POTD: Baby Eyelet Cardigan

Happy Tuesday everyone!! I'm playing nurse today because the Blattman has hurt his knee- doing something silly no doubt, but he is on the sofa with his knee up and an ice pack, moaning and generally feeling sorry for himself. I'm giving him zero sympathy outwardly, but do feel a bit sorry for him- Bless!!

POTD today is the very first Raglan cardigan I knit, and is a great pattern for newbies for Raglan, and circular needles too, and is all knit flat. It has a really cute eyelet pattern, and it is very simple, so great for lace newbies too. It is only 8 pattern repeats too so it is over before you know it, and so very easy. Here is the link for the Baby Eyelet Cardigan. 

Both of these cute little cardigans took one ball of yarn, Peter Pan DK (above in brown) and Peter Pan Sweetheart (below in blue). They are lovely little knits, and also use up one of your leftover cute buttons. The pattern is easy, and worth a go. It is a small one, uses basic increases, and basic lace.

This was the first cardigan I knit all in one go, and I have now knit 16 different cardigans using the raglan increases. I love them and I am hooked completely. I actually turn down patterns that are made up of fronts and back and sleeves. I love doing it all in one go.
Just had a look at the pattern page, and there is now a new link to a crew neck version of this little cardy and I may just have to cast on one of those today- here's the link for the Crew Neck Instructions.

Have a great day everyone, and Happy Knitting!!!

YOTD: Peter Pan DK

Happy Monday everyone!! I'm not sure everyone will be having a Happy Monday, but it'll soon be Tuesday if you aren't. We had a lovely weekend with family and wishing Rachel a very Happy Birthday, but now we are back and it is time for another YOTD. I am running out of YOTD, but I still keep finding yarns that I have used and projects to show you so hopefully I can keep these going a lot longer, but you may find over the next few weeks, there are a few more POTD whilst I get knitting!!!! I am currently knitting with a beautiful yarn that I hope to feature soon but I want to make sure I get it finished.

So today's yarn is another baby yarn, and another of my favourites. Peter Pan DK is a great baby yarn and a good budget yarn too. It comes in 50g balls of 55% Nylon and 45% Acrylic and you get 170 metres, and the cardigan I have knit below took slightly less than one ball, so it makes a great knit. The ball below was a bargain £1 in an odd ball bin at Francis Isles in Rochester, but they are normally around £2.80-£3 per ball, which for a cardigan really isn't bad!! The tension over 10cm is 24 sts over 32 rows.

This yarn is really soft, and perfect for baby knits. It is not as soft as Bambino, or Snuggly, but it is still a great soft yarn for babies, and the colour range is so very good. It comes in 57 different colours which is a massive range, and you can get solid and variegated colours. I absolutely love Coral Surprise, and Aqua Surprise in the variegated so much, so they might be the next ones. Here's the link to Deramores where they show you all the different colours, and they have a sale on so why not?!

It is a washable yarn and tumble driable too so great for little ones and for mums who really don't want to hand wash. I'm not a mum, and I don't want to hand wash, so I imagine a wriggly baby is not exactly conducive to scrubbing away in the sink. So these machine washable baby knits are perfect to give.

It has great stitch definition, and the yarn holds together well, no splits. You get a good finished fabric and it blocks very well with lace and stocking stitch. I enjoyed working with this yarn and I would most definitely buy it again, its a good staple baby yarn with so many different colours.

I've had an idea along with the YOTD and POTD to do some other reviews of some of the books and patterns I have bought over my knitting history and I hope they will be useful. I will be working on these alongside YOTD and POTD to give you all a bit more of an all round knitting thing, we don;t just use online patterns and yarns, but needles and other notions so I'm hoping to cover all sorts. Let me know what you think, and if there is anything you want me to review- I'm all ears!!

POTD: Super Simple Baby Tunic

Hi everyone!! Still very rainy, grey and miserable here, I think Spring might have missed this corner of the country this week. Never mind, I am lucky and don't have to go out today so now there is just much more time for knitting!!! And for those of you that may have been worried about the anorak toting scallywags- Bike is still there, so pleased I put the lock on!!

Today's POTD is a cute little dress that I knit a few months ago, and am now considering a cotton version of it too, so hopefully I can share that later. It is knit flat, but there is a version in the round too so whatever you prefer to do you can. Don't be afraid when I say there is a version in the round, this is such a simple little dress, so however new you are to knitting you will definitely be able to knit this one. In fact it would be brilliant for starting out in clothing, 2 pieces, and a few more challenging sections to learn.

So here is the link to the flat version from Rebecca Gunn from her blog and here is the in the round instructions. And here is the picture of my little dress made from the pattern flat.

This little dress is knit on 4mm needles with DK, and I chose Patons Trentino for mine. The other little bonus of this is you get to pick a couple of the cutest buttons you own/forage/buy for this little one. I chose some mother of pearl heart buttons that I got free with Simply Knitting and just suited this one so much. There are so many different ideas for the pattern on the Ravelry Page for it, click on projects, and you can see lots of others for ideas.

The pattern is made up of simple stocking stitch, garter at the bottom, an eyelet row (that I read wrong so I have more eyelets than the pattern says but never mind) and moss stitch at the top. It is very simple and easy to do, minimal sewing up for my version, just the sides of the dress, and it is probably the cutest thing!!!

There won't be a YOTD today because I am working on a new pattern in the final colour of a yarn I want to share with you all so you will have to make do with the POTD, but lets be fair, that is a cute little one. For the next POTD, I think we might start with a new technique to work with. Don't worry, its still so easy, and trust me, when you go Raglan, you really don't want to go back!!!!

Hats Off!!

Its not exactly summery here, there is a bit of blue sky lurking, and frankly we are all just pleased it is not raining. So instead of thinking about the beach bags and soft cotton I should be knitting with during the summer months, I am in fact looking forward to and knitting the wonderful warm chunky knits of winter. My favourite thing about winter is being able to grab my scarf bag from the cupboard and accessorise in a variety of lovely big bulky scarves in every colour under my black coat. This year, Ive decided, although easy and lovely to knit, I have so many, and can only give so many as presents. So its time to make hats. There are other great patterns available of course for winter, fingerless gloves being last years christmas present staple, but hats are calling to me this year.

I have a brand new short haircut for the summer, which I think I will keep for winter, so I have chosen berets. Ive just knit a fab one by Hannah, over at White Girl Knits, called Leeannes Eyelet Beret although mine is knit in King Jarol white cotton, so I can wear it here in the chillier autumn. The picture below is from Hannah's website, my picture will follow up when I wear it.

There are so many fab patterns for berets this year, from chunky berets in cable to slouchy eyelet ones like the one above, which is warm and soft. Ill keep you all posted on how christmas and my winter wardrobe knits up!!