Finished object file: Agate sweater | Quince & Co. Tern

Again, food was used to coerce the child to cooperate.

This one I finished a while back in March for my girl's birthday. Miss L turned 3 and this has been the perfect layering piece for her this season.

Agate is from Quince & Co.'s Lost Coast collection, a collection of children's patterns designed by Ashley Hurst. Inspired by California's Lost Coast the collection is made up of warm and cosy looking pieces that would keep the little ones snug.

I knit the pattern with the called for yarn, Tern from Q&C because I loved it when I used it from the Immie Tee that I knit for Miss L when she was a bub. The yarn is a wool and tussah silk blend and though it is a fingering weight (4ply) yarn it knits up pretty quickly. I love the muted tones that it dyes up in which gives in my opinion gives the kids' knits a bit of a sophistication. For this knit I used the terracotta colourway because I was so drawn to the sample pictures and I knew that it would be a colour that would go well with jeans and with the pinks and reds in Miss L's wardrobe.

It knit up so quickly and I had it done well before Miss L's birthday. The lace panel was easy to memorise and since the front was just stockinette stitch knit in the round I just buzzed through it. However, it was not until I finished did I realise that the lace panel didn't finish correctly. I analysed my knitting and I am pretty certain that I knit it exactly as the chart instructions but the eyelets don't line up properly. I was tempted to frog the bottom of the jumper and to reknit it. I thought about it over and over but in the end I told myself to embrace the mistake; also, I had some other knits that I was keen to get started on so I let that one go.

I tried to contact the designer and to point out my suspected errata but I have yet to hear back from her. Since I have moved on from this knit I haven't been too overly hung up about it. However, in case you decide to knit the pattern I would end knitting the main lace panel after rnd 4 and then continue knitting the panel end chart.

Ultimately, Miss L doesn't know any different and she loves it. Since her birthday I have put her in it a lot because it was a handy layer to throw on during the cooler Autumn mornings.

Finished object: Castilleja Cowl | Spud & Chloe Sweater

Castilleja Cowl knit in Spud & Chloe Sweater.

It's been school holidays here and I have been busy with the kids every day so far.  I have had little knitting time and the blog has been a bit neglected. But today I've managed to get some rest time out of the kids and so it's blog time.

Throughout June I was working between 4 projects and just casually switching between them depending on what I felt like working on at the moment. I've been plodding through my Maeve Shrug and also cast on at the beginning of the month for the Skein podcast shawl KAL. I had also been slowly working on a mini version of the Moto Vest for my girl and an anniversary present for the husband. Between these projects I was starting to feel a little unmotivated since I wasn't getting anywhere near finishing any of them. 

I love the cosiness of a cowl in winter.

Then my little guy got invited to a kinder friend's birthday party and we only had a week's notice. I don't enjoy taking the kids to the shopping centre these days so I decided to knit the little girl something. I figured a quick gift knit might help me get my knitting mojo back.

Sir S choose some yarn out of my stash and we found an easy (and free) cowl pattern  off Ravelry called the Castilleja Cowl. It calls for a worsted weight yarn and I used some grape coloured Spud & Chloe sweater yarn. The yarn is beautifully soft and squishy with a wool and organic cotton composition. 

Simple details kept this knit interesting.

I knit this up in two days and I'm quite pleased with the results. The cowl design has regular elongated stitches set within reverse stockinette stitch and is bordered by fisherman's rib sections. There was just enough variation in it to keep it an interesting knit. 

The pattern is well written with easy to follow instructions and if a bigger cowl is desired it can be adapted without too much difficulty. The pattern needs a multiple of 6 stitches cast on and a wider cowl can be achieved with more repeats of the pattern.

I hope the birthday girl will enjoy the cowl as the cold weather sets in. I guess even though I had wanted to reevaluate my gift making I can't help myself; making gifts still feels better to me than buying.

What to make Wednesday: Softies

Basil the Brontosaurus was the first softie I ever made.

I have a little niece who is about to turn 2 and I love making her things as much as I love making things for my own kids. However, she lives in Texas and it's summer over there so I won't be making any worsted weight sweaters for her, ever because even the winter doesn't get cold enough for those kind of garments.

I know that she is really keen on soft toys so I thought this year I would send her a softie for her birthday. A few weeks ago I have a look around Ravelry for some softie patterns and here are a few of my favourites.

1. Totoro designed by Mimouna Anderson.

I know that since my little niece has a part Japanese heritage, Totoro will be a hit. For those who don't know, Totoro is an iconic character from Studio Ghibli's animated film, 'My Neighbour Totoro'. The first time I saw this film I was just a little girl and I was watching a Cantonese dub of it so I didn't understand much but this character stuck in my memory. It was not until my teen years that I discovered the original Japanese film and worked out that the character that I was fixated with was Totoro.

This little softie pattern is offered for free on the designer's blog but it is in Norwegian. However, a kind Ravelry user has translated the pattern and if you send her a pm via Ravelry she will email you a copy of the pattern. Another great thing about this pattern is that it uses very little amounts of yarn so I have already stash dived and found some remnants that could be enough to knit it up.

I can foresee myself knitting up a little family of Totoros for my kids too especially since Miss L has a bit of a Totoro theme in her bedroom already.

2. Basil the Boogie-Woogie Brontosaurus designed by Rebecca Danger.

I made this super cute little dinosaur for a friend's baby last year and it was the first softie I ever made. The process was made super easy by the designer Rebecca Danger's extremely clear pattern instructions and the series of tutorials on her blog.

Basil can be made with any weight yarn and as for needle size, Rebecca recommends just going two sizes down from the needle size that is recommended on the yarn label. The reason for going down needle sizes is so that a very tight weave fabric w ill be made when you knit and that will prevent any bits of stuffing poking through.

3. Melvin the Musical Monster designed by Rebecca Danger.

Actually, I find all of Rebecca Danger's softie patterns very appealing and I would make any of them. Her series of knitted monsters are just so cute and this one particularly appeals because it share a name with my BIL.

Rebecca keeps the shaping simple so that there aren't many extremely fiddly bits with decreasing and increasing for necks and heads and other bits like that. She essentially designs the main body as a large ball with either a striping design or colour block patches for the belly making it a very easy knit that looks very huggable.

The one difficulty with this pattern is that it is featured in a print book and not available for purchase as a digital download through Ravelry or Rebecca's Etsy store. It's not a terrible difficulty since there are a number of adorable patterns to choose from that are similarly shaped.

Image source: © Lebenslustiger

4. Square bunny knit pattern 2 by Annette of Lebenslustiger.com.

This is one of the simplest softies I have seen. It is essentially a small garter stitch square sewn in a particular manner to create bunny ears and a body. There a few of these bunny patterns around but I like this little one because there is a very good tutorial on the blog where it is posted.

It's not really a significant enough project to make for a birthday present but I think it would be a perfect little beginner project to make with the kids when they are learning to knit. Once they have mastered garter stitch making this little bunny will be a quick project to whip up and the young crafter will be able to enjoy their handiwork fairly quickly.

Can't wait to turn this gorgeous pattern into a doll for my niece.

5. MAE doll designed by Jhoanna Aranez.

After looking at all these knitted softie patterns I had every intention of making the Totoro for my niece but I'm a bit swamped with WIPs at the moment; through no fault by my own because I keep starting new things. So, I decided to order this MAE doll kit from Jhoanna's Etsy store because I remember my friend making one recently and recommending Jhoanna's dolls.

A MAE doll is a 'make and embellish' kit where the doll pattern has been printed on a piece of cotton poplin fabric and all I need to do is cut it out, sew it together and stuff it. Then I can make my own little embellishments to personalise the doll.

I think Jhoanna's doll designs are so cute. They have a very retro mod style to them and I think the doll can be enjoyed by girls across a broad age range. They aren't babyish in design nor are they all sexualised like many of the commercial doll ranges that are available these days. And, what I love most is that it's still handmade with love.

I'm going to make up this little doll in the next day or two and then I'm thinking of making a little matchbox suitcase for her because she is going on a journey all the way to Texas. I'll post my finished handiwork when I'm done.

Off to get making now.

Finished object files: Livie cardigan | SofTrope Worsted

Finished this Livie just in time for Miss L's birthday on Monday

For this whole week I've been walking around with my completed Livie cardigan taking every opportunity I get to show it off. I proudly pulled it out for others to admire at playgroup, at my ministry wives group, over a cuppa before Miss L's Leaping Lizard's class, at my mum's place and at Buttonmania while I was shopping for the perfect button to pair it with. Suffice to say I love it and I want everyone else to love it too.

The things I love about it is firstly the design. It's simplicity is appealing to me because it gives it a classic and timeless look. I have a vague hope in my heart that these pieces will be worn by my future generations and still look as stylish as it does today. However, though simple I find the asymmetry of the front a bit funky and lovely to look at.

I also love how it's just one button. I find sewing buttons a fiddly job and trying to button up clothing on a wriggly toddler even more fiddly. So, one beautiful button is perfect for this piece and for every day wear. I even went to the effort of shopping at Buttonmania rather then just settling for a Lincraft/ Spotlight button.

To finish my love of this piece I also loved knitting it. I am such a fan of Carrie Bostick Hoge's Madder designs and this is the fourth pattern of hers that I have knit. Carrie's pattern's are so well explained and the designs have been different each time. She doesn't use the same seamless raglan construction every pattern and she incorporates many different techniques which I have enjoyed learning as I knit her work up.

Other than loving the pattern I love the yarn too. Originally I had intended to use the suggested yarn, The Fiber Company's Canopy Worsted in Quetzal but when I pulled it out to cast on I decided that the colour looked too masculine for a little girl's cardigan. I um-ed and ah-ed about it for a day or two but I decided that I wanted to knit this cardigan for Miss L in a yarn that I loved without any doubt. Therefore, I pulled out these two skeins of SofTrope worsted that I had been keeping for a rainy day. Actually I had always intended to knit this yarn up into something for Miss L so this cardigan became the perfect opportunity.

Forgive the photo with the borek, sometimes you just can't get kids to sit still without given them food.

The colourway is 'Luminal' and I don't even know if that is a real word. The yarn has beautiful soft variegated pinks and though I normally avoid pink clothing for my girl I love how this yarn has been dyed. The other thing I love about it is that it is a superwash merino. I have decided to try to use superwash yarns when knitting for the kids. I think the processing of the fibre to make it 'superwash' hardens it up a bit and makes it less easy to pill. When I knit the Camilla Babe for Miss L last winter I used the buttery soft Swan Islands Organic Merino Worsted yarn and though it is the most lovely thing to wear against the skin I find that it has pilled a lot because of the constant abrasion it experiences when I carry Miss L. Maybe when she is a little older and asks for fewer 'Up please's I can forgo the superwash again.

In my enthusiasm to finish this and get it on my daughter I neglected to block it. Now looking at it I think it could do with a block just to give it a little more ease in the fit. It fits perfectly right now and I know that we'll get this winter out of it but I wonder if we'll get to see it again next year. Oh well, it's not really a problem because I will knit something for the kids to wear each season so it's not like she'll be needing it next year anyway.

What is your opinion when it comes to blocking? Is it a cardinal sin to not block finished knitting?

Alrighty now, Miss L's birthday knitting is done and now to finish off the piece for Sir S and then I might give myself a bit of a knitting Sabbath, just for a day.