Tunisian Hooks, Patterns and Wool

I had a good day yesterday. I went out to lunch and had three deliveries in the post.

I am determined to master the art of Tunisian Crochet in preparation for the new Doris Chan book in June . I was not going to let the fact that I cannot wield a long hook put me off so I ordered a set of Denise Tunisian hooks. The have a normal sized hook as you can see attached to one or more cables depending on the width of what is crocheted. I haven't yet had a practise but as soon as I finish off my current WIP I will. Watch out Beverooni you will not be the only one to do Tunisian soon.

In preparation for this I ordered a couple of babies/children's patterns in Tunisian from Kay Jones from www.creativecrochet.co.uk. I don't know what happened but I lost control over my fingers and they kept adding patterns to my basket and finished up with 17 new patterns! As you can see from the array of patterns that arrived. I cannot show you everyone of them but they will be appearing one by one on my projects in the future. If you look at her site you can see the patterns that I ordered and I bet that your fingers will be clicking to add just like mine did. You can receive them as a paper pattern or a PDF which is useful.

Next in the post was my copy of Crochet today. I have not had a good browse through that as yet. This was the Christmas present that kept on arriving from my sister in law. She paid for 4 copies to arrive for me. This is the last of them so I will have to decide whether to pay for another subscription or just to try to buy one over the counter which could be a little difficult with my knee situation.

Sylvia, Kath and I met in Manchester and before lunch we went for a browse in Abakhan. We all bought something. I finished up with 2 balls of James C Brett's chunky and as you can see I have started another shawl like the red one I made recently for my niece. it is my sister in law's birthday on Saturday and I have been invited round to dinner. I had already bought her a little something but decided to add a shawl to the present so the overnight elves will have to get busy. I also bought some cream with a slight fleck DK to try out a Tunisian pattern for my niece's friend's boys. Sylvia bought some baby wool and Kath bought some lovely deep blue DK.Sylvia also bought me a lovely 4ply baby matinee jacket pattern which will be used very shortly to make another jacket for the foster babies. No folks, I have not broken my no stash buying as I said at the beginning that things bought to use for other people don't count in my no buy resolution.

Sylvia says that she could join Beverooni, June and I in pooling stash to open a wool shop. What is it with us knitters and crocheters that we have to have a stash far bigger than we could use in a couple of years to feel secure. Are we afraid that there will suddenly be a yarn shortage one day and we want to be prepared?

We went for lunch at Simple in Manchester and had a very nice meal. Thanks Sylvia for lunch it does feel good to have a treat now and again. I am paying the price for my trip out today as I am sure that Sylvia is also. We both suffer with mobility issues but we still manage to get out and about sometimes. I think it's what they call the pleasure and the pain.

I finished off an experimental scaled down version of the Mei Mei. I did this one with DK and a 4mm hook. It has come out the size of a toddler and not the baby size I envisaged. However I have passed it on and I will try again later with finer wool and hook to adapt it to a baby size.

I am progressing slowly but surely with the Lacy Duster coat and have almost got to the waist. I shape the jackets slightly buy using a smaller hook at the waistline area. The pattern as written is just straight until the pattern changes for the hip area. The first one that I made was a little straight up and down so the I gave my second one a bit of shape and will do so with this one.

The sun is shining but it is a little cold today so I am having a rest up and crochet day. I think it will be a pyjama day as I am still in my night attire. I am not going out and as far as I know not even the postman will call today so I can put my feet up and relax and get ready for going out again tomorrow.