This book made me laugh and cry.....

I just had to write about this brilliant book.  "The Friday Night Knitting Club" by Kate Jacobs is set in New York and tells the story of a group of women with one thing in common.....an interest in knitting.  I was going to say "a love of knitting" but that wouldn't be true of all the women.  A variety of love-hate relationships would be more accurate.  

There are a few books that follow this type of theme.  But this is definitely one of the best.  The plot has several twists and the characters are very different, well described and believable.  Kate Jacobs made me really care about what was happening to them.  It was one of those books that I really couldn't put down.  I was even up early on Easter morning reading the last couple of chapters.

One little section had me in stitches.  Excuse the pun.  Georgia is in hospital and her boyfriend has bought a knitting book and is reading it to her:

"You do one kay, then one pee, asterisk, repeat five," he read.  "Then yo, kay two tee, and yo again.  This is wild stuff, isn't it?"
"It's awesome," she said.  "You're doing great.  Keep going."

You have to be a knitter to understand the joke.  When you also know that the boyfriend is a cool dude, his "yo" is quite hilarious.

The book has a brave ending which I didn't predict.  I won't give too many details, but a box of tissues came in very handy.  Luckily, I already have Kate Jacobs' follow-up book called "Knit Two" which continues the story five years later.  

I'm always on the lookout for fiction with a knitting theme.  So if anyone has a favourite book like this, I'd love to hear about it.

Aran crochet blanket.....

Here's the completed Aran crochet blanket that I started a few weeks ago.  It is destined for Greenfields Africa which is an organisation that supports communities in Kenya and Uganda.  I have just Googled the temperatures in these countries and in winter it can drop to 12 degrees centigrade.  UK blog readers are putting up with freezing temperatures at the moment.  But at least we have blankets and duvets.

As an incentive for women to attend ante-natal classes, they are given blankets and other items for the babies.  This blanket measures 36" by 36" which is their preferred size.  When I chained the first 36" it looked quite short.  But I soon found out that 36" square is quite large. It will still fit a baby when it grows into a toddler or small child.

I used a lot of odd balls of Aran wool and was amazed at the different thicknesses of what should all be 10 ply yarn.  I actually had to use 2 different sizes of crochet hooks to try to even out the appearance of the stripes.  The finished weight is about 500g which I have made a note of in case I ever make another similar blanket.  The stitch is basically half trebles (UK) into one loop only.  It makes a lovely squishy, warm blanket.

I'm pleased with the way the colours have turned out.  I simply used what I already had.  I started and finished with a row of bright red and then crocheted more red along the other 2 edges.  The other colours were teal, turquoise, maroon, cream and a mottled red and white mixed yarn.  The turquoise and mottled yarns are finished.  But there is enough left of the other colours to make 2 or 3 hats and I am already looking through patterns for something interesting.

Preemie knitting.....

I went through a phase of knitting for preemie babies and angels a while ago.  I count myself very lucky that I have no personal experience of premature birth or losing a baby.  But I enjoy (if that's the right word) knitting for these babies.  Apart from being a worthwhile cause, these items can be knitted in as little as one hour and are a great way to use up scraps of yarn.

This collection has been ready to post for some time.  I used to send my preemie items to a London based organisation.  But the lady who valiantly tries to run it on her own is having a rest at the moment.  I belong to the Loving Hands group and could send them there.  But I am always aware that sending parcels all the way to Scotland involves a lot of road miles and so I only do that as a last resort.  

This morning I came across the Preemies UK website.  This organisation is based in Droitwich and is much closer to where I live.  It seems to be a thriving group and they are currently in need of blankets and other preemie items.   That was music to my ears.  I packed a parcel and trekked out into our unseasonal snowy weather to post it.

The little lilac cardigan was knitted from the following  pattern and I can recommend it because it is knitted in one piece with very little sewing required.  

Time to say goodbye....

No, not to blogging; I love it too much.  But this is about knowing when you are never going to use certain wool or yarn and being strong enough to say goodbye to it.

When I returned to knitting about 15 months ago I discovered fancy yarns for the first time.  I was amazed by them and bought a few whenever I saw them going cheap.  I even used them on a few projects.  

Little hedgehog

Angel memory squares

Angel gowns

But since then they have sat in a bag at home.  I love the end results, but don't really enjoy knitting with this type of yarn.  I hate waste and I am an avid declutterer so I put them up for auction last week.  Here they are:

Off to pastures new

This morning I posted them off to their new owner who, it turns out, really loves this type of yarn.  She is happy with her bargain and I'm happy to have a couple of pounds to spend on wool that I will actually use.  That's what I call a "win win" situation.

Charity knits: thinking globally...

As I look back through this blog, there is a definite pink theme.  That is purely by coincidence and I'm not really sure how it happened!  Just to be different, I dug into my bag of bargain wool and pulled out:

• lime green wool
• grey and brown camouflage wool
• cream wool that was a little too rough to be used on its own

These came in one of my bargain buys and I can understand why someone else would avoid using them.  However, I like the challenge of producing something useful from the unlikeliest of yarns.

I knitted 2 little waistcoats by combining the cream and lime green for one and the cream and camouflage wool for the other.  The cream softened the lime green and gave more of a tweed effect to the camouflage wool.  All the wool was dk weight so the end results are warm and chunky.  

The buttonholes are quite large and the only suitable buttons in my box were a plain beige colour.  So I used grey thread on the camouflage waistcoat and pale green thread on the green waistcoat.  Small details matter and I think the buttons now look perfect.

I used up the remainder of the wool by knitting 2 little baby hats.  The colours are not the obvious choice for baby hats.  But these items are destined for Greenfields Africa which is an organisation that supplies blankets and clothing to children in Kenya and Uganda.  Colours that would look strange in an English nursery will fit in perfectly in another part of the world.  

The waistcoat was very easy and quick to knit.  The pattern is called "Mayflower's Basic Bodywarmer" and it can be found in the pattern section of the Loving Hands website.

For the ribbed hat, I used the Basic Ribbed Baby/Child Hat pattern.

For the plain hat: I used the Basic Baby Hat pattern.

Another Leibster award

Elisabeth's Elizy Art Crochet blog is well worth a visit for its inspiring and pretty crochet photos.  

She recently added me to her list of Leibster Award nominees.  Here are her questions and my answers:

1. What is your favourite day of the week?

 Monday, surprisingly, as I only work on Sundays now.  That means when I wake up on Monday mornings I have a whole lovely week ahead of me.

2. If you were an animal, which would you be and why?

A horse, because they work hard and people generally love them. 

3. What is your favourite song?

Spanish Eyes.

4. If you were President/Prime Minister for a day, what would you do?

Go to work in a shop or factory to see how normal people live.

5. What are you afraid of?

I'm not keen on dogs, though I'm not as bad as when I was a child and petrified of them.  When you are 3 years old and the same height as a mouthful of fangs, it scars you for life!

6. If you could speak another language (that you don't already know) which would it be?

Polish as it would be useful to be able to speak to a lot of the people who come in to my workplace.

7. What craft do you want to learn but have never tried?

Quilting.....maybe one day though I don't think I have the patience or eyesight for it.

8. Which country do you most want to visit?

Canada.

9. If you had a day all to yourself completely free of responsibilities and things to do, what would you do?

Pay a visit to Holmfirth which is where "Last of the Summer Wine" was filmed.

10. Do you have any bad habits?

No, and I lie as well!! 

11. If you could go back in time and witness a famous historical event, which would it be?

I would love to have seen the Tower of London being built in the 11th century.  It fascinates me that this ancient building still survives surrounded by modern London architecture.

I recently nominated quite a few bloggers for the award......they know who they are!!!!

Pink baby blanket....

Do not adjust your computer.  The wool really is this pink....even pinker in fact.  The stripy ball came in a bargain joblot.  It is a random mixture of white, pale pink and shocking pink.  I loved it to start with.  But the dark pink is even brighter than the photo shows.  It is quite loud.  I mulled over what to make and eventually decided on a baby blanket.  I already had a cone of light pink wool and I am knitting with both yarns together.  This is working out nicely.  It is a great way to use up the 2 ply coned yarn and the light pink is successfully toning down the shocking pink and adding a light pink tone to the bright white.

This blanket is a simple diagonal garter stitch pattern.  I'm pleased with the way the random stripes are slightly irregular in shape.  The stripes will become narrower as the blanket grows and so the shocking pink should eventually lose some of its retina peeling effect.