The Grafting Mantra

I have finished my rather jazzy socks as you can see, Two 50 grams of Regia 6ply Colour 05956 easily made a pair for me and I could have made the legs 2" longer if I had so desired but I do have small feet so maybe it would have taken the 3 balls that it advises you on the label to buy for a pair of socks.The pattern was a printed sheet that I got free from the not so Angelic online wool shop with wool for my last pair said 2 balls so I stuck with that.

They are a bit on the thick side but they knitted up in the blink of an eye and will be just fine for inside my boots. The grafting mantra I refer to is of course when I had to graft the toe stitches together. Yes, I know most people call it Kitchener stitch but in my day it was always called grafting. Anyway who is this Kitchener? I can only graft with the aid of my tutorial propped in front of me, and total silence except for my chanting


FRONT; KNIT; REMOVE

FRONT; PURL; LEAVE ON

BACK; PURL; REMOVE

BACK; KNIT; LEAVE ON

I watch other people do this whilst chatting and I wonder if I have a mental blind spot or whether I am just thick as although I have now done this many times the method never stays in my head from one graft to another, even from one sock to another! Perhaps I should try to learn it parrot fashion as I did with my times tables at school.

I have finished the second sleeve of my niece's chunky jacket and am poised ready to either carry on with the back or start a front. I do have the itchy hook syndrome though and have brought some grey and white random cotton down from my stash to sneak in a bit of washcloth crochet. I do have an excuse, my kitchen cloths are starting to get holes and are looking very shabby so I really NEED to do some crochet. Well that's my excuse and I am sticking to it.

I re-gilded the lily this morning. Well come on now - you didn't think I was a natural blonde did you? I am really looking forward to the day that I go grey and then I don't have such dark roots to attend to. My brother didn't go grey until his 70's the same as my mother so I have a while to go yet. The only comforting thought is that both my mother and my maternal grandmother went pure white instead of going grey and I hope that I finish up with that same gorgeous colour. I know that I shouldn't blow my own trumpet but check out that forehead. No Botox there and yet barely a wrinkle. Thank God for good genes and regular moisturising. My Grandmother used to use Imperial Leather soap and Ponds cream every day and she had beautiful skin in her 90's. My Mother brought me up on Oil of Ulay (as it was called in those days) but I did veer off it to various other products once I left home. Thankfully I have never smoked so I don't have to worry about the cat's bum mouth lines, just worry about the fact that my lower eyelashes seem to have disappeared over the years.

Dismal day today. The rain has been bucketing down since the early hours. Thankfully I don't have to go out beyond the dustbin. My request to the Universe has so far brought me an offer of a drink (sorry but aren't you married?) and offer of a meal out (this guy would need a hoist to get out of his chair so I think he should step away from the pies. I know that I am not exactly Twiggy but he would make 3 of me) so I am not counting this as much of a success yet. Still it's early days yet.

My budding would be romance has really hit the buffers so I think I can will regretfully have to draw a line under him ( Well he was rather good looking so I gave him more chances than I would have normally) He will never know what he is missing now (Pause here whilst I give my trumpet a loud toot). TOOOOOT. Aw come on now everyone needs a good toot now and again. Helps me to keep my morale up on this dark, wet miserable day,

C'Mon Universe - Here I Am

Well I did my bit and I asked the Universe for a man as suggested by the media. I kept my requirements suitably vague as I don't want the Universe to think that I am being picky and asking for a George Clooney lookalike. I did throw in a few special requests though. I know I am a bit of a chubster myself but please send me a man slimmer than me as two heavyweights in a relationship is one too many in my view.

As usual I watched Loose Women today and laughed out loud at Cilla Black who said at her age she was grateful for a man with a working prostate. I know the feeling Cilla. I might be getting on a bit but there is still a fire in the furnace and I like to feel that I could be whooshed off my feet by a man who doesn't require the aid of medication.

Thanks to everyone for their words of encouragement. Especially thanks to Belicious whose blog Crochet Therapy is one that I follow. If you click on my blog title you will see that she has awarded me with an Ultimate MeMe award. As soon as I work out how to put it on this blog I will award mine. Not an easy task as some of you peeps don't have a blog so that I can honour you! Belicious has had her ups and downs over the last few years but always manages to keep a good sense of humour throughout. Mattenylou, I wasn't looking for the last would be romance - he found me which made it such a surprise. Too bad that it doesn't seem to have worked out as he did have the right potential plus the bonus of good looks. (Sigh) Never mind folks lets see what the Universe as in store for me. Maybe I should have set a time limit. Something along the lines of I would like to meet him in the next year before I get decrepit.

Talking about feeling decrepit. I got my Bowel Cancer testing kit in the post. I know that it is a good idea and I shall be participating but the fact that they underlined the age group asked to participate made me feel like some dodgy old OAP. I will not give you any details as you could be eating whilst reading but I am not looking forward to the excitement of plastic bags, poo sticks and general fertling about in things unspeakable. I know it is all part of caring for my general health, and is a very important test, but it is a part that I would rather not mess with. I used to have to change my son's nappies with a bucket close by to heave into. I managed marginally better with my late cats litter trays and the doggy doo doo's on the lawn.

Tonight I am poised to pick up my knitting needles and start my niece's chunky jacket. I have finished off the All Shawl, pattern free on the net from Doris Chan, that I have made from a part machine cone that was given to me by someone clearing out their late mother's attic.I had to continue increasing the shawl in the set manner as the pattern is written for an aran weight. The pattern is very forgiving though and provided you fiddle about with the placing of the edging pattern can be made to any size. I will probably start some crochet to work in between the knitting. For once I don't have anything on the hook at the present moment.

Spare Man Theory

As the weather gets damper my arthritis doesn't like it and so I tend to spend too much time in front of daytime TV. Whilst that is good from a crochet point of view it is not always good for my morale.

Today as I watched Loose Women they were chatting about the fact that every woman should have a spare man somewhere in their life that they could fall back on if Mr Right doesn't turn up. A friend to be a companion in your old age. That totally depressed me today as not only do I not have a man in my life I can't even think of a male friend who could step into the category of spare man.I have a few very interested married men who would love to step into the role of part time lover but that is a whole different story.

My recent would be romance seems to have withered and died before it ever got off the ground. I can't blame it on a date going wrong as we never got that far. I must admit though that although he was complimentary he was a tad elusive and didn't like the fact that I complained about his lack of attention. I am used to guys trying very hard to impress me with loads of phone calls and e mails etc. He blamed pressure of work for the lack of phone calls and the fact that there was a sea between us that prevented us dating easily but I am reading between the lines here and wondering if he was quite as separated as he said he was. Call me suspicious but I seem to have cornered the market in "separated" guys over the years whose wives had no idea they were separated and so whenever I see the word separated these days I immediately think are they separated by the width of the bed?

Another depressing fact on Loose Women was a discussion on the theory that in order to get ahead in show business and commerce then Sagittarians are the most successful. All fire signs have drive apparently. I am a Sagittarian so where did I go wrong? Is my drive in the wrong place? All I can say is given half the chance there is nothing wrong with my sex drive but I don't think that is what they are talking about! The answer came perhaps in the Alan Titchmarsh show where he was talking about Failed Potential Syndrome where you do not achieve what is expected of you. Aha I now have a syndrome to blame for my failure to make a success of the life expected of someone with my upbringing and brains. That's true of me. I chose not to take up the Uni place that was offered to me which could have altered the whole course of my life. I was a timid teenager and the thought of going off to Liverpool Uni, where I would not know anyone filled me with apprehension. I missed the Fresher Day as I was in hospital having my appendix out and so lost my allocated place in the Halls of Residency which just put the top hat on it as far as I was concerned. I would have had to find somewhere to live outside the Uni. If fate had not stepped in and burst my appendix I might have had a very different outcome in life. I meant to go the year afterwards but I had started work by then and thought that I was in love and so I never went.

Alan Titchmarsh then went on to discuss the Power of Positive Thinking and how that works on turning your life around.I have read books on this subject and do try to think positive but I have a very hard job convincing myself that I am a somebody. I finished both of these shows feeling more of a failure at life than I had done when I first got up this morning. There is nothing like a few 'cheerful' daytime shows to bring out my inner lack of self confidence. I need Gok to boost my self esteem.

I have finished the baby cardigans from the Kay Jones pattern 91. I had a lot of amending to do as the pattern is in 4ply and my wool was double knit. I don't have as many pattern row repeats and my frill is a bit too full. They are a bit of a hotch potch but I am sure they will get worn sometime.

I will take a few lines to say thank you to my regular readers who cheer me up daily with their comments. I will just mention the recent ones so please don't be upset if I don't mention you by name. Your contribution is valued if not mentioned today. First of all thanks to Jody Blue for visiting my blog and thanks to Onlymuttix for your comments on the Naked Crochet post. I thank you for the promise of mentioning the calendar on your blog and would love to read your blog so please leave me the link. I am so thrilled that you found my blog through it being mentioned on Google readers as a recommended blog. Maybe I am not such a failure after all.

June, I would love to go wool shopping with you sometime but alas we are not that blessed with good wool shops near where I live. I have quite a journey unless I want to shop on Bury Market or at Abakhan in Manchester. I wish I could turn back the clock and shop in my own shop once again. At least there I could have found what I wanted without searching the shops and the net.

I am off now to watch a bit more TV and to try asking the Universe to find me someone. Apparently you can't ask for Brad Pitt (such a shame) you just have to ask in general for the type of man that you want and he will appear. According to Noel Edmonds (OK I know he is a bit weird) it worked for him so I will give it a whirl. Watch out Universe this positive thinking Sagittarian with Failed Potential Syndrome is going to give you a shout tonight. I hope that you are listening !! Yeah right. With my luck the Universe will be out to lunch when I ask.

Maybe I am not a complete failure. Doris Chan left a lovely comment on Ravelry about the white Cinnabar cardigan that I made for Sylvia's birthday so maybe I can do something right after all. I just suck at love, romance and finding the right guy. Actually I don't think I am rubbish at love and romance I am just rubbish at the finding him part. Matchmaking hints on a postcard please.