A little bit of colour…

These were going to be a beautiful little pair of plain cream bootees with tiny daisies sewn on them. I imagined that my baby might wear them with a little dress smocked and embroidered with more little, tiny, daises. That was because I was CONVINCED I was having a little girl, but today’s scan has conclusively shown that the Bunkey is a boy! And (after a little wistful sigh – only a very little sigh) I am delighted. I do love little boys, they always seem somehow more sensitive and innocent then little girls but maybe that is just the ones I have met. Besides, one day I will have a little girl to make dresses for and knit little lacy cardigans for. And in the meantime I’m planning on making a mini cricket jumper and some tiny but manly little jackets. I really am very, very happy.

Pattern: Zoe Mellor’s ‘50 baby bootees to knit’
Yarn: Jaeger Sienna 4-ply cotton
Needles: 2.75mm inox circulars

I know that I promised a picture of me and the bump in the Juno cardigan but I have been so busy lately and ill with a cold. The floods have been keeping everyone at work busy. Plus I’m in my dressing gown at the moment and I’m too lazy (and too comfy!) to go and get changed. ;-)

I almost forgot to say, Bryony asked in the comments to my last post about whether Juno was a bit chunky over the chest. It is fairly thick but the v-neck means it is still very flattering. I think that it would look great, regardless of how buxom one might be, as long as whatever you wear on the lower half balances it out.

Drum roll please….. Juno is finally finished!

Pattern: Juno Rowan Magazine 40
Yarn: Rowanspun Aran in Gables (It took less than 5 balls, which at only 3.50 each from Cucumberpatch means the cardigan only cost £17.50 – bargain!)
Needles: 5mm Denise interchangeables


This pattern was easy and it was a quick knit. I know it has taken me months to finish but that is because I was just not knitting! In actual knitting hours this comes together very quickly.

I like the design, I love the cabling and I think this will look great with a pair of jeans. I ended up going down a needle size even though I got gauge with the 5.5mm because I preferred the fabric on the smaller needles. I made the smallest size and didn’t bother altering it to account for the change in needles because for some reason all my knits from Rowan magazines have come out bigger than expected. This was no exception: on the smaller needles it is the perfect size.

I think with knitting the real proof of how good a project is, is how much it gets worn. I’ll have to let you know on that!

Anyway, now that this is out of the way I’m really enjoying the mystery lace although I’ll have to catch up this week. I’ve only just finished clue 1! But it can be my train knitting now, so it will soon speed up.

I can’t tell you what a weight off my shoulders it is to have finally finished Juno. I was feeling a bit of a knitting fraud while it was gathering dust on my needles.

Maybe I’ll do a post later in the week with a photo of me and the little bump wearing Juno. I always like to see people wearing the clothes they’ve made.

A little mouse with clogs on...

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the Bunkey's forthcoming arrival. It really meant a lot to me.

I’m feeling pretty relaxed after two weeks holiday but I’m not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I just hope there haven’t been any disasters while I’ve been away.

Monkey and I had a lovely holiday, we started off in the Ribble Valley in Lancashire, which is a truly beautiful place. It is how I would imagine the Shire would look in the Lord of the Rings, so it didn’t surprise me when I did a quick google search and found this article, which says that Tolkien was a frequent visitor to the area.

After a few days we moved on to Kilmarnock in Scotland and the next day went across to the Isle of Arran for two days to attend my friends’ wedding. It was really wonderful, Arran is just stunning - the perfect setting for a wedding.

We acquired a little hitchhiker along the way. I made it from the Lucinda Guy book ‘Designs for Kids’ as a present for my friend who bought me this book and another Lucinda Guy book when she found out I was pregnant. My friend knows me so well, I love all the patterns! Anyway since I made this I haven't been able to get the 'little mouse with clogs on' song out of my head so that explains the title of this post.

We came home via Wigan and Manchester and managed to catch up with relatives who live nearby. We saw my Aunt, Uncle and my cousins and their other halves. This was especially nice as the Monkey hadn’t really had a chance to meet them before and he really, really liked them which makes me happy because I know how lovely my relatives are and it is nice to share it!

We also went to see his Brother’s new house in Manchester which is by the Mersey and surprisingly quiet (I didn’t even realise the Mersey went through Manchester!)


Since we have got back we have been tiling, painting and generally decluttering in preparation for the baby. Who would have thought that it would already be so much work!! I’ve included a picture of the tiling - I know it isn’t that great but my Mum will want to see it because she received a panicky call from me when the tiles were sliding down the wall and adhesive was going everywhere on Friday (I’d applied way too much - oh well everyone has to learn).

On the knitting front, I’ve gone back to the Juno cardigan and have almost finished the collar so hopefully I’ll be able to finally post a proper finished item soon! About time...

Best wishes

A friend from where I used to work has just had a baby girl. So I’ve knitted the hat and bunny from Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino 2. They were so quick to knit, and I really like knitting with this wool.

I’m never sure what I think about horoscopes but sometimes there is a resemblance in people’s characters who were born in the same month, which is hard to explain. It’s my brother’s birthday in a few days time and when I heard about this baby being born, I remembered my Mum telling me about the horoscope she read when my brother was born. It said something like Aries is a happy, gambolling lamb. That certainly is the case for my brother - he is one of the most optimistic people and it would be rare to spot him without a smile. But it isn’t just that he is happy, he is one of those rare people who brings happiness wherever he goes. I can honestly say that I’ve never met anyone who dislikes him. Even in the worst moments of family life it will be him who makes people feel like laughing again. So, if I were to make a ‘fairy-tale’ wish for this new baby, it would be that they will share my brother’s gift for bringing happiness and being loved. But definitely not his untidiness or love of loud music ;-)

By the way, thank you for all the nice comments on the Celtic Stole. I’ve almost finished writing it up and then I’ll post it as a free pattern on my blog for anyone who is interested.

Project Spectrum: Celtic Knot Stole

First things first: Monkey did the honours and pulled a name out of the (knitted) hat. The winner is Seahorse! Congratulations - please could you email me and let me have the address you would like it posted to?

Details of the finished Celtic Knot Stole

Yarn: Posh Yarn Camilla 100% cashmere in Memories
Needles: 3.5mm Inox circulars
Blocked measurements: 35” by 65”

This is the yarn I won from Posh Yarn in the photo competition last year. Thank you Dee for the yarn. It is so soft and has been a delight to knit with. Plus I’ve already had so many compliments on the colour.

I’ve seen a few posts recently about why people knit and this led me to start thinking about myself (Monkey might say that wasn’t unusual!). There are a lot of reasons but one of them is that it is a chance to extend the fantasy stage of acquiring an item of clothing. I’m sure that most women will understand this stage when I explain it. It is that period of time from when you first spot the article of clothing in a shop/catalogue/pattern book, during which you think that the said article will, for example, make you more popular, make you better at your job or make the guy you’ve always fancied at school finally notice you. After wearing the article of clothing a number of times, you usually realise that this won’t happen. However, by then you’ll have already seen that life-changing pair of shoes that will do the trick instead.

Anyway, as I was saying, knitting extends this stage for me and the fantasies I can build up about a particular garment can be pretty far fetched by the time I finally cast off. While I was knitting this stole, I pictured myself as the heroine of some Victorian gothic novel. Standing on the heathered brink of a lonely moor wearing a dove-grey silk dress and desperately trying to escape from some mad woman locked in an attic. But nope, here I am in my flat cooking gingerbread and modelling this in some rather crumpled old clothes. But I still love it and every time I wrap it round my shoulders I do feel a little closer to the windswept moors!

FO: Eunny’s Endpaper Mitts

Pattern: Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang (free pattern)
Yarn: Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift in Old Gold and Plum wine (lovely names!) they took less than 1x25g ball in each colour!!
Needles: 2.25mm blue sky alpaca dpns and 2.75mm Brittany dpns

I love this pattern. It was great fun to knit and as I’ve said previously gave me the opportunity to learn some new techniques. I really enjoyed colour stranding and will definitely be looking out for more colour knitting projects to do. I am always really impressed with the thought Eunny puts into every detail of her designs - like the purl fake ‘seam’ down both sides of these - just perfect! I think that I’m going to get lots of wear out of these gloves because the plum wine colour is one of my favourites.

I apologise for my scarily pale skin in the photos ! I've included a picture of the reverse side of the knitting because I think the colour stranding method produces such a neat tidy finish!

I finally gave into temptation this week and bought some cute stitch markers from Knitz and Glitz. I bought the mobile charm versions and they are now firmly attached to my knitting tool bag. Aren’t the little glass sheep adorable. The markers were so reasonably priced I couldn’t resist.