Knit One, Purple Two

I've been telling you that I'll be showing you my Jacket with Moss Stitch Bands and Moss Stitch Shoes for weeks now, and today I can finally show it to you (I've had to delay it until I gave them to Sara as she reads my blog)!

I bought Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss as not only was my sister pregnant with her little girl, Daisy, at the time, but I also wanted a simple introduction to knitted garments. Which is exactly what I got. The two patterns that really stood out to me was the Jacket with Moss Stitch Bands & the Moss (seed) Stitch Shoes. So, I decided to add them to my Year of Projects list. And now I can officially say, they are finished!!

First up is the Moss Stitch Shoes. My normal go-to Baby Booties pattern is Baby Booties by Aneeta Patel, so I decided to go for something that requires some 'real' knitting. I chose to knit these booties in Peter Pan DK by Wendy, in the Purple (3003) colourway. The yarn is 60% Acrylic and 40% Nylon, so it's perfect for banging in the wash which is just want you need for baby knits. The yarn is plied with sparkly thread, which adds a bit of depth to the yarn. (If you remember, I used the yarn to make Abby's Faye Purse) Really nice to knit with, and will definitely buy it again in the future.

So, onto the pattern. It was pretty simple, I did have to learn a new technique called KFB (Knit Front Back) which is going to be really useful for the future. They knitted up really quickly, the only problem I had with them was the sewing up.... As you know, I am not known for my sewing up skills. But, I persevered and managed to create something slightly resembling a shoe.

I probably won't knit them ever again, but at least I took a stab at it.

So, I've saved the best 'til last. I am so proud with this one, I must admit. It is my first ever garment, and the pattern is called Jacket with Moss Stitch Bands. I stared at the pattern for a while, and thought I would never be able to knit it. But, once I started knitting it everything made sense. Which just proves that I shouldn't just give up simply because I 'think' I can't do something, I need to give it a go first.

I used Heart Buttons, which also had little Daisy's on them.

So for the cardigan, I used Peter Pan DK by Wendy, in the Purple (3003) colourway. The cardigan is really simple, just stocking stitch with moss stitch on the right and left hand side. Thanks to this pattern, I learnt how to pick up & knit properly. I'm not sure what I was doing prefer, but it was definitely wrong. Now, though, I can do it well, which just adds to the 'proper finish' that all us knitters are after.

We went to tea at my sister's house on Friday, so I took my little knitted gifts with me. Sara & I did a trade, I gave her Daisy's presents and she gave me home-made peanut butter cups (which were amazing). Which I thought was very fair.

My gorgeous niece, Daisy. 

I was really worried that it'd be too small (she has just turned 6 months, so I knitted her the 6-9 months size), or that the sleeves would fall off, or something awful like that. But, not only did Daisy look adorable, it fitted and nothing fell off in the process of putting it on. Hooray!

So now I can put a line through those two projects on my new Year of Projects page, I just have to decide what to knit next. I have had a fiddle round with my list, added and changed a couple of patterns. So feel free to have a look at my new and shiny list, and pop a suggestion on what I should knit next!!

For now though, head on over to the Year of Projects group for this weeks finishes. Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks!

P.S, thanks to my best friend Abby from Virtual Stitch, for coming up with the post title. Bagwoman to the rescue once again, saving the blogging world from bad blog titles. You rock dude ;) 

Knitting, the Universe, and Everything!

Having a new teacup-human in the family (fantastic turn of phrase by AndiSocial) means that you get to knit lots of cute, tiny things. This weeks teacup-human knitting is the Jacket with Moss Stitch Bands and Moss Stitch Shoes, both of which are from the book Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss.

The Moss Stitch Shoes, are really pretty. And you'll probably remember me blogging about knitting them not too long ago. I forget why I ended up frogging them... but anyway! Now they're back, and I've really enjoyed knitting them!

Click to see it bigger!

They were really easy to knit, and very fast too! They're sat in my knitting bag now... waiting to be sewn up. So hopefully on Sunday you'll get to see the finished result!

Back Panel

Now, I am knitting the Jacket with Moss Stitch Bands. As it is my first time knitting a garment, I decided to pick something simple to get me going. I started it yesterday, and I'm amazed at how quick it is knitting up! Yesterday I managed to start and finish the back panel, and today I've almost finished the front left panel :)

Front Left Panel

It is basically stocking stitch with (you guessed it) moss stitch bands. As it is a 'mindless' knit, it has meant that I can read while knitting. Which is great news, because I'm really behind on my reading goal already this year. But, more on that tomorrow. 

So now I've entered the world of 'proper knitting' (as my Mother calls it) I've lined up a few more cardigans to try my needle at in the next few weeks. They are: Simply Shrug by Ida Olniansky, Peggy Sue by Linda Wilgus and Dress with Eyelets by Debbie Bliss.The first two for myself, and the latter for my niece Daisy! (Who is going to be the recipient of the Moss Stitch Shoes & Cardi)

So, now its time for you to head on over to Tami's where WIP Wednesday has reached its 80th week - can you believe it??

Have a great week everyone, and don't forget to pop on by tomorrow for the 2nd week of the Thursday Book Challenge!

À La Mode

Yesterday I was trying to keep calm and carry on knitting. I decided to make some changes to my Year of Projects list, and I am really pleased I did. Goodpurlgonebad managed to sum it up in just one sentence, she said: "I agree too that changing one's mind is generally a good thing and the range of projects will mean that you'll always have something that appeals to cast on."

After writing that post I dived straight for my Yarn Box and pulled out a skein of Peter Pan DK by Wendy that I was given a few months ago by my Nan (come back on Saturday to see my yarn I've procured over the past couple of months, and what I plan to do with it). It's lovely and sparkly, and just the right shade of purple for my gorgeous niece, Daisy.

I'm knitting Moss Stitch Shoes by Debbie Bliss, the pattern is from the book Baby Knits for Beginners, by Debbie Bliss. I am planning on making the Jacket with Moss Stitch Bands in the same yarn as the booties, as soon as I can.


The yarn is nice to work with, very soft and it just glides across the needles. I had to unravel it once or twice due to increasing the wrong way, and it the yarn became very fuzzy, and the sparkly thread ( I think it is) came away from the yarn and kept getting in the way when I was knitting. But other than that, the yarn has been good. I will definitely use it again, and good job really as I have another 5 skeins in purple, and 6 skeins of white!


The pattern is pretty simple to do, had a bit of trouble of increasing 'in pattern' but after a couple of tries I've got the hang of it now. I was meant to use 2.75mm needles for the booties, but as our dear Daisy is growing very fast (as baby's seem to do) by the time I'm finished with these and the cardi (hopefully give them at the same time) she'll be able to wear the pair I am making with 3.5mm needles.

Unfortunately it lacks in instructions for sewing up the shoe, so I am going to beg for help from my Mum and all you lovely Ravelers. Hopefully on Sunday you'll find something that slightly resembles a shoe! 

Well, thats all for now. I'm going to try and get my TV Aerial working as I wait for Super Mario Galaxy to arrive. Woohoo!

For more crafty posts, head over to Tami's WIP Wednesday! 

R is for... Rush!

With my niece/nephew-to-be arriving in a couple of weeks, everyone is rushing around to get everything sorted. With the baby blanket just squares away from being finished, I ran out of yarn. Typical! Instead of just twiddling my thumbs at home while I wait on more yarn, I decided to whip up a few baby booties and mittens.

I don't know about you, but I love baby knits. Quick, easy and ever so cute. I went a little mad with the baby booties and mittens...

Almost finished with the matching booties!

So yes. As you can see I went a little mad. The purple set are going to my friend Jo, who has a gorgeous little girl. And the rest are off to my sister. 

So, time to check out the rest of the ABC Bloggers, click on the links below to find out what R meant to them!

FO Friday: Aneeta Patel Fever!

As I eagerly await Mr.Postman to deliver my soft and squishy parcel, here are my Finished Objects of the week! Alright so I'm cheating, I didn't finish them this week, they were finished about 2 weeks ago when I fled the blogging scene.

Enough with the chit chat, here they are! (The pictures are really bad today, sorry. Camera was being a naughty boy)

First up is a pair of Liquorice Alsorts Baby Mitts. The pattern is by Aneeta Patel, although she just does plain mittens, I decided to spice it up my doing two! They don't look that great in the photograph, but they are very cute in real life.

Next up is another pair of mitts from the same pattern, but this time in plain red! 

I decided to make a matching pair of booties! The pattern is by Aneeta Patel, and she has the pattern for free here if you'd like to give it a bash! I decided to do the last few rows in stocking stitch, for a cute rolled edge! 

And the last FO from when I was sick with Aneeta Patel fever is my Phone Cover, which she calls a Phone Home. Although I like to call it my iTee! I'm not that pleased with it, but it does what its meant to so I can't really complain.

Want to thank you all for the lovely comments you left me on Wednesday, I'm very pleased so many people share the Moss Stitch love! I did finish my headband, but if you want to see that one and others I've been working on, you'll have to pop over on Monday, when H is for... Headbands! I'll be posting again tomorrow with a brand new meme I'm taking part in, so don't forget to come and pay a visit!

For now though, go get your weekly FO fix over at Tami's Amis! 

Knitting & Crochet Blogging Week 2011 - Day Two: Skill + 1UP

The aim of today's blog post is to look back over the past knitting year, and see how many projects I have completed,what new skills I have learnt etc. Here is the snag. I've only been knitting for 2 months. So that'll just have to do.

When I first started knitting, I couldn't even put the needle through the wool to make a stitch, a lot of wool later though, I can happily cast on, cast off, knit, increase, decrease, stripe, darn and follow a simple pattern. I also learnt how to put my wool into balls, which means my yarn no longer gets tangled.

This is what my knitting looked like when I started:

And this is my knitting now.

Baby Bootie from Knitty Gritty: Knitting for the Absolute Beginner

iPod Touch T-Shirt Sock from Knitty Gritty: Knitting for the Absolute Beginner

In the first project (which is meant to be a knitted square...) I was learning how to garter stitch (knit every row) without messing up. As you can see, I didn't do the best job.

On projects two and three, I learnt how to increase and decrease and how to darn up (or sew up, which ever term you prefer) my knitting.

My next project is a Baby Hat, in which I will learn how to Pearl and 1x1 rib (Knit 1 stitch, Pearl 1 stitch), which I am very excited about. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Booties for the Modern Woman & A Hat - Oh My!

After reading my first blog post, my Mum quickly reminded me that my 'man-size booties' couldn't really be 'man-size' as they are pink. So from now on, they are to be known as 'booties for the modern woman'.

Anyway, back to the knitting.

After two hours of knitting I managed to finish my first pair of booties. And they were big. Instead of being for a newborn baby, I'm pretty sure it will fit a 3 month old.

Would you like a close up? Of course you would.

And because I was making a set for a new baby (Booties, Hat and Mittens)I had to start another pair, this time though I decided to disobey Aneeta (the creator of the Baby Booties pattern) and use 4mm needles. And here is the first bootie in progress.

And now, the finished article. Placed next to the original bootie for scale purposes.

I am pleased I have to say. They turned out just as I had hoped . Not bad for a first project. Not bad. Once I have finished the final bootie in 4mm my project is complete.

So my next project you ask?

Well the blog title may give you a clue... yes I'm aiming to do the third project in Knitty Gritty: Knitting for the Absolute Beginner. I am very hesitant to start it though, as the pattern requires 1x1 rib at the bottom of the hat, and I can not yet pearl confidently.

But that's another blog for another day.

Yarn Bombing, Chocolate & My Man-Size Booties

I managed to hunt down some baby wool for my first project using a pattern - Baby Booties. The pattern is from the book Knitty Gritty: Knitting for the Absolute Beginner. After reading through the pattern five times, I thought it was time to get started. So I removed my new 5mm Bamboo needles from the packaging, took out my wool and got started.

After casting on and knitting two or three rows, I paused to look at my progress and realised how big my work was actually getting. In the pattern it said to cast on 38 stitches, clearly these are meant for babies and not small adults? But, after consulting with my book I carried on relentless of their size. An hour and a half later I was on step 7 and my man-size booties were coming along well. With a mixture of cockiness, chocolate munching and M.E brain fog though, I neglected to look at step 8 and found myself knitting the entire row without decreasing - DOH! After realising what I had done I undid the row of knitting and tried to put the stitches back on my needles. What a stupid thing to do without a crochet hook (Which I forgot to buy while at the craft shop that morning, despite having a list AND the book with me). I ended up dropping all my stitches and having to undo another row of knitting. This process continued until I found myself with nothing but two bare bamboo needles and a pile of pink yarn.

An hour later I decided I liked knitting again and started Man-Size Booties II. This is where I am at thus far:

Pathetic I know. After I've completed my blog for today though I'll knuckle down and get some work done.

While trawling through several knitting blogs today, I found this.

All I can say is, "Where can I find the pattern for my car?"