My crafty husband

For the past few weeks, I have been working on a baby quilt and a baby coat and they're nearly finished. But I can't blog about them for some time yet because they are a gift to my best friend in Quebec so I have to wait until they've arrived at their destination, lest I would spoil the surprise.

So instead, I've decided to blog about someone else's crafty endeavours. As it happens, I'm not the only crafty one in this household, my darling husband is a keen baker and top notch DIYer with a particular passion for woodwork. If he could re-invent his career, I think he'd like to be a cabinet maker. 

I've always dreamt of having a herbs shelf in the garden. I haven't got very green hands but I love the idea of growing my own herbs and maybe a few fruits and vegetables. So, after years of me pining for a herbs shelf and with hubby having a bit more time on his hands than he's used to, he's finally got round to building it for me. And isn't it just beautiful? Even Miss Marple the cat gave it her seal of approval :-)

Talking of Miss Marple, she's soon to benefit from hubby's wood working skills as well. He's putting the finishing touches to a kitty shelter so the lady of manor can go outside as she fancies but still remain protected from the rain. She's not a spoilt cat at all!

Pink silky socks

I think hand knitted socks are the best. They fit beautifully, they keep your feet warm and they have no seam, what's not to love! But quite often when I talk about woollen socks people look at me in horror and ask me: "Aren't woollen socks really scratchy?".

Well let me tell you this: no they aren't! Of course the question comes mostly from non-knitters who don't necessarily know that there are many different yarns out there, many of which are anything but scratchy. Think of cotton, bamboo or silk for example. But even wool can be lovely and soft and in my experience, sock wool is often blended with polyamide to give it a bit of stretch, reducing the potential for scratchiness at the same time. 

 I have just knitted myself a pair in Sublime's Cashmere Merino Silk DK. I've been working with this yarn on my rose jumper (which is still in progress!) and I have fallen in love with it. It is so lush and it has this gorgeous sheen to it. I had to stop myself from buying an endless stock of it for my stash.

I ordered the Jolley Hockey Socks pattern from Sublime as I'd never knitted socks in this weight of yarn before but I was really disappointed when it arrived as they recommend knitting the socks on the flat. To me that is just sacrilege! As mentioned above, one of the key advantages of hand knitted socks is that there is no seam but if you knit them on the flat, you end up with one big seam across the whole length of the sock. So I put my maths head on and worked out from the pattern how many stitches I needed at every stage to knit the socks in the round. And they turned out great!

If I ever win the lottery, I AM going to buy kilos of this yarn!

Baby knits - part 1

Some years it seems everyone is either moving away, getting married or having babies. This year is definitely a baby year for me, at least four of my friends, and counting, are expecting in 2012.

The good news of course is that I just love knitting baby stuff. A project that you can see the end of, now that, I really like! So I've parked the making of my rose jumper for the time being so I can concentrate on making tiny, oh-so-cute, baby clothes.

First on the list was a set for my friend and colleague Marta who is expecting a baby boy.

I started with a little pullover from the book "Baby knits for beginners" by Debbie Bliss. I can highly recommend this book to anyone who's a novice knitter, all the projects are clearly explained and the book is arranged in such a way that you learn a new technique with each project. It's definitely become one of my references in baby knits.

But back to my pullover. I picked an organic cotton yarn in cream and light blue. I tend to avoid wool for babies because I'm concerned about skin allergies. Organic cotton is soft, it's eco-friendly and it's easy to wash, something most young mums tend to appreciate.

 

When I was done knitting the little pullover, I had lots of yarn left so I decided to knit a matching hat, using a pattern from the same book. That was a super quick knit, I pretty much did it all in the car, on the way to Dover. By the time we were boarding the ferry, I was finished.

And when the hat was done and I still had a fair amount of yarn left, I decided to knit a pair of matching socks. I had to divert from the pattern in the book here, because I just can't bring myself to knit socks on the flat so I adapted things a bit to knit them on double pointed needles. I had plenty of yarn for the socks but I found myself short on time. I had to finish the socks, and photograph them, in the car, on the way to my team meeting in London. The result is so cute though, it was worth the stress!

Getting Beltane ready: the Goddess shawl

My poor little blog is feeling quite neglected at the moment. I have been very busy making lately but I haven't been so good at writing about it. It's time for a catch up.

Beltane is only in a few weeks time and I can't wait. Of all the pagan festivals, Beltane is by far my favourite. It celebrates life, love, sensuality and passion. We usually celebrate it in Glastonbury where the entire town goes all out to mark the day.

Some of you may remember that my hubby's working commitments meant we couldn't go last year so this year is extra special and full of anticipation.

I can't remember how or where I came across it, but in early January I bought this pattern for a Goddess shawl which I think will be perfect. It's a really simple make and I crocheted it in just a couple of days. I picked a lovely yarn, Pattons Smoothie DK, in red, one of the traditional colours for Beltane.

Bring on May Day I say, so I can wear my shawl while dancing the maypole and jumping the fire!