hello autumn, hello pretty blouse

We pulled some warmer clothes out of the cupboard this morning - some with sleeves, how nice! The freshness in the air is making me feel like Autumn has set in, and I'm loving it. I was probably a little over ambitious dressing the kids in layers this morning - by lunch time they had stripped off and replaced their jeans with shorts. Oh well... it was nice while it lasted.
For those of you that have been reading along here for a while (a long long while) you may remember this sweet little blouse and pretty knitted vest. The vest was knitted by my Mum and the blouse was one I made - for Grace. Its so nice to see them back in use again!

monkey

Some things really do seem to take forever don't they? This guy here being one of them. Say hello to Monkey, Jude's new friend! You may remember when I was in the piecing-together-stage back here, well I am glad to say that is over. He was one tricky little monkey to stitch together! Monkey was suppose to be ready for Jude's 1st birthday, but unfortunately got rather delayed. Somewhere along the way I lost enthusiasm for the whole project. But let me say how nice it is to finally have him out of the knitting bag, outfit complete and all! He is a hit with Jude, who calls him 'eee eee'. Boy am I glad I triple stitched his limbs on! He has been swung and pulled this way and that on many occasions, and I can only imagine there is far worse to come.
Pattern is from Knitted Toys by Fiona McTague. The linen overalls were not in the book. They were made with my own simple pattern.

flashback friday

 The lovely Abby of Sew Much Ado was very kind to feature me this week on Flashback Friday. 

Head over here to read more. Thankyou Abby!

right now

Right now I probably should be in bed... but I'm not. I am working my way through the pile of unfinished objects that crowd my sewing desk. This is a softie I knitted for Jude's 1'st birthday, but never quite got around to piecing together. I am sure the 'knitting bit' was way easier than the 'piecing together bit'. So sure. This is going to take days to complete!
See that bowl of wool on the left? That is part of a fleece I purchased from a garage sale. Straight off the back of the sheep, burs, dirt and all. I hand washed it all in small amounts, spun it on low in the washing machine (in pillow cases), and dried it in the sun. It has come up so beautifully and there is so much of it! Prefect for softies. I have two more fleeces here that need washing as well.
Will be back soon with the finished photo's!

keeping warm

Hello! Just popping in to say hi.
Is it true that Winter is almost over? I can hardly believe how quickly the days are racing by.
Sewing has been sadly absent around these parts, but the good news is I have relocated the sewing machine to a new area of the house. I don't have as much room as before, but I am now right near the living and office area which is perfect!
I do feel like I am cheating a bit on this post as the knit above is one I actually completed last Winter. Those of you who have been reading along for a while may remember when I started. My knitting has progressed a lot since then which is encouraging to see! There are now a few different projects in the knitting bag that I am working on...really must make the effort to finish them off.
This jumper (or 'pull-over' for you Northern Hemisphere folks) was super easy to knit, and came from a free pattern online which I can no longer find. Its basically knitted in four big 'L' shapes that you piece together with a seam running down the top of each sleeve, one down the front of the jumper and one down the back.
I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it outside the house as its pretty frumpy, but it has been the perfect jumper for around the house: so floppy, toasty warm and comfy. I do tend to put comfort ahead of style these days, and this jumper is a winner!

milo soaker

Well that was an energetic photo session! Monkey boy (for some reason or another) couldn't manage to sit still for more than two second to have his photo taken. Not a great help when you are learning to use the new camera and trying to manually focus...sorry for the blurry shots, these were the best I could get!

I finally got around to finishing the knitted soaker. It came together nicely as per the picture, but didn't end up fitting quiet as snug as I would have liked. Although it looks OK in the photos, it could have done with less rise in the front and a little extra in the back. I kept having to pull it up at the back to keep it over his nappy while he was busy rocketing around the house, and the front was too bunched up. Still very cute and might work well over a bulkier night nappy. He is wearing this one over these fitted's I made for Maeve a while back. I will get them lanolised tonight and see how they go over the next few days.

Has anyone else used wool covers with their cloth nappies (diapers)?
I would love to hear what patterns you found the best and how successful you found them as a nappy cover. I made quiet a few for Grace back in the day and they were great. I found they worked the best in summer with just a shirt or dress over the top. In winter they got a bit bulky layered under thick pants and the likes.

The pattern was from 'Vintage Baby Knits' By Kristen Rengren. I knitted it in the 9-12month size, but next time would probably go smaller. The wool I used was the most softest Merino from Lincraft 'Italiano donegal merino' in 12ply. It didn't seem as chunky as your usual 12ply however. This soaker used up just over one 50g ball.

And here he is doing the bolt in his woolies...

wordless weekend

cotton knit

Thank you so much for all your kind comments on the neckerchiefs. I know a lot of mums find it hard to source cute and affordable boys clothes, and I think the neckerchief bibs are perfect for adding that extra something to a plain outfit.
Here's a little jumper I finished over the weekend. It was suppose to be a 9 month size, but fits my rather chunky 3 month old perfectly. I checked the tension and all, and its one stitch out over 10cm, so nothing major. Must just be a fitted pattern.

The pattern is from this book...so worth buying!
I also knitted the cross over cardi from there.
And it's knitted in cotton which is a first for me. Was beautiful and soft to knit with, and I figured a little more seasonally appropriate with our warmer climate.
Don't look too close, my knitting is far from perfect!

Little Jude is 3 months old today...where oh where has my newborn gone!
He rolled from his back to tummy yesterday, weighs in at 7.4kg and has discovered how useful his hands can be at whacking and grabbing the toys on his playgym.
I love this playgym. We purchased it at Ikea, and it is the most used toy in the house at the moment. Even the girls lie under it and play!

little by little

Most of my sewing use to be done in the evenings once the girls were in bed, but since having a newborn in the house again, evenings just aren't the best. That seems to be Jude's more unsettled time, and I don't have the energy to stay up as late as I use to. I end up going to bed with him most of the time.


These pajama pants are some I sewed for myself (the night before I went in to labour), but didn't get around to putting elastic in. They now have elastic and are super comfy to wear!


I have a bunch of organic hemp and bamboo fleece sitting in the sewing room waiting to be turned into these fitted nappies. This is my next sewing task, but I can see that they will take forever to make!

And a simple scarf is on my needles. The wool is called 'sorbet' by Moda Vera and is a beautiful merino wool in amazing colours. I am loving the texture!

dye experiment

A few weeks ago I had had a go at dyeing some wool, something I haven't tried before.

I found some lemon coloured baby wool going cheap at $1 ball. Didn't really like the colour, so thought I would see how it turned out dyed.

I wrapped it around a big baking pan, put an elastic band in the middle to hold it all together, then dipped one end in some yellow dye and the other end in some red. I also did a couple of plain red balls for contrast.

Popped it out in the sun to dry.

Got out the trusty wool winder and turned it into balls.

Then knitted it into another Vintage pixie cap and a pair of pants.
Pants are from a Patons baby knit book. They are the newborn size, but turned out completely massive. My tension seemed fine, so the pattern must just run big. By the time my baby fits these, it will probably be too hot to wear them. I was hoping they would suit either a girl or boy, but the more I look at them I think they are definitely on the feminine side.

I changed the pattern slightly for the pixie cap and did rib around the face instead of garter stitch. It seemed to pull it all in a bit better.
It was interesting to see how the wool knitted up. It looks like tiger stripes, not at all how I imagined. I think for baby knitting it would be better to dye the wool in smaller sections rather than two big chunks like I did. Still happy with the results though. If I end up with a big chunky girl, we may get some use out of this outfit!

baby knits

So my new found love with knitting continues. These ones I finished a month or so ago, a newborn size cross over cardigan and a pixie bonnet.
Knitted with beautifully soft Shepherd baby wool.

Jacket pattern is from Cleckheaton.
This book has the most beautiful knits for little ones.

The Vintage Pixie Cap pattern came from here ('free patterns' menu on right).
I do apologise for the freaky looking doll model, but I have no baby to model it on yet!
We are slowly getting ready for this baby, still a lot to be done. All I feel like doing is sitting around knitting, but that is going to have to stop soon, there is so much to be sorted around the house, baby clothes to be washed and birth preparations to be made.
Only one month to go now!

wooly jacket

Sorry for the big blogging pause. I have finally uploaded the last months photos on the computer and have something to write about. I have just recovered from a nasty bout of the flu, but seemed to have caught another bug...one that is much harder to get rid of- the knitting bug! Yes, this little jacket was one I knitted for Maeve while I was sitting around in bed, or on the couch trying to recover from the flu. I was surprised how quickly it knitted up. Hooray for chunky wool.

The pattern is the one above, from 'Quick, thick knits for toddlers in Jet, Skol & Totem'- Patons book 901. I have no idea as to the date published, but it looks pretty vintage. I am trying to pick really simple patterns while I am learning (stocking and garter stitch), but I did manage to figure out the button hole...not quiet the rocket science I thought it would be!

She looks so sweet in it.

The wool (or should I say yarn) was some I have had in my stash for at least 6 years. It was a garage sale find, with no labels on it, so I have no idea about the fibre content. Obviously not 100% wool though.

More knitting to come!

on my needles

So I have decided to knit myself a jumper...and if you know my level of skills in knitting, this is actually quite funny! I probably should have done a scarf or something simple first, but no, I need a jumper so that's what I'm making. It's actually not as slow going as I first thought, and it probably helps that I am knitting in 10ply. Its 100% wool, and the colour is oatmeal. It even smell like oats. If I had my way I would be a skilled knitter and knit like Peta or Kylie...somehow I think I will have to keep dreaming. See the two different kind of stitches on the jumper? That's all the stitches it involves...as well as increasing and decreasing. Very simple. I will keep you updated on it progress. Are yearly updates ok?, this is going to be a long term project!



One other thing, I have realised that I can knit while watching a movie! So we watched Jane Eyre (again) over the weekend. This movie is right up there with the best of the best on my movie list...dare I say better than or equal to Pride and Prejudice. I think I will get in trouble for this one. BBC sure knows how to produce the goods.

nanna knits

How good is my Mum! She has been knitting this little vest for Grace, and it just arrived today. It is absolutely beautiful Mum- thankyou so much! I really, really love the little flower...so pretty. And thanks to the lovely Lisa for the pink/silver stripy top from her shop. Perfect combination.