Finished at Last

The extra ball of wool arrived in the post from the Yarn Barn yesterday. Thanks Judith for such prompt posting. This means that the jacket is now finally finished. Counting up the actual hours this jacket hasn't taken that long to knit but I kept putting it down, firstly when Buster came to visit, and secondly when I needed to make those crochet flowers in a hurry. Knitting myself that super thick chunky jacket in between was just something that happened because of the Royal wedding. I knew that I would be cabling in all the wrong places if I carried on with this jacket whilst watching the TV so closely and my jacket was just stocking stitch with a bit of double moss st so I could knit away without concentrating too much.

The last time I knitted this jacket I made it in Sirdar Click Chunky and it kept growing and growing and my niece finished up using it for a house coat. She did like the pattern so much before it stretched that we discussed making it in a different yarn that wasn't as soft and floppy as the Click. This one is King Cole Magnum chunky which has a much firmer feel. It didn't have the yardage of the Click hence my needing 2 x 100gram balls extra. It is looking a wee bit small for my niece but this rib and cable pattern tends to spread in wear so I am sure that it will be OK when she tries it on tomorrow. The pattern is from Sirdar Winter Glamour 330  book.

I had a lovely surprise in the post today. Margaret from Australia (Marge41 on Ravelry) had sent me another set of vintage knitting patterns. She knows how much I love these designs. My needles will be clicking to make some of these before long. I just need a crochet fix first.

I think that the older patterns have more shape and pattern than the modern ones do and I find them much easier to follow than the patterns with about 8 sizes.

This little girl is almost a carbon copy of me when I was small. My Mother always dressed me in dresses with a cardigan and a huge bow in my hair. When we lived for about 12 months with my Aunt and Uncle in Wales they had a  lovely retreiver dog called Tinker and I used to pretend that he was my dog. He was such a lovely dog and patiently followed me about wherever I went. When we had to leave Wales I was more upset about leaving Tinker than anything else.

Such a lovely display of cardigans. I don't think any of these would look out of place on a very young baby these days. I like the fine wool for newborns.

Aren't these little booties just darling? The whole booklet is dedicated to booties and little hats. I know that I will be using this booklet soon.

I haven't done much of anything today except stitching up my niece's jacket. That is the one thing that lets me down. My stitching up leaves a lot to be desired even though I do try so hard to be neat. I think that is why I love patterns such as Doris Chan so much as they involve hardly any, or no, stitching up after they are finished. That is my kind of crochet.

The steam mop still hasn't arrived despite allegedly being sent first class parcel mail. I hope that it arrives soon as I am looking after my furry grandson Buster for a couple of days next week whilst my Son and Daughter in law do some alterations to their back garden. They are concreting over an area for the dogs so that it can be cleaned and disinfected every day. They are fencing off the lawn and the plants so that they stand a chance of growing vegetables without the dogs fouling near them. It will also keep the grass nice for when the grandchildren come to play. Buster ruins grass as he likes to dig in it. The other two lady dogs don't have his bad habits. Hopefully it won't rain for a few days otherwise Buster will be staying longer than a couple of days and then my lawn with have holes dug in it. It has just about recovered from his last visit.

I am looking forward to tonight and picking up my crochet hooks again as I start a sleeveless jacket for my niece.  

Old Patterns Bring Back Memories

I think that everyone knows that I have a passion for old patterns and not only buy 'new' vintage patterns I have a fair collection dating back from the 60's when I first started learning to crochet properly. Before that date I had just messed about with stitches and made up my own designs. I didn't start buying patterns until I learned how to follow them.
I regularly browse through my patterns and books. I can spend all day just looking at them all. Some I never got around to making and some evoke memories as does this one. When I got married in 1968 I just had the one bridesmaid, my best friend from school Anne, who was getting married the Saturday after my wedding. When I was going to get her a bridesmaid present she requested that I crochet her a top to go with her black skirt to wear for her graduation ball from Uni. Like us they were short of money as they had both just finished Uni so I was happy to oblige. I made it for her in emerald green with a very subtle hint of gold lurex. Anne had an olive complexion and black hair and so strong colours really suited her. She was as skinny as a rail and the top looked gorgeous on her if I say so myself. This is one reason why I could never get rid of my patterns as lots of them bring back lovely memories. My marriage wasn't the best but there are still some parts of it that I remember as being good.

I am still knitting like crazy on my niece's chunky jacket. Since I took this photo yesterday I have managed to finish off that sleeve and started the second one. When I go off knitting something I try to knit up the easy bits so that I feel that I am progressing which is why I left the back half done. I fell out with knitting the cables. Now that I have restarted the knitting I will go back to the cables and finish the back and make the fronts. My niece isn't well. She is prone to bouts of tonsillitis which makes me feel even more guilty that I didn't finish her jacket in time for her Birthday. Still I am back to it now so hopefully it won't be too long before I show the finished jacket.

The sun is shining today but not quite warm enough to knit in the garden so it's a mug of coffee and back to knitting in the sitting room.

Slow Progress

Not much to report on the knitting front today. I am still ploughing on with my niece's chunky jacket. I decided to block out the pieces I have knitted just to reassure myself that it would stretch out as it was looking very narrow on the needles. As my instructions were to make a big floppy jacket I was a bit worried but as you can see it has blocked out nice and wide. I still have one front to complete and then the bands.

I was a bit concerned about the shaping in the front as I have never shaped a front neck before from the sleeve edge. I am sure that Sirdar knows what it is doing but on most patterns I have decreased at the front edge inside the cable border. I just hope that it doesn't pull the pattern a bit sideways when it is stitched up. I tried to block it out by shaping the armhole like the back.

I feel like this jacket has taken me ages but then it is 34" long so that is quite a few inches longer than I would normally knit a jacket.

I went to the Kings Arms Knit Club last night and it was absolutely freezing. The heating in the pub had broken down and we could see our breath in the snug. It will be my last visit for a little while as Pam who gives me a lift is relocating to St Annes at the weekend so won't be coming to the knit club every week from now on. Last night was the first night that I had gone without a coat. Normally I don't need one as I am picked up and dropped off door to door but I wish I had put my fleece on last night. The heating engineer who was "on his way" when we arrived hadn't made an appearance before we left just after 9pm.

Next door's cat was waiting in my porch for me to return and as soon as the key was turned in the door he shot in and straight on the sofa for a warm. He is still here and is refusing point blank to leave. I don't blame him as today is wet, cold and miserable. This kind of weather really makes me feel down. Last night we had freezing fog. It's going to be a long time until the sun shines properly again.