Buttons for Baby Kina

As a mother of twins it is now impossible for me to go anywhere without encountering total strangers who feel compelled to offer advice. One thing people often say is "you mustn't dress them the same!". I'm a pretty easy going type of girl and don't really go in for must dos and don'ts. I also know that the twins have very different personalities and get treated as individuals regardless of what they are wearing. I often dress them in matching or coordinating clothes because (a) it requires less thought and makes my life easier, (b) if they are wearing the same I know that one won't be any hotter/cooler than the other, and (c) my mother-in-law always sends 2 of every outfit.

So at the moment I am knitting not one, not two, but three Baby Kina cardigans. I had always planned to knit one each for the twins using the Debbie Bliss Eco Baby cotton, but originally I thought I would knit Georgie Hallam's Acacia for Nina using the Cascade Ultra Pima. Once I started knitting the first Baby Kina Nina saw the pattern and told me that she wanted one too. I decided she would get more wear out of a light cardigan than a knitted singlet, so I am going to fudge the pattern using thicker yarn and bigger needles , and maybe a few extra stitches, and hopefully end up with something that will fit a 3.5 year old.

On Monday we went on a little expedition to the local haberdashery shop to buy buttons for all three. I took a skein of each yarn and came back with two options for each. Now I just need to decide which ones to use.

Here's what I'm thinking...

• Small shell buttons on the mauve

• Square peach buttons on the peach

• Large round pink shell buttons on the pink (these were actually Nina's choice and I think it was a stroke of genius. On it's own I thought the pink was too dark for the yarn, but held against it the sheen of the shell and the cotton complement each other perfectly!)

Or should I use the shell buttons on the peach to match the mauve cardigan?

Spring Knitting

After finishing my Watershed a couple of weeks back the weather turned from mild winter to hot spring days and a woollen cardi in dark was the last thing I wanted to wear (there is always next winter!). The last thing I wanted to do was finish seeing in the ends of my second stripey baby blanket. For several nights I watched TV without knitting, and as nice as it was to have some snuggle time with my husband I was at serious risk of losing my knitting mojo!

Luckily a few days later a package arrived in the mail from Jimmy Beans Wool with just the soft and pretty cottony goodness I needed to get myself back on track. 2 skeins each of Debbie Bliss Eco Baby in mauve and peach and Cascade Ultra Pima in primrose. These will become little cardigans for my growing girls.

This was my first order from Jimmy Beans and I was very happy with the service and the prices (the Australian dollar was worth more than the US dollar when I placed the order - yippee!). It took about 14 days for the yarn to arrive via standard post. I'll definitely be ordering from them again.