Craft actually

Wet weekend

It was completely gloomy and grey outside on the weekend so we looked for bright moments inside.

A beautiful bunch of spring blooms.

 

A visit to Sharp Works yarn shop at Herne Hill and I was attracted to these delicious colours. I'm contemplating some baby knitting for upcoming arrivals.

 

My little blossom having lunch at Cafe Provencal. Where has my baby gone? 15 months to the day..

 
And for my second Ravelympics project I finished this cosy Crofter's Cowl in Malabrigo worsted in time for the tail end of winter. Unfortunately woolens are still required. This is a fabulous pattern - would make a nice gift and only took a few hours to knit up. 

 

Ravelypmics Shawl Progress

Its been a hard two weeks of competition but I've finished my shawl and its blocking as we speak!

Minnow says, "wot madnis iz this?".

I had about 2 yards of the Wagtail yarn left over. It was so lovely to knit with and I can see a gorgeous sheen on the shawl as the light falls on it already. Ting suggested that if I want to jazz it up I could add a beaded crochet edging. I'm thinking about doing that - will see what its like when its blocked.

 

Misty wants to know what's going on too?

 

Meh not much ware iz mi fud?

 
 
  

I'm feeling very Olympic

This was going to be a post about stash busting and how good I had been at not buying yarn lately. Ahem. Until after a stressful week at work it seemed like some retail therapy was really the only cure. That and a visit to Loop on Wednesday which I knew would be dangerous but went anyway. 

I was in the market for some kind of blue yarn for the shawl I am making. First I picked out the beautiful Madelinetosh Sock yarn in Baltic. Then Pauline pointed out that this gorgeous Wagtail Kid Mohair in Charcoal (but which I think is really more blue) is from Childers in Queensland so I couldn't resist it. But by that stage I had been carrying around the Tosh Sock for awhile was getting attached to it so both it was. And the the orange Tosh Sock....well you know how it is.....(maybe).

I've started swatching the Wagtail in preparation for the Ravelympics (Ravelry link) which kicks off in conjunction with the Winter Olympics (I so hope they get some snow v. soon poor things) which is 2am Saturday morning London time. Its my own design so there will be a bit of fiddling around but hopefully I can plan it out and avoid too much ripping back.

  

First finished object in 2010

I started this Debbie Bliss garter stitch jacket for Sophie thinking it might be a birthday present. Then I decided to do the Grey Hoodie instead. Then I got distracted with a couple of little Christmas present projects. But then I just wanted to get it out of the way because I didn't really enjoy knitting it all that much and knew that if I didn't finish it soon she would have grown out of it and any effort I'd already put in would be wasted!

 
Anyway the end result is pretty cute - if a little big. I did the 12-18 month size and so at the rate she's growing at the moment it will probably fit in about a month.

 

Sitting on the kitchen island inspecting some interesting things she found up there....

 
Making a break for it.....

 
And the great escape is complete. Sometimes a photoshoot just gets a bit boring.

 
Details on Ravelry. 
  

Knitting!

I finished the birthday cardi (version 3!) in plenty of time. Well not quite finished after all. I now have another much prettier green button to replace the boring black. And one of my crafty friend suggested lining it! I thought, "what a great idea" so now have been on ebay for several hours looking for some suitable stretch jersey fabric. 

At least the fit is pretty good.....

Now I want to make her a little dress/vest for over t-shirts.

I'm quite taken by these two below....both by Tora Froseth Design.

 

Little Sister dress above and Sweetheart dress below.

 

But then I got a bee in my bonnet to make up my own pattern as I am obsessed by lace and lacy edges at the moment. So I knitted a very cute shell lace around the neck and almost all of the yoke before I realised it was going to be sized for about a 6 month old. GAH. If I had just done a couple of calculations before I started it would have been fine. Never mind. I have cast on again and by this time next week I'll be back where I was! Hopefully my calculations are ok as maths isn't exactly a strong point.

London Grey

The sky is about the colour of my knitting and the garden is looking bedraggled. Its very autumnal here today. 

 

Despite the sky outside looking cold the fabric is snugly and I've started wondering what I could make for myself in this yarn. I noticed there are lots of CPHs out there in the Donegal Tweed.  Maybe a jumper/sweater for a change. 

 

Sophie is rocking lots of purple in her wardrobe this winter. I think the cardy will go beautifully.

A lovely little African Violet from my friend Tim is brightening up an otherwise dull day. I'm at home today suffering from Sophie's tummy bug a lot less cheerfully than she did.

Regrouping weekend

I don't have any photos today because yesterday I thought, "I'll take photos tomorrow when I clean up" and then today was so dark and rainy the light was too bad. I was going to show you the hoodie version two that I'm making in Sophie's current size not for a year's time. This time I'm using a beautiful Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed. Its light grey with flecks of green and pink through it so should go with almost everything. I'm hoping I can get lots of the yoke done tonight while watching the XFactor results show. 

I am looking forward to sitting down and vegging out. Not that this weekend has been hard core or anything but Miss S has had a tummy bug for four days so there has been a fair bit of cleaning up to do.

After Smithy being away for work a couple of weeks ago and then being very busy it seemed like we had hardly seen each other the past month but this weekend we just caught up which was nice. Friday night we went out to dinner for our wedding anniversary at a French restaurant in the Royal Exchange building in the city. Its a grand old building which is now quite posh. Its the first time we've been out together for  meal in town since our last anniversary dinner when I could hardly fit in the booth table. Last year we came out of the restaurant and it was snowing! Its not even that cold at the moment.

Saturday we braved Oxford St for a bit of shopping and today we' chilled out at home. Have I even left the house today? No too rainy. I tried to so some sewing yesterday but my machine is on the blink. Something is wrong with the bobbin stitching I think. I had it fixed a couple of weeks ago but the problem is back again. Very frustrating as I'm just at the last step for the top I'm making for Sophie.

Am off to put another load of washing on. Will be glad to go to work tomorrow for a rest :)

So far so good

First week back at work and so far no major disasters. In fact its going quite smoothly. I feel the need to knock wood at this stage as I've discovered that as soon as the smallest hint of parental smugness creeps in, then BAM the gorgeous babe will spend the day vomiting (mostly on me) or the whole night waking on the hour crying. Loudly.

So Miss S seems to be quite happy and in fact SQUEALED with happiness when she saw her nanny this morning. THANK GOD I got a squeal too when I arrived home tonight or some serious guilt/lack of confidence/envy would start creeping in I'm sure. Well some more that is. Another thing I've discovered about mothering is that those emotions are always lurking close by.

On the work side. Well its FINE. Weird but I think its always been like that anyway.

Now more importantly on the knitting side I am getting a bit of time on the commute for a few rows and a bit more time on the sofa in the evening. I've almost finished the yoke of the hooded jacket and it looks ENORMOUS! Maybe thats because I am knitting the 18-24 month size. No, I'm not sure why I'm doing that now but it did make sense at the time. So in the interests of having a garment that actually fits for the first birthday outfit I have now started the roll edge jacket in the 12-18 month size. Knitting cotton just isn't as nice. I hope it will be worth the effort.

PS I looked at a blog I used to read regularly awhile ago - Momo Freaks Out. Back then Momo was living in Tokyo and was very very cool. Uber cool even. Now she is called Samone, has a new blog - Life in a Circus and has one year old TWINS and is living in MILDURA (country Australia). I am in shock! I'm sure she is still very cool but I think the amount of bodily fluids involved in just one baby much less two probably takes one of the "verys" away. But she is still very very funny. 

Last day of my big holiday

With the deadline of going back to work tomorrow after a year I finally got momentum to cut out the Ottobre pattern.

It starts of being a little intimidating and confusing....whoa!

But once you sit down with some tracing paper, a pen and ruler its a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. Slowly I worked out the matching colours and shapes and the pieces are revealed.

I am still a bit confused by where to add the 1cm seam allowance and where its already included. Do I need to add it to the bottom for the hem or not? Instructions seem to indicate not but have added it anyway as it can always come off later if its too long.

I also snuck away to a cafe and sat and knitted for awhile. Knitting on 5mm needles is satisfyingly fast and the fabric is nice and squishy. 

Before I went on maternity leave I used to joke about "my big holiday", thinking I was being ironic and secretly afraid I would feel trapped and bored, staring endlessly at the living room walls. Well thankfully its been nothing like that and although there's been *one or two* challenges it really has been such a blast and a joy getting to know my little pudding and looking after her. I'm going to miss you tomorrow Miss S.

Two tops

One knitted and one sewn.

A polo top for a new arrival expected late next week. Debbie Bliss pattern and Baby Cashmerino yarn.

 

 

Buttons bought a couple of years ago from the amazing Entrée des Fournisseurs in Paris. They've just been waiting for the right little garment to show them off.

And because I couldn't quite manage the Ottobre pattern yet I bought a Burda pattern to try (9645). I made it in 18 month size though so it will be for spring. I haven't done the buttons on this one yet. I'm need to decide whether I will do this one again or attempt the Ottobre one for her birthday outfit.