BabyCardigan/Matinee Jacket

I know I said I was bored of knitting but I appear to have been bitten by the finishing bug.

I found a matinee jacket I started knitting when my sister was pregnant with my now seven and a half year old niece. It was almost complete all it needed was for me to finish the buttonhole band and sew it up, how hard can that be? Not as hard as I have clearly been imagining for the past seven and a half years. A little effort and time was all it took.

This is the finished article.

The sewing up might be a little ropey but its finished, and that all that matters. 

It shouldn't really surprise me that it lay waiting all these years it's knit in 4ply yarn, what was I thinking?

Wool Stash (Just how much can I make out of the remains of a ball of yarn?)

I knit a baby dress for the shop some time ago, we'er talking at least one year ago, probably nearer three. It required a little white yarn for some edgings, since I didn't have any lurking I needed to begin a new ball.

After the dress was finished I had lots of white yarn left over, enough, I thought, for a baby cardigan. So I dug out a pattern one which required only 100gms and began. However, before I got it finished I ran out of yarn, so I started another ball, finished the cardigan and was left with considerable amount of yarn.....

This time I'm going to keep it small I'll knit a hat, to be sure I won't run out again I make it a prem baby hat. When its finished I still have lots of yarn left. I weigh the hat and the remainder of the yarn and there's more than enough for another one. This time I make a larger hat, I've still got yarn left. I'm getting bored of hats now. I make baby mitts, still got yarn left. Back to the weighing scales and there's still enough to make another hat, I make another even larger hat. I've still got yarn left. I make another pair of baby mittens. Finally the ball of yarn has about come to the end there is still some left, but if I try to make anything else I am going to have to start another ball and I'll be back where I started! So I've given it to the local school for the children to make something!

This has been going on intermittently throughout this year, in the previous two posts you can see the cardigan and the first hat.

Here is a picture of all three hats and the two pairs of mittens.

I've had enough knitting now for a while....

Knitted Baby Beanie Hat

I've finished another project, one I started in April, I'm good at starting things! Its a beanie hat for a premature baby, I didn't want to make anything too big in case I ran out of wool again and the object of this exercise is to use up some of my stash.

This was using up the wool left over from the white baby cardigan. But there is still lots left so I'm probably going to have to make another!

I just weighed the hat and the remaining wool and there is more than enough for another hat, I think I'll make a larger one next time.

The Year of UFO?

In an attempt to get some discipline into my quilting/sewing/knitting, life I have begun to document all my UFO's/WIP's/PHD's (for the uninitiated that's - unfinished objects, works in progress or projects half done). As very few of mine are WIP's and even fewer are PHD's I think I'll stick with UFO's!

The list appears to be endless, each time I think I'm there I find another. So in the interests of keeping my stress and also my blood pressure at manageable levels, I just take deep breath and add to the list when each new one pops up.

The endlessness of the list is not helped as I keep getting sucked into yet more and more new projects when at the shop!

Now for my first finish I give you the baby cardigan in white:

This was a PHD as all it required was sewing up, I soooo dislike sewing up knitted garments.

I began knitting the cardigan to use up a ball of yarn left over from another project, but there wasn't enough yarn to finish it so I had to get another ball.

Now that I've finished the cardi there is still loads of yarn left.... so I'm going to knit a baby hat, I figure it won't take the whole ball, but at least I won't have to buy another one, hopefully. I'll make the smallest size!

The Dark Side and the Power of Two.....

  

Once again I've been seduced by the dark side....

One cold, dark and miserable November afternoon, I was seduced by the gorgeous wrap/shrug thing on the Debbie Bliss poster below:

Its also on the front cover of the Angel Pattern book. I'd been wearing the gossamer like fingerless gloves from the same book to keep my hands warm and was bowled over by just how warm they were, considering how light and airy they are.
  So the wrap had been whispering to me for some time, the Party Angel yarn was tempting me too but the warmth of the gloves was my undoing, under these provocative circumstances I did the only thing a girl can do.... I indulged.

For those who don't know, Party Angel is a delicate yarn in a delicious blend of Super Kid Mohair & Silk with a very fine thread of glitter running through it. The glitter gives a very subtle glisten to the yarn nothing too blingy.

Now this thing is knit in one piece and its got more than a hundred stitches. As you may know knitting isn't my passion and after the first flush of excitement it all got a bit tedious, but I'm not a quitter and I still want the wrap so I've had to force myself to keep going. This is where the power of two comes in, now don't laugh but what I'm doing is knitting just two rows of it a day. I know 2 rows doesn't sound a lot, its not, but its achievable and it does add up. I can't say I've stuck to two every day and some weeks I've been less than enthusiastic but most weeks I have managed to do a few rows even if it was only a couple. This week I've been particularly good and managed most days. I began a new ball at the weekend and I've done over an inch since then, I do like measurable progress.

Obviously its not yet finished but it is about half way there, if I keep on like this I may even have it finished for next Christmas..... but don't bet on it.

Knitting

Having got over the giddiness I'm now knitting a slip over for my Dad. Not that it will be done in time for Father's day this Sunday, knitting isn't really my thing and it takes me a long to get it done.

I'm using this Stylecraft pattern and the same brown wool as shown on the pattern.