Lizzie's new hat

Here is my gorgeous little niece modelling her new hat when we took her to the park!
It's a bit big at the moment but I shall just use that time honoured phrase...'she'll grow into it!'



And here she is modelling the hat I knitted for her before she was born - it's getting a bit tight now!

Another baby hat...

I finished the lovely baby hat for Lizzie and it went really well. I am amazed how quickly things knit up on circulars!
I'm now knitting another one for another friend who is having a baby - soooo exciting!

I get 'a round'...

Well - due to the bad back and 2 broken toes I am going to be glued to the sofa today. To lessen my pain my Amazon order FINALLY arrived today! It's only 3 weeks late! It had tried to be delivered once, whilst we were on holiday, but for some reason it has gone missing and Amazon don't seem to know where it went so the order that arrived today is my replacement.

Here's what arrived this morning (not the pug - she was here already!)



Itty Bitty Hats and the latest Stephanie Pearl-McPhee called Casts Off - I have already started to knit one of the Itty Bitty Hats.

Years in to my knitting hobby I have still not managed to knit anything with circular needles - I'm not sure how that is possible but there it is. So here is my first attempt this morning, a little green baby hat knit out of Rowan handknit cotton:



So far I am enjoying it, it was a little tricky at first because I am getting used to the fact that the pin part of the needles are so short!!! It feels really strange whilst I'm knitting. I do like the fact that it will be seam free though.

p.s Bad back story - ongoing annoying injury!
p.p.s Broken toe story - short and sweet - fell over the metal bit on my doorstep last night. Such is life.

Washing day and baby trousers...

Today is that day I dread - wool washing day!!! How can someone love knitting so much but HATE hand washing wool? I absolutely loathe it - I keep leaving it all in a big pile in the washing basket just hoping that my hubby will do it but he never does! This morning so far I have washed 5 handwash tops, 4 cardigans and 3 jumpers - and my beloved pink handknitted socks of course.

Here they are drying on their sock blockers on my washing line (the pegs are there to make sure there is no unwanted stretching!)



I love these socks - they were the first pair I ever knitted for myself and they are warm and cozy - a little big though - I obviously don't have the 'American average foot size'.


Now on to the baby trousers - these are for Lizzy and they are going to be adorable. They don't need to be finished until Christmas so I am knitting them large in the hope that by then she wont be too big to fit in them! Only one leg so far, both legs are knitted on dpns then they are added to the main trousers which are knitted usins circular needles. I can't wait to see them finished.

Dishcloths

I started knitting dishcloths when I bought the Knitorama book last year. Since then I have only knit about 5 or 6 but I absolutely LOVE using them. I thought it was about time I took a pic of my beloved cloths so here is a picture of my first (far left), one I knit a few months ago (middle) and one I finished this morning (far right). They wash beautifully and age so natually! They are also the toughest dishcloth I have used in a long time - no holes in these guys! They have all been knit using craft cotton which I bought from Atkinsons in Sheffield. I can get about 3 dishcloths from each ball of 99p cotton which is great - I do the colours with left over bits of coloured cotton.



Also I have just started another dishcloth design from the Mason Dixon Knitting book. I ordered the Peaches & Creme yarn for these dishcloths from Ebay about a year ago in two lovely colours; Apple Green and Strawberry and Cream. Here is the cloth I am knitting in Strawberry and Cream:



It's a nice easy pattern to knit but the effect is really great. Here is a close up:

Rooster bag and Calorimetry

I have finally got round to taking a picture of my Rooster bag knitted from the Rooster pattern book and in Almerino Aran in colour Custard. It was with the left over yarn that I knitted the Knitty pattern Calorimetry from the Winter 2006 edition.

I am not too keen on th results of the Calorimetry but I will have another go with another yarn and see how it goes second time around.

I love the colour of this yarn though!