I've Been Busy

Sorry I haven't been around in Blogland but I had this box of crochet to deal with. I had made lots of things but nothing was finished off. No buttons, trimmings or ribbons. It took me as long to decide which buttons to put on which garment and as to trimmings and ribbon - even more decisions. What I thought would take me an afternoon to finish off has taken almost 2 days. In future I will finish each one off before I move onto the next. It was all a bit overwhelming.

Thanks to Eadaoin I am nearer to opening my Etsy shop. I have got it set up but I need a banner for the top of my page and of course to take some lovely photos to show things in their best light. It will definitely all come together before the end of this week. Pricing is another nightmare. Anyone who knits or crochets knows that you never get paid for your craft. I could never add up the hours it has taken to make each thing and charge by the hour. It's just a question of researching what other people are charging for similar items and costing mine out and seeing if it is feasible to charge the same. Luckily for me it doesn't have to be a full time job. I just want to make some extra money so that I can buy nice yarns and patterns. That doesn't mean however that I am willing to work away for hours for next to nothing. If things don't sell then I will just shut up shop and continue to crochet for family and friends. If I don't try then I will never know if I can do it.

I have been bidding on lots of patterns on Ebay and buying lots of patterns on Etsy. As a lot of them are PDF files then they will only get seen once I print them all out or crochet them up. Once again my printer ink is running low. The refills don't seem to last 2 minutes and my printer has a fit if I try to use anything other than the real branded inks. The last time I changed them ( all branded inks) it took me over an hour to get the printer to stop saying that it didn't recognise my inks.

I did get a new set of inks but I have already used the blue. I love the brightly coloured buttons that I bought from Ebay. The old pattern is a knitting one for a change

I will have to find something to use these lovely buttons on. Once again though they are a bit girly.

These are some patterns that arrived by post. I love the long dress. I have ordered 3 more hippy style long dresses.. Hopefully I will get time to make a couple for me to wear in the house in the winter. With fuel prices  going up so much I want to keep warm and a long woolly skirt will be just the thing. Worn over leggings or a full length under slip it will keep the draughts out when I am sitting watching TV and crocheting in the evenings. The other three styles are a bit more substantial than this one and one has long sleeves. The baby patterns are 3 examples of  matinee jackets in fine yarn.

These two magazines have arrived but I have only had the time to quickly browse them. Not much is leaping out at me in either one of these. I noticed that there was a copy of Crochet today for sale on Ebay so I think that someone else shares my opinion and has decided to sell their copy.

This is the pattern that I got into a bidding war on Ebay to try to win it. The price was just getting silly for my purse but I did so want this pattern. A lovely Internet buddy Maureen sent me a message telling me to stop bidding as she had a copy that I could have. I do have some great friends that I have met through the wonders of the Internet. What made Maureen and I laugh was after I dropped out of the bidding another lady pipped my rival to the post and got in a bid with seconds to spare. Whoever she was finished up paying £18 for the pattern! I couldn't wait to start it so here is the beginnings of the jacket in blue and white. My crochet items are mostly white or pink and girly so I wanted a few blue items to try and balance it out a bit more. There is not much in the way of good patterns in crochet for boys. They are all a bit plain. I may have to knit some things which will really slow me down. I will have to put my thinking cap on. I have now taken to keeping a notebook and pencils by the bed as when I try to sleep my head is whirring with good ideas of designs to crochet. If I don't sketch them right away then I can't sleep for ages and once I finally fall asleep I have invariably forgotten the ideas in the morning.

I haven't done much of anything today despite getting up bright and early. I think that it's time to get a coffee and resume the blue and white crochet. I do love crocheting the old patterns which is why I am buying so many on Ebay. I love old patterns and it is so exciting to get some 'new' old patterns.

It Has To Be Doris Chan For Me

This is what I have been crocheting whilst Buster has been visiting.  I used the Cinnabar pattern from the Everyday Crochet Book by Doris Chan.

I like the top down construction. Plus the fact that it makes generous armholes which is a boon for a plus sized lady like me. I was jiggling about with a bit less cotton than I should have had for the pattern. My friend Sue had given me almost 13 balls of Patons Washed Haze Aran. It is an acrylic and cotton mix so it doesn't have a good yardage.

As you can see when I wear it the sleeves are bracelet length instead of full length and the body is a little bit shorter than I would have preferred. I just wished that I looked as nice in the Cinnabar as my model does.

This is the back view of the cardigan. It is quite thick so it will be warm enough for our wonderful non existent Summer. As I write this the rain is absolutely hammering down.

As a change from all of my Kemps browsing I now have become an avid Ebay fan. These are 4 that have arrived so far but there are many more to come if I win the bids. There is one pattern that I am bidding on and it has turned into a bit of a silly bidding war between me and another lady. It's like a battle and I want to win it. The money is not the issue any more it's the winning that counts!!!. It's a baby crochet pattern that I have never seen before, not even when I stocked Emu yarns in our wool shops. I want it - it shall be mine!

As the label was covering the lemon jacket on the group photo I took another photo but it has not turned out well. That's the trouble with using a camera in dull rainy lighting. The flash comes on. I don't have a super dooper top of the range camera.

These are 2 patterns that I bought from the Vintagelady web site. I have more but my printer has run out of ink so until new cartridges arrive by post I can't do any more. I bought them as PDF files.

All I need now is some time to complete the abandoned (because of Buster and his hair)matinee jacket and finish all the other things that are minus buttons and ribbons. My friend is calling on Friday to help me set up my Etsy site so hopefully by the weekend I will be up and running. I just need lots of really clear photos and to work out how much to price everything. Too low and I will probably sell everything but make no profit. I know that I won't make my fortune but I do want some remuneration for all the time that I spend doing the crocheting and the cost of the yarns and buttons etc. I just hope that my garments are nice enough to tempt people into buying them at a decent price.

The exterminator came on Monday to spray the wasps nest. Touch wood it seems to have done the trick and I haven't seen any wasps since. He did scare me a bit when he said I might have to ring him again as they might set up in a different part of the tiles instead of flying away somewhere else. So far though I haven't seen any signs of that. Thank goodness.

My son came yesterday and put me a temporary post up for my washing line. In true form as soon as he had finished it the rain came down so I still had to dry my clothes indoors.

I went to the Kings Arms Knit Club on Monday eve and we had a good night. Quite a few people were there so it was a good old natter and I managed to crochet quite a bit on the pink Cinnabar. Yesterday and today I have been doing a bit of cleaning. It takes me such a long time as I keep having to rest my back every 10 mins. In the end I just get fed up and leave it. I keep hoping that the cleaning fairy will come in the night but so far no luck.

I Need To Crochet

I had to start crocheting something. I was going mad with empty fingers. As I have mentioned before I can't make anything for babies whilst Buster is here moulting hair all over the place. I can't really start anything until I have cleaned up after he has gone home. I was going crazy without my crochet so I decided to crochet some Paton's cotton aran that my friend Sue had given to me. Dog hair seems to fall off cotton and as it is something for me then I am used to a few dog hairs on everything I wear. Trust me it takes weeks after he has gone home to wash and hoover all the dog hair away.

I am not sure exactly what this will turn out to be. I am spinning the cotton out as although I had 12 balls it doesn't have a good yardage. It may finish up as a bit of a Doris Chan Mei Mei but with some kind of a sleeve. Since I have got older I don't really do things with a cap sleeve. I have crocheted one ball into one sleeve and will do the same for the other sleeve. Then I will see how far the rest of the cotton will go lengthwise in the body of the jacket. Hopefully I will have enough cotton for the jacket to reach my waist. Waist? What waist?

I like Doris Chan patterns as not only do I like the pattern stitch I also like the top down construction as I am not overfond of sewing seams up on finished garments.

This is my parcel from Purplelindacrafts. I like using the very bright multi colours as trims on white or pastel coloured garments. It just gives a bit of Oomph to them. Although Purplelinda is very reasonable with her prices I still miss the thrill of nipping up to Bury market and looking at the colours myself. Plus they are usually a bit cheaper too.

Today is a rainy day so Buster is not in a very good mood as we can't play ball outside. Every time we attempt to go outside the rain starts. I hope that he is going home today. Not because I am fed up of him but at least he has his fur sisters to play with at home when they can't go out in the rain. Also the men are coming to fumigate my wasps nest tomorrow and I don't want him breathing anything toxic in or getting stung by any irate wasps.

Hair of the Dog

No, I am not hungover and in need of the hair of the dog (hangover cure) I am referring to the fact that I have another furry visitor. Buster is here for the weekend.

Lovely though he maybe and much as I enjoy his company you can see why my crochet for babies has to stop whilst he is here.

This is what my trouser legs looked like 10 minutes after his arrival. I have now brushed him and got a huge ball of fur off him. I  brush him at least twice a day but his hair comes out all over the place despite this. I don't know why he isn't bald with the amount of hair he loses.

All baby crochet has come to a halt as I could not try to sell anything that is covered with dog hair. I will find something else to crochet whilst he is here. Something for me or someone who is used to dog hair clinging to garments even after a wash.

The sun is out so I guess that we will both be in the garden today playing ball.  It's Buster's idea of a really good day, so at least he will be happy. He will be going home on Sunday as I have warned my son that there is someone calling to deal with the wasps nest on Monday morning and I told the people that I didn't have any pets. The stuff they will be using might be harmful to pets so I would rather Buster was out of the way. I don't want him to be poisoned or stung when the wasps come out.

One of my neighbours chatted to me yesterday. They have a little boy just over 18 months old and found out yesterday that they are expecting two babies and not the one that they thought they were expecting. They are not due until the end of January so let's hope that they don't arrive early. My niece's friend who had her last baby the day after my neighbour's baby is also expecting in September but she is having one baby to join her two boys. I do hope that one or both of my neighbour's twins turn out to be girls.

Another Crochet Jacket Finished.

My little furry visitors went home at lunchtime. Although they have been no trouble, apart from Poppy wanting to bark at her own shadow, I didn't get much sleep as they are used to their own house and I am not used to the little pitter patter of their toe nails as they wandered around during the night. Buster arrives tomorrow but he just sleeps when I go to bed apart from wakening me up for a wee around 4am. After that he goes back to sleep again until I get up.

It wasn't just the dogs that kept me awake. I had one of my itchy, restless leg episodes and that prevents me from falling into a deep sleep. It feels like I have ants crawling all over my legs and I just keep moving them involuntarily.

I managed to make this little jacket. It is my own design using the 3 coloured jacket as a guide size. This version if worked bottom edge to shoulders and is joined at the shoulders, the underarms and sides. I like combining lilac with pink and white.

As this jacket and the 3 coloured jacket have come out a bit larger than a young baby size and look a bit on the chunky side I am thinking of making matching turn back beanies to go with these little jackets. I think that they might be more saleable as a set.

I did start a pale coloured granny square last night but it was looking a bit wishy washy. I didn't want to make a strongly coloured blanket this time but the colours that I have are all rather on the pale side to make enough contrast between the colours.

Tonight I might make the beanie hats (if I can stay awake long enough) or start another jacket. I still have to finish off the other older garments that I made a couple of weeks ago. I might do that if I don't do any crochet tonight.

I am making some meatballs in tomato sauce with garlic and onions for my tea. I am going to cook some spaghetti to go with it. Pity that I don't have any mozzarella or Parmesan cheese to top it when it is all cooked.

Furry Visitors

These are my two house guests. Mum and Dad have gone to a funeral and won't be back until tomorrow. They live next door to me and so are used to me looking after them but they are not too keen when it comes to bedtime. Normally they only stay with me for a few hours. There was a little bit  of conflict this morning as Lily was asleep on her rocking chair when they arrived and I had to rescue her. She scratched me for my trouble, but that's cats for you.

Poppy thinks this is her second home as she visits me all the time via the hedge. She never has a problem staying with me.

Buddy is a Mommas boy. He had a bit of a sulk for a while when he first arrived but soon perked up with the promise of jerky treats!

They both helped me to unpack my two parcels that arrived this morning as you can see from the bag visible in the first photo. I think they thought that the bags contained something other than boring balls of yarn.

The first parcel was just more supplies of white James C Brett 400 grams of baby DK yarn as I had underestimated just how much white that I would need for my crochet projects.

The second parcel was from Kemps which has some more bargain goodies. The lemon and pink textured are for pram blankets although the yellow is a bit brighter than I anticipated. That's the only drawback with ordering online. With my monitor the colours aren't always true. I got some more bargain buttons. If you like a collection of buttons then I suggest that you take a look at their sale buttons.

This is really what I placed the order with Kemps for. I had bought and used some Rowan Natural Silk Aran for my sister in law for her Birthday but when I saw that they had reduced this colour to 99p a ball I just could not resist buying some to stash for myself. It looks far nicer out of the plastic bag. It is one of those 'go with anything' colours that are so useful in a wardrobe. The pink fleck Baby 4ply was also reduced so that has been added to my baby stash.

I finished this off last night and started another jacket. The idea came from a very old pattern but as that was in two colours I changed it to three colours so that I could strand up the sides. I did quite a lot of modifications as the original pattern has a hood, but of course as per usual didn't write anything down. I really should make a tissue paper template so that I can make another one should it be needed.

The jacket is mainly half trebles (UK) with double crochet (UK) edgings. I added the little butterflies as a bit of added interest.

I don't think that I will get much crochet done for the rest of the week with the dogs being here until tomorrow and then Buster arriving on Friday morning. Buddy and Poppy don't shed but Buster sheds hair around himself like a halo. I often wonder why he isn't bald! I can't crochet anything important when Buster is around. I do have some oddments of DK cotton that I might make into something. The cotton doesn't attract the dog hair like the synthetics do.

It's almost time for dinner for me and then later feed the dogs. They went for a long walk this morning and so don't need another walk until my neighbours arrive home in the morning. Poppy has shown Buddy where I keep the dog treats so every time I go anywhere near the kitchen I have two furry friends at my heels.

Cream 3 Piece Set for a Baby

Finally I have got around to taking some photos of the cream baby 3 piece set that i finished last week. The pattern is JC22A from Just Crochet but I changed the pattern stitch and didn't make the scarf.

I am a little concerned that the jacket looks a bit small compared with the bibbed pants. Maybe it is designed to be worn as a short jacket to the waist. If I had made the pants first then I would have added a couple more rows to the jacket length.

The jacket is trimmed with little flower motifs on the pattern but I wanted something very boyish for my collection so I chose to add a little teddy bear motif and added a ribbon bow. I also chose more 'manly' buttons in a cream and brown mix.

I put similar coloured, but flatter, buttons on the bib. I didn't want anything sticking into baby's neck. I had to amend the hat pattern as when I put the number of chain suggested on the pattern it seemed very large so I knocked a few chain off. It still looks a bit on the large side but maybe I have lost touch with babies head sizes.

Yesterday I got a lift down to the Kings Arms Knit Club from my niece. Not as many there as usual but I still got a good natter and it did get me out of the house.

Today I did some shopping as I am doing my Dr. Doolittle impersonation this week. Tomorrow and Thursday I am looking after the two dogs from next door whilst they go to a family funeral and on Friday morning my furry best friend Buster is coming for the weekend until Sunday or Monday morning.

The animals will but a bit of a halt to my crocheting. I am making a 3 coloured jacket at the moment which just needs the edging and final trimmings and buttons adding. It's another one that I made the pattern up myself. I crochet far quicker when I am not following a pattern but the trouble is that I annoy people when I don't write the patterns down.

Even I have to look at the photos of things that I make in order to make another one. Thank goodness for Ravelry and Flickr for giving me a photographic source to remind me how I made something. I look at some photos and think - I don't remember making that! I must try to make some tissue paper templates of my jackets so that I know what size to crochet to next time. Years ago, before there was so many crochet patterns to choose from I always crocheted to the size of paper patterns that I had made by drawing around things in my wardrobe that fitted me. I have even used dressmaking patterns as templates but that was when I was young and slim.

I read on an article on the net today that granny square cot blankets are the latest must have accessory for the nursery so that has given me something else to make for my online shop. I looked at the ones for sale to get ideas. Some were very pastel in colour and some were brightly coloured but with white edgings. I can manage granny squares whilst dog minding.