My knitting blog begins!

Austy's winter teddy bear hat (Austin is 8m old here when the hat was finished).

I made this when my second nephew was born, with matching gloves, and since I never got to see it on, I decided Austy had to have one too - he didn't get the mittens though!

After discovering the world of knitting blogs, knitrings, swaps and knit-alongs by pure luck and stumbling, I have decided to create my own knitterlog right here to store photos of my creations and get let myself out of my kniting closet! I look forward to joining the web community of knitters, learning lots and gaining lots of inspiration.

One of my favourite projects from 2006 - Austy's first Easter present!

From a Debbie Bliss book I found in the local library (not the one pictured) using scraps. i also made the matching jumpsuit with the same bunny embroidered on the front, with matching bunny booties, but the clothes didn't fit my big baby :(

Having knitted since I was a child (I was probably about 8 or 9 when I first learned but didn't get to complete anything real until I was about 12), I have had lots of practise and now it's time to develop my knitting further so that I can start to challenge myself and create some really unique and special garments.

A tiny baby girl set I made whilst pregnant with Austy
This has been waiting for someone special to have a baby girl (I will make more things for my next bub with the next pregnancy!) , and now I know exactly who I am sending it to ;)

Baby knitting has been a long time favourite of mine because the garments are small and quick to finish (or else I get bored and want to start something new), but this year I would like to try some knitting in the round. I have done it before, making a baby hat for my second nephew, but the join was attrocious, and fairly visible which put me off working in the round again. But apparently, my web friends tell me it's easy and someone of my experience should be able to do it, so I am going to do some research and learn how to do it properly, before tackling a pair of woolly socks for myself. There are so many gorgeous socks on the net, I am just dying to try them, and now that I have discovered painted yarns I am even more eager!

My most recent project to date was my ecoyarns soaker for my son Austin (14m) which I fell in love with, then subsequently inadvertantly tossed it into the machine with his pj's and it semifelted and shrunk! So, I am finishing off another now, but this time my own pattern, a little larger so it doesn't get that small if it accidentally happens again, and in a much more boring natural undied organic merino as the coloured organic merino was no longer available and I don't know how to dye it myself (YET!!!!). The beautiful green daintree coloured one is now in the too small box waiting for baby #2!!!

Also almost at the completion point is a little Debbie Bliss cotton tank in Wendy DK cotton surpreme, for Austy of course. I am in love with the variagated blues and stripes but am at the stage of darning in all the ends (which is making me loathe the stripes somewhat!) and putting on one more sleeve band before I stitch up the seams. I am hoping to have the tank finished for a wedding we are attending on Saturday, so hopefully I will have a few finished photos of him modelling it soon.

Debbie Bliss tank in Wendy Supreme DK cotton