happy mothers day

Today is Mothers Day in Australia.

As a daughter, it is a day for letting my mum know how much she means to me, and for reminding me to treasure her the whole year through. I hope she likes her present - a hat made using this pattern by Rachel of i dream of knitting. The bone coloured wool was inherited from my mother's sister, who died in a car accident six years ago, and the blue soy/cotton was left over from a dress that I made for her youngest granddaughter.


As a mother, it is a day to appreciate my children and give myself a day off. I love the fact that within Olive's playgroup, every single one of us mums has bought our own Mothers Day present. My gift to myself is this gorgeous print by Tollipop.

I am in love with this painting, which has helped me to do so much more than just make the house look pretty. Immediately after Aggie was born (six weeks ago already!), I became haunted by the number three. I have three children, three daughters, but only two of them are living. Having a new baby is a stark reminder of all that I missed out on when Millie died, and yet there is so little in the material world to reflect her huge presence in my heart. So this simple painting has helped me enormously, serving as a visible and permanent acknowledgement that we have three girls. Later today, we will take some flowers to the cemetery and my family will be together for the first time.

free knitted newborn beehive hat pattern

I made this hat for my daughter while I was in hospital after her birth, using her head as a guide. She is on the smallish side - weighing just under 3kg. It is a very quick and easy knit - great as a last minute project.

materials
small amount DK/8 ply yarn
US size 4 (3.5mm) straight needles
stitch holder
darning needle

hat front
CO 34 stitches
row 1: P
row 2: K
row 3: P
rows 4-9: repeat rows 1-3 two more times
row 10: P
row 11: K
repeat rows 10-11 until you have 27 rows of straight stitch
cut yarn and transfer to a stitch holder

hat back
as per front

finishing
With right sides together, use three needle bind-off technique to attach the hat front and back at the top.
Sew sides together.
Place atop the head of the nearest new baby!

knitted fruit and vegetables

In preparation for Olive's birthday (it's not until the 12th of April but the plan is to induce her little sister around the 31st of May, so I'm guessing I won't have much time closer to the date), I have been busily knitting. She always plays with the plastic play food at playgroup and childcare but I couldn't bring myself to buy any of that plastic crap so I have been making knitted versions instead. The best thing is, with thanks to Ravelry, I was able to find all of the patterns for free.

So, with an excited little drum roll, here are the results!



Pear, apple and lemon patterns were from Peachcake Knits. And the orange was made by adjusting the apple pattern.

The banana was made using Allison Judge's Baby Fruit & Veggie Rattle patterns. The shape is great but it is remarkably small compared with Australian bananas.

The three strawberries are from PezDiva. So very, very quick to make!



Corn and mushroom patterns are by Kimberly Chapman.

The carrot, cucumber and eggplant were all made using Allison Judge's Baby Fruit & Veggie Rattle patterns. I love the cucumber and eggplant but the carrot is in definite need of a bit more tapering.

Pumpkin pattern is available as a Ravelry download by Jan Lewis.

The cute (but giant!) pea pod is courtesy of Hannah Kaminsky. Although I did lengthen the pod by an extra 10 rows so that I could fit in an extra pea.

The teeny tiny summer squash is by Gerwerken. Don't miss the correction, too.

The avocado is just a dark green pear as above but wihout the stem and leaf.

And lastly, the tomato was my own pattern.


Perhaps I am a little crazy for having knitted so many of these, but I am sane by comparison with the contributors to the fabulously funny Why would you knit that? My pick for the craziest knit is the placenta, but I have to admit that I find the knitted dissected lab rat and frog strangely beautiful ...

free knitted egg pattern

This pattern was originally based on curlypurly's colourful egg but I had trouble understanding the instructions so I made my own then adjusted them, adjusted, and adjusted until finally by my sixth egg I had something that I'm happy with.

Materials
Yarn: I used 8 ply (DK). Only a very small amount is required.
Needles: 4.0mm (US size 6) dpn's
Stuffing
Darning needle

Gauge: Doesn't matter, just make it tight

Abbreviations
CO = cast on
K = knit
K2tog = knit 2 together
Kfb = knit into front and back of next stitch
st = stitches

Instructions
CO 6
Tuck tail upwards so that it will be hidden inside the egg.
round 1: [K1, Kfb] to end of round (9 st)
round 2: [K2, Kfb] (12 st)
round 3: [K1, Kfb] (18 st)
round 4: [K1, Kfb] (27 st)
round 5: K
round 6: [K8, Kfb] (30 st)
rounds 7-12: K 6 rounds
round 13: [K8, K2tog] (27 st)
round 14: [K7, K2tog] (24 st)
round 15: [K6, K2tog] (21 st)
round 16: [K5, K2tog] (18 st)
round 17: K
round 18: [K4, K2tog] (15 st)
round 19: K
stuff
round 21: [K3, K2tog] (12 st)
round 22: K (12 st)
round 23: [K2tog] (6st)
Cut off and run thread through stitches, pulling tightly. Hide tail inside egg.

free knitted tomato pattern

Yay!! My first ever knitting pattern!

Materials
Yarn: I used 8 ply (DK) in red and green. Only a very small amount is required.
Needles: 4.0mm (US size 6) dpn's & crochet hook
Stuffing
Darning needle

Gauge: Doesn't matter, just make it tight

Abbreviations
CO = cast on
dpn = double pointed needle
k = knit
k2tog = knit 2 together
kfb = knit into front and back of next stitch
st = stitches

Instructions
CO 6 stitches onto a single dpn
round 1: without turning (as if making an i-cord), kfb every st onto 3 needles (12 st)
Tuck tail into centre.
round 2: k
round 3: k1, kfb (18 st)
round 4: k
round 5: k2, kfb (24 st)
round 6: k
round 7: k3, kfb (30 st)
round 8: k
round 9: k5, kfb (35 st)
rounds 10-16: k 7 rounds
round 17: k5, k2tog (30 st)
round 18: k
round 20: k3, k2tog (24 st)
round 21: k
round 22: k2, k2tog (18 st)
round 23: k
Stuff.
round 24: k1, k2tog (12 st)
round 25: k1 in green, k1 in red
Cut and tie off red yarn and tuck into centre.
round 26: k2tog in green (6 st)
Cut off green yarn, leaving long tail.
Using darning needle, thread tail through remaining stitches and tie off.
Thread yarn through centre of tomato to base and back again to give an indentation at the top. Knot again.
Crochet a chain of about 5 stitches to make a stalk.
Using darning needle, thread yarn back down stalk and into tomoto. Cut off.
You're done!

nesting tree

So here it is: The first thing I have made to give to the new baby.

I used this pattern from Knitty but changed the colours and pocket design to make it less girly and more forest kawaii.

I have started nesting in proper, getting up in the middle of the night to craft.
I have another reason for crafting like crazy too - it keeps my mind off the fact that I've hit the scary 30-week mark of the pregnancy. There is a peak danger period for stillbirth between 30 and 34 weeks and Millie died at 33 weeks. There is no particular reason why it would happen to us again but then again, there is no reason why it wouldn't. Please be okay, baby.

knitting back on track

Well. Sort of.


I'd like to introduce you to Mr Dangly.
He was made using a free pattern by Hannah Simpson of Cakeyvoice.

And he's very cute!


He will serve as a present to be given from the new baby to Olive.
So while I still haven't made anything for new bubs, at least I have started preparing for her arrival.

toadstool hat

Back during Vintage Children's Book Ilustration Week I spied some adorable toadstool hats from the Red Tops books on the excellent Bird Bath blog. I was all inspired and as soon as I had finished my mammoth knitting UFO, got out my needles to make a similar hat for Olive.

Well, it doesn't look much like the hats from the pictures, nor does it come even close to fitting Olive's head. But I might get some use out of it myself on cold days when I am feeling a bit silly.

And in a moment of synchronicity, after photographing my new hat this afternoon I went to the local Vinnies and found my very own copy of the Red Tops!

TGIF - thank god it's finished!

You may remember that quite some time ago, I vowed to get serious about my UFOs. They had spilled out of the "finishing" box and onto my desk and the floor, where they had taken up permanent residence.

This was one of the worst: a knitted sampler blanket that I started after Millie (my first baby) died to provide myself with a distraction on the train to work each day instead of crying the whole way. It did prove to be good therapy for me, I used up most of my leftover yarns and I learnt lots of new stitches along the way but

I ran out of enthusiasm when it came to sewing all of the samples together, which instead spent close to two years in a pile on the living room floor.


Until now!



I am so happy to have it finished.

finished objects 3 & 4

It's TAFE holidays and I'm catching up, both with blogging and with crafting. So I am very pleased to be able to show you the next installment in the mission to rid myself of UFOs.


This is a pencil case that I put aside about six weeks ago when I realised that hand sewing was required. How slack!


Now it is finished and I am using it to carry around some little bits of embroidery that I'm working on.


This is a hat that I knitted before Olive was born. That was over eleven months ago! I had originally planned on making it look like a baby chicken, to be worn at Easter time. But I couldn't figure out a way of making the features that I thought wouild look alright.


So now it is an egg hat instead!
I have to admit that this wasn't the best photo of the hat that I took today, but it was the cutest picture of Olive. And I'd much rather show her off than my knitting ;)

preparing for 2008

I re-enrolled at TAFE yesterday - I shall be attempting Design and Tapestry next semester. It was surprisingly quick, thanks to my unplanned late arrival, but still took much longer than it should have. I had to line up SEVEN times, each time to see someone who would say hello, look at my forms and make one small change, then say goodbye and shuffle me off to the next queue. Madness.
My mum has asked for an Olive calendar for Christmas and today's photoshoot was for October (Halloween) so I finally have some good shots of the pumpkin outfit I made before Olive was born. The hat was slightly modified from this book and the dress was my own design.
Don't fret! I do make things that are for grown-ups too, and will hopefully have a new bag and pencil case ready to show you within the week. I got a little distracted making a cloth girl inspired by the oh-so charming paper dolls of ana ventura and miaki. I'll show you when she's done!

a beginning

Oh no! I am overcome with new blogger's shyness. But I am determined to use this as a means to expand my playtimes in the craft room to something a little more. So I will start not with something that I have made but rather that I whipped up: two tea cosies inherited from my great aunties (Connie and Pearl - I love old lady names) with the handle and spout holes whip-stitched together to make hats for my gorgeous girl, Olive.