Knitted Phone Cosy

My mobile phone contract had expired and I was on a rolling month by month agreement. After 2 years the phone I had was looking the worse for wear so I decided it was time to look at a new contract including a more up to date phone.

As we have Virgin Media for our home phone, Cable TV and broadband internet I can also get good deals on their mobile phones. I've been with Virgin Mobile for about 5 years. Their coverage was quite poor at the start but has much improved and I very rarely have a problem now, although Canterbury can be a bit of a blackspot for reception but then it is for other networks as well.

Anyway, this is my usual long-winded way of saying that I have a new mobile phone. It's an all-singing all-dancing touch screen model and my new contract also gives me 500mb of internet which I didn't have before. I'm also getting an extra 100 phone minutes and unlimited texts to any network, free insurance for the life of the contract, plus my lovely new phone all for £13 a month. This is £4 more than my previous contract but with that one all I got was 100 minutes and 100 texts and no internet.

 My Lovely New Phone.

Besides I just saved us money on our Virgin Media bills. I'd received a letter saying their prices would rise by £5.75 a month from Feb 2014. As our current contract had also expired and again we were on a month by month one I phoned and threatend to go elsewhere if they didn't do something about it. The outcome was they gave me a 10% discount. This negates the planned rise in costs and in fact we'll be paying about £1 a month less than we are now, plus I'm getting a small refund on the remains of this month's bill as the discount comes into immediate effect.

Quite pleased with my negotiating skills.

As my new mobile contract is for 24 months I want to try and protect my phone during that time from the scratches etc. that the old one had, so I spent about an hour today while waiting in for a parcel to knit and decorate a phone cosy. It's based on this design http://bittersweetblog.com/2007/05/07/putting-the-art-back-in-pop-tarts/ but I added some shaped buttons I had from card making instead of the bugle beads. If you want to make one the equivalent needle size is UK size 9 and worsted weight yarn is double knit. It came out a little bit short so when I have time I'll make another but it will do for now.

 I'd like to have a go at a stitched one too so will be looking through my magazines for a suitable pattern when I have time.

I am also making another Doctor Who scarf. The term 'glutton for punishment' comes to mind as I was thoroughly sick of knitting the other one by the time I'd finished it. But, when I showed DH the finished one for DS1 he said he wanted one. Now, as we've set each other a £5 challenge for Xmas pressies to see how much we can buy each other for just a fiver, and as I have wool leftover from DS's scarf I thought I'd indulge him. I'm making it narrower and shorter as he's only 5ft 4 and I think he'd prefer a short one to just tuck inside his coat anyway...and I really don't think I want to knit another 15ft one. I've already spent my £5 on him (3p over but we're allowed 10% leeway) but this wool is technically free so I don't feel like I'm cheating for making use of it to add to his pressies.

Lastly, just a little promotion. I'll only do adverts for my own makes and for my DH so at the top, right hand side of the page is a link for BooBok Educational. This is a company my husband has recently set up with a friend; they produce online and cdrom educational materials. They have a cd out which contains a variety of fun childrens' activities such as stories, colouring pages to print off, puzzles etc. It's available on Ebay or by contacting me and would make a great stocking filler at a reasonable price. There, that's my sales pitch done.

Have a good evening everyone.