I Am A Busy Bee

I am still being busy with my crochet. I have a craft fair on Sunday and although I have plenty of things for the stall I decided to revamp and add some different things.

This is another circular waistcoat but this time a different pattern. I call this one a spider's web waistcoat. I got the pattern from Etsy and it is supposed to have a loose hood but I didn't have enough black yarn in my stash to put the hood on. The front fastens with two ties.

This waistcoat has a hood, It is from a free pattern on the Red Heart site by the Double Stitch Twins. It was an unusual method of construction but I like the finished result. I made this mostly in Sirdar Crofter chunky with accents of grey and a dull turquoise for the edgings. This is going to the craft fair or on Etsy later if it doesn't sell.

The caps are made from a pattern by Ken Jones called the Jeff cap. I bought the chunky version either from Etsy or Ravelry. It is a very simple design to make and comes out quite well both in chunky and in double knit worked with two different shades crocheted together to give a mottled effect. The beanie was made with the oddments of the balls that I used for the caps. One again I doubled up the yarn using two colours to make a  chunky thickness. There is also a pattern for a cap in thinner yarn but I preferred the stiffness of the chunky version as it holds the brim in place.

This jacket is for my great nephew to be. I made it with Eco cotton DK that I bought from Kemps in their clearance sale. It has worked up really soft and looks very much like it is knitted which is a look that my niece prefers. It looks rather blue in the photo but is actually a pale silver grey with denim blue used as a contrast. The pattern is from Etsy by Mon Petit Violon who is one of my favourite childrens designers. I have bought a lot of her patterns.

The green and lemon pram blanket is also for my niece's baby and the pink one is for sale. I made them both using James C Brett Marble DK yarn which is a beautiful yarn for  babies but because of the long colour changes I think that it works better in blankets rather than baby jackets. Small jackets tend to finish up with one colour for the front and another for the other front instead of a random effect, I think that they look rather patchy and odd. I still have some more colours in the same yarn in my stash so I will be making more of these pram blankets.

I had my fur grandson Buster for just over a week whilst my son and daughter in law took a week's break on the Algarve.. I love having him here and he really didn't want to leave me but he does need more attention than I can give him. He is such good company but my crochet slows down as he wants to play ball or sit with me most of the time. He thinks that he is small enough to be a lap dog. As you can see he has made a fine mess of my lawn with his paws. He loves to dig. My gardener will be starting work again this week so she will have her job cut out trying to rescue what is left of my lawn. It sounds very posh having a gardener but I only have her for an hour every fortnight to keep the grass down and pull the weeds. I just can't manage it on my own any more.

I had more yarn deliveries this last couple of weeks but have not taken any photos. I have also had a couple of crochet magazines and a couple of crochet books. Once the rush for the craft fair is over and I have a bit more free time I will show you which ones I bought and give you a preview.

Today I went up the village and bought another storage box for my hair sprays etc. I cannot reach into the back of the cupboard that I keep my sprays and make up in as it is low down. I can't bend down that far and I cannot kneel anymore. The box has handles so I can slide it out of the cupboard whilst I reach the things in the box. I am constantly having to improvise to stay self sufficient. When you live alone as I do I don't have anyone that I can ask to reach me this and that so everything has to be reachable. It doesn't lend itself to a tidy house but I have to be practical.

Today I also bought a 4 tier plastic vegetable rack which I am going to turn into a yarn tray for keeping the balls of wool that I am working on close to me. When I am working with one colour I can keep the yarn neatly in a bag but when I am working with lots of different colours as in striped shawls, scarves and hats my part balls get into a huge tangle and are everywhere. I do try to keep tidy. It doesn't always work though. I am also a lover of granny squares for using up oddments and like to have the colours close to my chair. Tonight's chore will be sorting out which colours I am using for my next craft fair project. I finished off a multi coloured hat this afternoon so it's a new project to choose tonight.