Crocheting A Shawl From Oddments

As the child of frugal make do and mend Parents and Grandparents I always get a huge sense of satisfaction when I can make a shawl out of small amounts of part balls that are lying in my stash. I was brought up cutting coats into small pieces to make peg rag rugs long before it ever became fashionable and trendy to make them. As a child I scoured church jumble sales looking for something 'with a good bit of fabric in it' that could be altered and cut down to make a dress for me or sweaters that had a bit of wool that could be unravelled and turned into hats, scarves and mittens. For more years than I care to remember I thought that all knitted things came striped. Sweaters with undarnable holes in the elbows got re-sleeved. Too short sweaters had the ribs taken off and were 'let down' with longer different colour ribs knitted downwards and socks got re-footed when the darns got too many.

This shawl came from a free pattern on Ravelry which is another bonus in these purse tightening times. It is called Rippled Wrap by Cheri McEwan but unlike her version with bright multi coloured stripes I chose to use up from my bag of blue oddments.

I come from Oldham originally (or Owdham if you are local with a Lancashire accent)and when I married and moved to Manchester I had to alter the way that I spoke as I had such a strong dialect accent that no one understood me. My maternal Granddad's accent was so strong that even I needed a translator. I can remember my family saying " Our Jannit (their way of pronouncing Janet) is a great lass she can allus (always) make summat (something) out of nowt (nothing)" I learned this from my family and am proud to carry on the tradition of turning something that other people might over look into something that looks good. I wish I had inherited my Mother and Grandmother's knack of cooking. They used to turn out filling nourishing meals out of very few ingredients. Why did I not take more notice when I was young?

Chatting about multi coloured stripes to use up oddments my Ravelry friend Knitnurd has been making some fabulous baby and toddler multi coloured Marley knitted hats. They are from a book that I have. The Itty Bitty Hat Book by Susan Anderson and although I have made several hats from this book I haven't made that hat. I will be making them now I have seen hers. Another fabulous way of using up oddments. If you click on my blog title it will take you to her blog. You might have to scroll down a day or so before you see the hats.

Buster has gone home so I won't be doing much crochet or knitting today as I have washed all the throws and cushion covers and everywhere needs a good clean. I washed the bedding this morning but have yet to remake the bed and hoover. I think that I will be knackered after all of this. Buster is always torn when it is time to go home. He likes the fuss that I make of him but he loves my son and daughter in law for walks and the companionship of their other dog to play with. I think he would only be happy if he could have us all together. It reminds me of my son when he was small - he always wanted his Dad and me to go and live with Grandma and Grandad. They don't see that things like that just wouldn't work out with everyone under one roof. Through a child's eyes it must all seem logical.