Twin Baby Kinas

I finally got a chance to download some photos from the camera so now is my chance to show off my first two Baby Kina cardigans (and my growing bubs). Olive and Eliza are now 7months old and were more interested in putting the cardigans in their mouths than cooperating for a photo shoot. I might try to photograph them again once they can sit up unassisted.

This pattern is a simple knit but my knitting of it was hampered by lack of sleep, teething twins and carpal tunnel (I had carpal tunnel after Nina was born and have it again now). I'm very happy with the outcome and absolutely love the yarn. I'm now a quarter of the way through a third Baby Kina for Nina but only seem to be able to manage 3 or 4 rows a night. Slow and steady...

FO: Watershed

I can't quite remember where I first saw Amy Swenson's Watershed, but I liked it the instant I saw it and wanted to knit one for myself. That was back in July 2010. It stayed at the top of my Ravelry queue for over a year until I finally cast on in early August this year.

As much as I love the design I have to admit that I struggled with the pattern. It could have just been my baby brain but I found it hard to follow at first and had to rip it out and start from scratch twice. I also followed the advice of many other revelry users and made several mods to compensate for a few design flaws. I'm the kind of knitter that likes to stick to the pattern so it bugged me that I had to do this. Anyway, for the full rant check out my project page.

I didn't make things any easier for myself by substituting the recommended worsted weight yarn with DK weight Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply. To compensate for this I knit the size 42 which is two sizes up from what I normally would wear. I could be because of this that it sits a little funny in front of the arm holes, like the raglan shaping starts too high. Or maybe its the design. I will have to knit it again one day and let you know.

Stripey Baby Blanket #1

I was planning on waiting until both baby blankets had been completed before posting about this but, seeing as the second blanket is languishing in the ends-need-to-sewn-in phase, I don't think I can wait that long. And hopefully showing #1 off will help inspire me to finish #2.

So here it is....Stripey Mitred Baby Blanket

I used this pattern and included the picot hem. I'm a sucker for a picot hem and I think it really makes the blanket. It's knit in the round, which means nice short rounds to begin with and long, slow rounds as you get to the outside. After a good strong blocking it turned into the lovely square it was supposed to and the yarn relaxed nicely. The result is a lovely floppy baby blanket that is the perfect size for the cot or the pram. For more details, see my ravelry project page.

The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply, an affordable and reliable choice for a blanket like this. It is warm, wears well and is machine washable.

Without sounding too proud, I have to say that this has to be one of the projects that I am most happy with. Usually I pick fault with everything I make but every time I see or touch this simple blanket it makes me happy. Maybe it's because it was made with love? Who knows.

The twins love it but will have to share it for the time being.

The end of romance

Remember this project I started back in December 2009? Well after many, many uninspiring hours of knitting and one long hiatus just before the finish line, I finally finished it.

Do I love it? Unfortunately not. You could say the romance ran out of this marriage long ago. I'm happy with the knitting (apart from one blaring mistake where I forgot to knit the lace pattern and just knit rib right in the middle just below the neckline!!) but it is a little too red, a little too big, and a little too long for my body shape.

I have learnt a few things along the way though. Like how vintage pattern might look cute but aren't as well written or constructed as modern ones. This should so have been knit in the round, and I'm sure a more experienced knitter would have made the mods themselves.

Also, a little while after I started this project I came across the knitwear designer Amy Herzog and started ready her fit to flatter series, and through her I also got into Trinny and Susannah (as much they often annoy me) and learnt a few essential tips for knitting and dressing for my pear shape. If I were to knit this pattern again I would knit a tighter cropped version, with the bottom edge finishing at my waist, to accentuate my smaller bust and waist and draw attention away from my bigger hips (and now post-twins tummy!).

Where did the year go?

I am very excited to be the proud new owner of an iPad and think it could breath new life into this old blog. So to kick things off I thought I might fill you in on one of few things that I did finish knitting in the past year.


The last thing I knit before I gave up the needles due to morning sickness was this Aestlight Shawl by Gudrun Johnston.


I made it for my dear friend Rebecca and now wish I had one for myself. I didn't love knitting it - after getting off to a raging start it felt like the edging took forever! - but I love how it turned out and love the colour (Malabrigo's Impressionist Sky).

FO: Xavier's Grey Noise Jumper

I decided to call this jumper "Grey Noise". It is quite a nice little jumper and in the Malabrigo worsted it will be very warm. It was very easy to knit and I liked the fact that it was knit in the round so I didn't have to do any seaming - just a little grafting under the arms. It was presented to my adorable nephew at his birthday party on Sunday.



After so much grey I was relieved to be surrounded by so much colour at the party.



Nina had a ball (and ate a little bit too much sugar!).

FO: Ishbel

So I finished my very own Ishbel a couple of weeks ago and here it is:

I will probably be cast out of the knitting community when I admit that I didn't LOVE knitting this pattern. It could have been my needles. I used my Addi interchangable 4mm needles and the whole time I wished they were pointier. I also struggled a bit with the lace pattern, it just didn't "click" with me and I had to follow the chart stitch by stitch without knowing if it would turn out right. Luckily it did, and I am very happy with my knitting, so that's something.

I made the small size which turned out a bit smaller than I had hoped. It only used up 35g of yarn (Lush Yarn merino/silk fingering) so now I have half a skein floating around in my stash which I find a bit annoying. I might just have to knit myself a pair of purple socks or a matching Ishbel Beret. Next time would definitely make it bigger by knitting the stocking stitch section according to the instructions for the large size and the lace section for the small size.

I don't think it is a mere coincidence that my passion for blogging has waned at the same time as I stopped knitting for others and concentrated on knitting for myself. I am way too critical of the things I make for myself and am afraid that the blog will turn into a whine-fest if I continue to pick at all the flaws of each FO. I can reassure you with news that I have cast on a new project as a gift for someone else and I feel my inspiration returning already (what a relief!).

My Frosty Mitts

For a while now I have been grumbling about how I haven't knit myself anything since I've been knitting this past year. Let me present my first FO, just for me....My Frosty Mitts!



This is the second time I have knitted this pattern (Susie's Reading Mitts). The first pair went to one of the winners of my knitted gift giveaway and I loved them so much that I wanted to make a pair for myself. I get very cold hands you see, especially when I am working at the computer so I needed them!

I took this project with me to Brisbane last week for a baby free weekend of knitting and catching up with my sisters. I am so glad you can knit on domestic flights now! It is the perfect travel project and I happily sat around knitting and chatting to my sisters on Sunday. It is such a rare and special occasion for the three of us to get together without partners and children.

I finished the mitts on Friday evening and am a bit annoyed at myself for not loving them as much as I should now that they are finished and all mine. They fit perfectly around the hand but I can't help wishing they were a little snugger around the wrists. Do all knitters suffer from this? Perhaps I have been subconsciously avoiding knitting for myself because deep down I know that I am an ungrateful perfectionist who will just pick at the flaws.

Rather than dwelling on this situation I have pushed on an cast on yet another project. A Ravelry standard. Can you guess what it is?



I am also very close to finishing my Romantic vest, which has been on the needles since December. Hopefully I will be happier with the outcome of these.

A Bundle of Joy

Can you relate to that really satisfying feeling you get when you pick up a lovely set of needles, a gorgeous yarn and a well written pattern? I had one of those moments last week when I started knitting a gift for a good friend of mine who is expecting her first baby. In this case the needles were Knitpro Symphonie 3mm wooden DPNs (a must for toy knitting in my humble opinion), the yarn was Sublime Yarn's Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK and the pattern was Ysolda's elephant Elijah.



After knitting Ysolda's Sophie bunny earlier this year - and loving it! - Elijah was sitting on my queue just waiting for an occassion to be knitted. The disappearing loop cast-on is still tryingly tricky, but once that is under your belt it really is quite an easy knit. Like Sophie, Elijah is knitted completely in the round and stuffed as you go. After knitting the head, you pick up stitches and start knitting the body, and so on and so on. This time I took Ysolda's advice and used a crochet hook to pick up the stitches, which was much easier.

To make things a little trickier for myself I decided to give Elijah a striped jumper (the arms were the worst - 5 needles, 2 strands of yarn and a knitted head to deal with!). After inspecting the other FO's on Ravelry I decided that it was essential, otherwise the trunk can look a bit odd.

I used Morris Empire 8ply for the jumper and scarf and think that it matches the Sumblime yarn quite well. In fact I think it actually out-performs it, as there was a bit of pilling on the head by the time I had finished. I will definitely use Empire for knitting toys in the future (although I might go down a needle size to tighten up the fabric a bit more).

After a week of knitting my heart out and a very late night on Saturday (note to self: I need more than 7 days to knit a toy!), my little bundle of joy made his way to his new owner as we celebrated the imminent arrival with a delicious high tea at Sydney's Observatory Hotel.

Cedar Leaf Shawlette

The Cedar Leaf Shawlette I have been knitting for my mother in law's birthday (which was on the 5th of May!) is finally finished and on it's way to the land of the long white cloud (New Zealand). I am really happy with how it turned out. I love the design, the colour and of course, the yarn.

This Never Not Knitting pattern is fantastic, it is clearly written and laid out. It was quite a straight forward knit, even though it was my first real experience of short row shaping, using the "wrap and turn" method. I loved knitting the body of the shawlette. I think the fact that you never reach the end of the row makes it quite addictive. Also I like that you knit fewer stitches as you go as opposed to more like some shawls.

I did have a bit of a mishap on the last row of the main crescent part, where you are supposed to pick up the wraps as you knit right across. I don't quite know what I did wrong but I think in some cases I was actually picking up a stitch before the stitch to be wrapped!! I was also a bit put off by the little loops left by the wraps on the wrong side (is that normal?) Anyway, I couldn't figure out how to fix my mess and ended up ripping back to the garter stitch trim (so almost the entire thing). Knitting it the second time in one week wasn't quite so fun but knitting the leaves was enjoyable even if they seemed to go on forever.

If I was keeping it for myself (alas I am not) I would definitely wear it as a scarf as opposed to a shawl but it looks great either way.

One skein of Malabrigo Scarf

My sister Nicole entered my knitted gift giveaway back in March hoping to win a red scarf. Even though she wasn't an official winner I wanted to make her something. She is a regular follower of my blog and one of the few who leaves comments (which is always nice!). She has also just returned to work after her second child so I decided to whip her up a one skein wonder as a mothers day gift.

Having the self imposed restriction of using only one skein made the pattern choice a little tricky but I ended up choosing to knit the Drop Stitch Scarf (ravelry link) by Christine Vogel.

It was a nice brainless knit and only took me a few days to finish. I followed the lead of other Ravelry users and wet blocked this, increasing the size from 115cm x 15cm (knitted size) to 165cm x 17cm (after blocking). The result is a good sized scarf and the stitch and slight variegation of the yarn show up beautifully.

Koolhaas Complete

It feels like an eternity since I started knitting Jared Flood's Koolhaas hat for my husband but I am happy to report that it's finished.

One thing that slowed progress considerably was losing my cable needle down the side of a seat whilst knitting on the train. It was so frustrating and it was my only cable needle so the hat had a hiatus until I got around to buying a new one.

The other thing that slowed me down was all the cable crosses. This being only my second attempt at cables I was painfully slow. If I were to knit it again I would definitely take the time to learn how to cable without a cable needle.

Apart from the above I was very happy with the pattern and my knitting but am very cranky at myself for losing count of the cable repeats and knitting 7 instead of 6 (which was the number recommended for large) so it really is a bit big. It will keep Jamie's ears warm though.

I'm a bit disappointed with the amount of piling the yarn has done in the short time since I finished. J does rub his head a lot which doesn't help. I still love this yarn and love this colourway: Azulprofundo.

Knitted Gifts for Friends Old and New

So some of you might remember that back in March I ran a giveaway on my blog, the prize being that I would knit the winner something. It was a blatant attempt to draw in a few extra comments on my blog. Desperate? Maybe, but it worked; although most of the comments were from people who are friends or relatives. To keep things fair I decided to have two drawings, one from the friends/family category and one from my unknown blog followers. Nina literally drew the names out of a hat (ok, it was a bowl) and the winners were my good friend and former work colleague Kate, and Ravelry knitter and blogger Sarah from North Carolina.

Now that both winners have received their prizes I can finally post pictures of what I made for them.

Kate had requested something for her head in the colour of the ocean, so I knit her the Slouched Tuva Hat by Turvid in Malabrigo Silky Merino Yarn in Teal Feather. I didn't love the pattern and it's not as slouchy as I would have liked but I did love knitting with this yarn and think that it looks great on Kate.






This is a little gift tag I whipped up to go with these gifts

Sarah requested something for her hands in the sunburst orange so for her I knitted Susie's Reading Mitts in Malabrigo Worsted in the Rhodesian colourway. I was so happy with how there turned out, even after the small hitch of making the first mitten a size too big and having to knit it a second time.




A big thank you to Sarah for sending me the picture below. I'm so glad you like them.

Sophie and the Easter Bunny

You may remember that I decided to knit Ysolda's Sophie as an Easter gift for my daughter Nina. The pattern was challenging at times but I was very happy with the outcome. Unfortunately there were a couple of problems: firstly, between Mum and I we had knit 2 Sophies, but between my sister and I there are 3 children (that's right, one of had to knit another one). Secondly, when Nina saw the grey Sophie that I was making she said to me "I want a pink one!". The solution to both problems was obvious, I had to knit a second Sophie in pink. I hate knitting the same project twice, but the second one did knit up a bit easier (though not much quicker) than the first. Knitting to the last second, I finished Nina's Sophie the night before Easter.


Mr Easter Bunny - a gift for my nephew Xavier.


I added a tail to both bunnies (a bunny's gotta have a tail!). The first tail was added at a slightly lower point than the second - it looks a little too low but in this position it works well to keep the bunny upright when sitting (tripod effect).


Nina's pink Sophie enjoying the Autumn afternoon on the lawn.


Nina was thrilled to meet the Easter Bunny in person at the local supermarket.

Nina's Milo Vest and Poor Boy Cap

Today the weather was finally crisp enough to dress Nina in her new Milo vest and Poor Boy cap, both of which were finished a couple of weeks ago. I am very happy with the vest and she looks super cute in the cap even though it is way too big and I had to pin the peak back with a brooch so that she could actually see.

A Buttercup for Mum

Having finally finished my Buttercup I am filled with both joy and disappointment. Joy at having finally finished this large (by my standards) and monotonous piece of knitting, and disappointment because it doesn't fit me. I made it in the Medium size and think I didn't take into consideration the positive ease. So much for the bad news, it turns out that it fits my Mum perfectly and who better to give it to (finally I get to repay her for all of the knitted garments she has made me over the past 30 years). Both the colour and the style look great on her and it feels amazing on.

Can't wait to cast on my next project which will make use of the 2 additional balls of yarn that I bought for this project unnecessarily. I am going to make Never Not Knitting's Haltermelon for Nina x

Moss Stitch Jacket Finished

I finally finished the Moss Stitch Baby Jacket (click here for the Ravelry link) for my nephew Xavier on the 7 September. I thought it looked way too big, but luckily he is putting on the chub and got a chance to wear it last week. He had the sleeves rolled up but other than that the fit was quite good. Thanks to my lovely sister Nicole for the photo below. What a cute little man!

Recent FOs

I have finally finished my 1-month stint of working full time and can now dedicate some more time to my knitting projects and blog posting.

I recently subjected Nina to a photo shoot to show off her new beret and mittens ensemble. Unfortunately I couldn't catch her with both on at the same time, and she's not very keen on wearing the mittens.