Ted

Ted is an unassuming little fellow. He was quite content with his cane furniture suite and a view of the television. Imagine his delight on receiving a versatile rug/blanket to match his sweater! Daytime TV is now even more cosy with a wool rug beneath his feet and afternoon naps with his feet up on the foot stool cosier still.

Ted is still pondering life outside in the big wide world whilst secretly storing useful items in his little messenger bag for when he feels brave enough to venture out there. So far he has a map of the village, a compass and a marmite sandwich.

Meet Ted!

My, how time flies when the men in your life are at home all day! I've had J moaning and groaning on the sofa under a duvet for two days and M building stud walls and making lots of mess.

J has had a terrible cold/flu type thing. He valiantly carried on last week not wanting to miss any sporting stuff and then promptly collapsed on Sunday. Such a shame his blanket wasn't finished!

J is back at school today and M is away working too. Such glorious peace. Just me, the dog and the cat. I think I will be continuing yesterday's pattern of sitting down and crocheting away, since I pulled a muscle in my lower back and it blinking hurts. Ouch! Note to self, do not move heavy sideboards on your own.

I started the second half of J's blanket but also felt the need to break from monotonous crochet and rustle up a new friend...meet Ted! All teddies in our house seem to end up being called Ted, with the exception of Mr Chubbs of course. I'm quite pleased with Ted and find him a lot less creepy than the cats. His head seemed ridiculously large until the other body parts were added and then he seemed ok. The pattern is free from Jenny and Teddy. I will try and add a link via my blog list since it is a faff to open up my old netbook and create a link that way. (Blogger on iPad is limited).

Yes, Ted has met with royal approval. The teenager spoke and was nice about him. Shock horror!

A wet weekend...

Bit of a washout weekend here in Lincolnshire. Rain, rain and more rain; heavy rain, drizzling rain, torrential rain, cold rain, icy rain. Perfect dog walking rain. (Thank you Harvey!)

I've been patiently waiting for good light to take some snaps with my iPod but alas no joy! Hence the murky offering.

The cat with no name who turned out distinctly male now has a female companion. Same brand of wool, same weight, same hook but she has turned out a little smaller. Strange. I may replace her whiskers with white ones at some stage but for now I am all crochet kittened out!

I have in mind a few tweaks and ideas for the basic cat. I've already altered the arms by a few stitches here and there to make them hang slightly better. They were a bit chunky at the top before. Not that you can tell with the chunky sweaters on. I think the ears need some work too, they look like they've been in a cat fight or two. That's the nice thing about crochet for me; I find it much easier to alter patterns than I ever did with knitting.

Meanwhile the real cat, Mollie, is not reclining on the back of a sofa for a change. No, she prefers sunshine for that. She is warm and cosy behind a sofa, in her cardboard box.

A crochet cat...

I can't quite decide if the final result is cute or evil looking! Maybe the eyes would look better in blue. I might make this cat a friend in a softer colour and see if it turns out less creepy looking. Maybe it's just me, and cats. I'm definitely on more familiar territory with dogs.

It's difficult to see his smiley face in black cotton against the charcoal wool. He could also do with a nice little crochet jumper or a scarf or something. He definitely won't be getting a round the world set of outfits as per the pattern suggestions. The pattern is from Crochet Today and the cat featured is called Coco. Coco has been to London, Russia, Holland, Japan, Venice and Spain. The London outfit made me laugh. It kind of looks like 1960s Twiggy style.

Talking of Twiggy... My Coco is definitely not stick like. In fact he is positively chubby compared to the pictures provided. I'm not sure how this has come about. I used the correct weight of wool and hook. Oh well. I am clearly not the only one to have produced a cat that looks different from the magazine photo; google 'coco the crochet cat' and you will see what I mean.

Nurses and Nuns...

I'm a real sucker for a period drama these days. I just love seeing the costumes, the furniture, the textiles, come alive in a way a museum could never achieve.

It doesn't have to be that far back either. TV drama's set in the 60s have huge appeal because you can still pick up china and textiles from that decade.

'Call the Midwife' is a little further back and totally enchanting for its knitwear, crochet blankets, textiles and fashions.

So, while M was blubbing over the predicament of Chummy and her baby I was marvelling over the making and giving of the crochet blanket by the nurses and nuns. It may have had a liberal dose of beige and colours probably weren't so vivid in those days but it was surely a thing of beauty? Well I thought so. She was literally wrapped up in the love of those women and it worked, she survived and so did the baby. Enough to make any man cry!

(Incidentally, once upon a time M wouldn't even have watched such a programme let alone get emotionally attached to the characters. I've well and truly converted him!)

I can't find a photo of the touching a scene anywhere which is a shame. It made me want to abandon all WIPs and start a traditional granny square blanket.

Happy Mother's Day...

I'm really not comfortable receiving gifts. I much prefer small thoughtful bits and bobs than grand gestures. This year I made sure that M and the children did not fall out over gift shopping (like they did over Christmas shopping). I gave them a maximum limit and told M to leave the children entirely to their own devices. They are certainly old enough now, at twelve and fifteen. E could certainly hone her patience skills but I admit it isn't easy shopping with J.

They did well and I am chuffed to bits with my new books and gorgeous bracelet.

I'm having a restful day. The laundry is staying put in the basket. The weekly shopping has been done by M whilst I soaked in a hot bath (well you've gotta milk it once a year eh?!).

A few crochet bits and bobs are by my side. I've been doing a few rows here and there but nothing worth a photo update as yet. I've been slightly distracted from the blanket project and started a cat! Yes a cat. Very random I know. At the moment the head is peeking out of a basket of body parts, complete with proper cats eyes and he is looking extremely sinister. If he remains evil looking I will have to think again and maybe change him into a dog (not with magic but with new ears and eyes!).

Sunday stroll...

M and I had a rare weekend without the children. Well, 24 hours anyway. So peaceful! We took Harvey to Hartsholme. It's beautiful there, with several large lakes and lots of tributaries and boggy bits. Naturally Harvey couldn't wait to get wet but thankfully he's just too excited to be swimming and exploring and leaves the ducks and swans alone. He doesn't stop to say hello to other dogs either which is no bad thing as there were quite a few there. I'd love to know what Harvey thinks of small chihuahua's with pink fleece coats on, we passed three of these on our walk.

At one stage he was so wet and muddy that someone asked to take his photograph. He happily obliged (OK with a stick in my hand and the 'wait' command!).

On the home straight to the car park Harvey suddenly realised it was car journey time and he stopped his happy trot and started slinking along commando style. Pathetic!