Knitted Baby Booties and Hat

I was supposed to be putting this post up earlier, but lo and behold I ended up taking Lil man to the out of hours clinic with Rikkis Dad because he fell over and bashed his nose at school and made it bleed and I was worried it might be broken. 

It was a long wait which was made slightly longer by the fire alarm going off, but its worth it for peace of mind and I can't fault any of the NHS staff or nurses because they were fantastic with him. He actually ended up having 3 nurses look at his nose because they wanted to make sure it was definitely okay. 

So naturally we got home late and I didn't have time to post until now! 

So this is a little baby set I knitted up a while ago because its useful to have one to hand. I used some nice soft baby yarn that I was given by someone, I have absolutely no clue who though so if it was you please feel free to shout up. 

I used an old knitting pattern that I borrowed from Rikkis Nan. It knitted up fairly quickly which is nice because I fit it between other projects.

The booties are a mixture of stocking stitch and garter stitch so they look quite textured. The instructions said to thread Ribbon through the holes to tie them but I made twists from wool instead. 

The hat was from the same pattern but I;m not as pleased with that as I think it looks a bit lumpy at the top. I wanted to knit a helmet type hat but I've made one of those before and babies don't tend to wear that type of style anymore. 

I've popped the set in the drawer ready for the next baby to be born. Luckily as their a light sort of turquoise I think they'll do for a girl or for a boy. 

Right I'm off to bed today ended up being a lot more stressful than I thought it would be!!

Much Love

Frankie 

xxx

Team Colours

This week has been weird, on the one hand it's half term so we've had lots of fun

Making pancakes for dinner 

And baking cakes ! Playing toys and having lazy cuddles in bed. But on the other hand I'm feeling fed up. Probably because im spending most of the day with a small child and not really getting out much, or getting much grown up contact.  In fact I'm terribly excited for tomorrow becuase not only will Rikki be here in the morning were also having visitors! YAY! People! 

I think the lack of sewing time has effected my mood aswell. There's only so much you can do with a four year old running around and I always worry he'll hurt himself. Luckily there has been time for knitting when lil man has been engrossed in toys. 

These booties are for rikkis cousin, in his teams colours. I always think men get the short straw when babies are born. Nearly all of our gifts were handed to me and I opened a fair few of them. In fact some people even got me gifts but didn't get Rikki anything which is a shame considering how well he looked after us both. 

So these were designed just with the babies daddy in mind. I've been pottering making some other bits too, but we don't yet know the sex of the baby so I'm having to do everything in two colours!!! 

Oh the things I do to give handmade!! 

So yeah finishing these cheered me up a bit , and we're going to walk to the shops in a bit for some things. Although the weather is putting me off. Both me and lil man hate rain with a passion!!! 

Much love 

Frankie

Xxx

Fuzzy Blue Booties and Helmet Hat

It's miserable weather, its not even snow it's just slush. It's raining slush. I got soaked on the way to nursery today because of the stupid slush and my child's penchant for stamping his feet as he walks. And of course the two very inconsiderate drivers who splashed us with water as they drove as close to the pavement as possible. I'm not saying they did it on purpose but I do hope they burn in hell.

I also have a cold which doesn't help [it occurs to me, after re reading old blog posts that I must seem poorly quite a lot. Just too explain I have a low white blood cell count so I pick things up quite easily!]

Anyway onto the good stuff, I made these last week, I'm trying to do more knitting and expand my knitting skills. Mainly because I've been stuck in a rut knitting wise. Luckily for me there's lots of babies on the way and they will definitely be needing knit wear at some point.

These booties are pretty simple although I think the fuzzy tops look super cute, you can have them folded up or down but i think down is cuter.

I made the smallest size because I always knit the smallest size its just my way!

I also made a matching hat, well technically its a helmet, although I'm not sure if people use these for babies any more. I personally like them and I had one for lil man when he was born I found it kept his ears lovely and snug and fit nicely under his bear suit hoods. Because naturally if your gonna put your kid in a bear suit you have to have the hood up because that's wear the ears are.

I was pleased with my knitting skills on this, I particularly like the seam part that's not actually a seam its just where the increases and decreases are. I do wish I had done the chin strap in stocking stitch though, the pattern calls for garter stitch but I think stocking would look better.

The buttons just from my stash. Although I am wondering if I'm ever going to use all of my buttons, I mean ever!!!!

In other news I got some pretty cool sewing done last night! Which will be revealed soon.

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

I'm walking on sunshine booties!

I'm still working my way through blogging all of my knitting projects from my sans internet period. I think I made these one day when Hubby was on nights [so tucked up in bed] and lil man was doing a full day at nursery. naturally I couldn't use my sewing machine and I had no internet so I cosied up on the sofa with the sopranos boxset and some knitting. Yes I'm still watching the sopranos , and I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to fill the void when Its over.

Its a pretty basic pattern which combines garter stitch and stocking stitch. Its knitted flat and then you stitch it up as the end. How lush is that wool? I have no idea what it is, my mother in law gave it to me in a lil pack of about 6 colours, I only had 25g so this bootee pattern was perfect. 

Yet again I was too lazy to make the twisted ties so I used some thin pieces of ribbon I had lying around.

I'm getting quite a collection of baby knits, which isn't a bad thing especially seen as there's going to be another baby coming in the summer!!! 

Naturally I started pulling fabric for a baby quilt and was promptly told by lil man that the ones I had chosen were wrong and it needed spots because they have a spotty dog. I guess he has a point! So I think I'll have to tell them this one is a collaboration! So far I've cut the strips and started piecing I'm doing something new so fingers crossed it looks cute and not like a scrap vomit quilt! 

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Sparkly baby booties

I finished these baby booties on Sunday and as usual procrastinated about seeing them up! But here they are 

 

I knitted the first size (I always do, it's far easier to see where you are that way) and used a sidar pattern that Mr knitwits nan lent me. 

I think I've got enough wool for the hat mittens and booties. I'm using a dark pink from my stash and a light pink that has sparkly bits in that a friend sent me! 

I've got to say I love this sparkly wool it's so girly! 

 

When I've finished I'm going to put them all to one side for the next little baby girl that's born small. 

It's quite funny actually when lil knitwits was prem the nurses put a huge emphasis on knitwear, apparently it's the best thing for layering up and keeping babies warm! 

Luckily for us we phoned mr knitwits nan and she churned out about four pairs of booties, a hat and some mittens before her visit! 

The only alteration I made to this pattern was to knit to whole thing in garter stitch, mainly because it's my fastest stitch and I don't see the point slaving over purl stitches when babies grow so fast! 

Although after looking at the pattern I think I might make the hooded jacket and follow the pattern properly. I'll just need to find enough wool! Really I should make the next one uni sex! 

In other news we've been cracking on with the Christmas shopping in a big way! In fact we've nearly done! We always start early mainly so we can get it all wrapped and away, and secondly because we both hate shopping during the Christmas rush! Shopping during the Christmas rush is how bad decisions are made !!!! "Yes of course he'd love this book in oddly shaped trees"

Much love 

Frankie

Xxx

Baby Shower Gifts!

I'm at a baby shower today! But I just though id post a picture of what my gift ended up looking like!

Most of which was handmade by me!

Contents:

knitted bear

knitted hat and booties set

4 bibs

nail set

small booties

two taggy blankets

knitted blanket with flowers

monkey toy

fairy book

owl book

green knitted blanket [that the babies nan made for little knitwit and i'm now giving back]

travel knife and fork

4 handmade soft toys

soap

bubble bath

patchwork quilt!

I'm dammed proud of this hamper, I've made like 80% of the contents and i'm really please with the finish of everything, and how it all looks put together!

This is just the hamper for the baby shower obviously when baby actually arrives she will receive another little [probably shop brought] gift as will mummy and daddy! Because lets face it they've done some of the hard work too!

Much Love 

Frankie  

Little Lamb Wool - Part Two, Baby Gift Set

So I've officially finished my first project for my LittleLambWool review!

And its turned out better than I could have hoped!

For this project I used the Peter Pan Merino baby DK that I was sent, and not only was I able to make the baby booties that I originally wanted to make I was also able to make a little matching hat!

First I'll talk about the wool, its beautiful to knit with doesn't snap and has a fantastic springy quality making it perfect for little babies to snuggle in!

The pattern I used for the booties was this one from all free knitting.

The booties are mainly knitted in garter stitch but have a lil bit of stocking stitch as a nice feature. I'd say these booties are a perfect project for beginner knitters due to the simplicity and as a bonus they are also super quick to knit up! I think in total these took me about an hour for both?

I added little felt hearts to the sole, this is a great way of personalising simple booties. I've used this technique before on a pair of unblogged booties, but that time I also stitched on the surname of the baby.

Using the rest of the wool I quickly knitted up a basic hat (me and Mr Knitwit had great fun trying to remember how big babies heads are! Its surprising hard when you don't have one in front of you) I simply turned up the bottom edge of the hat to make a little brim and carefully tacked it down at four points so it wouldn't come undone.

I embellished the hat with two pom pom ears using a grey wool from my stash and a little bear face made up from felt and buttons! TOP TIP : stitch the buttons to the felt circles before you stitch the circles to the hat, it's far easier the position everything and leaves a neater finish!

Here's a rather awkward picture of the hat on the only round thing I could find, I promise it looks far cuter on a baby!

All in all I'm super please with the project and I think it makes a perfect baby gift (and who doesn't love a handmade baby gift!)

I knitted the whole set on size 4mm needles, to make sure they matched properly and used every last scrap of wool!

and remember if you'd like to make something similar all you haver to do is pop over to littlelambwool and purchase this wool, which at £3.45 is an absolute steal! And it comes in fourteen colours so you can personalise to the sex of the baby.

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

Disclaimer: Although these items were sent to me free, all opinions are my own. I would never provide good reviews for items I myself would not use, as a teacher once told me I'm honest almost to a fault!

This is the end. I'm sure this time....

Mr Knitwit has been unwell. The day after his birthday in fact. Luckily little Knitwit was already having a sleep over at his nanny a so I didn't have to worry about him. The other bigger baby though , he was feeling well and truly sorry for himself. Poor lamb! So whilst he spent the day in bed sipping water and telling me that this was the end and that he was going to die ! I did a whole lot of nothing! I watched a sex and the city marathon, did some drawing, watched a dance moms marathon and knitted some booties!! Not productive but at least relaxing! I got two pairs made up! 

A super adorable pink pair! With lace bows and...... 

A fluffy blue pair! With blue lace bows! I also downloaded a free stitch counter app for my phone! And it's wonderful! No more hunting around for a pen! No more counting of rows and loosing paper! Just swipe and go! So much easier!!!

Anyway mr Knitwit appears to have made a full recovery. Well at least he's been well enough today to have a go with his new game! 

Men and illness eh?

Much love

Frankie 

Xxx

They Think Its All Over - It Will Be Soon

World Cup fever has reached the Knitwit household. And as much as I don't mind watching England play , it seems to be on all the time!

 

But yes I did stay up last night to watch the football, even if I did have to have a small nap at half time (well it was on very late) But I did notice something, usually I'm so distracted by the wacky hairstyles that I miss the rest of the ensemble but I did notice two things:

 

1. The Italian players t shirts were really very tight (no complaints here)

2. Quite a few of them were wearing mis-matched boots? I'm hoping it was intentional and not like forgetting your P.E kit and having to get something out of the lost property box!

 

 

Now either , he's not sure of his left and right and has a different colour on each foot to make it easier, or he's channelling his inner Helena Bonham Carter.

 

 

She got slated for wearing odd shoes but I personally think she looked fierce! I kind of hope it was a tribute to the lovely lady herself.

 

But it did get me thinking about their boots and about the first pair they would have ever worn, I'm guessing they might have been a similar style to these.

 

 

These are the smallest booties I've ever made! I'm not even sure what size they are , I'm guessing new-born but its so hard for me to believe that Little Knitwit was ever that dinky! I wonder if the professional footballers mummy's ever thought about the boots their babies would be putting on their feet later in life?

 

 

These were knitted yesterday during one of the many football matches that have been gracing my television. I used a lovely pale blue and made twist ties as the closure.

 

 

Ooooooh they are so cute and I'm starting to know the pattern by heart, so I think iI'll be whipping up a few more of these during the world cup.

 

But for those of you who aren't into football here are my world cup survival tips! (and yes Mr.Knitwit is very into his football, he hasn't missed a game yet)

 

1. Find something to do, I recommend knitting or hand embroidery. I like to spend as much time as possible with Mr.Knitwit in the evenings, so I need something to concentrate on other than the football.

2. Add to your stash , Most likely the other half will be concentrating so hard on telling the ref he's a moron, he realise you've brought another twenty balls of wool or a trolley load of fabric!

3. Get in the spirit! I'm using it as an opportunity to dress the house in some England flags, and dress all of us in matching kit (shameful, I know) Little Knitwit has the full kit, and I have the shirt which I'm styling in a very 50's manner.

4. Pour yourself a glass of vino and relax! Chances are this is the quietest the men/women/teenagers will be for a while, so run and bath and finish that book!

 

Much Love

 

And come on ENGLAND!

 

Frankie

 

XXX