Oops Forgot The Photo

I have been busy sewing things together ready for Christmas. I managed to finish off both of the boys jackets and was sewing the buttons on today when my niece called. As the jackets are for her best friend and my 'adopted' niece I gave her the jackets. Lou is spending Christmas in Ireland with her husband and the boys and I was so intent on finishing them in time that I forgot to take any photos of the finished jackets. I will ask for photos with the boys wearing them so that will be far better than my flat photos. They did turn out nice and warm in the James C Brett Marble DK as it is quite a thick double knit.

My other niece's cardigan is finished and blocked but when my niece gave me the buttons to stitch on the shop assistant had given her 4 buttons that were one size and 2 that were larger. As she is going to the Trafford Centre she will get me 6 more. This is another project that you will have to wait to view as my niece might read this blog and so spoil the surprise. She knows that she is getting a black cardigan but not what it looks like.

I now have to start crocheting my sister in law's sweater. Thank goodness that I left the crochet until the last as I can crochet a lot faster than I knit.

I have found a great vintage pattern site and have ordered some of the old Patons patterns that I had in my library but lent out and never got them returned. Sue doesn't have many crochet patterns but loads of vintage knitting patterns if you like that sort of thing. I will put the link into my blog title if you would like to take a look.

My blog land friend Beverooni has made a fantastic crochet Santa hat with a beard. I have tried to add this as a link but nothing happened. You can find her blog One Yarn After Another by following the link on the right hand side of my page. Just scroll down a little way and you will see the hats.

The snow is still with us but no more has fallen. It is still very cold though. I am staying indoors. My anti inflammatory tablets from the GP seem to be working. I am not in as much pain and the swelling in my knee is a bit less. The GP has only given me 2 weeks supply as he does not want me on them long term. I have to report back to him when I have run out of tablets. I just hope that things don't reverse when I stop taking them.

I must apologize for not keeping up with friends blogs. I promise that i will catch up on my reading after Christmas.I daren't get engrossed in reading them as I have so much to do this coming week.

Time for a bit of crochet - well a lot of crochet would be more appropriate as I have so much to start before Christmas.

Oh No - It's Snowing Again

As I am writing the blog today the snow is coming down thick and fast in large flakes. When I took the photo half an hour ago the snow wasn't really sticking on the ground but now it is starting to coat the pavements. I am glad that I stocked up food wise as I won't be going far in this snow although I do have a GP's appointment tomorrow afternoon that I will have to keep. Thankfully I still have my crutches as my scooter doesn't like snowy hills.

My Sister in Law brought me the Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs for my birthday and they are now growing quite well. Hopefully I will have some lovely blooms just after the Christmas period.

I have finished all the pieces of the black jacket but still have to stitch everything together. I have started the second boy's jacket but still have the first one to stitch up. I think that this afternoon will be a stitching up kind of day. The first of the crochet jackets just needs a collar and some bands and that too will be ready for stitching up. I must confess that stitching things together is not my favourite pastime which is why I keep leaving things until there is a few to stitch.

Thank you for all of your complimentary messages about the Kings Arms Knitters Christmas tree. I have passed the messages on to the members. I think that I can say that we are all pleased with the results of our labours. As several pub regulars have expressed wishes to buy the ornaments it might be a good idea to start earlier making ornaments next year and then we can sell them in aid of the Kings Arms knitters chosen charity of Breast Cancer. We do take part in several projects for charity during the year and I believe that Rachael has some plans for the New Year. We try to do our bit for local worthy causes or to raise money for Breast Cancer research.

Oscar the cat came in today very wet and bedraggled from the rain that came before the snow started. He was in a stand off with a magpie when I shouted him in. The magpies are very bold around here and terrorise the local cats rather than the other way around as you would expect.

The sound on my other TV in the dining room keeps fading on and off so that will be something else that I will have to replace after Christmas. It is an old TV as I put the newish one in the lounge. I have had my money's worth out of this TV so I can't grumble. It used to be the TV that my son had. The PC is in the dining room also so I like to have something to watch when I am on the PC. Hopefully there will be some bargains in the January sales and I can get someone to go and get me a new one or take me to where I can buy one myself.

I still have two presents to start and another one to finish knitting. After that I just have two people that I haven't yet bought presents for. All I need now is some wrapping paper and a few cards. I don't send cards as a rule. I just send a couple to people that I don't see because they live far away.

I will get the Interweave Crochet, Beverooni, but as I subscribe my copy always arrives much later than the ones in the US do. I don't think that the UK edition is due until the 30th. I have seen the previews online though.

Whilst I have been typing the snow has stopped so I hope that the flurry that we had will be the only one. I was surprised to see snow, although it was forecast, as I didn't feel that it was cold enough for snow.

Time for a coffee and then it is back to the stitching up whilst it is still daylight. Then it will be blocking time. I can't stitch the buttons on yet as my other niece bought some buttons for it and I won't see her until the weekend.

Lacy Duster Coat Finished

The Lacy Duster coat is finished well in time from my friend Sue to wear as Mother of the Bride later this month. It hasn't been properly blocked out as yet so it looks as if the fronts are longer than the back on the hanger. I will leave the proper blocking for Sue to do as my days of crawling over towels pinning out on the floor or my double bed are part of the past. The photos on here are just of the bottom pattern blocking. The coat pattern is one of Doris Chan's and is a free pattern. I gave the link a couple of days ago. I am not sure what the yarn is that I used as Sue brought it for me to crochet. It feels like a cotton crepe and as, like me, Sue is a lover of mill sales and unlabelled branded wool sales then it could be any brand. When I had a wool shop we used to get offered packs from the major spinners. If a batch was dyed slightly off colour to their shade card, spun slightly finer or slightly thicker then they would take off the labels and sell it as a Sale item. We were sworn to secrecy not to reveal whose brand it was but of course I used to say well it's very much like so and so.

I will hopefully post photos of it being modelled later in the week. I won't try it on as I am several sizes larger than Sue and don't want to stretch it before the big day. If she picks it up this week I will attempt to make her model it but it could be a bit awkward if she arrives in her leather motor bike gear ;-) I have left threads hanging as I don't want to darn them in when the coat might need longer/shorter sleeves or a bit unravelled from the bottom.

I am back knitting the hooded cardigan for Charlie and have finished the back. I have cut a couple of inches off the finished length of it as it said 15" back length for a 2-3 yrs old but for 1-2 yrs it is only 12 1/2" When I saw Charlie on Sunday although he is quite a stocky child he isn't very tall. Neither are both of his parents so that isn't a surprise. He is only just two anyway. His birthday was yesterday.

I rang the hospital today to see if they had sorted out the mix up over my operation date. I was told that I am once again on the waiting list but they have only backdated it from March 10th and not Feb 12th when they received the fax from my GP.I asked if the list was still 15 weeks long and the secretary said Oh we have people on the list from January who haven't had their operations yet. I was holding off starting any more large projects but it sounds as if I will have plenty of time to make loads more stuff before I go in.

Today is sunny and a bit warmer than the weekend. I have washing blowing on the line but don't quite feel ready to sit out and crochet this afternoon. So far today I have had Jehovah's witnesses wanting to pray with me, the postman wanting to leave a parcel with me and an automated phone call asking me to consolidate my debt. As I don't have any debt then I just hang up but that means that they will continue to phone me as they do every other day. The message actually says - Don't hang up. As if I am going to sit here and listen to all the blurb for something that I don't need.If it was a human on the line at least I could tell them that I do not need their services but I am not listening to five minutes of blurb to press a button to choose options. I will just have to hope that by the hundredth call they will realize that I am not interested! I have telephone preferences and this screens most of the junk phone calls but anything coming from abroad cannot get stopped. Grrr

Guess what I will be doing today

You guessed it. I have to turn the pile of crochet pieces into Kath's cardigan this afternoon. Then I have to return to her sister's jumper. Their birthday presents will be a little late this year but the decorating got in the way. Crochet I can do, knitting I can do but blocking and finishing off is what lets me down. I am not the best stitcher upper in the world so wish me luck.

Last week I gave Vicky a scrumpled up lump of crocheted mohair shawl and a couple of balls of wool as a sort of half finished pressie, She blocked it, fringed it and turned it into a work of art. Please take a look at her blog -http://web.mac.com/vhjeffery/Site/Welcome.html Vicky's blog you will see the end result. I really must learn how to link things on here! Another thing I am total rubbish at. I looked at the shawl in total amazement when I saw the photos. I could not believe how she had blocked and fringed it and made my crocheting look so good. If I had done it, it would still have resembled a lump of crochet with a scraggy fringe. If you don't believe me look back a few posts at my photos. I was sorry that I had not made Perran one then they could have skipped off down the lane together. There is still time but I only have bright fuchsia pink mohair left and I know Perran is not a lover of pink.

I found the lovely stitch markers that Vicky made for me. Guess what my favourite colour is? Yes purple how did you guess - they even came in a box to match. I had carefully stashed them away when I moved the things from the lounge and forgot where I carefully stashed them. Yesterday I found them again - whew. There are just a few other things that I carefully stashed and haven't found as yet but I am sure they will turn up soon.

I found an added bonus whilst tidying. My mother's stash of wool sewing up needles and with a quick rub with a bit of emery paper they came up as good as new. One day I will get around to using the emery paper on the needles from the knitting machine and then it will be all systems a go on that as well. I brought the machine down from the loft, put it together and have never touched it since. It is an ornamental feature of the dining room at the moment.

The sun is shining. Time for a wield of the sewing up needle whilst it is still daylight and before Buster needs his second walk of the day.