Mini Georgie Baby Blanket........and a couple of other FO's

Hello my friends, are you ready for the weekend? I'm off to the seaside for a couple of days, the last weekend away before my grandson arrives in about four weeks time and I've finished the Mini Georgie Baby Blanket in plenty of time for his pram and car seat.

I absolutely love the Georgie Blanket by Helen Stewart, it is so versatile, it's suitable for a boy or a girl depending on your colour choice, you can make it as small or as large as you like and it's quick to knit.

I used Rooster Almerino DK which is beautifully soft, the original pattern uses four contrast colours, you can see my larger blanket here. I just used three contrast colours for the mini version in Gooseberry, Starfish and Custard, the main colour is knit in Cornish.

I only had three balls of the main colour which was left over from another project and knew I probably wouldn't have enough to finish the border, rather than buying another ball of Cornish I used the contrast colours for the border.

Another project I've finished for my grandson is a little garter stitch set including the Garter Stitch Jacket, Garter Stitch Hat and Origami Bootees.

All these projects are from this great little book, 10 Simple Projects for Cosy Babies, this is a great knitting book for beginners but also for more experienced knitters who want a quick project.

I originally knit the hat as the pattern was written which you knit flat and seamed but I didn't like the seam, it was too bulky so I frogged it and knit it in one piece on DPN's. I will add a couple of wooden buttons to the bootees to match the jacket.

I've also finished something for me, it's the Menehune by MskiKnits, this was the pattern that you knit along with Mel on her With Mel Podcast. This is such a great concept, each episode, Mel gave us another section of the pattern, it's a small shawlette and we finished to over four episodes.

I will be mostly wearing it as a scarf, perfect for those cooler Autumn days.

I will take it to the beach with me this weekend though and wear it like this, over my shoulders when it gets cooler.

So that is it for my FO's this week, all very simple knits but I love each of these patterns. Have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxxx

 

Yarn Along.....Garter Stitch.

Hello my friends, how is everyone? I hope your week is going well, the theme for my knitting this week is garter stitch. The first stitch that you're taught when you learn to knit, I use to find this stitch so boring when I first started knitting but I actually quite enjoy doing garter now. After seeing that Zena has nearly finished her Leftie, it made me pick mine back up, I've now used all ten colours of the Five Moons Mini Skeins so now to start from the orange again.

I'm on the garter stitch border of my Mini Georgie Baby Blanket, just a couple more rows and I'll be binding off. I was nearly out of the off white so decided to use the three contrast colours for the border, it's turning out really well.

Next up is a Garter Stitch Jacket set from the book 10 Simple Projects For Cosy Babies by Sarah Hatton, can you see the theme here!!!! I'm using yarn from my stash and had some balls of Drops Extra Fine Merino in Navy and some Jenny Watson Merino DK in grey and really liked them together. Again it's a very simple knit but I'm really enjoying this 'potato chip' knitting.

I'm also kniting the matching Garter Stitch Hat, I had completed it but it's knit flat and I didn't like the seam so I frogged it and started again, all in one on DPN's. Do you like my DPN holder? I love it and have ordered a matching project bag from Little Bobbins Etsy Store, it's very well made and she has great customer service with quick delivery.

As you can see on the above photo, I've been putting together the jacket as I go along and just have one little sleeve left. This week I'm reading Elephant Moon by John Sweeney, set in the Second World War where 53 elephants and an English school teacher who rescues a group of orphans from Burma and takes them to India to safety. It is a wonderful, awe inspiring story of a young woman's determination.

I'm linking to Ginny's Yarn Along, Tami's WIP Wednesday and Nicole's KCCO.

I've very nearly finished the beautiful Menehune Shawlette, I knit this along side With Mel podcast, where she gave instructions for us to knit along with her, such a good idea.

So that's what I've been working on this week, all very simple knits but sometimes simple is good.

Have a good week and I should be back on Friday with some FO's.

xxxxDebxxxxx

Yarn Along.........a wedding but not much knitting

Hello my friends, I hope you had a good weekend and if you're in the UK a good Bank Holiday. I went to a beautiful wedding on Sunday, it was my first outdoor wedding and it was perfect, the weather kept nice for them and the bride looked stunning. I will share some photos with you soon but my daughter has took my gadget to load the photos onto my iPad, on holiday with her!!!!! It was the wedding I made the invitations for, you can see them here and they gave me this beautiful bouquet of flowers at the reception.

Here I am all ready to go, my lovely friends trekked the shops of Chester with me, trying to find a little gold jacket but couldn't find what I was looking for but they'll be happy to know I found one at the local shopping centre!!!!

I've had a busy weekend so I didn't get much knitting done and what I did do I can't share just yet as it's a test knit but this is the yarn I'm using. If you want a little clue of what I'm knitting check out this Ravelry Group thread.

I've knit a few rows on my Mini Cable Jumper and now on the front. What I'm reading this week, I've just finished Fresh Doubt by Eva Hudson and haven't decided what to read next, what I have been flicking through is this little book Keep Calm and Cast on. It's a fab little book full of helpful tips and knitting quotes. I'm linking to Yarn Along, WIP Wednesday and Keep Calm, Craft On.

I have been buying yarn this week, I bought some Jamieson & Smith 2ply a 100% Shetland wool, to join in with Melody, who is running a Shwook hat KAL on her Ravelry Group. It is part of Shetland Wool Week that runs from the 4th October-12th October, you can find the free pattern on the website. I had trouble choosing these colours as there were so many gorgeous shades to chose from!!!!

Have a great week.

xxxxDebxxxx

FO Friday.....two test knit hats.

A short and sweet post today, just to say hi and show you the two test knit hats for Melody, they don't have a name yet but the pattern should be released by the end of the month.

I knit the first test knit hat for Jodie in Cascade 220, it's a very quick knit in worsted weight yarn in garter stitch and a textured panel.

This is the second one, finished this week, knit in The Natural Dye Studio Godivia DK, though it's more of a worsted single spun hand dyed yarn in Amitola. I'm not sure whether I'll be keeping it for myself or giving it as a Christmas gift.

Have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

Yarn Along........Two Hats and Two Shawls.

Hello, how is your week going? This week I've been working on two hats and two shawls, the first hat is a test knit for Melody of Manderine's blog. Check out her blog you won't be sorry, it's full of pretty photos of the Latvian countryside, nature, knitting and recipes, her photos are so tranquil and after reading her posts I always feel very peaceful.

I received the pattern on Thursday evening, cast on Friday and had it finished and blocked by the Sunday. It is a quick knit using worsted weight yarn, a fair amount of garter stitch and a beautiful textured panel at the front. If you follow me on Instagram you will have already seen the FO, modeled by my daughter but I'll share the photos on my blog, Friday.

Jodie kept the hat and took it home with her so I immediately cast on another one for me using a variegated yarn, I should also have this finished by Friday and will give you full details of the yarn on Friday.

The next project I've been knitting on this week is my Leftie by Martina Behm, as I'd said last week, Zena, Rachel and myself are all knitting this pattern with yarn we'd bought from Unwind. Zena and I don't live too far away from each other so we arranged to meet at The Library of Birmingham for a coffee and to knit on our Leftie's. We had a great morning, chatting and knitting away and hope to meet up again soon.

If you are in Birmingham, I highly recommend paying a visit to the library, there are activities going on, thousands of books to peruse, two coffee bars, lounge areas to sit and relax but my favourite part was The Secret Garden.

It's on the seventh floor and is a balcony wrapped around the building with an urban garden and places to sit, this was the view of Birmingham from the balcony. Unfortunately, it was a little bit too chilly to sit and knit up there on Saturday, I'm hoping for an Indian Summer so can go back and sit up there and take in the views.

Shawl two is the Menehune Shawlette by Mel, Episode Three of With Mel is now up with the third part of the pattern which is the middle section of the border.

This is a simple garter stitch section which didn't take long to complete, so I now only have the last part to finish which will be in next weeks episode. This has been such a fun knit, I really enjoyed this week's episode, she took us on a boat trip with her family and of course it's great to sit and "knit with Mel" !!!!!

 

I'm into my thrillers at the moment and have just started reading Fresh Doubt by Eva Hudson, I've not read any of her books before and so far, so good, I'm enjoying this book, the first in a series of books featuring Ingrid Skyberg, FBI Agent.

I'm linking to Yarn Along, WIP Wednsday and Keep Calm, Craft On, I've decided to post it a day early this week as one I've written it in advance and two, Nicole from Frontier Dreams, posts her KCCO on a Tuesday.

 

There is just one last thing I would like to say, Mel has just wrote a heartfelt post and would like some help raising some money for a bereaved family, if you could please pop over and read it, she would really appreciate it. She has just released a shawl pattern called Hapa and to help this family from 19th-26th August, Mel will give all profits from the pattern to this family who's life has tragically been ripped apart. I've bought mine, every little helps.

Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your week.

xxxxDebxxxx

 

FO Friday.......blankets and bootees.

Happy Friday, are you all ready for the weekend? I'm back to show you a couple of finished baby projects today.

I've finished the Twinkle Twinkle Blanket by Helen Stewart, this is what I'm calling his "best blanket" and will come out of the hospital wrapped in it.

I used 5 balls of Rooster Almerino DK, a gorgeous soft blend of alpaca and merino which shows off the stitch definition beautifully.

Next up, I've been making some Pom Pom Bootees, I used different weight yarns to get the different sizes.

The white pair are the larger out of the two, I used MillaMia which is a sport weight on 2.75mm, they would fit a 3-6 month old.

The blue pair are knit with Cashsoft 4ply again on 2.75mm needles and have turned out a lot smaller, fitting a 0-3 month old. I decided to add some pompoms for the cute factor and used the Clover Pom Pom Maker in small for the white and extra small for the blue pair. I can't recommend the Clover Pom Pom Maker enough, it's simple to use and you get a perfect pom pom, every time.

That's all for the knitting, the next part is photo heavy of what I've been up to this week. Do you remember me saying on Wednesday, I was hoping the rain kept off so we could take the little ones out? Well it did and we went to Bantock House and Park.

Even the grown ups were having fun.

Then yesterday, my friend Kerry and I went out for the day. We went to Hobbycraft and picked up some Project Life which has 25% off at the moment then had lunch at Pizza Hut, I love the lunchtime buffet!!!!

After lunch we drove to Ironbridge a beautiful Shropshire town by the river, famous for it's iron bridge across the river.

The obligatory selfie by the bridge ;-)

Have a great weekend.

xxxxDebxxxx