February - Knitting on a deadline

I have been frantically knitting away trying to meet the deadline of my bestfriend's impending birthing. She is due in early April and she is having a little boy, they are calling Byron. I bought a heap of yarn when I found out so I would have heaps to choose from. There are 2 other babies expected this year, my sister's first and my friend's second. Not sure of sexes for these two yet but I've started knitting anyway. I have made half of a small pair of boys shorties using the JJ Retro Prince colourway and a boys Newborn Set with longies, a beanie and a pair of socks... all using 100g of the YC Rocky Creek Single Ply worsted yarn and a miniskein of Blue Steel Treliske. I LOVE making newborn stuff!!!

This is what I have managed to make Byron so far: Tom Vest in light blue Dashing, Small Longies in JJ Athena in the Retro Prince colourway, A newborn Curly Purly soaker also in the Retro Prince colourway, a small Snapdragon Soaker in JJ Splish Splash colourway on single ply 100purewool. I did a couple of t-shirts to match the woolies as well so it ended up being a nice little baby shower package. I am still planning to make him a Newborn Set as listed above in the YC Walker colourway, witha green contrast. This will be his pressie for when we visit in hospital.

I have also been knitting some winter clothes for Cady. I finished the Waterlillies Amelie Dress in a size 1 and am now working on a dress using TiKKi's rainbow dress pattern in a size 0. I've still got quite a few projects in the works for winter clothes for her... a couple of cardigans, a few more dresses and a couple of pairs of longies.

On the Needles:

Small Turquoise Retro Prince Shorties
These are in waiting for one of the expectant babes due this year. They aren't sure of sexes yet so it can remain in storage until it has a little person to be given to. I am using JJ Athena in Retro Prince and Retro Prince Turquoise and the Picky Pants pattern. I used 3mm needles for the waisband and 5mm for the body. I did the waistband longer and will do the same for the body and legs also.

Stormchild TiKKi dress
This is a great little pattern and all knitted in the round! I am making this out of some 4BF Yarn Cafe wool I had frogged from another project. I also used a miniskein of Treliske in purple for the bodice and the skirt trim. I'm using 4mm needles and am trying my new knitpicks set out on this one. I have about 2" to go and it is fitting really well based on today's fitting.

Thuja Socks for DH
These were supposed to be a valentine's day present for Dh but I didn't get them done in time. Ooops! So far one of these is completed and 1/4 of the other one done. I will get it done eventually but he doesn't really seem in a rush so neither am I LOL. Here are some pics of the one I have finished.

French Market Bag:

No real progress on this so far. I have to use DPN's and that is always bad for my motivation :) here's a progress piccie of what I have completed of the base. I'm not totally happy with the way I have done the increases though so I may frog and start again.

Finished Projects for February:

Waterlillies Amelie Dress:

I finally got around to knitting all the flowers for this one. There were heaps!!! I sewed them on, washed and blocked it. Now it is all ready to be worn come winter time with a pair of tights and a skivvy.

Dress Front

Dress Back

Hem detail & Shoulder detail

Newborn Curly Purly Soaker

This is one of the woollies I've knit for Byron. They were knit using JJ Athena in the Retro Prince Colourway with the cuffs and waistband in the matching Retro brown. I use the Curly Purly pattern and size 3mm, 4mm and 5mm needles. I am very happy with the way it turned out...Very cute!!!

Small Retro Prince Longies

This is another of the woollies I've knit for Byron. They were knit using JJ Athena in the Retro Prince Colourway with the cuffs and waistband in the matching Retro Brown. I used thePicky Pants pattern and size 3mm and 5mm needles. It took a bit of fiddling to get the legs to pool in a similar fashion but I'm happy with the end result. I found a little beige long sleeved t-shirt with a monkey on it that goes perfectly with these. I can't wait to see them on him :)

Rocky Creek Baby Socks

These are the last component of the newborn set I've made one of the unborn babes due this year. They are a little big though, Cady fits them with her 11cm feet. Not sure when they would fit a baby boy, probably sooner though. I use the remaining amount of both the Blue steel treliske and the Rocky Creek single ply worsted yarn. I had to knit them at the same time to make sure that I didn't run out of yarn LOL. They are a bit shorter than the pattern suggested due to this reason.

I have also found a little blue t-shirt that matches this set perfectly and have used a iron-on transfer of a horse to help it match the colourway even more. I'll take a piccie of the whole set before it is given as a gift.

Mud Princess Shorties
I knit these in curiosity to see what a new free pattern on Ravelry, Itchyfingers Pants was like to use. I used YC 3ply worsted weight yarn in the Mud Princess colourway. I did them without a drawstring and with extra width so they are a little big atm. They are probably more a size 1 in width and rise.

I tried to follow the pattern exactly to get a true gauge as to whether I like the techniques used. I really like the concept of grafting the crotch before knitting either leg but I did it using yarn from the end of the ball rather than breaking yarn to do it.

Fuschia Newborn Longies
I knit these for a knitting friend who has just had a baby girl. I haven't got a post embellishment photo yet though, I forgot to take one before I sent the package (Ooops!). I'll post a final piccie when my friend has taken one. I use the Picky Pants Pattern and the remaining SSS wool that Sue gave me. I made a matching headband using the same crochet sts as for the cuff. I embellished each with knitted flowers in a dark purple colour.

Lovely Woolly Mail

I know I said I wouldn't put details of my many yarn purchases here anymore. More to stop embaressing myself than for any other reason LOL. This month is special though as I am on a yarn buying bann and only recieved special packages that were from previous orders.

I recieved some custom dyed yarn from Live2Knit, all for winter clothes for DD. I love this yarn so much I just have to include piccies. The LillyPilly 8ply Merino is for a cardigan, the frangipani 5 ply Merino is for a dress and the Fig 8ply Cotton is for a sundress and hat combo. Nice hey!

I got a very special yarn package this month. I recieved an email about PurlYarns sale and asked DH if he would get my anniversary present early (it's in April). He agreed and bought me these...

The first and most special purchase is Handmaiden Fine Yarn Lady Godiva (Silk/Wool) in Glacier, I am going to make a seafoam scarf out of this, the second is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Purple Club, the third is Pear Tree Yarns 12 ply in Turkey. Aren't they scrummy!!!

Dyeing Near-Disaster

I tried my hand at kettle dyeing this month for the first time ever. I was trying to dye 500g (in 50g skeins) of Spotlight Dashing in a very dark purple using some Gaywool Dye from Dyelicious. I was going to use it for a shrug KAL on Woolaholics. After my first attempt I ended up with 4 skeins of dark purple, 4 mid purple and 2 lighter variegated purple.

After getting emergency help on Woolaholics and from my Ravelry knitting buddies I ended up finding a new way to do it. I had enough dye left over to re-dye 4 of the skeins. Instead of putting the dye mix into hot water it was better to put it in with the yarn cold and heat it up gradually. This let the colour disperse more evenly between the skeins.

This is what I ended up with: 8 skeins of lovely even dark purple (shown balled below) and 2 slightly variegated dark purple skeins. I even ended up having some dye left in the pot. I use it to dye this last little skein light purple. Very pretty colour, I wish I had done more this colour LOL!

I haven't actually ended up making the shrug as it has turned quite cool recently. There doesn't seem much point doing it right now. I might do it next year now I have the yarn all ready, hmmm .... maybe ;)

January's FO's

My stash is getting rediculous (blush) so I am not going to bother posting it anymore. Anyone who is interested can just check it out on Ravelry anyway.

On the Needles:

Cady's Amelie Dress

I have all but finished this one. All I have left to do is attach some buttons to the shoulder and knit up more flowers to be attached all over the dress. Again not really in a rush to do this as she won't fit it for 5 months. I'll get it done soon though.

French Market Bag
I am making this with some Panda Woolbale I got from Spotlight in their sale. They were only 50 cents a ball so it will end up being one of the cheapest bags I have ever bought :) I am knitting the base in Olive green on 6mm DPN's (couldn't find any 7mm ones). The body of the bag will be knit on 7mm circs and will have a few stripes. Cream will be the main colour, with thick purple stripes and a skinny green one between them. The handle will be in the coours as well.

I haven't got a progress piccie yet as I am only part way though the base. Her are some piccies of the yarn I'm using instead :)

Thuja Socks for DH

These are to be a Valentines Day pressie for my DH. I am using Patons Superwash 8Ply and 4mm needles. I am attempting to knit these using the knitting on 2 circs method as I have a strong dislike for DPN's. I've only just started these so no progress pic yet only yarn pic.

Recently Finished Projects (most recent to oldest):
Okay, inspired by the Woolaholics UFO month I got a few of mine finished, plus a few new items as well of course.

Here's the new projects I finished recently:

Baby Blue 'Tom' Vest

This was knit for a friends baby boy bump in the 0-3 month size. I used Spotlight Dashing with 4.5 and 3.5mm needles. I altered the pattern to knit the main body in the round and the neckhole and armhole ribbing were also knit on 30cm circs. I also put only 2 pattern repeats at the botton of the vest as I thought it would be too busy if I continued it throughout.

NB Rocky Creek Longies Set

This was knit again for a friends baby boy bump. I used Yarn Cafe Navy treliske for the waistband and cuffs and Yarn Cafe Single ply worsted weight yarn (100purewool single ply) in the Rocky Creek colourway for the MC. I used the Picky Pants pattern in the NB size with an added 1" in the rise and the leg length. Needles used were 3.5 and 4.5mm circs.

The beanie was made with a heavily modified free pattern from the internet (see Ravelry project file for details)

Cady's Fuschia Shrug

Cady has grown out of her pink shrug now so I decided it was time to make another one, especially since all the alterations were still in my head from knitting Gabby's. I knit this on Sue's Secret Supplier (SSS) wool and 4.5mm needles. Alterations to the pattern were the same as the ones made for Gabby's below. This yarn was super soft and I have some leftover so I shall be making some headbands and a beanie for Cady with it at a later date.

Here's the UFO's that were finished in January:

Cady's Purple Splish Splash Soaker
I knit this for my DD using the Snapdragon Soaker pattern. The yarn used was Jolly Jumbuck Venus (100purewool single ply) with a solid purple and the Splish Splash colourway. It is very soft and squishy but pills easily. My gauge with this yarn was that of 8ply so I had to knit the sts for 2 sizes up. I decided to make a feature of the bottom and used the different yarn to make a strip and then stitched her name there. The heart embellishments were done using chain st.

Gabby's Red Shrug
This shrug was knit as a 1st birthday present for a friends little girl. It was knit using Red Zhavigo yarn and 4.5mm needles. I used the Debbie Bliss Baby Shrug pattern in the 12-18 month size with a few alterations. I did a crochet edging instead of the ribbing in the pattern and only did 1/2 length sleeves. The crochet edge was a row of tr and then alternating front post tr and back post tr. It was quite a pain to knit as the yarn kept slipping off the addis turbo's. Can't say I want to knit with this yarn again but it did turn out lovely in the end. Gabby's mum appreciated all the effort that was put into it and I'm sure it will get alot of wear in the near future.

Crochet Rolls

These are crochet rolls. One is for my Grandmother and the other is for Sue, one of my EB knitting buddies.

I started off using this tutorial but change alot as I didn't have any bias binding. They were really easy to make and, I think, ended up really cute.