Christmas Jimi

I finished Jimi Hendrix with time to spare. I'm not too sure how impressed my Dad was, but at least he knew who it was supposed to be!



Unsurprisingly I received quite a few knitting related gifts for Christmas....my sister gave me a knitting needle case with needles from Cath Kidson and I also got a couple of knitting kits - pattern, wool and needles. One is a scarf and one is a cushion. My Mum gave me a book of tea cosy knitting patterns - possibly a hint!
I'm planning on knitting a pink scarf to help Jenny Chant's mission to knit the world's longest scarf - see Link section - so as usual I'm spoilt for choice!

Fat Audrey

I finally finished the doll a couple of weeks ago after procrastinating for ages and knitting a hat as well. Personally I think she looks rather chubby and a bit too oriental to be Audrey, but she is now wrapped and under the Christmas tree waiting for my sister. I did't understand the instructions for the tiara and necklace, so I improvised slightly.

I did ask some friends who they thought it was supposed to be and they came up with Angelina Jolie.............

I had a bit of a break from Audrey and made my other sister a hat. It's rather dull (visually) and is mistake rid stitch so very quick and easy to do. Hopefully she'll be happy as I found out she wanted a hat. I just hope she meant something like this!

I've started on another doll as a Christmas present. I realise that I'm running low on time and I should be frantically knitting instead of posting on here. So far I have the doll and a shirt. I need to add some hair and facial features and then quickly magic up a pair of trousers. Which is what I'm off to do now. Merry Christmas!

Progress...

Well I finished the doll itself, quite quickly, but the outfit is taking me a while. I always struggle with the stuffing – this is an Audrey Hepburn doll, but her arms wouldn’t be out of place on the World’s Strongest Man Competition. I’m not too sure what I can do apart from rip her arms off, so I’ve left them for now. I have the pieces of the dress to cut out which I intend to do this weekend, but I’m putting it off slightly as the mouth fell to pieces when I tried to sew it onto the doll, so I’m worried what might happen to the dress. I’m also a bit confused about how the hair fits together (you knit two separate bits), then gets attached to the head. The pattern doesn’t give very good directions, in fact, it gives none whatsoever! If this is even a vague success then I’m going to try and make another one for some other poor unsuspecting family member…..

Out of Practice

I haven't been doing much knitting recently - hence the lack of posts. I ran in to problems with the baby cardigan....I couldn't understand the pattern and I didn't have enough wool. Quite significant problems if you are trying to knit something! My niece has been growing so much that I no longer think the cardigan will fit and I might have to give up on that and make her something else. Because I was stuck and due to other things needing my attention I've not had chance to even start another project.
I spoke to my gran the other night who has been trying to give me some help with the cardigan, and I now feel inspired to pick up my needles again. I've just started on a doll from the 'Knitted Icons' book I was given for my birthday, which I'm hoping to give to someone as a Christmas present. This project involves some sewing though and I'm a little out of practice there as well. I've also got a huge list of things that I want to make for Christmas so I ought to get cracking.....

Knitted Handbags

I've finally finished the handbag I've been working on. I'm quite pleased with the result. I'm seeing my friend tonight so hopefully she'll like it.

It wasn't the most exciting project I've done - it was all garter stitch, but it was still quite fun.

I've decided to try and knit a cardigan for my niece next. I've never done anything like this before, so I think this might be a bit of a challenge. It's a wee cross over cardigan that I'm going to do in pink (mainly because I already have some pink wool).

Baby Hippo

I finished the hippo on Saturday - I still need to tie a ribbon round it's neck, but I've decided to wait until we know what sex the baby is.

He's a bit smaller than I thought he would be - only about 6 inches.

I've already started on a handbag, using the wool and pattern that my aunt gave me for my birthday. I've done about half a side and I'm thinking of giving it to a friend for her birthday if it turns out ok.

More Projects in the Pipeline

I've not quite finished the hippo, but fingers crossed I'll be able to post photos next week. It's been so quick and easy to do. I just need to finish the ears (which have about 5 stiches each) and then stick it all together. I find it so much easier to put a project together when it's the same colour, as my sewing can be untidy and it always seems so much neater when I'm only using one colour. I will just need to find a pretty bit of ribbon to put round the hippo's neck and it'll be complete.

It was my birthday this week and I received quite a few "crafty" presents! A lovely friend gave me a book of Knitted Icons. There is a fabulous Albert Einstein which I have my eye on and I'm going to attempt an Audrey Hepburn for my sister. I'm not so good at sewing, so making the clothes might be a bit tricker, but I'm willing to give it a go. My Grandparents gave me a wee sewing box with a rainbow of different coloured threads, numerous needles, pins - all I could need! My Aunt sent me some lovely blue/cream wool with some knitting needles and 4 different patterns for handbags. I'm spoilt for choice on what to knit next - my only worry is making non-waterproof handbags when I live in Scotland!

A Penguin In Time

Finally finished the penguin at about 1:30am on Sunday morning. To be honest, I don't think he's my best work, but he's still quite cute and my husband was very complimentary (biased I think). No sign on my niece yet, so I'm pleased that I finished it in time. I've already started on my next project - a hippo for my godchild, who is due around the end of June. I've decided to use the same colour as the elephant - partly because I have wool left over, partly because it seems a suitable hippo type colour!

It's going to be a girl!!

We heard yesterday that my sister-in-law is having a girl! The doctors are 99% sure..... If the doctors are right then the wee one will be the 3rd generation of women in the family to have the same christian name. Nightmare! I'll be calling my niece V3 to save total confusion.
This news did inspire me to do some work on the penguin. I successfully sewed two halves of a wing together - Go me!

Baby Knits

I'm going to be an auntie in approximately 4 weeks! My sister-in-law is having a baby, which gives me a great excuse to get my needles out. Unfortunately she doesn't know if its a girl or a boy so I'm having to stick to knitting in white for the moment. So far I've done a wee hat and matching bootees. It's not the most exciting baby hat I've ever knitted, but it's quite cute and I'm sure I'll be doing plenty more.

I'm also in the progress of knitting a penguin for the bump......I seem to have lost my creativity recently as the penguin is still sitting in bits waiting to be sewn together. We did have a scare the other weekend that the baby was coming early, but it was a false alarm. The only thing I could think was "I haven't finished the penguin!"

My husband and I are going to be godparents at the end of June as our usher and his wife are also having a baby. They have requested that I knit an hippo for their little one. I'm just not sure what colour to choose........

Spring Projects

When my youngest sister saw the monkey (see Christmas Projects Post) she requested that I knit her an elephant, so once New Year was out of the way I immediately got needles out and set to work. It was her 21st birthday at the beginning of March, so I thought this would be an ideal birthday present. Yet again I had a few problems with the pattern and only just finished the elephant with about an hour to spare! I named him Bellamy, but my sister has since renamed him to Prince Bellamy Brandysnap, which I think suits him.....

Christmas Projects

Even though I've just started this blog I'd like to include some photos of my recent projects. Yet again some of my family received knitted items for Christmas 2007, while I think they were rather relieved that I have now graduated from scarves I'm not entirely sure what my sister thought about her gift. I found a pattern for a muff (does anyone still wear these?) that resembles a snow-covered log complete with holly and a robin. It was great fun to do, especially once I'd figured out how to make the holly leaves and I managed to complete it just in time - Christmas Eve!







For Chritmas I also knitted a monkey! My gran collects them and we always buy her new ones, but this time I thought I'd try and make one. His name is Martin and my gran was so pleased that it was worth the effort (I had to do one of his legs 6 times and had huge problems trying to work out the waistcoat).