My Big Fat Baby Blanket

Pattern: Square Shawl from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Almanac
Yarn: Rowan Little Big Wool (507 Brown), Rowan Big Wool (043 Forest)
Needles: 10mm Addi Circulars
Cast on: November 2011
Cast off: November 2011

This is a little pram/cot sized version of my Big Fat Bed Blanket (hence the name). I used a couple of balls of pale brown that were left over from my blanket and bought a ball of green for the edging to make it up to a sensible size.

The edge is in moss stitch to help to keep the blanket flat. As the yarn for the edge is thicker it has a bit of a ripple to it which I quite like. I like the colour combination too, perfect for the little bruiser that it has gone to.

Ten Tiny Toes

Pattern: Baby hat, socks and mitts by Sue Morgan
Yarn: Sundara sock yarn in Pine Over Gold
Needles: 2.5mm bamboo DPN
Cast on: July 2011
Cast off: August 2011

I cast these on as I finished February Baby Sweater to use up the small amount of left over yarn. They are from a pattern purchased at Get Knitted a number of years ago and are by the same designer as my go to adult socks. I doubled the length of cuff that the pattern calls for and knit it all in my standard K2 P1 rib to give an extra anchor against a sock resistant baby.

These are a really satisfying knit. They are quick, use a tiny amount of yarn and with their tiny heels and toes are super cute!

Blocking

I finally got around to blocking the next two 11 in 11 projects today. With any luck (and by luck I mean if I don't distract myself) they should be completed with buttons and all this weekend.

Pink Poppy

Pattern: Poppy by Justine Turner
Needles: 4.5mm bamboo, 3.25mm circular
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in 300021
Cast on: 26 August 2011
Cast off: 28 August 2011

This was a nice quick knit. The pattern was well written and easy to follow. The yarn is cashmerino aran which I've used lots and is always nice to knit with. If I made this again I would look at the slipped stitches. The pattern says not to knit them but I don't like how noticeable they are on the finished hat. With a more tweedy or variegated yarn they may have been less obvious so that could be worth a try.

This is the third finished 11 in 11 project. There are a couple more than are knit but need seaming or blocking. Having said that I will need to get a bit of a wriggle on to hit my December deadline, especially as Jared Flood's Girasole is on the list! I'm glad I've got a lot of baby projects in the 11 as several friends have bumps. I should be able to hand out appropriately coloured hand knits once the babies arrive.

Sneaky Peak

Knitting has been occurring around here,



and it's mostly been



stripy!

Tea with the Queen

Yarn: Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino DK Shade 0001 (light pink)
Rowan Pure Wool DK Shade 00042 (dark pink)
Needles: 4mm and 4.5mm bamboo
Pattern: Tiny Tea Leaves Cardi
Cast on: January 2011
Cast off: February 2011

I've had this pattern in my queue for quite a while and as I had some lovely pink Sublime yarn in the stash it was ideal for 11 in 11. The yarn was lovely and soft and a joy to work with. The pattern was well written with interesting shaping and patterning at the start before speeding through stockinette to the finish. I put shorter sleeves on as I didn't have enough yarn for the full length ones. The buttons on this cardigan came from the stash. Originally from Duttons for Buttons a fantastic shop in Harrogate that I can never resist when I'm working there. Well it is only 2 doors away from the theatre and like a treasure trove!



The resulting cardigan was so cute that I couldn't help but knit it again for the older of my 2 god daughters. This did mean breaking the no new yarn rule though but I think it was worth it to have 2 little ladies decked out in fantastic cardigans. The buttons for this darker cardigan came from the stash too, the rest of the set having been used on the Pink, Pink, Pink cardi from last year.





They like them so much that they picked them to wear when they went to see the Queen! You can't ask for more than that.

Baby Surprise Jacket

Pattern: Baby Surprise Jacket from Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in 907 (deepest olive) and 900 (antique)
Needles: 4mm bamboo circular
Cast on: January 2011
Cast off: January 2011



This is another of the kids kits that I put together last year and the first of my 11 in 11. I went away for a couple of days over New Year and grabbed this to keep me going on the train and in front of the telly. The pattern has been in my queue for a really long time. In fact I bought the book in July 2007 after seeing this version by Brooklyn Tweed.



The yarn had also been in the stash for a long time, since 2005 I think. I had planned to make a Handsome Hound but never quite got around to it. Since I sold the Lucinda Guy book that the pattern is in two years ago it is unlikely to get made now!



As I had a limited amount of yarn available; 2 balls of antique and 1 of deepest olive; I decided to make the jacket striped. 4 rows of white then 2 of green. I had intended to knit this without any alterations as it is the first time I have knit this pattern. However, I did end up making 2 small adaptations. Firstly when told to knit 10 bumps (2 rows of garter stitch = 1 bump) across the center section I only did 9. This was to keep the stripes correct. The other alteration was to pick up stitches around the neck, knit a row and then cast off. This was to neaten the neck up and to make it match the front edges. The buttons again came from Franklins in Salisbury.



Having knit this pattern once I can understand why people return to it time and again. I have a feeling that this will not be the last BSJ that turns up here!

Pink, Pink, Pink

Pattern: Debbie Bliss Ribbon Tied Hoodie
Yarns: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran; Cashmerino Astrakhan 31016, 31015
Needles: 4.5mm circulars
Buttons: Painted wooden buttons from stash
Started: March 2010
Finished: November 2010

The dark pink yarn was left over from several previous versions of this top which I supplemented with a couple of balls of light pink from the stash. This sweater would need to be stripey, as there wasn't enough of each yarn to knit the whole project in. When I weighed the yarn there was roughly twice as much light pink so I decided to knit wide stripes, 8 rows of light pink then 4 of dark pink.

Rather than knitting this in flat pieces and seaming them I decided to try and eliminate as many seams as possible. I knit the body in one piece, casting on all of the stitches required for the back and both front pieces. Once I reached the point that the armholes need to be I used the extra balls of yarns to knit the 3 sections. I then cast off the shoulder seams together leaving just the collar stitches live. These were then knit across and cast off in the purple that I'd cast on in.



The sleeves came next. Once again I weighed the remaining yarn and now I had more dark than light pink, so I decided to reverse the body stripes knitting 8 dark to 4 light pink. As it didn't look as though I would have enough yarn to knit full size sleeves I decided to pick up stitches around both armholes and knit the sleeves together from the top down until I ran out of yarn. I looked at the shaping of the original pattern to work out how many stitches to pick up and when to decrease. On the first attempt I picked up too few stitches and decreased too quickly giving me a very oddly shaped pair of sleeves. So I ripped them out and tried again, finishing these normal looking sleeves with 1 round of purple before casting off.



The next step was to create some button holes. I did this by crocheting up the left front leaving 6 chain loops for each button hole. The final step was to sew on buttons and weave in all the ends.

This was the first of the baby knit kits that I put together. The aim of the kits was to stash bust and end up with a supply of baby goodies to gift to friends. I pulled yarn and patterns together into baggies so that I could quickly pull a new project once one was finished. When a friend announced the arrival of a little bundle of joy all I needed to do were the final stages, button holes, buttons and weaving in ends. Luckily this cardigan has gone to a little girl despite her dad requesting pink whatever the sex!

Eric - Evil Cardigan of Doom

Pattern : Eric Cardi, Rowan Milk Cotton Collection

Yarn : Rowan Milk Cotton DK (Aniseed and Apple Pip)

Needles : 3.75mm

I have fought with this pattern for a long time. Originally I cast on for the 0-3 month size in October 2008. However, I found the pattern awkwardly written and the yarn difficult to work with. As a result it languished in my knitting basket until well after the birth of the intended recipient. During the big knit last summer it came out of hibernation and was frogged. I was determined not to let this pattern beat me, after all it looked very cute in the book! This time I cast on for the 9-12 month size as this was the largest I could manage with the yarn I had. There was no way that I was buying more of this stuff!

This pattern has been a real struggle for me. As it is a raglan this meant that all the pieces had a great deal of shaping and with each shaping came the frustration of having to decipher the instructions. I was also left with 5 pieces - 4 of which ended in points - to sew together. I don't like this as it was hard to sew them together neatly and has left some ugly seaming at the neck.

I added a couple of irregular stripes at the bottom of the cardigan as I felt it was a shame that the contrast colour was only used for blanket stitch around the edges of the finished garment. I think that the stripes would have been better if they had been regular as they look like an error rather than a choice. However, there was no way I was ripping out to correct this once I'd decided that the stripes didn't work!

All in all, I'm happy that this project is off the needles if only that it means I never have to see this pattern again. Even though this yarn is very soft and will be perfect for a baby's cardi, I won't be using it again as it has been such a paint to knit with. My copy of The Milk Cotton Collection will be going up for sale so that I can't be tempted by any of the other cute knits in there - I just can't face another awkwardly written pattern.