Oh dear

Guess who accidentally put her hand knit super soft Rowan merino socks in the washing machine? Please tell me that you have done it too. I never put my socks or anything hand wash in the laundry basket so that they can't get mixed in with the normal load. I guess I must have been tired when I got undressed and just threw everything in the basket.

When I unloaded the washer I could have cried. Two purple shrunken masses. I have managed to block them out to a reasonable shape but they will be forever felted. The good part is though that they still fit (with a good tug) and are super cosy and warm.

The aerial guy came to sort out my bad reception and I needed a new LED part for the dish. The good news is that my TV works perfectly with a better picture than ever before and touch wood last night I had all of the channels instead of the message saying no signal received on half of them. The bad part was the bill, of course, but as a stay at home most of the time girl I justified spending it as I don't smoke, rarely drink, not a fashion junkie and mostly only go out to knitting clubs so I am not the last of the big spenders. I will be at home mostly at Christmas so wanted to be able to at least watch the programmes that I liked. The other good bit was although it was expensive (well it was to me) it was half the price quoted by Sky so it does pay to use local firms wherever possible. The guy said I did the right thing on insisting that the holly tree got cut right down as that would have impeded the signal even with this new LED box.

I have got the February sweater blocking now and have started on the new wardrobe for the Baby Annabel doll. I have half knitted a pram coat and half crocheted a matinee jacket. Possibly some photos tomorrow.

February Lady Sweater is finished

Another Christmas present is finished. This is the February Lady sweater (click on blog title for free pattern link) adapted from one of Elizabeth Zimmerman's patterns.It is knitted with 600 grams of Patons Diploma Aran and is actually a deeper shade of red than shown. Although it was photographed in daylight the weather is still so dull that the flash came on! I am not happy with the buttons but my niece can change those. I sewed them on as a temporary measure.

I do like the way the jacket is constructed, Worked neck down with very neat "raglan" shaping. I did, however, alter the sequence of my knitting. As you know I cannot knit free, I have to have a knitting needle firmly jammed under my right armpit so circular needles are a big no no for me. OK technically I can knit with them but my pace drops down to a snails pace and this jacket would have been an April birthday present instead of a Christmas one.

This means that instead being seam free my version is seamed under the sleeves as I knitted them first in the flat and then the body afterwards. I did have a minor disaster with the body when I got my needle stuck under my arm and lost a quarter of the stitches which meant unravelling a few rows stitch by stitch until I reached a completed lace pattern row. That slowed me down by an hour last night. One reason why I never knit a complicated lace pattern. No swallowtail shawls for me!

I do love the jacket and all the time I was knitting it I was thinking that maybe I would keep it for myself but when I tried it on I decided that the style was just not me. I do prefer a longer sleeve on my jackets.

I have put on quite a spurt during these last couple of days after a few days in the doldrums when I felt like I was not working hard enough. I have now started some dolly clothes so they should work up nice and fast for me.

My Tapestry Crochet book by Carol Norton arrived yesterday. I haven't really had time to read it and think that it will be more of an instruction manual for me rather than my actually making any of the bowls and bags in it. I must confess that either I have got a bad copy or my eyesight is fading. Can you see the reindeer in the graph photo? (I just checked my blog and actually the photo shows it clearer than the book does) I can see me having to amend that with coloured pens before I ever use it.

Today I am waiting in for the aerial installers to come and check over the alignment of my Sky dish. I lost more than half of the channels again last night and I can't blame the holly tree any more so maybe I do need the dish adjusting. I have contacted a local firm because I do try to use local wherever possible and also they are half the price that Sky quoted for the same job! I will be home a lot this Christmas so I want something that won't keep disappearing on me. At the moment I am paying for channels that I can't see half of the time. They are on in the daytime and off at night!

I am knitting for a change

I have started my Christmas knitting. This is the first of the garments. I can post it on here as my sister in law doesn't read my blog. Things for other people knitted or crocheted later might come under the heading of secrecy and photos will have to follow later as both of my nieces occasionally read my blog. This cardigan is from a copy of Knit Today magazine that was kindly given to me by Vicky J. My niece chose it for her mum but I am not making it with the frilly collar. I will adapt it into just a plain neckline when I get up to that bit. I am also adapting the pattern from Rowan Kidsoft which is an aran thickness into a double knit one as my sister in law would think Kidsoft to be far too thick for a cardigan. I am using some rather lovely discontinued Jaeger Roma which I bought at a bargain price from Dunelm sale but shhh don't tell my sister in law. It is Viscose, nylon and Angora and the yarn is tubular and lovely to work with. I have done a little more than the photos show and have only got another inch or so up to the armholes. It is very slow going compared to my crochet.

Talking about crochet my friend Zuleika (Life in the Zu) sent me a link to a crochet granny square skirt by Doris Chan which although it isn't for me it led me to another site of free crochet patterns. Let's face it ladies - we all love free patterns. I have tried to post a link on here but I don't know if it has worked, If not I guess that you will have to cut and paste this link to see the free patterns

http://www.naturallycaron.com/projects/item_index/crochet.html

There are some lovely garments on it and like Ambermoggie I love the Belize Wrap and the Barcelona Jacket. I can feel a stash bust coming over me! Hold me back I am supposed to be making Christmas presents!

I got rather annoyed with my Sky last night as I was just up to the last 5 minutes of an old episode of Taggart that I hadn't seen and I really hadn't guessed whodunit when the rain came down hard and I lost my signal. Unless I see the episode listed again I have no chance of knowing who it was! I hate all this rain. Plays havoc with my TV viewing. Sky keep trying to tell me it is my top box or my dish to blame and want to either sell me a contract for £8.95 a month or charge me £65 for an engineer to come out. If it was my fault then how come the Sky box and dish work perfectly most of the time? They seemed more intent on selling me a new Sky digital plus box for around £200 fitted than bothering to find out what was wrong with mine. I can't even programme a video so why would I want a box that I can supposedly programme to watch every episode of something? If I am in then I watch it - if I am out then I don't and I miss it - it's a simple as that in my eyes.

Today I am trying to do a bit of house cleaning. My niece kindly came and pushed the hoover around for me but I need to do some tidying, dusting and bed making. The sun is actually shining today and I have risked the duvet set on the line.

I have rung my son to look out in Asda for a set of kids playmats to use as blocking boards. I can't find any in my local Tesco, Aldi or Lidl. I found some listed on the Early Learning site but they wanted £35 for 12 (enough for a super sized shawl for everyone?) but even those were out of stock. I found some on E bay for £14.95p but I objected to paying £8.25 postage so they will be my last choice. Everyone I speak to seems to have found them in their supermarkets without any trouble. I will just have to presume that the children of Manchester and Bury don't play and so don't need any mats! Perhaps they are tough nut kids who don't mind banging their heads on the floor. Having said that my son never had such luxuries but we did have good carpeting to fall on and not the hard laminate flooring so popular with the modern mums.