Lilac Wool has arrived

My parcel from Texere arrived this morning so now I can get around to finishing the crocheted lilac sweater. The other two colours are destined for the foster babies.

Yesterday I was sleepy all day after my late start to the day and I am ashamed to say that not only did I have a cat nap during the afternoon I was back in bed before 11pm which is unheard of for me. I slept until after 7am this morning and now feel that I have got myself back to normal sleep wise. The amusing thing about falling asleep last night is that I wanted to watch a programme on BBC One TV called 10 things that you didn't know about sleep. Luckily I managed to watch it this morning on the PC using BBC catch up programme. It had some interesting ways to help insomniacs fall asleep so maybe I will try some of them the next time I toss and turn.

I think that I managed to knit around 10 rows last night. I just could not concentrate. I kept nodding off. This morning I have machine knitted a red jacket so I now have two jackets to hand finish tonight. My machine wool winders both stopped working. One has given up with old age, I think, but the second one was choked up with the fluff of a hundred balls when I came to look at it. I have spent an hour with small scissors and a pair of tweezers de fluffing the spindle. The wool winders have screws but I have never managed to actually take one apart yet. Things like this I miss my Dad for. He was my fixer of all things broken. I wish that I had inherited his talents.

I am glad that I have managed to mend one of them otherwise knitting would have ground to a halt whilst I ordered a new one online. Machines don't like knitting from prewound balls of wool. The wool doesn't come off the ball at an even tension.

I am calling on the US ladies to help me out with this one. Kim left me a comment on my last post asking where she can get the last two books that I have shown to you. The Style for You is a Leisure Arts design and originates from the US so I had to pay quite a lot of money to get it as I presume Purplelinda had to pay to import it. Purplelinda will export both books to the US but it is the same situation with crocheters from the UK ordering books from the US the shipping costs as much as the book costs. It seems a bit of a bad idea for Kim to pay twice as much when she could probably at least get one book far cheaper in the US. If any readers know where Kim can buy both of these books in the US can you give her some help? I know that they sell Style for You on Amazon.co.uk but I didn't see it when I looked on Amazon.com. I am glad that Purplelinda sells the Leisure Arts patterns as prior to that I had to pay a fortune to get them from the US. I once gave money to a friend who was going on holiday in the US and asked her to try and get some pattern books for me from there. Luckily she was a crocheter so it gave her an excuse to look for a yarn shop. Her husband wasn't impressed with me though! If anyone from the UK has tried to buy any of the Tahki Stacy Charles crochet pattern booklets they will know just how hard it is. Unless they offer it as a single pattern download it is pretty nigh impossible.

I have no idea who might stock Patons in the US but I am sure that someone must as it is an internationally known firm. Perhaps you could resort to looking on E-bay Kim.

My furry visitors today have been the black cat who had a few biscuits and then fell asleep in the sunshine and now I have got Poppy the little dog from next door who insists on a pat and a cuddle before leaving me a small parcel on the lawn. I don't know why she has decided that she would rather poop on my lawn instead of her own. Guess I will be out with my pooper scooper before nightfall.

Style For You

As promised yesterday these are the photos from Style for You which is a Leisure Art publication from Caron. The sizes range from S- 3X so will cover most people.

The front cover is a Wrap Front Tunic Dress by Margret Wilson. I am not sure that I like the way this hangs and I think only the slim can get away with wearing it with a belt.

The Trapeze Sweaters by Gayle Dunn in the pink and the purple look like a very easy pattern to crochet. They are shown on the diagram as being really flared out at the bottom and whilst I do like a bit of shape in my sweaters I also like the illusion of having a waistline. I would have to amend it to make it less baggy at the bottom edge if I made it for myself.

The Swing Coats by Susan Shildmyer have got the same flare at the bottom but as they are longer jackets with a rolled collar I think that this shape would be flattering as it is worn open without fasteners.

The Modular Cardi Wraps are unmistakably Doris Chan. The photos doesn't show it up so well but they do have a pointed edge at the side and the coat is made up of rectangles stitched together,

I am not keen on the Shawl Collared Capes by Drew Emborsky. I think that it is mostly because they are made with two colours. I would like them better if they were in a single colour.

The blue Lacy Openwork Duster coats are again Doris Chan patterns, Not as shaped as her original Lace Duster as they appear to be straight up and down.

The Shawl Collar Ruana are another Drew Emborsky design. Not for my age group or figure I fear but I can see they would appeal to someone younger.

The Weekend Tunics by Leigh K. Nestor are worked in two colours although it is hard to see on the photos. They have a front panel in a plain colour with the rest of the sweater worked in a subtle shaded effect wool.

I will put photos of the Patons booklet on tomorrow. It would have been far too photo heavy had I put them all on today.

My other wool parcel hasn't arrived yet although I have had a confirmation e mail that it has been dispatched, Last night I crocheted the last ball of lilac that I have into the sweater so am now waiting for this third order for the 2 balls to finish the sweater.

I didn't sleep hardly at all last night and so got up and came downstairs around 4am. I started an aran for Big Legs from a Sirdar pattern book 225 called Baby in Aran. I am making the cardigan that is illustrated in pink but I am leaving the bobbles off it as I think bobbles look a bit girly.

I have got the correct measurements now for Big Legs and I was right the blue cardigan will be too long on the body and the sleeves. I am leaving the chest size the same as machine knitting doesn't have the same "give" that hand knitting does. As I have written down everything about the blue cardigan I will know for the next garments how many rows I need for the back and the sleeves. After that it will be easy to run up more - well at least until he has another growth spurt.