Driftwood...

I've got a bad case of 'startitis'. As you can see I've started another little project (I say 'little' to assuage the guilt). It is indeed working up quickly thanks to the lacy nature of the stitch patterns. I've done three times as much as these photographs show.

The pattern is from the book 'Rustic Crochet' by Yumiko Alexander. I treated myself to the kindle version knowing full well that only a portion of the patterns would be items I'd want to make. I know that I will be making several of these 'Driftwood' shawls. They are versatile wraps/shawls/scarves that will work in all sorts of yarn types.

In this instance I'm using some unidentified yarn that I picked up for 50p in a charity shop. It was wound in skeins and I have to be honest, it looked like more yarn than it actually was. It's light and airy and extremely fine. It's also very rustic; hairy and more than likely 100% wool. I wound five balls from the skeins and it comes to a paltry 150gm but with a lot of yardage, so I'm working blind and hoping that it will at least make a useful length of the pattern and then it will be time to be creative with my small supply of tweedy four ply yarns by way of tassels or different coloured sections. Worst case scenario is having to buy something that's a good match and adding panels either side of the work. I say worst case scenario because this was supposed to be an attempt at using up random wool finds!

I'm pretty sure this will need blocking when I've finished it. The yarn is quite crinkly to start with. Maybe just a steam whilst hanging vertically if I can get away with it. It has required a little concentration and counting so I had to put it to one side recently whilst I watched, for the first time ever, Beaches with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. It really should have come with a Kleenex Tissue Warning!! Though to be fair the song Wind Beneath My Wings gets me every time I hear it.

M's favourite Bette Midler sing is The Rose. I'd never heard it before and never will if I'm honest. I tried to listen to it very loudly through headphones but I just cannot do what I call 'new music' which means music I don't already know from years ago when I could hear a few percent better. The sounds don't make sense to me. It's a bit like phantom limb syndrome. I can really only listen to music I know already because my brain fills in the gaps that my ears can't pick up anymore. It's difficult to explain. I'd probably do better if I heard a man with a deep voice sing it. I can hear deep sounds a bit better. Hence why I like all the old fashioned male singers from the days when you could actually tell the voice apart from the backing music. Well that and happy memories of playing 40s and 50s singles on my Grandparent's record player.

Talking of which I don't think Jake is at all impressed with my taste in music. I 'borrowed' Ella's record player last weekend and set it up in the conservatory next to my crochet (mountain of) supplies and put on an album I'd bought from my charity shop. The first track was Born Free by Matt Monroe and that was belting out just as J and M arrived home unexpectedly early. Thank goodness I wasn't attempting to sing but I was caught red handed and the look on Jake's face was pure bewilderment. He said, 'what      is     this?' I told him it was proper music and he pulled a face equivalent to abject horror. So hurtful! You can see why I very rarely play music in this house.

It's a miserable, overcast morning here in Lincoln. Housework, dog walk, charity shop shift and crochet is the order of the day. I'm looking forward to the crochet at least!