Girly things

.... so here is the reason that I've been a slack blogger of late ... a brand new grandbaby :) ... pretty good reason don't you think ;D

It's been good to make some girly things, there are so many awesome things to make (notice her cool 'itty bitty baby dress' from this post) ... I love it!

I would have liked to be making tiny knitted cardies and hats, but unfortunately, long sleeved woolens are not of much use for an aussie summer baby, but I did love this Confection Shrug pattern. It's a bit big, but totally cute (and practical :))

And thanks to Kate Atherley for this super-easy training sock pattern. The socks were my first venture into cuff-down, heel-flapped socks. It was so easy to follow, and came out so good, that I'm looking forward to making some adult sized ones ... thanks Kate :)

... and then some sewing :) .... on an op shopping trip a while back I bought some upholstery fabric samples for $5 with the thought of making a quilt ... I loved the colours and designs but decided that the furnishing fabric might feel a bit rough, so instead, we now have a very sturdy, reversible play mat for the new little miss :)

Too cute!

... yay! ... we're going to have another grandbaby (a little cousin for the little man), and this time it's a girl :) ... (sooo excited!!). So of course, having just found out her gender, I went straight to Spotlight to buy some little dress fabric, and ... came home with nine different ones! (it was just too hard to choose!). Later I was surfing whilst drooling over the fabric, and found the Elsie Marley blog. Perfect timing, as she is organising the '2010 Kids Clothes Week Challenge' starting tomorrow on the 20th September. It's a really cool concept ... just join a few hundred other crafters working on making kid's clothes for one hour a day for a week ... simple, love it, and can't wait to get started :)

But in the meantime today, whilst planning my weeks sewing, I made these cute as, Baby Janes with some stash Sugar'n Cream cotton (The pattern is by Valerie Johnson and can be found on Ravelry) ... thanks Valerie :)

Stephanie's Boobholder

I needed a warm cardi or jacket to wear out last saturday night ... it was only saturday morning that I realised I didn't have anything in my wardrobe to match the rest of my outfit. I had some stash yarn that was the right colour and was thick enough to knit up fast, but even so, I thought it was abit much to think that I could complete it in an afternoon! (but of course, I had to give it a shot :D) ... so, armed with my 2 balls of Katia Himalaya, Stephanie Japel's Boobholder pattern, a cup of tea (several actually!), and some old Taggart re-runs on TV, I set about knitting :D

Ta-daa! ... five, non-stop knitting hours later, it was finished (I even had a perfect button in my stash!). I wore it on saturday night, over a black long sleeved skivvy ... it fits great and feels great, and kept me nice and toasty warm on a cold Adelaide night :)

(The only changes that I made to Stephanie's pattern were to eliminate the puffy sleeves, and to decide, by trying it on, when to divide for the body and sleeves)

Sweater vest weather

I thought that it was about time to make some more winter warmies :)

....so... my first attempt at a sweater vest for the littley of the family came out 'a tad' too big, lol (I think that it can be
packed away until at least next year...forward planning don't ya know ;D). I took the measurements from my 16 month old grandson's shop-bought vest, did all of the calculations, and used the instructions from Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top. It was a really easy, seamless knit, think my mistake was not allowing for the huge amount of ease in stocking stitched knits ... ah well, least I know that for next time :)

For the second attempt, I used my Knitware software to be sure of a better fit ... success!...it does fit better, but it also has hilariously funny armholes that make him look like he's wearing shoulder pads :D

...and just to finish off the green-ensemble...a pair of Sucky Thumbs from Marianne's awesome pattern (fast, easy, and they fit! ... thanks Marianne :))

Retro Baby

After I finished knitting this cream coloured hoodie, there were a few things about it that I thought could be better ... so, not to let it beat me, I did some tweaking to the pattern, and came up with this blue stripey (and much improved) version :-) ... really!, I'll use any excuse to do some more knitting!! The main thing that I wanted to change was the front neckline, as it came way too high, making the top button sit scarily close to mouth level (the top button is undone and flipped back on the modeled photo). I also tapered the sleeves on the first one, but then found it hard to get them on over his other clothes ... sooo, the new and improved hoodie now has, a scooped out neckline, non tapered sleeves, and I also made it a bit bigger to allow for a wriggly baby! :-D

RETRO BABY ... (so named because it made me think of my Mum's patterns from the '60's!)
I made it to fit a 6 month old, which the cream version does ... the blue one knitted up bigger, just by upsizing the needles. Basically, the two patterns are the same (other than the parts mentioned before) The cream one was knitted Top Down seamless, and the blue one was done Bottom Up seamless ... there was no real reason for this, guess I just needed a change! :-) The hood is not seamless, but I'm sure that it would be fairly easy to change ... soooo, here's the improved pattern :-)
The pattern I am writing is for Top Down, but changing it to bottom up is easy ... just start with 80 stitches for the body, and23 for each sleeve.

The size is roughly 6 months
The gauge is 13sts x 24 rows to 4"using 6mm needles with 2 strands of yarn held together (cream), and 12.5sts x 18 rows to 4" using 7mm needles, again using double yarn (blue)
I used 3 100g balls of Carnival 8 ply acrylic (gotta love Big W!)

TOP DOWN
Using yarn double throughout, cast on 18 stitches.
Knit the first row placing markers after stitch 1,2,16,17
Working in stocking stitch, increase both sides of the markers on every knit row, work 7 rows
On next row, also increase at beginning and end of row
Purl 1 row
Remembering to increase still at the raglan seams, cast on 8 stitches at both ends
Keeping the first and last 4 stitches in garter stitch throughout, work 3 more rows in stocking stitch
Buttonhole row, knit to last 4 stitches, k2tog, yfwd, knit 2
Work 5 more rows stocking stitch
Work stitches to first sleeve, put sleeve stitches on holder, cast on 4 stitches, work to the second sleeve, put sleeve stitches on holder, cast on 4 stitches, work to end
*sorry! there seems to be a mistake here ... it should read 20 rows of stocking stitch and 6 rows of garter stitch before the cast off* Work 13 rows stocking stitch, keeping garter edges, placing buttonholes at rows 25, 35, and 45
Cast off
Return sleeve stitches to needles and cast on 2 stitches at either end
The sleeves can either be knit flat and then seamed, or knit in the round (I did mine in the round using magic loop)
Work 26 rows stocking stitch
Work 4 rows garter stitch
Cast off
For the hood, cast on 63 stitches
Work 4 rows of garter stitch
Work 5 rows stocking stitch
Decrease one stitch each end of next row, then every following 3rd row 5 times
Work 1 row
Cast off
Close up any underarm holes, sew the back hood seam together, sew the hood to the jacket neckline, and finally, sew on the buttons :-)
The hood turns out pretty big, but I like that because his other hats still fit on underneath it, (and I think that most of the time, the hood will just be for show). If you wanted to change the size of it, just cast on a few less stitches, but work the same amount of rows to make sure that the hood and neckline match up.
Don't forget to post any finished piccies on Ravelry! ... would love to see them :-)

Quickie Mini Mitts

I wanted some baby mittens to match the hat that I made a couple of weeks ago ... I tried about 4 or 5 different patterns, but none turned out how I wanted them to look ... so I thought I would try taking the parts of each pattern that I liked, do some knitting pattern fusion, and this is what I came up with :-)

Quickie Mini Mitts

This pattern fits about a six month old, but with it being a top down pattern, it's really easy to adapt to whatever size you want (just continue the increases until it's the right width, and then just keep trying them on until the length is correct).

The yarn and gauge don't really matter either ... I used Moda Vera Harmony with size 5mm needles, which knitted up to 18 stitches and 24 rows.

Using Emily Ocker's cast on, cast on 8 stitches.
Knit 1 round.
Knit front and back into every stitch.
Knit 1 round.
Kfb, k6, kfb, kfb, k6, kfb.
Knit 1 round.
Kfb, k8, kfb, kfb, k8, kfb (24 sts)
Continue knitting around on these stitches for about another 13 rows (I used the magic loop method).
K1, yarn forward, k2tog across the next row (eyelet row).
Knit 4 rounds.
Purl 1 round.
Knit 1 round.
Purl 1 round.
Knit 1 round.
Cast off.
Make two wrist ties to thread through the eyelets, and one long connecting cord to attach both mitts. I found that the easiest and neatest way, was to do a simple crochet chain, but an i-cord or ribbon would do the same :-)
(Emily Ocker's cast on is awesome ... I've been trying to get my head around it for ages, ever since I read about it from Elizabeth Zimmermann ... I just couldn't figure it out from Elizabeth's instructions, so googled it, and came up with the above link ... really it's heaps easy and really effective ... I also found a version used for starting crochet circles, which is pretty much the same thing ... it's called the Magic Adjustable Ring)

A Quilting Ravelry....

...how good is that?! Anybody that has ever used Ravelry for their knitting addiction, will know just how awesome that site is. I've been reading on people's blogs for ages, how everyone wants a quilting equivalent, and yippee!!!...it looks like there may be one forming :-) Quiltgroup is now in the process of sending out invitations. Mine came within a week, and so far, it looks like the site will be a good one! My username over there is Linda

It's still been too hot to knit here in Adelaide, so I got to work on a new quilt instead....I've got no real plan in mind for it, other than I want it to be 'liberated' and busy!
The quilt so far....

Some quick knitting

After being asked by Paula over on Ravelry if I could give crew neck instructions for my Baby eyelet cardi pattern, this is what I came up with. (I've made no allowance for buttonholes, as I think I'm just going to add one or two rows of double crochet around all of the edges). Cast on 44 stitches. With stitch markers, separate stitches into 10 for each front, 2 for each sleeve, and 20 for the back. Work in stocking stitch, increasing one stitch either side of the markers on every knit row until you have 22 stitches for each front, 26 for the sleeves, and 44 for the back. The cardi can then be completed the same as the original version :-)

My other quick bit of knitting this week, was my new i-pod cosy...this really was the quickest project ever, taking just a scrap of 8 ply yarn, a 4mm circular needle, and about half an hour of knitting time :-)
Using the double knitting method, cast on 14 stitches. Knit until your i-pod is nice'n cosy, then remove the stitches from the needle, and reposition them so that you can knit them in the round. After doing 3 or 4 rounds of ribbing, cast off...no seaming or finishing is needed! These new generation i-pods look like they would be heaps easy to scratch, so after declining the advice of the sales guy to purchase an expensive (and ugly) silicone sleeve, we came home and made our own....of course :-D

Lincraft Blossom (Blossom Tee)

...so here's the way that it usually goes...I see discounted yarn and buy as much as I can afford, or carry, or both!!! (but of course, that's just a given for all yarnies, right?). My next step is usually to take it home, drool over it, plan a million things to make with it, and then put it into storage bins for future use (:-D)...but, this time I was on a mission to use what I bought straight away :-)

Lincraft had a discount bin next to the check-out with their own brand Blossom for 24 cents a ball (24c!!). By the time that I spotted it, there was a very lonely, sad looking, 3 balls left. A trip back there a couple of days later found another 2 balls :-)
I didn't know if it would make a full length top, or whether I would have to stop at cropped, but making it top down, meant that I could just keep going until the yarn ran out.
I made it to fit a woman's size 34" at a gauge of 13sts to 22 rows over 4", on size 5mm needles.



BODY
Starting from the top, cast on 42 stitches
Knit 1 row
Purl row, placing stitch markers after stitch 1, 11, 31 and 41
Knit row, increasing (knit into front and back of stitch) both sides of the markers
Purl row
Continue the last 2 rows until there are 15 stitches for each front, 38 stitches for each sleeve, and 48 stitches for the back, ending with a purl row
Increase into 1st stitch, knit to marker, place sleeve stitches on spare needle, knit to next marker, put sleeve stitches onto another spare needle, knit to end, increasing into last stitch (place stitch markers at both underarm seams)
Work 8 rows, increasing 1 stitch at both ends of every row
Start to knit in rounds starting at centre front - knit to first marker (use this marker as your beginning of round)
Knit 9 rounds
Knit round, knitting 2 together at each side of markers (decrease round)
Knit 3 rounds
Decrease round
Repeat last 4 rounds 4 times more (72 sts)
Knit 15 rounds
Knit round, increasing at each side of markers (increase round)
Knit 3 rounds
Repeat last 4 rounds 4 times
Changing to size 4.5mm needles, knit 1 purl 1 rib for about 12 rounds
Cast off

SLEEVES
Place sleeve stitches back on a size 4.5mm needle and pick up 2 stitches at the underarm (40 sts) place a marker in the middle of the 2 extra stitches
Knit 1 row
Rib 3 rows
Cast off

NECK
Starting at one of the back raglan placements, pick up and knit 102 stitches evenly around neck opening
Rib 3 rows
Cast off



Ta-Da!! ... straight from Lincraft to my wardrobe, without having a stop-over at my stash pile...!!

Free pattern - Baby eyelet cardi

After finding out that our new grandbaby-to-be is going to be a boy (can you see this beaming smile on my face?!!), I decided to design and make him this cardi. I made the green one first as a test run, and changed what I didn't like about it on the blue...(which was basically just the neckline). This pattern is written for the new and improved blue version :-)

2 50g balls of Patons Zhivago Baby
4mm circular needle
4 stitch markers
Gauge: 19sts x 25 rows = 10cm
Size: newborn
K=knit
PM=place marker
Increase=knit into front and back of same stitch
M1=make one stitch by working (K1, yarn forward) at beginning of row, and (yarn forward, K1) at the end of row
Decrease=K2together


Starting at neck edge, cast on 26 stitches.
Row 1: K1, PM, K2, PM, K 20, PM, K2, PM, k1
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Knit row, increasing 1 stitch at each side of markers
Row 4: Purl
Row 5: Knit row, M1 at both ends of row, as well as increasing at each side of markers
Repeat rows 4 and 5 until there are 24 stitches for each front, 26 stitches for each sleeve, and 44 stitches for the back, ending with a purl row.
Putting sleeve stitches on a spare needle as you come to them, K24 stitches from 1st front, cast on 3 stitches (for the body underarms), K44 stitches from back,cast on 3 stitches, K24 stitches from 2nd front (98 stitches)
Start eyelet pattern:
Row 1: Purl
Row 2: K2*Yarn forward K2together K1. Repeat from * to end
Row 3: Purl
Row 4: Knit
Repeat the last 4 rows until there are 8 eyelet pattern repeats, finishing with row 4
Cast off loosely
Turn up at the last eyelet row and stitch to inside, to form the picot edge
Return one set of sleeve stitches to the needle (I worked my sleeves seamless, using a circular needle and the magic loop method, but they could just as easily be worked on double pointed needles, or straight needles and seamed later)
Rejoin yarn and either cast on 4 stitches, or pick them up from the stitches cast on for the body underarms. Place a marker in the middle of these 4 stitches to denote the beginning of the row. (30 stitches)
Working in Stocking Stitch, decrease 1 stitch either side of the marker on every 10th row, 3 times
Work 3 rows
Work 1 row of eyelets (Yarn forward, K2together K1)
Work 2 rows
Cast off loosely
Turn up sleeve at eyelet row and stitch into place on the inside
Work 2nd sleeve to match
Sew on buttons to correspond with eyelet rows. Depending on the baby's size, the cardi can be buttoned using any of the eyelets as buttonholes.

... Love to see piccies if anybody uses the pattern ... :-)

**instructions for a crew neck version of this cardi have been added here**

Chrissy quilting time

...this quilt has been a long time in the making, but finally it's done :-) It started with me using five star blocks from my block stash, and a few oddments of Christmas fabric....It's machine pieced and quilted onto some creamy coloured polar fleece, with the holly leaves appliqued on top. There really wasn't much finishing off to be done..just the applique , some more quilting, and the binding being sewn down :-)

The small quilt with the log cabin corners I made in 1999...it was from a book that I borrowed, called Appliquilt to Go by Tonee White. I loved that I could combine the applique and quilting stitch into one action (I used the same technique this week for my holly leaves).

Reading the forums over on Ravelry I read about a new author (with a knitty twist) to look for...I love mysteries, especially really old Agatha Christie type books, so I couldn't wait to read Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver Mysteries....Maud Silver is a private detective with a passion for knitting....what's not to love about that!.... so far I've started The Key, and already she's knitting some socks (whilst solving the crime of course!) :-)

...my invite has arrived...!

...such excitement...I have hardly anything to show you (other than this progress I'm making on my handbag quilt)...but, but, but...I have my invite to Ravelry :-) I'm using my clickertyclick name, as Linda was already taken (ha, who'd o' thought! ;-D)...it'll probably take me a few days to learn how to navigate around the site, but so far, I'm impressed :-) (and very excited!)