FO Friday - Puerperium Cardigan

I have completed the little cardi. I really like the colours, I seem to have an aversion to blue and pink for children!

I posted a picture of the half-finished cardi on my facebook page to ask my cousin if she liked the colours (she did!). This resulted in a commission for a second sweater from a friend of mine who has just become a great-uncle. He is paying and is very enthusiastic so that makes up for the extra knitting :) I ordered some pineapple ceramic buttons from eBay because the colours looked perfect. Unfortunately they had sharp pointy bits! I didn't think this was suitable for newborns so I got out my trusty pliers and mutilated modified the buttons.

Button before

Eek! Spiky!

I was pleased with the result and now had some rather rustic but handsome oval buttons to sew to the cardi. Now to finish the other one for my cousin.......

Hopefully it isn't noticeable unless you know!

WIPW - Baby Bright!

I said that I was craving a bright project and I wasn't lying! I am knitting the Puerperium Cardigan by Kelly Brooker in a bright yellow variegated colourway of Isis. It is really small, so I don't know how practical it will actually be for my cousin who is expecting a baby in August. Her husband is 6'2"...and all babies seems to grow so quickly and never fit into the correct clothes for their age. I've heard of so many new parents buying newborn sized clothing for their babies and not being able to use it due to the size of their mammoth offspring :) Why don't the clothes companies just change the labelling?

But I do really love the colours. The yarn is a bit stiff and unyielding as you'd expect from cotton and I wonder if I'm knitting tighter than usual as I try not to let any loose plies poke out of the knitting.

What is pure cotton yarn actually practical for anyway apart from washcloths? I think this is why I've sold or swapped most of the cotton in my stash!

So ickle!

FO Friday - Scrappy Sock Cardi

I finally finished this cute cardi with four little green buttons. I think contrasting buttons are best on baby knits so it's easy to see if any are missing.

All finished! :)

I'm happy with it but now I have a craving for a bright or striped knit!

Sorry for the bad picture, the weather is truly pants here!

WIP Wednesdays - Scrappy Sock Cardi

This little cardi has been on my needles for about 6 months. I always, always stall on the sleeves! It is technically still a WIP because it need buttons...

It's a great pattern by Fawn Pea. It's simple but a good way to stash-bust your leftover sock yarn. I used Araucania Ranco Solid and The Knitting Goddess 4ply bfl superwash which is now discontinued. The bfl could be a little scratchy to wear and the Araucania needs to be handwashed and bled a little when I soaked it in soak. This little sweater, therefore, cannot be gifted to just anyone! I think I will have to gift it to another knitter.

How serendipitous that one of my favourite podcasters has announced that she is expecting! Hopefully she'll accept knitted gifts once the playful baby is born :)

I did like this pattern but I think it's a bit too simple. I probably won't knit it again unless I find myself with lots of sock leftovers aka sock orphans.

New memes and weeding!

Today I weeded the front drive. Unemployment is driving me mad and making me do productive things at home and *gasp* sometimes garden and housework!

Before 

Before

After

After

Aaaaaah that's better :)

In other news, I have had ideas for new memes! Squee Sunday, where I gush over pretties and patterns - inspired by a vintage UK programme called Ski Sunday which my mum watched religiously when I lived at home.

Random Awesome Nice Thing (RANT) is something random that has made me smile or brightened my day. I have noticed that some blogs like to rant about muggles, inlaws, politics etc so I thought I'd redress the balance with occasional rays of sunshine.

Do you guys have any meme ideas?

FO Fridays - Helena

I recently finished my Helena made from Rowan Cashsoft DK which really is lovely and soft :)

This was a stash-busting project so I did the lace section in stripes to use up some navy, red and green scraps. It's a bit of a weird colour combo but I think it just about works!

I really liked the pattern and it was very well-written but it took a while for me to complete due to the sleeves and the picking-up of stitches for the button bands and collar. I tend to take ages to get round to doing them but they don't take long when I actually set my mind to it!

I like the ties, and they were much quicker than sewing on buttons - safer too.

Helena modelled by the Easter bunny, showing the differing dye lots of the  chicory Cashsoft!!

WIP Wednesdays - Million Stripes Loop

I'm currently loving my Million Stripes Loop and am knitting it using scraps of Rowan Cashsoft DK and some colourmart yarns. So it should be nice and soft and comfy round my neck. Hopefully I won't have any pilling problems because a cowl does not need washing often.

It's my first time using a provisional cast-on and will be my first grafting!

Combining colours make me happy when it works but sometimes it can look plain awful. The Mason-Dixon ladies like to use all colours except pastels, black, white and primary colours. I broke this rule and deeply regretted it. I started a red and cream section, but it looked a bit too much like something a football supporter would wear! It clashed horribly with the rest of the colours, so I had to rip it out. I'm now waiting on delivery of some more yarn so I can finish.

Please tell me that I'm not the only knitter who ended up buying more yarn for a project that was supposed to bust the stash!