Hello everyone,

It’s been a lovely holiday so far, shame it’s nearly at the end. Two more days and then back to work! I’ve realised how much I’ve been able to do when I haven’t been working. The first week I was at A’s flat, well, our flat. We gave it a huge spring clean and changed furniture around. It looks really nice and it’s very homely. It also feels like it has a lot more room too.

The first week I managed to get quite a bit of knitting and stuff done. Also got quite a bit done on the train up too, instead of working. Bliss! I had to come up on the Friday as A was filming on the Saturday and needed my help. He is currently at University studying media and editing. Part of his course this year is creating a short film (20 mins or so) and he has chosen his based on an Indie game. The actors and actresses he got were very nice and it seemed a good laugh all round.

So… photos!

I FINALLY got this finished!

I thought the best colour to go border it would be purple. It is pretty hard trying to get the correct amount of stitches up the side so it co-ordinates.

This photo is upside down but it shows the full effect. I do like it. I have sewn all the ends in now though.

I have knitted a newborn hat, mittens and booties set. I really like them and they knitted up quickly. I chose to knit these on dpns, rather than the straights the pattern called for so it would be easier than sewing up at the end. I did have to use straights for the booties though.

I started on some baby bibs when I was there too. I saw some basic ones on Ravelry and then decided to make them up myself. I had ordered some cotton online a few days beforehand and have really enjoyed working with it. Such vibrant colours.

I went around each bib with a white cotton border and finished each bib with a red apple button. I plan on using the same red button for each bib I make. I did see some with a green leaf on though, which I might change to instead. I’ve put them onto the baby doll and they fit really well. Being cotton they are easy to clean and wipe up, then stick in the washer. I’ve designed them so that they fit over the shoulders nicely rather than the plain circle. As you can see in the picture, I’ve not done terribly well, but practice makes perfect! I’m wondering whether to put some writing on it or not, such as the days of the week, or ABC.

I made this little jacket at the flat too, and finished off the buttons from my brothers house. (He has a gorgeous big glass bowl of buttons in his house). I am not a fan of the pattern and as such, probably won’t knit this again. I forgot to do a button hole at the bottom right hand corner but the button squeezes through anyway. It was knit on 5.5mm needles (size 9 US I think). I didn’t have my 5.5mm dpns for the sleeve so went round all the charity shops in the area to see if I could find any. None at all! Only two had any needles but not the size, and other charity shops refused to sell them! Dangerous apparently! That made me very angry. What nonsense! How is a knitting needle dangerous enough to refuse to sell? I’ve seen them sell knife sets, and tools. A sharpened pencil can do some damage, and a fork! Grrr…. Anyway, I checked out the proper yarn shops and the first one didn’t have any in that size so suggested the other shop. She was very helpful. The second shop was small and on my way back. The owner was talking to some customer for five minutes, and then when the customer was browsing I thought she would ask me if I needed help as she was not doing anything. I was looking through all the needles, back and forth, but no, nothing. Didn’t get a hello, nothing. Makes me mad too. I often find that since I am a younger knitter, people don’t bother with me in their shops. I was in the same shop two days previously buying cotton yarn from her! Grr… again!

I found this pile of squares in another charity shop and thought I might be able to do something with them. They are not great colours but I thought they would work for a simple quilt that I could take to the beach or use outside. The squares were roughly 5″ by 5″. I sewed in columns and then rows. I then backed it with wadding and yellow fleece fabric. The fabric is so smooth!

I also changed the squares so they were opposite sides to each other, e.g. the straight up and down blue, and the across blue.

Lovely and soft and warm! Mum has been testing it out in the kitchen and she says it is very warm! ❤

Whilst at the flat A showed me his shirt and asked if I had a needle and thread so he could mend his shirt. I was impressed that he wanted to do it himself! I didn’t at the time (I did, I found some later in my bag!) so I bought him a mini sewing kit from the pound shop. I showed him how to start and stop handstitching and how to do a simple mending stitch. I’m very impressed with the good job he did.

Be prepared for absolute cuteness in the next photo! This gorgeous little lady is Livvy, my brother and his partners puppy. She is a Collie dog and is adorable. How can you not fall in love with that little face?? We had a bit of a panic with her at first. The day after he got her she started having fits which is obviously really scary. I think she had eight in five days. When they took her to the vet they had blood tests and so on and had to wait a week for the results. During that time she didn’t have anymore. We thought perhaps she was epileptic but the results showed she has no problems whatsoever! Turns out she had had a bad reaction to the worming tablets she was given by the previous owner. But now that it has worked out of her system she is a happy, healthy, chatty dog who loves company. ❤

I had a good look through all the baby stuff I’ve made over the past few years. I’m pretty impressed with it all. Can you guess how many cardigans and jumpers I’ve made altogether? 23!! So happy with them all. The only thing I found was that I’ve been pretty lazy and not sewn in the ends on quite a few items, so that needs done. I’ve put all the items that that needs doing to in a biggish box in the cupboard, right at the front. When I have a spare hour I’m going to pull out that box and try and get them all done in one go. Fun….not!

And what am I going to make next?

I’m working on making some crocheted baby rattles. I’ve actually made a tutorial for the first part as I work through it, bit by bit. It’s a little late to be doing that now (half past midnight) so I’ll try and get it up tomorrow.

Have a great evening!

xXx Love Kais xXx