Wednesday 12 March 2008

FO: Dolly (3-6 months)

Here she is in all her glory. Dolly (3-6 months) from Jaeger book JB29 by Martin Storey.

It's a lovely pattern, although the finishing is a bit of a faff, because the neck trim is knitted separately and has to be sewn onto the neckline... (and you have to cast on 300 stitches to start it).




No mods worth mentioning. I used 2 balls of RYC cashsoft 4ply and not much to spare. It's a lovely yarn for babies because it's seriously soft and can be machine washed. As a mum myself, I know that handwash stuff is fine in theory, but really, why make things harder than they need to be when there's yarn like this available? I hope baby Bella approves. I knitted the second size rather than the first, because Bella was a well rounded 8lb 8oz when born and to she'll probably be thinking about wearing outfits (rather than just babygros) when she's big enough to wear this. [Edited to add: I hear that Bella slipped into her new cardigan on the day that it arrived! The girl obviously has a highly developed sense of style...]


I'm very pleased with the way things turned out because these were odd balls of yarn. Together they looked slightly different in colour - but knitted up you really can't tell them apart. (Dont worry I took the necessary precautions).


What's the weather like where you are? The UK is being bashed by gales at the moment - as we're on the East side it's not too bad, but in Scotland this windy weather seems to have been going on for months. When it's sunny it's good for drying the washing, but you do have to use LOTS of pegs! Today the sun is alternating with lashing rain, beating a drum on the window of the study where I'm sitting. Outside, I can see the trees in the street, whipping their bare branches in a frenzied jig.

Wednesday 5 March 2008

FO: Baby Tunic

Little Kirsty should have received her tunic top by now, although I expect it'll be a little while before she wears it, as 1. She's a tiny weeny thing, only 5lb 7oz at birth and 2. it's still summer time where she lives. I hope she likes it.

The front is flowery.


The back is stripey.


It's designed to be easy to put on (wide sleeves, stretchy neck, soft rolled cuffs and collar). Previous versions have proved popular with new mums (I even made one for the bean - and put it on him often. It went to the frog pond tho' but that's another story).

There seem to be babies everywhere at the moment. Another has arrived amongst our circle of friends: Isabella Rose born Weds Feb 27th at home in a birth pool after an efficient 3 hour labour. Huge congratulations to Rachel, Gavin and big brother Thomas! I am especially pleased because Rachel was influenced by the homebirth experience I had with the bean (see here for his birth story) and she did it herself with some style. 3 hours?! Way to go girl!

And in blogland, everyone's at it: Woolly Wormhead, Mind of Winter, Stash, Knit, Repeat (and I could go on...)

Anyway, not wanting to waste a minute, I parcelled up some super cute booties which I knit in 2006 and cast on the Dolly cardigan from Jaeger Handknits book JB29. It's sooooo pretty, and almost finished, so another FO is about to be born.