Insight finished in a couple of days

This has been a joy to crochet. It is Insight from Everyday Crochet book and made for Vicky. I wish this had been the first Doris Chan I had crocheted and then I would have not struggled so much with my previous projects. It was crocheted in Rowan Hand knit DK Cotton which although it was a joy to crochet with it was riddled with very small knots which I had to undo as I was afraid they would show or unravel if I left them in. I think it could have done with being a few inches longer but I am sure it will drop with wear as cotton is quite heavy. The tie is crocheted in with the edging which is a novel idea.

I have discovered the Doris Chan discussion forums on Ravelry. Quite why I haven't seen them before I don't know as I have read her blog many times. It's official now I am a Doris Chan groupie! I have joined her forums. It's great as she actually answers any problems that people encounter with her patterns. Not many designers (apart from Lavonne) take the trouble to do that and it is so good. I wish I had seen this when I was struggling with her patterns at first. She had also posted a solution to up sizing the Farpoint which I wished I had read before I made mine.

I have unearthed in my stash 500 grams of some very ancient Hayfield Fantasia DK. It's so old it is in 25 gram balls! It is a brown flecked with yellow and red (not as awful as it sounds) and so am going to try to make something wearable out of it. I will post tomorrow what I have decided to make.

It's raining again - what a surprise. I read Rose's blog and apparently Romania is having some kind of a heatwave. I wish she could post some of her sunshine over to the UK. Two of my fellow Knitting Noras Lisa and Jackie have gone to a music festival and are camping. I hope they haven't floated away.

I wish I had made this pattern first

When I first started crocheting from the Everyday Crochet Book I should have started with this pattern. The instructions are beautifully clear and easy to understand and I have only gone Huh! once on this pattern and that was only because I had misread the row.Stitch markers are an absolute must for this pattern though as it is hard to distinguish the lace shaping from the normal lace. I think it is working up well and as I am only on my second ball I think there will be enough cotton for it to be a similar length to the pattern.

I had two pieces of sad news yesterday. I bumped into a friend walking her dog who I haven't seen in a long time and discovered that her husband passed away in January. She doesn't live that far from me but as I no longer work I haven't walked past her house in a long time. We were close friends back in the days when Ian and her children were all small but drifted apart as I started working full time. Sad news. he was only 64,

My other sad news was concerning my neighbour Julie, Buddy the lawn visitor's mum, who I also met whilst walking Buster. She told me that her chemotherapy treatment had not worked. What do you say to someone in those circumstances. I found it very hard. I have previously tried to keep her upbeat about her hair loss and sickness saying it was temporary and things like that but when she said it had all been in vain I just didn't know what to say. She has elected to have surgery to try to remove the last lump (They found 6 lumps on her organs but only removed 5) but the outcome is very uncertain. She is such a lovely young woman. I am trying to stay positive for her. Things like this make my problems fade into insignificance.

Today I have woken up to the sound of rain and it looks like it has set in for the day. I have the feeling that I am going to get very wet on my way to the shops this morning and walking Buster this afternoon. Thank goodness I have a couple of waterproof jackets.