My hairdresser, who is lovely and I see quite often (I'm cursed with premature grey hair - I'd look older than my mother-in-law if I let it show!) had her first baby a little while ago.
And, in my usual fashion, I knit a baby gift for her that took me a month to actually give.
Though, in my defense, she did have the baby a whole month early! So, technically the gift wasn't really that late.
I had wanted to give it to her at my last appointment before she went on maternity leave but hadn't sewn on the last three buttons and blocked it. But she wasn't there for that last appointment anyway, because her little man had been impatient to meet his mum!
So, you want to know the pattern details of course!
The cardigan is Beyond Puerperium by Kelly Brooker; made in NB size; using Vintage Purls Sock in Abilene. I didn't do the garter borders, but did all over stocking stitch using m1 increases (instead of the kfb) and bordered it with single crochet using left over VP Lace double-stranded.
The booties are Stream Baby Booties by Julia Noskova done in the same yarn to match.
And it's got me all a little nervous about how disorganised I'm am in preparation for our little one arriving - what if s/he decides to be early also?! I don't even have clothes to bring him/her home in!
My big brother had a little boy just before MiddleMiss' birthday last month. And a new family member means an excuse for teeny tiny knitting.
And not wanting it to take me forever to design a special, for-the-new-baby knit that would only just be gifted before it was too small like I usually do, I decided to just knit someone else's pattern.
The free, NB size pattern is written for 8ply/DK yarn but I wanted to use up some of my Vintage Purls sock yarn stash so re-calculated the numbers to suit. Though, if I wasn't such a cheap-skate, I could've just bought the full
Beyond Puerperium pattern which is multi-sized and written for three different yarn weights (including 4ply).
In my defense, I didn't even think to check if the full version included 4ply until after I'd knit it anyway!
Details:
Yarn - Vintage Purls sock in 'Chaff' and Patons (I think? very old, missing ball bands) crepe wool
Elephants - stranded knitting
(my first attempt!) using
this pattern
Buttons - umm, still to come?
One of my little niece's had a birthday last week.
This is the little niece that has an abundance of toys to play with and spends as much time as she's allowed out on the farm with her Dada anyway. So what do you give for a present?
A knitted hat and mitt set of course!
Done in a nice bright red - easy to spot in the paddocks if she decides to go wander off to meet Dada without telling Mum first!
She was very excited when she opened them and nicely posed for photos.
And, if you want to make your own pair of mitts, I've put the pattern up for free
here on Ravelry. (The hat pattern is not my own, but it's free through Ravelry too -
Lina.)
Lina Mitts Pattern Details
One size - to fit an average child (approx 2-10yrs)
Only uses scraps of yarn - 83m/90yds of DK/8ply (mine is done in
Vintage Purls Max)
Guage: 22sts x 30rows over 4"/10cm on size 6/4.00mm needles in stocking stitch
This is another catch-up post...
Saturday was Mum's half-way birthday. At least she's hoping it is!
The girls had spent several days beforehand crafting all sorts of interesting things and then wrapping them up, so present opening had to happen without waiting for the everyone (well, just the one brother and family as it was just a very small party) to arrive.
And here is my present:
This was the secret knitting I was doing.
Then the big brother arrived and the food was put out and the relaxing began.
As it was my SIL's birthday the next day, I had also (finally!) blocked the shawl I'd made for her at the beginning of the year.
I didn't have any photos of it so had to quickly take this after she'd unwrapped it!
And I got lots more knitting done.
Sometimes it's nice to take a break from larger knits and do a nice little project. It gives you the satisfaction of a finished object quickly.
BigMiss had her 7th birthday last Wednesday and I had the great idea of making her some mitts to keep her hands warm on the walk to the school bus in the mornings - but only when I had a week left to get them done!
After a quick search on Ravelry I couldn't find too much that I liked so I took a basic idea of a cable rib pattern, used a glove pattern I had in a book to get a rough idea of stitch count and made it up. I didn't want the gauntlet style like most mitts are, but individual finger holes are not that easy for kids to get on and off themselves so I compromised and made two "finger" holes that fit two fingers in each. The outside 'hole' is sloped to follow the natural shape of the palm and not cover the little finger too much.
Please excuse the pink-ink fingers!
The pattern is only on the cuff and top of each hand with a stocking stitch palm. I'll write up the pattern sometime soonish and post on here if anyone's interested in making their own. The ribbing makes them fit a good range of sizes - my 4yr old tried them on for me as I made them, and Kahli has heaps of room in them also. These were made in Mist Me? sock wool by
Vintage Purls.
And to join in with the KAL (knit-a-long) for
Budding Designers Downunder, I made this
Poppy beanie to match a
Rainbow Dress I made for my niece. But, unfortunately, it doesn't fit her and I ran out of wool so can't make it any bigger. At least it looks cute!
Just a quick update on what I've been knitting lately...
This is the other sock for my sister. She was down for the weekend so I'd been working furiously to get it finished to take home with her. She didn't have the first sock with her so I couldn't get a pair shot, but at least I got to see they fit her!
This is where I'm up to on my Theodora sock (not a very good photo as it was taken at night). I'm past the heel and they're a nice fit - loose but not too loose.
The other thing I've been working on lately is a pair of mitts for BigMiss. It's her birthday this Wednesday and I noticed the other day on the way to the bus stop that she was hiding her hands inside her jersey to keep warm. I don't have any photos of them yet (one's finished and the other just needs the fingers done), but I'll try and get some modeled when she knows about them!
And I'm just about finished my pullover/jersey so I'll have the pattern up as soon as it's done and photo's taken (maybe this week if I'm not too busy with birthday party etc!)
My Mum came down to visit for my birthday this weekend, so I decided to get out her socks that I'd made ages ago and finish them. They had never made it to her as one had a small hole made by some naughty puppies we had in residence over December (the babies of our dog, Ima). I asked for
advice on Ravelry and was shown a very helpful video on how to fix it up. So, this morning before they left, I quickly fixed up the hole, sewed in the ends and let her try them on to take home with her:
Unfortunately, the yarn (Vintage Purls 'Glamour Girl') is probably too varigated to show the design good. This is
Bloomin' by Jeannie Cartmel and looks much better on a plain colour as you can see the nice flower design. Anyway, she likes them and thinks they're nice and warm and that's all that matters.
Also, to save myself the hassle of redoing my
Urban Shells scarf to make it longer, I decided to just ask Mum's opinion on whether she'd wear it as a small scarfette instead. She said it was good enough so got to take that home with her also:
It just needs a brooch or something to keep it in place.
Right, just a quick update. I can never find my needles and that's usually because they're all in projects. So I've decided to try and finish a few projects (or at least free up the needles in use).
So the first thing I finished was my Heart of Glass sock (yes, singular - not the pair):
The next project I tackled was a pair of longies that I was half-way through the waist band so quickly freed up the needles in them (I still have to do the legs so they're not finished properly either).
Then I decided that I would finally finish my sister's sock (yes, singular again - but only cos I want her to try it on before I do another one and find they don't fit):
And I've picked up my jersey I'm designing to do some more on that.
I'm also slowly working through the Olearia I'm making too:
But I've also cast on a new project too:
This is Theodora for a KAL with the Vintage Purls group on Rav.
And lastly, I started and finished (actually, ran out of yarn) a scarf for another KAL on Rav:
This is Urban Shells for the Budding Designers Downunder KAL. It was a nice change as it's not knitting, it's crochet. But I might be doing it again as it's too short for a proper scarf. It did it in Vintage Purls 4ply double stranded so I figure if I do it in single strand it should end up longer, hopefully.
Anyway, need to set the table for dinner before J gets home very soon so I might come back later/tomorrow and tidy this post up a bit.
Here's some of my latest:
Spring Butterfly in Utiku Watermelon and Peony Rose trim for a friend's new (well in December she was new) baby girl. I knit this in 3mth size and I'm not sure it'll fit her anymore as I only gifted it yesterday. I had it sitting around needing ends sewn in and blocking done, but I never really liked the ruffled hem. So I finally changed the hem, sewed in the ends and blocked it last week.
My other finally finished project I nicely forgot to photo before gifting so I'm waiting on my SIL to send me a photo or two to update on here and Rav with.
And my other latest FO is one I managed to get done in a timely fashion - it's always good to have deadlines!
This is a test knit for
Celia on Rav. It's called Salsa Verde and is a really neat scarf/stole pattern in either 8ply or 4ply. You knit the scarf starting from each end and meet in the middle where you graft it together. The pattern is in both written and graph format. I'm not too sure when she's hoping to release the pattern, but I suppose sometime next month.
This was really hard to get a nice photo of (or maybe I'm just useless at getting nice pictures). There are three different lace patterns and a small amount of stocking stitch in the middle (to keep your neck warm). I knit this in Vintage Purls Denim Love.
I do actually have another FO that I just blocked today, but haven't got a photo of yet. I love competitions and Tikki was having
one for her newly released pattern, Eden. I thought it would be a good excuse to make some nice winter singlets for the girls. I've knit my first one in 4ply but I'm not that happy with it. I knit it straight off a knitted top I hadn't frogged yet in Utiku Merino Baby 4ply and probably knit it up too loosely. It knit up really ugly and kinky as you'd expect from unravelled wool but I thought it would flatten and improve with blocking. It has flattened but it still has the holey look from being knitted on too-big needles for the yarn weight. I was hoping to work a design in duplicate stitch on the front but don't think it'll work well over the loose stitches. I might give it a go anyway, though I have started the next top in two strands of the Utiku 3ply (mixing white and cream so this will be interesting also). At least LittleMiss really likes it and it is nice and soft and fits well so it will get good use for warmth as intended - I just don't think it's competition entry material, that's all.
And here's a sneak-peak of my first attempt at designing:
I'm trying to go for a unisex design with the cables and rib as there seems to be a lot of girl stuff out there and not much boy stuff (can you tell I'm starting to think about boy stuff now - just in case?) Though LittleMiss (when trying it on her) said the collar wasn't as nice as the one on her (store-bought) knitted cardigan/jacket which made me think I might be able to do a jacket version of this too as more specifically girly.
I'm not sure what to call it? When it's knitted is it a jersey, a pullover, a tunic, or what?
And I already have my next design in mind too, more suited for boys...
I knew when I started this that I'd be a useless blogger...
Anyway, my knitting took a bit of a break during Feb as morning sickness was worse when I sat down and did kntting. But I did (just) manage to finish the Budding Designers Downunder KAL that I had high hopes of doing two of:
This is my Vanilla soaker done in NB size to match the Looking Glass Longies that I'd made ages ago. Don't tell anyone, but I haven't sewn in the ends on the soaker or one of the legs of the longies. And you can see that neither have ties yet. And they still look the same now (Aren't I useless?)
And this month I've manged to get the KAL done with time to spare, which is a good thing as it's a birthday present for my niece who turns two on Wednesday (31st):
This is the Arwen skirt made with BWM classic. I'm a bit nervous that it will be too short for her, but at least it's easy to add another frill if I need to.
I'm currently working on a test knit scarf in a lace pattern which I'm about halfway through. This will be for me which will make a change from most of my knitting as it's all for everybody else (gifts or kids). I'm useless at taking photos so don't have anything to show yet, but I'm doing it in VP sock yarn, colour Denim Love.
Anyway, off to my midwife app now to make sure we're all good and growing and to organise when to go for a scan etc. LittleMiss is quite excited she gets to hear the baby, except she's expecting to hear it crying! The other two were disappointed they have to be at school and don't get to come so I might see if we can do a scan when they can all be there.
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