Catching up

Apparently it's harder to overcome blogging inertia than I thought it would be. I've been knitting slowly but productively for the last 4 months now, but I've still got finished projects to blog from before Imogen was born...

First of all are these baby washcloths...







Pattern: Baby Cloths by Kris Knits.
Yarn: Pisgah Peaches and Creme 100% cotton.
Needles: 3.5mm.

They're in regular use now and are very handy.

Getting started again

Hello again...

I'm afraid that while I'm not yet ready to resume normal posting, my little girl is now 9 weeks old, growing well and sleeping well, so I'm picking up the knitting again. Nothing spectacular, you understand, just the usual socks for the resident radiologist, but it's progress.

There are also a few projects left unblogged from my LBB (life before baby).

I should be back with photos soon...

Little Cardi's

This is (barring something strange happening) my last post from a baby-free zone... and possibly my last post for a while.

In addition to all the baby gifts and little bits and pieces, I've also been working on a couple of more substantial baby knits.

First up is Snug (ravelry link), a little hooded jacket:

The yarn is Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky in Oak, knitted on 6mm needles. As the baby is going to be growing rapidly over the warm summer months, I'm hoping that this will do instead of a proper jacket at first. It's very stretchy and lovely and warm, and will hopefully see lots of wear.

The other project is a Drops Baby Jacket:

I've been working on this for ages due to yarn availability issues, but finally got it off the needles last week, crocheted the edging and blocked it. The last step was putting on the buttons yesterday.

The yarn is Artesano Alpaca 100% Baby Alpaca 4 ply, knitted on 2.25mm needles. I knitted the 6-9 months size as I wanted the baby to get a decent amount of wear out of this top, considering the amount of work that went into it!

The only modification I made was to crochet an edging all the way round the piece, rather than pick up and knit an edging onto the neck-line alone.

Both of these projects have an unusual end-on construction which seems to work really well for baby projects where shaping isn't too much of an issue.

More Baby Gifts

The march of the baby gifts goes on...

Today we have another Celestine Sox containing a jingle cat toy for a friend's little boy:

The yarn is Regia Colour Sock yarn in Zanzibar. Knitted on 2.25mm needles and stuffed with polyester stuffing and a pile of old yarn ends.

Next up is a Toadstool Rattle containing another jingle cat toy for another friend's little boy:

The yarn is the left-over Old Maiden Aunt Merino Sock yarn from the Resident Radiologist's scarf. Knitted on 2.25mm needles and stuffed with polyester toy stuffing.

Finally, I've made another Baby Berry Hat for my sister to give to one of her colleagues:

The yarn is Pisgah Peaches and Creme in Shocking Pink and Apple Green. Knitted on 4mm needles.

One of these has already been delivered, and the other two go in the post today. I'm working to a pretty strict timetable now as I fully expect the bump to be on the outside on Wednesday this week...

Labour of Love

The longest and least interesting project in my work pile is finally off the needles.

This scarf originated with the November 2009 installment of the Old Maiden Aunt sock yarn club. I unwrapped the package and my husband pounced immediately, noting that the colours were a slightly more tasteful version of his house colours from school.

He already had one scarf that I had crocheted for him, which was in pretty much constant use, so another would allow for laundry breaks.

The pattern is a straight-forward 2x2 rib over 80 stitches on 3.5mm needles for 72 inches. There's a two inch border in brown at each end and the rest is two-row stripes with the yarn carried up the edge. The yarn is hand-dyed on a 100% merino base which is absolutely beautiful and has a lovely drape on these size needles.

I'm thinking it looks a bit Gap-does-Eton. He likes it immensly and has already worn it, despite the improving weather.

Finally...

... I can count the Textured Circles Shrug as a finished object. The knitting has been done for ages, but I wanted to overdye it a shade of pewter.
Step forward the major players in this scheme...












... food colouring paste in Liquorice and a large bottle of household vinegar.

I soaked the shrug in a water / vinegar mix to saturate the fibres, then in the dye (made up in hot water and vinegar). After about 10 minutes in the dye -with agitation to ensure an even take-up - it was into the microwave to heat the dye and fibers so the dye would strike.

This was achieved by way of a large salad bowl covered with clingfilm. Then it was just a case of rinsing in cool water, checking the colour and repeating until the depth of colour was what I wanted.










I did the final rinse and spin in the washing machine. The colour is possibly still just on the pale side, but I've decided to live with it for a while before deciding whether to darken it up more.

I've worn the finished shrug to work three times already since I dyed it - it's the perfect shape to go over a 9-month bump!

Baby Gifts

There seems to have been a spate of babies lately, so in addition to knitting lots of little toys and clothes for my own bump, I've been knitting some for others as well.


This is the Upside-down Daisy Hat from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B Anderson. I knitted it in Pisgah Peaches and Creme cotton on 4mm needles.




The petals were knitted separately and sewn on afterwards, but were not as fiddly as I thought they might be. I made each petal two rows longer in the central section to look a bit better proportionally on the hat size I'd knitted. The hat is a gift for a colleague of my mother's.

I've also knitted another Nautie by Beth Skwarecki. My sister saw the first one I knitted and asked for one for a colleague of her's who's due the week before me.


She wanted the same colours as the first one, but I didn't have enough yarn left over for the shell, so I added a lilac and striped the shell as written in the original pattern. It worked out so well that I kept the second one and gave my sister the original!