Knitted Pretties - Knitted Cacti

A friend of mine was recently given one of these gorgeous knitted cacti as a house warming gift and I want one. The Arizona Knitted Cactus (above) and a gorgeous range of other succulents are hand made in Melbourne by Odds&Ends and available to purchase on Etsy. I'm also loving Odds&Ends creator Andrea Daniel's blog. 

Knit-not Nat

For anyone out there who is still following my blog I thought it was about time I fill you on on where I went and what I've been up to - and as you may have guessed from the post title, there hasn't been much knitting lately.

So the last you heard from me was back at the beginning of August. It was at that time that I fell pregnant again and soon after I started suffering the most horrible morning sickness. I thought I had it fairly bad with my first pregnancy but this time around it was so much worse. I felt too sick and too exhausted to travel to work or leave the house and the thought of knitting made me feel nauseous - so much so that although I had finished knitting the Aeslight shawl for my best friend it wasn't until 6 weeks later that I could bring myself to weave in the ends and block it.

My plan was to wait until the morning sickness had passed and I had a cute little scan to show you at 12 weeks before posting again. Well here's what the scan showed...

...that's right - twins! Needless to say the news came as a bit of a shock. And we found this out the day after my husband had finished up work and we were getting set to move 1000km north, away from family and friends, for a sea change in Noosa Heads on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. After a day or two where we considered putting off the move, we decided to stick to our guns and we made the move in early October. (The morning sickness, by the way, didn't pass until I was about 19 weeks).

Since then we have settled in fairly well to our new life. Jamie has a great job at Ricky's, one of Noosa's top restaurants, and the hours are very family friendly. Nina loves the beaches and the parks and enjoys going to daycare a couple of days a week. I continued working from home for Polli until a few weeks ago, and have found a fantastic midwife to support me through my pregnancy, birth and beyond. We haven't had the best luck with the weather - Queensland has had one of the wettest Decembers on record, major flooding and 3 tropical cyclones - but the lifestyle is great and the people are very friendly. I've struggled with the humidity up here (definitely not conducive to knitting!) but am looking forward to a mild and hopefully dry autumn and winter.

I have started to miss my knitting lately and would love to knit something again before the twins are born. Although I might have left my run a bit late now that they are due in 5 weeks and expected any time soon. A friend gave me Vintage Knits for Modern Babies for my birthday and I would like to make a couple of the Heirloom Baby Blankets from the book, although I struggle to imagine a time when it will be cool enough to need blankets. Instead I might try to knit myself a pair of comfy socks to wear in hospital....

Mrs Sniffles - Knitted Tissue Box Cover

Last week when it came time to take photos of my little knitting nook at home, I had to do some serious rearranging, tidying and styling. One of the items that stuck out like a sore thumb was the ugly tissue box sitting by the lounge. Solution: I decided to knit a stylish tissue box cover.

I jumped on Ravelry to search for a pattern, but there was nothing suitable. I did a google image search for inspiration and all it came up with was the frilly numbers you see at a country craft fair or school fete. Then I went back to Ravelry and searched for box, thinking I would find something with the basic structure I was after. What I found was Erica Knight's Knitted Baskets (Rav link) made from heavy string. I loved the concept and decided to give something similar a go. I purchased a ball of 3mm string from the local discount store and cast on....



Here's my pattern, designed to fit a tissue box sized 22.5w x 10.5h x 11.5d (cm).
Yarn: 1 ball (80m) of 3mm household string
Needles: 6.5 mm (US 10.5)

Main Panel
CO 22 stitches
Knit in moss stitch alternating K1,P1 rows.
Knit 22 rows or until it measures 14.5 cm from cast on edge.
Knit 4 stitches in moss stitch then cast off 16 stitches, knit final 4 stitches in pattern.
Knit 4 stitches, turn work and cast on 16 stitches using cable cast on. Turn work and knit last 4 stitches.
Continue in moss stitch for 22 rows or until work measures 30cm. Cast off.

Side panels x 2
CO 8 stiches and work 14 rows in moss stitch
Cast off
Sew side panels to main panel.

And there you have quite a funky tissue box cover. Feel free to use this pattern as a guide but you will need to experiment a little to get the right size for your materials. Warning: String is definitely not a great joy to knit! I'm thinking of making another one soon in leather thonging.

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