I've Been Busy

Sorry I haven't been around in Blogland but I had this box of crochet to deal with. I had made lots of things but nothing was finished off. No buttons, trimmings or ribbons. It took me as long to decide which buttons to put on which garment and as to trimmings and ribbon - even more decisions. What I thought would take me an afternoon to finish off has taken almost 2 days. In future I will finish each one off before I move onto the next. It was all a bit overwhelming.

Thanks to Eadaoin I am nearer to opening my Etsy shop. I have got it set up but I need a banner for the top of my page and of course to take some lovely photos to show things in their best light. It will definitely all come together before the end of this week. Pricing is another nightmare. Anyone who knits or crochets knows that you never get paid for your craft. I could never add up the hours it has taken to make each thing and charge by the hour. It's just a question of researching what other people are charging for similar items and costing mine out and seeing if it is feasible to charge the same. Luckily for me it doesn't have to be a full time job. I just want to make some extra money so that I can buy nice yarns and patterns. That doesn't mean however that I am willing to work away for hours for next to nothing. If things don't sell then I will just shut up shop and continue to crochet for family and friends. If I don't try then I will never know if I can do it.

I have been bidding on lots of patterns on Ebay and buying lots of patterns on Etsy. As a lot of them are PDF files then they will only get seen once I print them all out or crochet them up. Once again my printer ink is running low. The refills don't seem to last 2 minutes and my printer has a fit if I try to use anything other than the real branded inks. The last time I changed them ( all branded inks) it took me over an hour to get the printer to stop saying that it didn't recognise my inks.

I did get a new set of inks but I have already used the blue. I love the brightly coloured buttons that I bought from Ebay. The old pattern is a knitting one for a change

I will have to find something to use these lovely buttons on. Once again though they are a bit girly.

These are some patterns that arrived by post. I love the long dress. I have ordered 3 more hippy style long dresses.. Hopefully I will get time to make a couple for me to wear in the house in the winter. With fuel prices  going up so much I want to keep warm and a long woolly skirt will be just the thing. Worn over leggings or a full length under slip it will keep the draughts out when I am sitting watching TV and crocheting in the evenings. The other three styles are a bit more substantial than this one and one has long sleeves. The baby patterns are 3 examples of  matinee jackets in fine yarn.

These two magazines have arrived but I have only had the time to quickly browse them. Not much is leaping out at me in either one of these. I noticed that there was a copy of Crochet today for sale on Ebay so I think that someone else shares my opinion and has decided to sell their copy.

This is the pattern that I got into a bidding war on Ebay to try to win it. The price was just getting silly for my purse but I did so want this pattern. A lovely Internet buddy Maureen sent me a message telling me to stop bidding as she had a copy that I could have. I do have some great friends that I have met through the wonders of the Internet. What made Maureen and I laugh was after I dropped out of the bidding another lady pipped my rival to the post and got in a bid with seconds to spare. Whoever she was finished up paying £18 for the pattern! I couldn't wait to start it so here is the beginnings of the jacket in blue and white. My crochet items are mostly white or pink and girly so I wanted a few blue items to try and balance it out a bit more. There is not much in the way of good patterns in crochet for boys. They are all a bit plain. I may have to knit some things which will really slow me down. I will have to put my thinking cap on. I have now taken to keeping a notebook and pencils by the bed as when I try to sleep my head is whirring with good ideas of designs to crochet. If I don't sketch them right away then I can't sleep for ages and once I finally fall asleep I have invariably forgotten the ideas in the morning.

I haven't done much of anything today despite getting up bright and early. I think that it's time to get a coffee and resume the blue and white crochet. I do love crocheting the old patterns which is why I am buying so many on Ebay. I love old patterns and it is so exciting to get some 'new' old patterns.

Old Patterns Bring Back Memories

I think that everyone knows that I have a passion for old patterns and not only buy 'new' vintage patterns I have a fair collection dating back from the 60's when I first started learning to crochet properly. Before that date I had just messed about with stitches and made up my own designs. I didn't start buying patterns until I learned how to follow them.
I regularly browse through my patterns and books. I can spend all day just looking at them all. Some I never got around to making and some evoke memories as does this one. When I got married in 1968 I just had the one bridesmaid, my best friend from school Anne, who was getting married the Saturday after my wedding. When I was going to get her a bridesmaid present she requested that I crochet her a top to go with her black skirt to wear for her graduation ball from Uni. Like us they were short of money as they had both just finished Uni so I was happy to oblige. I made it for her in emerald green with a very subtle hint of gold lurex. Anne had an olive complexion and black hair and so strong colours really suited her. She was as skinny as a rail and the top looked gorgeous on her if I say so myself. This is one reason why I could never get rid of my patterns as lots of them bring back lovely memories. My marriage wasn't the best but there are still some parts of it that I remember as being good.

I am still knitting like crazy on my niece's chunky jacket. Since I took this photo yesterday I have managed to finish off that sleeve and started the second one. When I go off knitting something I try to knit up the easy bits so that I feel that I am progressing which is why I left the back half done. I fell out with knitting the cables. Now that I have restarted the knitting I will go back to the cables and finish the back and make the fronts. My niece isn't well. She is prone to bouts of tonsillitis which makes me feel even more guilty that I didn't finish her jacket in time for her Birthday. Still I am back to it now so hopefully it won't be too long before I show the finished jacket.

The sun is shining today but not quite warm enough to knit in the garden so it's a mug of coffee and back to knitting in the sitting room.

The Hospital Saga Continues

As I have not heard anything from the hospital about my knee operation I decided to give them a ring. I got the ever helpful (touch of sarcasm here) secretary of my surgeon. She said that she had no idea when I would be sent for as my surgeon has just had an operation and is now on holiday to recuperate. He has cancelled all of his ops for the time being. Jolly Good Show. I bet that he didn't have to wait for his operation or get cancelled twice. Things are looking grim. I just hope that his operation was a minor one and not something that will keep him off work for a long time. This news will disrupt the family one again as if my op isn't in August then my niece will have gone back to work (she is a teacher and off at the moment). She was going to stay overnight with me when I first come home. If she is back at work then she won't be able to do it. At least my son won't have to cancel their family holiday with their grand daughters in August as I will be able to have Buster again. His other dog is lovely but she is like a whirlwind, knocking into everything and everyone, so I can't look after her as she is too energetic. She dived in the house on Sunday and everything flew off the coffee table as she swished it with her strong tail. Buster seemed very happy to see her and went off with her in the car without a backward glance.

My son is in negotiation with his friends for my mobility scooter but they are on holiday at the moment. At least if I get one of those then I can take Buster for a walk. Not in the woodland that he is used to as the paths are muddy with stiles at the entrances. I can take him to what used to be a children's playground as the seats are still there, even though all the swings and slide have gone, and it is grassed so he can play ball on it. I wonder if he will walk along side me or hitch a lift in the foot well or the scooter? He is a bit too big to fit in the shopping basket on the front. Hee Hee

I am still cleaning up today.It takes me such a long time these days to give the place a good clean. I managed to change my bed without trouble as I can walk all around that bed. The double bed in the spare room that Buster sometimes sleeps on is really awkward. It is pushed against the wall on two sides. Have you ever tried to remake a bed whilst sitting on the mattress. Not an easy task believe me. I can't kneel so I had to lie on the mattress to tuck in the corners of the sheet which isn't easy with a fat body pinning down a lot of the sheet. I got into some very unusual positions,

I am knitting the old pattern in the photo with some Wendy Monaco in a sort of denim blue but making it without the ties at the neckline. I didn't take a photo as the jacket is all in pieces at the moment and I still have the hood to knit. The pattern is from a booklet called 50 Best Sellers of the year and was given free in the Woman magazine on September 19th 1964. I do like my old patterns. They seem to fit so much better and are far easier to understand.

I sorted out the odd balls of baby wool into two storage trays. As you can see no matter how many jackets that I have already knitted and crocheted I still have a lot of wool to work on. I have more girl colours than boy colours at the moment so the foster baby girl will be getting some more jackets for winter.

Time to get back to my cleaning although I may sneak a mug of coffee first, I have almost finished the upstairs cleaning but still have all the downstairs to do and the staircase Whew. I am knackered already and I am going to Knit Club tonight as well.

I had better stop nattering and get some work done or I will not be ready when my niece calls.

Doing the Hospital Run Around

I have spent all this morning doing the ringing different departments of Hope Hospital dance. As you know I went for an appointment after my knee operation and was given a follow up appointment for the New Year to discuss having a new knee (which was promptly cancelled the same week). I had been informed that a new appointment would follow but having waited 3 weeks I decided to phone to check. Of course there was no phone number on the cancellation letter and every department I rang insisted that I had got through to the wrong department and gave me another number, One even advised me to ring my GP!!When I realised that I was starting to call the same number twice I realised that I was getting the run around and so phoned my specialist's secretary. Eventually after persuading her not to pass me back over to the departments she had passed me to (she was the first person I rang) I managed finally to get her to book me a new appointment. Apparently because my appointment had been cancelled and not re-booked I had disappeared from their prompts. It is exactly the same thing that happened to me 3 years ago when they "lost" me from their system and I had to get the MP involved before they admitted that I had been a patient, had been scanned 3 times and was still on the waiting list for spinal surgery.I wonder just how many people they "lose" in this way? Something is drastically wrong with their system. No wonder their waiting lists are within the government guidelines they have probably "lost" half of the patients!


They do say when you get older, especially over 60 then you turn invisible. People overlook you, ignore you and run roughshod over your feelings. Up until recently I didn't think this had happened to me but guess what - meet the invisible woman. It is a close race on how I now view myself it's between invisible woman and doormat at the moment I will let you know which one I decide that I am.

I forced myself into a bit of knitting last night and have just got to sew the seams on one of the knitted baby cardigans. Today, between hanging on the phone to the hospital, I have been browsing through my thousands of old (some new) patterns that I have stored in 4 containers in my pantry. I love doing this as I can remember every one of the patterns, which wool, which colour and who I made them for. I thought that you might like looking at some of my collection of picture sweater patterns that were so popular years ago. The Mary Maxim pattern with the antique car I made for my father when I was about 16 and he wore it until it fell to pieces. I made it in beige Patons Big Ben wool with red, black and gold for the car. I still have one of the Disney sweaters that I made for my son. It is in lemon Sirdar Country Style and I still wear to do the cleaning in the winter time. I think it is Goofy although I do mix up the two dogs. I made Pluto, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse as well for my son but the sweaters have long gone, outgrown and passed on to other children whose mothers didn't knit.

The trouble with pattern browsing is that I find hundreds of "must make again" patterns so my mental queue gets ever longer. I think that is why I miss my "borrowed and never returned" baby patterns so much for all the memories that I have lost now I can no longer browse them. It is almost like losing photos to me as my mind takes me back to how I felt when I was knitting them, what colours I used and who I made them for etc so a whole chunk of my past is now missing. The lovely old patterns that I lovingly made for my baby are gone forever and I bet whoever "borrowed" them has not valued them and has thrown them all away a long time ago.

Not much to blog about

Still knitting the aran jacket. I am convinced though that it will not be big and baggy enough for my niece so am going to search in my pattern stash (I have 4 large boxes of patterns so I could be gone for quite a while) and try to find something more suitable. I will finish this jacket off and get some more wool for another one. I have almost finished the second front.The two sleeves and collar are just in knit 2 purl 2 rib so that should progress pretty quickly if there is anything good on the TV today. Thank goodness for the old re-runs of Father Dowling, Murder She Wrote, Bergerac and now I have Shoestring as well. I haven't quite got around to Starskey and Hutch yet but I will!

The sock knitting hasn't progressed one jot this week. I seem to be lacking motivation in that area. I think I am just concentrating on the aran.

I am still subduing my cravings for crochet. The urge is getting stronger everyday. I am indeed a crochetoholic. I will be giving in to temptation any day soon and grabbing a hook and wool for the sake of my sanity. The crochet wrap book that I have pre-ordered should be here on the 19th so I definitely will be raring to go then.