Who receives a cardi for a birthday present in January?

Our precious friend Millie. That is who.

It does feel strange when it is meltingly hot preparing to gift this, but at least it will be ready for the cooler weather. I have made this one with a machine washable nylon acrylic blend to keep things as simple as possible for Millie's Mum.

Pattern Helena by Alison Green Will

 Ravelry Pattern Page | My project page

Yarn sirdar snuggly DK

Needle 4.5, 4 and 3mm

My blanket

I have something very special to show you today which has been created by twelve women from opposite parts of the globe who are different to each other in many ways. What we have in common is we love to knit and we also share the guilty pleasure of wearing PJs all day when we get the chance. About 18 months ago we took part in a swap where we would send knitted squares 20x20cm so we could each make our very own blanket in a colour scheme of our choice.

This is the photo that I shared with the group to give an idea of the colours I was hoping for was this one, taken near a family member's home.

The squares all arrived in the weeks before H's birth and as I have mentioned, life became rather hectic for a while so they sat in storage waiting. Finally I have made my squares to go with it and sewn them together. I love this blanket so much and feel like I am getting a hug from my PJ soul sisters whenever I snuggle up in it. 

 Project page on Ravelry

Craft to brighten a rainy day

I found a great tutorial to make these paper flowers at How About Orange a little while back. Today seemed like a great day to give them a go. We flipped though magazines to choose which pages to use and I pity B's future partner. She was immediately drawn to the Tiffany ad.

The girls have also been working on sewing some gift tags which I can't show here in case any of the recipients read this, and I am knitting another Helena for a little friend's January birthday, because nothing says happy birthday like a cardi in the middle of summer.

An antisocial month

I have been in quite an antisocial place over the last month or so. It began when the girls all got sick right round the school holidays. I had it too but have not quite found my groove again. Computer time seems to have vanished all together and I am falling asleep early in the evening, setting my alarm for my 10pm pump. On top of that, H is getting to the age where people are beginning to ask when I am going to stop expressing milk for her. I am not ready to stop yet and only want to hear encouraging words. Finally, even if I wanted to get out and about more I have to plan things around my pumping schedule.

H is crawling all over the place and eating everything in sight. Some of my younger sibs were little vacuums like her, scouring the floor and putting each little thing in their mouths so her ways are not a complete shock to me, but still very different from big sisters. 

Speaking of, G is going very well and enjoying school and guitar. Her swimming really came along before the break started too. Poor B is still working on getting over the bug she had. She is not quite 100% yet, but we are working on it.

I have been doing a little knitting. Mainly drink cosies for the school fete which is coming up in July. I am going to market them toward both coffee and smoothie cups. It has been a good way of reducing my scrap yarn and I can donate the ones that don't sell for next years Mother's Day stall. 

Then there is Lacy Baktus for my gorgeous Homeopath. I don't know how I would have made it through the last 12 months without her. 

The photo is really dodgy because I was in a rush to get it to her.

Pattern Lacy Baktus by Strikkelise

 Ravelry Pattern Page | My project page

Yarn Moda Vera Baci

Needle 7mm

The girls have been asking me to teach them knitting again. I really struggle each time I try to show them because I knit left handed (mirror to the English method). When I try to show them right handed  knitting it almost blows my mind. I just can't do it very well.

Yesterday I had a go at Continental with the Norwegian Purl and I may well be a total convert. Time will tell. As for the teaching, B said that I can finish the doll blanket for her, so it looks like class is dismissed until next time one of them ask to learn.

Love Fridays

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about the giant Christmas tree at my local shopping mall? Well I learned a little something about it this week which made our family want to go back for another look this time with my proper camera and a couple of different lenses.

Those are not your everyday ornaments but are actually 40 000 Swarovski Crystals each retailing for over $140 AUD! Even more astounding is the fact that there is a lone security guard and you can walk right up to the tree.

They are just gorgeous. Sadly my photos do no justice to the way they twinkle in the sunlight.

Looking up.

Here is a close up of the star at the top

This one is from inside the centre, with the Burj Dubai in the background.

While I was taking that last shot, sneaky DH and G were off buying me these.

Our festive season has been extra special this year and DH wanted me to have a keepsake.

I knew this day would come

Snap goes the knitpicks.

I have been working with wooden knitting needles for a couple of years now and this evening I suffered my first casualty. Naturally 4mm and of course my much loved knitpicks harmony.

Such a shame as I really have my groove on with this baby blanket and am past the halfway mark. Now I will have to wait for a replacement tip to arrive.

The silver lining is that I have been wanting to order a couple of extra plastic sleeves for my needles, 12mm tips and a set of DPNs for a little while so I took this opportunity to get them. If they arrive in time I will wrap the extra goodies to open Christmas day.

If anyone is looking for me

This is where I will be for the next few days WIP in hand gazing out breathing in fresh sea air. I am working with some corn yarn purchased during our stay in Australia making a baby blanket but I can't say I know exactly who it is for.

Legwarmers

A friend has asked me to make a pair of legwarmers for her little girl and here are the prototypes I have made while creating a pattern. 

I almost want a pair myself. 

Complete: baby blanket

The lovely baby blanket I was working on a few weeks ago has finally been gifted along with an umbilical cord hat I whipped up with the extra wool. Both patterns are from Stitch n Bitch Handbook, though did them from memory as I left my copy in Dubai.

My gorgeous friend Renee who will be a Mum for the first time in a few weeks also liked the title of the book I popped in with her gift. Now it would be lovely if her little cherub could be extra considerate and come at 39 weeks so I can meet him or her before returning home. 

Edited on 19/09 to let you know that around the time I posted this, little Isla made her way into the world five weeks early. Reports so far are that Mum and bub are fine. How sweet is the name Isla? I am looking forward to meeting her and giving my friend a hug, minding swollen breasts of course :)

This Is... a work in progress

Excellent timing for this week's theme from Debbie Hill [kept in a jar] as I have been working on a baby blanket for my friend who is having a little one in October. I don't think she reads this blog, but just in case I have kept the photos fairly vague. Once it has been gifted I will tell you more about it.

You can see what everyone else is up to at Three Buttons.

Our woolies are ready for some lovin'

We are off to Melbourne in the morning, with a little prayer to St Christopher or whoever the saint who looks after travellers is as we are flying QANTAS. I never thought I would see the day when I was feeling uneasy about stepping on to one of their planes....

Anyway, back to nice things, here are some of the woolies I have been working on over the last few weeks all packed up and ready to go. The scarves are made following a simple yet effective looking stitch pattern that I found at Yarn Harlot. Also piggle and a variation of calorimetry from knitty can be found among our goodies.

I was enjoying knitting up these scarves so much that I made this one for a friend. His was made with a thicker yarn and I think that the pattern really popped in his. Here it is all bundled up with the care instructions from the ball band attached to one of my Moo cards.

Blessing the Way

Last week I was part of a beautiful blessingway for a friend who is expecting to birth her little one any week now. It was a wonderful morning of feminine energy with poetry, belly art, blessingway necklace and of course good food.

The big brother to be made a beautiful contribution to Mum's belly art.

One of the most beautiful blessingway necklaces I have seen.

Our bracelets made from some gorgeous Baa Bum dyed wool, which will remain on all attendees wrists until the little one is safely in Mum's arms. Mine has felted up beautifully in the week that I have been wearing it.

A pair of longies to help keep the baby snug in the air con.

A Knitty Birthday

Happy Birthday to our now 9 year old neighbour who loves to knit but all her supplies were back in Austria.

She has already made great progress on the scarf she is working on. Continental seems like a much more efficient way of knitting. I might have to give it a go.

A Bunny Named Gretchen (by G of course)

Please meet Gretchen the bunny who is moving to Perth in the morning with G's darling friend.

It is super easy to make and the instructions can be found here. Because I used a dark colour, my tail was another square, this one about 2cm x 2cm which I made into a cylindrical shape and sewed on. Easy peasy

A Birthday Celebration

Our gorgeous little friend will shortly turn one but is about to go on six month trip so today was her party.

Her longies and knitted mice. The pattern for the mice was found in a neat book I bought here, How to Knit with Double Pointed and Circular Needles. With the lack of LYS's, Spotlight or even the little haberdashery section at Kmart or Big Dub here my library of knitting books has grown substantially.

All wrapped up (in a tea towel- much more green than paper and I am sure Mum will find useful)

G is great mates with J's brother so wanted to make him some little people. She has made these cute little people cut outs and put them on the walls in each of our bedrooms and wanted to be sure that he would have some too. Coincidentally, he shares the same name as her most special boy in Aus.

Latest WIP

When I download photos there are always a few little surprises to be discovered; shots taken by one of my budding photographers. This one features my knitting bag with Josie's very grape longies peeking out.

No More Freezing Ears

For the lovely ladies I knit these for.

Denim Longies

This wool is named denim and makes a snuggly pair of longies for a little friend.

Odessa and Calorimetry

I am yet to knit something for myself that I love and wear. Hopefully I will love Odessa because right now I am not quite convinced. I always look like a boy when I am wearing beanies. Oh and no beads, suprise suprise.

The new Calorimetry is for the girls lovely nanny, Sasha. She might even let me get a photo of her modeling it.

Something for Jed

I had some down time between longie knitting today so could not wait to pick up the magnificent BFL again to knit for Jed, making this cute Umbilical Cord Hat to match his longies. The pattern is from the Stitch N Bitch Handbook.

This is the second one I have made, the other one for a little friend who will be joining us earthside later this year.