Indecisive - moi?

So last post I said I was going to get back to projects already started, right? Wrong! The Granny stripe stayed in it's bag, and the pair of socks is still only a sock and a rib. 

But remember I said the merino was going to become my crochet cushion? Until I used some for the baby set? Well the cushion in my mind was a big, squishy, round huggable circle of softness. Instead the yarn is slowly becoming these:

See the sunshine glow across that project box? It's been such a beautiful day here so between long walks, cooking the meals, cleaning the home and feeding the little girl, I have also had time to sit in the front window, feeling the sunshine and hooking away. Wonderful.

Being the indecisive type I also cast on for part of Helen's yule gift:

Not the pattern I thought I would use, but I just know she will love this quirky little knit when she sees it :)

And staying on the theme of indecisiveness I definitely think I'm going to turn some of the King Cole Riot into one of these! I have loved this little scarf since I first saw it blogged here and I knew I was going to make it for someone. Then I forgot all about it! Until I noticed it popping up in blogland just lately and so I went and downloaded the pattern. I think it's going to look great in that riot of colour, don't you?

So there we are, after posting all those plans for all that yarn, I've already changed my mind on three things! 

Oh well there's plenty of time to get back to the others one day.........

-x-

Quick knit clickety click.........

So the overdue neighbour WAS seen climbing into an ambulance. Twenty four hours later and she's back home with a beautiful little boy. The beloved man has already passed on his congratulations and given baby a cuddle. He arrived back home all gooey faced and telling of how sweet the new baby is. Really, I have never known a man so broody as mine..........

So dilemma - do I cast on the jumper with the baby sized amount of aran mentioned previously? Or do I go for a guaranteed quick result and opt for hat/scarf/mitts/bootees type combo's? Well the winner is:

Now Lucy here, (don't you love that essential work kit includes a baby sized dolly - Have I mentioned how much I love my job?) tried modelling them for size and they seem to be a little bit on the larger side, and the new baby in question is rather dinky, but hey, everyone buys newborn for gifts don't they? And the weather is only going to get colder after all!

So do you see which yarn I used? Yes my squishy soft cuddly crochet cushion merino stash. I only used about half of a 50g skein in each shade so there should still be plenty for the cushion that is living in my head right now. And of course, merino is such a lovely wool for a new baby, super soft and gentle for that delicate skin.

So now it's back to the projects already started, I wonder which to pick up today?

And here's a funny thing - did you see I have exactly double the number of followers over on my family blog than I do on this one? Does that mean you all prefer a peek at other family's lives before sharing crafty times? I must admit I'm torn - I follow lots of crafty blogs, but then I love to catch up with mama friends and their families who I would hardly get the chance to meet in real life. And of course both sides of life are so intertwined, being creative keeps me sane and gives me the opportunity to express myself in way's I couldn't otherwise. No better way to work off a bad day than to hook mindlessly away on yards and yarns of Granny goodness...........

Thanks for popping by, follower or not ;)

-x-

On a roll!

Two posts in one day, who'd of thunk it?

I should have saved this one for tomorrow really because there will be no crafting tomorrow as I'm in work all day and Heather likes lots of mummy cuddles in the evening if we've been apart all day. But I was far too excited at finally getting a long thought of project started and finished all in one day that I'm here and sharing with you. Remember the last post I mentioned I really wanted to knit up the Aviatrix hat for Heather? Well I cast on this afternoon whilst the children were playing together and it worked up so quickly and easily that it is already cast off and finished!

What do you think?

I first came across the pattern here, and the model looked so pretty in it I knew I would have to make one for Heather. 

Technical details:

Yarn - James C. Brett 100% merino DK shade PM1

Amount - 43g

Size - 18 months

Needles - 3.25 and 4mm straights.

Pattern - Aviatrix, available on Ravelry, or this blog. (Thank you to Justine for sharing her hard work).

Now all I need is for Heather to wake up so I can get her to model it for me.

(Oh and the yarn was from the stash proper so I still have one 50g ball and around 25g of another ball left to make something to go with the hat.  I think I originally bought 4 balls of this wool as it was so lovely and soft and knitted some of it up into these pants (don't look at the date!) before storing away to await a fitting project.)

So nearly seven weeks into the year and still not a single scrap of yarn bought. Actually better not let dear husband read this, he will feel justified in his comments that I have far too much!

-x-

Stuff!

Needing to occupy my mind this evening I thought I would ignore the housework and do a little crafting instead.

It's turned so cold the past few days that I decided to treat myself to a nice pair of gloves:

I've had this wool in my stash for many many months but I love Mirasol wool so much that I always set it aside for a special project and then never get round to using it. These gloves only took just over one of the two 50g skeins I had so I still have enough left to knit a pair of mittens for Heather too. The wool is Mirasol Chirapa 100% merino and is just so soft and warm. The colours are pretty warming too for on the coldest of days.

I also finished off the cardigan I have been working on over the past week for Heather:

Yet another purple one, she looks so lovely in all things purple. This was knitted up on Paton's Diploma gold DK and used 3 50g balls. It's in a simple garter stitch with a crochet edging rather than the usual rib. I really like the added interest a crochet edging gives. And it's so much quicker too ;-) Actually this looks so much better on Heather than it looks in the photo. Will have to try get her to model....

Felting too has been taken it's turn, although this was an accidental make. Remember this? Well it somehow ended up in the washing machine on a towels wash and when I realised it had already shrunk to newborn size. It was too stiffly felted to be of any use to a teeny baby so I decided to turn it into something else rather than throw it away:

I used the back section of the cardigan to make this purse/zippered bag and added needle felted flowers and edging to add a bit of colour. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now I've made it but I think it's very cute and almost worth felting a piece of clothing for. And I still have the rest of the felted cardigan and the buttons looking to be used on a new project. Now I just need to think what to do with the extra large mum and baby covering cardigan that also got felted in the same wash.........

Stashbusting - part 3.

So if you read the other blog you'll know that I have been otherwise occupied the past couple of weeks. But I did manage to finish the stashbusting exercise and use those final scraps of Adriafil merino left over from the jumper and hat. And this is what I came up with:


The pattern is from this book. I've used the pattern before but that time for a friend so I remembered it was really quick and simple and used very little yarn so thought I would give it a go and hope the wool would be enough. Fortunately it was but with only inches to spare!
Anyway they should keep little feet warm when playing outside. And as they're so easy to make I think a couple more pairs might be useful as I imagine they might dirty pretty quickly as Heather loves to explore.

Stashbusting - part two.

So I made the hat to match the sweater:


Sorry for the poor photo quality but I just thought this was the most beautiful picture of our little girl, I just had to share.
Again this was hashed up as I went along so no pattern. The leading edge is 8 rows of garter stitch and the rest is plain old stocking stitch, again chosen to show off the colour changes. The decrease was worked with the SL1, K1, PSSO spiral and dropped 6sts on each row I think. I love that little spiral effect on the crown and it looks great on little peoples hats don't you think?
There's about half of one ball left now and a few oddments so I have an idea for them already in mind. Hopefully there will be just enough wool to follow it through. We should all know by tomorrow ;-)

Stashbusting - part one.

The great thing about keeping a crafting blog is that I have points of reference for all things I do, and a record of when I did it, or didn't! So looking back a few days ago to this time last year I came across this post, and remembering how lovely the colours were I decided to dig out the wool again. Well I also remembered that it is a very fine DK, more of a cross between DK and 4 ply, so I thought I would hash up a pattern as I went along rather than relying on following one. I made that mistake here, and had to rip it all back once already. Added to the lack of pattern was the fact that that ripped back wool won't knit to the specified tension anyway as it is more springy and finer than before.
So I thought I'd make a little jumper for Heather and this is what I ended up with:



She definitely has better things to do than pose in her new jumper, can't you tell?

The yarn is Adriafil knitcol 100% merino and self patterned to give these lovely stripes. I didn't want to distort the striped effect by ribbing any part of the jumper so I worked a picot edging to the hem and cuffs instead. I also avoided ribbing the neckline by working a row of double crochet right round, including across the button shoulder opening.
So one more ball of this wool left and I'm thinking a hat might be nice?
Or maybe that would be stripey overkill?

And a hat for John.

This was supposed to have been his valentine's gift from me, but given as I didn't actually start it until Valentine's night then there was no chance really. This was one of those knits that starts off really slowly and then becomes unputdownable. In the sense that I wanted it over and done with quickly so that I could get back to other things. Its worked in double rib using a thinner pure merino DK by Stylecraft and with a cast on off 170sts, so you can see why it seemed to grow so slowly. Started sunday night, picked up every time I sat down throughout monday, again on tuesday and then finished off at 6am this morning after both Heather and Cain decided 4am was a great time to start the day!



Excuse the poor photo but John was doing one of his "pull a face for the camera" poses and this was the only decent shot I could get. The rest made him look more like a thug or psychopath!
So now I'm back to the cabled chunky socks that I started whilst pregnant which hopefully shouldn't take too long. Well not so long as they have so far!
Actually finding it quite cleansing to work my way through unfinished projects and promised makes in this way, although I still have a fairly long list to get on with. But the more I make a dent in my stash the more I look forward to replenishing at the Aintree stitch and craft fair in April.

More hats!

A hat for a GP little one:


Debbie Bliss Rialto in baby pink with a cotton flower and button trim.

And a hat for Emma:


Cream cotton DK with matching fower and bead trim.

Cardigan is almost finished but I ran out of wool. Blast!! Not sure I'm safe to search for an extra ball as I can't afford to fall to the temptation of gorgeous yarns. Might have to ask Helen to find it online for me to help me resist the urge to browse. Although she seems to be falling under the spell of the lovely merino wool she is using to knit a hat for Heather. She is definitely noticing the difference in texture and the pleasure in working it after using acrylic yarns for her first step in knitting.......

And another hat.

This cardigan is taking sooo long. But at last the end is in sight. Only half a sleeve and then the edgings and trims to go. Should be finished by the end of the week. Well I hope so as it is so cold round here right now.
Poorly children mean I have been sat up the past few nights so knitting has been a great pastime. Lat week I spotted some lovely wool in the yarn shop. I just bought one ball as it was a patterned wool and I wanted to see how it would knit up before committing to a full project and also before spending money. I have way too big a stash to justify adding to it at the moment but this wool was lovely. 100% merino by Adriafil in cute shades of blue, pink and white.


I decided to knit yet another hat for Heather. Knitted on a set of 4mm DPN's it took only two hours in total. The flower took another 30 minutes.

Only problem is, in my sleep deprived state, I didn't check the sizing and just launched straight in. So I can't show you a picture of Heather wearing it as it is just slightly too large. Oh well, at least I have one ready for christmas. But I might just make a slightly smaller one for wearing now....
Oh well, thats about all for now. Hopefully when I next post I will have the cardigan finished. Or at least I can hope so.
xx

Inspiration..........or otherwise!

Found some lovely cotton fabric in the local haberdashery shop last week, these two remnants of fabric, just on one metre each, for only £1 a piece.

Not sure what to do with the pirate fabric yet but the pink has been turned into these:

Pj's for Sophie for when she stays over with us.

And inspired by Shell and the idea of a lovely crochet throw for wrapping up with baby on cool summer evenings, I have learned to make granny squares! The yarn I'm using is the Mirasol T'ika mentioned recently. Not sure how big the throw will end up, I'm getting six squares to each skein and have seven skeins each of red and fuchsia. Maybe I'll have to add some squares in another colour if there isn't enough, but at the moment I'm just happy to keep going and see where I end up.
The first squares, not perfect but a memory in the making:


And now for the disaster:

I knew right from the beginning that this wasn't right, so why did I continue? I suppose it was just seeing the colours coming through and wanting not to admit defeat. Mmm, note to self, trust your instincts. So now it is pulled down and ready to be made into something else. Hopefully with more success.

Back to knitting!

Loving learning learning new crochet skills but back to my first craft....knitting!
Made these to go with the soakers further down ready to send to a friend today.
The actual finished piece of knitting looks like this:


But once the shoes are made up and have an added crochet flower (ok I couldn't resist crochet) they now look like this:


Pattern for the basic slipper found in The Debbie Bliss book of baby knits. It's a really simple pattern to follow, just basic garter stitch with a simple increase/decrease/cast on/cast off to create the necessary shaping. Perfect for learner knitters. The crochet flowers were made up as I went along so couldn't tell you know how I did them! Wool used - as for the soakers, James C. Brett 100% Merino.
Oh just noticed, my camera is rubbish! The two pictures look like totally different colours!

Soakers.

Very imaginative these titles aren't they?
Anyway my latest make, and no it's not the hat that Cain thinks it is. It's another pair of crochet soakers/knickers but this time for a special little baby born only a short time ago. Although saying that it has taken me considerably longer than I hoped to finish these.Tiredness being the major problem. Hoping to get a little pair of shoes done to match and then into the post tomorrow before the intended recipient becomes to big to find them of use. Not sure if I like the flower so I've stitched it on only lightly just in case the mama in question feels the same. Easy on, easy off.


Made from 100% pure merino so can be lanolised and used as a nappy cover if wished, or used as they are as a pretty pair of knickers.

What do you think?

Crochet soakers!
First attempt at making these in either knit or crochet. Thought I would give crochet a try first as it seems to be a bit quicker to grow. Quite pleased with the result. The legs are a bit wonky, one hole is slightly bigger than the other, but overall they seem ok. Now just have to decided whether to lanolise them to use as wraps, or just to leave as they are and have very cute knickers?


Anyway details - pattern is in the latest Let's knit magazine, along with a few other styles, another crochet with frills to the backside, and a knit one. The wool I used for these is James C. Brett 100% Merino. It took one 50g ball and just a little of a second ball in the green, and then obviously just scraps for the dots and edgings.

So as you can see I am really loving learning crochet. Can't believe I have avoided it for so long. In fact I have even splashed out on a new book full of gorgeous patterns. Can't wait to try a few, but need a little more practise first I think.

Buying yarn!!!

So much for using up my stash before buying more.
Made a trip to the yarn shops and topped up a little ;-) Although I do think it's only reasonable, after all I am finding it increasingly more uncomfortable and painful to walk and so soon will be housebound once again, and I need something to occupy my mind whilst trapped inside.
So first off we have this selection of 100% merino 50g balls from James C. Brett. The wool is beautifully soft as you would expect and the colours are ideal for bright summer days. Thinking of soakers/knicks, shoes and hats for bump. There's also one odd ball of Sirdar Click to edge the crochet blanket I have almost finished.

Next we have a 10 pack of 50g Playtime baby DK microfibre in a pink/lilac/lemon colour combination, which was only £6.99 from Abakhan. Not toos sure if I like it really as it is not my usual thing but temptation (and price) got the better of me whilst in the queue to pay! Not sure what I'm going to do with it, maybe baby cardigans, leggings or so?

Next buy - a car boot sale bargain 5 balls of 100g Patons cotton 4 ply, and the pattern book, AND the reusable bag to carry them in, all for just £1! I dare anyone to resist that offer ;-) No idea what I'm using this for either but will think of something I'm sure. I did think maybe little socks, bibs and hats which could then be dyed a brighter colour? And if anyone wants the booklet then just say. It has a few "interesting" patterns, very early 60's and some good basic instructions for learners.

And finally this wool today from the local lovely yarn shop. New in, not yet on the shelves, I spotted it before it was even unpacked. Aren't those colours amazing? And its 100% virgin Merino so feels amazing. Can't wait to see it knitted up!

Dare I admit I have also placed an order at getknitted for some lovely Mirasol Tika FT 100% Pima cotton. But it was only £2 a hank in the clearance sale so obviously a bargain too hard to turn away. Oh and some sock yarn too.......... Ooops, I will have some work ahead!