Cutie Booties

I knit up the booties for my friend's overdue baby yesterday. Very cute. Knit from Christine's Baby Booties using Lang Bébé on 2.5mm dpns (set of 5).

Baby stuff and another Christmas FO

I just knit my dad's Christmas present - Skull & Crossbone wrist warmers! Cool hey? The pattern is Skull & Crossbone Wristwarmers by Kara Lyon. I knit them using some yarn from Manor department store (Yukon and Jasmine) on 3.5mm needles. They took me two evenings to knit.

I knit them for my dad because he plays guitar and often wears sweat bands on stage to stop the sweat dripping onto his guitar (nice) so I thought he could do with some funky bands. I'm not sure they will be particularly practical and will probably just go all droopy when they start to get wet but I still think they make a fun gift for him. I might make him something else too, maybe a scarf or some socks or some gloves, not sure yet.

I think I must be getting on well with my Christmas knitting, just my step-mother, Mr H and another gift for my mum for the main gifts (although I might knit up some beanies for my half and step brothers) and if I have time I might add a coulpe of other people to that list. The next project will be Fetching from Knitty.com for my step-mother, just need to choose some yarn, I'm sure I will have something suitable in my stash.

I have nearly finished my baby hoodie, all that's left to do is to sew on the pocket lining, which I'm going to do on the sewing machine (which means it will probably take me forever to get around to doing as I don't really have anywhere to keep my machine at the moment) and then I have to choose and sew on some buttons. It's really cute but the hood is a bit of a funny shape, I think that's a fault in the pattern rather than my knitting. I also didn't do a very good job of sewing up the raglans for some reason but it's mainly the back that's a little messy and I'm not going to undo it now, which is pretty good and relaxed for me, pregnancy must be having a positive effect on me and chilling me out a little. If you said that to Mr H, he would probably start laughing manically, he certainly hasn't been seeing a more chilled me, bless him.

I'm currently on call to go and babysit for a friend of mine who's due to give birth at any moment, she was actually due yesterday and thought she was going to be early so she's pretty fed up at the moment. I really think I should quickly knit up a little gift for the new baby. I think I might make a pair of booties. My friend Annelis made a load of really cute ones and I think I should make a few too...

She knit hers in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino but the pattern calls for 4-ply yarn and I have a load of Lang Bebe in turquoise, so I think I shall use that.

A quick birthday gift

It's my friend's birthday on Halloween, so I thought, what more appropriate thrifty gift than a knitted pumpkin and here it is...

It was a really quick knit, I knocked it up today. The pattern is Pumpkin by Marnie Ann Joyce. I knit it using some left over orange yarn I bought in Manor last year (used for my knitted carrot for the same friend, I guess I think she has a thing for orange fruit and vegetables!) knit double on 4mm dpns.

I think I might knit another one tomorrow for another friend who's birthday it was yesterday as I know she'll like it.

I have almost finished knitting my Wendy hooded top for baby, I just need to knit the button band and hood ribbing and finish sewing it up. After that, I think I will move onto the Pinwheel Baby Blanket by Genia Planck as I really need to knit some nice baby blankets to fill the lovely pram we bought on Monday to make it nice and warm and comfortable.

We also had our 20 week scan on Wednesday. Baby is doing absolutely fine and seems to be developing perfectly. We're still holding out on waiting until the birth to find out the sex, which is actually quite difficult but we will try our best not to give in! I have no idea myself, when I first found out I was pregnant, I was convinced it's a girl but then for a while I thought, no, it's a boy and now I try not to think about it too much otherwise I'm sure it will drive me insane!

So, I will leave you with our future bundle-of-joy at 20 weeks...

Productive

Ohh, another two finished items, aren't I productive? I finished my baby beanie hat. It's knit in Laines du Nord Baby Star on 3.25mm dps. I think it's really cute and I have plenty of yarn left over so I will knit a matching pair of booties.

I also knit myself a pair of fingerless mittens. These were a really quick knit, I did them in two evenings. It was really nice as my mum has been here so we have been spending out evenings hanging out watching trashy tv and films and knitting, it's been very relaxing. She's leaving this afternoon, which I'm quite miserable about and have been trying to convince her to stay but I don't think that's going to happen, she's not happy about leaving the shop for so long. She'll have to get used to it once baby arrives!

Anyway, mitts. The pattern I used was Axel Mittens by Blue Garter. I used one ball of Lang Maxi Tosca on 5.5mm dpns. I'm quite pleased with them, although if I did them again I would make the rib on the cuff a little longer. They're very warm and I love the yarn, especially the colour.

Back to baby talk, baby has been very energetic lately and the movements have been getting bigger. Mr H felt a kick for the first time last night, it was all very exciting. I think bubs is a little dancer. I also have a proper bump now, I was hiding it a bit too much, thinking it was mostly chocolate but I have come to realise that is is actually baby as it's the wrong shape to be pure fat! Ohh, I'm nearly half way through already!

Babies in Yodas

I just had to post this photo that my friend sent of the twins in their Baby Yoda sweaters. Too. Cute. !

Two Gifts (kind of)

I have another Christmas present off my needles. I finally finished the scarf I was knitting for my brother for Christmas. It looks pretty good and I'm really pleased with it. I don't particularly like the yarn I used but it is soft and it's meant to be hypo-allergenic, which hopefully means it won't aggravate my brother's eczema.

I knit it using Patons Zhivago and it's the Elongated Cable Scarf by Jenn Nevitt. I used just under 5 balls of yarn.

Now that's off my needles I can get on with some baby knitting. At the moment I am knitting a baby beanie using Laines du Nord Baby Star. It's very cute and I'm about halfway through it. I am also knitting a little hoodie by Wendy in Wendy Peter Pan DK. There are so many things I want to knit for baby and occasionally it makes me want to find out the baby's sex but I'm staying strong and will wait for it to be a surprise.

I met a group of mum's to be this afternoon, which was really nice. I put an ad on the expat site here and six of us met up for coffee to discuss our experiences and share stories. It was so nice to meet other pregnant women as I don't know anyone else really here who's pregnant or who has children. Actually, I know one other girl with a child and she's been really great since I told her I'm pregnant and she knits too!

Innocent Knitting for Age Concern

Last year I knitted some mini hats for Innocent Smoothie bottles. The idea is that Innocent sell their smoothies with your knitted hats on and then 50p goes to the charity Age Concern. I plan to knit a few hats again this year.

If you want to take part, visit the Big Knit on the Innocent Drinks website. They have some free patterns for all levels, along with photos to give you more ideas and you will also find the address to send your finished hats to. So, get knitting to help raise money to keep older people warm this winter.