Well, this morning "Betty" my new mannequin arrived from ebay. Goodness knows how they can sell these at only £5.20....and they are available in all colours....fantastic buy.
I was amused to say the least to see our "shy" young My Hermes lad with a female torso tucked under his arm. It was wrapped but very tightly so it was plainly obvious that it was the female form.
Poor lad hadn't even noticed until I asked him why he was man handling a woman...lol.
What a different Betty has made to my displays and photos. She has a hook in her neck, so that she can be hung from a door or tree branch etc.
I took pics of her in the retro waistcoat and also the bolero.
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I have had a very busy week with my crochet. Firstly I made another corner to corner blanket to go in my Folksy shop.
I made this one like the last one, by working two strands of 4ply yarn together. This made the blanket extra thick and cosy. I just did a plain blanket stitch around the outside. There is something quite satisfying bout finishing a corner to corner blanket.

Once this blanket was finished...I rewound some beautiful purple glitter yarn. I wanted to make a retro 60's waistcoat but it is many years since I made one. In the 60;s I had them in by wardrobe in every imaginable colour and on holiday once, I sold TWO "off my back" to people who came up to me and asked where I had bought them......never one to refuse money !!!
Not being able to remember the mechanics of it (old age) I found a free pattern online and commenced to make it.
Mmmmm....that was NOT a good idea...there were mistakes in it right from the start!
The pattern had a shell stitch on every 5th chain and each size was 2 shells wider than the next size....so that is 10 ch per size (I may have failed at maths but I am sure that is right) SO WHY did it say 120 ch for the first size and 140 for the next size? yet every other size was just 10sts extra....
My brain might be getting older but I knew this wasn't right...When I got to the armhole shaping there mistakes there too.....Fortunately, because of my past designing experience, I was able to "cobble" and adjust the pattern to make it correct.
It makes me wonder though, how these patterns get through the loop.
When I worked for a well know Spinner back in the 60;s , each pattern was sent out to three knitters to be tested....
Moral.....design my own,.... just as I always have done.
Now I am designing a summer lady's bolero.
The main part is finished, I just have to do the sleeves. This one has been worked from the shoulders down . That makes it easier to pick up the sleeves and know that the shells are all facing in the same direction....watch this space !!!!!

I have had a busy few day crocheting.
Firstly, I needed to use up some 4ply yarn. I use 4ply for lady's summer tops or baby clothes but these colours were not really suitable for babies and those colours that were, were not enough in quantity to make something larger.
After a lot of thought, I decided to mix 2 x 4ply colours together to make a random yarn and I made a corner to corner blanket.
I am really pleased with the result.
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corner to corner blankets are fun to do and once you get to the widest point each row gets smaller and I find myself getting faster and faster to get to the final row.
I finished off the blanket with a row of blanket stitch.
Once this was finished I decided to make some ribbed winter hats. I know summer is coming but I also like to stock up and also I hate having small balls of yarn just hanging around. I made a black/grey mix hat and then one in a pink/grey mix.
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Finally I decided to make another poncho as I had some 100% wool that I wanted to use up. I am pleased with the result.
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Way back in the 60's I crocheted literally hundreds of pretty angel tops. Now, mostly called Matinee coats I decided to crochet another one.
Although many of them are similar, this one is my own design and created in 4ply acrylic to give it a light and delicate feel and look.
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this week I have been working on lacy summer tops. I live in hope of a nice summer.
I started off  with a lady's version in 4ply acrylic in a bright orange colour. I think it turned out quite nicely, so then I made a 22" one in dk for a child and yesterday a 24" one in a white lurex acrylic dk.
Today I have almost finished another 24" dk one in bright pink. I can now work on larger sizes and get them listed in my shops,.
The ones so far are in my folksy shop
www.folksy.com/shops/teabreaks
The pink one that I am just finishing will go into my etsy shop over the weekend.
Here they are......
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