Some new projects

to start knitting on soon, although I must finish off a few Christmas gifts first. I have nearly finished my Christmas shopping too, only about 5 more presents to buy, and they are always the hardest ones too. So onto some new projects from the new DB Cashmerino Collection book which is full of gorgeous gorgeous patterns for children and women, (sorry no men's patterns). First up is Rebecca which I really really want to knit. It is a lacey pattern and we all know that I dont knit lacey patterns (first time for everything right) and it goes up to 6-7 years, so I can knit it for Isabelle, although the 5-6 years will have plenty of room so maybe that is a much better idea. It is so pretty too and I can see her wearing it over her dresses.

Next up is Lena from the same book. I really love this and I have some Bendigo yarn which was going to be another project but didnt quite work out, so I am sure I can use the yarn for this project. It looks so lovely and it is in my size which is always a bonus. There are lots of other patterns in this book that I really love, and I am considering knitting Romy for my sister, but not until next year as it will take a little while with all the cables in it. I bought my copy from the Wool Shack and they do show photos of all the projects in the book so sneak on over and take a peek. I did get some other books too. I bought the Jo Sharp Issue 5 which has some really beautiful patterns in it, much better than the last issue and I also bought the IK winter issue which has some nice projects too.

I also knit up a toddler sized hat yesterday from Adorable Knits for Tots. Someone on ravelry had knit the ear flap hat without the earflaps so I decided to omit them too and just knit the cabled hat section. I think it turned out wonderfully well. The color is washed out again (ugh) so it should be a nice olive color instead of the washed out gray color. This one will be a Christmas gift for my parent's neighbour's son. I used to babysit for her when I was a teenager, and now both her sons have little boys so I always knit them something for Christmas. She even asked my mum if I could make something for her grandson and she is going to pay me for it. She wants a hooded jacket so I am sure I can find something suitable to knit up for him.

I also should be able to finish off my garter stitch scarf for my sister today too as Isabelle is home sick with bronchitis and both ears are infected too. After having a small cough for nearly 2 weeks I knew we had to visit the doctor's today. She now has some antibiotics so hopefully by Monday she will feel better. We have a 40th to go to tomorrow night too which is Paul's brother's party and his wife's so I dont think I will be going anywhere with Isabelle not feeling well. She gets very clingy when she is sick so I dont think she will stay with my mum without me there. Perhaps I can drop Paul off and pick him up again later on after a few hours as his sister is going to be there and we dont get to see her very often. Oh and I nearly forgot to tell you that hopefully most of the bad luck is over with now as Lachlan's little skink Inky passed away. Lachlan looked in on him to feed him and he was dead. I didnt see him as Paul and Lachlan had already buried him when I got home. Now fingers crossed that nothing else pops up to disrupt us for the time being. I am off to the couch to sit and knit whilst Isabelle hopefully gets some much needed rest. Have a wonderful weekend!

A Sprinkling of Hats!!

I have been knitting hats for charity. The Guardian Chemist runs it from June through to August, in which you can knit sweaters, blankets, hats, scarfs and socks too. When you have knit all of the items you take them to the chemist, and they send them over to the children in Mongolia and surrounding areas. The campaign this time is based more on children aged 2 to 12 years rather than babies, as the items can be handed down to children as they are outgrown by the older children in the families. I have been using stash yarn, and my mum has also been contributing stash yarn too. She is planning on knitting a few sweaters to contribute, and I think I might try and knit some too. I also thought of knitting some little socks out of the scraps of sock yarn that I have, so I hope they wont take too long to knit up. I would like to take in a big bag of things for them since they are going to such a great cause. The hats above are from Louisa Harding's book Hats, Gloves and Scarves. I hadnt really looked through this book or knitted anything from it so when I discovered it on the bookshelf I decided to knit some of them from it. The patterns are so easy to knit up and dont take too long to do. I would also like to thank you all for the lovely comments on my getting better, and I am sure you are all getting sick of me being sick as I am too. My earache has decreased, but I am going to pay a visit soon just to make sure that this time it is completely gone. Well that is all for now, as I must attend to the daily chores before starting on my knitting!