Hospital Entertainement!

As I mentioned, when my daughter was in hospital the play nurse came an offered her a choice of things to do before she went down to theatre to take her mind off things. My daughter (I am pleased to say) selected something crafty rather than the other things on offer, but no sooner had the nurse gone off to find the bits and pieces for her 'dream catcher' (which she had sold my daughter as being useful while under anesthetic) than we were called down to theatre.

When she came back all groggy and plastered up to her arm pit there was a box of bits and pieces at the end of her bed. As soon as she had come round properly and I'd persuaded her to take her medicine (no mean feat) she was desperate to make something. The only way to do this was for her to choose items out of the box with her good arm (which is not the one she 'uses') and then tell me what she wanted me to do with them. So, under strict instruction this is what we came up with.

I was quite impressed by the range of materials they had and it was good distraction for daughter and worried mother alike.

Stash, Stash, Stash

After some encouragement from our school librarian (you know who you are fellow wool fiend) I eventually got round to organising my stash into a kind of system. It's in one place (ish) at least. So the scary truth is that after an honest overhaul (outcasts sent to help the aged) I still have 6 very large plastic storage boxes stacked from floor to ceiling. They are grouped into 4ply, lighter than 4 ply (sock/ lace), aran, chunky(ish), cotton and fancy/ not sure where to put that. I can't bring myself to photograph it because it really is a shameful admission of my yarn addiction.

However, then there's this box. This one is full of yarns I have bought/ acquired since the reorganisation. There are some really gorgeous, deluxe skeins in here, with the serious damage done at Knit Nation where I made the mistake of touching some silk skeins and whoops I'd bought them. It is absolute heaven to stick your hand in.

I must get some yarn self-control, I must get some yarn self-control, I must get some yarn self-control, I must get some yarn self-control............

For anyone interested, my daughter is picking up nicely, fingers crossed that all is as it should be when we visit the hospital on Monday.

Ouch!

Despite my recent post which was scheduled as I'd written two the other day I've not been doing much over the last few days as my daughter (7) had an accident at the park with a see-saw. As a result it's been a couple of traumatic days at the hospital. She's broken her wrist in two places with the growing plate from one bone moving off somewhere else and she went to theatre yesterday, but we've got her home now. We intent to sit and watch back-to-back films for a day or two, and do some high level treats and spoiling until she's feeling more with it.

While we were in hospital the play nurse came and offered her games, TV etc, but she perked up when craft was mentioned, but that's a story for another day when I'm not on full pampering duty.

Knit Love Club - ''Caretta Caretta"

Caretta Caretta got renamed in my project page on Ravelry to 'bling- berries socks' because the colour of the yarn reminded me of blackberries which are over- ripe and leak their colour everywhere.

The 'bling' element was obviously in connection with the beads (that sit in the lace pattern holes) which I have continued onto half the instep pattern attempting to stop where my shoes would come.

The yarn was Spirit Trail fibreworks Sunna and is unbelievably soft and deluxe to work with, what a treat to go with another of Alice Yu's brilliant patterns.... I enjoyed these so much that I knitted other things in between working on them to make them last longer.

Shawl for a journey

I've just finished knitting 'Citron' a free pattern by Hilary Smith Callis on Knitty. It was really, really easy, even though there were a great deal of stitches by the last ruffle and I cut it short by a couple of rows because I was out of wool having used a ball of yarn with a few metres already pinched for another project.

A brilliant knit while on a long journey in the car again (and afterwards too), where I could knit away with relatively little concentration, but the choice of colour changing yarn made it interesting.

The Noro (Silk Garden- Sock) I used seemed to soften after I washed it before blocking - still, I think this will be once to be worn over a top, not next top the skin. I love Noro colourways, I just wish they had the tactile quality of some of the other yarns I use.

Dress- finished at last

With a bit of a struggle with the invisible zip I eventually finished my dress. I decided to add a frill of the bodice fabric to the bottom of the skirt which seems to have balanced it better and as the striped cotton is quite firm it helps to hold out the softer black fabric and give a bit of shape to the skirt.

Amazingly (since it's been so long since I've sewn myself a garment) it fits nicely, so I'm quite chuffed with my handy work.

It also swishes round nicely!

Peg Dolls

We've been making peg dolls out of bits and pieces from our recyling collage/ junk box. They were good fun and approached with a high level of ambition from my daughter, some bits she needed help with because they were a little fiddley for little fingers, a good amount of PVA glue seemed to be the key.