Crochet Ugg Style Boots

My niece's Ugg type slippers are finished. They are lovely and sturdy and will be very warm when she wears them. The pattern is Buttoned Cuff Boots by Darla Sims and can be found in an Annie's Attic booklet Slippers by the Dozen 879530. The pattern calls for medium weight worsted wool and as I am never sure what that means in UK terms I just guessed. Some patterns work up better in Double Knit and some in Aran. I think that worsted weight seems to be somewhere in between the thicknesses of wool that we have in the UK.

I used 6x 40 grams of vintage Lister's Kaftan which was an acrylic fine aran that was a bit fluffy. The boots are very firm as I had to crochet the yarn double. For the size that I made I needed a 4mm hook so I used a metal hook as I think that an acrylic or wooden hook would have broken as the work was quite stiff to crochet. I changed the stitch that the pattern used for the cuffs. As with a lot of US crochet patterns I sometimes just cannot grasp what they mean with their description of the stitch. I think this is where the different terminology confuses me. If I could see someone do the stitch then the penny would drop right away

Yesterday I got 2 books from Amazon that I ordered last week.I will post photos of some of the contents on another blog. I am quite pleased with the Crochet for Babies but am still mystified how people can crochet with loopy or textured yarn. There is a lovely white coat and hat with lamb ears but I could never crochet with the "poodle" type wool and I don't think that it would look as nice in plain wool. The front cover jacket is lovely but once again I have read the description of the stitch used and I don't understand what they mean. I will get a hook and some wool and give it a practise. I do wish that they would put a little diagram for unusual stitches showing where exactly to put the hook in as the description isn't making a lot of sense to me and I would like to make the jacket.

I am a little disappointed with the Vintage Baby Knits as I thought that it would have genuine patterns in it whereas it is in fact vintage style patterns revamped in thicker wool in an attempt to make them more appealing to modern mums. I have some fantastic genuine vintage patterns that are far nicer than the patterns in this book. I think if anyone was to go to all of the trouble of revamping patterns then it might have been better to chose some of the nicer ones instead of the ones chosen for this book. This of course if my personal opinion and other people may like the things in the book. I will take photos of some of the better ones and let you make your own mind up about them.

My disability aids arrived today. I thought that they would arrive with a guy to fit them but no. This guy said he is just the delivery guy. He just said phone them up for instructions as to how high to put the legs.He said they are usually adjusted before they are delivered but mine hadn't been. Story of my life? I managed to alter the kitchen stool myself but the toilet aids are a mystery to me. I think that I will have to wait for someone to take off my existing toilet seats for them to be properly positioned. I did sit down on one and the metal arms are very cold to the bare flesh. Considering they are for people up to 25 stones they are very narrow. If I put on another inch then I will be in trouble. I will need a shoe horn to get out of it! I had a bit of a giggle to myself thinking what kind of conversation I would have if I had to ring 999. Visions of the headlines in the local paper. Overweight lady is stuck in the handles of her toilet seat!

Not much sun today. The weather is overcast and quite windy. I have taken a chance and put some washing out to dry. I will have to keep an eye on it as I have a feeling that it will rain very soon.

Revised Boots

Revised version of the crochet boots from yesterday. I decided to unravel the boot and crochet it all in doubled wool. I was unhappy with the way that my decreasing had turned out on the first boot so I was going to re-do it anyway.

I have stopped the first boot and started the second. That's the only trouble with working with vintage wool. You can't get another ball if you run out. The boots are supposed to have a turn over top so I have stopped crocheting for the moment until I finish the foot of the second boot and find out whether the boots will have one or not. I might have to make a shorter turn up on each or leave them as they are with just a single thickness instead of a fold over. I will hopefully have them finished off by tomorrow so will have to make a decision soon.

The knitting didn't get any more stripes knitted last night as I was concentrating on getting the boot shaping right. Hopefully I will persuade myself to knit a couple more stripes before I start another project.

Today I went to the dentist. Just for a check up but I told him that I may not be able to make my next check up as his surgery is up a narrow flight of stairs. It might be some time before I can get up his stairs with one op and then the other,Apparently he has enquired about fitting a stair lift but they can't do that unless he has a new stair case fitted as well which would involve an awful lot of building work and he would have to close whilst it is being done. Surely I can't be the only patient of his that has difficulty with his steep narrow staircase. I would change dentists but it so hard these days to get a dentist to take you on as a new patient. Luckily my teeth are in fairly good shape for my age and so missing an appointment won't be the worse thing in the world as long as I don't have any dental emergencies.

When I got off the tram the ticket inspectors were on the platform. Two of them were lovely. One carried my trolley down the stairs and the other one held my arm and helped me down the stairs. They do have a long ramp but it twists and turns so much that I feel like I have walked home if I go down that.I suppose that there are legislations on how steep the ramp can be and that is why it involves the three terraces. They really need a lift on the station. Some of the stations have them but some of the lifts are not working which is equally as bad as not having one at all. I have just read in the local paper that they are doing some more work on the line and the trams will stop again in July and August. I feel that they have only just got back running as normal and now they are messing about again. All last summer I could not get into the centre of Manchester as the tram stopped at Victoria station and the walk into the shopping mall was a long walk for me. They did provide a bus service but it didn't run from outside the station and I would have had to walk a distance to catch it and even then it didn't stop in the centre of Manchester because of the one way system. Anyone with any kind of a walking problem was definitely at a disadvantage.

I was going to do a bit of housework today but my knees want a good sit down at the moment so maybe later this afternoon I will hoover etc.

Buttoned Cuff Boots

Last night I started a pair of Buttoned Cuff Boots by Darla Sims from the Annie's Attic Booklet 879531 Slippers by the Dozen. Now I have looked at the first slipper in the daylight I can see a couple of Oops in the decreasing at the front of the boot so I think that I will take the slipper back to the sole and this time mark the centre stitch up the centre foot to make sure that the decreases are even on either side. As the slipper is all done by counting stitches I think that I must have mis counted last night. I am using up some wool from stash. I think that it is Listers Kaftan which is an aran thickness. I crocheted the soles in doubled wool as the pattern stated but although it is nice and firm for the sole I thought that maybe it was a little firm for the whole slipper. On reflection I think that when I re-do the slipper I might continue with the doubled wool all through as stated on the pattern.

I managed to bribe myself into knitting another couple of stripes on my sweater. Hopefully I can do another couple of stripes today. This way it will soon be over as the sleeves are far smaller to knit than the body has been. First though I must try to sort out the slipper decreases whilst it is still daylight. They will certainly be solid little boots when they are finished. I am making them for my elder niece as she spotted them on the pattern when I first got it and remarked how much she liked them.

I think that I will have a sit down and do nothing (apart from crochet and knit) day today. Tomorrow I have to go to the dentist and that involves a walk to and from the metro in both directions so if I rest today I will be better equipped for the journey. My dentist has his surgery upstairs and I keep joking that he should fit a stair lift for people such as me. I will probably have to skip my next 6 monthly check up if I have had my operation by then as they are very steep stairs even though they do have a handrail.

I got a phone call yesterday to say that the disability aids people are delivering a couple of things for me on Friday that the occupational therapist ordered for me to use before and after my operation. One is a sort of tall lean on seat for use in the kitchen. Yesterday I made potato hash and my knees did not like standing there whilst I peeled and chopped. I have a small stool on the kitchen but it is too low. This new stool has a slope so that I can perch without bending my knees much and has handles for support when I want to get up. I am sure that it will be a boon when I am washing the dishes and maybe now I will get around to the ironing. Well maybe not ;) I hate ironing.

The other two aids are for the bathroom to assist in my toileting. I welcome anything that makes my life easier. At one time I would not have even considered anything like this but pride goes out of the window when pain flies in. I would love one of those mobility scooters so that I could zip up to the shops and back again but I won't get one as I am meant to keep trying to walk as much as possible to keep me active and try to get the weight down. I would be afraid that I would learn to rely on the scooter too much and not walk at all.

They are delivering me a disability catalogue as well so that I can see what is on offer. Probably most of it I will have to buy but if they are things that I will need on a long term basis then I will probably get a few things to make life easier. My house will officially turn into an old peoples home. :) I no longer care what people think. As my 4 wheeled shopping trolley now seems to be a permanent fixture in my life I might splash out and buy a new one as mine was given to me and has definitely seen better days. The new ones are more sturdy and can be leaned on when empty whereas mine has a tendency to tip. I don't know why but I can walk better with my trolley than I can with my stick.

It's another Spring like morning but it still feels a bit cold outside. The sun is shining and even though there isn't much warmth in it I do feel better in myself for seeing a bit of sunshine through my windows.