Baby, baby

 

My daughter has two pregnant friends at the moment, one of whom is expecting twins, so I've been raiding the stash to try and get some things knitted.  The little wrap over sweater above is from a french pattern by Bouton D'or.  It comes in translation but this particular one had been a bit scrambled in the process - left and right  had been confused in several places and not consistently so it was a bit of a trial and error job.  

Having determined not to buy yarn, I now find buttons very much in short supply so will have to find a site that sells assorted buttons in bulk as those little cards have become horrendiously expensive, I think.

This little blue waistcoat is quite cute but uses 10-12 buttons depending on the size.  I thought it might be a useful garment to add an extra layer on top of a sleepsuit.

Unfortunately, time gained by not having to knit sleeves is lost again by having to knit front, neck and armhole borders containing buttonholes.  The blue yarn is some of my Australia bounty and knits as 4ply - I don't know its content but it's very soft and machine washes OK.

I'm now knitting a pink cardigan in another 4ply which I know is machine washable wool - hope one of the three babies is a girl!  Everyone we know who has had a baby in the last two years, has had a boy, so the pink cardi may have to wait with the little lavender pinafore I knitted a few months ago.  Found a grateful home for the sailor jumper though!

We've been plagued by technology this week.  Husband's laptop  has a broken screen which sometimes works and sometimes goes black so he has to link up to a monitor, my camera doesn't hold the charge in its battery for more than an hour, and the central heating needs an expensive powerflush - hate the end of January.....

Friend for life

A kind reader emailed me to ask about the well loved toy dog at the top of the blog - what was his story she asked, and was he for sale?   This chap has been with me for nearly all my life, he was a first birthday present (as the photo shows, he was somewhat whiter and fluffier then).  Since then he has played a part in numerous games - including being tied onto the newel post of the staircase of the house where we lived in Bristol where he became the head of an imaginary horse harnessed with reins (the sort small children used to wear made of leather and decorated with bells) and has subsequently sat on the ends of beds and shelves during college, early jobs in residential children's homes and eventually in our own homes- this being the seventh house we've owned and the eleventh place I've lived.  He's had a varied life!

He's looking his age a bit now, a bit bald around the eyes (one of which has been sewn back on several times), and his felt ear linings are a bit the worse for wear, but he hasn't lost any of his stuffing and I think he's enjoying his new status meeting new people.  Oh, nearly forgot, his name's Bouncer.

Bear Essentials

Thanks to prompt despatch by the folks at Christie Bears, eyes nose and stuffing for bear came and I was able to complete him whilst still snowed in.  He's adapted from a pattern by Alan Dart that appeared in Simply Knitting magazine issue 40 and was a very simple knit.  I used Paton's Whisper as I'd been given it as a gift, but the pattern is for Sirdar Funky Fur.  He's really quite large - about 20", knitted in this yarn (but I think the original is smaller) and well stuffed will stand up unsupported.

In a good light he's quite sparkly.  I don't usually knit much with fancy yarn, prefering natural fibres, but it was really quite fun and he suits the weather rather, I think.  Even M thinks he's rather splendid.

It's been raining today and snow is starting to thaw but I don't think I'll try to get out until it's less slippery under the slush - at least the car starts.  The end is in sight though, thank goodness.

Fuzzy logic

The advantage to just not being able to get out is that there's nothing to distract you from getting a few projects finished.  I've been knitting away happily this week in the pauses between the next meal, hot drink etc., and my fuzzy knitting is now finished and waiting for the postman to bring something to stuff it with and some proper eyes to replace the button I used as a prop.  He reminds me of the snowy tree outside.

I also found this waiting to be finished at the bottom of the  basket, so that's two things off the list.

Tomorrow, I may even sort through my stash.  I'm determined not to buy any yarn or fabric until I've used up some of what's here.  When my sister died about a year and a half ago, my kind brother-in-law sent me her stash from Australia - two large boxes!  It's quite exciting as it's not familiar yarns and I haven't quite decided what ply some of them are so it's trial and error.  I also have a pile of fabric sitting in baskets looking reproachful, some newish art materials and a screen printing kit  - all purchased at a time when I had some spare cash, in the expectation of being very hard up once we'd moved here and becoming permanent carer.  I'm hoping eventually to put some things on sale but I need to get them made first, and before that I've baby gifts to make - when I know the sex of the babies, and some curtains! The snow's done me a big favour as it's just not possible to go out at present except to the local shop, so no-one can expect you to!

Hope you're all warm and cosy.

Snow again

Still snowed in here although we can see the main road working perfectly 50 yards away.  The sunshine has transformed the views yet again.

 

Beautiful to look at but frustrating when you need to collect a prescription! I'd like to get a photo of the snow with one of our gas lamps - we really are in Narnia as the lamps are supposed to have inspired C.S.Lewis.

Blue snow

The view from our window first thing today had a strange blue tint.