Where do you keep yours?

Well I used to keep mine in the living room but it got a bit out of hand :) I had the whole big sideboard, the bureau, a couple of wicker chests and a large decorative leather type box. And of course the basket that lived by my chair. A little unfair of me to keep all that storage to myself wasn't it? So I decided to sort it all out and give up all the storage to the children. The sideboard is now home to the jigsaws, the lego, the meccano, the wooden construction sets and one drawer full of important bits and bobs (purses, phones, keys and that kind of stuff). The bureau is now the children's writing/drawing area, filled with pens, crayons, paper, pencils, stencils and so on. The wicker baskets are home to little girlies teeny toys and the leather kind of box thingy is a nappy/muslin store and sometimes seat.

So where did all my stuff go? I know you know what stuff I'm talking about. My stuff......yarns and fibres and needles and, well, stuff! I'll tell you. It all found a new home on the top landing. 

A whole day spent sorting it out, fitting it into boxes and storing it on these shelves. Aren't I a good girl? All neatly sorted out and yet still so easily accessible. The boxes all contain my yarns, except the bottom two shelves on the right which holds the fibres. If you look closely you can see Owens peg loom, a couple of small weaving frames, and even my lovely spinning wheel (which I really need to get back to now my legs are working again!). The baskets at the bottom is filled with embroidery threads and charts and Aida and all that kind of stuff It all looks a bit boring though doesn't it? I need a good think about how to brighten those boxes up. Ideas anyone?

Oh, maybe I should give you a peek at a little of what is in the boxes:

 

Well except the children of course.Not a good idea to keep them in boxes on a shelf, although sometimes............

As for actually using some of that stuff - well I only just turned the heel on sock one. Not sure I'm even going to finish the first pair  of socks on time for my personal "one pair per month" challenge. Although I do have a sneaky back up plan, shhh! I might have to reveal that in a couple of days ;)

Well they won't get finished if I don't get sleep so I'll wish you all sweet dreams.

-x-

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-

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-

Autumn knits.

This week the weather has turned decidedly autumnal and the woolies are coming out of storage. But I'm getting prepared early this time and getting the needles clicking on the warm, cosy jumpers. This is the latest woolie to be finished:

Started on Tuesday evening, quickly knitted up in Wendy Chameleon chunky wool/acrylic mix shade 522. The wool was on special at Hobbycraft (I think it was £1.49 a ball) so I picked up a pattern too which was also in the offers section. The pattern is no. 5380 and specified 6 balls in Cain's size. However I ended up not having enough despite buying an extra ball AND working to the correct tension. Usually I don't bother with the tension as I am far too impatient but this time I wanted to make sure the shortage wasn't down to my error ;-) so I measured up.


I thought there would be a problem after knitting the back so moved onto the arms next whilst I formulated a rescue plan just in case. By the time I started on the front I knew I needed to put the plan into action and so rifled through my stash looking for co-ordinating yarns. Luckily I found an odd ball of Twilley's Freedom in dark green and so I added a band of this just above the ribbing. The rescue plan worked and I had just enough yarn to finish the project:


I am thinking that the stripe still looks added in rather than part of the design so am considering different embellishments to bring it all together. I'll be back - as someone once said ;-)

The chunky sweater.

We have a very poorly little person here at the moment so finding time to do anything other than hold her is a major problem. But............she does so want to be held in the sling which means whilst she sleeps I have two hands free to knit. OK that's not really how I like to spend my crafting time but as I am virtually confined to moving only slowly and gently for fear of waking or upsetting her then knitting and such are great time occupiers especially in the dead of night.
So I have finished the jumper for Cain. It's been done for a while actually but no chance to take photos and upload them here. Cain has a real dislike of having clothing pulled over his head, as do most small children I suspect, (never understand why shop bought clothing is always so fitted and so hard to get on?) and so I finished this jumper with a couple of lines of double crochet around the neckline rather than ribbing or any form of knitted trim. The crochet is a much looser finish and therefore much easier to pull over his head without problems. He tells me it is lovely and warm and feels soft too. The hem edges are all worked in double rib for a few rows on 6.5mm needles and then switched to 7mm needles for the stocking stitch main pattern. The back is just one rectangle from hem to neck, with the stitches for each shoulder left on holders. The sleeves are slightly sloped by increased 1st at each end every 6 rows until they are the length I wanted. The front is again one straight piece until I reached the centre parting when I just decreased at the neck edge of every other row for I think 6 stitches decreased on each side. The remaining stitches were worked straight each side and then the front and back shoulders were grafted together for the slightly raised ridge effect by using a 3-needle cast off. A lot of making up as I went along but very, very easy as there was no shaping or insetting for the shoulders at all. Then I just stitched the arms in place and joined the sleeve and side seams. Of course for this jumper I had to knit a tension square, which I HATE doing, but from that I worked out all the details I needed so well worth it. It was so quick and easy that I'm thinking of making another in a stripe pattern. And possibly one for John too in the future for his biking getaways. Anyway here's a picture of the gorgeous boy in his new mama made clothing:

By the way - what do you call it? A jumper? A sweater? A pullover? Never know which is the right word!

Choo Choo Thomas.....

The hat is done. And I love it! Warm and thick and just like a proper woolly childs hat. What do you think?


Knitted in the same DK oddments as the mitts, the hat itself is simple and very quick to knit up. The only time consuming part was the intarsia for the lettering. I hope it's clear enough what it says, the "K" isn't the best.


Owen hasn't seen it yet as it is now hidden away until christmas. Cain is the model and size tester instead as they are both virtually the same size for hats and gloves.


On the needles now is the scarf to complete the set but I think this might take a few days. Also on the go is the crochet blanket for John but not sure I will have this done for christmas. I keep it upstairs and do a row or two each time I go up there. I'm sure the family think I have some sort of bowel complaint, I'm going up to the bathroom such a lot the past few days ;-) But I don't want John to see it so I'll just have to keep it this way.
Well off to prepare lunch for waking poorly little ones, and back in a day or two with the latest makings.
Oh, do you know it's only four weeks to christmas?
There'll be late nighting crafting going on in all your homes I'm thinking!
Take care.
xx