Placenta Pattern beta

Please bear with me.. this is the first time I have ever tried to write a pattern. It has not been tested either, so all feedback is greatly appreciated and will go to improving the pattern (not to mention my pattern writing skills)

This was made from stash yarn so my preference was realistic colour over anything else. I ended up with two different width wools-
Patons Jet- colour number 8 variegated reds x1
Spotlight Basics Entwine- colour number 231 variegated purples x1

Tools

Set of 4 9mm dpns for placenta

2 6mm dpns for icord umbilical cord

(I used a long circular with the work divided into three sections)

Tapestry needle

4 stitch markers

Fleece, hobby fill or waste yarn for stuffing

Worked in the round all in one piece

Base

co 3

R1 kfb each stitch. Arrange stitches on 3 dpns, using a marker after the first stitch to indicate the start of round [12 stitches]

R2 knit

R3 *k1 kfp k1 kfb k1* continue this pattern for the round [18 stitches]

R4 knit

R5 *k1 kfb k3 kfb k1* as above [24]

R6 knit

R7 *k1 kfb k5 kfb k1* continue [30]

Continue increasing 6 stitches in this pattern every second round until the placenta reaches the desired circumference

Purl 1 round for a defined edge

Top

R1 *knit to halfway along dpn k2tog pm knit to last two stitches on dpn k2tog* repeat on other two dpns

R2 knit

R3 *k to 2 stitches before marker k2tog sm k to 2 stitches k2tog* repeat

R4 knit

Continue decreasing this way until there are 12 stitches left.

Cut the two strands of yarn about 1 meter in length (longer if you want a longer umbilical cord)

Thread both strands of wool on a tapestry needle and run the needle through the stitches.

Remove 1 strand from the needle and thread the remaining one through a further 6 stitches.

Don't pull tightly yet as you will need to stuff the placenta.

Using desired fill, lightly stuff the placenta through the hole.

Picking up stitches either side of 1^st strand, make an icord. Repeat for second icord. As I mentioned, the wools I used were two different sizes so to make the icord the same size I used 4 stitches for the red and 3 for the purple.

Once icord reaches desired length thread the remaining yarn through tapestry needle, run the yarn through the stitches, pull and secure.

Wrap icords around each other and sew together.

To help the fill stay in place, sew the top and bottom together with just a couple of stitches along each decrease line.

Please forward any feedback to support [at] strickerin [dot] [com]

This pattern is for personal use only. Please do not sell items made from this pattern.

Finished: ribbed baby cardi and placenta

One placenta. Easy pattern to make and nice little reminder about something we all needed on our journey earthside.

And here is the cardi. I am not really happy with the way it came out. Where I picked up the stitches is quite messy and the seams for the sleeves are quite thick due to my cast on edge not being very neat. If I were to try this one again, I would use an even smaller needle for the rib so I could pick up a stitch on every row. I would work the front at the same time as the back and would use a provisional cast on when I get to the sleeves.

I don't have much in the way of decorative closures in my collection so will add one when I have been back to Australia.

Update

It has been a little while, so I feel I need to give a proper update as to what has been happening.

Baby
is growing beautifully and my hormones are doing all the delightful first trimester things.

FOs and WIPs

We have a simple but very useful pin cushion come knitting notions holder, the placenta WIP and a cardi for our little one from Debbie Bliss Special Knits. I still have not washed or blocked the cardi and will be sure to post a photo when it is done.

Shopping

Our lovely delivery man has dropped some lovelies on my doorstep in the last week or so. From the Knit Picks sale some gorgeous hand dyed Peruvian Highland Wool, some thin circs to enhance my needle collection and one as a birthday gift for a friend who is celebrating her special day next week. I also finally invested in a ball winder that G is giving a test ride here with some of the yarn from her own little stash.

Finally, I received some lovely BFL from a UK family business, World of Wool. I feel so unAustralian, but I must confess that BFL is my favourite wool to work with. It is so lovely and soft. This particular delivery actually still smells like sheep and seems to have a lot of natural lanolin left in. Yum.

Australia Day

So sue me. I am late talking about our Australia Day and what we got up to; baking lamington cupcakes. I don't have the patience to make proper lamingtons so instead we made vanilla cupcakes that the girls iced with chocolate icing and sprinkled with dessicated coconut. Add the Australia flag and they are just as good as a proper lamington. Our friends enjoyed them too. Oh and I watched a McLeod's Daughters season 8 marathon. Hours and hours of Hot Matt. sigh

Life in Australia has taken such a tragic twist in the last week and I urge everyone who has the means to visit the Red Cross to donate to the bushfire and flood appeal.

Her beauty and her terror-
The wide brown land for me!

Dorothea MacKellar OBE

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. 

More Knitted Breasts

I have been busy making more breasts for demonstration purposes, which is why there has been a lack of posts about knitting.

B wanted to get in on the action, so here she is too.

The other photos are a little suprise that the phantom photographer took while I was in the shower this morning.

I love seeing photography through the eyes of children.

Breasts

One of the public hospitals in the city is in the process of becoming accredited in UNICEF's Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative As a member of the support group who will be assisting the hospital with step 10 on the list of requirements, I was at a meeting last month knitting away when one of the hospitals Lactation Consultants asked if I could knit up some breasts to use for demonstrations.

Here are the first few. It is a really simple pattern that evolved as I was working on them ensuring each one was quite different. It is a little hard to tell from the photo but the centre one has an inverted nipple. I hope they prove to be useful to the hospital. I plan to do more with other skin tones (if I can find suitable yarns) and even more size and shape variations.

The girls will be sad to say goodbye to them. They enjoyed putting them down their shirts and squealing "I have breasts" while running around the compound.

What's On My Needles?

I am usually the kind of knitter who is loyal to one article from start to finish without even thinking of anything else until I have sewn in that last thread. Having three projects on the go has never happened to me before, and I have to say I don't mind it.

Pictured we have a pair of newborn longies, a breast (stay tuned for more about that) a pot holder/placemat. Also in the photo is my knitting bag of choice for now- a rice bag. I wish we ate more rice so I could get more of these groovy bags.

Tea Cosies and Crafty Genes

I come from crafty genes. My grandmother was a very creative lady, incredible at knitting, crochet, macramé, sewing etc. She even dabbled in that string art stuff that was around in the 70s. Not to mention the fact that she was a lovely painter and accomplished singer.

When she has the time to commit to a project, my mother is fantastic too. She kept my family clothed trough many lean years thanks to her trusty overlocker and sewing machine. When she picked up her knitting needles, she made some lovely things. For me there was a jumper with my name in intarsia and for siblings, some beautiful baby clothes and I recall a jumper for one of my brothers. I am not so sure what she has been up to in recent times, but knowing her she is still wearing the same reading glasses prescribed 20 years ago and would struggle to see her work. (and if I am right you can bet your last dirham/ dollar that there will be a comment about it below before too long)

(Some of Mother's knitting. My intarsia jumper and my sister Rhianon's sweet outfit)

As a child I knit just a little, knowing how to cast on using the cable method, knit and purl but nothing else. I did sew and have come back to it several times over the years when the need arises and Granny taught me macramé. Laugh if you will, and dismiss it as an outdated craft but I am about to call on those long lost knots to make some reusable bags to take to the supermarket for my fruit and vegies.

Anyway, back to knitting. The first time I had even given knitting a second thought as an adult was when we discovered Steiner (Waldorf) education. All Steiner children learn how to knit. When G was 17 months old we started going to a beautiful playgroup at our local school where G loved playing with the knitted toys. At the time I dismissed my ability to knit because of my left handedness. Not many people understand this, but if I were to watch someone demonstrating a technique right handed I actually feel nauseous. My brain just can’t compute. Actually sitting here thinking about it is making me feel very queasy.

Around B’s birth, 2 ½ years ago I became friends with some very talented knitters on the Gold Coast. I loved seeing their work but still dismissed the idea that I could do it. Soon after, I was on the hunt for a decent tea cosy. Despite trawling the internet and craft markets, I just couldn’t find one I liked. What I did find was lots of patterns which made me realise I just needed to find a way to learn to make my own. Thankfully, there are some excellent left handed instructions on the internet- not the ignoramuses who say that continental is the way to go. Just because the wool is held in the left hand does not make it left handed knitting at all. The right needle is still doing all the dexterous work. (ok rant over)

I was in possession of Granny’s needles so only needed to dash down to spotlight to choose my wool and I was off.

The result, a lovely simple tea cosy which has not been seemed very well, but it does the job all the same. The reason I am thinking and posting about this is I bought myself a gorgeous new tea pot for Christmas but it is smaller than the one that I use the old cosy for so I had to make a new one. This time it was not two garter stitch rectangles sewn with a dodgy matrass stitch but still a very simple design. A k2 p2 rib in the round, a few holes which were crocheted afterward for strength, and some shaping toward the top.

Just in case you aren't sure, the new one is on the right :)

Spring is Here!

Well, I just wrote a really long post about how wonderful things are going, how much I love our new place and feel so inspired here but lost it for some reason. So I went to my dashboard to spring clean my blog and had more trouble trying to amend my template. Both these things reminded me of exactly why I have not been around so much lately.....

Anyway, here is the Readers Digest version of what I was saying.

New house is great!

Have been knitting again. I made the doll sleeping bags and pillows for the girls and have a project on the go as a suprise for a friend who has a lot on right now as well as teaching G how to finger knit. Our young neighbour from Austria is quite the finger knitter too. One afternoon she made a skipping rope which the children have played with quite a few times since.

After our wonderful winter Dubai style spring is in full bloom and we are doing lots of spring craft activities. I now finally get the easter bunny thing too. Bunnys and eggs makes sense in Spring rather than Autumn.

Scarf

Here it is, simple and plain as modeled by my favourite ginger of them all. It is kind of tubular following a k1, yo, sl1, yb pattern and make with some chunky wool that my mother bought about a thousand years ago which has been sitting in stash purgatory.

B's Longies in Action

I finally thought to take a photo with B wearing her longies.

Leggings

Now a certain little lady will not freeze through winter, which at this point seems like it will never come. Today hot and humid with no sign of mild autumn days as yet. A couple of nudists I know are enjoying all the nuddie bum time they can get.

In light of this I am taking a break from knitting clothing and am back to knitting toy fruit and vegies for the girls.

WIP- leggings for G

G lives in twirly dresses. As if there is any other kind for a three year old. I figured why not take advantage of the current trend of leggings and knit her a pair for winter to wear under said twirly dress. She just tried them on (how I love circs) and told me that they would look better with another leg so I had better get bacck to work. :)

Now I am leaf obsessed

I ended up pulling the last soaker apart. This is the replacement in with leaves a la Sugar on Snow as the final touch. Something else I tried with this soaker was a rib stitch through the centre of the garment. I am looking forward to receiving some feedback from Rhianon.

Somethin' Stupid

I have knitted enough soakers in my time to know that you need smaller needles for the waistband, so how I forgot to on this project escapes me. To top it off, I had some waste yarn pulled through the casing, so I did not notice how huge the waistband is until just now. So I have to decide whether to keep going or to pull it apart and start again. This one is going over for Amber, so I expect that lots of nieces and nephews to come will use the soaker and I don't really want my sisters and mother to think "Lisa is a sloppy knitter" every time they change their treasures nappies.

Some good news is this week I saw a great idea which I have incorporated into this soaker; rib in the centre of the garment for a great fit and extra wool in the wet zone.

Now, to pull or not to pull is the question.

It has been a busy January

Longies. I will post a pic of them being modelled as soon as I can get madam to hold relatively still for a photo
Amber's soaker. I want to do a few more before I send them over.
Fetching. G loves them so much, I will make some for her in pink.
One of the many SIGG Bottle cozies. I felted and lanolised them so they keep condensation from getting into our bags. Still have a few to felt and give as gifts.

I had a go at Sugar on Snow as well. I just need to finish off the leaves and we are done.