Eleven Hats for the Homeless

The latest two hats I have made are more for the ladies. Unless of course any of the men would like to wear a hat with lurex thread and a flower. Well these days one never knows. I have now made eleven hats. Ten crocheted and one knitted. I am hoping to make it to a dozen at least before I go to the Knit Out on Sunday.

Today is, once again, dull and rainy. I think that I will save up for one of those light lamps for S.A.D as I am sure that I have a touch of that as I definitely feel a lot more lethargic and miserable when there is no sun around. I am sure that I was born to the wrong mother and was destined for a hot climate.

Today I got the sign off letter from the specialist that I saw on Tuesday. He is very efficient. Usually I get copies of these letters up to a month after my appointments.He has said that whilst he is happy with my spine after his operation he is unhappy with the knee pain and lack of treatment that I have received which is preventing me from doing the exercise that I need to be doing to maintain my mobility following this operation. Let's hope that my knee specialist picks up on his recommendations when I see him next week.

Thanks for your message Enid. I have tried to add you to Facebook but as usual Facebook was acting up and playing silly beggars so I don't know if you will get my invitation.

Today I really must do a bit of housework. I have brought plastic bags of oddments of wool downstairs whilst I have been hat making and so my front room looks like a rummage sale and I dread anyone calling. I think it's time to re-organise my stash again. It's funny but after eleven hats I can't see any difference to the size of the oddment bags! I can see more stripey hats in the future as a lot of the balls are too small to make a hat in one colour.

Coffee time and time to watch Loose Women.

Hats For The Homeless

Not the most exciting hats that I have ever made but I am on a mission not only to clear some stash but to help others with the fruits of my labours. As I mentioned before Nexus Art cafe are having a day where they would like donations for the homeless of hats, scarves or gloves. They have listed it as a knit day (click on my blog title for more details) but I hope they are not averse to a bit of crochet as I can make more hats with crochet than I can picking up my needles. Enid asked me for more details. I have not yet visited the cafe but I Googled it and it is on Dale Street which is off Oldham Street and not far from Piccadilly Gardens. The Knit Day is Sunday 24th Jan from 2 - 8 pm. If you don't live in the Manchester area and would like to take part I am sure that there must be a similar scheme in your neighbourhood. I found out about the day from Facebook having been invited to join in another Knit Day last year which unfortunately I could not go to. Since then I have been getting event invites but this is the only one that has mentioned knitting so as it is a worthy cause then I thought that I would like to participate.

My hats may not be the most glamorous hats but if a guy doesn't have a hat then my hat will keep him warmer than no hat at all. Maybe this will be an ongoing event and I can make more hats during the year to participate again later on. I shall know more after Sunday.

Buster has gone back home. I am sad in many ways as I do love his company but it isn't fair to keep an animal if you can't take care of it properly. I could not do the daily walk regime. I might manage a walk on a good day but with dogs they need every day. It upset me to see the look in his eye over the weekend knowing that he wanted a walk and the guilt in my mind as I knew that I could not walk him.

I feel good today as my tiredness caught up with me and I slept until 10.30am this morning. I slept right through my alarm and would still be in bed were it not for the guys across the street having new windows installed so the workmen woke me up with their hammering and banging to get the old window out. It's a good job that I have caught up with my sleeping as tomorrow I have an morning appointment at the hospital to see my spinal surgeon. If I miss that then I will have to wait months to get another one.

I have just got my credit card statement and that has endorsed my 'no wool buy' decision for at least another month or so. I always try to pay off anything that I put on the card at the month end but with Christmas purchases, some new crochet hooks, a new spinal support and a couple of books then the amount has crept up on me so I will have to be frugal this month as today is Emily's birthday and I have my son and my ex husband's birthday also this month and my brother's birthday next month. Thankfully I have restocked the food cupboard again.

Am I being creative - or just making a mess?

I have been busy over the last couple of days trying to organise myself in the stash department. Maybe my ex husband's remarks stung a little or perhaps I looked at my house in a different light but either way I decided to reacquaint myself with my stash. I need to sort out some mohair for Ambermoggie. If you have any spare mohair look on her blog as she is doing a swop of mohair for one of her elementals. Even if you haven't got any take a look at her blog anyway!

I have discovered lots of wool that I bought for specific projects and put away and forgotten all about. Come on girls you have all done that, haven't you? Now I have to think of other projects as I can't remember what the wool was intended for in the first place. I sorted out some of the bits and bats into co-ordinating colourways which started me on crocheting the dreaded granny squares into a shawl. I made one many years ago and decided to make another one. I will ,of course, bitterly regret this decision when I come to sewing up the gadzillions of tail ends. As I am crocheting on the wing, using stash, the completed squares are pinned together on my dining table along with the half completed squares to give me an idea of where the shawl is going. What else is a dining table for anyway. There is only me and I can always eat at the computer desk! I have another bag of mixed shades of purples and greens ready for something similar. Help I am entering a granny square phase again! Thankfully I have another Sweet Pea shawl yet to crochet to save me from getting sucked in.

Vic's sock is progressing slowly. This is my first toe up sock and so far I like the neat way the increases are at the toe. I have yet to encounter the heel so the jury is still out on whether I will be a toe up or toe down knitter in the future.

The consequence of my stash tidying (ha ha) is that the house now looks much worse than it did in the first place and my mind is whirling with new projects for the stash wool that I have uncovered. My father used to say I had the mind of a butterfly as I flit from project to project, knit to crochet and in the old days when I had good eyes - sewing, and he wanted me to finish off one project at a time. Come on girls how boring is that slogging away at one thing until it is finished and then going on to the next?

The patterns I uncovered as well. They take me back quite a while. I never made bags or jewlery but I used to love Goldfingering. I hated crocheting with it as it used to cut my fingers to ribbons. Many a bikini I crocheted (not for me I assure you) that went from me to be lined and then sold in a boutique. I had a much loved vest type top in gold that I used to wear with my de rigeur long black velvet skirt whenever I went out clubbing. There was none of this "have something new everytime you go out" in my generation. We had a couple of good tops and a skirt and used to alternate. I was considered to be a bit posh as I had a few knit and crochet tops to dazzle my dance partners with. As you can presume I was quite a popular girl with the girls who wanted tops similar. My mother used to say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but I wanted to be an individual and liked the fact that no-one could look like me so I only crocheted for my best friend.

I am off to Bury market. Ivy, the trolley, and I will be catching the metro shortly. I shall try to resist having a peek at the wool stall on there. It has a siren call and it is right next to the fruit and veg stall that I am visiting. Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye!

My kind of crochet

Today I finished the emerald green chunky crochet stash buster cardigan. The whole thing took me a couple of nights to complete, so it's my kind of crochet for sure. It's nice every now and again to make a quick no brainer bit of crochet. I had a few hairy moments with it as the cardigan pattern was turning out too small for me. Old patterns from the 80's are much tighter fitting than today's designs. Undeterred I did my usual improvisation. Added a panel of the trebles lacey pattern from under the armpits to the bottom edge. It works for me every time. If I make a bigger size then the whole cardigan finishes up far too wide for me at the shoulder area. I only had 10 balls of Beehive chunky in Emerald (my web cam photos make it look jade green) and finished up with literally just yards left over. Whew! I am feeling good though as that is now 2 packs of yarn used from my stash. Two cardigans that cost me nothing. Not even the cost of buttons as I already had those as well! The buttons aren't the best match in the world but they will do. I may change them later if I can find a better match.

I didn't get around to my obligatory daily 16 rows of Kevin's aran yesterday so tonight I must try to do a few extra rows even though the temptation is great to start crocheting one of my Christmas presents. I do like knitting but I guess my first love is crochet. Some garments look far better in knitting. I have done crochet aran but knitted aran is far nicer especially for a man. I have promised my friend that I would finish the sweater for Christmas so I must press on with it although to be honest I am not enjoying knitting it as you have probably gathered by now.

The weather today has been wet and windy so Buster didn't bother too much when we only had one short walk today. It was a bit more exciting than usual as they are resurfacing the paths in the wood and we had to navigate our way past bulldozers, wagons and small diggers. The path was rather muddy with all the rain and digging so my boots weighed a few pounds heavier on the way home.

I have discovered a lump under my chin(s) so I phoned the dentist and have an appointment with him for tomorrow if the lump is still there. He is almost certain it is an enlarged saliva gland but as I had problems with a lump under my left ear several years ago, that required hospital treatment, he wants to check it to make sure.