A REALLY good Finished Project

I have to share this finished project with you, even though it isn't my work.  This finished project was a good long time in being made, but I think everyone would agree it was well worth the wait.

This magical being is my niece.  This photo is of her at 2 weeks old.  She was born three weeks early but was fine, if just a bit small and jaundiced.  I met her for the first time last weekend, as my family live a couple of hours drive away and I wasn't well enough to travel for just an afternoon.  This little girl has been 9 months in the making and it wonderful to finally meet her, and to be able to watch her grow and change into her own person.  Already she pulls great faces.

Which leads me to the crafty part of today's post.  Just behind her head you can see a flash of orange.  This is a little hat I made for her with some left over yarn.  It was left over from the Baby Surprise Jacket I just had to make for her.

Apologies for the quality of the photo.  I forgot to take a proper  photo and this was one I snapped on my phone when I finished it, to share on instagram!  The yarn I used is Sirdar Baby Bamboo DK, which is 80% bamboo and 20% wool.  It is a beautifully soft and silky yarn which has a gorgeous drape and sheen.  It is also machine washable.  I chose to use orange as I was so depressed with the weather I had to cheer myself up with wool.  Luckily I know both her parents quite well and they are not scared of a little colour.

Once I'd knit this, my favourite baby pattern, which is proven by how many of these jackets I have made and gifted (this is my fourth), I had some yarn left over.  I wanted to make a little hat.  I did a quick search of Ravelry and came up with Beamish by Woolly Wormhead.  It's a very cute pattern that starts at baby and goes through to adult sizes.  Most of her patterns include multiple sizing which extends the pattern's use.

I made the hat in the smallest size (to fit 14" head) and wasn't sure if it would fit now, but thought it would be wearable at some point.  I omitted the cute tassels from the hat as I ran out of yarn and didn't really have any contrast yarn that would work well with the orange.  It really is a sweet little hat and I was suprised to see it wasn't too enormous on the recipient.

It is a little bit big, but it doesn't completely drown her, unlike the jacket.  We didn't even try to put that on her, as it would have been like a dress.

I'm so pleased that all my gifts were well received.  My sister in law has already become glued to the hap shawl I made for her, and I think the crocheted teddy bear may become more of a toy for my brother, but at least my niece will get to keep her hat and jacket!

I am, as always, sharing the love by linking up to FO Friday, so click on the button to see some other finished projects, but none will be quite as sweet as my niece!

Two New Projects

I have mentioned before that I have taken a couple of Craftsy classes, well I have signed up for another one.  It is Entrelac Knitting with Gwen Bortner.  Entrelac knitting has been on my "must learn" list for a couple of years now, in fact it was mentioned in Knit and Crochet Blog Week in 2011 as part of my "Something to Aspire To" entry.  When the course came up I read a few reviews and looked at the patterns that were included and thought they looked interesting and that I would enjoy working my way through the course.  Then I was offered a discount and I leapt at it.

I'm now working my way through the first section of the course, the Infinity Neck Warmer.  This is knit in the round and I had the perfect yarn for the project.  BabyLongLegs British Merino Aran.  This stuff is unbelievably soft and squishy.  I think it is impossible to get now as it was a limited run yarn base.

As always BabyLongLegs has created something stunningly bright and fabulous.  The entrelac pattern and this yarn are working fabulously together.  I love the little striped boxes that are being created in each round.

I think the pick up and purl and pick up and knit that you do, depending on the direction of the round, make a very neat border between each unit.

I'm on my last round before I finish off with a round of triangles at the top of the cowl.  I can't wait to get it finished and blocked.  I am definitely keeping this as I don't actually own any cowls.  This could be the start of a new passion for both entrelac and cowls!

The second project I started this week is a very small one.  Well the bit I did was small.

Yes, I have finally caved into the craze that has swept the whole of blogland.  I have started Hexipuffing.  I bought the Beekeeper's Quilt pattern by Tiny Owl Knits and started to read through it.  I then realised that I wanted to knit these little beauties on DPNs as I felt that magic looping something this small would drive me insane.  I don't have any DPNs because I always magic loop, so I splashed out on some Brittany 3mm DPNs from p2tog.  The pattern recommends using 3.5mm needles, but I have really a loose gauge, so I knew I needed to come down a couple of sizes.  Now I have the needles, which came really quickly, I am glad I went for this particular size.  The fabric of the hexipuff is perfect.

I've only lightly stuffed this little hexagon because I want the finished quilt to be quite flat, and light.  Also, I think with less stuffing, the fabric will spread out more, so less puffs will be needed.  If you've never seen the Beekeeper's Quilt, Tiny Owl Knits has some lovely photos on the pattern page, on her blog.

I have got together a bag of things to be able to whip out a puff whenever the mood strikes.

I have the needles and a crochet hook in the side pocket, and I'll get my snips out later and add them to the bag.  I have some stuffing, and what I've put in the bag will last for quite a few hexipuffs.  I've also grabbed a plastic bag full of part skeins of sock yarn.  I have quite a lot of part skeins of sock yarn because it seems to be my favourite weight at the moment.  I have some lovely yarn just sitting in a plastic bag waiting to be used.

This project finally got under my skin when I saw a couple of my Leicester Merry Makers friends working on their puffs and talked about swapping yarn for their hexipuffs.  Seeing these little components in the flesh really made me want to make some.  The photos never convey the cuteness.  My friends at the Merry Makers have some cracking sock yarn.  Can't wait to get swapping!

Click on the button to see other works in progress.

It should have been finished months ago.....

I started this project in December 2011.  It is a lovely little shawlette design by Kyoko Nakayoshi of Cotton & Cloud fame, called the Raindrop Shawlette.

I whipped through the pattern pretty quickly, in fact it took me less than a week, as it was a well written and nicely charted pattern.  I finished it and blocked it and took photos.  And it was when I was taking photos that I noticed this.

I know the loops are a bit iffy, but that's not what I'm asking you to look at.  Do you see that edge point without a loop in it?  That shouldn't be there.  I compared my photos with Kyoko's and realised that I must have read the pattern wrong.  I know it doesn't look that bad (apart from the weirdly blocked pointy loops) but it would drive me cuckoo, so I flung it in the "must fix later" pile.

I finally got around to picking up the shawl again last week and frogged back the cast off edge and the last three rows, which took plenty of time, as I un-knit rather than ripped the rows.  I then pulled my pattern out (which Kyoko had kindly gifted to me via email) and started to knit the last three rows again.  It was at this point I realised that my pattern (which was an early un-corrected one) had the repeats in the wrong place for the loops and the points.  I had actually knitted what the chart instructed me to, it was the chart that was wrong!  There were far too many knit stitches on either side of the loops, on the chart!  The lines that marked the repeats were too far apart.  I was very pleased I hadn't gone completely off the rails and mentally amended the chart to make the loops in every point.

I now have a lovely little shawlette.

I apologise for the quality of these photographs.  It is VERY dark and wet here today, but I really wanted to get this project in my DONE list. The weird colouring is because of Photoshop tweaking to make the shawl visible.

The following photo is more accurate colourwise.

If nothing else, I'm glad I re-knit this bottom edge so I could re-block those points.  They are much less weird this time round!  The first time round I thread the blocking wires through the bottom points as well as the top edge.  This time I just used a blocking wire along the top edge, and put a pin in each loop to get a less warped bottom edge.  It worked much better this time round.

The yarn I used for this project was the beautiful Semi-Precious 4-ply dyed by BabyLongLegs.  The colour is delicious and the yarn is 50% merino and 50% silk.  This base yarn is gorgeous and Sarah does a fantastic job of imbuing it with beautiful and vibrant colours that are hard to find elsewhere.  I don't think I've ever bought a yarn from BabyLongLegs that I don't absolutely adore.

This yarn and this pattern together make a really dressy shawl. It's a great combination.

I am so pleased I fixed those points!

Now you can see the lovely shaping in the lace charts, properly.

I'm linking up, as usual to Natural Suburbia and Tami's Ami's and Other Creations.  Click on button to look at other gorgeous projects.

Quilt Progress

I was asked the other day on Ravelry about the cot quilt I was making.  Do you remember it?  This one.

This poor little quilt top has sat untouched for what feels like (and probably is) months.  As you know, I've had a bad patch with my health and it is only now that the increased painkillers have left my brain free enough of fog to contemplate the next stage of sewing.

I intended to get a single piece of fabric to use as backing so I could just get on and make this into a quilt, but the fabric was just a couple of inches too narrow to be used.  So I chopped the bottom off the fabric and inserted a panel in the back with the remaining piece of my favourite fat quarter, surrounded by strips of white, echoing the blocks on the front of the quilt.

The fabric is the little aliens who are calling for "galactic peace".  I love this fabric so much and it is perfect for a little baby boy.

You might also note that the back and the front are now sandwiched around the wadding/batting and pinned together.  My lovely friend Clare came round yesterday for a chat and offered to baste it for me.  She knows how hard crawling around on the floor is for me.  I nearly wept with gratitude!  Just cutting the pieces for the back of the quilt nearly killed me, because they are such large pieces of fabric to manage.  I really don't want to give up quilting but I think that the large pieces of fabric and the putting it together is something that is almost impossible for me.  Clare has offered to help in the future if I want help putting blocks together and I may just take her up on it.

For now though, I have a quilt sandwich and I am planning on sewing it together soon!  It will be my first attempt at actual quilting on a machine, even though it will only be straight lines with a walking foot, I'm stupidly nervous!

Whilst this quilt was waiting to be put together I decided to start a new knitting project to occupy me whilst watching the tennis and British Grand Prix over the weekend.  I had a craving for simple but elegant stitches that entertained and soothed at the same time.  I found this wonderful pattern, Favorite Scarf Ever, by Lisa Bruce, recommended by Crea in the City.  I knew this pattern would be perfect for a multi-hued yarn and it seemed to have the perfect blend of simple and interesting to suit my current needs. I even had the perfect yarn for the project.  Posh Yarn Daisy 4ply in 76 Trombones.

Sorry for the pink background but this photo was taken in a hurry so I could get it stashed away.  The yarn is 80% merino and 20% bamboo, just like one of the yarns I used in my second Color Affection Shawl that I recently finished.  I love this balance of fibres.  It results in a smooth and bouncy yarn that slides through the fingers with ease.  This yarn and pattern was a perfect match in my head.  It turned out to be true in reality.

I started this project on Friday and I am about 80% of the way through the yarn.  I split the yarn into two equal sections, as instructed in the pattern, and decided to knit both sections at once, the way I would knit two socks at a time.  It means that both sections will be equal in length and it feels like I'm knitting the scarf faster somehow!

It certainly involves less turning of a piece during the knitting process, which I suppose saves time.  I love the way the yarn has pooled in this scarf.  The zig zagging colours seem to echo the chevrons being created down the length of the scarf, despite the zig zags being at 90° to the knit pattern.

I love how bouncy the stitches are, and how well this pattern shows off the changes in the yarn colour.

I think the back is almost as pretty!  I adore how even my stitches are, since taking up Combination Knitting.  The back of stocking stitch never looked this neat before!

So these two projects are the ones that have taken up my time over the last week or so and I am really happy with both.  I'm pretty sure that the scarf will be off my needles in the next day or so, if I keep up my current rate.  I better start investigating my queue for my next knit!

Click on the button to look at other projects for inspiration!

Color Affection v.2.0

I am sooooo happy with my second Color Affection Shawl.  It's beeeyoootiful!

I just love how these three yarns work together.  The contrast between the sheens of the contrast yarn and the matte finish of the main yarn gives an additional dimension to the texture of garter stitch.

I made adjustments to the pattern to use up more yarn and to increase the size.

The final size is 17" deep and 70" in width, though this is just the curved edge to curved edge, rather than tip to tip.  In the photo below you can see the extra rows I added.

I added an extra short row repeat section, then I added two more similar repeat sections, but they went the whole width of the shawl, rather than turning for short rows.

I think you can just about see the difference in these two photos.  I think the adjustment gives just enough depth for me. I wanted it to cover my upper arms as that is where I get cold and it allows me ease of movement to have the lower arms uncovered.

It wraps around me beautifully and the colours work really well with a big chunk of my wardrobe.  I had a gap in my shawl collection that this has fitted into beautifully!

It drapes beautifully because of the silk and bamboo content in the green yarns.

It's just a really great shawl, that I enjoyed knitting, in lovely yarns and that I will wear a LOT.

It's so lovely when a plan comes together!  To see other finished projects, click on a button.

Quick WIP Update

This week has been all about the garter stitch. It's mainly because it's been Wimbledon fortnight and lace is too complicated for tennis watching. I finished my Color Affection Shawl so I will show that off on Friday, but I needed some more garter stitch.

I picked up my long abandoned 10 Stitch Blanket and started knitting.

This is as far as the Men's Quarter Finals has taken me. It's been a perfect tennis companion.