Crochet hat in Sirdar Medici

I have just crocheted a new hat for the winter. I was out shopping and went to browse at the books in the local Oxfam shop as sometimes they have some good knit or crochet books in (hey the oldies are the goodies) and saw this wonderful yarn Sirdar Medici in a basket. It is shades of blue pink and lilac with very subtle lurex undertones and I just had to have it. I enquired how much for these 2 balls and was told 50p - yes 50p for both of them! Wow - a bargain or what! I couldn't wait to get home and turn them into a hat.

I started top down and used an alternating treble and double crochet stitch as the yarn is very soft with not much body. I had to use a largish hook as I was afraid I would not have enough yarn if I made the tension tighter. I had several try ons of the hat as I increased until I had the right head width and length. I changed to a fan or shell pattern for the brim. The fans comprise of 5 trebles with a double crochet in between alternating on the next row. The hat has turned out very light and warm and my best bargain of the year so far. A hat for 50p!

I have done a bit more on my crochet prem baby blanket but as I am using oddments there will be a few subtle colour changes as I go along as my 2 small balls of lilac looked OK in artificial light but when I looked this morning in daylight they are quite different. I am sure the babies will not notice this. I think I will run out of lilac before the end of the blanket so I will be thinking of ways to improvise as the stitch I am using has a 3 colour pattern change of dark lilac, pale lilac and white. I wonder if I could put another colour in it. Maybe I will stop when the lilac runs out and just make a larger border of dark lilac to compensate for the missing rows.

Crochet short n sweet shrug 3 sizes

I have just finished my umpteenth version of the short n sweet shrug from the Stitch n Bitch The Happy Hooker book. I know the stitch off by heart now and have done so many variations to use up different yarn from my stash for different sizes. The photo shown my own UK size 18, My friend's UK size 8 and the small version adapted for the teeny tiny teenager who lives next door. She is just like a doll. I made hers from some Sirdar Silky Look DK I had in my stash. I made it on a 4mm hook and just scaled the pattern down somewhat.

I have also finished knitting a short tie fronted bolero in Aran thickness from a free pattern I found on the DROPPS site (Garnstudio) rnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=87&d_id=15&lang=us I do find their patterns very hard to follow. They seem to be very loosely translated into English. I cannot follow the charts with the lace stitches on. In the end I blew up the photo of the cardigan and zoomed in on the stitch and did my own version of it. If I make this garment again though I would make the ties a little longer as there is scant enough to tie at the waist. I have started another of their patterns which is supposed to have mock eyelet style panels and I wasted all evening trying to make head or tale of that chart and gave up once again and decided to make my own version of a panel. They have some wonderful patterns and yarns. I haven't tried any of the crochet patterns as yet so will see if they are any easier to follow.

I have also started to crochet a baby blanket in 3 colours from Cute Crochet for Tiny Tots. My knitting groups is making things for the premature baby unit at Bolton so I thought it was time I started to make a few things for our next meet. I have not as yet been given any sizes of chests or blanket sizes so am just going to hope for the best and do a selection of garments and see which one they think is the most useful.

I am still sock knitting. I am on my second sock from the Knitty Jaywalker pattern and waiting for my order from Angel Yarns to arrive. I have waited 2 weeks and when nothing arrived I e mailed and got told sorry no more of that yarn available and yet 3 weeks later the site is still showing the Sale yarn as being available! I think it says somewhere is small print subject to availability but surely if 3 weeks has passed and they know there is none of that yarn left they should in all fairness take the offer down from the web as how many other people besides me have placed an order in? I have written back to say I will accept 3 different colours of any sock yarn for the same Sale price but as yet have not received an answer. Surely this is false advertising if they continue to advertise the yarn in the Sale knowing they have none left? This whole thing has put me off from ordering from them in the future. Garnstudio advertises sock yarn at a very reasonable price so maybe next time I will give them a whirl if I get no success with Angel.

Crochet short sleeved cardigan in Gedifra

I finally finished the short sleeved cardigan in the bargain Coats Gedifra Linen yarn I bought. I had about three attempts at it before I found the right pattern for the yarn. The first things I started had all the appeal of dishcloths. Seems that the yarn has a mind of it's own. My yarn was riddled with knots and split when I was crocheting it. I would finish a row only to find loose strands on one of the stitches so back it came. I did an awful lot of unripping before I finished.

The pattern I ended up making was from a Hayfield pattern book 7127 called Crochet Variations an old book I have had for some time. I will probably use the same book to crochet the other colour but use a different design.

I am still pleased with the finished effect but am taking a break from Gedifra (I still have one more colour left) and am back to sock knitting and making a knitted bolero with long sleeves for my friend's birthday in October. I am making it from a DOPPS pattern and that has been another trial as it is very loosely translated and their charts are very vague to say the least! I finished up looking closely at the pattern picture with a magnifying glass and making my own version of the pattern stitch!

I collected some yarn yesterday that has been donated for the project the Knitting Noras are involved in (making outfits and blankets for the local Premature baby unit). As yet I haven't started anything but I have sorted through my patterns for suitable ones and will probably share the yarn out at our next meet. The first lot I have picked up is mostly pink which is OK for the girls and very dark colours which I have re-donated to my neighbour who crochets animal blankets for the local animal sanctuary. I have still to pick up the second lot of donated yarn but the lady I spoke to on the phone said there is some white in there so the boys will get a look in!

I have ordered a couple more balls of Opal sock yarn in the Sale from Angel Yarns but as yet they haven't arrived (nor has the ball my niece ordered for me!). I will give it a few more days before I enquire where the order is. I have started the second Jaywalker sock with the ball and needles that did arrive from Angel a couple of weeks ago but as I find I am a looser knitter on 5 needles I am waiting for the smaller set of needles to arrive before I start another pair of socks. My local yarn store only stocks a few sizes of metal needles in sets of 4 which are no good for the US patterns which use 5. I also prefer the "give" I get from bamboo and wood needles.

Crochet sweater was too small so I improvised

I haven't caught up with my blogging for various reasons. I have done something to my ribs on the right hand side. Had an X ray but that revealed nothing. Got antibiotics in case it was pleurisy but then another doc said no it wasn't that. So here I am still strapped up with my neoprene back support without which I am in a great deal of pain. With it I am in pain but am able to function to some degree.

I finished my 3 coloured sweater crocheted in Patons cotton I had started many moons ago and discovered that I am now a couple of sizes larger than I was when I started it and as cotton in a solid pattern has very little give in it. I felt disinclined to pull it undone as it had taken so long to crochet so I had a brain wave. Using the ball of cream I fortunately had left over I crocheted a panel of cable and inserted one panel either side of the sweater under the arms and made the sweater into a split sided top. Success! A garment that now fits me. I am quite giddy with my designer skills!

I have also managed to crochet one colour of the Coats Gedifa (see previous post) after many false starts. Photos will follow once I have sewn on the buttons. The yarn had all the charm and consistency of a dishcloth on a couple of the patterns I started. It splits like mad when I was working with it and was riddled with knots. No wonder it was reduced in the Sale! I have managed to make a short sleeved cardigan in the end.

I have also been knitting. I have made a shrug from some left over chunky from a free pattern I found on some one's blog. (See there is a point to reading other people's blogs!) and whilst it is looking quite loose on 8mm needles it was one way of making something with 200grams of chunky other than a scarf! Photo of that to follow once I have sewn in the ends.

I have finished one Jaywalker sock (free pattern on Knitty.com) from my Opal sock wool from Angel yarns sale and today I managed to find 200grams of some obscure 4ply wool in the charity shop for 50p that will make 2 more pairs of socks for my dog walking and I also managed to get a pair of brand new walking type boots from the same charity shop for £4.50p so well worth my trip in there today. The dog and I will appreciate those on wet days. On the way back from shopping my old car broke down yet again so maybe my trip out will not turn out to be such a bargain after all. I have to phone the mechanic back after 2pm. Oh to win the lottery and get a decent car that goes!

Crochet yarns at a bargain price

I went into Dunelm to buy a new lasagne dish and came out with bargains galore but no dish! I was distracted by a whole pile of yarn marked down to 99p per 50gram ball. I could not, of course, being a true crocheter pass anything by that is a bargain. I snatched up 13 balls each of Coats Gedifra (50% linen) marked down from £3.95 in 2 shades of dusky pink and 16 balls of Jaeger Roma (15% angora) marked down from £4.95. They had a glittering aray of fancy yarns with lurex and furry bits but I refrained as my retired life style of dog walking and chores doesn't usually run to lurex garments. I already have far too many fancy garments unworn in my wardrobe so decided to stick with the practical yarns although on scrutinising the labels I find they recommend hand wash (bummer) for all of the yarn I purchased.

I started crocheting Gedifra to a DK pattern I already had but decided it had all the attraction of a dish cloth so I am going to browse my stitch pattern book and choose a more attractive denser stitch. I liked the chevron edging of the sweater I have chosen so I will leave the beginning and just change the main body stitch. I will post a pic when I decide on the chosen stitch. It will probably have to turn into something short sleeved instead of a regular sweater shape as the yarn does not seem to have a very good yardage. One ball did about 6" on a mostly treble (UK term) with filet spaces so a closer stitch will be maybe more like 4 - 5". I will work a sleeve next and see if half the yarn will be enough for that. I am getting quite an expert at unripping ( or frogging as the US bloggers call it)

My sock knitting leather belt arrived today from Jamiesons Shetland Wool site and I am really impressed with it. I had a trial run this morning and my speed has really picked up. For years I have never knitted anything using 4 or 5 needles as I have to knit with one needle firmly wedged under my right arm which as you can appreciate is not possible with short sock needles. I remembered my father telling me that when he was stationed in the Shetland Isles during the 2nd world war that ladies used to walk along the road knitting away with a Makkin ( a leather belt with a horsehair pad) with one needle firmly wedged in it. I found this amazing site http://www.shetland-wool-brokers.zetnet.co.uk/accs.htm and found out that the ladies of the Shetland Isles still use these belts on a regular basis for their wonderful fair isle knitted yokes and fisherman seamless jumpers. I ordered one and am now happily knitting away. Sock knitting rocks! Thanks to all the amazing free patterns on Knitty.com (and those lovely ladies with sock knitting blogs in the US - Sockapalooza sites etc) I will be wearing lovely lace patterned socks this winter. I never thought anything would tempt me away from my crochet but this has. It's so addictive!

Thanks to Freecycle I am now the proud owner of a lovely filing cabinet in beige and brown and once I find a web site that does cheap hanging files I will organise all my crochet and knit patterns into one space. No more hunting about the house for that certain pattern I crocheted in 1968! I organised the loft space last month. Retirement is turning me into an organised person instead of the hobo gypsy I usually resemble. They always say creative people are the messiest so that is my usual excuse for my crochet and knit corner in the living room that looks like an explosion when I am in one of my more frantic moods. I now have stacking wicker boxes so it is getting a little tidier when I am not working on anything. The filing cabinet will now house the spare needles etc once I drag out the sewing machine and make some rolls to organise my knit pins and crochet hooks. There are some marvelous ones on the Flikr site that make me think that with a little imagination and perhaps one of my unworn skirts or dresses I could make similar rolls for my needles to keep them together in pairs. One for metal. One for bamboo. One for sets of sock needles and one for crochet hooks. Gosh that's a lot of sewing, perhaps I had better buy a couple of metres of fabric from the market!

Crochet shrug finished

I have returned momentarily to my crochet. I have finished off the short and sweet shrug from the Stitch n Bitch The Happy Hooker book. I have made adaptations to the pattern but still think that the garment is a little bulky looking for my taste. I had made the garment previously for my niece using a lovely linen type yarn but for this one I just used cheap acrylic DK. I made the largest size but on a 4mm hook. The width came out OK but I had to add more pattern rows to the armholes and then add a complete pattern under the arms to give a bit more bust room. I then worked a lot more pattern rows to make the length that I wanted as a shorty shrug just isn't me. I can foresee some more pattern adaptations ahead to work it out in 4ply? I think it would make a lovely summer shrug in a finer yarn.

I am still knitting my socks. I have completed the leg portion of the second sock ( My last post about my first sock and showing the pictures seems to have disappeared from my blog - showing in my archives though) and my tension has improved greatly so much so that I will now have 2 odd socks! My niece was ordering from Angel yarns because I have tempted her into the realms of sock knitting and she has ordered for me some Addi bamboo set of 5 needles and 2 balls of Opal sock yarn that is on sale. I love the other yarns that they sell for socks but the prices are just way too expensive for my pensioner's pocket. I only ordered because she was ordering and paying the postage for her order. I would order more on line but I think the postage charges are way too high. I will just have to search for a wool shop that sells sock wool locally and I can use my free bus pass to go and collect. When I order knitting and crochet books I use Amazon because if I order more than £15 then I can choose the postage free option. I don't mind if my order takes a few days longer to arrive.

My garage is almost cleared. I have advertised the timber that I no longer want on Freecycle and Emma and her boyfriend are supposed to be calling around on Sunday to collect it all. My car has now returned from the repair shop. it has passed its MOT so is good to go for another 12 months hopefully so yesterday I took the bags of old loft lagging from the garage to the dump. All I have left to do now is to persuade my son to come and take the bits and pieces of motor bike that he has stored in the garage and I will be ready for the builders to put a new roof and doors on. It will be nice to have some dry storage for the lawn mower etc and also I will be able to use the garage as an entrance to my house on wet muddy days when I walk the dog. At the moment I have to try to take my shoes off and grab the dog for paw wiping in a hallway the size of a postage stamp!

No crocheting - I have been knitting socks

I have been lured into a realm I never thought I would ever venture. Hand knitted socks. I blame all these US knitting blogs I have been following with their Sockpalooza. I have now knitted my first ever sock on 5 needles. A first indeed for a girl who has to tuck her needles under her armpits to knit (try doing that with a 7" double pointed needle). I managed in my own fashion by pinning a thick wedge of spare knitting to my waistline at my right hand side and jamming the needle that I am knitting onto into that. I have the bruises to prove it from the few times I jabbed me and not the wedge. I saw the idea in the Shetland Isle Knittters of old who used to walk along the road knitting with the needles jammed into an oval padded leather pad on a belt (Wish I could find one of those) Success! I am still working on my tension though as I have knitted the first sock a bit loose for my taste. I will have to knit the second sock the same but next time I will take the needle size down one.

I got seduced by this Monkey Sock pattern http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter06/PATTmonkey.html that I had seen knitted up so many times on the blogs that I made them up. I have not yet been dragged into the hand dyed multi coloured socks as yet. I just made them from Sirdar Country Style 4ply (UK thickness) in black as I am sorry but I refuse to pay £10 or so (plus p&p) for a sock kit. I will try to find some sock wool next time I visit the craft shop in Ramsbottom. I tried the local yarn shop in Bury but they looked at me very strangely when I asked for sock wool and had very limited choice in 4ply. Mostly baby shades apart from black and navy.

I went to the gym for the very first time ever today. It has been a week of firsts for me. I am on the BEATS programme for people who the GP thinks may benefit from doing exercise to help with a long term condition. ie, my bad back. I have heard back from my MP who is investigating with the hospital for me as to why I am still waiting for an operation after being put on the list in May 2005! The MP's letter says he has had a letter back saying they are looking into it for him so I guess there won't be an answer this side of Christmas! They haven't answered my last 5 phone calls so I hope he has more luck than I have had.