Ribbed hats for baby girls

So far we're having a good year for baby girls. I wanted to make gifts for two special wee girls but just didn't have the chance, with all the moving shenanigans, to sew up cute wee trousers or dresses (which would have been really fun). Since I really did want to make them something I had to rely on my fledgling knitting skills........somewhat risky but I think I pulled it off.

I went back to the Boyfriend Hat pattern having successfully adapted it for John.  I played around with the basic pattern until I got a length and depth of hat that seemed right.  I used one of Katie's hats as a template and aimed for 6 to 18 month size.

The yarn is Rowan Kid Classic (a lambswool and mohair mix - I wanted these hats to be very soft) and I knit double with Feather and Tearose.  I decided I couldn't go too far wrong with a colour as pretty as Tearose for baby girls!  Ravelled here.

Clearly Katie is a little big for the hats, but that is as it should be as she is two and a half, and despite the rather odd perched-on-top look she was very happy to model for me (long may that continue) - I wasn't rash enough to ask her to stay still, I just chased her around with the camera while she scooted. 

I raided my stock for bibs to go with the hat for my cousin's wee girl.  There wasn't a lot of point sending bibs for Sarah's baby.  Sarah and her mum came to my bib class at The Stitch Gathering and I know they have since made some for Molly - so a couple of favourite lotions were sent off with Molly's hat instead.

Other random bits and pieces::

:: John set off for his new job in Inverness on Monday, and he tells me his bike commute this morning (from Avoch, on the Black Isle, to Inverness) was simply stunning

:: we think we may be making progress on the house - fingers crossed

:: we may also have somewhere to buy.......with only a few homeless days in between

:: if it all falls into place we will be moving very soon, scarily soon in fact, but we can't actually do anything until things firm-up on our house

:: the sun is shining, isn't it wonderful?

:: Charlie, the cat, is determined to sit on my knee while I type, he is not a help but he is lovely

:: I have made this dip for the kids' snack this afternoon

:: I want to try making gorse flower and honey icecream

:: this article really has me thinking, I try to give my kids a fair bit of freedom, and believe it is very important, but I think I may not be going nearly far enough.....this article is very thought provoking.  Please do read it.  What do you think?

I do hope that the sun is shining with you too.  I'll be back as soon as possible with a little giveaway.

A Husband's Boyfriend Hat

Following my success with the Giftie Slouchie Beanie I really wanted to knit another hat as soon as possible.  I had to bully poor John into looking at yarn and hat options with me - he really wasn't convinced that I could find a yarn that wouldn't make him itch (he's very sensitive, poor soul).  But I was hopeful (and determined!) that I would be able to find something soft enough - so that I could satisfy my knitting urge and hopefully make something that he'd like to wear.

We settled on Auarucania Puelo from Meadow Yarn.  John loved the variegated jade/royal/forest/denim colour-way and I was pretty sure that, being 100% llama, it would be very soft indeed.  I had imagined a more subtle colour than this (I was thinking of a rugged grey) but there's only so much persuading one can do with a husband who isn't convined of the merits of a handknit hat in the first place!  And, I did try to remember that he'd be the one wearing it (I hoped).

We went for the Boyfriend Hat, a free download from Ravelry. John asked that I make it deeper so that his ears would be well covered.  My first attempt was far too big and the actual knit felt too lose and not warm enough, not what I had been hoping for.  Next attempt I doubled the yarn and only cast on 70 stitches.  I knit for 7" before decreasing (rather than 5.5" in the pattern) - and it worked.  A hat that John likes, and will wear.  Doubling the yarn worked well - it is much thicker and chunkier and shows off the ribs better.  The yarn really is very beautiful and soft too - the very fact that John is happy to wear it means it must be very soft indeed.  Ravelled here.

And the rest of these photos are from a wee walk yesterday at my mum and dad's house (they are still in South Africa, but will be back in a couple of weeks.  It will be wonderful to see them again and to go back to just one dog!).  We went over for 36 hours just to have a break from the house and selling.  I had to pop back home for a viewing but it was still good to escape, walk and not think about whether the cats have been walking in the bath again (it is driving me nuts, I have had to add it to my list of things to do before a viewing.....check for muddy cat prints in the bath).  Two more viewings this afternoon.  We've only been on the market for 5 days so all is going well but I am thoroughly over the novelty already - and I suspect the dogs are going to get very fed-up of spending time in the car too.

I hope that you have had a lovely weekend and have had a chance to enjoy some sunshine too.

A right old fankle

I do love the word fankle.  And my new yarn. I certainly got into a real fankle when I tried to wind my skeins into balls.  I remember seeing a yarn swift somewhere online a few years ago and wondering why on earth it was worth having one.....surely it couldn't be that hard to wind a skein by hand?  Well,as I now know, it can be pretty tricky but it isn't impossible.

I am so much enjoying my Quince and Co Finch (colourways Pomegranate, Split Pea, Kittywake and Bird's Egg - bought here).  I asked for the wool for Christmas after seeing this scarf.  I love the colour combination and had a shawl in mind.  I was a little thrown when I found that the shawl pattern was charted and far harder than I had anticipated but in many ways that became a little bonus.  I spent a few very happy hours, over the Christmas holidays, searching Ravelry for a new perfect pattern. I eventually settled on the Serena Shadow Shawl (but I won't be short of shawl patterns to try once this one is finished, there's some lovely designs out there).  

I'm enjoying the pattern, which is very simple and really suits my life at the moment.....which at times has felt like it could be getting into a bit of a fankle too.  But it isn't and it will all work out, it is just rather hard to see quite how we'll get to that point.  We're on the move - up north* - which will be wonderful, but John** starts up there pretty soon and we still have a house under scaffolding and a fair bit more work to be finished outside before we can sell.  And really, we need to do some work inside too to show our, very unusual, house at it's best.  But we will be selling it in great condition which is more than can be said for the condition in which we bought it.  I'm not sure we'll be taking on a mid 1700s house again for a wee while!

So, I suspect I may be a bit quiet for the next wee while.  I won't be disappearing altogether and I'll try to pop in when I can.  I will also be reading all your lovely blogs, but maybe not commenting quite so much.

Sorry for the murky photos, the light here is terrible and the wool colours aren't very true.  I'm longing for some blue skies and crispy weather.  

* I'll spill the beans about where we're going soon but there's a couple more people I haven't contacted yet and I want to make sure they hear properly and directly from me first
** John has a wonderful new job, I can't tell you how proud I am of him
*** Books - presents from John for my birthday and Christmas.  Flora Celtica documents the relationship between Scotland's people and plants. I have longed for a copy for years and the new paperback version is perfect. The Ancient Pinewoods of Scotland is a guide to each of the Caledonian Pinewood remnants - a subject close to my heart.  My university dissertation was based on one of the larger remnants, The Black Wood of Rannoch. 

Emerald Giftie Slouchie Beanie

I can't begin to tell you how happy my new hat* makes me.........I knitted it!  I first saw this pattern here (and loved it) and then here (and loved it even more).  

I somewhat naively thought that I'd be able to make it fairly easily, or at least without too much of a struggle.  Kat  described it as 'quick fix knitting, nothing that required brainpower or much time'.  But, of course, I very quickly remembered that she is an expert and I am undoubtedly a beginner.

I had to frog back to the beginning several times and then back a few rows several more times (does everyone else find frogging easy?  it seems to me to be very tedious and yet nerve wracking at the same time). I think now though (and very much hope) that I have fathomed the steps that were causing me such trouble.

I really would like to make another as soon as possible but have a number of other projects, which are rather less quick (even with the learning curve) than this was, that I really should make more progress on first.  This is the yarn I'd like to use next.........relatives and friends willing to be gifted a Giftie Slouchie Beanie please do let me know!

I've posted all the details of yarn etc on ravelry.  I haven't really used ravelry to it's full potential so far.  I do have a list of favourite projects which is long enough, as well as being completely unrealistic in terms of skill level, to keep me going for many many years.  I haven't felt that my previous projects have merited 'Project' status on ravelry but, for me, this one makes the grade and it was very satisfying to create a project page for it.

 * I really can't work out how people take successful selfies of the clothes and knits they make....it looks so effortless, but I guess it isn't and probably that is part of my problem - I try to do it quickly when Miss Kitty Cat is asleep, not when there's time (there never is in my life) to set up a proper backdrop, wear co-ordinating clothes and wait for good light.  Any tips?!

Pebble vest for Katie - more adventures in knitting

I seem to be a bit back-to-front with my knitting updates.  I was sure I had posted this post but it appears that I definitely haven't.  So here it is....a post for which the photos were uploaded in November, I think.

As you'll probably know by now knitting is a bit of a battle for me although I am a little more confident since making this little Pebble Vest for Katie (and having subsequently finished this cowl and this snake).  I'm at the stage where every more or less successful finish is a Big Thing.  Katie's woolly vest, small as it is, was definitely a Big Thing.  She couldn't care less what she wears* so I have no idea whether she likes it but I assume it is comfortable and it certainly keeps her podgy** little tummy warm and her arms free for lots of busyness.

The Pebble Vest is a free pattern and I'd definitely recommend it to fellow shaky knitters and, since it makes such a great wee top, I'm sure it would be fun for proper knitters too.

You might notice that I haven't sewn all the toggle buttons on with the same coloured wool.  That wasn't intentional, I used all my remaining green wool sewing them on initially - and apparently not very well - and then when some came loose I used blue wool which I had handy.  Very shoddy but better than nothing, I thought, although not better than changing them all to blue.  And, yes, they are still a mix of blue and green.  That's coz I really don't like sewing on buttons...........it is almost as bad as ironing, or maybe even as bad as sewing on cubs and judo badges.  Does anyone else dislike perfectly simple tasks like sewing on badges?  I do hope I'm not the only one.  And, just for the record, if the top had been for a non-family member it would have had properly sewn on buttons first time round.....it is only my poor family who has to put up with me trying to cut corners.

* Although since she is such a good wee girl I'm sure she much prefers being dressed head-to-foot in mummy-made clothes like she was on this day............Big Butt Baby Pants info here.

** Now that she has reached the vast old age of 19 months her tummy is a little more svelte compared to the 14 months or so she was in these photos.

Good weather for neck warmers

 You'll be delighted to hear that blogger has spared you all the lengthy words I have just written on the ins and outs of my cowl knitting experience (and the cross words I muttered at the computer).  So instead::

:: I knitted this cowl, it didn't all go well and I have made mistakes but it keeps my neck warm and I like it
::  Charlie likes finding sunny spots in the house
:: I made cowls for the children inspired by these and these
:: we like snow and yesterday we set off for school early so we could play in it

Hoping you have a fun week and that you have a snuggly neck too!

knit with me - a giveaway win

Thanks to a tip-off from Annie I discovered a lovely new-to-me blog and a giveaway at the end of last year.  Nicole of cocoknits was giving away a copy of 'knit with me' which is a collection of knitting patterns by Gudrun Johnston - and I was the lucky winner.  I couldn't have been more excited as I fell in love with the book when I first came across but didn't really think I could justify buying it.  

The patterns are designed to suit both mothers and their daughters.  They really are beautiful and the styling of the book is wonderful - I could quite happily lose myself in the little world they have created. All are knit with gorgeous Quince and Co yarn - something else that has taken my fancy.

At the moment many of the patterns are beyond my skill level but I have high hopes that I may be able to knit them by the time Islay and Katie are big enough, and maybe they'll join in and knit too.

My current favourites::

Braeburn

Soay

I think I might be able to knit this one now::

McIntosh - 

The techniques section is perfect for me::

Each pattern ends with a little shematic diagram showing the finished dimensions, I love this::

And with some birthday money I treated myself to some Quince and Co Puffin yarn to knit this chunky jumper (and then perhaps I'll try the McIntosh).  Isn't it beautiful wool?  It should make a perfect cosy, slouchy, comfy jumper.

Thanks so much to Nicole for the book.  I love it.  And to Annie as I wouldn't have entered otherwise!