Friday 28 September 2012

FO Friday Granny Stripe Blanket

Just a quick post today I'm afraid but here is my finished blanket along with it's very happy recipient

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It also doubles up as a way of scaring his big sister ;-)

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I tried to get a shot of it on his bed but he insisted on being in those photos too...

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I tried going for a different angle and look what happened! Another one appeared!

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(incidentally I can't believe I hadn't noticed before how similar these two have become!)

Well, I did try to show off my blanket but as you can see it's already very well loved and being used every night to keep my little boy warm. A successful project I think!

I am rather missing crochet though. I'm "Cold Sheeping" this month but I think after that I will get a few yarns and cast something new on. I have made some granny squares using the teeny balls of yarn left over from doing the border on this blanket but they were finished so quickly they didn't really satisfy my urge lol.

Thanks for reading, for more FO Friday posts check out Tami's Amis

Wednesday 26 September 2012

WIP Wednesday

Last weekend I joined in with ravelry's Stash Knit Down group in their "Kick off Fall Virtual Retreat" and concentrated on finishing off my Granny Stripe blanket and my Milo jumper. I actually managed to get them both done on the Saturday so that meant I was free to cast on a new project. I had a browse through my queue and decided to knit a Saffron cardigan for my eldest as a Christmas present. I'm using some yarn I bought to make a yarn order expensive enough for free postage! It's Twinkle by James C. Brett and is a lovely purple colour with a purple shiny thread through it which catches the light. Doesn't show up too well in this gloomy weather phone picture I'm afraid but you can get the idea

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I've just got past the ruched waistband. The pattern called for 3.00mm needles and I only had 3.25 so I don't think it's quite as ruched as it should be but it looks ok. I'm also a little concerned it will be too small as my gauge is a bit off but I tried it on my similar sized 5 year old over his thick school jumper and there was still enough room so should be fine!!


Now, as it's a Christmas present I can't work on it when my daughter is around because it's supposed to be a surprise. Therefore I have cast on another Bloom dress for Ava using some "precious" yarn that I bought years ago and have been waiting for the right pattern for. The colourway is Strawberry Fields Forever by Zenstring and I love it. I'm not sure yet if I will do the lace pattern or not, depends whether it shows up right with the yarn. I think it should be ok though.

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*sigh* I so love this yarn :-) The dress will also be for Christmas but I don't think Ava is going to mind having seen it before!

For other WIP Wednesday posts then please check out Tami's Amis

Friday 21 September 2012

FO Friday and a Catch Up

I've been rather quiet this week. Not been getting much sleep as Ava seems to be going through a difficult phase where she cries as soon as she knows she's going in her cot but refuses to sleep if we keep her in our bed. It's been draining to say the least!

Today I've got two FO's to show off. Firstly is this lovely Bloom dress I made for a friend's daughter. I love this pattern, it's quick to knit up, the lace is very simple and it looks fab. Plus the same dress fits my 6 year old as a top. I think I'll have to knit up some more of these for my girls

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My other FO is the Mystery KAL shawl I was working on. The pattern was Out of Darkness by Boo Knits and I knitted it using the recommended Tussah silk lace by Dye For Yarn. Oh my word that yarn is stunning. The shine of the silk and the richness of the colours are beautiful. I've got some more skeins of their yarn in my stash and I can't wait to knit them up

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I love the beading in the top stockinette section. I used the same silver coloured beads I had for my wedding shawl and I think they look really sparkley against the dark yarn. It's hard to tell in these pictures but the yarn itself is actually a deep purple colour. The colourway was called "Dark Damson Falling off a Leaf".

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I did the picot edging on the advice of Mr Soaring Sheep. It took a while but I think it was worth it :-) Here's a quick shot of how I've mostly been wearing this shawl now the weather is getting cooler. Please excuse the bags under my eyes and the bizarre expression I'm pulling, I'm not really with it today!

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I'm really enjoying wearing my lace shawls at the moment, it's good to be wearing something no one else on the school run has lol.


As for my current WIP's, I've got another Milo on the go, this time for Eli with the oxoxox cable. It should be finished by now but I seem to be having a bit of a mental block with the cable and keep crossing it the wrong way, it is very frustrating! I managed to fix one mistake by dropping the stitches and then picking them up again using a crochet hook but I found another mistake last night so had to frog another inch of it. I've just got the last "x" to go and then it's the border and casting off. A nice little stash busting project

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The yarn is Twilleys of Stamford Freedom Spirit and was given to me by a friend.

My other on going WIP is my granny stripe blanket. I'm onto the border now but the yardage is getting a bit tight! My little boy chose the colours he wanted for the border so first it's the yellow and then we'll have pink, blue and purple. I'm eager to get it finished as it feels like I've been working on it for ages. Weaving in all the yarn ends took aages, I must make sure to weave them in as I go in the future!

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If you've got to the end of all that then thank you :-) I'll try to blog more frequently from now on ;-) For more FO Friday posts please check out Tami's Amis

Friday 14 September 2012

FO Friday, my Wedding Shawl

Quick post today I'm afraid as I'm heading out in a sec. Here's a couple of pictures of my wedding shawl. The pattern is the Traveling woman pattern in lace weight yarn and using the instructions for the X-large size

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I used some simple silver beads to compliment the silver thread in the yarn which doesn't show up very well in these pics. The yarn is Twinkle Lace by Easy Knits in their Witches Brew colourway. A quick search on ravelry produced these suggestions for placing the beads which I more or less followed. The beaded cast off was time consuming but worth it, I felt and still feel very glam when I wear it

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It's a lovely lace pattern to knit, good for a beginner to lace work I think. It's not surprising there are nearly 7500 versions of it on ravelry. I'd like to knit one again in a plain or semi-solid colourway. Perhaps in fingering weight so it's a little warmer and thicker as that would be nice for colder weather.


Thank you for reading, for other FO Friday posts please check out Tami's Amis

Wednesday 12 September 2012

WIP Wednesday

I've spent the day trying to load up approx 450 photos on Flickr from my holiday in August. It took a while and then when it finished I ran out of time to make this post. However the children are now all in bed so I've got a few minutes.

I've finished my MKAL shawl, it's beautiful and I will post photos soon. I've loaded up photos of my wedding shawl and I'll be posting about that on Friday. Currently I am working on a Bloom dress for a friend's little girl. I've done the first two lace patterns and now have to repeat them before doing the final pattern at the hem. It's hard to see on the photo I'm afraid because it was taken on my phone just now and the light's not very good.

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You can also see my granny stripe blanket behind it which I've barely touched this week. I'll start working on it again once I've finished the dress.


As I've taken so long sorting out posts for FO Fridays I'm going to cheat a bit and show a couple of projects I completed over the past few weeks. Firstly a crocheted soaker for Ava using the Peppermint Soaker pattern. I love how much faster crochet is to work up although I would like to try a different pattern at some point as I prefer more of a gusset fit.

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Ava ended up wearing this soaker under her dress at our wedding and then over our holiday so it's a bit worn now on the bottom. I like the shaping along the back although it doesn't show up very well in this picture

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My other project to show off is my Framlingham. What can I say, I love this pattern. Just the right amount of mindless knitting but with a bit of detailing and shaping to make it interesting. I made the 35" size with an inch of negative ease. I added a bit of extra length to it as the original instructions, even those for the tall size weren't quite long enough for me but as it's knitted top down it wasn't a problem to adjust. After 4 children I'm a bit self conscious about my stomach and as I've got a fairly long body anyway I felt more comfortable with the extra length. I need to take some proper photos of it next time we get some sunshine but here are a couple of modeled shots from our holiday

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I love the fit of it and it's definitely something I'd like to knit again. I quite fancy a dark grey one :-)


Thanks for reading such a long post. Please check out Tami's Amis for other WIP wednesday posts :-)

Thursday 6 September 2012

First Day


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Originally uploaded by evel_lin
Bag packed, hair brushed, teeth cleaned and ready to go!

Wednesday 5 September 2012

WIP Wednesday

Yeah I know I promised a FO Friday post, I've just not had the time to do one! I should be able to get one scheduled though providing the sun carries on shining and I find my camera. I've put it in a safe and very logical place. Which basically means I don't know where it is :-S

I've not really got much crafting to show you today. My crochet blanket looks pretty much the same although it's gained another 13 stripes. 3 more to go and then I'm going to measure it up to see if I need to do a 6th repeat or not.

My MKAL shawl is looking beautiful. The silver beads really sparkle against the dark yarn, I can't wait to show it off. I think there is only one clue left to go now which is being released this evening so hopefully I'll be able to get it finished off over the weekend.

As I'm up to date with my shawl I decided last night to cast on a third project. I meant to do it over the Summer holidays but just didn't find the time. It's another Bloom dress for a friend's little girl. Not much to see yet but should knit up fairly quickly. I think the colour is going to look lovely

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Unfortunately one of the reasons I've not been able to do much crafting is because I've got a poorly baby. Not sure what's wrong with her other than an upset stomach but she had a temperature yesterday and was looking very sorry for herself. She didn't sleep too well last night but is perkier this morning. I took this sneaky shot of her earlier when I'd gone upstairs to have a bath and came back down to find she'd fallen asleep.

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The children go back to school tomorrow and Eli will be having his first morning at pre-school. I'm a little anxious about how he'll manage as he has been struggling with glue ear which means his speech isn't what it should be. The glue ear has more or less cleared up now but he's being seen by the Speech and Language team as he needs a bit of extra support. His speech problems have resulted in him being shyer than my older two children and when he gets upset he's not always able to communicate what the problem is. *sigh* I'm sure he'll be fine, and it is one of those milestones that children go through... Fingers crossed I guess!

For more WIP Wednesday posts check out Tami's Amis blog

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