A Baby Blanket for a very special baby

There are loads of things I have been looking forward to about my trip "home" to Canada...but I have to say that the thing..or event...I have been looking forward to the most is seeing my friend's big pregnant belly.  When they told me they were expecting...and I realised I would be able to see them before the due date...I immedietly set to work making a special present.

I decided to knit a baby blanket in the classic Hudson's Bay Company stripe pattern.  As a wedding present my brother gave us a double sized wool HBC Point Blanket and it is one of my most favourite possessions...it is my little bit of Canada in the United Kingdom, it ties me to home.  Eventhough my friends are in Canada I thought that it would be a special keepsake. 

The finished blanket.

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Last Minute Bridal Shower Gift

I really appreciate handmade gifts...I think because I love giving handmade stuff I appreciate the thought, work and love that goes into making something special.  A colleague of mine is getting married over the summer and we threw her a bridal shower at school this week.  It was a bit of a rush...it is just so busy at the end of term...and I kinda sorta forgot to sort out my gift before everything got on top of me.  

When I finally remembered last weekend I rushed around assessing the materials on hand and wracking my brain for something sweet and girly...but classy, to make.  I found a few balls of organic cotton yarn and got to work knitting up a couple of facecloths. 

Paired with a square bar of glycerine soap (rewrapped in brown paper) and tied together with some bits of raffia and the most perfect ribbon  (leftover from our wedding invitations...I absolutely love it) this last minute gift was complete.  

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It's a little chilly up here...

Chunky Beret to keep my head warm (and stylish!) 

I knit this really comfy and warm beret over a few hours yesterday afternoon.  Knit using Rowan Cocoon merino/mohair mix this beret is luxurious and bound to keep my head warm this winter! 

Berry Muffins...Mary Berry...and a berry cute hat!

I am so excited for the new season of The Great British Bake Off on BBC 2 starring the lovely Mary Berry!! The first episode did not disappoint, and in anticipation (and to while away the terrible weather) I baked up a batch of my favourite muffins with Summer berries and coconut. 

The coconut adds an interesting texture...and I am not entirely in lust with it...but the berries were nice for a frozen mix (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, black and red currants) and they rose really well.  

And...over the weekend I knit this cute little berry pink hat for the impending autumn...

chilly july

Don't get me wrong...I much prefer the cold to the heat...I love snuggling up under blankets and wearing big chunky sweaters and wooly socks...but JULY!! you gotta be kidding me...

I was knitting these socks in preparation for the fall...but my feet are happy in them now...in July.

Wool from Jamie Oliver's FIFTEEN courtesy of mummy!

My mum sent me a package of this gorgeous 100% wool promoted through Jamie Oliver's Chain of Restaurants FIFTEEN.  Three lovely balls of wool, with cute wooden needles and a series of patterns developed specifically for this wool. 

 

  

My mum arrives in London tomorrow morning, and I can't wait to see her at arrivals! :)

Knitted Bath Mitt

How cute is this French-style knitted cotton bath mitt?

I've knit it for my friend Clare's birthday giftie.  She's a girl who likes to pamper, and I thought that this soft cotton bath mitt would be a perfect handmade gift! Going to pop out tomorrow for a some nice soaps to complete the package!

Cable Cuffs

In the 16 boxes of "stuff" that arrived last weekend I found a bag full of odds and ends of yarn and wool...YIPPPEEEEEEEEE more wool!!  And just in time....because all I have left in my old stash is cotton....and I just LOVE knitting with 100% wool. 

It is so so so hard to find 100% wool here in Chelmsford...mostly it is either Acrylic or a mixture....so I was really happy to see the Pattons Merino wool sitting in my boxes for me. 

Over this week between unpacking and ironing and laundry and tiding and cooking and everything I have been able to enjoy a little bit of my lovely wool and have knit these beautiful cuffs for my friend Hannah's birthday pressie. 

Perfect for keeping wrists warm on cool days...if you are stuck at a desk....typing all day....or just hanging out grabbing a coffee!

K1, P2...cup of tea for me and you!

Months ago I posted about the masses of yarn I bought in the January Sales at John Lewis in 2009 (gosh! a whole year ago)...and over the last couple of weeks I have been busy trying to find ways to use it up (still).  If you remember I was working on sampler squares to stitch together in a sort-of patchwork blanket...well...I just don't have the patience to wait until about a billion squares are done...

I borrowed two books from the library, which have patterns for projects that use two balls of wool (or less)...but wasn't really wowed by any of the patterns I saw...sigh

Recently I've become obsessed with tea pots and tea cosies and tea cups and saucers and....well....no longer all the goodies that go along with them (one day soon I can love that again).  There is just something so wonderful about small sandwiches and little tarts and hot steaming tea and lovely company. 

David and I have tea together every morning before he goes off to work...and I don't just meant boiling the kettle and plonking a tea bag in a mug...we have a proper pot of tea (complete with tea cosy) on the table, and our glass milk bottle.  It is the part of our morning ritual that gets me ready for the day and gives us those few settled minutes in the morning...together...

Anyway....the combination of an overflow of yarn, the desire to keep busy knitting, and my fondness for tea cosies lead me to click click click click the evenings away over the last couple of days...producing two cute, but simple, knitted tea cosies. 

Dusty Rose

Purple Pieman

Here in the UK there is a online craft network similar to etsy, called Folksy, which I am thinking about joining somewhere down the road.  Maybe these two tea cosies will be the start of an empire?? 

baaa baaa black sheep, have you any wool?

In the January sales this year I bought a whole whack of summer-weight yarn at John Lewis on Oxford Street. I don't know what possessed me to buy a billion balls of cotton yarn, but for some mad reason I did! I think that I may have been going through a knitting phase.

Every few months I pick up my needles and get some yarn and start some project that is bound to either be a rush job or sit unfinished in a bag somewhere. It is not that I don't love knitting, I do...I have made a plethora of scarves and fingerless gloves and....did I mention scarves? But those big projects like sweaters and socks (even socks!) and blankets and well anything that takes more than a week inevitably will lose my attention.

And for some strange reason I felt the need to buy all these mismatched balls of cotton yarn. Cotton is strange, it loses its shape easily, it slides on the needles in a weird way, and very few patterns (in the shape of what I can knit) call for 100% cotton.

Having embraced my housewife status and set to task cleaning and cooking and growing and shopping it is only natural that I have fallen back into my knitting. Wanting to create something for my new house, for me and David to share, to treasure, I have decided to make a sort of patchwork/sampler blanket. I've taken a great book out from the library to help me with my patterns and textures for the squares and have set myself a goal of one square for every two days. I am working by the gauge of the yarn and am keeping the squares to 4x4, like a gauge sampler...

Let's see how it grows!


This picture was taken on Friday September 19th...two more squares have been added in the meantime!!!