Debbie Bliss sandals

A while back, I posted about getting the Debbie Bliss Baby and Toddler knitting book for Christmas and the teddy that I have made for my bump!

I've also been knitting him/her a lovely dressing gown-type thing from the book (they call it a 'hooded carrying bag', which sounds a bit brutal!), but I like a short project to knit alongside a long one, and so I decided to knit the sandals in the book for my name twin (Suzy)'s baby, Felix.  He was born in December but has been growing very quickly so I wanted to make him something for a proper little boy, not just babyish bootees!

I must say, the pattern wasn't the easiest in the world to follow.  There were definite moments where I was drawing on my knowledge of knitting to work out what needed to be done rather than the instructions making this explicitly clear.  There are rather a lot of points where you must bind-off so many stitches and then start knitting in a different place, which need clearer wording, or better still, a diagram!

Nevertheless, I am very pleased with how they turned out, and have received a lovely photo from Suzy with the young man himself modelling them.  They fit very nicely (though probably not for long!).

Knit Relief - final total!!!

Excitingly, the Knit Relief auction finished yesterday evening to much buzz, particularly on Twitter (which is apt, since we are the TwitKnitClub)!

Scarlett has now totalled up the combined sales and has announced a splendid sum of £2,038 raised!  She really does deserve massive congratulations for the brilliant achievement of organising this (at the tender age of 16!!). You can read more on her post about it, here.

This was a really fun project to be part of.  I hope Knit Relief becomes a regular fixture for years to come!

Knit Relief - update

Just a quick update to say that Scarlett a.k.a TeenGranny has announced the brilliant news that the running total of the Knit Relief auction is over £1000!

The auction ends on Sunday evening, so get bidding!

Happy Mothering Sunday

Just a quick note to you all to say Happy Mothers' Day to all the Mums out there!

It's an exciting one for me, as at five months' pregnant, my next one will be as a mummy.

I'm really lucky to have my lovely Mum nearby and also the support of a wonderful mother-in-law, Georgie.

So to them and the rest of you, have a lovely day!

Teddy

For Christmas, knowing that we were expecting a baby and of my love of knitting, Mark bought me the Debbie Bliss Ultimate Book of Baby Knits.

The first thing that I knitted from it was something that I consider key for every new baby to have: a teddy.

He was really fun to knit and was pretty much done by January 3rd, when my Christmas break from work finished, but the poor thing had no face for well over a month as I adjusted back to being at work after ten luxurious days of lazing around, eating and knitting!

So here he is, learning all the best teddy skills from my teddy:

I hope he is as well loved as my ted is! If you look closely you can see he is a little threadbear around the edges (pun intended!) from being cuddled so much and (though he won't thank me for telling you) the reason he is so dapper in his suit is largely to protect his precious tummy where the cuddling obviously reached critical levels!

Knit Relief Bootees - the pattern

So yesterday I posted this post about Knit Relief and the the bootees that I have made which are currently up for auction amongst many fabulous items knitted by the members of #TwitKnitClub. 

I thought that it's only fair to give you all the pattern, both so that you can have a go at making them yourselves (but only after bidding on mine!) and to give proper acknowledgement to the lovely lady who designed the original pattern.

Both pairs of bootees are adapted from the free pattern that Saartje Knits shares on her website.

The white ones are simply the same pattern, with the exception that I simply didn't change the colour of my yarn as I felt that the interesting texture of the wool was enough. 

The 'ballet slippers' used the same pattern for forming the sole and shaping the instep, but I simply cast-off along the whole row at the point that the straps are formed on the original pattern.  The pattern is really easy to follow and produces such a lovely result.  I really recommend it.

Happy New Year-- Knit relief!

Yes, I am a little late, but as this is my first blog post of the year, it'd be rude not to!

Apologies for my prolonged absence; who'd have thought growing a baby could be so time-consuming and tiring.  Rest assured I have still been knitting away merrily, I just have been forgetting to tell you all about it.

Anyway, I have been spurred on by Scarlett Curtis a.k.a Teen Granny who has organised a most exciting venture to raise money for SportRelief/ ComicRelief.  You guessed it, organised by the founder of the famous TwitKnitClub, it could only be KnitRelief!

The fantastic idea is that members of TwitKnitClub and others have contributed their knitted (and generally crafy) items which will be auctioned to raise money.

My little contributions are:

White bootees (approximately newborn size) knitted in Patons Fairytale Velvet:

 And pink ballet slippers (also approximately newborn size) knitted in Rowan Kidsilk Haze:

There are lots of other fabulous items from other very talented people, so do pop in and have a look!