2008 - FO No. 10

Pattern: Kite from The Rowan Story Book of Little Knits
Size: 7-8 years
Yarn: Cupcake yarn from Spotlight, 6.5 balls
Needles: 4.5mm
Started: 21 February 2008, Finished: 28 February 2008

I really loved knitting this for Isabelle but I did forget my golden rule, add 10 extra rows to the body of the sweater as Isabelle has a long torso. The sleeves have a bit of extra length to them, and I did knit about 2 cms shorter than stated. I am not going to rip it back though to add the extra rows to the body so I am hoping that she wont grow too much taller in the next couple of months. She did intend to wear it all day today, but apparently the breakfast of egg found its way onto her sweater so now it has been washed and is drying on a towel in the laundry. She will have to wait until the weekend now to wear it again. The yarn is great too as she didnt even wear anything under it, and said it felt nice and comfy.
I would also love to thank you all for the wonderful comments left by all you lovely ladies on Florence. It really made my day to know that so many people appreciated my knitting!

2008 - FO No. 9

Pattern: Florence from Enchanted Garden (by Louisa Harding)
Size: 1-2 years
Yarn: Cupcake (from Spotlight) 3.5 balls, rose red color, 4.5mm needles
Started: 18 February 2008, Finished: 22 February 2008
I really like knitting Louisa Harding's patterns. This book is similar in design to her other books, the Miss Bea range with the charted patterns. I did notice though that the Percy pattern is the exact same one as the Wee Willy Winkie sweater in one of the other books. Apart from that though all the other patterns are different and very very adorable. I just had to cast on for this pattern as soon as I saw it, and now have a few others I would like to knit up too. The yarn I used does tend to split a bit, but if you keep an eye on it it does knit up very nicely.

This is the book that I knit Florence from, and it is the picture on the front cover.

As for my list that I put in a couple of posts back, well only 1 was completed, the Vintage Car Coat. I have been sidetracked yet again, and am still knitting other things too. I have nearly finished another sweater for Isabelle with only 1 sleeve left to go so hopefully by the weekend it will be finished. I will then need to get my other projects back on track and finish a few of them off.

2008 - FO No 7 & 8

Fo No 7 - Top Knot Beanie from Moda Issue 6
Size - 8 to 10 years
Yarn - Color 4 Me DK, teal, light blue and dark blue
1 of each color
I knit this in a few hours last night after seeing the knitting book at my LYS. It has a lot of great patterns in it too, not just hats. Isabelle didnt want the top knot on it, so I shortened the hat by one layer of color and just knit 2 instead of 3 and decreased down to 4 sts instead of knitting the top knot. I am hoping she will wear this to school on those chilly mornings to keep her ears warm.




FO No 8 - Another fave hat pattern - Striped Hat from Baby Cashmerino 2.
The brown one is knit in cotton Yarn Bee from Spotlight, variegated browns and 4 ply white cotton. It is the 18-24 mth size.
The second one is cotton Yarn Bee from Spotlight in a variegated pink and green color with the 4 ply white cotton too. It is the 9 - 18 month size.
They didnt really use up much yarn but I really loved the way the variegated yarn goes in the stripes with the white. We discovered last week that Spotlight was getting rid of the cotton for $1 a ball. The cotton seems to go a long way too.
I am also knitting a second adult sweater for Lachlan or Paul, whichever one wants to wear it. I am hoping that Lachlan will like this zippered sweater and it isnt too heavy for him to wear, otherwise Paul will claim it for himself. I have already finished the back of it in 2 days so I am hoping the front knits up just as quickly too.
I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day. Paul and I have never celebrated it, but Isabelle did make us little Valentine cards with smiley faces on them. I have mine sitting on my bedside drawer. It was so sweet of her considering she was home from school, and she was also unwell with a 24 hour virus. Thankfully only a runny nose and a temperature, although she did lose her voice for a little while too. She seems all better now after having 2 days rest.
Oh and I have noticed all the aussie blogs with the Sorry on them for the aboriginals whose generations were stolen from their families. I am so glad that Kevin Rudd decided to have the guts to do that, as it seems John Howard had no intention of ever doing that whatsoever. I discovered only a few years back that my great grandfather was aboriginal. He has 8 children with my great grandmother and then left when my grandfather was 15. I dont think he contacted his family after that, and my mum's cousin tried to do the family tree but got no further as he was told the aboriginal members would not discuss it. I dont know if that is the real reason but one day I would like to learn more about that part of our family. Well back to knitting for now and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

2008 - FO No 6

No. 5 on the list is finished!

Pattern: Vintage Car Coat

The Little Sublime Hand Knit Book

Size: 6 - 9 months

Yarn: 8 ply wool, mustard, 6 balls

I really like this pattern although I must admit that I need to buy 2 more buttons to put on the sleeves. Both sleeves have a little garter stitch section which buttons up on one side with 2 buttons on each. Silly me thought it was 1 button on each.

The bottom part does tend to roll up slightly so I hope with wear it will stay down eventually.

I have also been knitting on the Fog Sweater, and now onto the front piece. If I continue to do it at this pace Lachlan may be able to wear it for winter. Now to check on the list and see what project will next be in line to finish up.

The List Is Getting Longer

First up I would like to thank Amanda J, Kate and Karin for presenting me with the You Make My Day award. I cant believe how many people have nominated me and you cant imagine how honoured I feel too, so thank you so much girls!
So first up some knitting books that I have received recently and I really like too.
The Pleasures of Knitting has some really lovely patterns in it, two of which I would love to knit up.
The Little Box of Knitted Gifts has some cute things in it although nothing out of the ordinary. I do like it though and plan to knit up a few things later on!
The last book is Soft and Simple Knits for Little Ones and it has some cute things in it too, but I will show some favourites from it another day.

Now onto the knitting, as I have been promising a few WIP shots.

1. The Pink Flower Cardigan which is a little bit hard to photograph. This is one repeat so far (why did I choose bobbles). It will be a bit of time before it is finished.

2. The DB Baby Cabled Hoodie which I cast on for last year and still have not finished. I really love all the little cables in it but it is time consuming. The color is actually a darker red, but you know my camera it always changes colors on reds and blues for some reason.

3. The Fog Sweater - this is coming along nicely and I have already finished the back and cast on for the front. Yes, I am not knitting in the round and I dont mind seaming so I cant wait to finish this one.

4. Trellis - yes well I started this last year too and only have half the back finished so far. Whilst photographing my stash I found the rest of the cotton for it so I do plan on finishing this one too.

5. Vintage Car Coat - I started this one last week and it is so fun to knit. More on that later.

6. Pink Socks - nothing fancy, just plain 64 sts socks in one of Katt's yarns but I will have to look up the color since the label is now missing. I have completed half a sock so I should take some time to finish it up.

7. Buzy Lizzie - I looove this pattern! It is so cute. I have started the left front, and finished the back last year some time. This will have to be completed soon too so I can cross it off the list.

8. Jethro Jacket - Yes this is still sitting in the UFO basket but recently I found it again and felt like knitting some of it. I will need to get motivated to knit this in the cooler weather though as it is quite warm and the weather has been hot and humid here.

9. Duffle Coat - yes after ripping out the first version because I had 2 different dye lots, I cast on for another color and that is all that has been completed so far.

10. Blue Baby Cardigan - I love this little baby jacket and have knit it twice before for cousin's babies, but will need to finish the front and sleeves so I can pop it into the gift basket.

11. Twist - I love this pattern and Bonne Marie is so clever with the garments that she designs. I have knit a little bit of the back and will try and knit some more on it after I have finished a few others.

12. Cobblestone sweater - This is nearly halfway and I havent photographed it yet either. I really need to get back to it instead of having it sit in the bag waiting for me to pay attention to it.

13. Midwest Moonlight Scarf - Another winter knit which is still not finished yet. It is halfway done so I really should finish this one too. I had to keep repeating the last repeat when I was doing it as I kept making silly mistakes, so after I had fixed them I put it in a bag to marinate for a while until I was ready to start it again. It really is a lovely pattern so when I have some quiet time I will try and finish it.

Well that is the list so far of WIP's and I should try and finish some of them off soon. I know there is more sitting there waiting to be finished too but I dont want to feel too guilty, this list is bad enough. How many WIP's do you have waiting to be finished!

Oh and tomorrow I should be able to knit some more as BOTH children will be back at school tomorrow, so hooray for me. I did most of my ironing yesterday so that is off the to do list. Isabelle and I also got a long awaited haircut. Isabelle's hair kept getting knotty and driving me crazy trying to brush it, so now it has a good 2 inches snipped off the back and looks much neater too. I would have preferred it in a bob but she would have been upset if we cut that much off it. I also got quite a bit cut off mine. I was a bit annoyed last time as my hairdresser decided to leave it a bit longer, but my hair grows like a weed so 3 weeks later it was looking quite terrible. I dont think she will leave it like that again as I told her I wasnt happy last time with the extra length. Now it is nice and short and very manageable. Just what I need when having to run around after the kids. Now I am off to serve homemade lasagna for dinner which I whipped up yesterday afternoon so I didnt have to cook tonight!