Crocheting with Hugh Grant

Thanks to Hugh Grant I finished my Mystery Blanket on Tuesday morning.  Okay let me expand on that.  No, he didn’t call round for a cuppa and say ‘Here pass that over I’ve have the edging done in no time’.   Basically I think he is a horse’s ar…er, rear end and avoid films with him.  I know he appeals to some people, obviously, and I pass no judgement on your mental state if you are one of these poor, sad individuals.  I however find him extremely irritating.  That said last Wednesday I found myself watching a film with him in completely by accident.

I needed to stay up until quarter to twelve to take some tablets and some visiting friends left at eleven because one had to work the following day and one had to golf so I found a film (Extreme Measures) to watch which wasn’t my usual cup of tea.  It was medical (something I tend to avoid on the telly and always have) and Hugh Grant – he was a surprise as he wasn’t mentioned him on the information.  Having taken my tablets we retired to watch the rest in bed, well to be honest Bud wasn’t too interested in it since there was no barking, growling, etc.

As it turned out it was actually quite good and I ended up watching it all before I nodded off.  So Gene Hackman (who I like) tells Hugh that he’s paralysed due to a fracture at his sixth vertebra severing his spinal cord.  I’m lying there thinking ‘There’s more than one number six in the spine, it’s not necessarily C6’ and then Hugh tells Sarah Jessica Parker (who I can take or leave) that the fracture is at C6 – DOH!

So what the heck has this got to do with my crocheting.  Well on Saturday afternoon I started getting a pain in my left shoulder/back area made worse when I attempted to iron.  On a scale of one to ten let’s just say it was noticeable.  I popped some paracetamol and 60mg of codeine and in light of watching said film and having some loosening at C6 I sat down on the settee and took it easy for the rest of the day by crocheting.  It was tons better on Sunday though I stuck to the crocheting and when I went for a free massage on Monday (four free massages at the local oncology centre with every relapse – there has to be some perks) the aromatherapist did say that there was a knot in the muscle.  From my experience with L3 which started 10 months before it actually collapsed I still currently have full range of movement and no ‘Help, I can’t get off the toilet.  I hope B is home from work soon’ muscle spasms.  It’s not bothering me enough that I would make a specific trip to the Royal but I will mention it when I go on Tuesday.

 And that’s how Hugh Grant helped me get my blanket finished and here it is… 

Would I do a mystery blanket again?  No.  It was a bit pricey to do more than once and while I do like it’s more decorative than snuggly and a bit smaller at 89cm/35″ wide x 142cm/56″ long  than other blankets/throws I’ve previously made and a tad heavy, in my opinion, to display on a wall.

If I had seen the completed design as a pattern would I have attempted it?  No.

Am I glad I did it? Yes, my crocheting has improved a lot and there are a number of different techniques in there that I probably wouldn’t have tried like beading – which I really, really liked and would do again.

The designer, once again, is Jane Crowfoot and next year’s blanket, although I haven’t seen the hint shots yet, will be more feminine and lacy and involve less sewing up and presumably less ends to weave in.  I lost count after 100 but I don’t think there can have been much less than 1,000!

Other Creative Spaces can be found here – don’t know if Hugh helped anybody else out.

Crochet Club

Yesterday’s ‘thank you for your concern’ – was heartfelt but when I looked at it this morning when I replied to a couple of comments I thought ‘Oh, it looks like when you’re a kid and you get a present and you mumble thank you shyly and then your mum says shortly after, because she was too busy gabbing to hear you, ‘Say Thank You’, and you say ‘I did’, and whoever gave it you and heard says ‘She did.’ but your mum looks at you in such a way that you have to say ‘Thank You’ again feeling really embarrassed and so loudly that it looks like you were rude enough not to say it at first and now you’re only saying it because you’ve been told to! Uggghhhhhhh I hated that – being quite softly spoken it happened a lot.  I don’t think it’s traumatised me though do you?

Okay that said, on to today.  Normally I don’t even entertain the idea of a knitting kit and any kits received such as Rowan ones when I was a member ended up becoming something else completely.

However back in the summer I saw on a blog about a crochet club.  I think I was in the throes of Share a Square at the time (remember 30 April deadline and you get a lovely thank you from Shelly – I don’t know how she finds time – they do say that everything is bigger in Texas – I can only think this applies to the hours too).

So I put my name down and then about September I had to confirm and commit to pay.  It did seem a lot to pay but since I had just started back at work and B said yes. (Well actually B said ‘If you want it, get it’ which in relation to crafts means ‘I think you should buy it if it means that I don’t have to hear/talk/see anything else about it’ – That’s how I got my embroidering sewing machine.  We were in a shop in Edinburgh and B wanted to be on any sort of road heading home.)

And before the yarn arrived I thought about how much yarn or anything else I could have bought instead.  However once the yarn arrived I was so excited.  What’s not to be excited about when you receive yarn?  And even though I don’t know exactly what the finished article will look like (it’s extreme crocheting) it can always be a Christmas gift!

and beads…

The first lot of patterns were being emailed out on Saturday so obviously I didn’t get to it until yesterday.  I started it today and, brace yourself to be amazed, here’s what I’ve done so far…

Hey, I had to undo a row as I was one dc (double crochet) out and it knocked me back a bit… well, a row!

(And yes, the photos!  I think the camera is past its teething troubles and into its teens.)