Easter Knitting

This Easter weekend, I have been mostly knitting.

I have been thinking about starting my first proper knitting project and thought a simple cardigan for the boy would be a good place to start. It was either that or socks, but my trips to the local yarn shop are always slightly fraught as Mil is not a great one for shopping... I think I just went 'Cardigan, I'll knit a cardigan' with that crazed and harassed look of a mother to a two year old. I then realised that I had better make a very tiny baby cardigan first in case I make a mess of it and waste a fortune spent on yarn. There seems to be a steady stream of babies being produced at the moment so should it be a success it will not go to waste.

So here I am making a thing, a real item of clothing, and I am having a ball following the pattern.

This is the pattern, and this is the yarn.

I have also been eating quite a bit of chocolate... yum.

Buttercup Bag

I did a bit of bunting making over the weekend for the wedding (which is in 9 weeks - ARRRGGHH) and was struggling with using some fabrics I had acquired that I wasn't too keen on. With the bunting, it is more about an overall effect and the fabric I use needs to be nice enough, but not too nice. This led me to suffer that fear of using something nice, not wanting to tear through the loveliest things in my stash but, as I realised this weekend, sewing the fabric that doesn't do it for you is no fun at all.

So, I was in desperate need of a sewing project that would revive me, and when I saw this buttercup bag pattern over at made by rae last week I printed it out immediately, and it had been sitting on my sewing table until Monday night when I gave over to it.

I struggle with starting projects, and need to remind myself to get stuck in, but once I'd started with this one there was no stopping me. What a lovely pattern... thank you Rae.

In making it up, I have totally fallen for the floral fabric, which was a charity find. The colours are really warm. And a bit of jazzy green lining... lovely.

And these are the fabrics sitting on my table at the moment... not sure why I am going all woolly just when the sun is coming out? It seems that although I am embracing spring in all other areas of the house, it hasn't quite reached my sewing space... I'll see if I can't do something about that!

A quilt, a quilt!

Yesterday Brendan, Mil and I hopped in the car first thing, and drove to Herefordshire, eating a picnic breakfast en route, to go and meet the latest arrival in our family - my nephew, and Mil's third cousin... all boys!


And as far as I can work out, babies means quilts, and so I made a quilt... My first ever quilt! I'm pretty pleased seeing as it is a first, and I am looking forward to making the next.


All the front fabrics are American Jane Recess, and I have been coveting these for a while. The backing fabric was an old duvet cover I picked up in a charity shop.


It was a good day, the baby was a cutie, and the bigger cousins got to do some hanging out.

Sun and Sewing = Fine and Dandy

I find that there is so much going on at the moment in life, and it can be easy to get bogged down in the mechanics of it all. A lot recently I have found myself running in and running right out again. Taking no time to actually enjoy life.

All the things that are making me busy are good things... things that make life better, like making our house a home and keeping fit, and earning a living, but they don't half get me worked up into a tizzy.





Yesterday I did some sewing, the first in what feels like forever, and whilst Mil napped, I sewed and ironed and measured and I was totally calm, even when I made a mistake... and the sun came out.




And, before I ran out to run in a race (bananas, I know) we sat in the garden, Brendan had a glass of home brew, we admired the tulips and Mil watered the plants.


Life is okay...

No Peeping!

The blog has slipped down the list of priorities, hence the lack of posts. It is crazy in our house at the moment and we are all suffering from stress related ailments. But, we are making progress of the painting/ decorating kind with much help from one particular family member, and carpet has been going down, and the like. The end of all this building cannot come too soon. There hasn't been much going on in the way of crafting but here goes...

It was my birthday a week or so ago, and Brendan (that's the one I'm going to marry) made me a cake. I came home from a work trip to this:



It was very hard to follow the rules, but I did and the next day he produced this:


Yum! a polenta/ orange/ almond/ honey cake. Just as well I'm marrying him, huh?

And here is a little bit of knitting... I did these try-outs a while back, and now feel ready to tackle some sort of jumper for the boy, just need to find a pattern suitable for such a beginner.

Moss stitch: *K1, P1* K1

Tracks: Row 1: *K4, P6* Row 2 and alt rows: purl, Rows 3 and 7: Knit, Row 5: *P5, K4, P1*

Chevron Moss: Row 1: *P1, K3*, Row 2: *K1, P5, K1, P1*, Row 3: *K2, P1, K3, P1, K1* Row 4: *P2, K1, P1, K1, P3*

Ridge Stitch: Row 1: Knit, Row 2: *K2 tog all across the row*, Row 3: K into front and back of each stitch, Row 4: Purl.

And I got some lovely yarn for my birthday too, so ought to find a pattern... any suggestions?

Two

Our little boy, Mil, was two today. A whole two years old!


We had a little party in the morning with 7 of his buddies over for some playing and some party food. Sadly, Mil wasn't on top form and was feeling a bit out of sorts, but muddled his way through. That's him amongst the balloons waiting for his guests to arrive.


I decided to make bags for give-aways. I hate all the tat that can come with the idea of a party bag, and the tat ends up costing a fortune! So all his buddies got a bag, a packet of pens and a bag of chocolate buttons. And, of course, a balloon on a ribbon.


Then after his nap, Mil was sick and spent the rest of the day in front of the fire in his pyjamas doing jigsaws.

Two years. Gosh.

Tiny Hand-Warmers

I've finished my first knitting project! A very shonky pair of hand-warmers for M. With little blue star buttons and a plaited string to loop through the sleeves of his jacket.

The knitting is of terrible quality, but I don't care. I set out to make these, and I was going to finish them whatever. They are functional, but have no function at all as obviously M doesn't want them near him and pulled and yelled until I took them out of his coat. This, actually, was the predicted outcome, but I thought that maybe the special buttons would sway him - no such luck!

Oh well, I am wondering who I might be able to give these to, but fear I am giving away the gift of a battle with your child.

I don't mind, I have finished my first knitting project and have been spurred on to start another, so the exercise has been worthwhile. And, what I didn't want was another unfinished project!