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.

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.

Saturday Morning

With the twins a little under the weather and the weather a little windy, we decided it might be best to spend the day at home. Junior Chef and I whipped up a batch of raspberry muffins for morning tea and I got a chance to play around with my new camera.

We used this basic recipe, replacing the blueberries for frozen raspberries and adding some lemon zest. It's a good recipe to make with a toddler as it gets you to rub the butter and flour together, and what 3 yr old doesn't love getting their hands in the bowl. They might not have been the moistest of muffins but they were quite tasty and went down well with a coffee.

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!).

You know you have a problem when...

...you wake up in the middle of the night, turn on the bedside lamp and demand that your husband pass you your knitting needles so that you can "pick up stitches".

I'm starting to think that sleep deprivation and knitting are not the greatest combination!