Bootees 2

 I made some really adorable bootees yesterday. They took no time at all and combine all my new skills — pick up and knit, buttonholes, patterns, etc.

This has been an incredibly stressful week. Work has been really stressful and then all the problems with my flat that need sorting out are really weighing on my mind. I’m really glad I have my knitting at the moment!

Cast On

I just cast on the arms of my first (baby) sweater. It’s the easy one at the beginning of the book.

I’ve decided that having several projects on at once is the way forward. You can go back and forth between projects and not get bored.

I bought the yarn for the wrap sweater and cute little two-toned tank dress. I’m especially excited about the dress. It looks so adorable in the picture.

I’ve just realised that everything I’ve been doing is very girl-centric. I wonder if subconsciously I can only make girl things because I am a girl?

On a totally different note, H in Santa Fe told me today that you can use an ovulation kit to (try to) determine the sex of your child. Now that is interesting… Sounds like a real pain.

Making serious progress

I had a very eventful knitting weekend this weekend and am now almost finished with 2 projects!

I’ve been knitting from Easy Baby Knits by Claire Montogomerie.  This weekend, I had a 2-hour session with Aneeta (who also teaches classes and does drop in sessions at Loop in Islington), which was really helpful.  Most helpful because I was having real problems reading Claire’s patterns.  In the baby bootee pattern, she calls for increasing where she really means knit front to back.  I’d never in a million years have figured this out.  Thanks to Aneeta for getting me on my way.

Aneeta was really great.  I can highly recommend a session with her if you live in/around London.  She had me to her lovely flat in Stepney…  She’s got a great sense of style (sumptuous pink and purple living room that I loved) and a very warm heart.  I’m definitely going to schedule another session just as soon as I get another list of questions!

So, my baby bonnet is almost finished.  I just need to pick up an knit a final side and do the finishing.  My bootees and scratch mitts are almost done too.  I need to finish the last mitt and then weave in the ends and finish the lot.

R. going on his extended trips in the coming months means loads more time for knitting, sadly.  I think I’ll have this book finished by August. 

I may skip my KU reception in Kensington tonight and go home and do this… Kensington is such a long way from Islington and I am such a lazy lady lately.  I’ve been wanting to meet more Americans, I know.  But I just can’t be bothered to go down there tonight.

Increasing stitches

I’m struggling with increasing stitches in the middle of the row.  It’s infuriating me!

New Books

I’ve just been paid so I went to Amazon and bought myself a couple of books. They arrived today.

One Skein Wonders looks quite good. Especially since I have a a couple of skeins of grey and charcoal alpaca that I want to use up before the moths get to it.

Domiknitrix looks REALLY fun, but quite hard. It’s yet another book that seems to have lost its way and doesn’t really know what it’s about. I could be wrong, but it explains all the basics of knitting in much detail and then has some really hard patterns. I guess they have to cater to all levels and I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve actually read the book/tried some of the patterns. I like her website a LOT, though.

Project 1 – Bonnet

My first project is almost finished. It’s a cute little lilac baby bonnet. I still need to learn mattress stitch to close it up and how to pick up and knit for the band at the back. I’m going to learn this on Saturday.

My next project is going to be the cute booties and scratch mitts. We’ll see how it goes.

I ordered a ton of knitting books today on amazon. One of them is 101 ideas for one skein of wool. Brilliant as I have so many leftovers at the moment, I’m dying to do something with them.

Knitting Lessons

I’ve decided to take some private knitting lessons to learn about some new techniques. If I’m going to make this entire baby book, then I need to sort myself out on this front.

This weekend, I’m meeting with Aneeta at her home for two hours. Her prices are quite reasonable (£30 for 2 hours) and she seems very nice. I’m hoping she can teach me about picking up and knitting and sewing my items together so they look nice. I am also going to have her walk me through the bootie pattern in the book.

I also got an email back from Erssie about private lessons. She also does them in her home for £22 for 3 hours! Bargain! I’m going to have her teach me how to use double pointed needles. Would be great to learn cable stitches too, but I have this baby book to get through first.

I’m looking forward to this Saturday…

Baby Clothes

So, here’s my idea for this blog…

I learned to knit about 3 years ago. So far, I haven’t stretched myself at all. I’ve done loads of blankets (this is one I made for my friends Jon and Rachael and their new baby, Ace), scarves and corsages. They are good, but I need to start really learning to knit.

So, I went to Loop in Islington and bought myself a new book called Easy Baby Knits by Claire Montgomerie. Claire works at Loop, which was a major draw to buying the book. I can walk over there on lunch and ask her questions… although I know I wouldn’t do that.

Because I seem to approach every new thing in my life with gusto, I’ve also found myself a knitting teacher who is going to spend a few hours with me on Saturday, teaching me how to do all the things I don’t know how to do. Namely: pick up and knit, button holes, finishing, adding yarn, etc.

My goal is to knit everything in this book in quick succession. I’ll learn how to do the new techniques this way.

I’ve started on a baby bonnet and am halfway through that. I’m going to get R. to take photos of all the finished products and I’ll post them here.