Photo flop!

I feel my crafty mojo creeping back after many months in hibernation. Even the thought of teeny baby knits couldn't lure it out of hiding. I guess that was for the best really as teeny baby knits wouldn't have lasted very long for this chunk of a girl. She's already outgrowing her 3-6 month clothes and she is the grand old age of 9 weeks! The few baby knits I made especially for her lasted roughly 2 weeks before they were too tiny.

So anyway, back to the rediscovered yarn love. Like I said, it's creeping back slowly. After the six week job of creating a little soft bunny, I gathered all the unfinished bits and decided to crack on with them. First up was this:

 Started when I was around seven months pregnant (even then I must have had an idea this baby was going to be a real biggie and so not to continue with the teeny knits), I just wanted to get cracking on winter cosiness. Oh, and use stash too :)

So I found a knitting magazine supplement that used a similar yarn weight and knitted up this hoodie for Cain. In the pattern it was stripey but that was a step too far for my tired, fuddled pregnancy brain. 

The photo's are pretty rubbish, but all I could grab between feeding, cuddling, and playing. It needs a button too for the collar, have to go search the stash for one later. Looks nice and warm though doesn't it? The only problem I had, besides the rubbish photography, was the arm length. Now I'm pretty certain Cain has average size arms, he's certainly not of gorilla upper body proportions, but when I knitted to the pattern the sleeves only came partway down his lower arms! Luckily they were knit top down so I unpicked and added another 13 rows, roughly 5cms, and they are now fine.  Just have to watch he doesn't fray the cuffs dragging his knuckles along the floor ;)

Another UFO on the needles right now, this time one that's been hanging around for maybe two years or more. Might even be able to share it within a couple of days.........

-x-

Many hands.......

If only I had all the hands to fit the projects I have finished this weekend! I would fly through the gift makes I still have to start :)

The Hitchhiker is no longer middle big girls yule gift, I just couldn't face the idea of having to knit up a matching hat and gloves in the KC Riot, it is such a fine DK it would take me all of the time I have from now to Christmas! Instead I cast on these on Saturday evening:

Middle big girl wants gloves she can wear whilst driving and thinks fingerless would work better, and she loves all the chunky cable designs that are everywhere in the shops right now. These worked up really quickly on chunky/bulky weight yarn and used just under 100g for both. And best of all I used stash wool, the Patons Symphony found at a car boot sale during the early summer, so super pleased.

I also managed to finish the bubble rib scarf for biggest girl this weekend:

 Worked in Stylecraft aran so that I wouldn't hear the news that she had shrunken it (last years pure wool Mirasol gift....!) this scarf has taken forever. I have picked up between other makes and tried to squeeze in at least one repeat every night, but this weekend I decided I just had to get it done as I was avoiding my knitting corner altogether to avoid this looking back at me. Very pleased with the finished result though and I hope biggest girl is too. Just a pair of gloves to complete the set.

But instead of casting on the gloves (still have the mans on the needles and one pair is enough for now!), I cast on an instant gratification knit:

Thick warm chunky soft mittens for tallest, smallest big girl. Worked in Wendy Serenity super chunky on 10mm straight needles, these were finished almost as soon as I cast them on. I used this pattern to make this an almost mindless knit, perfect for late night tiredness, waiting for littlest girlie to sleep. If you're thinking of using this pattern I have to tell you there is an error in row 10 and 11 which is easily sorted, but if you have any problems shout out.

And last, but only for now, I cast on this hat for middle big girl, to go with the fingerless mitts from the very first post:

I came up with the pattern to match the cable mitts and I'm very, very pleased with it :) I think it may even become the hat of the season, with one for grandgirlie, and maybe even littlest girlie too. Cast on, knit, and cast off all within an hour or two, just perfect for a quick gift. I may try writing up the pattern if anyones interested?

I still have a pretty long list to work through but it finally feels as I'm getting somewhere. And right now I only have three projects cast on, I wonder how long that will last?

Hope you're all enjoying your Christmas crafting and NOT putting yourselves under pressure to complete. It's fun first of all, remember ;) And I'll be the first to shout out when I've had enough!

-x-

Finishing again.

Ooh, two finished projects in one week, steaming ahead!

This one isn't strictly a gifting one though, although I may well make it a part of a seasonal gift outfit, depending on how things go.......

The girlie suddenly hates to pose:

And yes, I cropped this photo! The mess on the chair is enough, I'm not showing you the mess around the rest of the room too!

Gah! These photo's are awful!

Haha, wouldn't you know, the camera just went flat so I can't upload the only decent photo!Hmm, maybe I should have finished here rather than updating Rav too?

This cardi was lovely to work on, the yarn is supersoft but the pattern very quickly became boring. A super easy pattern for a beginner knitter, just cast on, garter stitch and cast off, with some picking up of stitches to create the body. The sleeves and yoke were worked sideways with some casting on and off to form the neck opening but no other shaping at all. If you can knit a scarf you can knit this cardi!!

Technical details on my Ravelry page (ooh, can you tell I'm still loving having finally "got" Ravelry?), but for those of you who haven't joined up, or are awaiting your invite, then here you go:

Pattern - LionBrand Sideways yoke cardgan. (Have you checked out LionBrands pattern database? Lots of free knit and crochet patterns for a simple login).

Yarn - Rowan RYC Wool Tweed (aran weight) 4x50g with only 15g left over.

Needles - 6mm (yarn states 5.5mm and the pattern states 5mm with a different yarn but to get the right tension I had to use the 6mm).

Difficulty level - super easy!
Size - a generous 2 years I would guess.

Issues - The neck seems a little "gapey", maybe I'll add a collar or trim it somehow?

Would I make again? - Yes I probably will, maybe a more sunshine toned one for the spring as I think it would make a great cardi for those days when it is too warm for a coat but still nippy.

So yay, another project done and dusted, and I can get back to the gifting makes again. I still have lots of hats and scarves to get started yet.............if I can remain undistracted by pretty shawls :)

-x-

Sometimes.......

.....I finish things too!

After sharing so many started projects, I thought I'd better show a finished one too :)

Remember the big hat I told you about? The yule gift for biggest girl?
How difficult is it to get a decent photo of a beret when it's not on a head?

First I tried a pumpkin:

And then the rest of the yarn pretended to be a head:

And I gave up on the crown and allowed it to look like a pancake:

So there we go, a finished project, and it's not cheating to show it now even though technically I could have shown nearly a fortnight ago, is it?

Right, back to the knitty business. And shhh, I'm off to check Ebay too.....

-x-

As good as it gets!

The knitty thing is done and blocked. 

The little girlie tried it on and loved it.

I whipped out my camera for a shot.

And she didn't want to play!

So this is as good as it gets for a modelled peek at the new cardi:

And to continue a them I couldn't get a decent shot of it off the girlie either:

So yes, it's snuggly and cosy, and bright and cheerful, and fits well and has a cute little hoodie, but you're just going to have to take my word for it!

The pattern is loosely adapted from the cardi I made Sophie just the other day. This time it's for a 2 year old teensy girl so a lot more snuggly. And smaller too. 

This time with an added hood.

And buttons to the very bottom to keep my little miss extra warm.

Technical details:

Yarn - Sirdar Click aran

Shade - 0110

Amount - just over 3x 50g skeins

Cost - £1.39 per skein, so £5.56 in total with  about 25g left over.

Needle size - 4mm and 5mm

Pattern - sizing taken from the pattern for the previous cardi, Sirdar 2275, but with the left and right fronts and the hood made up as I went along. I made a few notes so I guess I could write it up at some point.........

So that's about it with the bargain Sirdar Click. Well apart from the 11 skeins I have left to knit up a cardi for Emma....... Hmm, maybe later, I think the Granny Stripe is feeling a little neglected. And besides, I have an idea for a new blanket I want to start on.........

-x-

The shawl collar cardigan!

Well what can I say about this?

I picked up some bargain yarn at this shop just recently, and picked a simple pattern to make a little cardigan to put away for Sophie for a yuletide gift. So aran yarn, wool content, stocking stitch cardi - easy don't you think? Poorly mama wanted as easy as can be for those late nights spent upright and aching. Cast on the back, follow the pattern - fine. Same for the right front. Do a quick tally of the yarn left........oh dear! One and one third skeins used for the back, around two thirds for the front. Taking a guess that each sleeve will use one skein and a further two thirds for the left front, leaving just under half a skein for the shawl collar. Hmmm, maybe my tension is out a little? Nope, all fine there. Did I mis-read the yarn requirments? No again, five stated and five bought. Oh well, maybe the collar won't use as much as I'm thinking. But just in case I cast on a sleeve next. Just as I thought it used exactly one skein, with only just enough left to stitch it up. So I set aside one skein for the other sleeve, and enough yarn for the left front, stitched the shoulders of the right front and back, and picked up the stitches for the shawl collar. I hoped that I would get this half of the collar completed with half of the remaining yarn. It soon became clear I wouldn't!

But then an even bigger problem became apparent. Following the pattern exactly was not going to give me the collar shown on the picture. I doublechecked the pattern, squinted at the picture to ascertain the number and formation of the stitches. No way was the pattern going to result in that collar. The shawl collar on the picture ended in a button closure at the chest, the shawl collar in the pattern  vee'd all the way down to the bottom edge of the cardi. So after banging down my knitting and snapping a lovely wooden needle taking a deep breath, I pulled back to where I thought the pattern was going wrong and started on the alternative top-of-my-head shawl collar. This turned out better than the original pattern but I still wasn't 100% happy with it. And I used over half of the collar yarn too! Although I have to say considerably less than I would have used following the pattern. So after acquiring an extra skein of yarn I put the cardi away and went on a little R'n'R break.

After a couple of days away and some non-taxing and therapeutic hooking of the Granny Stripe Kingsize Throw (capitalizing for such a mega project is essential I think?) I decided to face the  cardi again and so knitted up the left front and second sleeve. When it came to the collar I decided to follow the pattern once again,  and then showed  anyone I could bribe into caring  interested housedwellers the mutant-looks- finished-but-why-does-it-have-2-different-collars? cardi and see which they preferred. And the overwhelming opinion of all three bored interested people (I tried to get an opinion off  the 15 year old boy on his way to the fridge but strangely he didn't appear to be that interested) was that the revised collar was the winner. So I ripped back the original, pattern followed, odd collar and tried to remember my own. A bit more moaning and groaning later and the collar was finished. Still not how this knitter imagined but the general opinion is that Sophie will like it, or more importantly, that her mum will!

And if you read my yarn along post on the other blog yesterday you will already know that I have casted on for the same cardi again in Heather's size and an even lovelier colourway. But this time I know what I'm doing with the collar. And it definitely isn't the one on the pattern......or the one I ended up with above!!

So just in case anyone else wants to buy a pattern that shouldn't be followed, or knit a very oddly shaped shawl collared cardi, or maybe even show me exactly how I could have gone so wrong, here are the technical details :)

Pattern used (kind of): Sirdar 2275

Yarn: Sirdar Click aran shade 0148

Amount: 5.5 skeins (although pattern states 5 and would have used at least 6!)

Size: age 6-7 (although this fits cain who is actually a small 5 year old, luckily the same size as Sophie)

Needles: pair of 4mm (plus one extra for snapping!!) and pair of 5mm

Cost: 6x£1.39 - £8.34 from this sale (no idea why the price states £1.49, it was only £1.39 instore).

Yarn left: approximately 35g including short lengths.

I would love to hear if any of you have knitted this cardi, or will knit it, and how it has turned out for you.

And yes, I have yet another finished item to share with you all, so don't forget to come back soon.

-x-

Yet more socks!

-

Helen admires every pair of knitted socks I make and I keep promising to knit her a pair but always get sidelined by other projects. So as today was her birthday I had a very special mama-made gift for her - a pair of chunky cable knit socks complete with tassles and ties!


These were knitted on a set of 4 5mm DPN's and I used a pattern that was free in the latest issue of Let's knit magazine.


The DPN's were also free with the magazine and I really didn't enjoy the feel of them so they may well be getting rehomed very soon. Anyone on the hunt for a set of five neon coloured plastic needles?
The wool specified was Sirdar supersoft aran but I thought Helen would prefer the Sirdar Click aran instead as the colours were much hers. The picture doesn't show the cable twist to the sides of the socks very well unfortunately, but they are there ;-)


These were really quick and easy to knit up and only took a couple of nights, between teething poorly baby and never sleeping small boys.

Finished.

And this is what I was knitting:

See sock love is still holding me tight.
These were knitted from a pattern in the latest issue of simply knitting magazine but I decided to use stash yarn rather than that specified in the pattern. I have no idea what the yarn is as I found it, label-less, lingering in a basket in the charity shop and it only cost me 50p for what I guess was pretty much an unused 100g ball. It feels like a wool/acrylic mix DK. This picture shows the true colour, photography is not my strong point!


Knitted up on 4mm DPN's so they came along very quickly and actually finished a couple of nights ago but not had the time to photograph them. Super cosy for John in winter and I think I may have to knit up a couple more pairs for myself and Helen. Not yet though as I am thinking of having a little break from knitting and trying to get on with a different UFO.
In fact I might just have a search through the rapidly diminishing pile right now.
xx

Knitted slippers.

Owen complained yesterday that his slippers have nails in them? So as I am pretty much housebound at the moment we needed to find an alternative........and here it is:




Knitted very quickly, in around about an hour, from aran weight wool with a white chunky yarn used to create bobbles and a double crochet edging. The pattern is really simple and suitable for even a first time knitter. It comes from "All year round", one of our favourite books for makes.
Now to make another pair for Cain who has also taken a liking to them.