MORE BATTERSEA CAT BLANKETS and BIRDS

Over the last couple of months or so I've made some more blankets to go to Battersea Cats and Dogs Home in London. At the moment I don't have anything else to make so this fills in the time until the daylight gets better and hopefully I can get back to handstitching and machining. My cataracts are progressing but controllable with yet more specs and I'm within the legal limit to drive, the optician/optometrist told me. So I knit.

 It has surprised me since I spent a day in Wycombe Hospital having an angiogram (the preliminary to an angioplasty) when I had so many 'visitors' who were interested in my knitting as if it was an exotic pastime! Another patient across from me was amazed that I can knit without looking at what I'm doing. Well, I've been doing it for 75 years so bloomin' well should be able to!

This first blanket is using the same stitch as I did for the larger ones I 've made, - treble crochet in random colour stripes. All these blankets are roughly 24" 'square'. The border is a base row of double crochet, a row of treble and a final row of double again.

 

 

The second one is a small version of the harlequin or diamond knitted blanket I made some months ago. It looks complicated but is very easy to do and takes hardly any wool per patch, that's why I like it. Took it with me when I had my angioplasty a couple of weeks ago and knitted almost a row of diamonds - about 5 patches, I think - though no more after the procedure. I've even sewn in all the tails this pattern leaves for later, unlike the larger one already used as a throw on the settee without being finished 'on the back'... The lady in the bed next to mine hadn't knitted for donkey's years but intends to try again. I hope she's made it!  

 

 I made the third blanket by beginning to use up all the oddments of a few yards of wool which I couldn't bear to throw away. I based it on a Quilt As You Go design where each individual square is randomly pieced diagonally then put together in a pattern. I chose this diamond (again) design as it seemed to fit better into a small space. Each square measures about 6". The downside is it has to be crocheted together...

 

Now what can I do???

At least the snow has gone today, there's a blue sky and sunshine although it's still only 4 degrees C. outside.
The bird feeders are filled - again - the empty half coconut shells which contained suet are replaced and a scoop of bird seed thrown on the path for the blackbirds and one solitary (this year) pied wagtail to use. I had a surprise last evening just as I was packing up to go to bed. I turned on the patio light to see if it had started to rain and there was a badger licking up the bird seed which has been hidden under the snow. I've fetched peanuts from the bottom shed and put a handful or two under the 'cage'meant to keep large birds off seed etc. I know the badger can lift the cage with its snout so I'll find out whether it comes back again tonight. Never a dull moment.

LATEST BIT OF KNITTING

 

 

Here's my latest creation, made in about 5 1/2 weeks. It's not as difficult as it looks because you work on 31 stitches ar a time - one of the diamonds. I used DK wool and a No.8 circular needle, which meant that the weight of the knitting was on my lap. Not something you'd want to make in the summer months! It measures 4' x 4' and I'll use it as a throw on the back of the sofa. No sewing together but 400+ tails to sew in - sometime!!!

 I have no idea how to 'cancel' the large amount of white space below here as it won't highlight, so, sorry, another How Do You...

WHAT A WEEK...

It's been a bit of a pickly week, what with one thing or another.
On Monday I had to go to the dentist (about 48 mile round trip) to have a crown repacked round the base as I'd had a problem. Eating my first slice of the homemade blackberry jam I'd been given I heard a loud Crack! The dentist was away the next day (Friday) so I had to hang on until Monday, hoping I wouldn't swallow the crown if it fell off. He took an Xray and couldn't see any damage so repacked it on gum level and that was that. 
On Tuesday, about midday, I felt a bit lightheaded so, not wanting to fall over, that evening I called NHS Direct for some advice and they sent - an ambulance... Two paramedics brought in their bag if gubbins, stuck little sticky patches all over me (well, nearly) took details, did lots of BP readings and decided I needed a Responsible Adult to stay with me until I went to bed. They eventually managed to get hold of Stuart who turned up to watch TV until I went upstairs. Duty done all round.Then to the doctor in the morning. It's an ideal way to get an immediate appointment - 'The ambulance came to me last evening...' and I had a time for 20 mins ahead. Mad scamble to get dressed and out!
Friday was a doctor's appointment - yet another doctor I didn't recognise - but that went OK. I asked for the results of the chloresterol blood test I'd had some weeks previously and it's gone up slightly so I've reverted to statins after giving a four month trial to Plant Sterols instead.

On Friday my granddaughter, Diana, and her daughter, Danielle, who is 22 in March, came to choose a blanket as Dan is now living in a cold, heatless house while it's being remade.It belongs to her partner and the tenant who moved out left a mess to be cleared up.  This is the blanket she chose.
The house has a neglected garden covered in blackberry bushes and will probably need a goat to clear a way through them. Well, that's what various websites say.
In the evenings I had been knitting a What Can I Do Now blanket for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home which I finished and posted together with a mouse toy - patterns provided.

Such a boring pattern - 8" squares of the same colour...which made a blanket supposedly about 39" square. Must be a bloomin' great cat! The mouse was a bit fiddly but it's a bit like putting in a bar of chocolate with a Christmas present for a child, just an extra. I doubt I'll do another. I made this because I've given up stitching for the winter as I find the light isn't good enough, even with a standard lamp and a Proper 150 watt bulb on one side and a craft lamp on the other.. No daft Euro- demanded bulbs for me until I'm forced to use them. I have a stash of the good old ones upstairs...

 

Then, while I was having a quick look at US blog sites to find knitted blanket ideas I found this.

I think it's more an ongoing project rather than 'sit and knit until it's finished'. But it is possible to knit-and-read at the same time once you get into the swing of it.

It's made in one piece so heaven knows how heavy it will be on my lap later on. Or how hard on arthritic hands, either!This piece is 4' wide. Takes about 20-30 mins to knit each 'square'.

You can see in this closeup that there's no sewing together involved as each 'next square' is from picked up stitches. I like the way the double-decreasing centre row makes this tidy line up the centre of the knitting.

Here's the reverse...



and here's a photo showing that there will be 'hundreds' of tails to sew in at the end - if I ever get there!! I don't think I'll be able to take this to appointments at the surgery or hospital to pass the time!

http://luannsloosethreads.blogspot.co.uk/p/knit-mitered-square-sock-blanket.html

 

Kath found another pattern which I sent for but it's done on three needles and makes a 'puff' which you fill with your chosen stuffing as you go along. I took one look and decided to put it on one side. The photos seem to show double-ended needles arranged as they are when you graft two sets of stitches together. Perhaps some other time.

 

Both of these patterns are made with Sock Wool, which I'd never heard of until a while ago when I decided I'd make some knitted socks to pamper my cold old feet. I looked in a local wool shop and found the price for a 150 gm ball of sock wool is anything from £10-£13 so forgot that idea. Until eBay... I now have a ball of lovely multi-coloured wool sitting on the table and a downloaded US pattern of socks made on TWO needles, not the usual set of four which Americans seem to favour. Shades of my Mum knitting during the war - not for me!

 

The garden's a mess with the empty pond filling up again. Gillian's on holiday and the heavy-work gardener has taken himself off to what sounds like a commune in Spain for a month or two, so it'll just have to look after itself. The wildlife will be able to enjoy it.

 

My boiler has been playing up for months and I finally decided to get something done about it. The plumber (registered) lives across the road so has been coming and going when he hasn't been working in the evenings and I hope has finally cracked it, being a persevering sort of bod. It seems that wireless timers/room thermostats (or whatever) are influenced by eg baby alarms if they're on the same frequency so by taking out the same pin on the room stat and the thingy in the airing cupboard it has (cross fingers) cured it!!! Now I have heat all the time and not hit-and-miss as it has been for months...! That's tempting fate!

 

At least the sun is shining, must put out some washing before it disappears...

 



LATEST CROCHET BLANKET

This might have to be the last crochet blanket of this sort that I make. I have arthritis in my left thumb joint where it meets my hand and crocheting for any length of time makes it a-c-h-e... This measures 39" x 52"-ish and has taken since about Christmas. I was really 'off' any kind of handicraft in the early part of the year so, at last, this is another one to cross off the list of Waiting To Be Finished things on the go.
I hope I can finish bordering the Granny Squares and then putting those together - with crochet.
Still plodding on, very slowly, with a lap quilt I'm hand quilting and that's going fairly well, especially if I have something to listen to. At present, it's 'Sharpe's Trafalgar' on cassettes, which I prefer to CDs. Only thing is they're abridged where CDs aren't...
And I've just cut some papers to start another long-hexie quilt.

MORE BLANKET WOOL

I recently ordered another package of random choice wool on eBay - the seller's choice, that is. It's ideal for blankets and I still have left-overs from the previous package I bought from her. At £10 for 16 balls plus £6 for postage that's just £1 a ball, no slogging round the charity shops to see if they sell wool (some do) and paying about £1.30 for it, though admittedly you are buying your choice of colour, if they have it. Wool shops are hard to find, in fact, I don't know where there is one! This comes to my door neatly packaged..
I reckon 5 strips make a blanket about 45" wide and I've just started strip No.3 of blanket No. 3 in the current series.

NEW MAKINGS

Just recently I've been stitching 'Long Hexies' from Kath's pattern during daylight hours and knitting when it gets darker - here are the results so far.I've stitched some of them together into individual patches of 4 long hexies and a pale yellow centre square then stitched four of those patches together. Most of them are not joined yet, I'm waiting until I have more sets to choose from. The bottom left individual hexie, orange with a kind of leaf pattern, came from the cover on one of the pots of jam my daughter recently brought me from Holland.

I make lap quilts which are about 45" square so this one is half done. I recently bought a nice new thimble from Cotton Patch, called a Clover Protect and Grip Thimble. It has the usual metal top with a rim to stop the needle slipping but the body is flexible yellow plastic. It's so comfy I wish I'd known about it years ago. This is the latest blanket which I finished yesterday. It's almost the same as the one I did last month as I've knitted this one in 'bars', too. Just to make it a bit more interesting I made every 4th bar in two colours so that it breaks the lines a bit. Now I'm stuck for what design to do next. Any ideas?

MORE BLANKETS

I've made a couple more charity blankets. These are both 4' x 3' and will go to schools in Burma which deal with orphans and blind children. I visited the lady in the village whose son is the driving force out there and she showed me photos of the children. The blind children need sensory toys and these are shipped along with lots of other items - clothes, toys, books etc. Everything is donated and I was shown a large 'spare' room, which felt about the size of the whole of my ground floor, with items waiting to be packed and a garage with already packed boxes waiting to be collected.

The top blanket is knitted in a rectangular pattern, two adjacent squares at once, changing colours halfway along the row. There are seven 'strips' in all, crocheted together and then the edge crocheted to finish it off.

The blanket above is a different pattern, just to make knitting them a little bit more interesting.

This one has slightly wider strips, and just one 'bar' at a time. There are 5 strips so not as much joining later on. I've adapted a quilt binding strategy and the outer edging is made up of bits of wool which are too short to make a row of knitting. I can't bear to throw anything away!

In the background is the arm of my magnifying lamp for handquilting and the roll of upholsterer's wadding which I use as the filling in a quilt sandwich. Both of these take a bit of carting upstairs and then down again when I need them so I leave them in my lounge and don't 'see' them any more...

Any ideas, anyone, of how I can pattern more blankets? Nothing complicated....

BLANKETS AT LAST!

I've been trying to get these pics a decent size for a couple of weeks now, ever since Kath spoke about her crochet blanket. The originals are 6 x 4 SLR photos taken up to 20 years ago... sometimes scanning is OK for this type of photo, other times it's a nightmare. This is as good as I can get it without a special computer programme.

Anyway, these two 'Granny' crochet blankets were made for charity but I have no idea, now, who I gave them to. It's not so much the finishing of the item, more the making of it. I can't remember what I did with the taggly ends, I certainly wouldn't have sewn them in, much too long-winded.

This blanket has a different pattern for the individual square, not a 'granny square'. I wonder where this one went?

These were made while I've lived here, one crochet blanket and two knitted ones. but some time ago as they're also 6 x 4 prints.

These are digital photos - so much easier!

This is 6' x 4', which I always make the size for 'large' blankets. Once upon a time I went to Oxfam's warehouse in Bicester and saw how many knitted blankets are thrown away and go to be 'ragged' because they don't conform to Oxfam's preferred size. All made with time, care - and money - but dumped. I asked in various Oxfam shops and none of the volunteers had any knowledge of a particular size being wanted.

This is a 'small' one, half size at 4' x 3'. I get bored with knitting plain strips so decided to take a quilt patch pattern of half-squares and do that instead. Still in garter stitch, though.

Another quilt 'pattern' - I've made several strippy quilts so thought it would be interesting to try one in knitting. There are 5 strips here to be crocheted together, that's all. 4' x 3'.

The last 3 blankets are laid out on my lounge floor while I stood on a chair to take a photo - well, I shan't do that again!!

I'm crocheting together another small garter stitch blanket at the moment. The three above went to a charity taking things for Romanian families. Recently I bought a pack of 16 assorted wools, 100g each, for £10 plus £6 p and p from eBay and the joy is they come to your door! And £1 a ball for blanket wool is cheaper than the shops...

My Knit and Natter group have a contact locally who takes things for an orphanage in Burma so may swap to that.