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!

It's growing!

Well it's not going too badly.

The rib was a double one & I decided to cast on using double wool to strengthen the edge. Eric's wool jumpers always seem to wear on the cast on ribs especially the sleeve edges. It did make it a bit bulkier but I hope it will be much stronger and last the length of the journey.

Next came the Blyth Tall Ships logo which wasn't too easy to see in such dark wool. Definitely have to knit it in daylight.

Now I am on a stretch of plain knitting for 50 rows. A bit boring but at least I can watch telly whilst knitting. Feel a bit guilty knitting during the day but needs must!

The thing I really dislike about this is knitting on a circular needle, I find it a pain. The knitting keeps turning and you keep having to slide the loops over the cable join. Give me straight needles any day. I was tempted to buy a set of 4 needles but I'm not keen on that either. I did try to buy some really nice quality Knit Pro needles as I already have a cable but they don't do size 2.75! Never mind I hope I can get over it although I doubt that very much as I've used them a few times and just gave up. I don't have a choice with this jumper though, no seams allowed!

Next stage is the waves, should be fun!

Meanwhile the charity knitting goes on. 

I've knitted a couple of brown V neck tank tops as we used to call them in the 'sixties. Think they call them slip overs now. It's an awful colour to knit with dark brown, again difficult to knit in the dark. However it's for an orphanage in India & the jumpers will get dirty and dusty and won't get washed very often. So it has to be that colour for the poor little souls.

Also still knitting for the neo-natal units in the area and the Apostleship of the Sea. These crochet little tops for tiny babies are quickly made and it's a nice break from the dark colours. The hats for the sailors supported by Apostleship of the Sea are quick & easy to knit too. 

Well back to the gansey while the light is good!