Hats For The Big Issue Homeless Project

Last year the Nexus Cafe in Manchester combined with the Big Issue and had a knit in at the cafe to provide some hats and scarves for the Big Issue sellers and the homeless of Manchester. Last year I made quite a few of each from donated and scrap stash wool and this year I vowed to make some more. I think that the Kings Arms Knit Club might join me in making some hats, scarves or gloves. One of our members Marie kindly dropped my contribution into the Big Issue for me so I am hoping that she will do the same for me this year.

I have crocheted 2 hats so far with some wool that I got donated but never used last year. Each one took 2 x 50 grams of Patons Moorland chunky in a brown fleck. This is now discontinued but should be warm as it has a good percentage of wool in it. One of the hats turned out a bit on the large side when I tried it on but maybe men have bigger heads than me or maybe there is some homeless guy out there with a lot of thick hair, I have started an earflap hat in crochet and that is also from donated chunky wool. This time it is Patons Beehive chunky in a plain brown. I have doubled this wool up and it will take 3 x 50 gram balls. I am going to have a rummage in my copious amounts of part balls in the stash room to find suitable colours for men. I plan to keep making hats in between my other projects until I have enough to donate. I might crochet some stripey scarves with my oddments. I will double and treble the wool to make it into chunky warm hats. I have been making so much for babies and toddlers that I have a lot of pale colours in my oddments.

The second matinee coat is for Phil's, the Kings Arms barman, new baby girl to be. I have made a slightly larger size this time. Once again it is a vintage Patons baby pattern and the wool is Sirdar Snuggly Baby Quicknit. I thought that I would make one for when she is born and one for a bit later as babies grow so fast.

I have not put any photos of the Interweave crochet magazine on here as most people have had their copy for a long time. This is not the original magazine. This is a replacement copy that was sent to me on Friday.I wonder if my original one will ever turn up? If it does I shall post it straight back so they can resell it. There isn't much in this Winter issue that I would think of making for myself. Maybe I have become a bit jaded as I have so many books and magazines. Nowadays something really has to grab my attention. I have enough on my list of things to make, without adding anything for me, at the moment.

Today is supposed to be Blue Monday but to be honest I didn't feel much different than any other Monday except that I was so tired this morning that I nodded off at the PC desk in the middle of looking at Ravelry and bumped my head on the edge of the desk. I woke up, of course, thinking what the heck just happened !

The sun came out today for a while and as you can see it was warm enough to steam the wet fencing. When I saw it at first I thought that something was on fire as there was so much steam which looked like smoke at first glance. The sun didn't last long though and we went back to dull and wet in an hour or so.

Tesco delivered my food order today. I needed quite a few things and it's hard to fit a lot on my scooter. I don't use home delivery most of the time, just when my shopping list is long and the weather is rainy as it was on Saturday when I put my order in.

Tonight I am going in the stash room to find some more wool for hats. Should I tie a string around my waist so that I can find my way out? Imagine the headlines -" Wool Stash hoarder found trapped underneath a pile of wool. Neighbours discovered her when they noticed that they hadn't seen her for a couple of days. After recovering in hospital the first thing she asked for was a ball of wool and a crochet hook"

Are They Blue Or Green?

After I finished the knitted hooded jacket I went upstairs to my button stash left over from my Wool Shop days. I couldn't find any denim blue coloured buttons (the jacket has photographed lighter than it really is) so decided on some navy blue pearlised ones. I don't know if it's a trick of the light or I have gone colour blind but now they are stitched on the jacket they look positively green in some lights. Sylvia will have to sew some other buttons on if she thinks that they look a bit greenish. When I tilt the buttons different ways they keep changing colour.

I didn't do any knitting or crochet yesterday as my bones were aching. Not just my knees but also up my wrists and arms. I have days like these. I call them my little flare ups. The weather has turned a lot colder even though it was sunny in parts yesterday. The combination of the weather and my house cleaning probably did it for my bones.

I think that I have managed to get rid of my old recliner armchair. I put it on the Freecycle again and got an answer this time. Someone is supposed to be picking it up tonight. I do hope so and then I won't be dodging around it in the front room anymore. I was getting desperate to get rid of it as it takes up too much room since my new recliner got delivered.

I haven't wound my Laceweight wool yet as I didn't think that too much wrist action was a good idea until my arms stop aching. I have a ball winder but if the ball gets overlarge it decides to go all lop sided on me. I don't want any breaks in the yarn so don't want to divide it into two balls per skein. I will persevere with my hand balling. It will take me back to the many times in my youth when I either had to wind or hold the skein for my Mum and Aunties as all of the wool came in hanks in those days. My brother and I used to run and hide if we saw Mum reach out an unwound skein from her knitting bag!

I have started another knitted baby jacket with my oddments so I will try to finish that off before I wind any wool. My niece saw the Laceweight wool today and remarked how thin it was. I do hope that I haven't bitten off more than I can chew with it. I think it will be one of those projects where I work on other things as well as the fine crochet.

I went out on a coffee date yesterday. I had seen his photo and wasn't overly impressed but then I thought don't be unkind he might be a lovely person. I should have gone with my first instinct. He was OK to have a chat to but I don't think that he was smitten with me either as we had our coffee then went our separate ways with no mention of further contact. Whew. I wouldn't have gone in the first place but he lives in my small town so I didn't have to travel to meet up with him. Back to the drawing board again! I probably scared him half to death anyway as he was only a small, quiet nervous type of guy and I am an overlarge hit em between the eyes kind of lady.

My niece took me up to Tesco today and although I didn't buy much it was nice to go and choose some fresh food as the last couple of times I have had my order delivered. It's very convenient having it delivered but I seem to wind up spending an awful lot of money and still not having much fresh food in the house! I do hope that my son's friends come back from their holidays soon and they can sort me out with a mobility scooter. I miss the independence of going out to the local shops.

Progress on Short and Sweet

I have made some progress on the short and sweet. I rarely follow patterns to the exact and I have altered this pattern too. I have added underarm chain to give an extra pattern on either side under the arm as Sylvia, like myself, is blessed with an ample chest and it just gives that bit of extra ease for movement. I have included photos of every stage of the making of this so that I can explain on Ravelry how I do things. So many people have got themselves into a knot with this pattern that I thought that a bit of visual might help. As I mentioned yesterday I have to do a bit of pattern jiggling as my wool is thinner than the one recommended for the pattern so I already have more rows down to the armhole that the pattern does.It is quite a chunky raised pattern so it comes out quite bulky even with this fine double knit.

I have, in the past, made this shrug for a child by using finer wool and a finer hook as the first size is quite a small bust size. As you have probably gathered I do like to experiment with patterns and one day I would like to work out how to make this in fine wool for myself or make is as it is but with long sleeves. A couple of ladies on Ravelry have made the design longer with long sleeves. Sylvia wants her shrug to be more of a cardigan length so I have quite a way to crochet before I get to the end of the body section. My own shrug is waist length but I think Sylvia wants hers a bit longer than that.

Today has been quite warm although not much sunshine. Poppy came for her usual cuddle and to leave me a parcel on the lawn. She annoyed the Tesco delivery man this morning as she would insist on winding in and out of his feet as he tried to deliver the boxes of food and then insisted on giving every box the once over with her nose to make sure that there were no delicious doggy treats hidden in there. I always seem to spend twice as much money when I order online than I do in the store. I think that is because I add more of the heavy stuff like washing powder, fabric softener, fruit drinks and bottled water so that I don't have to buy and carry any for a couple of weeks. When I walk up to Tesco with my shopping wheeler I have to limit myself to buying what I can wheel home. I will have to walk up to the village tomorrow as I need to collect my prescription that I also ordered online. I could get that delivered also if I signed up for it but I would have to wait in all day as they don't specify a time for delivery as Tesco do.

I had a better night's sleep last night. I do when I can sleep without the duvet pressing on my knees. It was warm enough to be without the duvet for most of the night although I did wake up underneath it this morning. I got up fairly early as my Tesco delivery slot was between 9 - 11 and as I suspected he came just after 9am. Not many people want this early slot as they are either at work or doing the school run. I was glad to see him so early as I didn't have a scrap of bread in the bread bin or the freezer for my breakfast.

Time for a coffee and a search through the channels to find something other than football to watch on the TV. The alternatives are usually very old re-runs of series but if I am lucky I will find one that I missed the first/second/third time around.

The Amaryllis Is Blooming

The amaryllis is blooming. Yesterday evening when I was washing the dishes I noticed that the flowers were starting to open. It was funny really. The plant must like the dark as every time I went into the kitchen during the course of the evening to make a drink of coffee it had opened a bit more. This morning it looked like this photo. It is a really delicate colour but pretty never the less. I had it in my head that it would be a darker colour but obviously they come in all colours.

I have finished one sock. It looks rather a funny shape but as you can see my ankle must be a very funny shape as the sock fits really well. I can't stand socks with tight tops or long legs as they irritate my eczema and if they are shop bought socks the elastic leaves ridges around my swollen ankles. The pattern is very slow going but I must admit that there is something mesmeric about crocheting round and round with the same stitch that I have found very soothing.The sock did feel very comfy when I tried it on so I think they will be a hit with me. the only problem is the wool was a ball that I bought some time ago and had part knitted into a sock. The label is missing so I can't buy another ball even if I wanted to. I think that it was sold as a 4ply but is is very fine and is working up more of a 3ply.

I hope that the weather clears up as I have put in an food order online to Tesco and the delivery date is Thursday. The snow seems to be clearing slightly although it did try to snow again yesterday but only a very light sprinkling. I decided that it was worth the £4.50p delivery cost as I need quite a few heavy items like washing powder, comfort, cordials and soft drinks as well as some tins of soup which I would have found hard to drag home through the snow with my trolley and I can't ask my neighbours (who are also walking) to carry heavy items home for me. It would have cost me as much to get a taxi to and from Tesco so why not have it delivered.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Don't worry - the weather has not suddenly turned Arctic in Manchester. The blog title is the name of these two baby jackets. Baby It's Cold Outside is a free download by Julie Holetz available through Crochet Me and you can find it by clicking on my blog title or through Ravelry.

The blue jacket was made from a part ball of James C Bretts Marble Chunky and the pink one from some wool that Sylvia gave to me for the crochet bed cape I made from the Naked Calendar fund raffle. I think it is either a very thick double knit or a fine aran. The jackets are made all in one piece as you can see from the bottom photo so there is little stitching up (just the way I like it!)

I went to the hospital yesterday and I made the pink jacket in the waiting room whilst I waited. First they altered the waiting time to 1hr then 1 hr 10 followed by 1hr 30 and finally 2 hrs. I actually waited 2hrs 40 mins in the waiting room and a further 10 mins in the cubicle. There was no water fountain or any newspapers so I felt like the entertainment there as I knew a lot of people were watching me. One old lady said you will have that finished before you get to see the specialist. I said "Have it finished, I should have brought another ball"

When I finally saw the specialist I didn't say at first that I had been seeing the osteopath I thought I would let him have his say first. It was a different guy again (I never see the same person twice) and he looked at my knee scan results and said there is nothing more that we can do for the knee as it is now. It is so badly degraded with arthritis that the only option is a new knee. Well considering what I have been through since March I am not in a rush to do anything hasty. I then told him that I was seeing an osteopath who was working wonders and told him exactly what I thought of the hospital physio dept. He has given me an appointment for 6 months so that I can make up my mind what I want to happen next. I have always thought of a new knee as the last resort and if I can manage a while longer without having the operation then I will. I am very hopeful that with a few more osteopath sessions my knee will be much better. He has got me walking (albeit still in some pain) and the knee feels better with each day that passes.

I have not made any progress on the 4ply baby cardigan and I don't take knitting to the waiting rooms as they are always crowded and I need more elbow space to knit than I do to crochet.

I am off to do some food shopping now and for once I am not dreading the walk to Tesco. I still have to take my 4 wheeler trolley, of course, as my back will never be up to carrying a week's shopping.

First Christmas Present finished

I managed to finish off my first Christmas present. I had literally two yards left of the wool once I had stitched both garments up. Talk about a close call! As you can see they are not a twin set. The patterns came from the same magazine and are in the same wool but not necessarily meant to be worn together. As you can see I omitted the huge collar from the cardigan and changed it's shape from a wide boat shaped neck into a normal cardigan neckline.

I have just got back from a shopping trip to Tesco. My niece gave me a lift and pushed my trolley so I bought in a lot of the heavier stuff like washing powder, comfort etc. Although I hadn't run out of a lot of things I took advantage of an offer to shop and bought in advance. I can manage the day to day things like the bread and milk myself but heavy items defeat me. I know I can shop online but I really like to choose my own stuff if possible.

My son is supposed to be coming tomorrow to chop down that holly tree. The guy who owns the property next door came out last week and half heartedly trimmed a bit of the privets but it was like a drop in the ocean when you consider that the grass is about 2 feet high. Their garden is twice the size of mine. I know that at the moment I can't really maintain mine but it still looks ten times better than theirs. My ex husband was the gardener and was always envious of their garden size as he always wanted to grow veggies long before it was fashionable to grow your own. I am going to have another try at growing veg in my pots and grow houses next year. I didn't bother to try this year as I knew that I would not be fit enough to look after them properly.

I have got a letter saying that the water board saying one of it's sub contractors will be coming in a couple of weeks to assess my house for a water meter so hopefully that should make a difference to my huge monthly water bill. I will have to remember not to leave any taps running in future and pray I don't get any bursts! The letter warns me to check credentials as there has been quite a few bogus water board men prowling in the area conning people out of money etc. In this house they would be sadly disappointed as I am like the queen. I don't carry money! I might be able to find about a fiver if I hunt in all of my purses and pots. I don't think they would find my jewelry of any value either. I doubt there is a market for second hand Argos and George ear rings!

I have got the bedding fluttering on the washing line so I am away now to do a bit more housework. I am doing a room at a time. Today I will do my bedroom. Slowly does it. I am looking forward to crocheting some more squares tonight to finish off Vicky J's shawl. Yeah for crochet! My niece told me today that her sister would like a chunky knit cabled cardigan in grey for Christmas so I need to have a search about for a suitable pattern and wool for that. I am also going to make some more crochet slippers to test out the pattern for Zu. My niece took the red pair that turned out too big for me and thought they were great.

Am I in the right country?

I woke up to blue skies and sunshine today so guess where I will be sitting today? You got it - in the garden. I will take my cushions outside and attempt to pad out my oh so uncomfy plastic garden chair and soak in a few rays. Tomorrow the forecast is for sunny patches with rain so it's today or never! (I spoke too soon as whilst writing this blog the sun has decided to go into hiding - bummer- I hope that it comes out again soon)

I wish I was well enough to go and see the Gay Pride parade today in Manchester. I am still looking for my Mr Right in case you are wondering about my tendencies but I have a few gay friends and love a good party no matter who is throwing it. It's usually such a fun time with floats and everyone dressed up in their finery. I have had to miss it for the last couple of years so hopefully next year I will be there with my flag waving! Another parade I have had to miss of late is the West Indian Carnival in Moss Side. The food is fantastic and the music in the park has to be heard (and usually is miles away!) to be believed. I am just a big kid at heart and love a parade. I will have both of these events marked in my calendar for next year for sure.

I started a square for the Drops Bolero crochet pattern but I am unhappy with the centre of it and anyone who knows me will know that this is a signal for a bit of Sinatra (I did it my way!) I doubt very much if any amount of blocking will turn the centre raised nipple effect into a flat circle. I am therefore going to start the next square and use ordinary trebles for the circle instead of the double trebles as per the pattern to see if that improves the overall look. I would far rather undo than put my name to something that I am not happy with. I still shudder when I think about that loopy green chenille shawl although Storm was more than pleased with it when she saw it and I believe has worn it ever since.

I might manage a trip up to Tesco later today just to get a few bits unless I can bribe the teenager next door to accompany me and push my trolley. I have to post something and need to buy a large padded envelope but our well stocked newsagents in the village has mysteriously closed very suddenly taking with it my usual source of padded envelopes. I can buy them at the Post Office but it is such a bind. I have to stand in the queue for ever to buy the envelope and then have to address and fill the envelope in the Post Office and rejoin the never ending huge queue once again to send it. I prefer to get everything ready at home and then I can bribe the teenager next door to take it up to the Post Office and post it for me! Crafty or what?

Well the sun is shining very weakly at the moment but I am hopeful of this sunny day that they promised on the weather forecast last night. Wish me luck as I attempt to sit in my garden.

I have been asked a few times if I think my operation was worth all the pain that I went through and I will say a big yes to that. I am improving so much every day and the pain is merely from the operation site now. It feels so good to be out of the crippling daily pain that now I can't believe how I put up with it for as long as I did without killing the people who cancelled my ops so many times. I feel that I have been given a second chance of mobility and whilst I am taking it very easily at the moment to give the bones and pins chance to knit together properly, as per instructions, I am very hopeful of the final outcome. It will be a slow process for some time yet but every day brings more hope. I am finding it hard not to be able to do things but every time I think that I will do this and that I stop and say Whoa Jan think of the bigger picture here and if it doesn't come easily then just leave it for another day. I have been blessed with such good friends without whose help I would not have got through this. Thanks to everyone - you know who you are so I won't embarrass you by naming you.

I love new books

Charlie from the Salford Knitters came to visit me today and brought me 2 books to read by Stephanie Pearl McPhee (the name always reminds me of the film Nanny PcPhee) otherwise known as the Yarn Harlot. I am sure that I will enjoy reading these. She also brought me 2 skeins of sock wool and some chocs. The random is Stroud Wool Socrates 4ply Merino and the plainer is Knitspin Logwood Purple Grey Merino. I have been really good with my choccy presents and am still slowly eating my way through the Thornton's goodies that Eadaoin brought for me when the Knitty Noras visited me.

I had a good night's sleep so I have been a chirpy birdie today. Once I can crack the good sleep/bad sleep cycle then I will feel better I am sure. I am not the best sleeper in the world at the best of times but feel that my body does need sufficient sleep to recover. The pain levels are decreasing with every day that passes and I find that I am more supple as the days go by. I am still in awe of the fact that I can tighten my stomach muscles. I made the hospital doctor laugh as he coulmd't understand why I was showing him my tummy going in and out. I said you don't know how good it feels to try to tighten your stomach muscles and have them obey and actually move. For such a long time my tummy just hung there like a dead weight giving my back more pain. I will soon be working on my muscle skills to raise my bottom up from the bed whilst lying down. Another skill I had lost a long time ago. I used to be like a turtle on it's back wriggling about as I struggled to get up from a lying position to a seated one. The only way I could get out of bed was to do a sideways roll and hang on the bedside cabinet and heave. If the dog was lying at my side so I couldn't move I was trapped unless I could entice Buster to roll over as well!

Bernadette ny neighbour from across the road offered to get some ready meals and fruit from Tesco for me. Everyone has been so kind to me. I am going to ask Vicky J to show me the ropes of online Tesco shopping as it will be several months before I am allowed to push a shopping cart and kind as everyone has been I would like to do my own shopping. My neighbour Julie called to see how I was. She is still struggling to come to terms with her not so good news. The specialist is doubtful if they can remove the tumour that is on her pancreas and kidney. They will only be able to tell once they go in for a look. Such a lovely lady. Thinking about me in her time of trouble. This is Julie's nature, always thinking of others - as I said before a lovely, loving lady.

My son rang to say he is back home again but is still recovering after his rather wet holiday. Buster is apparently leaping about like a puppy. It is either the influence of 7 month old Skye, his holiday or his Glucosomene tablets which he has now been taking for 3 weeks. I am unsure of when he is coming home. I have missed him and am looking forward to seeing him again but realistically speaking, much as I love him, I don't feel ready to cope with him just yet.

My ex husband called around to see how I am. It crossed my mind that 40yrs ago today I would have been getting ready for my wedding day the following afternoon (10th). I would have been trying hard to convince myself that everything would work out and I wasn't making the biggest mistake of my life. I feel so envious of girls today who on finding themselves pregnant have the choice of not getting married. I just got all the guilt, shame and remorse of letting the family down dumped on my head and so I did what I thought was the "right thing" in order to save my face with my family. My life could have been so very different had I chosen a different path. The swinging sixties were not very swinging for a northern working class pregnant girl. Free love and the pill didn't reach Manchester for quite a long time after the 60's.

I have finished off my retro style 60's inspired sweater and am stitching it up at the moment. The Russian squares incorporated in the design are still pulling and resisting being square so I think it calls for a lot of blocking to tame them into submission before I photograph it. Maybe tomorrow I will unveil my latest creation. I am still unsure if I like it but it is quite different to anything I have made recently. I have used unravelled wool and stash so it hasn't actually cost me anything if I decide to pass it on to someone else. Charlie said that she liked it but I always think - are people just being polite. I lack confidence in my designs.

I am off to finish my stitching and make the final decision as to what to start next with my big ball of aubergine wool. I am veering towards the longer Doris Chan car coat design but will have to weigh up if I have enough yarn to do it before I start. The pattern has a different coloured shawl collar and belt but I really wanted mine to be all one colour so I might have to compromise on the length.