The Super Birthday Sweater

I can't begin to tell you how much I love this Super Birthday Sweater from Blue Alvarez! It's the first top down pattern that I've seen that divides the neck edge cast on stitches into quarters as apposed to thirds ... it kinda put me off making it for a while, thinking that it might sit funny when it was on, but I've gotta say that it's totally awesome :) Fits great, sits great, was as easy as, and best of all .. I followed the pattern without changing anything ;D (well, other than omitting the middle stripe!) ... oh, and it's a freebie :)

I used 9 balls of Moda Vera Shiver from Spotlight, (some of which I frogged from a previous sweater) and size 7mm needles. It was really fast to make, beautifully written, and has inspired me to try more top downs with the quarter divisions ... love it :)

Take one thrifted tablecloth, Part 2

The good thing about buying manchester instead of fabric off the bolt, is that it goes such a long way ... definitely value for your buck (especially when it's thrifted!) :)

After making my dress out of the tablecloth I bought from Savers, I still had heaps left to make some much needed aprons. I couldn't decide on waist or full length, so of course, ended up doing both :D

The pattern for the waist length one came from Cath Kidston's Sew! book, the only change I made to the pattern was not binding the pocket top ... the tablecloth had a neatened edge, so I saved myself a step by utilising that instead.

I did the same thing on the hem of the full length pinny ... I love this pattern, especially the way that the curved side edges wrap around the back giving maximum coverage :) The pattern is called the Patternless Kitschy Apron by Jordana Paige and its a freebie from here

...ok, guess I'm off to do some cooking now then :D

Green monkeys from Ikea

Thanks to an extra long Easter/Anzac Day public holiday (5 days, woohoo!), I was able to get down to some serious making :)

So I finally finished the tiny baby quilt that I've been working 'off and on again' for the last few months now ... it's a really simple 'cheats' quilt, purely because I couldn't bring myself to cut up the super cute Ikea fabric :D (I love those crazy green monkeys, lol)

It is just Ikea animal fabric on the top, and Ikea red/orange striped fabric on the bottom, with all of the animal designs outlined with 3 strands of embroidery thread :)

I also made a whole heap of baby and toddler hats (most of them have already been gifted, but I'll try to get photos of them soon).

These are two hats that I made from the Ann Budd Handy Book of Patterns that I borrowed from the library ... I love the accessories in this book, knitted from a clever little gauge/size grid. Looking forward to trying the mitts and socks :)

I was intrigued by the sweater pattern, but after getting about half way through knitting one for myself, I decided that the pattern was just a bit too much 80's ... you know, big armholes shapeless body, so decided to frog it and make this Super Birthday Sweater instead. Easy top down knitting and hopefully a nicely fitted shape :) I will try another Ann Budd one soon, because I do like the pattern format, but next time I'll probably stick to a toddler one :)

Half a Gargantuan Melon!

I've been looking for a while for some warm winter hats for the little-ies in our family ... I thought that ribbed ones would be a good way to go as the circumference fit doesn't have to be perfect, and they would also allow room for growth. Looking through Ravelry, there were heaps to choose from, but I really liked this one because of the awesome decreases :)

Most were either circular, or swirly or kind of scrunched to have a pom pom on the top ... thought that this one looked more boyish :D

The pattern, Gargantuan Melon, is written for an adult sized, extra large head, so instead of using bulky weight yarn and 6mm needles, I halved the yarn thickness by using 8 ply and used a 4mm needle. It was a bit of a guess as to whether it would fit or not, but the end result was perfect :) I followed the pattern exactly other than starting the decreases after 5 inches instead of 6.25 inches.

I love it! ... there will be more of these hats to come :)

KCWC Days 2, 3 and 4

...so, here I am playing catch up :) I've been good with my sewing, just not so good with my blogging :D

This is my Kids Clothes Week Challenge days 2, 3 and 4 (yep, more girly dresses hehe!)

The dress with the orange flowers and tied shoulders is unmistakably the 'itty bitty baby dress', downloadable from Made By Rae (and it's free ... thanks Rae!).

The undies were made in the matching lining fabric from a pattern in the Kwiksew Sewing for Baby book :)

I also got the green sundress pattern from the same book ... It was good using it again ... I bought this copy a few months ago from the op shop, after giving away my original when my girls grew out of it.

...such Grandma fabric don't ya think...teacups and cupcakes, love it!

Too cute!

... yay! ... we're going to have another grandbaby (a little cousin for the little man), and this time it's a girl :) ... (sooo excited!!). So of course, having just found out her gender, I went straight to Spotlight to buy some little dress fabric, and ... came home with nine different ones! (it was just too hard to choose!). Later I was surfing whilst drooling over the fabric, and found the Elsie Marley blog. Perfect timing, as she is organising the '2010 Kids Clothes Week Challenge' starting tomorrow on the 20th September. It's a really cool concept ... just join a few hundred other crafters working on making kid's clothes for one hour a day for a week ... simple, love it, and can't wait to get started :)

But in the meantime today, whilst planning my weeks sewing, I made these cute as, Baby Janes with some stash Sugar'n Cream cotton (The pattern is by Valerie Johnson and can be found on Ravelry) ... thanks Valerie :)

Flinders Sweater Vest

I had some balls of Sean Sheep Flinders yarn in my stash from a Big W sale way back, so I thought I would try a top down sweater vest for myself. As I was knitting, the yarn had a really nice, soft silky feel to it ... but ... as soon as the knitting was finished, it started to go baggy and feel kinda lifeless :( I'm not too sure how it's going to bear up to being washed (think I do sort of know the answer though!), which is a real shame because I love the way that it turned out ... and... I'd already started another one the same in pink (I might have to wash the grey one before I decide whether or not to finish the other) ... oh well, it did give me chance to work out a cool sweater vest pattern (and it did only cost me 50c a ball :D)

So for future reference, and a different yarn, here are the specs:

4.5mm circular needle

3 balls of Sean Seep Flinders ... maybe?!

17sts to 24rows to 10cm

Aussie size 8/10 (32/34")

Cast on 62 stitches

K1 place marker (pm) k15 pm k30 pm k15 pm k1

Purl 1 row

Knit increasing either side of marker

Purl

Repeat last 2 rows until there are 9/31/46/31/9 stitches ending with a purl row

Knit to 1 stitch before marker, increase in next stitch

Cast off 30 stitches

Knit back stitches to 1 stitch before marker, increase in next stitch

Cast off 30 stitches,

Knit to end

From here, work with 3 separate balls of yarn

Purl first set of stitches, rejoin yarn and purl second set of stitches, rejoin yarn and purl third set of stitches

Knit, increasing at armhole edge as before until there are 11/50/11 stitches

Purl row

Increase at front edge as well as armhole edge on every knit row until there are 21/60/21 stitches

Now increase at front edge on every row as well as armhole edge every knit row until there are 25 stitches

Cast on 10 stitches, work to end and join fronts

Knit in the round without increasing until work measures 11cm from underarm

Knit 21 pm k20 pm k42 pm k20 pm, knit to end of round

Knit to 2 stitches before marker k2 together, knit to marker, pass marker and ssk (slip 2 stitches purl-wise onto right hand needle, insert left needle into front of stitches and knit them together) repeat the k2tog and ssk at the next 2 markers, knit to end of round

Knit 10 rounds and then a decrease round

Repeat last 11 rounds 3 more times

Knit 2 purl 2 rib for about 4 rows

Cast off

Rejoin yarn to neck edge, and pick up 108 stitches and work 4 rounds in k2 p2 rib

Cast off

Rejoin yarn to sleeve edges, and pick up 58 stitches and work 4 rounds in k2 p2 rib

Cast off

Stephanie's Boobholder

I needed a warm cardi or jacket to wear out last saturday night ... it was only saturday morning that I realised I didn't have anything in my wardrobe to match the rest of my outfit. I had some stash yarn that was the right colour and was thick enough to knit up fast, but even so, I thought it was abit much to think that I could complete it in an afternoon! (but of course, I had to give it a shot :D) ... so, armed with my 2 balls of Katia Himalaya, Stephanie Japel's Boobholder pattern, a cup of tea (several actually!), and some old Taggart re-runs on TV, I set about knitting :D

Ta-daa! ... five, non-stop knitting hours later, it was finished (I even had a perfect button in my stash!). I wore it on saturday night, over a black long sleeved skivvy ... it fits great and feels great, and kept me nice and toasty warm on a cold Adelaide night :)

(The only changes that I made to Stephanie's pattern were to eliminate the puffy sleeves, and to decide, by trying it on, when to divide for the body and sleeves)

From drab to ...

... well, pretty fab actually ;D

I joined the online Cut Out and Keep community and found some really good tutes, this one being my favourite so far :)

This project was so quick and easy that I didn't even think to take before shots ... basically, these were old t-shirts (in my bag of

clothes destined for the Goodwill shop), sliced up the middle and threaded with elastic or ribbon, to make awesome shrugs ... really, could it be any easier? I don't think that I'll ever be able to throw away a t-shirt again ... these are so cool :D

Just using what I've got ...

...seriously, I need to stop buying yarn and fabric! I do know that I have tried this before, but this time I'm going to try really, really hard!! I have got so much stuff that it's gonna take me forever to use it! I'm on a definite mission to drastically de-stash - use what I've got as far as possible without going to the shops. I guess the only exception will be to buy buttons and things to finish off items, but I will try my hardest to make do :-) (I'm slightly worried that Big W will do one of their annual yarn sell-offs soon to make room for the summer stock, and if that is the case, I'm not sure that I can resist buying 50c balls of yarn!!!... but, we will see) :-D


...so, to start me off, I made a couple of things from my stash :-) The sweater actually started off as a Bad Penny, but after wearing my other one for a while, realised that I didn't like the wool so close to my neck ... too itchy, so I frogged and used the yarn to make this basic top down, scooped out neck version instead (this time I just made the pattern up as I went along). I still love the Bad Penny pattern, but just not with the Sean Sheep Armytage that I was using. I thought that I only had 5 balls of yarn, so I just knitted down until I ran out (I then found another ball in my stash, after it was finished, but by then, I couldn't be bothered to lengthen it. I just tend to tug at it now if it rides up :-D) The bag was made with some fabric oddments that I got from a local sheeting seconds outlet (Talking Textiles at Christie's Beach) ... at the time, I think I got 10 various sized pieces for $1. Not bad, a bag for $2! The free pattern is here. The only thing I will change on it next time, will be to place the internal pockets nearer to the bottom of the bag. Other than that, it's perfect ... comfy to carry, great size, especially since South Australia banned all plastic check out bags from supermarkets. My everyday bag now has to be big enough to fit in my small shopping bags and my Woolworths roll up ones ... oh, and I quite often have a nappy, bottle and dummy to carry as well :-D

Retro Baby

After I finished knitting this cream coloured hoodie, there were a few things about it that I thought could be better ... so, not to let it beat me, I did some tweaking to the pattern, and came up with this blue stripey (and much improved) version :-) ... really!, I'll use any excuse to do some more knitting!! The main thing that I wanted to change was the front neckline, as it came way too high, making the top button sit scarily close to mouth level (the top button is undone and flipped back on the modeled photo). I also tapered the sleeves on the first one, but then found it hard to get them on over his other clothes ... sooo, the new and improved hoodie now has, a scooped out neckline, non tapered sleeves, and I also made it a bit bigger to allow for a wriggly baby! :-D

RETRO BABY ... (so named because it made me think of my Mum's patterns from the '60's!)
I made it to fit a 6 month old, which the cream version does ... the blue one knitted up bigger, just by upsizing the needles. Basically, the two patterns are the same (other than the parts mentioned before) The cream one was knitted Top Down seamless, and the blue one was done Bottom Up seamless ... there was no real reason for this, guess I just needed a change! :-) The hood is not seamless, but I'm sure that it would be fairly easy to change ... soooo, here's the improved pattern :-)
The pattern I am writing is for Top Down, but changing it to bottom up is easy ... just start with 80 stitches for the body, and23 for each sleeve.

The size is roughly 6 months
The gauge is 13sts x 24 rows to 4"using 6mm needles with 2 strands of yarn held together (cream), and 12.5sts x 18 rows to 4" using 7mm needles, again using double yarn (blue)
I used 3 100g balls of Carnival 8 ply acrylic (gotta love Big W!)

TOP DOWN
Using yarn double throughout, cast on 18 stitches.
Knit the first row placing markers after stitch 1,2,16,17
Working in stocking stitch, increase both sides of the markers on every knit row, work 7 rows
On next row, also increase at beginning and end of row
Purl 1 row
Remembering to increase still at the raglan seams, cast on 8 stitches at both ends
Keeping the first and last 4 stitches in garter stitch throughout, work 3 more rows in stocking stitch
Buttonhole row, knit to last 4 stitches, k2tog, yfwd, knit 2
Work 5 more rows stocking stitch
Work stitches to first sleeve, put sleeve stitches on holder, cast on 4 stitches, work to the second sleeve, put sleeve stitches on holder, cast on 4 stitches, work to end
*sorry! there seems to be a mistake here ... it should read 20 rows of stocking stitch and 6 rows of garter stitch before the cast off* Work 13 rows stocking stitch, keeping garter edges, placing buttonholes at rows 25, 35, and 45
Cast off
Return sleeve stitches to needles and cast on 2 stitches at either end
The sleeves can either be knit flat and then seamed, or knit in the round (I did mine in the round using magic loop)
Work 26 rows stocking stitch
Work 4 rows garter stitch
Cast off
For the hood, cast on 63 stitches
Work 4 rows of garter stitch
Work 5 rows stocking stitch
Decrease one stitch each end of next row, then every following 3rd row 5 times
Work 1 row
Cast off
Close up any underarm holes, sew the back hood seam together, sew the hood to the jacket neckline, and finally, sew on the buttons :-)
The hood turns out pretty big, but I like that because his other hats still fit on underneath it, (and I think that most of the time, the hood will just be for show). If you wanted to change the size of it, just cast on a few less stitches, but work the same amount of rows to make sure that the hood and neckline match up.
Don't forget to post any finished piccies on Ravelry! ... would love to see them :-)

Quickie Mini Mitts

I wanted some baby mittens to match the hat that I made a couple of weeks ago ... I tried about 4 or 5 different patterns, but none turned out how I wanted them to look ... so I thought I would try taking the parts of each pattern that I liked, do some knitting pattern fusion, and this is what I came up with :-)

Quickie Mini Mitts

This pattern fits about a six month old, but with it being a top down pattern, it's really easy to adapt to whatever size you want (just continue the increases until it's the right width, and then just keep trying them on until the length is correct).

The yarn and gauge don't really matter either ... I used Moda Vera Harmony with size 5mm needles, which knitted up to 18 stitches and 24 rows.

Using Emily Ocker's cast on, cast on 8 stitches.
Knit 1 round.
Knit front and back into every stitch.
Knit 1 round.
Kfb, k6, kfb, kfb, k6, kfb.
Knit 1 round.
Kfb, k8, kfb, kfb, k8, kfb (24 sts)
Continue knitting around on these stitches for about another 13 rows (I used the magic loop method).
K1, yarn forward, k2tog across the next row (eyelet row).
Knit 4 rounds.
Purl 1 round.
Knit 1 round.
Purl 1 round.
Knit 1 round.
Cast off.
Make two wrist ties to thread through the eyelets, and one long connecting cord to attach both mitts. I found that the easiest and neatest way, was to do a simple crochet chain, but an i-cord or ribbon would do the same :-)
(Emily Ocker's cast on is awesome ... I've been trying to get my head around it for ages, ever since I read about it from Elizabeth Zimmermann ... I just couldn't figure it out from Elizabeth's instructions, so googled it, and came up with the above link ... really it's heaps easy and really effective ... I also found a version used for starting crochet circles, which is pretty much the same thing ... it's called the Magic Adjustable Ring)

Warm ears and cosy sleeps ...

Finding a hat pattern to perfectly fit a baby's head is not that easy ... finding an online hat generator however, to design a hat in your own yarn, and to your own measurements, is as easy as clicking here :-D ... how cool are those ear flaps?! I thought that I'd made some sort of mistake whilst I was knitting it... having never made (or worn) ear flaps before, I imagined the flaps to be exactly opposite each other, but (very cleverly) they're not, they are positioned a lot nearer to the back than the front. The result is a hat that fits so well, that it doesn't move about, or need adjusting every few minutes ... love it! ... my only change to the pattern was to do a few less rounds in the main body of the hat ... other than that, I followed the pattern (surprised eh?! ... yep, me too!)
I finally finished a baby quilt that seems to have been waiting around forever. The top is all machine pieced, so that really didn't take too long ... the waiting was just for the quilting to get started (but as soon as it was, it only took a few days to complete). I placed the quilt top directly onto the backing, and hand quilted it, using 3 strands of embroidery thread. I'm not sure what the backing fabric is called ... it's got a really soft fleecy/furry kind of feel (it's the same fabric that heaps of this seasons dressing gowns are made out of) ... I'm sure it's got a name, but I just didn't think to look when I bought it from Spotlight ... maybe I'll remember to check next time I'm there :-D (but, whatever it's called, it's soft, warm, and very snuggly ... and perfect for this Adelaide winter)

Some quick knitting

After being asked by Paula over on Ravelry if I could give crew neck instructions for my Baby eyelet cardi pattern, this is what I came up with. (I've made no allowance for buttonholes, as I think I'm just going to add one or two rows of double crochet around all of the edges). Cast on 44 stitches. With stitch markers, separate stitches into 10 for each front, 2 for each sleeve, and 20 for the back. Work in stocking stitch, increasing one stitch either side of the markers on every knit row until you have 22 stitches for each front, 26 for the sleeves, and 44 for the back. The cardi can then be completed the same as the original version :-)

My other quick bit of knitting this week, was my new i-pod cosy...this really was the quickest project ever, taking just a scrap of 8 ply yarn, a 4mm circular needle, and about half an hour of knitting time :-)
Using the double knitting method, cast on 14 stitches. Knit until your i-pod is nice'n cosy, then remove the stitches from the needle, and reposition them so that you can knit them in the round. After doing 3 or 4 rounds of ribbing, cast off...no seaming or finishing is needed! These new generation i-pods look like they would be heaps easy to scratch, so after declining the advice of the sales guy to purchase an expensive (and ugly) silicone sleeve, we came home and made our own....of course :-D

Lincraft Blossom (Blossom Tee)

...so here's the way that it usually goes...I see discounted yarn and buy as much as I can afford, or carry, or both!!! (but of course, that's just a given for all yarnies, right?). My next step is usually to take it home, drool over it, plan a million things to make with it, and then put it into storage bins for future use (:-D)...but, this time I was on a mission to use what I bought straight away :-)

Lincraft had a discount bin next to the check-out with their own brand Blossom for 24 cents a ball (24c!!). By the time that I spotted it, there was a very lonely, sad looking, 3 balls left. A trip back there a couple of days later found another 2 balls :-)
I didn't know if it would make a full length top, or whether I would have to stop at cropped, but making it top down, meant that I could just keep going until the yarn ran out.
I made it to fit a woman's size 34" at a gauge of 13sts to 22 rows over 4", on size 5mm needles.



BODY
Starting from the top, cast on 42 stitches
Knit 1 row
Purl row, placing stitch markers after stitch 1, 11, 31 and 41
Knit row, increasing (knit into front and back of stitch) both sides of the markers
Purl row
Continue the last 2 rows until there are 15 stitches for each front, 38 stitches for each sleeve, and 48 stitches for the back, ending with a purl row
Increase into 1st stitch, knit to marker, place sleeve stitches on spare needle, knit to next marker, put sleeve stitches onto another spare needle, knit to end, increasing into last stitch (place stitch markers at both underarm seams)
Work 8 rows, increasing 1 stitch at both ends of every row
Start to knit in rounds starting at centre front - knit to first marker (use this marker as your beginning of round)
Knit 9 rounds
Knit round, knitting 2 together at each side of markers (decrease round)
Knit 3 rounds
Decrease round
Repeat last 4 rounds 4 times more (72 sts)
Knit 15 rounds
Knit round, increasing at each side of markers (increase round)
Knit 3 rounds
Repeat last 4 rounds 4 times
Changing to size 4.5mm needles, knit 1 purl 1 rib for about 12 rounds
Cast off

SLEEVES
Place sleeve stitches back on a size 4.5mm needle and pick up 2 stitches at the underarm (40 sts) place a marker in the middle of the 2 extra stitches
Knit 1 row
Rib 3 rows
Cast off

NECK
Starting at one of the back raglan placements, pick up and knit 102 stitches evenly around neck opening
Rib 3 rows
Cast off



Ta-Da!! ... straight from Lincraft to my wardrobe, without having a stop-over at my stash pile...!!

Nappy Bags

This is the most awesome nappy bag pattern :-) It's from 'Crafts for Baby' by Alison Jenkins, and it really is worth buying the book just for this pattern alone ... (I'm sure the other patterns are equally as good, it's just that we haven't gotten around to trying them yet). I say 'we' as the book is actually my daughter's (she bought it for $10..what a bargain!). After seeing how good her nappy bag turned out, I had to have one of my own ;-D (Her's is the blue one, mine is the green)With the fabric I had left over, I made a matching shopping bag from this free pattern at Uhandbag ... the fabric worked great for bags as it was block out curtaining from Spotlight. The thermal coating gave it just the right amount of stability without having interfacing. I need to get back down to Spotlight soon to get some more...Here in South Aus, all supermarket plastic bags are being banned from January next year, and my local Woolies has started to get rid of them already... so ... I'll be in need of a boot full of eco friendliness to carry my food home :-)