Craft Visitors Are So Much Fun

I love getting visitors. Yesterday I got a visit from my friend Sue who, like me, loves to crochet and is drawn to wool and fancy yarns in a similar manner to me. We can chat about projects and patterns and think that there is nothing strange in buying something yarny that we see and love even though we don't actually NEED it. We get equally excited about different web sites with bargains and swap places to shop that are yarny. She brought me a lovely present from her stash. There are more balls of each colour but I thought that I would just show you one ball of each. Don't you love the shades at the front. My mind is working overtime thinking of a project where I can combine them together in a project as different shades on a theme. Why is other peoples stash more exciting than mine?

We were chatting about machine knitting and cones and she was giving me some more ideas of where to look to buy knitting machine cones. I am holding off buying any more until I get the chance to practise my lace carriage.

This is a photo of the colourful plastic buckets that arrived on Monday to use for storage. 4 of them are now in the stash room with oddments of different colours in them. I am trying to co-ordinate my odd balls into shade themes so that when I have enough of each theme I can turn them into multi coloured shawls or scarves. My stash room is looking scarily tidy now. I can see at a glance where everything is which is very helpful and will stop me from duplicating on any colours when I am next shopping online.

I have made use of one of the buckets in my front room next to my recliner chair. As you can see it is large enough to hold the wool and the pieces of knitting of the WIP that I am working on. Last night I managed to finish off the collar. I mis read the pattern and found out that instead of 5" of collar there was 8" to be knitted before the cast off. I was all excited when I got to 5" and then I checked the pattern to be sure and found that I had another 3" to knit !!

I found it very hard going as I had the weight of the back and the two fronts on the needles whilst I was knitting the collar. Today I have to knit the button bands which will be equally as heavy to work on as they are picked up sideways along the fronts and they extend along the full length of the collar so instead of just being two button bands it will be like knitting a band and a half on each side. I really want to finish this jacket off as I am getting really fed up of it now. I hope to have it finished before I see my niece at the weekend and then she can post it (and the grey cropped crochet jacket) off to her sister in London as she is not coming up to Manchester for her birthday. She and her husband have just moved house and have the builders in so the house is in a bit of a mess, I believe, which is why she isn't coming up to Manchester as usual. I can remember the last time that I had any major alterations done to my house and swearing that I would never do anything like that ever again.

I have a hospital appointment for Sunday morning ( never been on a Sunday before) and I hope that I get out of there early enough to attend a Knit In with Rachael from Artyarn and hopefully lots of others at Manchester Town Hall at 1pm to celebrate International Women's Day. I think that the actual day is on the 9th but Sunday is a better day for those who have to work during the week. Has anyone else got any events scheduled for this day?

Oscar has come in for his daily sleep and I also have a black cat at the patio door mewing at me. I dare not let her in as she and Oscar are sworn enemies and fight all the time. She looks like such an angelic little girl but she is a demon fighter which is unusual for a she cat. She lives at the house at the bottom of my garden. I have been told her name by her owners but I have forgotten it. I swear that there is a sign on my patio door saying Come In she gives free cat biscuits and a drink. In the summer when I have the door open it is like a zoo in here sometimes. I have the two dogs from next door, the usual cat visitors and, of course, sometimes I have Buster. The cats usually stay away when Buster is here as although he has lived with cats he doesn't like usurpers in his territory and chases any stranger (to him) cats.

Time for a coffee and back to the chain gang (the bands on the knitting) for a while. I do hope that I can find an interesting daytime TV programme to distract me whilst I am knitting.

Here I Go Again

Here I go again. Unravelling. I think that I have qualified for a degree in unpicking and unravelling by now. I think that it is fate paying me back for indulging myself in a bit of plain knitting and putting the striped knitting to one side. I had almost finished this sweater and when I came to stitch it together before I made the bands and collar I found that the sleeve raglans didn't fit into the back and front raglans. I have re-read the pattern and I don't know why they don't fit. I have made this sweater two or three times before in the past and didn't have a problem. Anyhow I have unpicked one sleeve back to the start of the raglan and will have to space the decreases out every 4 rows instead of every other for a while to gain the additional rows needed to make the sleeves fit. It's a good thing that it is chunky wool and so won't take that long to re-knit.

Today I will have to catch up on the housework. Yesterday I had reached out the mop bucket and was hoovering when I had an unexpected visitor. I love having visitors and the housework can always be done on another day. I haven't seen this friend since before I had my spinal operation so we had a lot of catching up to do. By the time my friend had gone I had lost the urge to mop. It doesn't take much to put me off any housework. I clean but I am not zealous about it anymore. When I was young and fit I was always cleaning and the house was spic and span but as I have got older and am not as fit I do sometimes wish that my house was like it used to be but I decided a few years ago that there was no point in making myself ill just for a lot of cleaning. My cleaning does get done but in dribs and drabs and probably not as efficiently as it used to. But then I have only myself to please and my friends understand my problems and turn a blind eye to my clutter.

The amaryllis is flowering for the third time. I think that this will be it's last time as it has now grown leaves and there are no more budding stems to grow. It has been a lovely Christmas present as it has given me pleasure at the kitchen sink for over 2 months. It's nice to see flowers on a dull and rainy day.

Today I am going to finish some housework and then hopefully manage to unravel and finish off this sweater and then maybe tonight I can force myself back to the striped cotton knitting once again.