Aran jacket back is finished

As you know I have been worried that my niece's Aran was turning out a bit on the small side. I am adapting the pattern from Chunky thickness to Aran, using smaller needles of course, so the size was always a bit on the experimental side. I have now finished the back and so decided to block it out and check the size before progressing to the fronts. I think I can now relax as it is looking large enough now for my slim niece. Whew! I still think that my knitting is looking very uneven for some reason. Perhaps it is lack of practise as I have been crocheting rather a lot lately.

The socks are still the same as Saturday. Not a row knitted on those. I am getting crochet withdrawal symptoms. Itching to get something on the hook. I think it is time to stand up and be counted. I am a crocheter at heart. I like the instant gratification of seeing my work grow in front of my eyes. I do admit though than some things are better knitted rather than crocheted. Socks and gloves for example.

I got up really late this morning. I am worse when I get too much sleep. I feel really groggy even now despite having an invigorating shower (no not cold). I perform better (steady - no not in that way!) on about 5 - 6 hrs sleep. Any less is not good but any more is an absolute disaster. I go into slug mode. Droopy, dreary and a bit depressed. Today isn't helping as it is typical November Manchester weather - dull and depressing.

I am watching Loose Women at the moment and enjoying a coffee. I think I will just do a bit of knitting this afternoon as I am not in the mood for anything strenuous.

I didn't go to Ladyfest

The title is not strictly true as we did go to Ladyfest. Jen and I got on the wrong bus so had a bit of a walk to find the Zion Centre. When we got there the lady on the door said £14 and we thought that was for both of us. It turns out that it was £14 each despite the flyer saying tickets from £5. Apparently that price was for the whole day from 12 pm until whenever and including the price of watching the bands. Jen and I had only gone down for the craft workshops and only wanted to spend a couple of hours there so we decided that it was far too much to pay just to go in for a couple of hours.

I felt rather embarrassed as I had told all the ladies from the Knitty Noras about the event. I am glad now that only Jen decided to come with me otherwise there would have been even more disappointed people. £14 would have meant that I couldn't have bought anything from the stalls. I only have so much money to spend on myself and I have been out rather a lot lately. Sylvia and Kath were thinking of going tomorrow but when Sylvia rang the Zion centre to enquire how much it is she was told it's £14 for tomorrow as well even though the venue closes at 5pm. They have decided not to go either. I will read flyers more carefully in future and be wary of passing any information on to other people without knowing the true situation. I felt bad enough getting Jen all excited about a craft fair and dragging her all the way from Bolton as it is.

We spent a happy hour having a chin wag in Piccadilly Gardens listening to a rather good street musician for free and eating our bargain sandwiches, crisps and a drink on offer for £3.50p from Sainsbury's. We went up to Abakhan on Oldham Street but I was very restrained and didn't buy anything. Jen bought some fleece to make some fabric mittens for Christmas presents.

We walked back to Victoria station and fought our way through droves of Mosher kids all around Urbis. I am so glad my son has grown up and doesn't walk about with his pants under his bum and all of next week's washing on display. The kids look like film extras from some very bad B horror movie. I am all for kids expressing themselves but red eyeshadow all around the eyesockets, green lipstick and black dyed spiky hair with a star tattoo on the shaven bit was all rather too much for me. How does his mother explain his looks to the neighbours? How do their trousers stay suspended in mid air without falling off their boney little backsides I do not know. Blu-Tack?

Not much progress on the aran and the socks. I told you that I slow down to a crawl with knitting. The aran curls up at the sides as I am knitting it so it looks rather long and skinny at the moment but I have measured it and it will block out to the right size. I am debating about the fronts though as they have the ribbing knitted along and I always think that makes the front hang down loose. I will either knit the ribbing along but on a smaller sized sock needle or leave the stitches at the bottom edge on a pin and knit the ribbing separately.

I didn't sleep at all last night so no doubt I will nod off in front of the TV tonight and so not much knitting will be done once again.

Ladyfest in Manchester

Not much to report on the knitting front. I have done a few more rows on the aran and started my first pair of mens socks. I don't know why the wool looks so fluffy on the photo as it doesn't appear that way to me when I am knitting with it.

I am hoping to go to this craft festival this weekend. I am putting the details on here in case anyone is interested in it.

Overview:
A craft event including workshops, an exhibition and sale will be taking place on Saturday the 8th and Sunday 9th Novemberas part of Ladyfest Manchester. Workshops include hand spinning yarn, basketry, embroidery, felting, dressmaking, knitting and crochet. The exhibition has some exciting contemporary craft including handmade toys, knitted pumps and includes beautiful collages and paintings by artist Lisa Marsh. There will be a range of crafty items for sale, including hand spun yarns, knitted bags and colourful sewing machine covers.

This is an informal event and everyone is welcome. There will be a knit circle all day Saturday and Sunday, 12pm-5pm.Details:Kate Heppell from greeneyedmonsters.co.uk and

Craft Mafia will be doing a workshop on hand spinning yarn (8th 2pm-3pm). Kate will be selling and displaying her hand spun yarns. (8th and 9th).

Sculptor Louise Woodcock will be demonstrating simple basketry techniques with unconventional materials to make weird and wonderful shapes (8th 3pm-4pm). Louise will be displaying her work. (8th and 9th).

There will also be embroidery with Liz Kenny (8th 12pm-1pm), felting by Alison Cooper (9th 1pm-2pm) plus crochet, knitting (8th and 9th 12pm-5pm) and a dressmaking workshop (9th 2pm-3pm). There will be some equipment and materials to borrow but would be helpful to bring some along if possible.

Selina from Candypop (Afflecks) will be selling colourful hand made items such as bags and sewing machine covers, as well as displaying her hand embroidered Ladyfest fliers from around the globe. (9th)

Candy (Knit and Destroy) will be displaying her wonderful knitted pumps and selling knitted bags and scarves. (8th and 9th)There will also be handmade toys on display from Harriot (8th and 9th) and Claire Walls (Craft Mafia) will be selling and displaying her crafty wares. (8th and 9th)As part of LADYFEST MANCHESTER Festival

Weekend Tickets from £5 - www.wegottickets.com Zion Arts Centre, 335 Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5ZA. 0161 2261912http://www.zionarts.com/about/contact-us/how-to-get-here/www.ladyfestmanchester.com

Slow progress on the Aran

My niece's aran is progressing slowly as you can see from the photo. I am making the jacket with Wendy Serenity aran and I swear that this yarn must be made out of elastic as I am still on the first 100 gram ball and quite a way up the back. It has 10% wool and 20% Alpaca but is going further than the last aran that I bought which was 100% acrylic. I had calculated roughly how much I thought that the jacket would take and it is not going to take half that amount. I hope that the LYS that my niece bought it from will do an exchange with the balls that are going to be left over otherwise I can see hats and scarves being made in grey leftover wool.

I still feel that my progress is very slow with this pattern and I may go back and do a bit more on the purple crochet jacket that I put to one side before I started this aran to have a change from the knitting tonight. I am not happy with my knitting tension as I think that it looks very uneven. I hope that it will improve when it gets rinsed and blocked. The wool is soft to work with and I feel that I am knitting too loosely even though the size of the jacket is working out perfectly. I just hope that my niece is not too disappointed when the jacket doesn't look as chunky as it does on the pattern. The smaller the needle size the better my knitting tension is. I might cast on a pair of socks to alternate thin and thicker needles sizes with the knitting to give my hands a break. If I swop about a bit instead of just ploughing doggedly on with the aran I will get more done. I have to feel inspired to knit fast.

Another present done - still more to go!

I have finished the black crochet shawl destined for my sister in law's sister for her birthday. I made that one first as if/when Buster comes home I manage to get his hair all over anything black I am knitting or crocheting no matter how hard I try not to. I wear a cotton apron to crochet when he is around but his hair still manages to get into most things I make.For such a short haired dog who gets brushed regularly he sure does moult a lot.

I have now started Josephine from Knitty.com. If you want a look at the pattern click on the title of this blog. I am not using chunky so I am juggling the pattern to use aran thickness instead. I had a few hairy moments when I started it as I am not noted for my comprehension of pattern charts. I have a sort of mental blank when I stare at symbols and squiggles. My mind doesn't seem to work that way. Now I have done a couple of pattern repeats I am OK now. I am not going to make the collar so big and am already contemplating putting pattern on the sleeves instead of just ribbing. Here I go again altering everything!

My work will slow down somewhat now I am knitting. I can't knit as fast as I can crochet so I feel that things take such a long time to make. Other people say I knit quite fast but I suppose I am spoilt with the speed I can crochet.

I spoke to Julie, my neighbour, today she is home from Christies and they managed to remove the lump and leave all of her vital organs pancreas, liver and kidney intact. She has unfortunately had to have a hysterectomy as her womb and ovaries were damaged from the chemo and granules from the lump. I am praying that everything is a success and she won't need any further surgery or treatment.

I am off to pay my newspaper bill before they stop delivering. My local paper shop closed down and this shop is not in the centre so I have that bit further to walk. I mean to pay it every week but it always drifts into a month.

Blue Curacao Shawl - reprise

As promised better photos of the Blue Curacao shawl on holiday in Menorca wth Vicky. What a difference a professional photographer makes to my work!
The shawl is Blue Curacao from Doris Chan's Amazing Lace book.
As these photos were taken by Laurie please don't reproduce them without permission as he has been kind enough to let me put them on my blog.

Charlie's Christening

Today I went to baby Charlie's christening. He is the son of my niece's best friend. He screamed the church down and sobbed uncontrollably all through the ceremony which is unusual for him as he is normally such a placid child. We is teething and being weaned from the breast so I think he was hungry and frustrated at not being put on the boob. His dad tried to console him but he was having none of it until after his christening ceremony when they lit the candle. He stared at it for a few seconds and fell asleep. As the person near me remarked - I wish they had lit that candle earlier!

I didn't know I was invited to the christening until the middle of last week so I didn't knit him anything. I bought him 3 little long sleeved T shirts instead. Charlie looked very dapper in his christening outfit.It was made by his paternal grandma. She had some material left from the beaded wedding dress that she had made for his mum and made him a little waistcoat with it. From the back he looked like a miniature Elvis Presley with his bit of shimmer and his white trousers. He refused point blank to wear his sailor hat.

I think I am coming down with a cold. This is a surprise to me as since I started having the flu jab I haven't had a cold for the last 5 yrs. I think I am due another jab.

I have finished the main bit of the black shawl. I have the border to crochet but that takes quite a bit of crocheting as it is a couple of inches wide. I am hoping to finish it off tonight all being well.