well, not thát adventurous, I just never knit two items on one circular before. My wee girl needed mittens and so I had me a perfect opportunity to learn a new skill. (thank you, for getting me started!) After the initial stream of curse words and putting (read: throwing) it down a couple of times (especially during casting on)
'hi!'
'One possibility; let them entertain each other...'
'another possibility; just clear up one of the kids
These are some crazy and hectic times. I'm in my 34th week of the pregnancy and a week before we're moving house... Can you imagine? My little boy has become sick too so I'm getting my energy from wherever I can find it. Read: taking mini-naps while he's asleep and taking baths every morning. So far it's working. A lot of my energy comes from teaching. The ironic part is that this week are my last lessons before I go on maternity leave. But I guess if I plan it well, I'll just use that time to do more creative stuff at the new house and I'm sure that will boost my energy levels as well.
The BSJ I knitted using Manos Silky. I did a lot of math and swatching to make sure I could make it with just one skein. And I did it! I barely had enough material to sew op the seams (luckily there are just two...) it was a close call and very nerve wrecking at the end. But there was always this, a mouseclick away, so I was never in any real desparation... ;-)
In between the midst of dozens of boxes I've knitted the new baby a log cabin blanket and the baby surprise jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The blanket was made by using this great guide and just winging it (read: knit, frog, knit, frog again, finally knit it right). I knitted it in stockinette stitch and added a hood so I can use it as a wrap as well. The yarn is a Kaffe Fasset design for Rowan, expensive but fantastic. 
If you're interested in the details of these knits, you'll have to wait a wile or mail me, since I don't have enough time to 'ravel' them. But I will, some day... 
For now, onto my last tuesdaynight lesson for a while. 
here's the BSJ without the buttons.
I knit these two hats in one night. It's a very, very, very basic pattern (suitable for a first knit in the round project!) and fits newborns.
The shops have been refilled with Knit Kits...
In the heat of the French summer I've been working on this Phildar Baby Duffel Coat, once again from the Marie Claire Idées/ Phildar book; Knitting for Babies. I must have knitted every single pattern in that book... I just realy like the classic look they have, it's never out of fashion. I did use a fashionable color instead of the usual dark blue and went for petrol. It's knit with a bacteria repellent fabric (what that does, I have no idea... except for repelling bacteria...) called Oxygene, also by Phildar. 
It's great for doing baby yoga!
I have thought long and hard before I decided to show you this picture. You see, in this blog I try to come across as a hip, young knitter. 
Meanwhile I'm embroidering Space Invaders... 
Cardi from Marie Claire Idee's 'knitting for babies' in my own creative color match.
Hat from 'One Skein', very fun and quick to knit!
The proud mother in this photo is not me, but my friend Karen. She had the same due date as me but gave birth to daughter Puck a week before I became Iep's mummy. I knit her the bee suit and here Puck's modeling it for us. Sooooo cute!
the clock closet and the white one used to be my grandmother's. She actually grew up with those pieces of furniture in her house so they're more than 80 yrs old!! I transformed them into a zebra and a yellow cab when I went away to college. That was about 15 years ago. Later I put them in my basement and redid the small one when I got this house with Boyfriend Dear. And now they're up for their third life and look in the baby's room. I love stuff that has a history to it. (and it's really cheap... ;-)
The crib is Boyfriend Dear's family crib that was first used when his mother was born. It has 'held' a lot of baby's since and is now ready for our little one. I ordered the fabric from this Swedish wool spinning plant. And ordered a blanket and a bear to go with it. I just love Swedish design! My MIL did the whole fabric thing, the sheets too, and Boyfriend Dear's grandfather and grandmother helped in putting it all together. A true family project, again with lots of history.
The idea of the branch on the wall hit me years and years ago. I found this branch about 3 yrs ago on a hiking trip, scrubbed it down and saved it. This tree themed baby room was the perfect moment for it to re-appear.
Don't worry, besides all this decorating, there's been some knitting too. First this baby hat for a wee girl. It's my own design. I first made it just in case we'll have a baby girl. But then my good preggy friend Karen -we had the same due date- gave birth to Puck, a beautiful daughter, yesterday and I was more than happy to give it to her. 
this suit I made a few months in advance. It's made of Lana Grossa's Bingo (100% merino) and it's the most expensive piece of clothing that I have for little sprout. Which is funny, come to think of it, because usually you'd think anything you make yourself is cheaper. Wrong! But I've really thought this one trough, it'll last for about 3 months because of the -rolled up sleeve design- and so it's worth it's money. Right? And hey, mommy made it, so that must be worth something too. Oh... ánd... all other baby knitwear I've done so far has been knit from stash... So I'm doing OK here. I think...
Then there's this one. A blanket I've knit in one afternoon. No pattern, just knitting. OK, so I've used 15mm needles, but still...it's not all that small. I used bits of Drops Eskimo I had lying around, the green and blue are the hand dyed, hand spun Texel sheep wool I started using for this project and then frogged. And the green I bought from Ajour for a sweet price at the last Knit In Public BBQ.
Some more handy work...
And this mobile, in the forest theme of the room, designed by moi. I'm not really happy with the way it works and hangs and moves yet, I'm letting this one simmer in my brain for a while. 
Right now I'm working on two gifts for two kids and I might start on a hat for myself. But let's hope I'll give birth first... I'm freakin' HUGE!!
My friend Karen has the EXACT same due date as I do and we've been preggy friends ever since we found out. We go to pregnancy yoga together and talk, mail and msn about e-ve-ry-thing baby. It's great to have someone around where you don't have to pace yourself in your excitement. 
Hi there! I'm still here busy making stuff. Like a baby... and a lot of knitwear. I have been knitting, I have. I just never got round to posting about it. I chose to channel my energy into knitting rather than to write about it. Crazy though, with all this spare time on my hands now that I'm on maternity leave, you'd think I'd manage to do both... Well, I have no excuse, it just didn't happen. So I'm making up for it with a bunch of FO pictures. 
I'm in the 39th week of my pregnancy, so it won't be long now. I can't believe how fast these last months have gone by. It's really hard to imagine that this kicking sprout inside me is going to turn into a real baby soon. I CAN'T WAIT!!
The blue and the multicolored cardi are from Marie Claire's baby knitwear book (dutch title: Babybreiwerk 50 modellen voor babykleertjes). The orange mini bolero is from One Skein and so is the little hat. If you want more info about the materials or other stuff, don't hesitate to mail me. It's just so boring to write about that stuff and I mostly used bits and pieces of yarn from my stash (of which I'm very proud... baby clothes make for great stash cleaning).
Gosh, I wouldn't have guessed that being pregnant could mess up my social (and digital) life so much... I haven't been to the Stich 'n Bitch-group in about a month. My pregnancy yoga is also on tuesday nights and combining it seems harder than I thought. Also when your FIL has a birthday and one of your favorite artists is finally playing in town again... well, let's just say that I feel like a half knit sweater, not really complete and not really 'not there'. 
So... knitting...
Oh I need to remind you, I knit Tempting I in a cotton that was so droopy that even if I was pregnant of quadruplets it would still be too big. This time I made a wiser choice and went with Phildar's Legende, a tweed/alpaca mix. It was great, maybe a wee bit scratchy but overall a good choice. I knit a swatch and knit it just a little too small since it's a stretchy design and the pattern warned me about it. And still... too big... it's starting to become a serious problem, I'm knitting everything too big and I can't figure out what goes wrong. So now, to end all the drama, I've decided to clear away from big projects for now and stick with smaller patters or projects that may vary in size like bags and blankets. There's noting as frustrating as trying on a piece that you've been working at for months (that lóóked ok) that's too big (agaín...).
This is me with my 21 week big belly, the fact that the sweater's too big has it upsides too, I'll be able to wear it while carrying Sprout.Onto the next FO. These are the socks that I've knit from the Magic Ball Swap. The pattern came with it They were my first socks that weren't your basic K/P socks and I needed to adjust the pattern. That wasn't easy, but with help (thank you Constance and Ajour) I figured a lot of stuff out while learning about sock logic in general. I'm really happy with the result and I only wear them at special occasions. Read: when I can brag with them...
More socks, but smaller. These are from the latest Phildar baby catalogue. I've knit them for my colleague Anne. She's expecting a baby one week later than I am. I used Phildar Bamboo, great stuff to touch, not so great to knit with because of all the different threads. But then again, great looking when finished!
And yes, yes, yes, finally I finished the lace scarf that has been eating dust and growing live things in a corner for the last months. I don't know what came over me, I just had had enough, it had to get finished. I'm wearing it with pride while ignoring the obvious mistake in row 10...
And here's a quickie I did last weekend for my MIL. It started out as a cushion but because of the lack of yarn turned quickly into a handbag. I knit it with a cheap acrylic yarn (don't tell anyone) on 10mm needles and it took me about a day. It's my own design, brutally stolen from the beret from the winter issue of Interweave Knits (the beret that turned out way too big as well...) and very simple I'll write out the pattern for a following post.
And onto the baby-stuff. Here's one other bamboo sock from the Phildar catalogue and a vintage soaker (don't know the real word). Very rewarding projects, each done in a night.
And? Productive or what? Right now I'm working on a stole that might work as a baby blanket too, it's my own design and made with yarn my SIL gave me last weekend; a pink, fluffy kid mohair/wool-mix. I'm working on some ideas for embroidery with little pearls to jazz it up.
And there's the baby blanket from Handknits for Kids that I'm still working on and looks like I will be for the next 5 years... it's fun to knit but I have to be able to concentrate and that's where the problem lies...
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Jackll & hide
Space Invader
Easypeasycozywozy
NicoNeckPiece
Basic Baby Hat
