Thank Goodness For Crochet

Thank goodness for my crochet. I don't know what I would so without it. I have woken up to yet another rainy miserable day plus it's Friday the 13th to add to my misery. What would I do with my days if I didn't have my crochet to keep me happy? Certainly not the TV unless I want to watch re-runs of everything or some infernal cookery programme, a game show or worst of all an American style 'Slanging match' chat show. Who on earth would want to appear on TV and air their dirty laundry in public?

I got my labels for the crochet garments, that I give away, to try and hint not to shrink my handmades in the washer.I was intending to put them into the shawls, made from donated stash, that I had planned to give to a senior citizens home but I have hit a snag there. I have found out that the staff put everything in the washer so if I make any more shawls I will have to make sure that they are in acrylic. I will keep the two shawls that I have already made and donate them to someone that I know will hand wash them. I am pleased with the labels. They fold in half so my name is on one side and wash care instructions on the back. Now I know what size they are I can put other things on them if I order more labels. These came from Carelabels.co.uk and cost £10 for 100. I may possibly change the wording to handmade and then I can put them in the few knitted things that I make. I won't put the labels in friends and relatives garments as I know that they can wash them properly. The labels are for the things that I give away and am not sure how that person or organisation will wash them.

I have finished the body of the 1-2yrs old matinee coat style jacket. I just have the sleeves to make and then I will try to either get to the post office on Monday or bribe the teenager from next door to take the parcel up there for me if the old knees are still feeling dodgy.

I am not sure if Buster is coming this weekend or next. I have sent a text to my son but as he is probably in bed (he works funny shift hours which is why I don't ring him ) and will answer when he gets up. I didn't get up until 10.30am today so I can't call anyone who stays in bed! I seem to do that. I can have two or three nights where I get hardly any sleep and then sleep the clock around on the next night. If Buster isn't coming until next week then I might try to get the baby things up to Sylvia's myself.

I am going to crochet the sleeves on the cardigan,make a coffee, put some music on, and try not to look at the rain hammering it down the windows. It has now gone so dark that I need the light on. What a great day!!!!

Another All Shawl

The pink shawl for charity is finished and is blocking and I will show you it in wear tomorrow. I had 6 x 25 grams of vintage Listers Shalimar which has mohair content but is nothing like the luxury mohair but in fairness it was an economical yarn that could be used instead of mohair. I used the All Shawl pattern which is free from Doris Chan on Ravelry. I used 5 balls and then realised that I would not have enough for the edging so I saved one ball and used a toning cone of 4ply machine yarn for most of the border. The warmth will still be there on the shoulders. I used the remaining ball to edge and weigh down the edges of the shawl down as a full edging in the fine might have curled upwards.

Thank you for your lovely comments about my photos. They are newer than the other photos but were taken last year. The only ones that I have taken of me this year are usually of me modelling something, and without any makeup and that is not a pretty sight. The shawl I am wearing in the smaller photo is once again an All Shawl pattern. I made the shawl in black as the per pattern and made the edging in red. I then counted up 4 rows and did another border in an orange shade. I counted up another 4 rows and then did another edging in gold. This gives a 3 tiered effect. I had to work our how to space the patterns as of course as the 2nd and 3rd layers are not as wide so I had to make the edging fit with less pattern repeats. I saw the idea from a fellow Raveller and asked how she had made it and she kindly explained what she had done. That is the beauty of Ravelry. Most people are willing to share their adaptations of a pattern if you ask nicely.

Today it is not only raining. It is raining cats and dogs, coming down in stair rods, hammering it down, or persisting down (polite version). I am sure that every part of the world has it's own local saying for the kind of rain that just pours from the sky and wets through raincoats and umbrellas. I got married 42 yrs ago this week and my friend got married a week after and another friend a week after that. We all had the most glorious wedding days and honeymoons. The sun shone so much that I got really sunburned. I can't remember 3 weeks on the run recently where the weather has been that good. August and September used to be hot and sunny. As a child lived in Wales for a short time and I used to help with the haymaking and when my friends and I got tired we used to ride on the back of the Shire farm horse and the weather was always so hot. I lived in shorts, T shirt and sandals and even had short hair at that time. I was as brown as a berry although we never sunbathed. I didn't know what sun screen was but can never remember getting burnt from the sun. A carefree time in my childhood when I looked for field mice, fed chickens and goats and played with ferrets until one bit me really hard. I didn't want to come back to live in Manchester but my Dad couldn't find any proper work in North Wales. We lived in a totally Welsh speaking village and didn't speak Welsh. Now that could be where the work problem came from plus my brother had to bus many miles to get to Grammar School.

Today I ordered some labels to put in my crochet gifts. I am always worried in this machine wash everything age when I give someone a shawl or garment that is hand wash only. I was recommended Carelabels by Roger one of the Kings Arms Knit Club members and when I e mailed to enquire Julie not only designed a label for me but also sent me a template of how the label would look. That's service for you. At £10 for 100 labels I think that is also a very reasonable price. They may arrive tomorrow so if they do I will let you have a peek. I have stuck to a simple design as I think that too much information can be overwhelming.

I have resisted the lure of the new wool and carried on crocheting a baby cardigan. It is for a friend of Sylvia whose baby's birthday is next week so I am going to try to finish it. I think that I will have to post it as I won't see her before the day. Buster is coming on Friday or Saturday (I think that it's this week) so I can't leave him to go up to visit her until he goes home again in a week. As I have mentioned before he can only do 3 or 4 hours without a toilet break.

Shh it has actually stopped raining (for a while) How can we be short of water in this country when so much falls from the skies?

Time for a coffee and back to the baby crochet. The knees feel a bit better today although I didn't get much sleep last night. I shall probably have a ZZZZ in my chair later.