Finished at last

I feel like this jacket has been on the needles forever. It was started for Charlie, my friend Louise's firstborn and I have been knitting it so long that it will now fit his younger brother. The down side of that is that now I have to make a larger version whereas normally I like to start with the largest one first. I don't know why I could not get on with this pattern. It isn't a hard patterns but every time I picked it up to knit it I lasted a few rows and then gave up. The pattern is either Sirdar 1914 if you want a single leaflet or it is in Sirdar 372 booklet along with several other designs in DK. The yarn that I used is Sirdar Breeze DK which is a Cotton Rich DK and this shade is 0048. The bottom photo is a clearer view of the pattern but the top photo is closer to the real colour. I think that the flash on the camera bleached out the bottom photo.

I have finished off the shawl collared jacket for Charlie but as it is not yet stitched together I will have to show you that at another date. The problem now is that I now have to make duplicate jackets in the same colours but different sizes for the other brother.

I am going to have a break in between and start the black jacket for my niece. I need to do a tension swatch for that as I feel that the wool on the pattern must be slightly thicker than the Patons Diploma DK so I will have to adjust the size that I knit and use a smaller needle. I don't like anything that is knitted too slack. I knit on the loose side anyway so always use a smaller needle - sometimes two sizes smaller. When things are for a Christmas present I like them to be as neat and firm as possible. My niece is quite tiny so I don't want anything to bag or droop once it is washed.

We haven't had any more snow today so I am hopeful of going out tomorrow to the Farmers Market and do a bit of shopping. I doubt if I will be able to use my scooter so I will drag Ivy the trolley out of retirement in the garage and hang on to her for dear life. I think that I will be OK as long as it doesn't freeze tonight and make everywhere icy.

I have not stirred out of the house today. Not even to go out to put the rubbish in the bin. I have left that in a bag in the garage for another day.

My friend Rachael visited a nice Wool Shop called Attica in Hebden Bridge yesterday. I have put a link to it if you click on my blog title. Another place for me to visit one day when the weather gets better. I do like browsing around different wool shops even though I don't always buy much from them. I just love the atmosphere of being amongst all of the wool and seeing things close up to keep in my mind for future projects. Every shop is completely different. When I was married and we went on holiday anywhere, even abroad, I used to drive my husband daft by wanting to find wool shops. At the time I had a wool shop and he thought that it was a bit of a busman's holiday browsing wool shops. He used to say that we had come on holiday to escape work. I used to say but I do like to see all of the different brands that I don't stock and see the different patterns. Even get ideas for shop layouts and window displays. He thought that I was quite crazy. Well I guess he was partly right. I am somewhat wacky but it is nice to be a little eccentric in this world.