ISE6!

I have joined the International Scarf Exchange 6 and I have already been matched with both my partner (who I will be knitting for) and the person who will be knitting a scarf for me. I'm still looking for patterns at the moment, but hope to at least order the yarn over Easter. Knitting pal Charlie has had some lovely experiences on the ISEs that she has taken part in, so hopefully, this will be the start of many exchanges in the future......

Baby Boom!

Since the summer I've been non-stop knitting for new babies! I've got a bit of breather for a couple of months until April when another two babies are due, so for now I'm going to be concentrating on adult projects. I've started (and re-started and re-started!) a lace-weight scarf pattern by knit witches. I'm also going to be casting on a double-knit Beanie from the new Debbie Stoller book.

It's Sophie!

Here's Sophie sporting the Boat Neck sweater I knit for her. It's so great to see my knitting being worn!

Wrap around cardie

This wrap around cardie was for a colleague's baby. It is knitted in Oxford Kitchen Yarns' DK yarn in 'clotted cream' - an organic handmade / hand dyed yarn I bought from the Stitch n Bitch show. Again this is knitted from Natural Knits for Babies and Mums by Louisa Harding. As I didn't know whether the baby would be a girl or a boy I did the classic garter stitch edges and kept the buttons back until the baby was born. I chose these gorgeous Peter Rabbit buttons when I little Tom arrived.

I found this really quick to knit up and although my picking up of stitches on the diagonal fronts weren't great - I was quite pleased.

Hopefully I'll get a picture of baby Tom wearing his cardie soon.....

A Dress for Bethan

I knitted this dress in Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool DK in Shade 011 (Thistle) and White. I got the pattern from Natural Knits for Babies and Mums by Louisa Harding - called Amelie Dress. I had a few problems, namely the colour of the yarn! I know all about dye lots etc, but once I had knitted the two halves of the dress I realised that they were two different colours! Also the top right had side of the dress is also different. However taking opinions from others (some knitters, some not) it didn't seem to be too much of a problem - it looks more like one side has slightly faded. Another issue I had was with the yarn itself. As the yarn is quite glossy it shows up any slight mistakes, glaringly! On the bright side, the yarn is stretchy and very soft - exactly what you want for a baby knit.

I didn't put as many flowers on as the pattern, as it would have been over the top. I'm really really pleased with the way it turned out, especially my seaming. It's the first time I had to join up a band of colour when seaming and it worked perfectly!

I knitted this for my friend's baby - she knew she was having a girl so I took the chance to make something really girly! Overall I think this is one of the best knits I've done so far and I've learnt alot along the way!

One Day Wonder Scarf

For my friend George's birthday I knit a Moss stitch scarf using two strands of Rowan Big Wool and size 20 needles. It only took a day to knit (but about two weeks to arrive in the post!) and George was really pleased with it. He's promised me a photo of him in it, so watch this space!

Baby Boat Neck Jumper

My first ever garment!! I knitted this jumper in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. It is for my colleague Karen's baby, which is due at the end of September. It knitted up a little bigger than 0-3 months so it should be just right for this winter. It only took me 5 days to knit up, but sewing it together at the end proved quite tricky. I had never made a piece of clothing before so I decided to block it properly and take a whole evening to put it together. I certainly needed it!! The blocking went really well, I decided to use a wet pillowcase and steam block it with the iron as I didn't have a lot of time. I had never used Mattress stitch before and wasn't totally sure what I was doing so I started with the neck, which went great. I then began tackling the sleeves, which were so fiddley because of the increases at the end of each row. I've sinced been advised by my boyfriends mum that you can increase on the 2nd or 3rd stitch in the row to maintain a straight edge, which is so much easier to stitch together! Anyway, after much ado I managed to stitch the sleeves up; they weren't perfect but they weren't terrible. The jumper was really well recieved by Karen, so hopefully I will have a picture of the new arrival wearing his/her jumper in a few months time.