Haru Jacket is Finished

Another Christmas present is finished. I have made this Haru jacket from Doris Chan's Everyday Crochet book for my sister in law. My niece chose a couple of things for me to give to her mum as she knows that I have trouble getting about shopping but I wanted to add my own personal touch. My sister in law has worn the shawl that I made for her last year almost every day so I wanted to make her a little pop on jacket that she could wear whilst in the house. I made it from 400 grams of Jarol double knit with wool that I bought on Bury Market. It is lovely wool to work with and feels lovely and soft.

I am still plodding on with the Sedgemoor jacket and have about a half sleeve to knit. Then I should go back to the scarf that I started a week or more ago but as that is navy blue then it's strictly daytime knitting. I still have quite a bit to do but as most of it is crocheted then I am not as worried as I was at the beginning of the week.

All I need is to get a couple of good night's sleep in. I was up at 4.30am this morning with the pain in my knee so am not exactly full of the joys of Spring today. I did manage a cat nap on the sofa for about an hour this morning but it isn't quite the same as a good long stretch of sleep. I can't remember when I last slept through the night.

I have just had a visit from a friend Sue who brought me some chocolate buns that she had made, I have eaten one for my lunch and very yummy it was too. Her daughter's baby is due tomorrow so she will have a new grandbaby for Christmas this year.

Back to the knitting now as I really want to finish off the last sleeve and stitch up my niece's jacket today.

My Knee Has Lost The Christmas Spirit

My knee has gone on strike. It has lost it's Christmas spirit and yelled Stop all of this walking woman and let me have a rest. So today is rest day.

On Monday I had quite a long walk from the tram to the hospital and yesterday I was off in search of dressing up outfits for my great grand daughters for Christmas. My son had suggested a shop which was in the retail park of Bury. Not that far away from the tram for an able bodied person but more like a marathon for someone with knee problems. The retail park is across a couple of main roads and the road winds around until you actually get to it. The planners design these retail parks for those who have cars. If you don't have a car then you have to wend your way on winding footpaths that go around the car parks or risk life and limb and cross the car parks where people are touring in ever decreasing circles trying to find a parking space.

I would not have minded this so much if the shop had what i wanted but no they didn't. I then had to trawl around the shopping mall before finding something suitable. They needed size 5 -6yrs as they are both tall girls but there was none to be found. They are now going to be pink fairies, complete with wings, but will probably be tripping over their fairy tutus on Christmas morning as they are size 6-8yrs. The bodices are ruched so are tiny enough for them. The tiara is I presume all one size but the dresses might just be a bit on the long side for now. I hope that the fairies will be wearing their T shirts underneath or they will be chilly fairies on Christmas Day.

As you have probably gathered I have not had much time for knitting and crochet over the last 2 days although I did manage to crochet a washcloth on the journeys over the last 2 days. My niece's Sedgemoor aran only needs a sleeve now. The collar is looking huge even though I have cropped quite a few rows off the pattern. I am sure that there is a mistake on the pattern as according to them the collar has 52 rows. This collar look massive to me with only 40 rows.

The Haru jacket has progressed a little. I have now worked 200 grams into that. I hope to finish that off today if I just sit and rest my knee.

I had taken in a parcel for my next door neighbour yesterday. I take parcels in for all of my working neighbours. It saves them time having to go up to the sorting office to retrieve them when they are all so busy. Anyway my neighbour has offered to drive me to get my Christmas food shopping at the beginning of next week which will be such a help as I was running out of the heavy stuff like washing powder and soft drinks from when I last got an offer of a lift. I tend to buy loads of heavy stuff when I get a lift and then I can manage my day to day shopping on my own.

Anyway enough chatter I have mucho knitting and crochet to complete and a load of washing to do.

Time Share Cat

Yesterday I introduced you to Dillon and today it is Oscar my time share cat. I call him the lodger as although technically he belongs to next door he spends a great amount of time with me. He comes in on cold evenings and makes use of the spare bed as you can see. He is a very timid little cat. He will tolerate my stroking him for a very short while and then whoosh he has gone to hide somewhere. Next door considers him to be an outdoors cat and treats him appropriately. He considers himself to be an indoor cat and when she puts him out he comes around to my patio door at the back in the daytime or the porch at the front in the evening. He is a clever cat. He knows which bit of the house I am likely to be in depending on what time it is. Last night when I was drawing my bedroom curtains to go to bed he was on the bonnet of the car across the road staring at my window as if to say hey it's cold out here have you forgotten me? As soon as I went downstairs and opened the front door he ran inside like Linford Christie and gave me a look as if to say - about time too!

I was very good last night. I didn't pick up my crochet hook. I continued to slog on with the aran jacket. I have almost completed the first sleeve now but decided to make the collar next as I might have to shave an inch off the sleeve length. I would rather not complete both sleeves and then not have enough wool for the collar. I could get another ball of wool but that would involve asking my very busy niece to go up to the Yarn Barn in Shaw to get it for me as a trip involves a long journey by tram and bus for me which would take me the best part of a day and I can't afford to lose a day's knitting time. The sleeves look quite long so I am sure that my other niece would not miss an inch if the wool doesn't pan out.

Today I am off to the hospital to get my CPAP machine checked out and the pressure turned up. I have been having problems for a while with this machine and have finally managed to convince them, with the aid of a sleep study, that I was right and the pressure was wrong. It has only taken me 12 months of nagging to get to this point. Maybe now I won't feel so tired and have a headache when I wake up. The machine is supposed to ensure that my oxygen levels are up and my carbon dioxide levels are down whilst I sleep so if it is set wrong then everything goes to pot. I have sleep apnoea which means that I forget to breathe when I am sleeping and so starve my brain of oxygen. Having my brain cells deprived of oxygen is not a good idea at my age as I seem to be losing enough through old age and would like to hang on to the remaining few that I have.

I will take a bit of crochet with me to the hospital in case that I have to wait. I don't usually waith long in this department but I never like to have idle hands. I will just take a hook and some dishcloth cotton. Every few rows counts when I am on the countdown to Christmas. Oscar will have to be rudely awakened before I go out as he hasn't had a toilet break since 1am this morning and I don't want to come home to a smelly house.

Introducing Dillon

Introducing the latest member of our family. This is Dillon who is supposed to be an Akita cross but looks more like a staffy with big ears so we are not quite sure how or what he will turn out like. I mean - just what is going on with those ears? Was his father a bat? He does have a very cute face though. He is staying at my son's at the moment as he is very underweight and has no social skills or toilet training so he will stay with them until such a time as he is ready to either be re-homed or become a permanent member of our family, As you can see in the background Buster is keeping a very close eye on him!

I went up to Bury yesterday. I was supposed to be buying something for my great grand daughters for Christmas but Bury was so crowded and where I wanted to go was across the market and a main road and my knee just didn't want to walk that far. I will try again in the week when the market isn't on and then maybe I can walk without bumping into crowds with my trolley.

I bought more supplies of cotton for dishcloths. I have an idea how to use these dishcloths to incorporate them into the presents but I will reveal more once I have made the first two and see if my idea will work. I also bought some aran and some double knitting with wool.I bought most of the wool from the market stall and the cotton from Habiknit. I have already started the beige wool as you can see. It is going to be a Haru for those of you familiar with Doris Chan's everyday Crochet book. I have done the worst bit that haa all the shaping so it will be plain sailing from now on. It is for a present as you can see from it's tiny 10 size. I am making it for my sister in law to go with some other things for her Christmas present. As you can see I am progressing with turning the aran cardigan for my niece into a long sleeved version and am about half way up the first sleeve. It did feel SO good to sit and crochet last night. All of this knitting is making my hands hurt.

I got a surprise yesterday. My niece came to pick up the duck motif hats for posting and brought me a pair of purple boots that I had ordered from the catalogue ages ago. She gave them to me as the remaining part of my Birthday Present as she said both the Mary Jane shoes and the boots were half price when she came to order them so my nieces decided to pay for them both for me. How cool is that.I had thought the Mary Jane shoes were a lovely present from them both and so was really surprised to get the boots as well. Purple is my favourite colour and so I will enjoy wearing them. I will have to be careful not to wear them in the rain though as suede marks so easily.

Off now for another mammoth knit and crochet session. My housework has gone to the dogs but I will have a really good clean up before Christmas - possibly after I put the Christmas tree up. I have asked my neighbour if I can borrow her teenage boy to reach the tree down from the loft for me but I am not sure when he will arrive to do it.

Four Ducks on Their Way to London

Poppa Duck, Momma Duck and two baby duck hats are finished and by the time that you read this they will probably winging their way to London but not under their own steam. They will be going courtesy of Royal Mail. I think that they look more like chickens but the pattern does state that they are ducks.

Tonight I will get back to my niece's aran jacket. I still have two sleeves and the collar to knit before Christmas. Plus I have the scarf to finish before I start anything else. I left these two projects to make the hats as they don't have to be posted.I also have a few more ideas in the pipeline that I would like to make but that will be if and when I get the time. As it will involve another journey up to Bury to get more supplies then it will probably be next week. I am not a lover of going up to the market on a Saturday as the trams and the market get too crowded especially for me and my shopping trolley.

I was almost Mummy or perhaps foster Mummy to a puppy last night. He needed an emergency re-homing as the person who had him has mental problems and wasn't feeding him properly or toilet training him. He turned out to be rather a larger puppy than described so he is at my son's at the moment as my son said he is too boisterous for me to cope with. He is of mixed breed but has huge paws so the potential to grow into a large dog. They are used to training dogs in the social graces so he is better off with them at the moment. We are not sure where he will finish up but we didn't want him to have to go into an already overcrowded dogs home situation as we know that he won't get re-homed from there until after Christmas. He is driving my son's other two dogs mad but that is to be expected until he settles in. My son and his wife have an extensive circle of friends so hopefully Dillon (as he has been renamed) will find a happy permanent home soon. If he had been a tiny puppy turning into a tiny dog I might have been tempted to keep him but I had to give Buster back to my son as I couldn't walk him properly. I miss him like mad but I had to do what was best for the dog. Larger dogs need more exercise than I am capable of at the moment.

Two Little Ducks

No I am not playing Bingo in fact apart from playing an odd game in the Working Man's club in the interval when I was young I have never played the game.I am referring to the fact that duck motif hat number two is finished, I have made the two adult ones first. I am trying to get the children's hats finished soon so that they can get posted down to London. One of the little girls who is having one of these hats spent the day at London Zoo last week and refused point blank to move away from the duck enclosure. She could not be tempted by any of the other animals.

My arm isn't too sore today after my flu jabs yesterday but my ex husband said his arm hurt more a couple of days afterwards so I am knitting like mad in case the hurting kicks in tomorrow.I am feeling very tired though as I had one of my wakeful nights with my painful knee and I finished up watching TV at 6am this morning.

Not much else to report really except I now need the help of the teenager from next door not only to reach my Christmas decorations out of the loft but also to re-programme my Freeview box which seems to have gone off all it's channels. I am looking forward to the day when we can go back to just pressing a button and getting the channels on the TV once again instead of all this fiddling about with top boxes or Sky boxes. The world is going mad. I don't think that I am missing much not having viewed things in high definition. I have only just progresses from black and white TV. Videos and DVD's have me shaking my head in wonder. I am just technologically inept. I wish I had been born years ago when none of this stuff existed and I could just sit there with my knitting and crochet without being made to feel in adequate.

Hat With Duck Motif

I am having a break from the aran knitting. I have finished off the back and two fronts now.The last front too k me longer than I had anticipated due to the fact that I forgot to place a buttonhole and had got up to the armhole shaping before I realised it. Grr I just love unpicking - especially aran.

My niece in London asked me to knit 4 hats with a duck motif on for her to give to duck mad friends and baby girls. I suddenly realised that I need to get these hats down to her before Christmas so decided to leave the aran and push on with the hats.A friend of my niece is going down to London before Christmas so with a bit of luck they will be finished for her to take with her to save on the postage. My niece and her husband work full time so they miss the postman and have to travel miles to the sorting office (they don't have a car) to pick up any parcels that they have missed. I made the gents hat first to see how large the motif turned out so that I can make adjustments for the babies hats. I got the motif from a children's cardigan pattern by Cascade yarns. It is a cute pattern and if you click on my blog title you can see it.

I am going for both my flu jabs this afternoon so I am hoping that i don't get a sore arm as a lot of my friends did when they had their swine flu jab. That will really put my hat knitting back a bit and drive me mad. I can't just sit and do nothing so I will have to devise a way to either knit or crochet if this happens.

At least it is not raining today. My knee doesn't like the cold and the wet.I am looking forward to the day when I will have a full nights sleep as I haven't slept all through the night for over 5 yrs now. First it was back pain waking me up and when I got that sorted then the knee pain jabs me awake. I just know that when I visit the specialist in January he will say it's my weight causing this. They will not listen when I say it's the pain that has caused all this weight gain and not the other way around.

Time for a coffee and to sort out my shopping list as I might as well do some whilst I am out and about. I have to pass some shops on my way to the doctors so why waste a walk?