Itty Bitty Hats (FO) (warning: contains images of very small & cute hats)

Yo ho ho me hearties.

As you (both? all?) know I have a healthy stash that I try to keep tamed and somewhat under control. Ahem.

Now and again I get the urge to use up a few scraps of yarn and make some baby hats using my common or garden baby beanie pattern. Sometimes I make the hats for people and babies that I know, and sometimes I make them just for the hell of it. After all, what's not to like about knitting round and round a few times, making an itty bitty stalk and ta-da! a hat appears? 

I kid myself that I'm stash busting when I do this, but really? Each hat probably uses 20g of yarn, so it aint going to make much of a dent. But do I mind?

Not in the slightest.

4 of these dudes have sprung off my needles lately, although I can only find pics of 2 of them. They share a colour palette, and have consumed the last remains of some sock yarn used for other projects, like these, these and this. 

I'll be donating these to the folks at the Pregnancy & Parents Centre to help them raise funds. 

Homework update (FO)

It has been a wild wild day here, with snow and rain and howling winds. We are all safe (so far).

While little bean and I were inside keeping cosy by the stove, I managed to finish off the last few rows of his hat. I still need to make a pompom and sew in the ends, but I'm ticking this one off the list. Done.

Baby hat, knitted in 4 ply oddment (grey ribbed brim) and variegated sock yarn (Regia I think). No pattern. I just winged it based on 100 stitches on 2.25mm needles, with a few stitches added after the ribbing to make it comfy.

As if babies were not charming enough, they are so amenable to modelling knits even at the dinner table. Cute huh?

Christmas 2013 in numbers:
cards received: 2
cards written: 12
cards posted: 0

Pink

I have gone and done it: cast on the pink thing which was pulling at my inner knitter the other day.

And, here I am drinking tea in a coffee shop, with a sleeping baby beside me in his pushchair, making a start.

Starting. Again

Maybe it's my hormones. Or the weather. Or the phase of the moon. Or something. It seems I am powerless to resist the siren call of the yarn goddess, and today I pulled yet more yarn from the stash for another project. 

I haven't cast on yet, but that's only because I've been busy feeding a baby, trying to ensure most people in the house have clean pants to wear tomorrow, and make something dinner-like from the dregs left in the fridge. How is it, that a fridge that was respectably full only yesterday now looks as though it belongs to an impoverished student, close to the end of term? 

I digress. The new project is going to be something small, and pink, for a small girl I know who recently had her first birthday. I failed to make her anything when she was born, and I owe her and her big sister BIG time. The blue sparkly Phoebe (which is not quite finished) is for her sister, and I have an idea about making her a bigger and pinker version of the Charles which I made for little bean, and which is proving to be even nicer on a baby than it was on the needles. 

In other news, the crochet blanket is starting to look a bit less like a very long brown wolly bookmark. After two blocks of colour (each block = one small ball of yarn) I've devised a stripe pattern for the next part of the blanket. This is partly because I like stripes, and partly to keep life interesting. There is something more-ish and manageable about knitting just one more stripe, in a project that is likely (if I think about it logically) to take a Very Long Time. It could be a never ending blanket...

As well as the blanket, there is poor old Phoebe to finish off (really, there is not much left to do...) and those man socks which, it turns out, aren't for my husband at all, but for my dad. The Regia jazz stripes are, apparently, well outside the acceptable sock comfort zone for my husband. He was fairly diplomatic about it and while we were talking about the colour thing, he also let me know about some of the fit issues he has with the other socks I have made him. These have all been noted, and no doubt as a result of my wisdom, maturity and age, I managed not to take these comments to heart or run from the room beating my breast and gnashing my teeth. I took it, as knitters do, with grace and good humour (ha). Its hard to say whether he will be getting any more handknit socks in the near future... 

Happy Fathers Day, Dad. There are some socks coming your way. 

First Knits

All is well here - we are enjoying getting to know our littlest bean, and adjusting to life as a family of five.

We are lucky enough to have a few knitters in the family, so here is the little bean in his first handknit....

Charles (FO)

Wouldn't you know it: you wait ages for a FO and then 2 come along at once.

This is Charles (0-3 months) another pattern from Jaeger book JB29, knit in some Patons Diploma Gold (4 ply blue) and some grey yarn from the stash.

No modifications to speak of, although I am not terribly enamoured of some of the fiddly finishing around the neck, and I might do things a bit differently next time.

Dolly (FO)

Dolly is finally finished - she has taken an absolute age because of all the errors and false starts along the way.

Sewing up took longer than necessary because I managed to mismatch one sleeve and armhole, and it took a couple of attempts to apply the trim to the neckline without casting off and sewing on.

Anyway, here she is in all her glory: pattern is Dolly from Jaeger book JB29 size 3-6 months; yarn is Patons Diploma Gold 4ply - the colour is a deep raspberry.  Only modification was to apply trim directly without first casting off.

Charles (WIP)

A new project cast itself on yesterday. Something for a new baby - I was powerless to resist, and couldn't go to bed until the moss st border was done.

This morning 'Charles' has joined me in bed for a few quick rows while I enjoy a cuppa and listen to the radio. The rest of the family are out at mini rugby, braving the wind and rain, so it's just me and the bump.

Hello Dolly

Almost done...

Beanies (FO)

Life here is proceeding very slowly: the wheezing and coughing enforcing a glacial pace of life. An hour or two of activity - and then rest.

Evenings seem to be best for doing anything - and last night I finished the second baby beanie for 2013.

The multi-coloured one matches my fingerless gloves, so I think I'll hang on to this one ready for the arrival of bean no. 3....

Hat attack (FO x 4)

Here are some pics of those baby beanies I've been knitting... so cute. The top one is made with a really nice sock yarn. I can't decide whether to use the rest to make some socks, or another hat (or two).

Clickety Clack Hat (FO)

I've got another one of those bugs. You know the sort.

When you know you should be knitting something else, you just have to keep on scratching a particular sort of itch. 

At the moment it's hats. Not just any hats, baby hats. Plain and striped baby beanies are springing off my needles one after the other after the other. I'm on no. #7 now. 

7!! I've hardly managed any FOs all year, and then there's a blizzard of them... I also managed to finish those birthday socks, and gifted them a week or so back, (but failed to take any pics, doh). 

The first beanie is for my babylost friend and her new rainbow baby (kisses to you all x o x ), and the others are all for the Pregnancy and Parents Centre. If my premium bonds ever come in, then they'll be top of my list for a large donation for the quiet work they do with parents across Edinburgh. I used the centre during both of my pregnancies - attending yoga classes there and their home birth group. But it's not all yummy mummies and yoga classes, they have breast feeding support and international groups and nearly new sales and counselling and all sorts. It's a great place, always in need of funds and volunteers. And I'm hoping to help by making a few wee hats for a few wee heads. I'm just using my baby beanie recipe and any odds and ends of 4ply/sock yarn (of which there are plenty - so we all win!) I'm planning to make about 10 or 12 and then drop them off for the PPC to sell. 

In other news, I've started plodding away at Deli's endless lacey trim. I have devised a method for knitting this *onto* said garment and not knitting it separately to sew on late (seriously? sew it on?) I'm still only about a third of the way round though....

Drama #2

The drama continues here, although we have now watched all of The Killing (series 1). It's good - and I am looking forward to catching up with series 2 sometime...

Putting that aside, perhaps it is just as well I started my Christmas crafting when I did. There has been little action on that score since the beginning of December. And, the socks I have started for DH have stalled a bit - they are toe-up and just look a bit, well, wrong. I am undecided at the moment, but am waiting for a new moon or something before they go to the frog pond...

The other dramas in our house have been a little less knitterly.

On Saturday the television stopped working - the remote control worked, but the telly did not. Fuse was checked, words were sworn and various things banged, bodged and shaken. To no avail. It was dead. It had departed. It was an ex-TV.

Given that we my husband has been discussing buying a new telly for months now, it didnt take us long to come to the conclusion that we should buy a new one. The old telly (about 10 years old - so box shaped rather than a flat screen) had been on the blink for a while. DH has been researching all the options - wireless, dongles, boxes, recorders, LCD, LED. But it all just made my head hurt, so I told him we should wait until the old one gave up, and that's what we did. On Sunday morning decisions were made, and a new TV was procured (look it up on tinternets, ring up shop, pay and collect later). One thing sorted.

Yesterday, I got into the office and sat quietly at my desk sewing on some buttons while my laptop powered up and my inbox caught up with itself. I was finishing those wee jackets I started a week or so ago, for those little twins I mentioned. As I sat and sewed, I scanned my inbox - and there was a birth announcement! Eek! Born on Friday, a few weeks earlier than expected and hoped, but safely born and good sizes (c. 4lb each). Welcome to the world little ones - Nathaniel and Lilith - we wish you and your clever mama and papa all the very best. There is a parcel of things on its way - including those two hats, and two wee jackets (paxton pattern from stitchymama via ravelry).

Two baby beanies.

Pattern: own recipe/tutorial

yarn: small amounts of 4 ply from the stash

Pattern: Paxton Preemie and Newborn Jacket

Yarn: 100% cotton DK (pink = Sirdar Carousel; blue = Jonelle) from stash

Size: 6-8lb (preemie/small newborn)

Notes: no mods - jacket with long sleeves. buttons from stash. This is the second time I have made these jackets - they knit up quickly and take almost no time to finish because of their top-down seamless construction.

This morning, after counselling both of my small people NOT to sit on window ledge next to Christmas tree, a few moments later the bean arrives in the dining room (where I am waging war on a tsunami of crayons and pens and bits of paper that have suddenly hurled themselves onto the floor) announcing that the wire has got his leg and the christmas tree has fallen down. The jelly bean wets herself at that very moment and my sense of humour disappears very rapidly. No-one was hurt, and the only thing broken (apart from my spirit) were a couple of decorations on the tree. Grrr.

Santa came to the rescue. In times like that emergency chocolate really is the answer, and if that is shaped like santa, then all well and good...

Heads, fingers and toes (FOs)

A quick post to catch up on some of the little things that have recently made their way into my gift stash.

These are girl socks for the jelly bean, knitted with sparkly Berocco sock yarn. See those sparkles?

Followed by handwarmers for my dad, knitted with some mystery grey 4 ply. I think this yarn came from grandmothers house. There were several partial balls which - as you can see - were clearly from different dye lots. I hope the subtle difference in colour is not too noticeable when being worn! It feels like quite a woolly yarn, and it has bloomed and softened with washing. I improvised the pattern based on the ones I made for myself a few weeks back, but using slightly more stitches to accommodate a manly hand.

Last and not least are two very weeny baby beanies for those twins. Anticipating smallish babies and smallish heads, I adapted my baby beanie pattern, using 80 stitches rather than 100... Oh, and rather than an i-cord stalk with knot, I made wee circles instead. Cute huh?

The trouble with socks (FO and WIP)

A while ago (early April) I cast on some husband socks for my dear husband's birthday. I cracked on with the Java pattern from Knitty, which I've been itching to knit for a while. Apart from messing up the rib, and having to redo that a couple of times, it was all going swimmingly until i got down the first foot towards the toe  (although by then the birthday deadline had been and gone). At that point it started to look like there was a problem with the yarn. By which I mean, there wasn't going to be enough of it. When we went on holiday at the end of June, I packed a bag of projects and my digital scales. I weighed the sock (making allowance for the needles) and I weighed the remaining yarn. They were about the same. No chance then of making a pair of socks. A slight drawback in a sock project. So, I started again.

I pulled some interesting leftovers out of my sock yarn stash, including a small ball of sock yarn I bought in a charity shop and I cast on for a pair of stripey scrap socks. The trouble was that these would never do for my husband, so they had to be for me. I polished them off in about a week (there is something very, very more-ish about those stripes).

(This is a WIP shot. Haven't yet had chance to take a FO picture)

Pattern: generic top-down, using a grumperina stripe

Yarn: Regia semi solid (dark grey); unknown self-striping sock yarn (paler green/cream); unknown (?Rowan) 4-ply (darker green).

Once those were off the needles (and on my feet) I got round to the subject of socks with my other half. Yes, he would like some (rather belated birthday socks) but they would have to be different to the Christmas pair. No problem. I wanted to do more stripes, but to make something a bit more subtle, so I cast on with two grey yarns this time, one ball of trekking in charcoal grey and another charity shop yarn which is a bit paler and has a strand of blue to give it a bit of extra something. These aren't quite floating my boat in the same way as the green ones, but I'm hoping they won't take too long. I'm a bit behind with a few. other. things.

While we were on holiday, celebrating my birthday, I managed another FO - the scarf I had been knitting from last-minute knitted gifts (chevron scarf). Here it is enjoying the morning sun in the blue bedroom and waiting to be packed in the knitting bag to go home. There it was washed and blocked and wrapped and sent. A belated birthday gift for my cousin, Emma. Happy Birthday Em!

Pattern: Chevron Scarf (Last-minute knitted gifts)

Yarn: 50g Rowan Cashsoft and 50g or so of hand-dyed yarn by Jenny Cook

Children's parties

Although his birthday was at the end of January, last weekend we celebrated the bean's 4th birthday with a proper birthday party. There were grandparents, there were friends, there were balloons, there were candles and cake and presents. And, we all had a lovely time (phew).

Much as I aspire to lead the sort of crafterly life that leads to serene parties in which calm children play party games, participate in well chosen craft activities, and take home a hand-stitched party bag packed full of homespun craft and baking goodness, my life just isnt like that (sigh).

So, this is what we did. We opted for a bouncy castle party at a local leisure centre. The room hire/charges were modest, and gave us 2 hours of fun - an hour or so bouncing/playing in the sports hall and an hour or so in a separate room for our party food. The bouncy castle was more of a bouncy assault course than a castle, so children went in one end, and after negotiating various pillars/slopes, slid out of the other end - hopped off the mat, ran round and repeated until they were hot and bothered.  

As well as that, the hall had some footballs, tennis rackets and a couple of space hoppers - and we took a basket of toys for some of our younger friends which we spread on a couple of quilts/blankets. Surprisingly some of the older children sat down to play/read after a while - and it seemed that having a variety of activities on offer worked very well.

In terms of food, we laid the table in good time, and put out bowls/platters for children (and/or their mums) to serve themselves. Everything was finger food - sandwiches, hula hoops (these seem to be very, very popular), sausages, mini cheese portions, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, grapes and satsumas. I worked on the basis of allowing 1 or 2 pieces/portions per child - knowing that individual preferences would mean that some would eat sandwiches/cheese and some wouldn't. I also opted for foods which would be familiar to most children - so slightly more exotic things like olives, pineapple and kiwi fruit were not included. The only exception to my portion estimation was the hula hoops. I bought a multi-pack and put them all out.

We kept the cake/sweet things off the table until most of the savouries had been eaten. Then we offered home-baked cookies, blueberry muffins and of course birthday cake. I did this very deliberately, having seen what happens when chocolate biscuits are on the table next to ham sandwiches, and when one child puts 10 chocolate fingers on their plate they all do! I was also very deliberate about avoiding chocolate and commercial cakes/biscuits - nothing moral here, I just thought there would be enough sugar/sweetness on offer without them. And so it seemed. There were no complaints. Most of the food was eaten, everyone seemed to have enough to eat and there was very little left over to take home. My last (inspired) decision was to take a pack of baby wipes for wiping sticky fingers and faces. It was a good one.

As you can imagine, the party hiatus meant that there has not been much knitting in the last few days. But the deadline for the third birthday is getting a bit near, and grace is moving slowly (but gracefully?) forwards. I started with the sleeves, which I'm knitting at-the-same-time, and last night I managed to get to the final series of shapings at the top of each sleeve, so it feels like progress is being made. I'm slightly concerned about running out of yarn though, because I'm knitting with some yarn from a charity shop jumper which I unravelled a couple of years ago. It's about a DK weight, with 50% wool, and has a sparkly lurex strand to make it just a weeny bit shiny and bling - and there should be enough - it was an adult sweater and I'm knitting a child's cardigan, but you know how it is. the internal knitting curmudgeon isnt quite convinced. To counter the running out feeling, I will of course, do the thing every other knitter does in this situation - just knit faster.

Concentrating...

As the time left before Christmas is getting short (only 10 days left - how did that happen? eek!) I'm trying to concentrate on things/gifts which I really have a chance of finishing quickly. The recent snow kept us indoors rather more than is usual, so I grabbed small gobbets of time here and there to get a few things finished off.

There have been some more socks. Two pairs of crazy socks, from the Schoppel Wolle Crazy Zauberball yarn I had for Christmas last year. The two balls I received has made 4 pairs of socks in all - three for me and one for a friend (seems like a fair balance!) The last pair are eked out of the remaining yarn using another ball of yarn from the stash. No idea what this solid green yarn is (Rowan maybe), but the colour fitted in perfectly with the crazy yarn, and I used the grumperina approach to striping. I was prepared for the crazy yarn to run out before I got to the toe, but the amount was perfect to stripe to the end, and gave me just enough to kitchener the toes closed.

There was a baby beanie (tutorial here) knitted in honour of a new baby, born to some friends we met at antenatal classes almost 4 years ago. Their first son was born the day after the bean - both early by about a week - and they get on famously whenever we see them. Anyway, congratulations to you Gilly and Jason and welcome to the world little Callum!

I also spent a pleasant 20 minutes or so refeshing one of the jelly bean's dribble bibs (tutorial here) which had got a bit - you know - grubby. I cut another piece of fabric for the top side, and stitched into place with some embroidery floss. Cute huh?

A pile of flannels (wash cloths) is growing too, ready for the wrapping elves to do their work. I have quite an extensive stash of cotton yarn in various colours, so this is being put to good use. I'm knitting some small for children, and then bigger ones for grown ups. Three small flannels (one white, one pink, and one bright blue) went  - along with some organic baby bubbles - to help a small friend celebrate her first birthday last weekend. Happy Birthday Megan. Hope you are feeling better soon. I dont mind knitting with cotton, but it does help that I can finish one of these in a few hours...

My elaborate plans for a mound of quilted/stitched gifts are definitely rather optimistic. I have made some quilted coasters (based on last-minute patchwork gifts book), using some of the fabric patches from the crazy patchwork duvet cover my grandmother made me when I was a teenager. I thought these would be a nice gift for my mum, to remind her of her mother. But, they are taking me a lot, lot longer than I imagined, and arent quite as square or perfect as I hoped!

The sun shone...

Autumn has arrived in fine style. Sunday was glorious, and like Kate we took ourselves up a hill to enjoy the glorious sunshine and clear views of Edinburgh and beyond. We didn't encounter any snow on our walk, but there were plenty of dogs and their grownups (as the bean likes to say) enjoying themselves all the same. We enjoyed ourselves too - what's not to like about climbing up a hill on a cold sunny day, admiring the view and then retreating to a cosy cafe for a spot of lunch?


Last weekend was similarly glorious, and we spent a happy afternoon with my parents and some friends in Edinburgh's botanic gardens  The autumn colours are glorious, and the squirrels fattening themselves hurriedly, scurrying about carrying precious nuts and seeds for their secret stashes.

Despite all the visitors and outings (not to mention work) I've managed to get a few FOs under my belt recently. First there were the two teeny jackets for my cousin's twins now thriving at home. Great pattern from StitchyMama on ravelry and knitted top-down. My first top-down knitting I think; sheesh - how embarrassing to be so slow about getting on with that! Both are made from unlabelled DK from the stash. They have already been sent, received and worn...

  

I also sent the new parents some washable baby wipes made from bamboo terry and t-shirt fabric.

And then a nusery friend of the bean got this little bag as part of her birthday gift. It's repurposed from a stained pair of the jellybean's dungarees. It's not the neatest and you might be able to tell that I didnt measure anything, but did it all by eye, but I hope the 4 yr old recipient doesnt mind too much... Happy Birthday Isla.

FREE Pattern: Baby Beanie

While the chicken stock is bubbling on the hob, and a new sock has sprung onto my needles (the twisted sock wasnt working, so has been ripped in favour of a plain sock knitted with the rest of my crazy zauberball sock yarn...), I thought I would share this with you.

It seems too grand to describe this as a pattern, but rather it's one of those unvented and unoriginal set of instructions for a wee hat.

To fit: 0-3 months

Needles: 2.25mm dpns

Yarn: 4 ply/sock yarn, you'll need roughly 25g

Gauge: 13 stitches to 5cm (knit in the round)

Instructions

Cast on 100 stitches, divide evenly between needles and without twisting, join the first round.


If you would like to make a stripey hat using the grumperina technique (e.g. stripes with no jogs), then I use both colours for the cast on, alternating colours for each new stitch. Work the first round in the colour of the first stitch, and then when you return to the place at which the second yarn is languishing, pick that up and work a round with that instead. As always the rule with grumperina stripes is to always work with the *lowest* yarn available. If you dont want a grumperina stripe then knit plain or patterned as you will.


Knit in stocking stitch until the work measures 11cm or so, then start crown shaping. You can work the decreases in any way you like (e.g. ssk), but I have written it here as k2tog.


round 1: [k8 k2tog] rep till end, 90 stitches
round 2: knit
round 3: [k7, k2tog] rep until end, 80 stitches
round 4: knit


Continue in this vein until you are decreasing every 3 stitches (e.g. your decrease round is going k3, k2 tog). From this point on, decrease on every round.


Work until 4 stitches remain.


Now work a short i-cord stalk to finish the hat. Transfer all of the stitches to one needle, and work until the i-cord measures the desired length - I normally aim for about 8 cm which allows me to make a single knot. You can stripe your stalk, or leave it plain.


Cast off and weave in loose ends. Wash, dry gently and apply to the first wee head that crosses your path. Enjoy!

 [This pattern is shared in the spirit of craftivism, stash busting and generally living a goodly life. Please do *not* use it for commercial gain or profit. Thankyou]

FO: Freddie (Kim Hargreaves, Rowan Junior)

Freddie is done. All sewn up and ready to go off to little Elias. we can only hope that he gets well enough and big enough to wear it and grow out of it. Get well little man.

Pattern: Freddie from Rowan Junior (Kim Hargreaves)

Yarn: Patons Diploma Gold 4 ply

Mods: intarsia snowflake omitted; no other mods

Next on my list are two v small jackets for the twin girls that arrived a week or so ago. They are both well, now out of incubators but still in special baby care doing their best to grow big enough to go home! Grow little ones, grow.