Hat of the Month- October

When you have a baby, it seems necessary to dress them in ridiculous outfits and hats because they are still small enough to allow you without moaning. My little pumpkin is no different. Knitters and crocheters seem to have the knack too of creating fabulous things you can't get on the high street. My friend has a brilliant boob hat for her breastfed daughter. I have a lovely berry hat knitted by a Rav friend. But it is October, month of autumn and of course Halloween. So it seemed right, if not necessary to create a pumpkin.

So here it is, with customary swirly leaf on top. It is such a cute little hat, and very easy to knit. It comes from the pattern, Pumpkin Hat by Jill Albert Allen, and I have knit it flat rather than the round it suggests, and I also used a rib pattern to make mine a bit more pumpkin-y (oh I do love to create a word- so glad I am back!!) The rib has also helped it to fit better, as my pumpkin seems to have a larger head than anticipated. Luckily I can get away with her wearing it for october because I am not sure it will fit for Halloween. Although she does look cute in it.

I used a basic acrylic for this pattern, I believe it was Robin DK, but the ball band is probably residing in the same place as my memory- if anyone finds it let me know. I tend to use the cheap acrylic for these patterns (shoot me!) simply because she will not wear it forever, I can shove it in the wash when it gets dribble, biscuit or any other baby stains on it, and I can afford it. She has so many lovely knits thanks to the odd ball bin at John Lewis, but most of the time it is baby acrylics and there is nothing wrong with that. I enjoyed knitting this one, the pattern was so simple and easy, and she has worn it pretty much every day since I finished it...except for the time I left it in the library!!!

She loves it, and keeps it on pretty much all the time, although she wouldn't want you all to think that...

Baby Hats Off!! POTD

Hey everyone! Happy Thursday, its horrible again and rainy so I think that sunny spell was a bit of a weird spell. Hope we are all doing well out there. Today I am going to do a bit of a POTD because we have been sharing a lot of different patterns in our group on Ravelry and it has been making me grab my needles and cast on.

This little hat was recommended to me because it is so simple, and so easy and has made up the staple of many of my friends project lists. This is Little Boy Blue Ribbed Baby hat, which is actually in my case Little Baby Cream, but is a cute ribbed hat which is great for a new knitter, learning to purl

Here is mine:

It is knit with some of the leftover from my ripple cotton blanket- Stylecraft Special Aran in Cream on 4.5mm needles. This was the last of my non-pink knits so pretty much everything you will see this month will be pink- different shades mind you, but pink.

Have a great day all, I will be spending the rest of my evening here making sure my hair does not resemble Sideshow Bob now it has been cut short again and watching Great British Menu! Oh and finishing off knitting with Sirdar Snowflake- that could be a bigger task than taming the aforementioned hair!!!

YOTD: James C. Brett Twinkle DK

Hi All!! Happy Thursday Everyone!! Hope you are all well!

Today's YOTD is James C. Brett's Twinkle that I picked up at last years Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London. It is probably the only show that is really all about knitting in the UK and I always try to go in October when it is on. I love to go and surround myself with yarn and books, and drag the Blattman too- he secretly loves it!!!

James C. Brett Twinkle is a DK yarn and it comes in 100g balls and you get a huge 300m on a ball. It is made from 97% Acrylic and 3% Polyester and has a beautiful glitter strand in colour of the main yarn in the ball. It is a really nice yarn and comes in lots of colours. It has a tension over 10cm of 22sts over 30 rows. One ball of this will cost you about £2.99 and again this is great value for money, because you get a great meterage, and it is a great yarn to work with.

With a glittery yarn expect it to be a bit scratchy, but this is probably the least scratchy of my glittery yarns with the exception of maybe Tivoli Pearl. It knits very well, like a normal acrylic yarn, and the glitter strand does not catch or split away from the main ply of the yarn. It blocks and wears like any other acrylic yarn and I would use it in the same way

Normally I would use this yarn just for add ons for my toys but I decided I loved this pink enough to make a hat from it- just a shame it is too small!!! Never mind!! I have this yarn in 6 different colours, this pink above, Teal, Silver, Red, Purple and white with the pearl glitter through it. I love these for adding glitter to my Christmas toys and decorations as it really adds something, and makes them much more festive.

This is the white version and I will feature this cute angel pattern soon as it is really easy and makes a great gift for anyone who needs a little pick me up. I love the iridescent part of this yarn, it just creates such a beautiful piece, and I've also used it in my latest pattern for a nativity for the angel. Here is a sneak peek at some of the other colours I own in this from the Nativity.

Aren't these wise guys cute? I love them!!! I'm only showing you their backs because you can see the glittery yarn better. This yarn is also machine washable, tumble driable and you can iron it too, should you really want to! Great yarn, great price, great finish!!

Have a great day all, enjoy this lovely weather we are having in the UK, and for those of you abroad, hope you have sunshine too!

POTD: Lace-Edged Woman's Hat

Hi All!!! hope you are all well.

Today's POTD is the Lace-Edged Woman's hat. I found this lovely hat on Ravelry, and used some of the James C Brett Twinkle that I love! And I completely love this colour too. The hat pattern is made on 4mm needles with a DK yarn of your choice, and I love all the finished objects with a variety of different yarns, each one shows the lovely lace pattern perfectly.

This is a great pattern, and I can see me creating a scarf and gloves using the same lace pattern to create a set. The yarn is beautiful and there is a lot of lovely sparkle which isn't too scratchy either. If I had to change anything on the pattern, I would add some extra length for my big head!!! It comes just to my ears and looks frankly ridiculous!!!! There is no way I would post a pic of me looking that silly- I also have a pic of my step-dad in it too, and he actually looks even more ridiculous than me, which is really going some!! This one will probably go to charity as we are a big headed family thats for sure!!!!

Have a great day all!!

YOTD: Stylecraft Life Aran

Happy Thursday Everyone!! I had another successful trip to Bluewater and the good old Odd Ball Bin in Johtsn Lewis and found some fabulous Aran weights so I decided to start this Aran-Fest with a good basic reasonable one. 

Today's YOTD is Stylecraft Life Aran. Stylecraft is a great brand and does some really reasonable yarn at a great price and lots of yardage on the balls. I love the brand, and use the DK a lot for toys. I had a 100g ball for a pair of slippers for my mum, and it wasn't enough so I had to buy another. With the leftovers I made this hat below. 

This yarn comes in 100g balls and is a blend of 75% Acrylic and 25% Wool, so it is very durable. You get 198m on a ball, which is great for aran, and it comes in lots of colours. It knits on 5mm needles and the tension over 10 cm is 18sts over 24 rows. It is a really soft yarn and very pretty. This is normally about £3.00 a ball. The link goes to Deramores and they have all Stylecraft on offer this week, so you get 10% off. 

The colourway I have here is Parchment and is a very light tan brown. It is great to work with, and easy to care for. I loved knitting with it, because it was not in any way problematic. Not splitty, no knots or fluffs, just a good yarn. It is a basic yarn that is useful for all types of projects. It also comes in pinks, reds, blues and the parchment I have. This hat pattern will be coming up in a POTD soon. The other great thing is that all the colours available in aran are also available in chunky, DK, 4 ply and super chunky.

Now this yarn is machine washable, tumble driable and you can iron it too so great for clothing for anyone, as is so easy to take care of. A great yarn and I will most definitely buy it again, a great stash staple.

POTD: Newborn Hospital Hat

Well, Happy Bank Holiday Monday Everyone!!! Hope you are all well. I am prepping for the drawing of the competition tomorrow- remember it finishes at midnight tonight and I'll be publishing the names tomorrow in my blog post from work, so get excited!! Of course, I have had to organise some sort of hat to draw the names from, and if it wasn't knitted then that would just be silly!! That has inspired today's POTD. Now these little baby hats aren't quite big enough to pick the names out, but they are still so blooming cute, and perfect for little ones, and for gifts.

The Hospital Hat pattern uses up all those leftovers from the balls you have used to knit the cardigans. You can knit a matching set for a gift and with minimal effort and yarn. This hat is also so so quick, so emergency knits for mums-to-be are no longer a problem. These also knit up with any DK which can be shown in my picture below!! I've knit them to match most of the little cardigans that I have knit.

As you can see I've made them above in Wendy Bambino, Sirdar Snuggly and in Sublime Baby Silk and Bamboo. They are all roughly the same size on 4mm needles. The silk one is the smallest but it is still about newborn size, and feels like a dream!!

With the Baby Silk and Bamboo and Snuggly I also added the pattern rows from the cardigan I knit so that they would match. It was a perfect fit too for the pattern and I'm really pleased with the end result. I also know that this pattern is a great basic one and therefore you can add whatever pattern you need. I also like this because instead of rib they have a garter stitch band, and this then also matches all the other garter stitch parts of my cardigan.

This hat was knit on 4.5mm needles instead using Wendy Bamboo and this has really made a great hat and slightly bigger than the newborn size, but I've heard that babies do have a habit of growing so that is probably a useful thing!!!

Have a great rest of the bank holiday, and enjoy yourselves all. I'm knitting another little cardigan in a lovely soft cashmere blend- its lovely- so that's what the rest of my day is shaping up like. My mum seems to have decided crochet is the new black so that's what she is up to- makes me want to pick up my hook again and make another blanket- but we will see. The lure of the needles is certainly strong!!

In Stash we Bust

I can safely say...Yes! Lots of it for that matter!! This week has most definately been a productive one, especially where my stash is coming from because I had an organising week. I sorted it all out into its new homes (a laundry bin for the DK and a box covered in airplanes for the rest of it) and now I have a great list of all of it, weights and amounts. Fabulous.

Now what I am going to do with it? Well I was originally knitting a lot of baby bits and pieces, being inspired by my baby nephew (who is over the 8 pound mark now-yay) and our first cuddle two weeks ago. But this has been put on hold for stash busting, and later this week, shawl and veil knitting. 

I used this pattern yesterday to knit a hat for the Blattman, and he wore it all night so Im guessing he likes it. This is a ravelry pattern so you have to sign up to see it, and frankly you need to. If you are a knitter and not on ravelry, you have problems!! The picture below is from the pattern itself and not mine, mine is knit in Life Aran in Parchment.

Hats are great for stash busting, you can get one or two from a skein and normally three from 2 skeins and they are quick knits and you feel really productive which is always a winner.

This week for our Lent Prayer shawl KAL/CAL I am intending on knitting the half lace chapel veil in black for our trip to Rome hopefully this year, so I can cover in the presence of the Pope. Its going to be a nightmare I think but Im going full Lace, and hopefully the prayers in it won't just be for me to finish the row without a mistake!

Also on my mind this week... The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir and new Revlon Scented Nail Varnish in Watermelon Fizz

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year All!! Welcome back here in 2012. There are a few new things my lovely followers need to know, and the first is that we have gone all networky over the christmas break. We are now on Facebook and Twitter, and there will be new giveaways and more fun to be had on both social networking sites! So come join us, share your knits and enjoy the new things that are coming up

Ive also made a few resolutions this year, and I am absolutely adament to keep them. Most of them, unsurprisingly, are yarn and knitting related.

1. I am going to take pictures of all my knits, and I am going to record all my FOs.
This is pretty important to me because I take so much time knitting and giving these knits, it would be nice to have a record of that for me too! In fact, here are a few of the things Ive been up to in the week since New Years Day

 And these photos give rise to resolution

2. Give some knitting to charity
These knits above, as well as hopefully some others, are earmarked for charity. I really wanted to give something back, and these lovely baby items will no doubt make someone warm and snuggly

3.Use up my Aran stash
This is an ongoing resolution in general in my house, and this week I have managed to make 4 tea cosies using some of it. Pictures to follow for these I am pretty pleased, and these cosies are going to be part of the stock for resolution

4. Craft Shows and an Online Shop
I am hoping to start making a bit more of a living from what I love so we will see how this goes, follow the process along here and Ill share everything, even the bad stuff, so we can all learn a bit!

Thankyou for all your follows, comments and fun from 2011, and I hope 2012 can be brilliant for all of us!

Preemies

On Saturday I learnt that my Brother and his girlfriend, who is expecting their first child, will be having a preemie. Unfortunately her placenta is not feeding the baby properly, and because of this it is not safe for baby to go to 40 weeks. So it looks like the BlattNiece or Nephew will arrive at between 30-32 weeks gestation so will definately be in the NICU for a while.

Premature babies are so very tiny, and the clothes sold in the shops are just too big. Since this baby will be small at 30-32 weeks, it will be even smaller than the average baby of that gestation because of the feeding issue so we are looking at a baby of around 2lbs. Luckily it has an auntie, and grandmas that can knit for it, and it can be cosy and safe in handknits full of love as it grows.

So this has lead me to knit a few bits and pieces that can be used for the baby, but as well for the other babies in the NICU who need a little handknit love. Here are my latest ones, and to size it, in the picture I have placed an AA battery next to the little shoes.

If you can knit, one of these little hats took me around 45 minutes to make, and the micro preemie shoes around the same. They take no time, and are made from acrylic as it is easily washable. I will be knitting a few in all different colours so they can be used by all.

Here is a link to Ravelry for all the free preemie patterns on there, so knit one and donate it. It takes no real time and you are helping out a little someone who needs it.