Hot.

We’ve had a resurgence of really quite hot weather for the last few days so I haven’t really fancied knitting at all.  I got as far as casting on for the swatch for the Baby Sophisticate and knit around half a row before declaring myself too sweaty and giving it up as a bad job.  Today, however is pretty grey and considerably cooler, though still warm, so maybe I can get at least the swatch done tonight.  But first today I need to go shopping for a nice dress to wear tomorrow as my cousin is getting married.  We’ll gloss over the pieces I have all cut out and ready to be turned into a dress for this event, I just haven’t found the time or the enthusiasm to get any further so now I’ll be last minute shopping for a maternity dress that I would happily be photographed in.  Wish me luck!

Even more exciting than a wedding, well for us anyway was our second ultrasound scan yesterday where we had a jolly good look at baby.  She is doing really well and we’re happy to have it confirmed that it is definitely a little girl.  She gave us a big old flash to let us all see right at the beginning, before proceeding to run away from the sonographer for every other observation she wanted to make.  She was wriggling all over the place playing hide and seek.  It was very hard won but we finally got this really sweet shot of her little face.

So cute.

Lollie no go

After winding the yarn for Cassie's hat and knitting a swatch (something I seldom do) it fast became clear that I wasn't going to get gauge without going up several needles sizes, so that project is going on the back burner while I choose either different yarn or a different pattern for the yarn. Incidentally the pattern I had chosen was Woolly Wormhead's Lollie and I was planning to use some lovely Araucania Azapa.

Sadly this is all wound up again

No matter, I'm just going to move down one on my queue and make a Baby Sophisticate instead. I have some bright pink and turquoise Drops Nepal to knit this in, the main colour will be the blue, with pink stripes of decreasing size going up from the bottom. I will be swatching again, there's nothing like a swatch being way off to remind you why it is necessary!

 

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FO: Garter Stripe Baby Socks

Another pair of baby socks done, once again these are super cute as only tiny little socks can be. The pattern was Garter Stripe Baby Socks. I'm not sure whether I'll make these again, the result is very sweet but the heels and toes are a bit of a pain. Maybe I will make them again but using a different method for the short rows, it was a little fiddly and the insides are a bit loopy. I still have quite a lot of yarn leftover so I'm thinking I can probably squeeze one more pair of baby socks out of it. Maybe for another baby I've just found out is due the same time as ours.

Next up, however is yet another Woolly Wormhead hat, this time though I'll be knitting for Cassie in case she's starting to feel neglected. This will probably be the only one I'll be making her this year, she has got a relatively tiny head (just like her mummy) and all of last year's hats still fit her just fine. I just need to wind the yarn into a ball and get swatching. I should have some progress to share tomorrow.

 

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Fibre Stash

As if I don't already spend enough time on Ravelry, they have recently added a whole load of new spinning features. Clearly this is awesome and has kept me pretty busy over the last couple of days. I've finally finished adding my entire fibre stash and it feels great seeing it all there. This is a feat which I will never achieve with my yarn, I already had a sizeable stash before I joined Ravelry and I've never managed to catch up with adding it all and for that reason I'm fairly lax about adding new stash. I'm hoping that having my fibre stash all in order from the get go will encourage me to keep a much better track of that. I'm also really excited about the spinning features because it means I can now show the whole process, from fibre to yarn and from yarn to FO. This was really the reason I wanted to learn to spin (and also to dye) because I love the idea of a garment that is truly handmade, from beginning to end, by me. Being able to showcase this is just wonderful. Thanks Ravelry!

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FO: Tubey

Following hot on the heels of Buzzbee, I took only two days to knit Tubey, showing once again why newborn knits are so much fun. This hat is just as cute and is so simple, being essentially just a tube.

After these two successes it was very hat not to go right ahead and cast on another hat, possibly one for Cassie this time, but I tore myself away from hats and have started another pair of little socks.

These will be a pair of Garter Stripe Baby Socks by Jennifer Hoel knitted once again in leftovers of some yarn I dyed to knit a present for my SIL. I think the yarn came from Yarn Undyed again but this time it is 4ply sock yarn. I'm not a massive fan of orange myself, but it's good to use up leftovers and its nice to use bright yarn for babies so I don't really mind it.

 

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FO: Buzzbee

Pattern Buzzbee by Woolly Wormhead

I love knitting things for newborns, they get finished so quickly. I don't have all that much time for knitting and this hat only took me a few days of a few rows here and a few rows there. I'm really pleased with it and I can't wait to try it on an actual baby, for the moment I have to do with a rather fetching bright green football which has roughly the same circumference as a newborn's head.

The yarn I used was some leftovers of an Aran weight from Yarn Undyed which I dyed in a variegated purple to make a scarf for my SIL a couple of Christmases ago. I actually dyed a second skein darker shades of purple and striped them. Seeing as how I'd really enjoyed knitting Buzzbee I decided to go ahead and knit the leftovers from the second skein into another hat from the same book. I went for Tubey as it called for the same gauge. I think this one is going to knit up equally fast and I hope I love it just as much.

 

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Momentum

After a bit of a craftual hiatus I'm finally beginning to feel like I'm getting somewhere, with things getting finished and progress being seen.
My trousers are done, they look like trousers and despite my best efforts they actually have inseam pockets which were a total first for me. Unfortunately they are HUGE. In some ways this is a good thing when I consider that I took my measurements and was very shocked about the size I'd need to make so the fact they have come out so big makes me feel so much better. Also they are actually wearable, just not in the way I had intended. Because they are elasticated waist I thought I would wear them under my bump but they are sooo big that I can pull the waistband right up over the bump and I think I will be able to do this for quite a while. I'll admit that they are not terribly flattering, but I figure they will be just fine for wearing around the house. I'll have to add pictures another day though, I cant seem to find a moment to actually get a picture of myself. Oh and one day when I get over the trauma of it all I'll tell you all about those pockets.....

Pattern: Sock-A-Roo's Baby Socks, Yarn: Regia Color 4-ply

The baby socks are also done, once again despite my better efforts! As I neared the end of the second sock it became very clear that I wasn't going to quite have enough yarn to finish. At first I didn't panic, the yarn was leftover from my Monkey socks and I'd knit each sock from a separate 50g ball so therefore there must be another small ball of leftovers somewhere. Apparently not somewhere that I could find it though. At that point I had a good look at the socks and it dawned on me that the feet looked rather long. Indeed it turned out that I'd made a bit of a measuring error and could lose around an inch from each sock and actually have enough yarn to finish.

Keeping the momentum going, I cast on my next project right away, Buzzbee from Woolly Wormhead's Wee Woolly Toppers. Surprisingly this pattern has also provided me with another first, I suddenly realised that I had never made I-cord before. The I-cord and the earflaps took me absolutely no time at all so now I'm on the main body of the hat and I'm hoping to breeze through the rest of it pretty quickly and have another FO for you next time.

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