3 Coloured Jacket

I am making another little jacket with oddments. I am using the same pattern as the hooded one from my previous post but this time I think that it will just have a neckband. The pattern stitch is from an equally old pattern for a ladies jacket pattern. I call it fake fair isle.

It is simply one row in each of three colours all the way through. It looks like Fair Isle as every knit row is K1 then put the yarn to the front as if to purl but instead slip one stitch then put the yarn back and knit the next stitch. Every reverse row is simply purl, The next right side row the slip stitch goes where the knit stitch was and the knit stitch is where the slipped stitch of the previous row was. Slipping the stitches with the wool in front leaves a little bar. The alternating slip stitch Fair Isle effect comes from using the three colours, I have tried to go as close up as I can with the second photo to show you what I mean. I am using denim blue, pale blue and white.

I am trying to finish off the baby things as there is a possibility that I will meet up with my foster friend Sylvia's daughter on Saturday at the knit out at the Islington Mill Salford. If she is going to be there then I can give the bag of jackets to her as she goes to visit her Mum most weeks. Otherwise I will have to take a taxi up to Sylvia's to deliver them before they become too small for the baby who is growing fast. He is now almost 9lbs.

When my niece came yesterday she brought me 3 lovely almost new good label tops that she has got too slim to wear any more. One is from Monsoon and is in a sheer patterned teal coloured chiffon and has a beaded trim at the V neck and a matching vest in plain matching colour for underneath the sheer top. Very pretty. I thought that the tops wouldn't fit me as even when she put weight on she was still smaller than me. Luckily they are made of stretchy fabric and although one is a wee bit tight on the arms the other two fit really well. A welcome injection of colour to my wardrobe and something new for me to wear. Don't get me wrong I do have lots of clothes but most of them are from when I was working and are now too small. I am not getting rid of them as they are my normal size and hopefully once this knee business is over I will get back down to my normal size. My normal size is still plump but not as fat as I am now. I will never be skinny. I have not been skinny since my late 30's.

I haven't done much in the way of knitting or crochet as I have been nodding asleep on and off today for some reason. I think it's because the weather has turned cold and miserable. I am far livelier when the sun shines and it is warm. All I have to do is sit in my new armchair and recline it slightly and my eyes shut. I don't know what my neighbours are thinking about me always nodding in full view of passers by. I think maybe I should try sleeping in the chair as the moment once I get in bed at night I wake up and toss and turn for ages.

Time for a coffee and try to stay awake to do some more knitting on the foster babies jacket. I can't understand why it is taking me so long to knit it as it is on 6mm needles and is chunky wool.

Put Up Your Dukes

Gorgeous though baby Finlay James is I immediately thought of the phrase Put Up Your Dukes when I saw the photo. He looks like a bare knuckle fighter squaring up for a fight. Being an inquisitive kind of a girl I then had to look up on the net the origins of the phrase and this is one explanation.


What we do know is that put up your dukes was known by 1874 - the first record of it that I can find in print is in John C. Hotten's 1874 edition of A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words:

"Dooks, or dukes, the hands, originally modification of the rhyming slang 'Duke of Yorks,' forks = fingers, hands... The word is in very common use among low folk. 'Put up your dooks' is a kind of invitation to fight."

Hmm I am not much wiser now but never mind. Does this mean I am common low folk because I use this expression?

I had to post my tests for bowel cancer back today and had the delight of walking half a mile to do so. The Post Office decided long ago to rip out the post box near to my house. Perhaps we just weren't posting enough letters in it. Anyway when I got there there is a temporary restriction piece of plastic bolted over the letterbox but as it still had a narrow slit in it I took the chance and posted my letter through the small gap. I didn't fancy an even longer walk to the main post office. I hope that it wasn't screwed over the posting slot because of the immanent postal strike but was there to prevent the darling little louts in the making who live nearby posting fireworks through the slot as has happened in the past. Either way I hope that my letter reaches it's destination in the 14 days allocated before the test results become compromised. I don't fancy having to repeat the whole procedure. Apparently they let me know the results in about 3 weeks.

Yesterday I made enquiries about whether I should have the swine flu vaccine as well my normal flu vaccine and was told that I wasn't high priority. The fact that I use a CPAP machine to keep me breathing during the night isn't classed as high priority. That's funny because my respiratory specialist told me it was imperative that I have a flu vaccine and keep it up to date but obviously the receptionist knows better! She helpfully suggested that next year I will be eligible for one because of my age. Excuse me madam but hopefully next year this swine flu will be a thing of the past. It's now that I need protection. I didn't manage to get an appointment for a normal flu injection as the clinics are all booked up with people having the swine flu jab. I just can't win. She said I had to try again next week and see if there was an appointment for then.Why she could not book me an appointment for next week I don't know.

I have started the second sleeve of my niece's chunky jacket and turned the heel on the second sock. I have stayed in and knitted this afternoon as the rain has barely ceased all day. I did manage to creep out between the showers to post my letter but had just got home again when the heavens opened.

According to the local paper the trams are supposed to be back up and running into the city centre. Thank goodness for that. My knee really didn't like having to tramp from Victoria Station (where the trams stopped during the line repairs) up into the centre of Manchester, Thank goodness that I can now get right into the heart of the shops once again. well provided that there are no other problems.