My new hooks and patterns have arrived from Purplelinda

My order from Purplelinda has arrived. I think it was really fast service as I only ordered them late on Saturday night and as most places are closed on Sundays I didn't really expect them until later this week.

For my birthday last year Kath and Sylvia gave me a set of 11 coloured aluminium crochet hooks and I have enjoyed working with the different coloured hooks so I decided to treat myself to a full set as I didn't buy anything at Woolfest.I know I now have several hooks in each of the sizes but I do find that certain hooks work better with certain yarns and so I can't always use the same hook all of the time. For some projects I like a sharp point and others a more rounded one. The only hooks I cannot use are the wooden ones with the long curved handles. They are too long and uncomfortable and upset the balance and the flow of my work. The ones that I bought have now got a new home. I have got 3 Clover hooks thinking that with the wider handle they would be better for my arthritis but I find the crochet area too small and the handle too large. I must crochet quite low down the hook and not at the point. It's funny how we all have our own style of crochet. I see more variations of technique when people crochet than I see with knitting.I think we develop a style that suits us. I usually tell people when I am teaching them to crochet that there is no right or wrong way to crochet. You will develop your own style. The only time I ever show people a different style is when I see them knitting the wool over the crochet hook as that takes so much longer to do and makes them slow crocheters.

The baby bootie pattern that I ordered is one that I have been looking a long time for. I have seen it many times on projects on Ravelry and Flickr but as it is a Leisure Arts pattern not many places in the UK stock them. I took a deep breath as it cost almost £5 but I am sure I will get a lot of use from it. I also ordered a ball of the cotton to go with the pattern so that I could see what the thickness is for future purchases.

The last 6 patterns are some new baby patterns plus two adults ones. A couple of the baby patterns are closed stitch patterns and so suitable for any boy babies and small children. Two patterns are very girlie but I know that one baby is a girl so I can make her these before she arrives later this month. There is also a practical pram blanket done mostly in trebles. A little boring to make perhaps but if I chose a pretty wool then that will add a bit of interest.

My knee is very sore after hydrotherapy. I had a young physiotherapist who seems to have a bit of a sadistic streak and the exercises she made me do were very vigorous and OK at the time in the water but when I had to walk back to the bus my knee kept giving way on me as well as being extremely painful. The last few yard home were a killer.I am very tired today as I have been awake in pain most of the night. Will someone convince me that this hydrotherapy is doing me good as I seem to be worse now than when I started. Everyone medical seems to be convinced that exercise is the cure whereas I am convinced that something is not right inside the knee and exercise is only aggravating it.

Not much progress on Kath's sweater as last night I finished up watching Liz Smith (Nanna from the Royle family) Takes a Cruise on catch up BBC on the PC. Someone mentioned on Ravelry that she was crocheting a hat whilst on the cruise (which she later wore) and so I watched it to see. She is certainly an eccentric old lady with some strange opinions but I enjoyed watching it. If you want to watch it then click on the blog title for the link. The hat is brightly coloured with a huge flower.

The squares are still being assembled

As you can see Kath's sweater is still in the assembly stage. I had hoped to be further on and possibly even finished it by now but it seems to be taking me forever to sew the squares together and crochet all the fiddly bits that make up it's shape. At least it is now looking something like a sweater in the first photo. The second photo shows how the back and front fit together and the third photos shows the sleeves. One flat and one folded ready for stitching together. I still have the collar squares to stitch up yet and all of the edgings to complete. If you click on the blog title you may be able to see the pattern but then again you might have to be a member of Lion Yarns to view it.

Memo to self - do not crochet any more mohair for a long time for the sake of my sanity.

Needless to say I didn't do any more knitting on the baby cardigan. I am off to another session of hydrotherapy this afternoon so will have to find something small to crochet on the bus. I can't knit on buses as I use 14" needles and so tend to spear everyone sitting around me and obviously I can't take Kath's sweater to stitch together so I will search about for another small project to crochet. I don't want to start anything large as I am waiting for the patterns from Purplelinda to arrive sometime this week before I embark on any more ventures.

Sewing motifs together

The motifs for Kath's sweater are now all finished but I still have a lot to do. I have to sew together 6 motifs for the front and 6 for the back. Then I have to crochet at the shoulder edges and sides of both to make the sweater shape. I haven't yet looked how the sleeves are constructed but I know that the collar comprises of 4 motifs so I guess I probably won't finish it off today. The photo shows the squares held together ready for sewing.

Buster has gone home today. My son and his wife brought my 2 great grand daughters to see me for a while this afternoon when they came to pick Buster up as their mum is busing packing for their family holiday tomorrow.I think mum was having a hard time getting packed with two "helpers" so probably welcomed the break of an hour or so. They played ball in the garden with Buster and also patted Poppy who came through the fence for her daily visit.

As I didn't buy anything at Woolfest I don't feel too guilty at going to the Purplelinda site and ordering some new crochet patterns. Most of my baby crochet patterns are very girlish and so I have ordered some that will be suitable for a boy. I know of 3 expected babies. One I know will be a girl but the other two will be mysteries until their arrival which is lovely in this day and age.I know it's practical to know the sex but it does somehow spoils that wonderful surprise at the time of the birth of announcing boy or girl to the family. There are so few surprises in this world these days. I have also added a couple of "me" patterns in there plus a few new coloured crochet hooks to add a little variety to my crochet. I am always losing hooks so a girl can't have too many hooks. They will probably arrive sometime later this week. I will hopefully have finished off the crochet sweater and knitted some more on the baby cardigan before they arrive.

I am going to settle down to some serious crocheting tonight but first I have to make some dinner, remake the bed with clean bedding and clean the cream leather sofa that has been Bustered over the weekend.

Interweave Crochet Book Summer 2009

After waiting with anticipation for the latest copy of Interweave Crochet I must admit to being slightly disappointed with this issue. There is only a couple of things in it that I would contemplate making. The general reviews on Ravelry are more positive than my thoughts so I guess as usual it is personal choice. It wouldn't do for us all to like the same garments otherwise life would be pretty boring.

For me the front cover Summer Peony by Julia Vaconsin is a possible although I would ditch the awful hook and eye fastenings that look really amateurish. The Aragon Tunic by Robin Chachula is another possibility but for me not in the clashing colours. I think a single colour or at least more toning shades would be my preference. The dresses may look nice on someone slim and the same goes for the beach sarong and the gored skirt. Usually I am a big fan of Doris Chan but I am sorry Doris I cannot see those cafe style curtains anywhere in my house. If you click on my blog title it will take you to more photos from the magazine on the Interweave Crochet site. The bustier top is pretty again for someone slim and I like the retro cardigan although I would have to adjust the neckline at the front as it is obviously too high as the model had to fold it down.

Last night I finished the 24 squares for Kath's sweater and then read the pattern and discovered that I have to make 4 more squares a bit larger for the sleeves. I was looking forward to starting to assemble them today. Ah well.

Yesterday Buster arrived for the weekend and I noticed that Julie next door was attempting to cut some branches off her trees as she said they were stopping the sunlight coming into her lounge. We then had a hilarious afternoon trying to lassoo the branches to bring them down low enough to cut as neither of us is good on ladders at heights. We kept the neighbourhood amused for a while. Julie also cut the privet hedges and so it took us ages to sweep up all the privet leaves. She trimmed the little bush and some low hanging branches from the tree at the front of my house as they were both getting a bit out of hand so I now have a dustbin full of greenery. The local council gives recycling bins to people without gardens and yet my street which has front and back gardens does not have them. When I had transport I used to take them to the tip to the designated green bins but now I have to put them in the dustbin.

My knee is hurting after hydrotherapy but I will attempt to walk Buster some time today but first it's a bit of housework and a shower. Buster has taken his ball outside and is lying in the grass relaxing after his breakfast so seems pretty happy at the moment. I don't like to walk him for a little while after he has eaten and risk giving him an upset stomach.

Purely for decoration purposes

More photos of Kristin Omdahl Floral Circular Wrap now that it is off the blocking boards. I feel that it should have a label attached to it saying for decorative purposes only. I have tried it on but will need a bit more practise or a couple of safety pins before I attempt to wear it in public. I gave up trying to take a photo of myself wearing it. It's hard enough trying to take a photo of one's own back with a web cam without having the shawl sliding off my shoulders before I could press the button every time I got it into a good position to show the centre circle. I will have to be very careful when I wear it not to pass anything with a hook on it, a doorknob or a dining chairback.

My copy of the Interweave Crochet Summer 2009 has arrived but I have not yet had a good browse. I will take some photos or post a link to some projects tomorrow.

Last night I undid the first front of the baby cardigan as I was not happy with the way that the cables didn't show up. Ambermoggie you were right when you said it needed the purl stitch to make the cables pop out. Sylvia said that she had changed the pattern also so when I started the second front and saw the difference so I undid the first front and have re started it.

I managed to crochet 2 more squares for Kath's sweater on the bus and whilst waiting for my turn in the hydrotherapy pool. I think the total is 17 now so not many more to go.

I am not sure that the hydrotherapy is doing much good. The instructor we had today was not as good as the one that I had last week.There were only 3 in the pool today so in theory we should have got better instruction than last week when there was 4 of us. Apparently it depends which day I go as they change the instructors about day to day. He is going on his holidays for 3 weeks so I won't be getting him next week so I hope to get the lady that I got last week as I felt she was far more instructive and made sure that we were doing all the exercises correctly whereas he kept chatting in the pool and didn't really watch what we were doing. This week I took my knee strap for the walk home so I made it home OK.

I am going to make a coffee, hang out my washed swimming things and take a look in my new crochet book but no starting anything until I have finished off my current 2 projects.

A bit of knitting and a bit of crocheting

Yesterday a friend and fellow Knitting Nora called to see me and pick up her crocheted shawl. As Eadaoin is an avid car booter and loves to browse I met her at the metro station to introduce her to the delights of our 5 charity shops. We had a real giggle looking around them and even tried on a couple of wedding or Ascot style hats. When you see some of the heavily beaded and sequined creations I often wonder what frame of mind were the ladies in when they bought them originally. Had they been watching too many episodes of Come Dancing? I think now she knows where the shops are she may visit again sometime especially as one of them tends to have some lovely china, bric a brac and trinkets from time to time. Yesterday there was nothing in particular that caught her eye but we did enjoy the good browse. I always check to see if they have any craft books but apart from a Kaffe Fassett book which is a bit intricate for my taste there was nothing that caught my eye yesterday.

The gorgeous sunflowers are a gift to me from Eadaoin. She said they looked happy flowers and I must admit the bright display of colour brightens my mood every time my eyes light on them. They were admired in every shop that we called in. She also spoiled me with the Thorntons chocolates and a magazine to browse. Do I have good friends or what? I think she was pleased with her shawl so that made two happy bunnies yesterday.

I repaid her generosity by locking her in my bathroom. Well not intentionally of course. Ever since I had my new bathroom fitted I have meant to sand and repaint the bathroom door and replace the door handle but spine and knee operations have got in the way. In the meantime my door handle is a piece of tape threaded through the hole in the door where the lock should be and as I live alone I don't close the door. After an absence of quite a while I decided to call up to Eadaoin to ask if she was OK and had she closed the door. She had closed it and so required rescuing with the aid of screwdriver. I really must make more of an effort to sand and paint the door if I want guests to visit me otherwise I will have to hand them a screwdriver if they want to visit the smallest room!

Last night I started knitting a baby cardigan for Sylvia and was quite disappointed that the cables don't show at all. Today when I spoke to Sylvia she said that when she made it she had put a purl stitch either side of the cable to make it stand out more.I have only made one front so far so I started the second front using a purl stitch either side of the cable and I think you can see there is a big difference. I am going to undo and re knit the first front. Can you see the tiny green cable needle? That is one that my Dad made for me years ago. I used to have quite a few but over the years have lost all but one. I love the tiny size as it is ideal when I am only cabling over 4 sts.

My Dad was a make do and mend kind of guy and hated anything to go to waste.He was "green" long before it became fashionable. He would reuse anything and everything if he could. He was a master at repairing the seemingly impossible.They might not always have looked very pretty when they got repaired but they always functioned. My mother could only knit on plastic knitting needles because of her arthritis and of course they used to snap a lot. My Dad would then patiently make points on sections of the broken needles to make little cable needles for us both to use.

When I was very young we never had a lot of money and so his skills came in very handy to repair toys and furniture etc. He made me a wooden dolls house complete with working (battery) lights, carpets, curtains and hand made wooden furniture. I must have been the only small girl with a wooden bathroom suite for my dolls! He made my brother a fort with a drawbridge for his soldiers when he was small but that had been passed along to someone else long before I arrived on the scene.

I am still crocheting the squares for Kath's sweater but as mohair is not the easiest of yarns to crochet with I can only do a couple before I run out of patience when the yarn super glues itself together. If I go wrong it tests my ingenuity trying to unlock the row.

Floral Circular Shawl

It is finished. The Floral Circular Shawl by Kristin Omdahl from the Superior Crochet by Tahki Stacy Charles is now blocking. It is a tribute to a 30 minute soak in Comfort and a darn good yanking that it resembles a shawl and not a doily. I know that my blocking technique leaves a lot to be desired but I just cannot manage to crawl on the floor or around the bed to block it properly so I have to manage as best I can until my knee heals.

If anyone feels like embarking on this shawl first take a Valium and lie in a darkened room as the pattern instructions are far from easy to understand. When I got to the border I found it to be utter gibberish to me. I just could not understand the way she had written the pattern at all and so made up my own edging hence my border is far frillier and thicker than the pattern. The added weight did help me to stretch out the shawl. My wool was 4ply and thicker than the one specified on the pattern and although I normally crochet loosely I had to change the hook size up from a 4mm to a 6mm and even now I still think the shawl has come out small. I am glad that I didn't buy the expensive wool as I had to restart it twice and as the yarn gets cut and joined after every row I could not salvage any of that wool which would have broke my heart if I had paid a lot for it.

Although I think that the shawl is pretty now it is finished it is definitely going to be a one off. Never to be repeated no matter how hard anyone begs me. I would throw away the pattern except that it is a booklet that also has 4 of Doris Chan designs in it. One of which, a capelet, crocheted up like a dream with not one problem with the pattern.