

I got my tax disc for the demolition derby car so I will be able to drive it from tomorrow. I haven't been able to drive it since I got it as I won't use it unless I am totally street legal. I haven't even been around the block ( well I have been around the block more times than I care to mention but the car hasn't!) so tomorrow I will be testing it out.

My niece got a call from the police in Bolton. They have got her purse. She had it stolen from her bag on Sunday whilst shopping. She had driven me up to the Knit Out in the Cafe Nero as my car wasn't legal so I feel really bad about it. I don't know any more details as yet. Whether her credit cards were still there or where they found it. She has to go and pick it up.

I would have liked to go to the Halloween Spooktacula in the local park tonight but no-one locally is going and I don't fancy going on my own. I will stay home and comfort the dog as he goes crazy when kids knock on the door trick or treating. I have bought a bag of toffee lollipops just in case the kids do call although a lot of them are wary of my big barking dog.

Not much crochet or knitting done today

This is the reason for my lack of knitting or crocheting today. I have been setting up my Knitting machine. A Knitmaster 360 bought in the 80's. It has brought back a lot of memories whilst cleaning the dirt of many years off it. I just wish it would bring back the memories of what all the attachments are for and how to cast on! I have all the manuals tucked away somewhere so I am hoping with a little mental prodding it will all come back to me rather like riding a bike. It's a tribute to Japanese workmanship that even though it has been wrapped in cloths and bin bags and stored in the loft for the last 15 - 20yrs and was very dirty there is not one spot of rust on it. I am sure with a little WD40 or machine oil it will be up and running like clockwork soon. If only I could remember what to do!

I have decided to postpone any actual knitting on it until next week when hopefully I will fully understand what I am doing. This weekend's light reading will be the Knitmaster manuals.

I am out on Sunday afternoon to the Knit Out of the Knitting Noras in Bolton's Cafe Nero. I haven't managed to attend one for quite a long time so it will be nice to meet up with some of the ladies again. I believe this weekend we will also have one gentleman (husband of one of the members) who wants some assistance with his crochet. When I had my shop I used to have one or two men who knitted and online there are several guys in the US who crochet and knit but as yet it doesn't seem to have caught on in the UK. I don't see why it should be considered to be mainly a female craft.

I remember my father telling me that during the war there was a guy in his unit who used to sit on his bed knitting very fine intricate baby shawls. He always had a ready market for the finished articles as new fathers bought them for gifts to send home to the wife. My dad said that apart from a bit of light hearted joking no-one considered it at all strange. I had a cousin who was a biker and he used to turn out the most fabulous embroidered denim jackets. All heavy metal music influenced designs. He was in great demand at the bike club for his art work. In these days of equality women do woodwork and mechanics so why can't more men do craft?

My poor dog has still got his water infection so it was a case of flex the credit card once again today for another course of antibiotics. I will in the poor house if he doesn't recover soon. He is booked for his castration operation for Friday of next week but that is dependant on his recovery first. The vet is of the opinion that this will help as she suspects he has prostate trouble which is causing these recurrent infections.

I think I will relax tonight with a few rows of aran although I have got back the stitched up crochet bunny slippers I had made for my niece. She wants me to finish them off with a row or two of crochet so a finished photo may be on view tomorrow. She has embroidered the features so at least this pair don't look squinty eyed as my pair did.