WIPs

The WIPs are getting a bit out of hand.

1. Grace is still OTN, but progress has been made. I've redone the button bands - with the correct number of buttonholes this time - and I've knitted the collar again but have a little modification in mind to make it look even better. Then there's the small matter of sewing it up...

2. The Java socks are not done. I'm just about ready to do the toe decreases on the first sock - but I need to check the length with DH's foot, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I dont have enough yarn to make two - which is a major drawback in a sock project.

3. My fingers were itching the other evening, so I cast on for a Betty (Rowan Winter Kids)in a lovely raspberry pink colour very similar to this (although it a substitute yarn) ...

4. The scarf is bimbling along. I am not expecting to finish this soon - it's my fall back project, something to grab when there's a chance of knitting a few rows here or there. The colours are gorgeous...

5. And then there's the sewing. We've been having a few nappy issues lately, and it's getting harder to wrangle the jelly bean (now almost 21 months) into her nappies because she's getting bigger, and they aren't, and there's been a lot of leaking and changing of clothes going on (particularly at nursery). For the most part we use Totsbot bamboozles - a shaped nappy made from bamboo terry, and we also have a couple of the Ella's house hemp nappy. The hemp nappies have a longer rise and fit better than the bamboozles now that the jelly bean is bigger. We love our cloth nappies, and have used them very happily for both of our babies. Given that we are hoping not to need them for too much longer, I have been experimenting. I have made a nappy!!

It makes me very happy. I'm not an accomplished seamstress (I find using a sewing machine awkward, no doubt because it is not designed for a left-hander) so I feel very pleased to have done this. Of course, things may yet unravel when we try it out for real, but so far so good. I used the hemp nappy as a template and constructed the new nappy from a single bamboo terry square and two layers of cotton flannel cut from a crib sheet/head cloth. I elasticated the waist/leg openings with regular elastic from my sewing box, and I'm now waiting for some aplix to arrive so that I can finish it off and try it out! While I had the machine out the other evening, I also got started on the pile of wipes and dribble bibs that I cut out a few weeks ago, and I ironed some patchwork pieces ready for stitching. It's satisfying to get things done...

Home Alone...

It's Saturday and the sun is shining weakly outside. My husband and children are elsewhere and I am all alone. I should be in the garden, trying to unwreak the havoc therein, and getting ready to plant seeds and bulbs and things to eat in the coming months. But inside, looking at a computer screen, trying to catch up with work or get ahead or somehow effect some change in my never-ending list of things to do and the blizzard of emails that fall thickly into my mailbox each day. So am trapped and free all at the same time.

I might, just might, have spent a few minutes searching in my stash for some more yarn for Grace. I found little bit more, but as I still haven't finished the fronts and the yoke seems to be eating yarn, I am more and more sure that the yarn will run out. I may even have to unravel my tension square, except that it's not very big and wouldn't help very much... The trouble is there is nothing else in my stash that I can use to make up for the missing yardage. Rats. Looks like I might have to go shopping....

In which the knitting gods make their views known

So, despite casting on and knitting the first couple of inches of Doris in a crazed funk (mmm, more more, my precious), I soon realised that something was not quite right. I'm a bit lazy when it comes to swatching - mostly because when I do bother I tend to find that my tension is exactly that required, and then I feel I've wasted valuable knitting time and should just have started all along. Humph. Anyway. So, looking at the supposedly smallest size Doris I was blithely knitting, I realised that it seemed to be - you know - a bit on the big side. Even without blocking or being particularly flat, the back that I was knitting was measuring more like the largest size than the smallest. Oops.

I frogged and selected another pattern. This time I'm going for Grace. Another cardigan, but with no moss stitch (below on the right). And - you guessed it - I swatched. I swatched in two different yarns and wouldn't you know I got gauge with both. Ha. Seems my tension with stocking stitch is very different to my tension with moss stitch. Who knew? I still want to knit Doris though - although next time I promise I'll swatch first.

FO: Danish Blue socks

Here are the danish blue socks in all their glory and in use. Finished at last!

Pattern: generic top down pattern

Yarn: Bumbo sock yarn with Aloe Vera (bought in Denmark)

Now that these socks, and Wimbledon, are over, it's time for something else. The new series of Torchwood has me hooked, and while I watch I'm doing my best to crank through the small and very pink Dolly that I started earlier in the year. Last night I finished both fronts (knit at the same time) and started the back. Oh yes, and if Torchwood wasnt diverting enough, there's also the Tour de France and the Ashes to keep my inner sports enthusiast on edge...

Finishing off...

July is all about finishing things off. I'm trying to work my way through an endless list of work tasks before starting my maternity leave, AND to hoover up various knitting and stitching WIPs which are cluttering my mind as well as the house. It's part of the tidying we (I) need to do before the new baby arrives.

Since we came back from holiday, I've made/finished:
- a sundress for a first birthday
- one pair of repurposed red trousers for the bean
- and, the socks I took on holiday...

Alas, because there was a bit of a rush to make the dress I did not take any photos before sending it off in the post. But, we've had a lovely thank you card, so I hope that means the dress is vaguely the right size and shape! Happy birthday Harper!

The repurposed red trousers were made with cut offs from a favourite pair of red trews of mine which had the audacity to wear out! They were fabulous in many ways: I bought them in a sale, they were one or two sizes smaller than I normally wear, they didnt fade at all even after several years of wearing and washing and their in-built stretch meant that they were comfortable to wear. What more could a girl ask for? Anyway, once they had given way in the upper thigh, I cut off the salvageable parts of the legs, and turned them into a pair of toddler trousers. I used a favourite pair of the bean's trousers as a pattern. Because I did not taper the legs in any way, the finished trousers ended up slightly on the flared side (actually, they were quite hilariously flared). Perfect for the late 1970s, but not quite so fashionable now. To cure this malady in the most minimalist way, I elasticated the cuffs - again using the original trousers as a pattern (these also have elasticated cuffs).

The socks have been plodding for some while now, but now that Wimbledon is on (c'mon Andy!), I've been making the effort to pick them up everytime I stop to watch a set or two. Yesterday I finished sock no. 2 - but discovered that I had a reasonable length of yarn leftover. Although I am not normally a perfectionist about such things, in this case I decided it would be worth the effort to lengthen the leg of each sock and use absolutely every gram of this vibrant yarn. So, they are finished, sort of.

Knits in action...

Here's a quick snap of the bobble cardigan in action. We were at a friends house enjoying the spring sunshine and the first lolly of the season, and it seemed to do a good job of keeping the bean warm in the bracing Scottish wind.

Since then I've also finished another of those totty tank tops for the bean. This time in blue with black stripes. I still love this pattern, although I'm coming to the conclusion that the sizings are a bit small. The bean is a perfectly average sized 2 yrs and 3 months, looking quite comfortable in this age 3-4 tank. It's a good stashbuster though, and used up just about 2 balls of the main colour. 2 down, rather a lot to go....(!).

Pattern: Child's striped tank (Rowan Family Collection)

Yarn: Jeager Matchmaker DK (2 x 50g balls, plus oddment of unknown black yarn from stash)

Mods: none, knitted as written - but worked flat on DPNs in order to effect one-row stripes without cutting yarn

Comments: next time may try out the round neck version

Given the number of babies due in and around these parts this year (bump now approaching 6 month mark!) I thought I would cast on for something small and pink just to replenish the stash of baby knits. There's bound to be at least one girl among the babies that come along, so I cast on a bubble gum pink Dolly (Martin Storey for Jaeger's baby book). Two-at-a-time sleeves are almost done -being mostly knit on trains to and from London over the last couple of weeks.

WIP

Seriously good news is springing up everywhere at the moment. Not only has the mojo come back but there is a new WIP which is thrilling, exciting and scaring me a bit too. Any guesses?

Yep, it's a new baby. Due to arrive sometime in August, so I'm trusting that Edinburgh will be as cool as usual and I wont melt in the heat of a fierce Scottish summer. After all the shenanigans of last year, we are really thrilled, and now that the first (horrid) trimester is over, things are starting to get exciting again. Yesterday we saw a midwife for a booking in appointment - another lovely homebirth has been ordered and life seems pretty good.

As if this wasnt enough, my knitting mojo has crept back into view and yesterday I took knitting with me to the hospital. I snatched a few rows here and there while we waited. It feels good to have something growing on the needles again. I had cast on for Lottie from Rowan Junior the other day - there's a first birthday coming up and a stash to consume. If we're going to have another wee person in the house, toy storage will become even more important and the stash will have to make way!