FO: Small Rainbows

While we were in Ireland I finished my second pair of rainbow socks.



For all their plainness I managed to make the whole process rather complicated. Knowing that I had a finite amount of yarn I used a provisional cast on and then knit 10 rounds before making the heel flap. On the first sock I knittted the toe using a solid red yarn from my stash. It looked awful and after knitting the second sock down to the toe I realised I would have enough yarn to frog the offending toe and reknit in the original rainbow yarn. So I did. At that point I still had some rainbow yarn left - along with a very small quantity of cherry red yarn that matched rather well colourwise. I divided the yarn into two equal portions and knit up from the leg in a rib pattern to make quite a short sock. I'm not wild about the red tops and have considered reknitting in a grumperina stripe, but they'll do for now...


Here you can see just how much sock I managed to squeeze out of one skein of rainbow yarn. Not bad eh?

The emerald isle

We've been on our holidays. To Ireland and the fair county of Kerry. We stayed in a lovely cottage, had lovely weather and got to spend time with my brother and sister in law, who live in Atlanta with their small boy (18 months). Our small boy (15 months) seemed to have fun following/chasing his big cousin around and we had lots of fun encouraging them to hug each other and do other cute things which we could photograph.

I did some knitting (FO to come) but not much, being content to relax in our lovely cottage and enjoy the views.

Inside: Lapin felt very at home




Outside: Ireland's highest mountains - Macgillycuddy's Reeks



WIP. I started this while I was there - it just seemed right to be knitting something lush and green (yarn from the Yarnyard). I'm still working on the first sock - not because it's difficult, but because the light and dry evenings we've had since we came back mean that I try to get on with gardening rather than knitting AND I've been on a bit of sewing bee too....I'll tell you about it sometime.

FO: Rainbow socks & baby hats

Finally, here are my lovely rainbow socks, knit with yarn from Natalie at the Yarnyard. They are just ordinary, plain jane top-down socks. I knit them quite short in the leg because I like them that way (and in the hope I might make my skein stretch to two pairs). Given the loveliness of the yarn I didnt think I needed to choose a fancy pattern. I love the mini rainbows that appeared magically underneath each heel.

I've also been busy in a frenzy of baby knitting. So frenzied that I sent two items without taking any photographs. One was a pair of 'tranquil' bootees from the Rowan babies book, sent to Australia to celebrate the birth of Charlotte. Congratulations to mum and dad, Angela and Damien. The other item was a small hat destined for baby Elizabeth, born on Good Friday, to Susan and Simon. Mum Susan deserves an extra special congratulatory mention for managing to avoid a c-section by persuading her midwives to let her have one last push. Well done you.

Inspired by the smallness and quickness of those items, I motored on with a couple more baby hats for my gift stash. We know of at least 3 more babies due this year to friends (and countless others to work colleagues and friends of friends). Another hat is on the needles.


This is just a made up baby beanie pattern, which can be knit flat or in the round. The stripey version was made following grumperina's instructions for stripey socks, and worked fabulously as a means of using up some oddments from my stash of baby 4 ply. I started with three colours - green, white and very pale green (it's very, very pale). Just as I got to the shaping for the top, the very pale green ran out, which is why the stripes change here.

accepting the challenge

There are more FOs to blog, but today is about something rather more serious. Before Easter, I was at a conference in Belfast. One of the keynote speakers was Jonathan Porritt. He was an engaging speaker, and someone I have set a lot of store by over the years. The main thrust of his message was this - the implication of the recent IPCC (inter governmental panel on climate change) report is this: in order to limit climate change to a rise of 2 degrees celsius, we need to shift to a low-carbon economy within 15 years or so. You'd have to be quite old for that timescale to seem beyond your years. 15 years is soon. Really soon.

I've been reflecting on Jonathan Porritt's words since then. What does a low-carbon economy look like? What can I do in my personal and professional life to help bring it about? Can I shift my life to a low carbon existence?

Leaving aside my professional contribution, I am thinking about the other choices I make. Knitting and crafting can fit well into a low-carbon life, as they offer the opportunity to make bespoke garments (more likely to be used, looked after and given a long-life), to mend and repair existing garments/items; to recycle and reuse yarn and fabric. There are some other choices to be made for a low-carbon world - using natural rather than synthetic fibres (wool, cotton and other animal/vegetable fibres are intrinsically low carbon compared to synthetic yarns which originate from petrochemical sources); local and organic yarns where available (local just to reduce yarn miles and organic because this system does not rely on petrochemical inputs such as inorganic fertilisers and pesticides). Oh yes, and using up the stash. I think there is a lot to be said for that - making do with what we already have. I'm sure there are other things too.

What would you add?

FO: Dolly (3-6 months)

Here she is in all her glory. Dolly (3-6 months) from Jaeger book JB29 by Martin Storey.

It's a lovely pattern, although the finishing is a bit of a faff, because the neck trim is knitted separately and has to be sewn onto the neckline... (and you have to cast on 300 stitches to start it).




No mods worth mentioning. I used 2 balls of RYC cashsoft 4ply and not much to spare. It's a lovely yarn for babies because it's seriously soft and can be machine washed. As a mum myself, I know that handwash stuff is fine in theory, but really, why make things harder than they need to be when there's yarn like this available? I hope baby Bella approves. I knitted the second size rather than the first, because Bella was a well rounded 8lb 8oz when born and to she'll probably be thinking about wearing outfits (rather than just babygros) when she's big enough to wear this. [Edited to add: I hear that Bella slipped into her new cardigan on the day that it arrived! The girl obviously has a highly developed sense of style...]


I'm very pleased with the way things turned out because these were odd balls of yarn. Together they looked slightly different in colour - but knitted up you really can't tell them apart. (Dont worry I took the necessary precautions).


What's the weather like where you are? The UK is being bashed by gales at the moment - as we're on the East side it's not too bad, but in Scotland this windy weather seems to have been going on for months. When it's sunny it's good for drying the washing, but you do have to use LOTS of pegs! Today the sun is alternating with lashing rain, beating a drum on the window of the study where I'm sitting. Outside, I can see the trees in the street, whipping their bare branches in a frenzied jig.

FO: Baby Tunic

Little Kirsty should have received her tunic top by now, although I expect it'll be a little while before she wears it, as 1. She's a tiny weeny thing, only 5lb 7oz at birth and 2. it's still summer time where she lives. I hope she likes it.

The front is flowery.

The back is stripey.

It's designed to be easy to put on (wide sleeves, stretchy neck, soft rolled cuffs and collar). Previous versions have proved popular with new mums (I even made one for the bean - and put it on him often. It went to the frog pond tho' but that's another story).

There seem to be babies everywhere at the moment. Another has arrived amongst our circle of friends: Isabella Rose born Weds Feb 27th at home in a birth pool after an efficient 3 hour labour. Huge congratulations to Rachel, Gavin and big brother Thomas! I am especially pleased because Rachel was influenced by the homebirth experience I had with the bean (see here for his birth story) and she did it herself with some style. 3 hours?! Way to go girl!

And in blogland, everyone's at it: Woolly Wormhead, Mind of Winter, Stash, Knit, Repeat (and I could go on...)

Anyway, not wanting to waste a minute, I parcelled up some super cute booties which I knit in 2006 and cast on the Dolly cardigan from Jaeger Handknits book JB29. It's sooooo pretty, and almost finished, so another FO is about to be born.

Wagon? What wagon?

Yesterday I took the bean to Handknit to see what was left of this fine shop before it closes down. It's still got lovely yarn and lovely pattern books & magazines. Just not very many.

I bought this:

oh, and some yarn. Yes, I know I know I was supposed to be on a yarn diet... well rules is made to be broken, and it's not every week that your localest yarn shop closes down!

the stash was enhanced by a moderate 7 balls of miscellaneous 4 ply mostly destined to become baby sweaters and tanks. I think almost half of the people we know are expecting babies this year, and the other half had babies last year, so there is great capacity for baby knitting.

I'm making progress with Kirsty's tunic top. As predicted there are stripes...

and the main colour is blue. It's very pale blue, and I've knitted some petals to go on the front to make it girly. Both lots of yarn came from charity shops and are 4 ply of unknown (synthetic) origin. The multi-coloured yarn was 25p and has thus far yielded at least one baby hat and stripes for another tunic top. It cant go on much longer!

As usual I've dispensed with as much sewing as possible with this project. The shoulder seams were done with a 3 needle cast off, and I have just picked up the stiches for the arms and am knitting down to the cuff. I've just got to finish the second sleeve (almost at the cuff now) and then can steam, seam and finish.