piccys galore

Right.... I have a few FO pictures for you today. I have finished the bolero with a few modifications and I also have the blanket pictures though I finished the knitting of it before I went into hospital.

Here is the finished bolero















In the end I just couldn't face knitting a mile of garter edging and sewing it on. Also... the edging was supposed to produce a shawl collar but I thought it would be a right P.I.T.A. and not lie down so I decided to try crochet. This stitch is the shell stitch which I found after browsing through crochet bible the "Happy Hooker" by Debbie Stoller. I love this book and learnt the little crochet I can do from it. I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to do more than edging or really simple stuff.

This is a close-up of the edging.













The crocheting itself wasn't hard but the calico is quite splitty and made it harder to hook those DCs.

Here are the last of the blanket pictures.













This is the front of the blanket which I was super pleased with. I picked up around each finished edge in a different colour to tidy it up a bit but I wouldn't have had enough of one colour to do all the same. Still, I thinkit worked out ok.














However, this was what the back looked like after it had been sewn up. I have to sew things so they're indestructible so I didn't just tack the edges together, I used my usual method of sewing up which has a name I cannot remember. This left the back looking messy so I fixed it with....fleecy fabric. Or rather mum did ;o)














Mum added the fabric on the back for me while I was in hospital bless her. Also, it means that Ava has a non-wool/alpaca surface against her skin while her skin is still dry and flaky from being so overdue. The Rooster Almerino is super soft but I can't have pure wool or animal fibre right next to my skin.

Lastly, I have a gratituitous Ava pic since she's wearing something I knit while I was pregnant. I was super impressed with this cardi I made. Not because it was difficult but to have the sticking power to finish it in time. I get bored or just a short attention span and this was a lot of fiddling with hoods and bands etc.


















This was knitted in Sirdar Kisses DK. It's acrylic but soooo soft. It's the softest acrylic yarn I've ever felt and it's a semi-solid colour. I made lots of minty-duck egg things this time around. When I was having Seth my "neutral" colour was yellow and I wanted a different unisex colour this time. The little suit she has on has some mint in it today so I put her this one on. I definately recommend this yarn for baby knits as it's machine washable and dryable and very very soft. It isn't often I rave about acrylic so make the most of it!

I think thats all I have.... I'm amazed I got the bolero done in under a week, but to be honest it's not a big knit. The bolero is obviously a cropped pattern but nontheless it was 4ply and I don't usually knit that fine.

Until next time,
xxx

knitting frenzy

Well I'm steaming along with my girlie projects for Ava. I started the Debbie Bliss Baby Bolero from Baby Cashmerino 2 in some sirdar calico. The calico is supposed to be DK but it's on the fine side and DB Baby Cashmerino is more sport weight than 4ply I've always thought so it's a pretty good substitute. The first size is 3-6 months so it's on the big side atm but since she's in 0-3 month clothes at 7 days old I doubt it will be too long before she will be able to wear it!

I started this on Saturday and did the back... Sunday I made a front and a sleeve and today the second front. Tomorrow maybe I'll get the second sleeve done and then be able to do the bands. I think the bands will take the longest :o( They have to be knitted separately and sewn on. To me that's even worse than picking up around the edge.














This was my progress at lunchtime. I've sewn the one side together before knitting the bands because the bands go from middle back up the front to the neck shaping before getting wider. The book says to sew the bands in before the sides and sleeve but I think that would be more confusing and harder to do the other sewing up later.

If you guys are wondering how I'm getting chance to knit.... well not only have I not been sleeping that well but also when Seth's playing he's quite accomodating and lets me knit. I'm sure when I'm back to normal I'll have less time but I grab the opportunity when I can. Also, with baby knits they work up so fast so the gratification is so much more!

Well I confess I've done something tonight I haven't done for about 10 months. I've had a drink. Not a lot though of course I'm a responsible mother and all... but I treated myself to a glass of Jacques fruit cider. I'm not breastfeeding so there is no danger of Ava being affected. With Dad doing the night feeding it's nice to be able to unwind. Or it would be if Seth hadn't decided he wanted to get out of bed 20 minutes ago so now we're all sitting on the bed while I blog.














Something tells me it wont be the relaxing night I'd hoped for!

first project for Ava

Hi guys

I decided to make so very simple mittens for Ava since she has monster hands and all the scratch mittens are either too small or fall off. Nothing fancy mind:




















I used koigu KPPPM on 3.25mm needles or any 4ply would do.

The pattern I made up was:

Cast on 32 stitches
8 rows k1 p1 rib
make an eyelet row: k2 yo k2tog across the row
20 rows stockinette
k2 k2tog across
purl
k2tog across
purl
k2tog across
purl
k3tog
fasten off
Sew side seam

The tie was made using a small crocheting hook and making a long chain.

.....or something to that effect.... ;o) of course this is easily adaptable by adding stitches at the beginning and rows to the length.

If I could have been bothered to use dpns of course I wouldn't have had to sew a seam!

And here's the cutie I made them for:



















That's all folks for today x

Ava Grace Wilkes 02/06/09 9lbs

I'm just announcing the birth of my daughter Ava Grace :o)

It was a traumatising few days in hospital so this is just a quick post until I'm back on my feet and the land of the living so to speak. We came home on Tuesday after I'd been in since Sunday.

I'll hopefully be able to keep up with the knitting world once things have settled down a bit at home. With visitors and settling Seth and Ava together plus just getting used to a new routine ourselves I may be a bit sporadic in what I manage to keep up with!

I'm taking part in the UKSwap too.... well I hope that my partners keep in mind that I'm around though a little preoccupied. I'm sure I'll be able to keep in touch though and find some nice goodies to spoil my downstream pal.

Until the next post... here's just the odd picture.