Using two pointy sticks

Slow progress from now on folks. I am wielding two pointy sticks for the first time in ages. Knitting is no longer my first love. It hasn't been for quite a while now. I do it from time to time just to prove that I haven't forgotten how to.

I am making a couple of baby cardigans for a friend of Sylvia. Well not quite baby size more 20-22" size. I am making the pattern on the bottom left with the frilled edge for one of them but will probably change pattern for the second one even though they are for two little girls.

A quiet day today so far. I am resting my knee. There are a million things that I should be doing like housework but I can find a million reasons not to do stuff like that. It doesn't take much to distract me from housework these days ;)

I will attempt to stick with the knitting tonight but I have the distinct feeling that the crochet hook will distract me later. Wool, hook and pattern are calling to me like a siren call.

Wrist wrecker wrap is finally finished

The wrap intended for the mermaid's tail is finally finished. It is not a project that I am proud of. I have never worked with hand dyed wool before except for a pair of socks so had no idea that the colour would vary so much from ball to ball creating a striped effect. So disappointing. Coupled with the fact that I was doing a pattern that involved putting 9 UK triple trebles into a fan pattern shape which is not the thing to do when you have arthritis in both thumbs and wrists. To compensate for the vast colour changed I have crocheted some faux seaweed strands that can hopefully be draped over the stripes to break them up. I think that the tail edge needs some jagged chain or curlicue effects but I will leave that to Lisa to sort that bit out. I will cheerfully wave the wrap goodbye.

The pattern stitch is a lovely one for anyone not suffering with wrist problems and can be found on a throw pattern from Redheart.com called Twilight Shells Throw. Quite how anyone crochets a large throw all in one fills me with admiration. They must live in a very cold climate and crochet it in the winter and not be a person who gets easily bored by the repetition of the stitch. This wrap got quite heavy towards the end and it is only 36 x 64"

I am so looking forward to starting something new. I have to make two baby cardigans in knitting first before I can start any more crochet. I am a bit tired though as I got very little sleep again last night and gave in and got up around 5.30am. The pain is better when I am up and about. It gets worse when I lie in one position. I nodded off this afternoon for a half hour so that will keep me going for a while.

Poppy has a haircut

When Poppy came for a visit today she had been shorn. Her hair was getting long and with this warm weather she was probably a bit hot so Julie took her and Buddy for a trim today. I tried to take her photo but she is such a live wire. She never stops trotting about long enough for me to take her photo. I had to seize the moment when she stopped for a scratch hence the very bad photo. Buster was a total ham he would pose whenever the camera came out so I have lots of lovely photos of him.I am glad that I have them now that I rarely see him. I do miss him but I am still not fit enough to even contemplate having him back again on a permanent basis. He is happy enough with my son and daughter in law and their dog. He is still in the family so it's not like I had to give him away.

Still nothing to report on the knitting scene. I didn't do much crochet or knitting when I got back from the Kings Arms Knit Club last night and today I had to go for physio to the hospital so nothing done today so far.I think that I have done so much over the last few weeks that I am in a bit of a lull. I have so much to do but I just can't seem to motivate myself. I do this for a few days and then I resume again at the same pace as usual. A lot of it is to do with tiredness. If I could just get a night or two of uninterrupted sleep then I would be back to full strength. My physio has referred me for hydrotherapy as my exercises are not producing the expected results. She asked me what I hoped to gain from physio and I said I just want to walk again - that's all I want. To be able to walk relatively pain free again would be a success. All anyone says to me though is that my arthritis is so bad in my knees that I shouldn't expect too much. Bone wearing on bone is painful they admit that bit and say there is not a lot that can be done but then say it's not bad enough yet for a new knee. How bad does it have to get? I bet if it was their knee they would get a new one asap.

The physio has just rung me now and asked me what days/times I can go to hydrotherapy so it sounds promising. I hope that I don't have too long a wait before I get my appointment. I am going to try a bit of crochet or knitting before dinner. I had a very late lunch I won't be ready to eat again for quite a while.

A Glimpse of me on TV again

Tonight the Kings Arms Salford knitters were featured on BBC 1 North West Tonight. They had filmed the knitters a couple of months ago but they only aired it tonight. They interviewed Rachael, Jane with her plarn (plastic bags cut into strips to make yarn for knitting bags) Marie and Roger with his crocheting. I did catch a very brief glimpse of myself and Charlie as the camera panned around the room. The Knitted chandelier also featured in the programme. The photos on here are old photos taken at the Kings some time ago.

Today I met up with Sylvia and Kath in Manchester. We went into Abakhan but I was very restrained and only came away with a crochet pattern. Sylvia and Kath bought a selection of wool. We had a lovely meal in Simple on Tib Street. It always makes a lovely change for me to get out and about but my knee lets me down and really pains me. I am so fed up of not being able to walk properly and wanting to sit down all of the time. I have an appointment with the physio tomorrow. I have been doing the exercises that she gave me but if anything my knee is worse than it was before I started doing them. I might be strengthening the leg muscles but they are doing nothing for the pain. Today it was as painful as it has ever been. I had hoped that by now the pain would be diminishing.

I still haven't done much crochet or knitting. Yesterday Julie helped me out by mowing my lawn and I did a pile of ironing. I was shattered later on and fell asleep watching the TV. I am getting so little sleep during the night that it is affecting me in the evenings. I just can't seem to keep awake. I managed to do a few rows of a baby cardigan at Knit Club tonight but nothing that I could photograph. I doubt if I will get much done tomorrow as I will be at the hospital for some of the day.

World Wide Knit In Public Day

Photos today are of the All Shawl by Doris Chan that I made for the Knitting Noras raffle. Alice won the shawl and had a choice of the ones that I had made and chose this one. I had intended to take a photo of her wearing it but I think I got waylaid by one of Deb's chocolate muffins. I intend to do a lot of things these days that I never quite get around to doing. I am sure I have said this before but I love making this shawl it is so easy to do. I really must make one for myself. I have a bag of shades of purple and lilac oddments that I plan on using one day.

Today is World Wide Knit in Public day and I will hopefully be off to try and find the Whitworth Art Gallery to join a few friends in a Knit Out this afternoon. I am ashamed to say that even though I have lived in the Greater Manchester area all of my married and post married life I have never been into the Art Gallery. My intentions when I retired where to find the time to visit all the museums and art galleries that I never found time to visit when I was working but then my spinal problems got in the way. Sigh. I hopefully will have many more years to fulfil my ambitions in the future once this darn knee co-operates.

I went up to Bury Market yesterday and of course came back with some yarn for my stash. Nothing very exciting hence no pictures. I don't think that you want to see a photo of several balls of black do you? Yes I know I am going to Woolfest soon but I really am not a wool orientated kind of girl, due to allergies, irritations and itches, so I knew that I will not be buying much from Woolfest unless they have a stall that sells non wool. I have nothing against wool and can admire it and can actually knit and crochet with it, unless the dye irritates my fingers, but I don't see any point in buying something that I know I will not be able to wear. I do buy wool when it is for a present for my family.

I get a bit annoyed with some of the forums on Ravelry who berate anyone who doesn't use wool saying don't use nasty acrylic and say extremely derogatory things about peoples work when it is not in wool etc. Why can't they just admire the quality of the workmanship and not be so snobby as to presume garments are awful if they are not made in super duper wool. I thought that the site was to encourage camaraderie amongst knitters and crocheters. People have reasons why they don't use wool whether medical or economical so nasty comments are not very friendly. I don't tell people off for using wool. If they like it and can wear and afford it then buy it and use it. I don't mind. When I last checked it is a free country and people have freedom of choice. I read somewhere that one person said surely it is better to save up and make one decent garment a year rather than dozens of things that are tat! Obviously NOT a true crafter. I make things for the joy of doing them and would have to be a millionaire to afford to keep up with my fingers if I only used expensive yarns. As for limiting myself to making one garment a year - well that doesn't bear thinking about. Yes I know all the arguments about acrylic not being biodegradable but as I keep and wear most of my garments for years none of them have yet finished up in landfill. When I have finished with them I unravel and make into other things. Waste not want not is my motto.

The sun has gone in. It was so lovely when I first got up. I do hope that it doesn't rain as I don't fancy catching a metro and then 2 buses to the art gallery in the rain. Stay sunny please!

Well done Knitting Noras

Didn't we do well ladies. We raised £164.25p (could finish up a bit more)at the raffle/swish event at Deb's. I think we deserve a big pat on the back and so thanks to everyone who took part. I think Deb had to lie down in a darkened room after we had all gone home but I am sure she will admit it was all worth it.

Bev went on to raise some more money with her home made cake sales plus the ones left from Deb's evening but that total will all be revealed at a later date after she has held her raffle/sale event at the end of the month.

The draught excluder snakes were made for me by Jen. Aren't they grand. They will keep away the nasty draughts that I get under my front door and the lounge door. The black and gold bag was one of my purchases and was made by Deb. The cotton I acquired from the wool swish and the bracelet was a raffle prize.

The lovely crochet hook case was made for me by Deb using some of the fabric that I had donated. She hand stitched it and I am thrilled as I really love that piece of material but had no idea what I would have used it for as my sewing skills are very limited. Thanks Deb I will make good use of it when I am going to Knit Outs.

The mermaid tail crochet has more than passed the half way stage.I am now on my 4th ball. I have managed to calculate how many more rows are needed so am now on the count down stage. As you can see every ball is vastly different in colour from the last but I am sure it will be OK on the day as fish vary in colour from one end to another. Once it is ruffled up and draped I am sure that the colour changes won't show as badly. I would have had to run all five balls at once and do rows off either one to rectify this and just knew that it would finish up in a hopeless tangle if I tried to keep up with which ball to use next so I decided to just leave it as it was. It is taking me forever as it is mostly triple UK trebles and I can't work on it for long periods as the wrist action makes my arthritic wrists ache so I was in no mood to unravel what I had already crocheted and start again juggling 5 balls.

Knitting Noras Fund Raising Event

We held the first of the Knitting Noras Fund Raising events last night. Well what can I say except well done to everyone who took part. Deb kindly loaned the use of her lovely home and worked like a Trojan having a baking frenzy so that we all got royally fed and watered.

The idea was that we each contributed things for a raffle- mostly handmade items.Brought along craft books, wool and other items which would be swished. Noras also brought along some lovely raffle prizes. Swishing is the modern word for paying a price for things that members decided to part with and donate from their stash. One woman's left overs is another woman's dream. The photos I have taken don't do justice to everything that was on the tables at the end as I took my photos before everyone had arrived bearing gifts.

Deb and Jen had stitched up a storm with a selection of bags, draught excluders and pillows. Deb had also knitted some lovely i pod covers,a green rabbit, a necklace, chickens and key ring holders and also made birthday cards with knitted cupcake brooches attached. The crochet that I had done is well catalogued on my blog so I don't need to list them again. Julie made a few pairs of hand knitted socks which were so neatly knitted that I shall have to hide my feet the next time I knit a pair of socks.Anyone's handmade gifts that I have forgotten to mention it is an oversight so feel free ro remind me. I will post more tomorrow as there is too much to put into one post and no doubt I will think of things that I have forgotten to say today.

We had previously decided to put all the gifts on show and anything left unsold at the end of the evening would then be packed up and taken to the raffle and sale that Bev is organising at her work. Bev has already started fund raising and has been selling home made cake slices and has raised quite a bit of money with that.

I think that I can speak for everyone when I say we had a great fun time last night.We had fun with the raffle and Alice won the shawl that I had made. She had a choice of shawls and the rest will be going to Bev's raffle. I will post photos of the shawl she chose and some other items tomorrow. I will also reveal the total raised so far if everything has been totted up and money gathered in from various places and added together.

Today it is back to the real world. I am going to try to push on with crocheting the mermaid tail as I am waiting for the arrival of 2 more lots of wool to turn into shawls for a couple of the Noras. I also have a couple of baby jackets to knit so the fund total will continue to grow.

Bev is holding her sale/raffle at the end of June and Eadaoin is holding a book swishing soon and I am sure that we have not finished thinking up ideas to raise those pennies.

Well done to everyone and thanks for every ones contributions. Especially well done to Deb for organising and hosting the event and my personal thanks to Bev for the lift home. I had done a lot of trekking to and from hospital during the day so I was a bit knackered by the end of the day.