Cats!

After I lost Oscar I didn't want to replace him for a long time but I do miss having a cat. 

My daughter was the same after her cat Zara had to be put to sleep. However she decided she would get two rescue kittens and here they are, Ginny the tortoiseshell & George the ginger tom.

                                     

Claire bought a sort of  tree house for them & below George is coiffuring his tail in the top section. The cushion needed to be covered so I made a cover & then crocheted another multi coloured one to go on top. George laid claim to the top of the tree!

It has a lower crescent shaped section & Ginny seemed to be relegated to it. I made a cotton cover but shrunk from doing a crochet one.

Eventually I gave in & made a crescent shaped one. Not exactly perfect, I had no pattern. 

As you can see below it was an instant success & was much appreciated by Ginny!

 Mostly I have been knitting & crocheting with the charity craft group. I like knitting these as they can be made so quickly & look so sweet.

It's hard to believe but this wool we have been using is really cheap and it's lovely quality. We've been getting it from Poundworld I think, I always get mixed up but I think Poundland do wool too. It's only £2 for 3 balls, amazing quality.

I'm still struggling on with the gansey I'm ashamed to say. I'm blaming the bad light as it's very difficult to knit navy wool in artificial light. I make too many mistakes! Also the fact I hate doing circular knitting. I'm on to the sleeves now & have had to abandon the circular needle & go for a set of aluminium couble pointed needles which I can manage a little better but I still don't like thid type of knitting. Would have been much quicker to just knit the pieces separately & have seams, I never mind sewing things up. Also you can hide the ends of the wool in seams much easier! 
Now the days are getting longer I'm going to have to do more or pardon the pun I'll miss the boat!

Knitting for Neo Natal Units

The photograph above is one I took at the knitting group I joined where we knit items for various charities. As well as knitting hats & scarves for the Apostleship of the Sea and Seamen's Mission, Alzheimer's groups, orphanages in Zambia & India, we also knit for the neo natal units in the North East of England.

The clothes in the photograph were ones that a guest speaker brought to show us what they need. We had been knitting patterns from the Internet & weren't sure if they were appropriate. I was knitting very small stuff but I noticed that other things being made that I thought would fit babies who were not premature.

It was really difficult listening to some of the information relating to the items she brought. They collect wedding dresses that people have very kindly donated. How many people keep their wedding dress in the cupboard until it's ancient! They have seamstresses who remove all the trimming & then take the gown apart and make beautiful burial gowns for the babies. You can see one on the right hand side of the photo. There were also little pockets and cribs made from ice cream cartons for the really tiny ones as well as a range of clothes for the babies so they can have clothes to wear right up until they leave the unit.

We were supplied with a good range of patterns for all the garments so we can vary what we knit & in a range of sizes.

We have a great laugh whilst we're knitting & there's no bitching, well apart from about politicians as there's no dearth of ammunition in that quarter from home and across the globe!


 
This is a set I made a couple of weeks ago, but you can't really see how small it was. I should have put something next to it to show its size in relation to the knitting. Sorry about the picture quality, it's off the phone as I had forgotten to take it in daylight. I was taking it to the meeting and couldn't find the camera. I couldn't resist adding the bows!

This is a batch of hats, mitts & bootees. They don't take long to knit so you don't get tempted to put them away!

This is the latest set, minus the buttons for the moment. The church pays about £7000 for a container which they will pack with all kinds of things to go to Zambia at Easter.

 

 

 



 

Again apologies for the picture quality. I must get back to taking photos with a proper camera as I think the phone must be going ga ga. It has shut down a few times recently for no apparent reason & I've had a job resuscitating it. When I have, it's lost the plot with date & time. They're great when they work but awful when they don't.

 

Maybe it's a warning I need to get a new one. It's a shame because I've liked this Windows phone & only had it for 3 years. Well that's usually 2 years longer than my children keep their iphones but we're not on the same planet when it comes to spending dosh on phones! I can't believe people spend £30-40 a month on a phone! There again I'm a child who grew up in the period just after the war when money was tight so I have a totally different approach to money!

I've Been Knitting & Crocheting Like Mad!

 

 

 

Once I retired I started to knit again. I managed to keep my wool buying to a minimum for a while but I got really hooked on knitting lacey shawls. I have about five lots of wool waiting for shawls but I'll do those in winter. However I have bought quite a lot of wool in sales in recent months. I've done quite a lot over the last few weeks but I need to slow down with it but most of all the wool buying!

 

I thought I had got over the habit of starting new things & then leaving them but obviously I haven't.

 

I started to crochet the blanket above & I really like it. I changed the colours to blues, beige & cream as I just don't do pink. I'm making it in pure wool & I've got quite a lot done. Would have had it finished but it was too heavy & bulky to take on holiday so it's standing in the corner of the dining room. I'm not putting it away in case I forget about it!

 

One of the 45 squares (I've done 35)

I did manage to crochet a little summer bolero last week from some cotton that's been lying around for over a year now. The pattern below was very quick & easy to do. I made it in white & it's lovely. However it's quite heavy so may not make it into the case for the next holiday! 

 

My next tour is to the Orkney & Shetland Islands in September. I'm not expecting warm weather in fact I assume it will be pretty windy, cool & possibly wet. I don't wear hats as I don't think I suit them probably because I wear glasses. However I know I really need one for that trip. On our last tour in the Hebrides it was very chilly & some ladies bought pom pom hats on the Isle of Mull. They were very nice but cost them nearly £30! So I decided to knit one a couple of weeks ago. I liked the one below.

 

 

The Baby Alpaca Silk  was lovely & soft to knit with, however after I finished it I decided the pom poms were a tad twee so I crocheted a flower.

 

This is the finished product below.



 



  

I'll probably never wear it again after the tour but I don't want to have to spend a mint on buying one in Scotland. 

 

I also made an Estonian shawl for a friend. It's the Triangular Summer Shawl from Nancy Bush's book Knitted Shawls of Estonia. I've made it four times now & I love the pattern despite all the nupps! She hasn't got it yet so hope she likes it.

 

 

I'm more than half way through making this jumper below in blue cotton but I've stopped. I know the reasons why I usually stop, either I'm not sure I like what it's looking like or I've altered the pattern! Yes, I've altered the pattern. However I need to keep going, I can't have more stuff lying about.

 

 

I also have the cotton for this back fastening jumper!!!!!!! Don't bother watching this space, I have no idea when I'll get it done as I've decided I want to make a quilt, not a huge one though!

 

 

Knitting Delays Dementia

Well I always knew it was good for you but I didn't realise just how much!

Neuroscientists at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, US, have been studying the benefits of crafts in reducing memory loss. In case you ever needed proof that knitting is good for you, here’s the story.

Nearly 200 people between 70 and 89 took part in the study. The results showed that regularly taking part in craft activities such as knitting or patchwork can reduce memory loss by 40%.

It appears that watching hours of television increases the risk of memory loss, so to make the most of knitting’s essential benefits, switch off the telly and stick with the knitting.

The UK’s Alzheimer’s Society has come to similar conclusions, and believes that certain activities, including knitting, can enable the brain to develop reserve brain connections that can delay dementia.

Well now you can justify all that stuff you buy. No need for excuses, you have a valid reason. "Oh no pet, I'm not wasting money, I'm staving off demenentia"!

I got this information from Coats Craft website. There are some great free knitting, crochet, cross stitch and sewing patterns there.

Another good site I found lots of good stuff on was All About You. It has some really good free knitting patterns in the craft section.

I especially liked this little girl's cardi. I can see I'll be knitting it for Lauren. There's a long sleeved version too.

All About You

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My Latest Fad!

Inspired by Rudee's gorgeous shawl, the idea of knitting one started to grow in my mind. I've always loved shawls and lace knitting but I've never knitted one. My fine lacy knitting has been confined to little baby matinee coats. I always finished them!

I had managed to get over my urges to buy wool, and lots of it, when all the wool shops around me closed. I bought loads of it and there's still quite a hoard of it in the black hole cupboard under the stairs. Every now and again I get it out, look at it, think what I could do with it, then put virtually everything back. I have knitted quite a bit of it over the years but there's still a lot of guilt about the money just lying there. Yes another one of my guilty pleasures which I thought I had got over.

Now that I've been reading people's blogs about their hoards of fabrics, wools and other stuff I don't feel quite as bad. They call it a stash. Doesn't sound anything like as bad as my hoard of unused stuff. In fact it sounds a really positive thing.

I'm tempted to get all of it out and display it in my shelving unit in the spare bedroom. It would look quite nice, a bit like a wool shop that I've never had the pleasure of going into for years. There just aren't any here now. Problem is everyone would see it! I say everyone, I really mean my husband. He knows there is quite a lot of stuff in there but as it's spread out and in various bags, it doesn't look so bad. I'll just leave it there!



Have to say I enjoyed browsing about on the Internet looking at all the beautiful lace shawl patterns and the scrumptious wools on the various sites. I got totally absorbed with it looking at the fabulous colours of that lace wool. Main problem was I wanted to feel it.

Eventually I decided to make this one. It's not the mammoth one that Rudee is making but I'm hoping I can manage it. If I do, I get the feeling this may become a habit. Oh the pleasure I got out of looking at the lace wool on all those websites doesn't bear thinking about for too long. It takes all sorts doesn't it!

I got the pattern here from Knitty and really enjoyed reading about how it was designed. It's called an Aeolian shawl and apparently the inspiration came from aeolian erosion in the Mohave desert! Well whatever takes your fancy.

Next I had to research where to get the lace wool. Most Internet suppliers seem to be in the USA but I did find one down in Wales. This is the odd bit. Yes, I know it's a wool website and the idea is you order there, but the colour I wanted was out of stock, so I decided to ring up to have a chat about it.

The lady was really lovely, her two children had just broken up from school and I could hear them chattering in the background. She was really helpful but the shade I wanted, shades of deep blue, won't be available for a few weeks. She did have my second choice, variegated shades of lilacs and blues, so I went with that. I consoled myself with the thought that it might be easier on the eyes to knit the lighter coloured wool! It's an age thing.

What was really surprising was it worked out cheaper than ordering over the website. Weird that!

Now I'm dying to get my hands on the wool, it looks so gorgeous. However I'm dreading my husband's comments if he's here when it's delivered. I'll have to hang around the front door tomorrow!

Just hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew as they say. The pattern is knitted with a circular needle which is not one my favourite things to use. In years gone by I've used them for yokes on fair isle sweaters and was glad to get them finished. The pattern is composed of various charts which I need to print out. Probably easier to keep your place with them than following rows of written instructions. You can mark them at the side to keep a tally of how far you've got. The other thing I've never done is that soaking and blocking of lace. Sounds a bit daunting but I'm up for the challenge. I've also got lots of babysitting to do over the school holidays so maybe knitting will help me keep my sanity if the monsoon weather returns.

In the meantime I'm getting on with my long overdue mailart cross stitch project for Michelle. Got to finish that before I start the shawl.

Can't wait for the Open to finish, it's been on all day and it's near the nail biting end but I have to get off to church now. You'd think I was a golf fan. I'm not, but it's been an interesting afternoon. Will it be Westwood or Watson? I'll find out later.

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