Katy’s rambles about life

I have a knitting pattern for a wrap over cardi taht I want to make for me. i have yarn ready for it. Then I realised I don’t have the right size pins and wondered about crocheting it instead. No problem! Found a website explaining how to convert patterns between knitting and crochet and set to with a gauge square. Using the right sized hook for the yarn and the right number of stitches and double crochet (or single crochet if you are in the US) for the prescribed number of rows (aparently 1 row of dc=2 knitted rows) I get a gauge that is roughly 1 inch too wide but 2 inches too short, the piece is also really hard, as in it doesn’t drape and feels nasty etc not as in difficult to do.

So I’m off to do a gauge square now with a big hook (cos I don’t have enythig in between a 5.5 and an 8mm) and see how that feels on the grounds that a bit of extra width in the pattern I can live with, I have a little extra width of my own to contend with you understand…. and if using an 8mm hook gets something like the right height and any sort of drape I’ve won and if not I’m off to the shops for 5.5mm pins to knit it after all!!!! (or I’ll see how it knits up on 6mm pins, what’s 0.5mm between friends after all…)

yesterday Becca and I went to Chester with Jane and Ben. They had the huge excitement of going on a bus that “knelt down” for little legs and wheelchairs to get on easily and a brief trip into the Disney shop (where she got a new winter coat for £14 that should have been £30!!) before getting to the reason for the trip - Chester Cathedral. Nice place but I do have to own up to having “issues” with places of worship charging £10 for a family ticket to go in. Yes, you get a headset for a comentary which was very interesting (it held the kid’s attention too which impressed me) but I would have been more comfortable with being able to wander in free and paying if I wanted the headset hire. But that’s just me.

So we did the full tour, lots of ooh and aah at the beutiful workmanship etc, lots of respect for what the place it, lots of inteligent questions. Then we toured the gift shop, I spent £3 on Becca, Jane (who is hopeless with money…) spent about £33 on Ben. A quick trip to the butty bar (sorry, that would be the refectory then) and suddenly we had 2 droopy, miserable, sulk-faced kids. Hmph. So we got the bus back to the Park and Ride (and yes, I know it’s cheaper to park in Chester than to park there and get the bus but I wasn’t driving….) and home.

They loaned us some of the Narnia videos and she watched the lot - LW&W, Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawntreader. First one is pretty good, second one was naff, third on okay. Took all afternoon and she barely moved off the sofa. Then she had a total melt down at being asked to clean her teeth…. then she went to bed!

No stamina these kids….