Socks, sox, socks!

Finished my third pair of sox today. First time I have knitted sox for about 30 years. They have such wonderful sock wool now! I am about to start another pair (first for hubby!) and am going to attempt to use my brand new circular wooden circular needle. Better make these quite plain..

I bought the wool mostly from Spotlight and on special which means that I can get a ball of wool which will knit 3 socks for about $7. What to do with the extra bits of wool? I am considering this free pattern but not sure yet how to put the bits and pieces of the rainbow wool together..

Sewing 2011

This year probably the most I have churned out would be merino wear. Baby tights and onsies, long sleeved tops for Miss22 and myself, a polo top for hubby and of course a number of pairs of tights and the odd cardi and some baby sleeping bags.

Petone shopping

Today I went to a gorgeous little shop in Petone, Wellington, New Zealand. Called Holland Road Yarn Company it features lovely wool, excellent range of needles, different from the normal wool shop. I particularly liked the beautiful knitted pieces on display but probably the best thing about this shop was the lovely young lady who was most helpful and was happy to share her own quite different project that she was working on. (It was also pretty neat to see that she was also an apple mac fan!!) You can read about them at their website. I have bought some beautiful 2ply merino/silk and am going to attempt a shawl. Think this one will be easier than following a 20 row lace pattern!

I did buy a circular needle and and going to knit my next pair of sox on this quite 'tactile' resin set which will be much nicer and I am hoping faster and smoother to knit on than my steel set of 4 needles.

Baby Knitting

Was really enjoying pulling out the knitting needles and getting back to some tiny clothes. Was wondering if Mums these days still want hand knitted clothes. Opinion seems divided on that.

The little pink cardi was knitted in bamboo, which was really nice to knit and would be lovely to wear!

The Beginning

It seems a great time to begin my new blog as for the next 6 weeks I will be a rugby widow.

I have been thinking for a long timeof keeping a record of the things I do and make and see and like, all in one place. I have enjoyed seeing other clever people's blogs and thought what a good idea.

This year so far I have been busy (in my spare time!) sewing for My Hubby's latest grandson (and what a beauty he is too - one very objective opinion!) Being a Central Otago baby he needs all the warm clothes he can get! Here are some of the things I have made for him.

A quick and easy quilt/rug to make. Backed with polar fleece so its easy to throw in the wash.

I have made a few of these sleeping bags now. Have simplified the pattern and made it easier to make. I have made some with a cotton padding inside the

cotton outer and the Merino inner, have used two layers of merino and for a Summer weight one leave out the middle layer.

Thought that bubs had to have some woollen singlets and the only pattern I could find at the time was a sideways knitted style. It actually worked well and you could use the graph to make it bigger if you wanted. Bub's Mum very cleverly used them as vests over the Merino tops and thus eliminated any possibility of them being itchy.

They looked good too!

I found a pattern online for tights, straight, no feet and can be made in about 10 minutes.They are merino in varying weights.

The jacket was made from a nice brushed sweat shirting and the pants have feet in them.

I made a few of these onsies. The were much easier than I thought they would be. Have put buttons on them instead of domes and that has worked well. Some bibs were called for and again I found an online pattern. Had a go at making some shoes like the beautiful bobux ones. They were worked out well, not too fiddly. Would be easy to do in thin leather. These were done in in denim from some throwout jeans.