Am I being creative - or just making a mess?

I have been busy over the last couple of days trying to organise myself in the stash department. Maybe my ex husband's remarks stung a little or perhaps I looked at my house in a different light but either way I decided to reacquaint myself with my stash. I need to sort out some mohair for Ambermoggie. If you have any spare mohair look on her blog as she is doing a swop of mohair for one of her elementals. Even if you haven't got any take a look at her blog anyway!

I have discovered lots of wool that I bought for specific projects and put away and forgotten all about. Come on girls you have all done that, haven't you? Now I have to think of other projects as I can't remember what the wool was intended for in the first place. I sorted out some of the bits and bats into co-ordinating colourways which started me on crocheting the dreaded granny squares into a shawl. I made one many years ago and decided to make another one. I will ,of course, bitterly regret this decision when I come to sewing up the gadzillions of tail ends. As I am crocheting on the wing, using stash, the completed squares are pinned together on my dining table along with the half completed squares to give me an idea of where the shawl is going. What else is a dining table for anyway. There is only me and I can always eat at the computer desk! I have another bag of mixed shades of purples and greens ready for something similar. Help I am entering a granny square phase again! Thankfully I have another Sweet Pea shawl yet to crochet to save me from getting sucked in.

Vic's sock is progressing slowly. This is my first toe up sock and so far I like the neat way the increases are at the toe. I have yet to encounter the heel so the jury is still out on whether I will be a toe up or toe down knitter in the future.

The consequence of my stash tidying (ha ha) is that the house now looks much worse than it did in the first place and my mind is whirling with new projects for the stash wool that I have uncovered. My father used to say I had the mind of a butterfly as I flit from project to project, knit to crochet and in the old days when I had good eyes - sewing, and he wanted me to finish off one project at a time. Come on girls how boring is that slogging away at one thing until it is finished and then going on to the next?

The patterns I uncovered as well. They take me back quite a while. I never made bags or jewlery but I used to love Goldfingering. I hated crocheting with it as it used to cut my fingers to ribbons. Many a bikini I crocheted (not for me I assure you) that went from me to be lined and then sold in a boutique. I had a much loved vest type top in gold that I used to wear with my de rigeur long black velvet skirt whenever I went out clubbing. There was none of this "have something new everytime you go out" in my generation. We had a couple of good tops and a skirt and used to alternate. I was considered to be a bit posh as I had a few knit and crochet tops to dazzle my dance partners with. As you can presume I was quite a popular girl with the girls who wanted tops similar. My mother used to say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I wanted to be an individual and liked the fact that no-one could look like me so I only crocheted for my best friend.

I am off to Bury market. Ivy, the trolley, and I will be catching the metro shortly. I shall try to resist having a peek at the wool stall on there. It has a siren call and it is right next to the fruit and veg stall that I am visiting. Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye!

Ramsbottom Farmers market

I got there! I finally got to visit Ramsbottom when the Farmers Market was open. Although there are not many stalls they are of high quality. There are outdoor stalls with the meat, vegetables,pork,homemade soup, fudge and even a traditional black pudding stall. In the civic hall are small stands with jams, bread,more meat,greeting cards, pickles and there was a wood turning stall and one selling handmade knitted scarves and handbags. That stall was of interest to me but I didn't want to look and linger in case the lady thought I was a potential customer. The prices were quite expensive I thought but then I am on a budget so most things are expensive to me. I would be interested to know though how many she sold that day.

I just bought some vegetables (some still in their soil as you can see from the photos) and a couple of lamb chops which I must say tasted absolutely wonderful at dinner tonight. I did get tempted by the fudge stall especially when he had samples! Who can resist samples? I had to buy some dairy fudge and some rum and raisin especially when he said £1 a bag instead of £1.20 especially for you. My elation was somewwhat dampened when he said the same thing to another lady 2 minutes later. Ah well! How fickle sales people are. When I was young and used to listen to my mum and aunt discussing how wonderful the cauliflowers or the cabbage were on a stall I used to think I will never get that old that I think cabbages are wonderful. Guess what - here I am some 40yrs later going into raptures over a cabbage! It's true what they say that girls grow into their images of their mothers. I look in the mirror sometimes and it's scary when my mother looks back at me. I always thought I looked more like my dad.

On that way back to the car I heard someone call my name and it was my friend Vicky with her neighbour and daughter Perran. They were on their way up to the market. Laurie had gone to photograph the steam train that runs on a Sunday so I didn't get to meet him as we were in a bit of a rush to get home.

I managed to find Horwich yesterday and visited my friend Lisa. Anyone who knows my lack of driving skills will know what an achievement that is. I am the world's worst map reader and can never find my way anywhere, My dad used to say I would get lost trying to find my way out of a paper bag. Lisa need not worry though. I will not be wearing out my welcome by over visiting mainly because I probably would never find her house again! When I still lived at home my father was inspecting the back of my car one day and I thought oh no have I dented the car. I asked him what he was looking for and he said the 7 mile bit of string that is attached to your back bumper. I said that there wasn't one. He said well it's funny but everytime you go out the most miles you have ever driven is 7! These days I think the string has shortened to 3!

The strange looking objects in the last photo are my attempts to crochet mushrooms. The main reason I went to visit Lisa yesterday was to take up some knitted squares and the mushrooms for the knitted garden she is assembling for International Womens week. I hope it is finished in time to be exhibited. I also had a quick visit to the Arts Centre where Lisa has a unit. There weren't many artists there when I visited but I did have a quick peek in their units to see a bit of their work.

The knitted doubled helmets have gone to their new heads. My son and daughter in law picked them up and also took Buster for a long walk along with their dog Skye. I was very grateful for them doing that as the walk uphill in Ramsbottom really took it out of my back and I was dreading Buster's walk. I didn't like to say anything to my niece as I was so grateful for her taking me that I didn't want to appear to be a moany old crow. I try to keep my pain to myself when I am having a bad day.