Almost too nice to give away…

I finished a couple of rather lovely knits just in time for our recent holiday. Which was just as well, as they were birthday gifts for my sister and the scrumptious Meg, who turned ONE a couple of weeks ago!

You may recall I had a moment of weakness madness extreme generosity and gave my sister a ‘Cardigan Voucher’ for her significant (ahem) birthday earlier this year. After much deliberation she decided the only one that would do was a bigger version of the vintage cardi I knitted baby Meg for her first Christmas. Hmmm…. I’ve always thought she was the awkward sister (there are only us two 😉 ) and frankly this proved it 😀

So, I spent some time with a calculator, graph paper, my tongue poking out of the corner of my mouth (concentrating) and a furrowed brow and set forth to make a cardigan ‘Like Meg’s but Bigger’.

And not content with one crazy knitting deadline, I thought I might just be able to squeeze out another tiny cardi in time for our big meet-up in the Lakes…

Phew…

Both were received with much excitement and fanfare and I don’t think it was just polite (sis wore hers every day of the holiday and Meg would have too if it weren’t for some misdirected postprandial ‘re-gurge’ (Sorry! Too much info, I know!! It was, at least, her own…)

They were both a pleasure to knit (no, really!) and it was, frankly, only the fact that my sister is rather more petite than myself (I couldn’t squeeze my broad shoulders into the cardigan!) that stopped me from keeping hers for myself…

‘Like Meg’s but Bigger’ – as it has been imaginatively named – was knit from the bottom up (to give me a long time to think about how to deal with the shoulders and neck) and was amazingly a very simple knit. The lace pattern is simple and repetitive with long stretches of stocking stitch between to contemplate size issues, waist shaping and other things not relevant when knitting the baby version.

I found some vintage buttons in my collection that were absolutely the perfect shade of pale sea green/blue to go with the Hazel Knits Artisan Sock in ‘Pacific’ and whaddya know… a plan came to together and I am very very pleased with the results.

You never know, I might even knit another one of these for myself… if only it didn’t mean either shrinking or doing all the maths again from scratch!

Meg’s little cardigan is ‘Leonie‘ by Dani Sunshine, written with Lioness Arts yarn in mind but equally suited to the amazing Babylonglegs Semi-precious in ‘Boss Moss’ that I happened to have to hand.

 

A lovely, lovely little knit that I am sure I will revisit in larger sizes as Meg grows. I even learnt a wonderful new-to-me stretchy bind-off which has already been used elsewhere and was worth making the effort to stop knitting and research on t’interwebs rather than just blasting ahead with my normal not-very-stretchy-at-all bind off 😉

Wow! What a lot of knitting squeezed into one little blog post!

All Ravelled here and here

 

Christmas catch up

Back in November I noticed that outgoing parcels containing sparkly yarn were on the increase and patterns for cute baby knits were definitely popular. It wasn’t long before the crashing realisation dawned that *everyone else* had started their Christmas gift knitting while I was still blissfully unaware of the number of sleeps until the big day and the recipient of all my current works-in-progress was going to be, err, ahem… me.

So, I mentally scouted around the various family members who we’d need to come up with interesting/innovative/exciting gifts for and decided that the only one I could reasonably be expected to knit for was baby M, my super-cute niece.

I just happened to have a skein or two of Old Maiden Aunt’s amazing Organic Corriedale 4ply stashed away that I picked up at Knit Nation back in the summer so I grabbed a rather lovely shade of blue – called ‘Moody’ – and cast on…

I am so pleased with the result! The pattern was a vintage one from an old magazine – a fabulous internet find – and ‘non-baby’ pure wool with a bot of ‘oomph’ really complimented the structured shape. It was a lovely little knit that came together very quickly – even with the ‘old fashioned’ seaming, rather than my preferred seamless, top-down, in the round construction method. A quick scout around ebay found some perfect buttons that were in fact vintage 1940’s still on the original card!

Feeling fairly pleased with myself I downed knitting pins and picked up a different sort of needle to make a cute little pair of slippers to complete the gift…

They’re Kimono Baby shoes from the Homespun Threads web site. A pattern I’d highly recommend and a free download to boot. I used two different Amy Butler fat quarters that I happened to have in my stash of quilting-cotton-that-I-had-to-have-but-will-never-use-‘cos-I’m-a-knitter-not-a-sewer. With that in mind, while the pattern is simple, there was much swearing during the creation of these simple little shoes. Of course, I’d left the task until the last moment (the evening prior to seeing my sister’s family…) and I have just this to say, my sewing machine is inhabited by gremlins, demons and quite possibly the devil himself. And guess what, my sister absolutely loved them (and the cardi of course) and guess what else… they’re a bit too narrow for the darling little chubster’s feet… and I’ve promised to make some more…

[cardigan ravelled here]

Conquering crochet

Aside from an occasional crochet binding I’ve never managed to get to grips with the art of the hook… until now!

Several years ago, I think while pregnant with # 2, I had plans to create a beautiful ripple blanket so I purchased Jan Eaton’s excellent ‘200 Ripple Stitch Patterns’ book, armed myself with a hook and some spare yarn and set sail… well, limped out of the harbour, half mast and promptly sank without a trace actually!

I decided that crochet was the devil’s work, a dark art indeed! I’m a reasonably intelligent person, my very first knit project was a pair of socks and I’m able to follow a complex fair isle chart. But a crochet pattern? A single hook, with just one stitch on it at any point? Forget it… I was hopeless. I couldn’t ‘read’ my work and every time I put it down I lost my place and became hopelessly confused. My ripples were decidedly choppy, no gentle waves of colour here…

Life was busy, Meadow Yarn was in the making, babes were small (and increasing in number!) so I simply decided that crochet wasn’t for me and moved on.

Until this summer!

The safe arrival of a very very precious new niece, who is special in so many ways and we are so lucky to have, prompted me to face my crochet demons head-on and a summer of crochet ensued!

Inspired by Lucy from Attic 24 (one of my top blog reads!) and Rosa P, both of whom have created beautiful examples, I set my heart on making a hexagon blanket for baby Meg…

I grabbed some scraps and a hook and set sail once more…

My first test! A little wonky, not perfect by any means but definitely my most successful crochet to date…

So I chose colours:

(later adding a pale pink and a putty grey to make a total of 7 shades). It’s Debbie Bliss Cotton DK with a rogue Rowan Wool Cotton to get the perfect cherry red…

My bag of hexagons grew and as I followed Lucy’s advice to join them as I went, so too did the blanket. Let me tell you, crochet is indeed very satisfying in its speed and ease of transportation!

It went everywhere with me. Until finally there were just a *lot* of ends to weave in…

Next time I will work out how to catch the ends in as I go… but it felt like I needed at least one extra hand to accomplish it when I set out on this venture!

So, just 2 months after Meg arrived we had our ‘ta-da’ moment!

Big enough for a wee one to lay on, cosy as a pram blanket and snuggly in the cot…

My sister says it’s her most prized possession (possibly discounting her two beautiful children I guess!) which makes me smile. She’s had a hard year and having her and Meg around – both happy and healthy –  to receive this very small token of our love for them all is something we’re very grateful for…

Pixie hat time again!

Some friends of ours introduced a new ‘human bean’ to the gang a couple of weeks ago! Welcome to the world Hermione Rose!

Because I don’t like to start knitting for a new baby until we’ve heard the good news I’ve collected together a few simple patterns over the years that make for sweet little gifts and can be completed very speedily! This hat has always been a hit…

It’s a lovely vintage style pattern that’s available here and is easily adapted for different weight yarns and embellished with, for example, a soft fabric lining and a contrasting vintage button…

This lining is a little piece of Michael Miller ‘Hedgehog Meadow’ that I had lurking in my fat quarter stash! The yarn is Sublime Cotton Kapok DK – again from the stash, in a lovely lemony/lime shade that’s perfect for a Spring baby.

We’ll be introducing our mob to Hermione Rose in the next few days – wish her luck!

October – knitting round-up / confession

October has been a busy month! The store has been getting steadily busier as we head into prime ‘knitting season’ and home life has had the usual variety of birthdays, minor illnesses, kid’s parties and other incidentals all adding  to the day-to-day excitement!

Knitting has been ticking along though, sometimes in the foreground and other times most definitely in the background as ‘life’ takes over. This ‘pile’ represents the progress, or otherwise, made during this crafty month…

There’s been a bit of progress on the blue ‘correspondent’ scarf…

Quite a lot of progress on the wonderful ‘Kozue’ scarf/wrap in the beautiful green ‘Past & Present’ Posh Yarn…

The remnants of the balls of Sublime used for a couple of reversible squares for a secret cot blanket (ssshhhh….)

and perhaps most excitingly, my Chipmunk is ready for steeking!!!

More on that next week – I’m going to make sure that you’re all holding my virtual hand when I get to the point of cutting the current sweater in order to transform it into a cardigan!!

The skeins of Hazel Knits – in the fabulous ‘hoppy blonde’ shade – are just about ready to cast on for my next project, the Madeline Tosh ‘Hay’ cardigan which I am very excited about…

What the observant among you may have noticed is the very obvious lack of socks…

Hmmm, now the ’round-up’ becomes a confession!! After all my contemplation and deliberating over the choice of yarns, the subtleties of shades of pumpkin and saffron, the excitement over the imminent Through the Loops Mystery Sock pattern…. I have failed *miserably* to even cast on!!! A sock-less Socktoberfest seems certain given there are only 2 days of October left (and one of those is going to be consumed with a fifth birthday!!) Oh well, there’s always next year…

A Sublime little knit

Last weekend saw the 1st birthday of the newest member of our extended family. Chris’s nephew was the Birthday Boy extraordinaire and our gang got to indulge in cake and party favours while the sun shone! Around a week before the big day I realised – to my horror –  that this little lad hadn’t been on the receiving end of a hand knitted gift yet! Quite how he managed to make it to the grand age of ONE with not so much as a hat or pair of mittens just for him is a mystery but it was definitely time to make amends…

The criteria were simple… with just a week to complete I needed something speedy and cute. I trawled Ravelry and came up with this delightful little sweater. It’s Five Fruits (Ravelry link) by Amanda Kerr. I chose to use Sublime Organic Cotton in muted yet sophisticated shades of blue, green and cream and I’m really pleased with the result. I’m not usually a huge fan of knitting with cotton – often I find it a bit too much like knitting with string – but this was really delightful. So soft…. a fact that was commented on immediately by the parents of the recipient who were pleased that their littlest has joined the ‘Aunty Anj Handknit Club’  at last!

A simple fisherman’s neck, rolled cuffs and a lovely turned and hemmed bottom edge made for a very satisfying quick knit with lovely results. I even had 4 perfect little buttons to hand to complete it just in the nick of time (it’s OK to complete the gift in the car on the way to the party isn’t it?)

Debbie Bliss Eco Baby

We’ve had a sudden influx of boxes and  parcels this week which we have been slowly unpacking, squishing, oohing & aahing over and photographing (well, it’s mainly been me squishing and oohing & aahing – Chris doesn’t get quite so seduced by the yarn but I’m working on him!)

I will blog the various additions over the next wee while but I couldn’t hold back from introducing our first yarn from Debbie Bliss… Now, I had resisted the bulk of the DB range up to now partly for practical reasons (it’s a huge range!) and partly out of a gut feeling relating to the microfibre content of some of the more popular yarns in the range. It’s just not something that I really like. Being an old washerwoman with 3 children, one of whom is still in (terry) nappies, I seem to spend a good proportion of each day washing my hands and no matter how much hand cream I liberally apply they have the texture of the kind of sandpaper you use to rub down lumps of 2 by 4!  As a result, knitting with anything with microfibre content is a horribly ‘sticky’ experience and not one I’d knowingly choose…

The Eco Baby yarn, however, has no microfibre. It is just 100% pure Fairtrade Cotton – and it’s lovely. When the rep called by and happened to open the case (he knows how I feel about microfibre and we don’t go there!) I was hooked. When I saw the gorgeous pattern book that accompanies the yarn there was no way I was letting him leave until he’s taken my order (yes, he’s a good rep!)

The colours are wonderful. Soft, yet sophisticated and the patterns are just so cute, without being too ‘baby’.

As a bonus, the Eco Baby yarn is exactly the same yardage and knits to the same tension as the Baby Cashmerino DK (with the afforementioned microfibre – ahem!) so you can knit any of the Cashermerino patterns in the Eco Baby yarn and you don’t even have to recalculate the no. of balls required.

Getting to grips with the Elizabethan way

Some while ago I came across the ‘Baby Surprise Jacket’ – or BSJ – as it’s fondly referred to on Ravelry. It’s a masterpiece of design and construction comprised of simple garter stitch. Its designer, Elizabeth Zimmerman, was a revolutionary figure in modern knitting in the mid 20th century and her daughter (Meg Swansen) continues to distribute her patterns through Schoolhouse Press.

I knit the BSJ from some absolutely wonderful Noro Silk Garden Lite back in 2008 as a special ‘treat’ for our imminent 3rd babe. I don’t think he wore it much but I fell in love with it and it now hangs on a lovely vintage clothes hanger in our bedroom, a true example of something both useful & beautiful…

I even had the perfect vintage buttons in my (very small) button collection.

The construction of this little jacket intrigued me – it looks nothing like a jacket until the final act of sewing up two small shoulder seams and then suddenly the true beauty and magic of the design is revealed. The long vivid colour repeats of the Noro yarn lent themselves perfectly to the cleverness of the construction and I vowed to learn more about the brains behind the beauty.

Well, time flies when you’re knitting up a storm and I’ve only recently revisited the work of Elizabeth Zimmerman. I’m currently reading Knitting without Tears which is proving to be a charming and witty tome which has had me chuckling and nodding in agreement alternately. I can’t wait to work my way through the rest of her publications and hopefully get to grips with some of her renowned approaches to garment construction… Of course my desire is being fuelled by a particular cardigan spotted on Ravelry recently… the pattern simply described as ‘Elizabeth’s Percentage System Sweater’ hmmmm…. I have the fear but the appeal is too great to resist – wish me luck!

ummm… a little christmas knitting! (finally)

Well, we may be almost halfway through February but I forgot to photograph the family of Christmas hats that were sent up to the chilly north of England for my sister and her family! Well, that’s what happens when the Christmas knitting doesn’t actually finish until Christmas Eve!

After a little cajoling and creeping I persuaded them that I *really* did need photos of their hats for my blog (they found this concept quite hilarious) so here is my little trio of knitted head warming devices…

Enjoying a little Christmas knitting!

Using some gorgeous Sublime aran weight, some lovely soft Sublime DK and the super-quick knit on the right from my favourite Artesano Aran. All Ravelled here

A little knit for a little sister!

There’s nothing nicer than knitting for a new baby and when a good friend added #3 to her brood this summer I grabbed the opportunity to test some of the Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk and Cashmere Merino Silk that I’d not had the pleasure of knitting with before.

The pattern was an obvious choice; the Little Sister’s Dress is a free download via Ravelry (if you haven’t signed up yet, why on earth not! Be warned – it will revolutionise your life but may impact negatively on your knitting time once you get sucked into the amazing wealth of information and patterns!) and is just the sort of quick but interesting knit that I love.

Little Sister's Dress

Knowing that baby Celeste was likely to be adorned in strong, bright colours rather than traditional newborn white/pastels I delved into the wonderful rich shade cards and came up with a gorgeous plum for the main colour and some lovely lemon, teal and pink yarn for the accent ribbing. We think she liked it! Just perfect teamed with a vest and leggings on an English Autumn afternoon…