Happy Christmas Everyone

Happy Christmas. I know that I am a day late with my wishes but I somehow didn't find the time to blog yesterday.

I had a great day at my brother and sister in law's house. Loads of good food and good company. I almost didn't make it there as my niece's car refused to start and she had to wait for the repair man to come and sort it out. My brother came to collect me instead.

I think that all of my presents were well received although I must confess to finishing my nephew in law's scarf off whilst I was there. It is a bit on the short side so I will make him another one and post it down later. I have seen a nice crocheted aran style scarf in one of my crochet magazines that I will use. I still have a couple more baby sweaters to make but they did get presents from me before the day and are now in Ireland on a holiday so I will finish them off before they get back home.

I got some fantastic presents, some of which I have photographed. I got a new set of phones but they are charging before I can use them. I got well received slippers ( my old ones were very shabby), an amaryllis, a cake knitting book, and egg cup and cozy, a subscription to Crochet Today and a wonderful hamper from Marks and Spencer.

The hamper had all kinds of goodies in it. Wild salmon, coffee, cheese and cracker plus chocolates, after dinner mints, pear and ginger biscuits and a mini bottle of Chablis. There was even an individual piece of iced Christmas cake which was good as I hadn't bought one. I also got a selection of toiletries. One year I asked my niece not to buy me one pot of an expensive cream but just to get me everyday items and each years since she has made up a pack of shampoo, conditioner, face creams, body lotion and E 45 etc all of which come in extremely useful. I am not an expensive toiletries kind of person and if anyone buys me things I tend not to use them for everyday which is rather stupid I know so everyday items are far more useful to me.

This is the first time that I have ever had a hamper. I have given them to other people in the past. When my father and mother in law were alive I used to make up my own hamper full of tinned things, coffee, tea and long life milk so that I knew they could put them in the larder and use if they got snowed in etc. I also used to make one up full of luxury goodies for my, then a single mum, friend who used to find it hard at Christmas to buy more than the necessities as she was not working at that time.Nowadays my circumstances have changed and I am with one without the wage so it was nice to be on the receiving end this year especially from M and S. I love their food. I always used to joke that I would know that I had made it in life if I could do all of my weekly shopping at M and S. Of course I never got there but I can still dream that one day I will win the lottery.

Today I am going to catch up on the much neglected house. I had put housework on hold whilst I finished off my presents and now it is time to wield the duster and hoover with a vengeance and work off all of the food that I consumed yesterday.

Only Two Left To Finish

I have finished the last big present. I now have a knitted scarf to finish and a gents hat to make. Whew not much if you say it fast.

This jacket is loosely based on the Doubled Up Jacket from The Crochet Closet book by Lisa Gentry. I say loosely based as once again even though the pattern said US thickness 4 (aran) the aran that I bought would not come small enough even using 2 sizes smaller hook. I didn't have time to mess about or to go and buy some double knit so I just improvised as usual. I used the pattern stitch but everything else was done by my eye.I know that I annoy people as I don't write anything down but them I was on a time schedule and I do work a lot faster without a pattern. I had added a collar to the jacket as I thought that it was more of an outdoor jacket rather than an indoor one or one to be worn underneath a coat. I had two 400 gram balls and there is probably enough to make a hat at a later stage,

I picked up the scarf knitting again last night but it is slow going compared to the crochet. I just hope that I have enough time to finish it and knit a hat before Christmas Day.

My street is still fairly impassable and so I think that I may have to walk up to the main road tomorrow to get a lift from my niece to her parents house for present swapping and Christmas dinner.

The bottom photo is one of the fairy dresses that I have bought for my great grand daughters for Christmas. I have bought them the same as they are at the age (4 and almost 3) that they argue like mad over everything and so it is easier to get them the same. There are no fairy wands but that is probably better as they would probably go around bashing the dogs on the head Christmas Day.

I hope that you all have a very Happy Christmas. I am not sure if I will have time to post tomorrow morning but I will take photos of the finished scarf and the hat if it is finished in time

My First Christmas Present

I received a copy of Crochet Today in the post yesterday. There was no message attached to it but the label suggested that it was one of 4. I asked everyone I knew if they had sent it to me and got denials all around. My friend suggested that there must be a Santa and he had sent it. Later in the day I contacted my niece and she said it was her Mum who had arranged the subscription as a Christmas present but they thought that as it was the Jan/Feb issue that it would not arrive until after Christmas so were going to tell me on Christmas Day.I will post some photos of the contents on another day.

Getting Crochet Today through the post reminded me that I had not renewed my subscription to Interweave Crochet and as the Winter edition is one due out very shortly I have sent off my cheque to P & M Woolcraft, My neighbour from across the road has posted it for me as I am not going up the village in the snow again.

I ventured out yesterday as my neighbour was unable to give me a lift to Tesco to food shop as she has had to work, It was really hard work dragging my trolley home through the snow and my knee and back are hating me today. Fortunately as I am not cooking for Christmas Day I wasn't over loaded as some people trolleys were. I could have called for a taxi but as the council has not seen fit to grit our hills yet I didn't think it was fair to ask a taxi to slip and slide to my house. When I first lived here we had a local council who gritted every time there was a hint of snow or ice. Now we have amalgamated in with a bigger council all we ever get is one tiny grit bin that isn't enough for a quarter of the street and have never seen a gritter in years. Our council taxes went up when we amalgamated but we get a poor man's service. Bury gets the gritters now.

I am still working like crazy. My house is like a blitz but I don't care. There is more to life than housework. I live on my own so I can please myself. I have promised myself a giant clean up once Christmas is over, I do the basics like hoovering etc but the polishing and deep cleaning has been put on hold.

I am well on the way with another jacket for my niece, It was supposed to be the jacket pictured from the Crochet Closet book but as my wool is thicker than the wool specified once again I am doing it my way. I work quicker that way. I have just used the stitch and the general pattern idea but am toying with the idea of putting a collar on my version and a few more buttons.

Yesterday I got photos sent of my niece wearing one of the duck hats that I made and the family (except the baby as I suspect that her hat is still a bit large for her) that they were intended for wearing theirs. Apparently they loved the hats and the little girl insisted that her Daddy wore the hat to take her to nursery school the next day. It's nice to get photos of people wearing things that I have made and knowing that they like them.

The scarf is still languishing with not another row done and I have still got a hat to knit. Sleep - who needs it? Mush Mush I had better get a move on.

Another Present Finished

Another present finished. This is my version of the Capricious Cardi by Marlaina Bird that was in the Inside crochet Issue 5. I couldn't get it to work out at all with the Jarol double knit that I had bought and so just made my own design up. It looks almost the same as the one in the magazine except that my version is a little shorter due to my not buying quite enough yarn. I bought 500 grams but as the wool has a high wool content I could have done with buying 600 grams.

I still haven't found the missing crochet hook but I am hoping that it turns up when I move the furniture to do a proper hoover up before Christmas. It must have rolled underneath a sofa or something.

The snow is still coming down thick and fast here and I am worrying about getting out to pick up my prescription and do some food shopping. If I don't get a lift then I will have to brave the snow and walk up tomorrow.

I must get on with some more crochet and knitting as I have no time to sit and do nothing, Mother Christmas is on overtime this year!

ETA After writing this blog I went into the front room and my missing crochet hook was in the middle of the coffee table ! Now that was definitely the first place that I looked for it. How can a hook sit on a glass coffee table for 2 days and not be seen? I tell you I have a mischievous fairy or elf living in my house somewhere.

Going Green With My Wrapping

They haven't quite turned out the way I wanted but this is my novel way of wrapping a present in a 'useful later' kind of way. I have chained two crochet squares together to form a Santa sack. For the man's present I have used a crochet chain to tie and for the lady I have pinned on a crochet flower and used a ribbon to tie. When they have opened their present and unpicked the chain holding the pieces together then hey presto they have two dishcloths each to do the washing up with later. I would have liked them to be fancier than this with perhaps crochet holly leaves and berries and red ribbons but time is against me as I have a feeling that these two gifts will be picked up today or tomorrow and I wanted them to be ready in time. I will try to make my next ones a little more festive if I get the time.

I am on the last front of the Capricious cardi and so hope to get that finished off today. I have spent an hour this morning looking for my crochet hook. I swear that I have fairies or elves in my house who hide things. I usually thread my hook into my unfinished crochet when I go to bed but when I picked my crochet up this morning the hook was no-where to be seen. I have moved the chair, looked all around the floor but the hook is still missing. I have got several hooks this size but I don't like to swap hooks mid garment as even though they are marked as the same size I do find that there is a slight variation in their sizes. I have no doubt that the hook will turn up somewhere silly very soon. I really liked that hook as it was a lightweight plastic type hook that I bought from Purplelinda. I was going to order more sizes in the same type of hook after Christmas. I had only bought two sizes to see if I liked working with them. I will just have to order another one this size if the elves don't let me have it back soon.

Today I have woken up to the aroma of cat spray in my porch again. The neighbourhood cats are so ungrateful. My porch door won't close properly and so they shelter in it when the weather is bad. I even have a cushion in there for them to sleep on so they won't be cold on the tiled floor and how do they repay me? They spray in my porch and make the hall smell dreadful. That's what I get for being a good Samaritan. I will mop it later. I find biological washing powder in my mop bucket is the best thing for neutralising the smell.I have tried the pet odour sprays and Fabreeze but they don't work as well as washing powder. It wouldn't work, of course, on carpet but is great on ceramic tiles.

The Early Paper Boy

Like most people I have snow outside. This photo was taken yesterday so there is actually a bit more there now. I woke up this morning to the extra snow and a bit of a mystery. I was up at 8am and I picked up the newspaper from behind the front door. When I drew back the curtains and looked outside there was unbroken snow on my drive to my front door. Not a sign of any footprints. Either the paper boy called really early and it snowed after he called or he must have flown in and sprinkled fairy dust as one of my friends suggested.

I am still progressing with the Capricious jacket although I have had to undo the few inches that I did today. I had increased back out again for the bust line but when I got to the armholes I realised that it was going to be too wide so I have undone it back to the waist again. What have I said before. More haste less speed. I have made both sleeves as I am eking the wool out. I think that I really need another ball but I am not going to be able to get another ball before Christmas as the market will not be open until Wednesday and the wool stall may not be there because it is so near to Christmas. It is the higher percentage of wool that is giving me less yardage than I had calculated for the jacket.

I started another crochet jacket again from a US pattern and when I had done 5" I realised that it was turning out massive as well. What is it with these US patterns? My tension was correct but when I looked at the schematics the measurements for a 36" bust was 50" ! My niece is a mere size 8/10 so 36" would have been a bit loose on her but 50" was way too much even for a slacker coat style jacket. Understandably I have undone it and as per usual I have restarted it my way. Once again it will look like the pattern when I have finished but several sizes smaller than the one in the book.

The knitted scarf is still neglected. I haven't even worked an inch on that. I can't seem to drum up any enthusiasm for my knitting but I know that I will have to do so before Christmas or my nephew in law will be minus a present.

Capricious - I Don't Think So

When I got my copy of Inside Crochet Issue 5 my locally living niece saw Capricious cardi and liked it so I decided to make it for her as a surprise as she is so good with me. Taking me here and there when she can. The designer, Marlaina Bird, is from the US and whilst I am not bothered where the designer lives I do wish that they would use yarns more familiar in the UK as it is sold as a UK crochet magazine. The yarn suggested is Mirasol Nuna which is described on some web pages as DK but on others is listed as knitting to a fine gauge.

I know that I do crochet loosely so always chose a smaller hook and sometimes even a smaller size on the pattern but when I chained on using Jarol DK, which isn't a thick DK, it was huge. I persevered for a while as the pattern has shaped inserts at either sides of the hips, and is made all in one, so I thought that when I had reached the end of the insert shaping then it would be fine. I wasn't. I had to unravel it all as it would have fitted around me twice and I am not the tiniest of people. I have now started again and am using the pattern for the pattern stitch and the style but am not making the inserts over the hips.Instead I have shaped inwards by narrowing the pattern as you can see at the top of the second photo to give it some hip amd waist shape.Depending on the size I may increase back out again to give it fullness at the bustline. I have never had anything turn out so huge, I admit that my tension was slightly off so I had started making it a couple of sizes smaller than I wanted and was using a smaller hook. The pattern is done on a 4mm hook and even the smallest size starts with 258 ch so I think that a 4ply would be the nearest UK equivalent if I want to make the pattern as written in the book.

The second attempt is looking more like the size that I need for my niece but I am now going to be winging it for armhole and neck shaping and the sleeves. I have done this sort of thing before and it doesn't really worry me except when people ask me what i have done and I don't know as I do it all by eye and don't write anything down. I am always in doubt whether to put any mention of the pattern on Ravelry as I really won't be using it. I am just using the pattern stitch and the general picture but as it wil look similar to the original people may wonder why I don't link it together. I am just a bit worried that someone else in the UK will struggle to get the correct tension if I don't say anything unless they go on the Internet and buy the wool specified. I know that Inside crochet do give yarn alternatives, one of them being Fyberspates Scrumptious, but does anyone ever test the patterns for tension in UK wool when they come from a US designer? I have come to grief before with US patterns saying DK as their DK seems to be a different thickness to ours.

I plan to stay home today and crack on with my knitting and crochet. We still have a very light dusting of snow and it seems to be very cold although I haven't yet ventured outdoors.