Baby this n' that

On Friday, I was feeling quite depressed. I got another urinary infection and have to take another course of antibiotics.
What better way to cheer myself up a little bit, than to start another baby project?
The baby blanket is growing slowly, there is only so much garter stitch I can knit in one go.
I took out the yarn I bought in Switzerland.
It is Lang yarns Bebe.
I have started knitting the bear cardigan. My little teddies are polar bears.
The bears are knitted using intarsia and then the nose, ears and eyes are done with Swiss darning. The Bebe yarn is very fine, like sock yarn. I have been knitting a few rows at one time. The pattern is a Lang yarn one and the patterns are written well, it tells you how much yarn to use for the intarsia bear.

Katy

Katy the Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora jumper is officially finished.
Noor is happy with it. She felt very warm having to model it in the evening in the back garden.
This has been a very fast enjoyable knit.
I had ten balls of the Cotton Angora. In the end I only needed 8.
There are now two whole balls left over.
I made another small i-cord since she modeled the jumper. She said she wanted two because of fashion.
Hmm, fashion advice from a nine year old.
Now I am down to just two projects.
Knitting a blanket in garter stitch is very slow going. I feel that I knit, knit and knit without going anywhere.

I have started thinking of what I should knit next. I really want to cast on the Dale of Norway. I also feel baby needs! a white cotton cardigan to go with all the lovely dresses that we have been buying.
Perry is a busy cat, he has to take care of his garden and some others.
It is hard to take a photo of him doing stuff. He moves to fast.

Another knitting disaster?

Katy the cabled jumper has been finished. The sleeves fit perfectly. Not just into the armhole but also the length of the sleeves is good.
So what is wrong with this knit? The neck line looks good.
Noor tried it on and started to complain almost immediately. The neck slipped off her shoulders and then the sleeves are to long!
As long as she stands still and doesn't move at all, this jumper has the perfect fit.
The neck is the problem, it doesn't stay put, it is to sloppy.
I may knit some i-cord and sew it from one neck side to the other. Hopefully it will then stay in place.



To keep me knitting while I think about the jumper problem. I have unearthed the blanket. Once upon a time I illusions of knitting this until it would fit a double bed!
My aim now is: a generous baby blanket.
The blanket is a bit heavy to carry around as knitting -on -the- go.
I got myself to skeins of Koigu KPPPM, in a lovely green colour way.
I started a pair of socks for Noor.
She really needs more hand knit socks, she wears them to bed. Her feet have grown a lot, most of her socks that I knitted are now to small.

Cats and knitting

Last night I finished the front and back for Katy. Like usual I did the three needle cast of for the shoulders.
Noor has 'tried' it on and the size seems fine.
The V-neck is looking good, I'll have to figure out how many stitches to pick up along the edges.
Down sizing a garment is not that much of a problem with basic patterns, it was not that much of a size down. The overall length is a lot less. A nine year old girl is a bit shorter than your average woman.
The sleeves have to be a lot shorter.
The trick is going to get the sleeve cap to fit in the armhole.
I was getting the sleeve ready to measure it, I left it lying on the sofa. The phone rang and afterwards I went to do something else. When I got back I saw a certain boy had draped himself around my knitting. A whole house full a nice places to have a nap, but no, today only that corner of the sofa will do.
Two breakfast Perry looks very tired, I'll carefully move his paws and get my knitting back.
.... It worked.

12 more weeks

All of a sudden time seems to be going much faster.
I have been busy selling some of my stash on e-bay. The bad part is, then I become tempted with other yarn that is on sale!
I recently bought ten balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora. I think the colour is duck egg blue.
I must admit I had never paid much attention to the yarn or book when it first came out.
Luckily my friend Johanne has the book. I knew I had enough yarn to knit something for Noor, she first wanted me to knit her Mary.
But after I looked at the pattern more closely and realizing I would almost have to rewrite the whole pattern to fit her size, I managed to talk her out of it. I also don't think she would have got much wear out of Mary.


Enter Katy, a much better choice for Noor.
I only started four days ago, but she is flying on the needles.
It has been a long time since I knitted something on 5mm needles. The back is finished and the front has had a good start. I am using one of Noor's favourite tops as a base.
On Saturday we all went to Costco's . Like usual we went home with more stuff than we actually intended.
I knew they had a deal on Baby wipes, but I had not figured out that the deal was for three boxes. Well we went home with three boxes - that's 18 packs of wipes.
My husband disappeared upstairs with them. He comes back down and mumbles something about: "Your yarn...."
At first I did not pay much attention to it, then it hit me. My yarn... what did he do to my yarn, what has that got to do with baby wipes.
He pushed my yarn to one side and managed to put away three boxes full of baby wipes. Two boxes are hidden by Alpaca Silk DK!
Did I have so much spare room in my stash?

Nellie and the Tank Top

I thought I'd better get some of my UFO'fs out of the way. Nellie was almost done, all I had to do was most of the sewing and the two borders plus the collar.
I have tried Nellie on, but because of my changed shape, she does not fit well.
Nellie will go to the back of the wardrobe together with all the other winter jumpers and cardigans.
Just this morning I also finished the Tank Top for Noor. She has tried it on, but she was very disappointed.
I saw in the photos of the book how low cut the armholes are. She didn't. She will have to wear a t-shirt underneath it. I don't think that's what she had in mind. She would not let me take a photo of her wearing it.
I knitted this in the largest size, a size 10. I know she is only 9. I think it would have been better if I had knitted the size 8 but used the length of size 10. She will grow, and hopefully next year it will be alright.

Martine and Ballet T-Shirt

Martine from the Debbie Bliss Summer Essentials book has been finished a few days ago.
I finally got round to wear a tank top and get our lovely daughter to take a photo.
I am definitely 27 weeks pregnant. I keep bumping my bump into stuff or people.
To knit with the Debbie Bliss Pure Silk was very nice. The fabric drapes very nicely. The back side feels very swishy and drapey. The button is a fake, it has no button hole!
Around here it has gotten warm enough to wear all our lovely new knit wear.
The lovely daughter is seen here wearing her ballet t-shirt. I know I finished this a few weeks ago. Easter holidays are a good time to take some photos. The T-shirt really is a perfect fit.


Can you spot the difference between
Perry and Tom?

Striped Baby Cardigan

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments.
Most of you voted for the heart buttons. Even my husband came home from work and said I should use the heart buttons.
I have the yarn at home for a teddy jacket and the teddy buttons would go with that.
This was a great knit, as usual the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino is a dream to work with. Her patterns are well written and easy to follow.
I am very pleased with the visible decrease line on the neck. I love features like that. I knitted the smallest size 3-6 months. Perfect for chilly evenings in August and then great as outerwear if we have a nice autumn.

For the moment baby has enough knit wear by me.
Time to knit for her big sister Noor.
She has asked me to knit the long tank top from barefoot knits. She choose the colour - wild orange.
I have had a hard time knitting. I had a wart in the palm of my hand and when I went to the doctor because of my chest infection, I had the wart zapped.
I spent two days in bed last week.
The hand and the chest are finally getting better.
Time to rest and knit!

Which buttons?

I remembered I still had a mostly finished cardigan in my knitting bag.
Last week I went to the local yarn store with my friend Johanne.
We both could not make up our minds which buttons to get. So I bought them both. At 7 pence each they don't blow the bank.
Teddies or hearts? That's the big question!

Looking at both photos it makes the decision even harder. When I first put the buttons on the cardi, I was all in favor of the heart buttons. But now I am not sure anymore.
What do you think?





Martine is nearly finished. The right front band and the neck band are still left to do.
Next has to be something for our lovely daughter N. I may have to cast on soon!

Weekend knitting

Saturday morning I took out my three balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and her Simply Baby book. Oh and not to forget my trusty Addi Turbo knitting needles. Ready to start on the baby shrug.
Casting on 8 stitches was quickly done.
We went and did a little bit of shopping. By the time we got back I had started on the sleeve shaping.
Saturday evening I was casting off for the neck.
Sunday morning all I had left to knit on the main part was one front piece.
I blocked it with my steam iron and it was ready for sewing up and knitting all the borders.
I knitted all the borders in the round. The sleeves with a set of 5 double pointed needles and the front, back and neck border all in one go, again on a long circular needle.
Now on Monday morning, I still had to sew in a couple of ends and take a finished object photo.
Daughter N. helped me look for a teddy or tiger that could wear the new shrug.
Hopefully my sister-in-law and her baby will be able to leave the hospital soon and we can visit them at home and bring her the shrug.
I now want to knit one for out little one and not to forget our other niece who is now 5 months old.
It would be so cool to have three baby girls in the family all dressed in the same shrug. I'll have to knit them in different sizes.
The one just done is in size 6-9 months.