Baby knitting

I have finally got round to posting off some baby knits for babies that were growing quickly!

First up is another Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket. One of my favourite patterns. I made this using Schoppelwolle's Reggae Ombre in a gorgeous green. What a lovely yarn to work with. Super chunky. I teamed it up with some yummy brown buttons and a matching hat.



Secondly I made a Boheme jacket. I panicked when I first made this when I saw the lace pattern. So - I decided to not knit it and just did it in plain stocking stitch. This, along with the fact that I used some hand-spun yarn (yummy merino from Posh roving) gave me a tiny jacket that had a twist. I didn't have the heart to frog it as it is so soft and a lovely colour way.



So - I cast it on again. This time I used some gorgeous alpaca/merino yarn from Llamajama. I bought this yarn eons ago intending to make a soaker for Orla when she was a baby - well that didn't happen did it? I love the chocolate brown and used the pale pink to trim. An absolute pleasure to knit with and the pattern was a lot easier than I had thought. Having read other people's notes I decided to do a garter trim on the edges to prevent curling. Perfect. I used some ceramic heart buttons after asking loads of people their opinions!



I decided to send both of the Boheme jackets to the baby in question - maybe the smaller one can be used on a doll. (Although my friend assures me it will fit baby girl at the moment - so maybe I wasn't too late after all.) She has the slightly larger one to grow into too.

An Olympian Challenge

I have been planning (and blogging about) a jumper for my husband for quite some time. It has been started a few times and frogged back for different reasons. It was going to be Cheesy Puffs at one point but I finally settled on the Elizabeth Zimmermann's EPS jumper. It is a simple pattern using lots of (easy) calculations to determine how many stitches you cast on/increase by etc...

The Yarn Harlot has used the Winter Olympics (again) as an opportunity for knitters/spinners/crocheters to start a project during the Opening Ceremony and the idea is you complete it before the Closing Ceremony (or during if you are running out of time...)

I signed up for it with Martin's jumper as my challenge. I won't keep you in suspense - I didn't finish it. It was just too big a challenge for me - especially being a slow knitter. A bad cold in the middle of the 17 days didn't exactly help either.

Anyway - I am pleased with the progress. I have done about a half of the body and almost finished the first sleeve.

Here's the body:


Here's the sleeve:



The stitch markers show where I have increased so that I can match the other arm.

I am loving the colour - it's called Oatmeal and is from New Lanark (bulky). It has lovely yellow flecks all through it and it gives a lovely effect. It also knits up incredibly quickly which for this slow knitter is ideal.

Finishing things

Lots of things been finished off today - so thought I'd blog about them too. First up - here is my first Baby Surprise Jacket



I absolutely loved knitting this. It's not perfect - I lost track of some of the increases and decreases but it was fun and I think it looks great. I used Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino Aran - which was a dream to knit with. I love the contrasting stripes - makes it look super smart. The buttons are originally from my Grandmother's button tin.


Next up is another Baby Surprise jacket knitted in Kraft Koala's Aran:


I'm not as happy with this one - think I prefer BSJ's in single colours - rather than variegated yarn. Sewed the buttons on today - after emptying my button tin trying to find something that looked good. Think the brown ones are perfect - love how the yarn used to sew them on changes colour from button to button.





Next is the lovely pinwheel blanket.


I made this back in July on the way back from France. I used Peaches and Creme 100% cotton - which is quite thick to knit with. I love the pattern on this but stopped too soon - I was eager to finish it. I should have kept going. I may give this to Orla to use as a toy blanket. I still need to block it as the edges curl.

I love the detail on the centre though - the pinwheel itself - will definitely be knitting more of this - with wool next time I think.




Finally I have my Christmas Stocking.



This has been made for a swap I am involved in. I am making for a lovely American lady so I thought I would go overboard on the 'Scottish' theme. I used just two colours - a lot of the patterns I looked at were full of bright colours and made me feel quite ill. I like the simplicity and the contrast of just two. I put saltires around the top and the just used simple patterns down the leg and foot with plain heel and toe. I put i-cord around the top and used that to add a loop. It is not as neat as I hoped - but I still need to block it which I am hoping will squash the heel and toe into shape a little more. It was a fun knit and if I get time before Christmas I may make another.


That's all for now folks...

Baby Surprise Jacket

Well - I am now totally hooked (pun intended) on this pattern.
I am about half way through my second one and am loving every moment I get to work on it.

I've finally taken some pics.
This is the first one I did - using Debbie Bliss Merino Aran - I have some lovely hand-made patterns winging their way to be via a lovely Etsy seller.

The second one I am making using some lovely Krafty Koala merino wool. I am using much larger needles and hoping this will fit my 2 year old daughter (no of course I didn't knit a swatch!!!)


I'd love to make an adult one next but am loathed to use a really chunky wool - is there an adapted pattern for normal wool - so with more stitches??? Answers on a postcard to....