More baby knits and a grown-up hat

I'm finally clicking 'publish' on a handful of posts that I wrote ages ago and failed to put live.

This one is to share a flurry of hat and scarf knits...  (I realise I may have a slight hat problem).

First up - I made this teeny little robin hat.

This was inspired by a lovely lady called Ange Smith on Ravelry, who won a Coats competition to design a Christmas jumper. Her gorgeous robins in the snow design was turned into a free pattern that you can see and download here.


Given that the chances of me knitting a whole jumper anytime soon are close to zero, I asked Ange's permission to make a baby hat inspired by her design - and she told me to go right ahead. So I recreated a down-scaled version of the chart in Excel, with decreases for the crown.

My hat is made from Drops Baby Merino, a sport-weight yarn that's lovely and soft. Knitted on 3mm needles it turned out very cute but - alas - a bit too small for my 5 mth old, so it found its way instead to a newborn who arrived in December.

Lots of people have subsequently asked for a copy of my amended chart, so I contacted Coats and they gave me permission to share it freely, on the condition that I make it clear that this is not a Coats design, but my own adapted work. If anyone wants a copy, you can download it here. (Just bear in mind that it was created for my own use and has not been through a team of pattern testers).


Next up is a little angora baby hat made from a gorgeous, floofy hand-spun angora that's been languishing in my stash for years. 

I held the yarn double to get DK weight and case on 64 stitches and knit in the round. 

The result is lovely and soft, like a fluffy cloud, but not too sneezy.

The ribbing is P2, K2 and the cable pattern is a very simple 6-row repeat of:
 -  Row 1: P2, K6 repeat to end
 -  Rows 2-5: repeat Row 1
 -  Row 6: P2, C6F repeat to end

You could easily upsize the hat by casting on additional stitches in multiples of 8 and knitting until it is as tall as you want.

Finish using 3-needle bind off and add pom poms.

Next up is this stripey baby scarf. 

Another weeny little knit that I couldn't resist making after I discovered a rainbow-hued multi-pack of tiny 10g yarn balls in Tiger.

It’s a fairly naff acrylic but what the hell. I just cast on 20 stitches and striped the colours in a K1, P1 pattern, striping every second row. 

I ended up doing 18 stripes of each colour and used the leftovers to make tiny pom-poms.

It’s being modelled here by my 8 month old but I doubt she’ll use it much until next winter, by which time she’ll be walking (and hopefully less likely to suck it to death or get tangled up in it). I might try to make a little hat to go with it - it would be so cheering on a grey, winter day.

Last, but not least, is this fair isle hat that I made for myself!

I used Drops Merino Extra Fine, which is lovely and not at all itchy (hooray!). The pattern is also based on a Drops one called Fideli, but I took a few liberties with it and amended the fair isle every now and then to show off my colours better.

I am very pleased with it and so far it's had loads of wear through the cold months.

Quick, easy and festive birdseed cakes

Do you fancy feeding the birds AND doing something fun with a small child?

This is a quick fly-by to share this brilliant and easy recipe for birdseed cakes. I followed this lady's instructions and it worked perfectly and made a gazillion of them.

All you need is bird seed, flour, water and syrup - and something like a cookie cutter to mould them in.  You can make any shape but as it's December I have made mine festive.

Now I just have to find a cat-proof place to hang them!  Hope the birds like them... 

 

 

(NB: the recipe suggests corn syrup but if you are in the UK it's easier to use golden syrup and works just as well.)


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Toddler's Own Christmas Tree

A little while ago I was inspired by this link on Pinterest for a toddler-friendly Christmas tree that little ones can decorate and un-decorate at will, so I decided to have a go.  (Essentially it's just a giant fuzzy felt tree - how hard could it be?)

I decide to make a stiff one with a cardboard skeleton, so that I could hang it on a panelled door, so I started by cutting out a tree shape from the side of a large cardboard box...

Next I went on the lookout for green felt.  After a bit of googling I discovered that there is such a thing as sticky-back felt - hooray!  You can get it at various places but I eventually ordered mine online from here and also a mixed bundle of coloured felt squares and some spotty felt from ebay.

Once the felt arrived it was just a case of sticking it on and cutting out bauble and present shapes.  I glued the presents around the base with a glue gun but the baubles and the star are all designed for maximum toddler fiddling.

I think the microbe likes it...

(The only trouble I'm having now is getting it to stay on the door using white-tac - it keeps popping off, so I'm thinking hanging it on a picture hook instead.)

Wreath of Roses

A double post in one day? Well I suppose it makes up for leaving it 4 months between posts!

This time I thought I would post some details of a fresh wreath-making class I attended yesterday in Chiswick. The class was given by a new company called I Made It Myself, that runs crafty classes in West London and was held in a lovely airy venue just off Chiswick High Rd.

I went with my friend Alice, and we were each given a choice of red or white roses. (We both chose white, because of the colours of our front doors, but the red ones were equally beautiful).

When we arrived, we were each given a wreath frame filled with pre-soaked oasis. From there on, we had great fun learning how to cut and arrange the foliage into the frame before embellishing with our choice of roses and other decorations. We also learned about watering the wreath to keep it fresh until the New Year.

Those who chose red roses were given dark glossy foliage to play with, while the people using white roses were given beautifully-scented eucalyptus. There were also loads of embellishments available, including berries, ribbons, sparkly accents and even some robins and doves. But because of the simplicity of the white roses, Alice and I both chose natural accents of blue thistle and ivy berries. (For one time only, I think I may have embraced the concept of "less is more"!)

We both came out with beautiful wreaths, and mine is now hanging on my front door...

Here are a few pics taken during the class... and a pic of my final wreath hanging on my front door!

It's Chriiiiiiiiiiistmaaaaaas!

Hello festive knitty people! Once you've forgiven me for song-virusing you with the tones of Noddy Holder, I hope you will also forgive me for being such an errant blogger.

The thing is I've not been feeling very knitty recently... not sure why. My "gorgeous-if-only-it-could-be-finished" grey tweedy Ishbel has been festering on the needles for so long that I'm afraid I may have forgotten where I was in the pattern... and heaven help the other 200 UFOs.

But never mind. This weekend I went into christmas overload and finally decorated the house. Among other things, christmas has inspired me to knit, so this is just me popping in to show you my mini xmas stockings...

These are from a free pattern (see rav link below). It's a lovely quick knit, and very enjoyable. The socks are made on straight needles and sewn up at the end. It's also a great way to try your hand at some fair isle patterns on a microscopic project.

Rav link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/flockhartsl/mini-christmas-stocking-ornaments

Anyway that's all from me. I wish happy holidays to you all... may the gluh wein flow freely!
xx