What I made, by Sharon

As I've mentioned here before, I knit for a charity called AKWAK (Ausies Knitting for War Affected Kids). They ship warm woolies off to Syrian refugees. Here's a video of some of the 2022 distribution. In December and January we are doing a knit-a-long to knit a set, so I used up my left over 8-ply yarns to knit a hat, cowl, jumper and mittens. I'm a bit disturbed by the variety of striping patterns I used, but this will definitly keep a 3 year old warm as well as cute, and that's the point. Well, that and that I now only have a few grams of 8-ply scraps. My next set will be made of sock yarn scraps held triple, and Iam in absolutely no danger of running out of those! 

I was about to cast on a Baby Surprise Jacket for charity, when someone pointed out Joji Locatelli's first published pattern, a free baby cardigan .    Not gonna lie, mine does not look great - in fact, I would say it's downright amateurish. It looks like I tried hard, and it's definitly a wearable garment, but the neckline is weird and pulls i, and I think the striping would have looked better on a BSJ. Still, it's done - now onwards to better things. 

My niece is having a baby boy in February, so when some light blue sparkle yarn showed us in the mail, I knew what it needed to be. This is the Oh Baby! Cardi pattern by Roberta Rich. A really cute, simple top down, seam free, all in one baby quite. I had enough yarn left over that I made a matching hat. And then I got carried away, and decided to knit another one for KOGO (Knit One Give One). I wasn't quite paying attention, so I ended up making the large instead of the medium, and the Stranded in Oz Yarn I was using had less yardage and I realised I was going to run out of yarn. I striped  in some mystery left-overs, and a bit of the sparkle yarn, and I think it came out really well.   

I recently stumbled across Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surplice Jumper, and look how cute it is: Unfortunately, Schoolhouse Press doesn't actually sell the pattern - not even in an e-book with other patterns. So, I had to pretend it was 1990 (or 1970) and borrow it! Luckily Sonia had a copy of the very charming Knit One Knit All she could lend me. It's been a long time since I knit a pattern that is only available in a paper book! The cardigan is fairly simple. It would have only taken me three days, but I didn't read the instructions properly - for the Baby Surprise Jacket, Elizabeth has you put in two markers and increase on either side of them. for this you put in two markers and increase one each side of each marker. The pattern is clear, I just misread it. If (when) I make it again I'll make the sleeve extensions in ribbing, or on a smaller needle because they do flare a little. I'll also probably use I-Cord through the bottom eyelets, I wasn't sure whe...

You may remember what feels like months ago I dyed some lilac yarn , because I was worried that the mother of the baby I was knitting for might be weird about gendered colours? Well, she posted a picture of Noah in a lilac lace hat, so I guess it would have been fine! And, now that I'm writing this, I realise I should have knit something in black and white. "Dear old Collingwood forever". Maybe I'll do that for when he gets out of hospital in September.  I had trouble with wee Envelop e again. This time I could not pick up the stitches for the body nicely, and ended up doing them on the inside, which is fine, but not nearly as cute as doing them on the outside.  The hat is just a simple 80 stitch hat, starting with some garter to match the jumper, and ending with i-Cord, because I think that's cute. It's modelled here by my smaller bear model, and it's quite tight, which is good, since Noah is tiny - he was born at 6 months and 1 day. If ...

Laura, an ex-colleague of mine had a baby. I first met her while I was waiting to interview for the organisation I currently work for. When we both got jobs she walked me down to get my fingerprints done and pass issues. Eventually we drifted off - she joined the OH&S team and I went to a different site. Last time I saw her was in December, at a lunch for another colleague we had worked with for almost as long, who was off to have a baby. At that time Laura told me she was trying to have a solo IVF baby. She must have been actually pregnant, because last week her baby came - after 6 months and a day gestation. So, a little underbaked.  Little Noah is doing ok I think, and I decided to knit her a bit of a baby set. The obvious yarn I had was this: It's a bit lavender, and I would put a boy in it, but I'm not sure she would. I ran it through the dye-pot and now it's a much more manly purple! I'm going to knit a baby Envelope  and a hat - partly to keep the baby warm, ...

I started knitting Elizabeth Zimmerman's  February Baby Leggings for Tara's baby shower - also because they were the February Stranded in Oz club pattern and they looked like  a lot of fun.   Which they were - and super quick to knit. Three days, start to finish. I reduced the depth of the waist by a little bit, since they look really deep, and some people commented that they were designed to fit old fashioned cloth nappies. I don't know. I always figure if they fit this (my smaller bear) they will fit a newborn. But newborns probably have longer legs. Sometimes I think I should get a more human biologically accurate model. Anyway, they were such fun, I'm now planning a me size version - charmingly called " nether garments " by Mrs Zimmerman.  I called Tara to confirm that her baby shower was (obviously) cancelled and to have a catch up, she told be that she also has gestational diabetes .  I thought I might make a jumper wi...

Last Friday I was getting my next project ready to start. I got out the yarn, which I had ordered 6 weeks before, and was joking with Leon about how weird it would be to knit on six millimetre needles, after a full month knitting socks on 2mm needles. "Hold up" says Leon, do you have 6mm needles". "Sure I replied, I bought the Chiaogoo set that goes up to 6mm". And then I got a bad feeling, and checked, and found out I have the Chiaogoo set that goes up to 5mm". Luckily we were meeting Kris that night, and she brought me, and lent me the 6mm needles. What a lifesaver. After that dramatic pre-start, the knitting was pretty straightforward and fun, and only took three days, although it was a glorious three days, including a trip to our local, a very rainy homebound Saturday and visit to a brewery on Sunday.  The jumper is quite large, but the baby this is for is going to be born in late November, so I figure it's for next winter.  Wondering w...

I finished the two Baby Surprise Jackets I was knitting and sewed the buttons on, washed and blocked them, bought a card and a mailing envelope.  Now Leon just needs to get an address, and these can go off the there recipients. I really like how the button choice came out on both of these. I'm very happy with both of them. Like I always say, it's pretty hard to mess up a Baby Surprise Jacket . Interestingly, despite both being knit on the exact same needle (3.25mm Chiagoo),  one came out noticeably larger than the other.  Really, one of my most favourite knitting things in the whole world is pairing a solid with a self striping, whether it is for baby jumpers or socks. One of my other favourite tings is taking photos of baby jumpers on my teddy bears:  As a bonus to this post, here's a pictures of the a previous baby jumper (not a BSJ) that I knit, with the actual baby in it.

This month I knitted one pair of adorable baby booties , which sort of count as socks, right? Aren't they cute? They were really easy, and I adore the way they match the baby jump er (I still haven't had time to block it or sew the buttons on).  This month I also dyed some sock yarn, but have not had a chance to knit it. I had a little lull in "things I urgently want to knit" but that has gone now, and I want to knit ALL THE THINGS, which, for me, tends to keep the sock knitting a little quieter, especially in winter, when I want to knit ALL THE WARM THINGS. I think, by next months "Once Upon a Sock" I will probably have a pair of socks on the needles, but no guarantees! I'm joining in with "Once Upon a Sock" a monthly link party where we talk about our sock knitting. Come check it out here .

I didn't mention it at the time, but on the train back from Ballarat I cast on a Baby Surprise Jacket. My colleague who sits next to me at work is having a baby (I've already made his present) and he showed me a picture of the Baby Surprise his step mother knitted and I realised I had to knit another of these darling jumpers.  I used LOSY, and went into it without a clear plan, just knitted away in complementary colours. And I love it. It's so simple to knit, and so pretty and such a fun way of using up left over sock yarn. This time it was quite small amounts, and I think it look nicer than if I'd just used a premade colourway. It really is a perfect little jumper, which might be why this is my seventh one! For someone who rarely repeats patterns, that's kind of epic. This one is going to my neice on Leon's side, who is having her second baby, but I really knit it because it is so fun, easy and cute.

I knit this cute baby jumper out of left over sock yarn and FINALLY used up all my navy blue left overs . I'm pretty happy with it, I think it's really cute, and used 3 colours as well as the navy blue. It was quite a fun knit, although there were a lot of ends to sew in at the end. That's always the cost / benefit analysis when using LOSY. Now I've got two baby jumpers in the gift box, one grey and one blue. I think the next one will be a pink, purple and green one for girls.

Since sOctober is over, I made a baby hat! In left over sock yarn, my favourite thing to use. Also, I seemt o ahve endless amounts of it, even though I've used kilos of it. I'm certainly not complaining, I have quite a few projects lined up for it, but it's odd. Also, I do seem to keep making more. I used some LOSY - I have no idea what it was, or how I have any left over blues after the bathmatt . I used more the the self stripping that Katherine gave me . For 29 grams of yarn, this has gone a long way! I used the Countless baby hat pattern, and then failed to follow most of the instructions, but it still worked out. Top down and magic loop! I was going to take a photo to proove I knit a whole hat on magic loop. I do love my new Chiaogoo interchangable set - but I still love doublepoints over magic loop, even with the best needles in the world. I really need to go back to blocking things before posting them - I've managed to pu up 8 projects in a row without d...

Are these not the cutest wee things you have ever seen? I finished my Gloamin-Tide socks on Sunday, and since sOctober was not quite over, I decided to sneak in another pair. Baby socks, made with left over sock yarn. I decided to make these for my office mate Ian - he is having a baby, and the other day (he may have seen sock patterns on my screen) he asked "will my baby be getting socks?" I replied "If your step mother makes him some" I was joking, but it is true his step mother is an "obsessed knitter" with a yarn room. He got all embarrassed, I guess he understands that knitting can be asked for, or begged for, but never demanded. So I knit these for him. They are so sweet, only took 25 grams of yarn, and 2 nights knitting. And with that, my sOctober draws to a close. I'll do a wrap next Thursday in Once-Apon-A-Sock, but for now I'll just say it's been a good one.