Some FO's, WIP's and a general update

My baby boy has decided to sleep in, and I awoke early this morning, so I have had heaps of time to upload photo's of all the projects I have been working on lately.

No further progress has been made on checkmate, although my fingers are itching to work with some 8 ply yarn again.

My latest WIP is a pair of baby socks for my friend Sharon. Her baby Eli is 1 week old today. I have completed 1 sock, and to prevent second sock syndrome, I have already cast on the next one and have done 1/3 of the leg already. I am using a ball of Opal sock yarn in the "rainforest" colourway and knitting the socks up on a pair of 2.5mm addi turbo's. I am just using a free pattern from Ravelry that has 2x2 ribbing all the way around the leg and then the ribbing continues right down to the toes. They knit up relatively quickly, mainly because the length is so short.



I knit a creative critter cozy for DJ. Sort of like an ipod sock, but it's not for an ipod. I made the pattern up from scratch. :D I knit the cozy with 2.5mm addi turbo's and 4 ply bamboo. I loved the feel of the bamboo while I was knitting it, although it was a little prone to splitting and very slippery. Maybe next time I will use a bamboo blend to overcome the extreme slipperyness.



Oh, the next update is all of the wonderful amigurumi critters that my little sister has been crocheting for Jayden. She did a lot over the Christmas period. My bookshelf is almost full of critters now! Just look at how crafty she is. :D

Checkmate progress

The latest project is Checkmate! I love this pattern, it's easy to follow, but it just looks so effective. I am using 8 ply Cleckheaton Country in Sage, and the pattern estimates I will use around 5 balls. I am knitting to gauge on 4.5mm needles. I am making this in the 1-2 years size and I have just finished the back.... and it is huge!

Belladonna Longies!

As promised, the Belladonna longies!

Knit on 4mm Addi's and 5mm Birch circulars. The waistband is adjustable, and has 2 buttons sewn on the inside, and has buttonhole elastic through the waistband. Tricky! The cuff is two stripes of moss stitch. The pants are pretty big, but that was how I planned them. He isn't going to be wearing them until June! I ended up using 2 balls of cream, 2 balls of black and 2 balls of grey Cleckheaton Country 12 ply.

Update

My friend received her purple baby bootees. She and her hubby loved them. I can't wait for little Scarlett to be born so I can see her wear them.

It seems a lot of my friends are having babies, and asking me to knit something for them. My friend Claire is having a boy in 4 months, and would like something for Junior. My friend Sharon is having a boy in February and has requested a hat for little Eli. So I will be on Ravelry a lot over the next few days so that I can choose patterns. :D

My Belladonna longies are going well. I have done the tricky waistband, all of the body, the gusset and almost the whole left leg. I have 8 rounds of moss stitch to do on the leg, then I can bind it off and do the next leg. It should go even faster than the first leg. :D The pattern is pretty good, I haven't really had any major problems. I've learnt how to do a 3 needle join, how to do a M1L and M1R increase, how a gusset is made and how it works, and how not to do a short row again. For some reason, when I wrap the stitch after doing a short row, one side of the short row ends up closed, and the other doesn't? I wrap the stitch on either end.... so....?? So I have a few little holes to sew shut.... no biggie.

I have used 4.5mm and 5mm needles and Cleckheaton 12 ply yarn in black, grey and cream. Pictures to follow.

Saartjes Bootees

So cute!!!!! These took about 4 hours total, but due to limited spare time, that 4 hours was spread out over a week. Lots of fun. :D



I've finished knitting this pair of baby booties for my friends little girl. Miss Scarlett is due to be born late January/early February and I promised my friend ages ago that I would knit her something. There is something that is so nice about baby knits. It could be that the smaller something is, the cuter it is, or the fact that you are hand making something for a newborn.... either way it was awesome fun. One skein knits are like a sugar rush, they make you so happy so quickly, then they are all over and done with. I miss small knits.

Anyway, I knit these using a pair of 4.5mm bamboo needles and 1/2 a skein of Cleckheaton Country 8 ply yarn in Lavender. They were super easy and fun. I will be popping down to the post office today and sending these all the way to the UK.




Oh and my friend doesn't know what I am knitting for her.... it's a surprise. I hope she likes it.

This is also the first thing that I have knit for someone other than myself and Jayden. I am so pleased that they turned out so well.

Curly Purly Soakers

I finished the Curly Purly Soakers for Jayden. The pattern was bit vague in places, but I have an excellent interpreter. :) Next time I knit these, I will skip the short rows. I used 3.5mm, 4mm and 4.5mm addi turbo's and Cleckheaton 8 ply yarn (possibly 2 balls in total). These were fun to knit, once I really got stuck into it. I knitted the largest size and the fit great.

http://www.curlypurly.com/pattern.html

A finished object!

See my Monkey? Hee hee hee. Currently I only have one. I do not have second sock syndrome, I just have something else that I need to knit more.



I am starting a pair of Curly Purly Soakers for Jayden. He needs them so that we don't have a very soaked baby. They are going to be light blue around the waist and the body is navy blue. I am being really really good and using yarn from my stash for this project *gasp*

My little man turned one on Sunday. Please enjoy this picture of him enjoying his birthday cake.