New Arrival

I never finished my short blog about the arrival of our new baby. I'd had to pop in for a visit to the assessment unit the week before her arrival as I'd panicked that her movement pattern had changed (it was fine). The assessment unit was so reassuring, everyone so kind, after I had cried down the phone... I sat in the waiting room for about an hour, as the unit was so busy, luckily I had brought my crochet project with me (below) and I finished it a couple of days before Robyn was born.

My finished cushion. Next time I think I would use a smaller hook and try to make it denser so less of the cushion pad is visible. Rich did suggest I stitch a coloured cushion pad prior to covering it with the crochet but I was feeling very lazy about the finishing and didn't want to. It would have looked better if I did. I love the cushion, it's so jolly and has inspired me to begin another project once I've finished my current crochet blanket WIP. I have a sweet little Ikea chair which was bought 10 years ago in the run-up to James's birth. Its cover is well worn, has holes, has been dyed to cover stains, has faded... It's very tired! New covers are available from the Ikea website but I thought it would be nice to crochet a cover for it, it will have to be fairly dense to prevent stretching and sagging but I'll mull it over... Perhaps I'll rope in Rich's mum to help me sew a new cover instead.

Once Rich suggested the name Robyn I was very sure that was the name and didn't waver at all. My mum and nana both loved the name (hooray!), mum bought this sleepsuit for her and I hung it up next to the bed. It's an odd time because you are very aware that nothing is set in stone until your baby is safely delivered and for some reason this was playing on my mind a lot. I liked to look at the tiny clothes and wonder what our little baby would be like when she arrived.

Here she is, wearing another robin themed sleepsuit I found on eBay. The birth was very straightforward and happened overnight in the midwife-led unit at the big university hospital in Newcastle Under Lyme. I was bowled over by how fancy it was, big room with a huge bath for hydrotherapy (if you fancied). The labour was a little erratic and much slower than Oliver's, however it soon sped up after my waters had been broken by the midwife and Robyn had arrived an hour later. I remember being near to the end, knowing I needed to push and I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to have to push! They could tell though and push I did.

Robyn and I at the hospital, not long after the birth. None of the hats I had packed fit her, they were all too big for her little head. I was run a lovely deep hot bath by the healthcare assistant who followed this up by bringing me the most incredible plate of toast I have ever seen (8 rounds!). I think the toast was to be shared between me, my mum and Rich but I ate most of it cold after I'd had a nap.

We were discharged at midday, me with a revolting 10 days' worth of subcutaneous injections as a parting gift which I did not want. The scene the following morning as Rich got the boys ready for school and I sat there with this uncapped injection, trying to muster up the courage to administer it was ridiculous. It took me about 20 minutes to psych myself up to do it (I think we all have something which makes us a bit silly, mine is injections). In the end I found that doing it very slowly worked for me, firmly pressing it against my skin till it went in - I found this tip online. The injections were to prevent DVT, which has been found to be a leading cause of maternal death (who knew!), so obviously I had to be a brave woman and crack on.

Here is the other crochet project I had cast on or hooked prior to Robyn's arrival, it's the Spicier Life CAL by Sandra Paul (Cherry Heart). I managed to crochet my way through the first 4 sections before setting it aside in order to finish a cardigan which I will write a blog about soon. Having pulled it out today I am very dissatisfied with the combination of yarns I used, yes, I wish I had used sock yarn and mohair only ;-)

I may write a post about the wonderful knitted *things* I was given too! So many wonderful things!!! To end this post, a couple of pictures from when it finally snowed after a fairly mild and disappointing winter.

Matisse cardigan/Granny's Paperweight Blanket

This cardigan project was the product of my idle browsing of Instagram. I'm still not so keen on Instagram, especially since they changed the order in which they show you posts from people you follow, I also dislike how you can no longer whizz through a person's page if you're not signed in - thanks Facebook. I spotted the Matisse cardigan design via one of their algorithm's recommendations, a good example of an algorithm working well (rather than showing me SELFIES and wedding photos - I do not like these).

True to form, I ended up not finishing this cardigan, instead it was re-purposed into a blanket for the new baby (it's the perfect size for a cot bed). I had completed the body of the cardigan and having tried it on I realised I wouldn't wear it when it was finished. It had a bit too much going on and was a little clown-style for me, not at all like the original design which looked great with its colour palette. Crafty chic! I'm always drawn in by good garment styling, in this case the model in the garden with her floaty dress really appealed to me (and still does, I love that cardigan!).

The little hexagons are quite (very) addictive to crochet, I absolutely LOVE them. Each was made using scrap yarns, hand-dyed yarns and kid-silk, so double-stranded. I found it nice to have the neutral blue colour as a final single crochet edging. I hand-stitched the blanket together rather than joining as I went, it looked a little neater.

See! Cot bed size really... It's laid on our double bed here. It was lovely and warm to work on, I did a lot of the finishing during a cold spell when our boiler had broken and took days to fix.

Little Robyn is a lucky girl, I might have to start another of these at some point for me, it's definitely my most favourite crochet project ever and something I hope she will treasure.

Christmas Dress

 Earlier in 2019 I cast on a Christmas dress, nice and early so that I would have the time to ensure I finished it. The base pattern is House Dressing by The Flying Yak on Ravelry (here), I knew I could get just the right fit if I used this pattern rather than the disappointment which was my 2018 Christmas dress. I really like Christmas hand-knits and plan a jumper for 2020, I'll probably knit a little cardigan or dress for the baby too (once she's here safely).

The dress was picked up and put down at various points during the year, I drank many mugs of tea as I knit and many tins of flavoured coke/lemonade as I found I'd got quite a taste for those during the summer months. The reindeer-y chart I used on the hem of the dress was one I found while I was browsing google images, I pulled it (creditless) from Pinterest. I've noted this on my Ravelry project page but if anyone recognises the chart and knows its origin then please let me know if you have a minute spare, thank you!
I struggled with the fit of the bodice when knitting my original House Dressing - looked like a shapeless sack when I'd finished... I re-knit it following the instructions for Ruis by Jatta Pauliina, an incredibly flattering dress I really would like to knit again at some point.
I gave my red Ruis dress away in the years following the birth of my second son Oliver as I felt it was too form-fitting particularly as I'd put on weight... Vain I know but you've got to feel good in your clothes!!!!
I tried and tried to lose that weight, I remember pounding the pavements up and down the hills of Biddulph Moor at night, getting those 10,000 steps in (at as high a speed as possible) under the cover of darkness. Nothing doing. One morning I happened to read an article in the paper about sugar - here (it's LONG!), it made sense to me, I ordered Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar book from ebay, a book I had in the past stuck my fingers up at because she looked so smug on the cover and WHY would anyone in their right mind give up lovely SUGAR!?
Ha! I found out why... Interestingly, after I stopped eating sugar the weight gradually just went away, as did the spots, the mouth ulcers and all sorts. Re-visiting A-level biology last year certainly helped me understand all the science a little better, just in terms of how the body uses/stores sugars and why. Anyway, I'm not hungry all the time like I used to be, although I probably eat a little too much in the way of butter... I LOVE buttered toast.

True to form, the photos are a bit overexposed, but you get an idea of the dress on and can see there's plenty of room for the baby too. I'm a little concerned that I'll have to re-knit the bodice at a later date as my bust is usually naturally nowhere near its current size. We'll see how it looks either next Christmas or Christmas 2021 and I'll go from there. It's only a few days' knitting in any case. Also! I have no idea what went on with my sleeves but they're quite generous in size, probably a little too much information here but I do tend to run fairly hot and find that I perspire accordingly! I always mean to buy dress shields to protect my knitted dresses, then I forget to and have to resort to wads of folded toilet paper which is great till they become dislodged! Bane of my life while I was at school and college... I do find that Driclor helps if I can stand to fall asleep with it applied, but I can rarely withstand the awful itchiness it causes and I end up rinsing it off too soon.

I did knit the under-bust rib (which cinches the dress in) a little shorter than I did for my blue House Dressing (below). I'd intended to wear this one on Christmas day and was trying to accommodate the bump but also to reduce any likelihood of the garment stretching out of shape.

I do wonder whether this will be the last time I knit this pattern combination (House Dressing/Ruis). I love the big skirt and the fitted bodice

Felix Cardigan

Felix is a jumper pattern by US designer Amy Christoffers. I like Amy's patterns, they bob in and out of my queue (one day I will knit a Larch cardigan). Anyway, this one popped up in my Ravelry pattern recommendations list, along with a cardigan variation, to which I thought "ooh!". A quick browse through my stash unearthed 4 hanks of gorgeous Berroco Alpaca Classic worsted weight yarn I had bought to knit a shrug in 2018 - Felix cardigan was happening.
I've been methodically finishing all my projects-in-progress recently, working towards a clean slate. I've found that as I've settled down and am feeling less stressed that I have less of a burning desire to cast things on "right now!". I worked this cardigan up alongside my current crochet project, the fabulous Matisse cardigan - it's always good to have some plain knitting to bundle into a bag. Matisse isn't quite as readily portable due to my working method which requires that I bring MANY colour options for the next round, but I'll share my progress/method in a separate post at some point.

Here's the finished cardigan, all ruckled up on one side, still, you can see how good it is for layering. I knit the first size as it gave me 3" positive ease (currently) although once my bust returns to its usual size this will mean the cardigan will fit with the recommended 6" of positive ease. The sleeves seemed small once I had cast on the underarm stitches and knit a few inches. I decided to cast on an extra 6 stitches (I was knitting them flat, top-down) and then I knit a small rectangular panel  to fill the subsequent gap and stitched it all together once I had cast off. Of course I only needed to do this bodging on the first sleeve, the second one had the addition of 6 stitches to the recommended underarm cast-on number right from the get-go. You can't see the fix really as I'm fortunately good at seaming stocking stitch, I quite enjoy it!

The colour is a little less vibrant in real life, it seems to have more of a pastel sherbet feel to it instead (I love it). I was a little worried it might be slightly itchy due to the alpaca content of the yarn but it's next to the skin soft for me. I'm a little fussy about yarn softness, I find that I don't wear the garments I have knit from so-called 'itchy' yarns (which many people find to be not itchy at all!), a good example here would be Istex Lettlopi which is beautiful stuff, lovely to knit with, just not as soft as Shetland wool (my favourite).

I found some pictures of my other Amy cardigans, above, Pomme de Pin, a cardigan I knit in cotton yarn and which would have been LOVELY knit with wool.

And the lovely Maxfield cardigan, finished just before Oliver was born in 2013. This pattern used a variegated yarn for the CC and was the first time I had seen a pattern I liked which used variegated yarn (I used to really dislike the look). I have to say, my preference remains with 'flat' uniform colours, although sometimes they're a little less fun to knit with.

Greis

I started a Greis dress (pattern by Kate Davies, part of her Knitting Season club) after feeling quite swept up in the enthusiasm of Stacy who had been planning her version ever since she saw a photo of Kate wearing the dress at an awards evening. Stacy's dress is absolutely perfect, as is the version knit by Beverley, both knitters have added very useful notes to their projects - I love useful notes, I get annoyed when people on Ravelry leave a low star rating for a pattern and no notes to explain why/warn others of a pattern issue, thanks for that! (not).
Anyway, I wasn't about to buy more yarn to knit this one, luckily I had a cone of J&S 2-ply jumper weight in a lovely rich tea biscuit sort of a shade. Perfect! Knitting began during all the uncertainty about starting university and was quite a comfort.

I've decided to frog the finished garment (I know...) only because it is so massive. I assumed I had chosen my usual needles, sadly I had not and had instead knit the entire garment on 4mm needles. Being a horribly "whatever!" sort of a knitter, I'm OK with this, the yarn will be re-purposed, I had the enjoyment of knitting the design, the comfort of the colours and the wool. Knitting did its job.

Looks fine here doesn't it? Certainly hides the protruding stomach. Well I can tell you, it's way too big, it's like a big sack! A big beautiful sack and even with the temporary baby-related bust enlargement it's not doing me any favours (in my opinion). I'm absolutely NOT fishing for compliments here, just sharing my opinion on my own finished project and the mistake I made/the result. Gauge, tension, swatch, swatch, swatch. I just wrote those final words in the full knowledge that I'll likely not swatch any future projects. I may check the gauge as I'm knitting though!

The Big Marl again

I made a big marl in 2018 as I had splurged on lots of hand-dyed yarn I had no idea what to do with, also because it looked so cosy, also because it is garter stitch! I love garter stitch! The blanket worked up fast, I remember taking it along with me to a wedding reception and working on it both en route (was a long drive) and while we waited for the food to be served.

I gave this first Big Marl to my sister Sam but it ended up downstairs as my mum also likes to use it, when Josie visits she also likes to curl up underneath it (Josie is the most nesh person I've ever known!). As Josie really liked the blanket I decided to knit her one for her 30th birthday present.

I've used more colours than I first intended. Josie is really fussy about colour, loves lemon yellow, dislikes mustard... I had forgotten just how much yarn this blanket takes to knit however and ended up just having fun with it and using colours I felt worked fairly well together. I added pom poms because Josie likes that sort of thing :-)
It's been a good project to be finishing up over the last 48 hours after the boiler broke, it's been lovely and warm on my lap... Every year the boiler breaks, always when we really need it, it never likes to break in the Summer! Unfortunately replacing it (as I would like to do) isn't up to us as the house is rented. I can't tell you how much I hate renting, everything simply being left to break before it gets fixed or replaced. The carpets.... The carpets are always the cheapest thinnest carpets and always seem to have been fitted by an odd-job man (because it's cheaper) and they subsequently ruckle up because fitting carpets is similar to stretching a canvas, they need stretching and fixing into place by a professional! Oh well. I have to remind myself that life isn't about home ownership (although that is one of the reasons I am re-training, so we can get a flaming mortgage).

But the Big Marl! The pattern is a free Hedgehog Fibres one, the only modification I made was the increases, I did a single increase per row into the second stitch, decreased the same way (into the second stitch of each row) and I omitted the I-cord edging.

Eunice Cardigan

I can't remember where I spotted this design, I think it was probably on Instagram and as often seems to be the case with me, it proved to be a 'must cast on now' sort of project. It's been quite a long-term project, I find colourwork cardigans often are (I lose steam with them). The pattern is by Mary Henderson and is called Eunice Cardigan (The Knitter, Issue 136 - available digitally).

It is such a warm and cosy cardigan, I'm absolutely delighted with the finished garment! You can see the deep corrugated rib edging, this took ages but I started using a technique mentioned by Constance on her podcast (Stitching Over the Days), said technique simply involves working on a particular project for 30 minutes a day. I think Constance said she learnt of this idea from another podcast and found it really helpful - as have I! A row of the corrugated rib took me half an hour, so it was quite slow-going but I found that as I chipped away at it that the cast-off began to loom! Hooray!

I think I mentioned before that this cardigan was inspired by my return to education as a mature student and by my time at the wonderful Leek College. I had intended to get this cardigan done to wear during my first term at university this October, however my unplanned pregnancy put paid to that. I'm loath to describe it as being a disappointment as I am aware just how lucky I am, I think it was more the practicalities, plan changes and worries that I'm going to be spread a bit thin this time next year.

I have been thinking about my plan to knit loads of dresses over the next year and shaking my head at my queue as I have been planning lots of cardigans instead! I recently stumbled upon the fabulous designs of Helene Arnesen, aka Fabel Knitwear... Uh oh, I want to knit ALL of her patterns, they are so chic and feminine. Helene has a podcast too, if you search Fabel Knitwear on YouTube. I don't watch many podcasts but I like hers very much.

An unnecessary challenge for no real reason!

I am a little bored this morning and having subsequently made my way to Ravelry I was mulling over all the dresses I have queued and then un-queued over the years. Add to this all the dresses I have knit, the ones I have loved and the ones I have frogged. I really love knitting dresses, possibly as the shops often don't have knitted dresses that I particularly like.

This dress is based on a Kate Davies tunic cardi pattern called Scatness. Learnt a lot about shaping with this one! It still needs some TLC/editing (I'm going to cut out the 'saddlebags' and seam the gaps at some point).

Frogged! A version of Caviar Dress which lacked drape.

Anyway! I was thinking about the Ravelry personal challenge feature (I like this) and then thinking about challenging myself to knit/crochet as many dresses as I can during a 12-month period of time, not starting in the New Year because I have time NOW as I'm not able to start university as planned this month.

My Betty Mouat dress, I only re-knit the bodice this June due to my bust shrinking after breastfeeding. Said bust has re-grown over the summer, I remember saying to Rich that I couldn't understand why ladies had boob jobs when they could just take the pill I was mistakenly attributing my bust growth to (I had been off the pill for some time due to it affecting my mood). I sometimes wonder if me re-training to be a radiographer is the best course of action as I can be a bit thick sometimes!

Stretching out my poor old Kiloran dress when pregnant with little James in 2011. The dress didn't recover from its stretching but did see my through a particularly cold winter (for the UK).

Pleated dress by Vladimir Teriokhin, frogged as I didn't like the yarn, it was very heavy. This one has been on my mental 'must re-knit' list for a long time. Shetland wool + mohair for lightweight fuzz and soft drape with a bit of memory. Below is a second Kiloran which also got stretched out of shape...

My challenge plan is simply to use my Dress bundle on Ravelry as inspiration, I don't plan to queue any dresses (I often go off them if you're sat in my queue for some reason), I would love to knit some Summer ones, oh, and have lots of fun!