Scarves for Sister-in-laws

I sure do hope my in-laws dont read this blog. If they do, their surprises are ruined. I have 3 lovely sister-in-laws. I have 3 brother-in-laws and one brother. They are all married. You do the math. Anyway, 2 of the lovely ones are the mothers of my 2 newest nephews and neices. [And the other lovely one is married to my brother, to avoid confusion and unnecessary upset]. The new mothers' babies have had plenty knit for them (see below), and it kind of sucks when you become a mother and all the gifts are for the baby and none for you. So, I knit them both scarves. And because nobody loves a bitch-fight I knit them the same one in different colours.


Its this in Debbie Bliss Cathay, the grey/blue left over from my tank top, and bubble gum pink I also got in the JL sale. The pattern is originally meant for laceweight I think, but I like the way it came out in the heavier yarn. The weight makes for nice scarf hanging.
I used 2 skeins for each and they probably could do with being a little longer if you like scarves for flinging around. These are more the neck-warmer type. I may well knit one for myself actually. It was a great handbag/knit-while-you-natter project.

An Even Smaller Hat

This hat is for nephew, who is still tiny and as a boy, probably too macho for a pink berry hat (although I havnt met him yet, so I am guessing). The pattern is by Ulli S. Shibuya and knit in some RYC cashcotton 4ply I snagged in the John Lewis sale for silly money. I was trying to be smart and get coloured garter stitch stripes, but it didnt work out quite as I hoped. I also couldnt find a small enough bowl or large enough dolls head to model it on, just a plastic toy cup, hence its cake-like appearance. I dont think C has a cake-shaped head, so it should look better on him. I hope.

A Smaller Hat

I love this hat. I wonder if I should make an adult version. Would that look ridiculous? ;) Its for niece baby C, who is just over 6 months. I realised as making it that I have no memory of how big a 6 month old baby head is. Smaller than my father-in-law, presumably. Its from this pattern, and knitted in Debbie Bliss cotton angora, which is a dream to knit with, but has lousy reviews on Ravelry regarding wear. But how much grief does a baby hat get? Especially as it might not even fit. It did fit this bowl nicely though, which was great for blocking it a bit, and fantastic for photos :)

Hat for Silly Grampy

My father-in-law is a big guy. With a big head. At least I hope its big, cos this hat is huge!!

Its got a nice bit of low level cabling in which is pretty, but not too girly I hope. I managed to do it without a cable needle, which is good as those suckers are a real pain in the arse.

Felted Ruffle Drawstring Bag

I needed a little bag for Molly to put some bits in for our flight next week. I got the idea for this for some gaming dice bags on Ravelry, but none seemed quite right so I kind of made this one up. I got a bit bored by the end so decided to do a little ruffle at the top.

Its hand-felted, and I probably could have felted it more, but it was beginning to look too small so I stopped. I am still not convinced its big enough, but its pretty darn cute non-the-less. Its made with Rowan Tapestry yarn which is a wool/soy blend. Lovely colours with nice long stretches. It felts nicely, although the end product is very 'knit-your-own-yoghurt' hippy styleeeee.

Heres how I did it:

1 skein (plus a little bit) of Rowan Tapestry
5.5mm circulars (I used magic loop; use dpns if you prefer)

CO 30st
Garter stitch back and forth for 40 rows (20 ridges).
Place marker, then pick up stitches on the other 3 sides of your rectangle as follows: 20 stitches on first edge, 30 stitches on cast-on edge and 20 stitches on last edge. 100 stitches
Join in round and knit in round (stst) until bag measures approx 15cm.
For ruffle:
Starting at marker, [Inc 1 (knit in front and back loop), K1] for one round. (150st)
Knit one round
[Inc 1, K2] for one round (200st).
Knit 3 rounds.
Cast Off.

Drawstring:
2st i-cord as long as you like.

Sew in ends. Felt.
When dry, cut small holes in lower edge of ruffle to carry drawstring.

Look at these!!

They are these. Arnt they great?! I going to make 2 families of 4 for Mary and Lizzie's kids. I used Rowan Tapestry with has gentle colour gradations, so they are kind of colour coordinated in a subtle kind of a way.

Creatures of the Reef

So I finally finished my first big lace shawl! I am inordinately proud of myself. As mentioned it is intended as a gift for my grandmother-in-law. Its probably the first item I have knit which I dont really like (in that I dont think its the most beautiful thing I have ever seen), but it is perfect for her, and after all thats what matters!

It started off slow with casting on over 400 stitches and I had to do it twice after switching to Addi Lace needles after a few rows. With rows that long, the thing grows very very slowly (no more 'just let me finish this row....' since it would take half an hour!). But they slowly but surely get shorter and shorter, and following the charts becomes easier, helped out a lot by stitch markers.

And I am surprised to see that it really only took me a little over a month. And that is only evening knitting when I wasnt tired since reading lace charts and small children dont mix ;)
But the trouble with lace is that it looks like a dogs dinner for the duration of knitting, so its not like you can periodically gaze and stroke it and admire your handiwork. Its not until the blocking where its true beauty is evident and the little crabs and fishies came into their own. I particularly like the 'seafoam' section at the neck too.

So please excuse the vast number of photos. I just couldnt stop! Will update in a month or so to report on the reaction from Nana. Fingers crossed, eh?

I am in big trouble.....

OK, I have too much to knit for various things and time is rapidly running out. Instead of just getting on with it, I am going to document it all here. And that will make me feel better organised. Or make me freak out. One or the other.

1. School knitting
I have had big plans to knit stuff for teachers and/or pupils in each of the girls' classes, but this is going to have to be scaled down. Only 2 weeks to go!
- a felt bowl for Rosie's main class teacher. Done. But its a bit rubbish. Hmmm
- something for her non-main teacher plus 2 main teaching assistants. What though?
- I was going to knit a mess of cupcakes and dinosaurs for the classroom. I am rapidly thinking that this isnt going to happen :(
- Something for Molly's keyworker from preschool. Cupcake? Not sure. Cupcakes for everyone??

2. In-law knitting
Since we dont see the extended inlaw family at Christmas, I am knitting them gifts for our trip in August. Only a month to go!
- Creatures of the Reef lace shawl for Nana-in-law. Getting on with this, probably 2/3rds the way through, but its a big project.
- Spirogyra fingerless mitts for MIL. One done, the other started. A quick project so should be OK
- Both (nice) sister-in-laws are supposed to be getting a scarf. One is about 3/4 done. Havnt started the other one yet. Gah!
- Something small for cousin's kids (4 of them aged 1.5 to 5). Was going to do knitting bunnies or similar, but going to run out of time. More likely will be gnome babies or these which are too cute.

3. Airplane knitting
By which I mean I have knit Molly a bunny with clothes for the flight over (and its too cute!) but need to do more clothes and make a monkey and clothes for Rosie.

Urgh...feel ill now....better go and get knitting!

Adventures with Lace

I think I am hooked on lace! I have 4 projects on the go, and all of them are lacy. (This doesnt include the non-lacy projects I also have on the go, of which there are many. Oops.). I am not sure what it is about it. It requires more concentration that just straight knitting, since you have to follow charts do fancy things like yarn overs and knit 2 together etc etc, but of course the beauty of it is that individual stitches are easy, its just the way they are all put together that makes it look complicated. So you get to produce a really impressive piece of knitting without doing anything at all hard. Hurrah!

So, to list:
1. Creatures of the Reef Shawl intended for my Grandmother-in-law. I couldnt resist the little sea creatures and since she lives by the beach, I thought it appropriate. I am enjoying doing it, but it is a long project..I have almost finished the crab/seahorse section and am dying to get to the starfish! It is great fun to see the animals emerging, but they wont look truly ace until after blocking.
2. Lace Ribbon Shawl, a recent Ravelry favourite. I am using a sumptuous (ooo, dont get to use that word often) 2ply silk/cahsmere blend from Violet Green which makes me want to cry when I knit with it as its so soft. This one is going to be for me ;) The pattern was a pig at first when reading off the chart, but once I learned to read the knitting it became a lot of fun. Only started it a few days ago but loving it.
3. Started this morning the Isobel scarf from Cider Moon with the Debbie Bliss Cathay left over from my tank top thingy. Looking good so far. This one is for a sister-in-law. Not sure which one yet.
4. The Upstairs Shawl in another pant-wetter from Violet Green, this one a 2ply merino in a imaginatively named colourway, Squid Ink :) This one is for me too. So sue me.

And another thing I have discovered is that regular old circular needles are pretty pointless for lace. Literally. Their ends are too fat, and since you are overwhelmed with K2togs (knitting 2 stitches at once) with the old lace (thats what makes the holes!), or sometimes even K3tog, then pointy ends is what you need. So in steps Addi Lace Turbo needles...oh boy they are like knitting with butter. Well, not really but you know what I mean. They are pointy, and smooth (plated with something that looks like 24c gold, but probably isnt) and the join between the needle and cable is smoooooooooooooooooooooooth, so your stitches dont catch. I think I am in love.

Oh, and the other really great thing about lace is that a little yarn goes a long long way, so even though it might get a bit pricey, a whole 100g skein can make a huge shawl that takes you months to knit. Great value for money :)

Nephew

He is still to be born, but I finally finished his cardigan. I was really pleased with this one. Rosie chose the buttons, which really finish it off nicely. His mum was really pleased with it too :)

Creatures

For some light relief, a few quick and easy projects from Alan Dart. The sheep is from his farm selection, and the elephant from the Noah's Ark set. I love to knit them, but the fiddly bits like legs and ears can try my patience, so they are good 'once in a while' projects. The legs have straws in them, which is genius since it makes them stand up. The elephant is knit from Mirasol Hacho left over from my skinny scarf. He looks quite lovely, I think.

Such lovely patterns, with all the shaping in the knitting. So clever.

Friends

I have this really great friend. The kind of friend that will always step in to help you out. She is lovely. When I was accepted onto my teacher training course and was looking for childcare for Molly, she immediately offered to have her one afternoon a week and even more on occasion. She loves my kids :) I met her when our eldest children were babies almost 7 years ago and inbetween then and now we have run a business together and lived to tell the tale. We share a sense of the absurd and both have 'difficult' mothers. She is lovely. Did I already mention that?

So after I started college and she started watching Molly for me, I starting knitting her a gift. I had wanted to knit the Clapotis ever since I joined Ravelry, since you cant surf for 2 minutes on there without coming across another one that someone has knit. And it looked fun.

And it was! It's knit on the bias, starting at one corner and working your way up. Its basically stocking stitch, but ever once in a while you get to knit a stitch through the back loop to twist it.This starts to make sense once you get to the point when you are dropping stitches....woot, such fun! (as previously documented on this glorious blog).The twisted stitches border the dropped on, so basically tighten the bands of stocking stitch. Its such a clever pattern. I have to admit, though, that it gets a bit of a slog in the middle section, but its so worth it, because the result gives such a fantastic drape for the shawl, especially once it is blocked.

I wish I had a better photo of it finished, but I rushed it off to her and now its too late, but you get the idea.

And you know what, she loves it! Whooo, it made me so happy to be able to do a nice thing for someone who has been so kind to me :) Thanks, Abi...you're lovely :):)

Its Magic!

When me and the kids were on holiday a few years ago in Pembrokeshire, we went to a medieval fayre thing, and the kids had a go at felting with fleece. In other words, take some stinky sheep fluff, add soapy water and mash it around on a board until it made a flat blob, then hang it in the tree to dry. They enjoyed the mashing but were underwhelmed by the result. As was I. And I didnt warm to random things made this way either ie felt hats and sculptures.

So when I joined Ravelry and came across various photos and whatnot of felted items I paid no attention. Then I saw a pattern for a lovely Solstice bag that I had my eye on. Turns out it was felted. So I put that thought to one side. Then I saw some lovely coloured yarn on sale online, Trendsetters Granito, which happened to be especially for felting. The yarn made me buy it....and so to my first felted bag.

I started with the Sophie Bag. It knits in the round and is easy peasy with just a bit of shaping. The handle is i-cord grafted on with Kitchener stitch, my first go at that and a nice introduction as only 6 stitches :)

And then to the washing machine. A 60 degree wash in a front loading machine with a few pairs of jeans. If I had read as much about felting before I did that as I have since, I would have been way too intimidated to try. There is a ton of information out there about dos and donts of washing machine felting, much of it contradictory. For example, Felting Lore has it that front loader washing machines make felting much more tricky than the top loaders used often in the US. Anyway, I didnt read any of this until it was too late. And by that time, the bag had come out like this:


Hurrah! Ignorance is bliss!! Its like putting your knitting in a magic cauldron, waving your wand and pulling out something completely different. I love it! The bag is fits my purse, phone and lipstick and is perfect for taking out when I dont need to carry all the other extraneous rubbish that usually resides in my handbag. And it is much admired. So much so that I have been commissioned to make one for a friend :)

And of course, I couldnt stop there. One disaster later when I tried to use up some Debbie Bliss Pure Merino that didnt felt (I later read on Ravelry that DB yarns often dont felt as they have been treated to make them washable), I made this out of lovely heather mottley pink 100% wool aran from New Lanark (great price!) and gave it to Rosie's friend as a birthday present. Mindful of the poor carbon footprintingness of doing a 60 degree wash for one tiny item (and my washing machine takes 1.5-2hrs to do that!) I decided to try hand felting in hot water...which kind of worked, but my hands got hot, so I ended up sticking it in the washing machine in the end anyway. I think I need to get myself a plunger.

So I am a felting convert. On the needles is a big bag but maybe I will get around to that Solstice Bag one of these days......

Rosie's Sweater

Ever since I finished Molly's Swing Jacket, Rosie has, somewhat understandably, being nagging me about knitting something for her. (And boy, can she nag ;)). Avid readers of this blog (ha!) will know that the initial plan was to knit her a rusty red version of the Ink Flare Sweater that I made for myself. But since I dont love that sweater, or knitting with the yarn (Noro Cash Iroha), I just kept putting it to one side for more exciting projects. Then I started a raglan sweater in the same yarn, using the top-down raglan calculator...but again, got bored after a few rounds and kept putting it to one side. Poor Rosie, every time she saw me knitting on something else, she would ask when was I going to knit on her sweater. Ah she does a good line in guilt.

So, finally I decided to go the chunky/big needle route and get something finished. I went with Click Chunky cos a) its, well, chunky and b) its cheap yet soft and springy. Surprisingly so for 70% acrylic. I like it. And I found a Sirdar pattern for a simple raglan sweater....so the plan was definitely coming together. After a small hitch where I took the yarn but not the pattern on a 3 day visit to my mothers (=lots of knitting time), followed by lots of ranting and stomping then loosing of the will to live as I tried to find something online using her dial up, I finally got started a few days ago on our return.

I knitted up the back quickly, but as I started the front I began to yawn a bit, so decided to stick a pattern on the front. I searched for a dishcloth pattern or similar, but nothing was quite right. So I ended up designing my own fish pattern on graph paper. First one (the little fish) fell foul of that problem where graph paper is square, but knit stitches are oblong, so he is longer and thinner than I wanted. But still OK. The bigger fish I tried to compensate, but he still came out too long. I tried to pretend he was OK and finished the front, but figured every time I looked at it, it would piss me off, so I frogged back and redid it, adding some bubbles this time for a larf. Am quite happy with the result :) It the spirit of sharing, the pattern for the fish is below.

As for the whole sweater, it is pretty snug on Rosie, despite me working to gauge (had to go up a needle size as usual), so I wish I had done the next size up, but hopefully she wont grow too much over the summer. She loves it :) Which is good, because I had started to wonder if I was going to be one of those people who knits awful ill-fitting sweaters that are obviously handknitted that people only wear out of obligation. Maybe I should stick to shawls and bags.....

Moss/Seed stitch Fish pattern

Big Fish (left facing)
Row 1: P1 K1 P1 K18
Row 2: P3 (K1P1)3 K1 P7 K1 P1 K1 P1
Row 3: K2 P1 K1 P1 K4 (K1P1)5 K2
Row 4: P1 (K1P1)6 P4 K1 P3
Row 5: K2 P1 K1 P1 K4 (K1P1)5 K2
Row 6: P1 (K1P1)6 P2 K1 P1 K1 P3
Row 7: K4 P1 (K1P1)8
Row 8: P1 (K1P1)8 P3
Row 9: K4 P1 (K1P1)8
Row 10: P1 (K1P1)6 P2 K1 P1 K1 P3
Row 11: K2 P1 K1 P1 K4 (K1P1)5 K2
Row 12: P1 (K1P1)6 P4 K1 P3
Row 13: K2 P1 K1 P1 K4 (K1P1)5 K2
Row 14: P3 (K1P1)3 K1 P7 K1 P1 K1 P1
Row 15: P1 K1 P1 K18

Small Fish (right facing)
Row 1: K3 P1 (K1P1)2 K5 P1 K1
Row 2: K1 P1 K1 P3 (K1P1)3 K1 P2
Row 3: (K1P1)7 K1
Row 4: P4 (K1P1)5 K1
Row 5: (K1P1)7 K1
Row 6: K1 P1 K1 P3 (K1P1)3 K1 P2
Row 7: K3 P1 (K1P1)2 K5 P1 K1

My First Lace Project

I finished something! This is the lovely summery vest top with a bit of lace at the bottom I did with the DB Cathay yarn. Its called Soleil and is from knitty. Heaven to knit with (although a bit splitty), it was a perfect first lace project as it wasnt too arduous and once it was done, it was straight stocking stitch in the round. I really enjoyed knitting it. It fits too, although it does feel a bit 'chunky' in this gauge. I imagine it would look smarter in a thinner yarn. But I wore it today, and really enjoyed knowing I was wearing something I made. Yay!

Now I have about 8 skeins of Cathay left over, since I bought enough for a big sweater, so have to decide what to do with it. I am thinking it might lend itself to a really slinky Clapotis, but that might be because I am totally in love with the other one I am making (in Louisa Harding Grace) because I have got to the dropped stitch part......woot!! Such fun. Its true, I am sad!

Booties

Who can resist these lovely booties. They are a ravelry favourite, designed by Saartje, and much knitted. They knit up flat, so no fiddly dpns and seaming on such a small item is a breeze. No idea if they will fit, or stay on! I would love to knit a whole mess of these; I definitely need more babies, although not personally, you understand.

I've started so I must finish...

OK so I have a starting problem. Or a finishing problem, depending on how you look at it. Last Saturday I started 3 new projects, while still having 4 on the go, in various stages of unfinishedness. The lure of new projects is too great. Finishing them is boring. Oh dear. In the spirit of transparency, this is what I have on the go at the moment.

1. Rosie's ink flared sweater. A smaller version of the one I did for me, in rust red with grey stripey bits. I am kind of making it up a bit as I go along, a bit risky. Its not so interesting to knit, but she is always nagging me about it so I keep on keeping on.

2. Toddler Coat for C by Debbie Bliss. Its lovely to knit, I should get on with it. But its in size 12-18mths, so no immediate rush.

3. Shawl-collared cardigan by Debbie Bliss for soon-to-be nephew, also C. All done except blocking and sewing. Must finish soon as he is nearly an actual nephew rather than a soon-to-be one.

4. Cotton Lace Shrug. Glorious project in Debbie Bliss cotton angora which is lovely to knit. My first lace. Requires concentration, so I cant do it while I am chatting or watching The Apprentice. So progress is slow.

5. A 'Clapotis' shawl (apparently pronounced Clap-o-Tee), which is meant as a 'thank-you' for a friend. In Louisa Harding Silk and Wool yarn, which I got cheap from ebay. Not sure about it, but am suspending judgement. Anyway, the shawl is fun fun fun to knit, as its done on the bias and then, *gasp*, you drop a load of stitches. Hehehe. Cant wait for that bit. (Bloody hell, I am sad...)

6. A skinny scarf, which is basically DK wool knitted on 10mm needles, so you get a big floopy stitch. So easy and fun. And the wool I am using is Mirasol Hacho which is 100% merino hand-dyed and is gloriously bright coloured. It is from a project in Peru which helps the children of the yarn producers and workers, so I can feel self-righteous as I knit.

7. And finally, since some Debbie Bliss Cathay was finally shipped to me after a 3 month wait and no apology (getknitted, I will not be ordering from you again. Grrr) I changed my mind about what I wanted to knit with it, and am now doing a simple tank top with lacy edging. Its knit in the round and I am enjoying it greatly. The yarn is heaven to knit with. My gauge is off, not having a 4mm circular, so am doing it with 5mm in the smaller size and hoping that it will kind of fit me. If it doesnt, I will give it to someone bigger/smaller than myself, as appropriate.

And I havnt even mentioned the half finished dinosaurs and bags. Gah! Someone slap me with a wet fish if I start something else when I havnt finished these yet.

All the cool kids are doing it...

Yay, I have converted several people to the Joys of Knitting! I feel like a pusher ;) Last weekend 16 mums and some or all of their kids met up in a big house in Malvern for chat, wine, chaos and laughter. And knitting! I got a job lot of cheapo needles from ebay and raided my stash for God-awful acrylic yarn and on Saturday night (after probably too many glasses of wine) we had a little knitting group. My lovely friend Louby, a champion knitter herself, and I coaxed some friends through a good few rows of garter stitch. All but one had previously knitted, but way back then, so we didnt have too arduous a task at all. They did very well, and one went off at a great pace and tried all manner of stitches. I hear she has since made her first garmet. Woot! I think we might have made at least a few converts. Ah to spread the joy. I loved it :)

Sheep!

This is a chubby one from an Alan Dart Shaun the Sheep Mobile pattern. Weird to knit with the furry yarn, but so cute! Quick to do, although fiddly with the legs and such. He has a bit of a glazed expression, which is quite apt, cos he is meant for my brother. Who is old enough to know better, but doesnt.

My First Sweater

I finished my first sweater, the Ink Flared Sweater from Black Dog Designs. I enjoyed knitting it, but not that happy with the way it turned out. The yarn (Noro Cash Iroho) is mildly slubby, by which I mean there is a sodding great slub every once in a while, but the rest of the yarn is quite smooth. As a consequence, the fabric looks smoothish with a slub here and there which looks more like a snag. Grrr. And it wasnt super great to handle while knitting, although it is soft to wear and quite snuggly.

The other problem is that I dont think it really suits me. The highish neckline makes my boobs look huge! Anyway, it will be a good slobbing around in sweater which is fine, although a bit bloody expensive considering! At least I got the yarn half price on ebay. Oh and the raglan sleeves should have been sewn up differently I think. I am currently knitting a smaller one for Rosie so will try again with that one. Need to do some research.

Swing Coat

Finished!! I am really proud of it, and Molly loves it. I am surprised and delighted at how fantastic it is watching one of my creations walking around :) There was a minor hiccup with the buttonhole, which came up too high on the neck, but I just sewed the button on (not my choice, Molly picked it out, but I think it works) and put a popper on the back.

And am going great guns with my Ink Flare Sweater, which I need to finish up before I make a smaller one for Rosie. She is nagging me!!! Oh I just realised I didnt mention that. Its from http://designsbyblackdog.blogspot.com which I am knitting in a kind of bluey grey. Its fast and fun to knit, and I have high hopes that it will look great. Hopes rather than expectations that is, since I have no idea what kind of freaky shape it will turn out to be. Watch this space!

Oh and someone in Texas is making my cupcakes! Whoot!! http://woolwindings.blogspot.com/2008/04/crazy-for-cupcakes.html

So a good day in beeknitland...

A Lesson in Tension

Oh dear. Well, the swing jacket for Molly (Catherine Tough's Easy Knits for Kids) was going really badly. Its all garter stitch and it was so slow and was resulting in knitting related injuries on my forefinger. Grrr. I finished the back and 2/3rds of a front section over Easter weekend, but it was no joy. Then something made me check the tension (I know I know I should have done it before I started *rolls eyes*) and it was way way way off. It might have fitted a 2yr old. If they were very very small. Gah!

So I ripped it, and started again, instead of 3.75mm needles I went way up to 5mm (mainly cos my 4.5mm ones were in use). Oh what a difference! It knit like a dream, like a knife through butter, blah blah you get the picture. No longer tight and nasty, the knitting became loose and lovely. Hurrah! The down side is that it isnt as even, it feels a bit floopy, and it doesnt look as neat. But it feels softer. You can see the difference here. It nearly killed me to rip all that nasty knitting that I sweated over, but it was definitely for the best.

So have been going great guns ever since. Nearly finished the last piece and sewing up is on the agenda for this evening I think. Woot!

So I guess I have discovered I am a tight knitter...who'd have thought it? Its not like I have a tight-arsed personality. Oh. Well, OK then ;) So tension squares for me from now on. Or maybe just bigger needles. A lesson learned anyway.

Something I learned

Dont try and knit with bamboo needles in a swimming pool. Well, not in it, obviously, but while sitting watching your kids have a swimming lesson. I guess the humidity is the problem. Either way it makes the yarn stick to the needles in a horrible way.

Just thought I'd mention it.

More on cakes

I thought I would post a photo of my 'learning curve' on designing my cupcake pattern. As you can see, the first is too round and the second is too fat! The first 2 are in DK, and the final one in aran weight. I am quite pleased I managed to perfect it in only 3 goes :)

And here is a whole plate of them I made for a friends daughter. Yum!

Coming soon: The Slice Of Cake Learning Curve

Another random update

Here are some thing I have knitted but not blogged about to date.

Firstly I had my first experience of a) hand-dyed yarn and b) knitting in the round. I saw a girl in a coffee shop with a knitted headband, it looked South American/Inca-ish and was lovely. So I thought I would see if I could manage one. So one lovely skein of 4ply from www.kraftykoala.co.uk in 'sunflower' colours and a circular needle later here is the result. I loved knitting it and its just knit knit knit and no brain power required at all. I do wear it a bit, but not sure if I look like a complete twat it. Oh well...Lots of the yarn left too, so have to decide what to do with it. Am also looking for more knitting in the round project and have my eye on an elephant ;)

Other things:

1. I have started a garter stitch 'Swing Jacket' for Molly in lovely cerise pink/purple Rowan Cashsoft Cotton DK which is absolutely gorgeous. The pattern comes from Catherine Tough's book 'Easy Knits for Little Kids'. There is a quite bit of mohair in the yarn though, which turns it quite furry, which isnt apparent from looking at the ball of yarn. Garter stitch is way slower to knit than stocking stitch though :(

2. I have started a couple of knitted bags from Emma King's '25 Bags to Knit'
One in greens/yellows (for me!) and another using Rowan Summer Tweed and Rowan Cotton Glace in pink (for someone else) and I have yarn to make another in blues. Most of the yarns are worked double thickness which is a bit of a pain, but I am hoping for lovely distinctive bags at the end of it :)

3. Have knitted a few more gnome babies and random dinosaurs!

4. Have started another Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino affair, this time in green for A and H's forthcoming baby (a boy apparently!). Its a pair of little dungarees with moss stitch detail, so cute! I must do them a pair of shoes too :)

There must be more....but it escapes me right now. As usual, too many projects, too little time.....

Matinee Jacket

I did get a photo of C in the jacket I made! Isnt she cute?? She wore it for her Uncle's wedding, and apparently got a lot of lovely comments. Arnt I clever? :P