Well done the Bolton Knitting Noras

I just had an e mail from Vicky saying that the Knit In that she organised yesterday for the Knitting Noras National Knitting Week Knit In has raised £46 so far for the Bliss premature baby charity. She is hoping that it will reach £50 before she sends the money off. I still owe for my contribution towards the cakes and coffee as I forgot my purse yesterday so that will help to get it nearer to the amount. The knitting group is also making some premature baby blankets to send along with the money that we raised. Well done the Noras. Get those needles clicking and let's try to make some more blankets before the end of the month. I hope to make another couple but mine will be crocheted.

My books arrived today. I won't be making many from the shawl book as a lot of them are in circle motifs linked together. That is the one thing that I really don't like crocheting. Crocheted squares I will do but circles no. I suppose everyone has something they really don't like making. Mine is crocheted circles that I have to link together as I am crocheting and knitted squares. I don't know about making the loopy shawl but the black lacy and the aran style stoles are a possibility.

The other book is one that I have meant to read for a long time having met Paula Grieg many years ago. I tried to buy it at the time she wrote it and couldn't find it anywhere and forgot all about it until just recently. I discovered it for sale on Borders site when I ordered the shawl book.

I am transforming the loadsaballs that came from unravelling the DROPS circles bolero and am attempting to make the Mei Mei bolero for Vicky from Doris Chan's Everyday Crochet book. I say attempting as I am conscious of my rapidly depleting balls and I still have the front shaping to finish and the borders still to make.

Great afternoon of knitting at Vicky's house

I spent a great afternoon knitting (or in my case crocheting) with friends at Vicky's house. Vicky had kindly offered us the use of her house for a Bliss baby blanket knitting session and a raffle in aid of the Bliss charity. I finished off Sarah's hat to match the shawl I finished earlier and I gave her the shawl and all of the hats and I think she liked them. She has had one lot of chemo and it gave her a rash.

I was fortunate enough to get offered a lift up to Vicky's but in the last minute packing of my things in the bag I forgot my purse. How embarrassing. I will have to make my donations to Bliss when I see Vicky the next time. Luckily I got a lift home as my bus pass was in the left at home purse.

The hat is made from the leftover wool from Sarah's shawl. I decided to make her a matching hat. I finished it off at Vicky's and so left the placement and stitching of the flowers to Sarah. She can either stitch them both on one side of the hat or one over each ear and look like something out of Star wars. Click on the blog title to get the free crochet pattern for the hat but the flowers are my own addition to add a bit of trim. If that link does not work then try
http://www.rheatheylia.com/index.php?page=patterns&id=0

I took up a couple of prem baby blankets for the appeal but I will try to make some more before the deadline of the end of the month.

Gretchen brought her spinning wheel and had us all spellbound watching the wheel turn. She was spinning some roving that she had dyed at the workshop held at Touchstones by Debbie Tomkies in Rochdale yesterday. Kath brought her drop spindle and is doing very well considering she has only had it for a short time. Debbie Tomkies also came to knit with us.

I came home to be greeted by two of my neighbours children who wanted to donate the ladybird to the raffle for Breast Cancer at the Kings on Friday. I have sent a photo to Rachael to see if she wants it. They won it at a raffle and I think they consider themselves to be too old for a stuffed ladybird. Unfortunately they were swinging it down he street by it's antennae - boys will be boys - and so the ladybird now needs a stitch or two to stop his antennae waggling.

I fed my squirrel today but he would not pose for a photo. Look really hard in the plant pot and you will see his tail as he dives in the little white pot to get some nuts that I put out for him.

Thank goodness my dinner is already made. I made a thick soup/stew with the chicken carcass and vegetables yesterday and there is plenty left over for my dinner tonight. My bedding is washed but still wet in the washing machine so I think I wil go mad and use my dryer as I really hate wet bedding draped about the house. Clothes I can put up with - but not bedding.

Gimme my crochet hook back!

I have knitted a small premature baby blanket using the pattern (click the title) with 4mm needles and 100 grams double knit. I have used acrylic as these baby blankets usually get thrown in the washer and pure wool wouldn't stand up to the punishment of a hot wash plus I read somewhere that some babies are allergic to wool. I know acrylic has a bad press with people saying it can melt and burn etc but quite frankly I would hope that premature babies are under constant surveillance and that prospect is highly unlikely.

The knitted blanket took me 2 nights and one afternoon to make and it is only 15" square. I do knit, but my first love is crochet. Today I picked a crochet stitch that I thought would not snag on tiny fingers and in one hour I had made approx one third of a blanket. That is more my kind of pace. There are some things that I prefer to be knitted - socks and arans etc but I relax more when crocheting. I think the rest of my blankets will be crocheted.

These blankets are destined for Bliss the charity nominated by the National Knitting Week (12th-19th Oct) and Vicky from the Knitting Noras of Bolton is organising a knit in, with donations for nibbles and drinks at her place, so I am going to try to make a few more blankets for this event.

The DROPS bolero is no more. I now have a pile of small balls which I am hoping to turn into something more wearable for Vicky. The bolero came out huge despite my making the smallest size on a smaller hook. I had not read the small print that said small = 42" bust! Needless to say as it was too big for me it absolutely swamped Vicky. I just hope I have enough to make something else. There is such a lot of waste when crocheting with small balls.

I did a bit more in the garden today. I have filled the wheelie bin again. The bin men will love me but as Bury council haven't provided me with a garden rubbish bin and I no longer have a car to take anything to the tip then the normal bin has to suffice. I have picked up all the small branches from the holly tree but I still have about 2 buckets full of leaves still on the lawn. I have learned to stop when my back starts to twinge. Tomorrow is another day (if it doesn't rain)

I am going to watch Midsommer Murders on TV now and finish off my baby blanket. My knee is getting better day by day and so I might actually get around to finishing off Vicky's shawl tonight. I will bring my blocking boards back downstairs again. I pinned the squares onto them just before I injured my knee and they have stayed there ever since.