Crochet In The Garden

It has been a lovely warm summers day today. I have been sitting out in the garden crocheting and finishing off these two baby tops. As I was helped by my assistant Buster and his squeaky ball not much actual crochet got done really. I think it averaged about 4 stitches per ball throw. Still he is good company. He was very hot though and I had to put my garden umbrella up to provide a small patch of shade for him to rest in between ball throws.

As we still don't know the sex and size of the foster baby due to arrive soon I stuck to finishing off these two tops and then I am going to change to some different crochet until my friend gets the nod. This time I think that I will wait until the baby actually arrives before I make any more outfits. These two jackets are based on a free pattern on Ravelry The top one is more or less a faithful copy of Rindy's Spring Jacket except that I put buttons to fasten it instead of a crochet tie at the neck. The second jacket is worked the same way until the division for the armholes when I changed to an alternating shell pattern with every row a different colour. The pattern is a variation of Rindy's Short Sleeve Jacket which can be made with long sleeves and there is a version with red or navy stripes without the frilled edge that would look good on a baby boy.

The eye popping yellow fleck wool was 2 free balls of Vita one of Charlotte Lewis designs that came free with Let's Knit magazine, I inherited 2 balls from 2 different friends. There was also a couple of balls of vibrant lime and lemon but when I tried a jacket in that it was just too much. The poor baby would have had it's eyes crossed or had to wear sunglasses. it is now destined to be a cheerful dishcloth I think.

My Learn Tunisian pattern books haven't come yet as I chose the free delivery method. It is of course far cheaper but I have to wait a few days before I get them doing it this way. I don't mind I would rather wait for delivery than pay a lot for postage. It really puts me off when the delivery charges are more than what I have ordered. When I checked on the status of my order and my pre orders I found out that the Doris Chan book that I pre ordered is now due for dispatch. The estimated date for me to get it is June 8th but maybe I will get mine sooner if stocks have already arrived at Amazon. I just hope that I can practise my Tunisian crocheting before the new book arrives. I have 3 lovely baby/toddler patterns in Tunisian from Kay Jones that I want to try soon.

I am also expecting a parcel from Purplelinda but no wool this time - just some patterns (as if I don't have enough :) ) Purplelinda is a very reliable site to order from but not always the speediest for delivery.

I will start something else tonight. I know that if I do that then my ordered books and patterns will arrive before I get to finish off my next project. If I hang on and wait for the books to arrive then they won't come for days. I could always do some of my unfinished knitting but I am just not in the mood for it.

It has gone quite dull now but it is still heavy and humid. It feels like it is going to rain though even though the forecast is for a heatwave weekend. Somehow the weather men never do seem to get it quite right. I hope that it stays nice as my niece is taking me to our local Farmer's Market on Sunday morning so that I can get some lamb for the freezer and some fresh vegetables. As it is only a very small market we find it best to go at 10am when it opens before they run out of anything. The bread stall is manic. Always queued out. You have to be lucky to get any bread at all. I will stay away from the cake and chocolate stalls but if the West Indian Pattie lady is there I will get tempted by the spicy lamb patties. I keep meaning to try the duck eggs as they look huge. Maybe on Sunday I will give them a whirl.

Off to make something for dinner. Buster has already had his but I am sure that he will be eyeing mine up once it is out of the oven. My son goes mad if he thinks that I feed him my food but hey I like to spoil my fur grand baby when I get the pleasure of looking after him for a couple of days. First I had better rescue my cushion and umbrella from the garden as it really does look like rain now.

Two More Baby Cardigans

I have finished off the pink baby cardigan and have also this afternoon finished off a white baby cardigan. The pattern for the white cardigan is also another of my vintage patterns. Both of these cardigans took just 1 x50 gram ball each of Hayfield Baby 3ply. Although they are a bit more fiddly to crochet I do like very small babies in finer cardigans. I am not as keen on knitting fine wool though and I still have a partly knitted baby cardigan in 4ply from last year that I lost interest in. The baby that I started it for has now grown well out of that size so maybe I will finish it off one day for another baby. I had chosen a boring pattern as it was for a boy so that didn't help my concentration either.

I know that I said I would photograph projects from my new books but I think there are enough photos on the blog today so I will try to put them on tomorrow.

Today started off nice and sunny although cold. This afternoon the wind has arrived and is blowing the trees everywhere. Perhaps it will blow away that cloud of volcano ash and the planes will once again be able to fly. My neighbours got back safely from their holiday in Paris. Fortunately they had decided to go by Euro star instead of flying and had booked their tickets in advance so got a seat home. They are having a new bathroom fitted as I mentioned before but have hit a bit of a stop as their electrician is stuck waiting for a flight home from his holidays. The re plastering has come to a stop as he has to fit a new light fitting and the electrics for the shower before they can finish plastering the walls and then tile them. A bit of a shock. They came back expecting their bathroom to be finished and instead they haven't got one. It's a good job that they are members of the local gym so that they can, at least, have a daily shower there.

I still haven't started the Lacy Duster Coat. I was trying to finish off the baby cardigans so that I can give them to my friend when I see her on Thursday. Once I start and put my mind to it I should have the Duster Coat finished in a week or so.

Capricious Cardigan with Long Sleeves

My version of the Capricious Cardigan by Marlaina Bird from the Inside Crochet magazine Issue 5 is finished and blocking. My niece is calling around today to pick up her cardigan and shawls so I hope to get a photo of her wearing the cardigan. She is smaller than me and I don't want to stretch it by trying it on. I try to take photos of myself or whoever a project is made for as it is often pointed on on Ravelry that plus sized ladies like myself like to see how things look on a model that isn't the size of a slim teenager. I always have a look if anyone my size has made something wherever possible to see how it fits and hangs.

I have also finished a baby cardigan from a Kay Jones pattern number 165. Her patterns are available as www.creativecrochet.co.uk and are very reasonably priced I made it for a friend's new foster baby who is just a week old. I think however that she may have to change the buttons as they look a little peachy coloured on the Woolcraft Baby DK pink which has a blue tint to the pink.

The bottom matinee coat pattern is one of my favourites but as it is a vintage pattern from my collection I can't tell you where to buy the pattern. There are very similar patterns out there on the net. I made this one for the same baby with a 50 gram ball of Hayfield Pastels baby 3ply that I have had in stash for a while. I still have another 50 gram balls of Pink and White so will try to make another couple of cardigans. You can never have too many cardigans for a newborn.

I am getting Buster for the evening and possibly their other dog if she will stay. My son is going to a function and will be staying overnight as he will not drink and drive so I have volunteered to have them both. It is only for the night so they should be OK but the other dog has never stayed with me before so she may not want to stop with me. I will see when she arrives.

The day is lovely and sunny and I have my washing drying on the line. I am waiting for a gardener to come and give me an estimate for tidying up the front and back gardens. I can't bend down to prune anymore and things are getting out of hand. I think that I will take my crochet and coffee into the garden and enjoy this bit of sunshine.