Fairy pants

Since the weather has turned cooler and it's much easier to get 5 minutes of knitting time in here and there rather than wait for Andrew to give me some free sewing time (he's always at the golf club when he's not at work). Madelyn is in need of warmer clothes so the knitting needles have started clacking around here. I started on a wrap cardigan using 4ply (I still have that snuggly DK sitting around but needed to feel some wool between my fingers before knitting that again). The cardigan is just using the leftover cleckheaton cocoon I used to make this newborn cardigan around this time last year.

Then the dyeing bug hit with the need for some new longies for Madelyn, so I dyed up some soft and thick Blue Faced Liescter aran for the purpose. I called the colourway "Chocolate fairy" as it sort of reminded me of little girls dressed in fairy dresses smeared with chocolate birthday cake. As with all hand dyed wool, I couldn't resist the urge to knit it up straight away. Unfortunately the longies didn't eventuate as I didn't dye up enough wool. I just managed these shorties, using all but around 20cm of wool after grafting. They have some growing room in them so hopefully will still fit when the weather warms up again. At the moment they are more like capris than shorties. Back to the wrap cardy now and the knitting seems so slow after knitting with big needles.

Warmth for winter

With two teeth bothering the little Miss for the past few weeks, I haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep. As a result my craftiness has been confined to the couch for a little while after the kids are in bed, where I have been madly knitting away at this little hoodie for Austy. I needed it off the needles to get a start on something warm for poor Maddy who has next to no winter woollies in her wardrobe, due to her growing out of everything way too quickly.

I normally knit in 100% wool (or cotton for spring/summer) as I am a natural fibres girl. I love the warmth and I love the feel. But this time I decided top use the nylon stuff that the pattern was designed for. Personally I think it would have been nicer in wool and now I'm not so sure I want to knit up the stuff I bought for Maddy, but I have bought it now so really should use it. The yarn is Sirdar Snuggly - it is soft and snuggly as the name suggests, easily washed and probably good for the amount of upchucks that Maddy has been doing with those teeth coming along (the second one cut through completely last night while she slept... or rather didn't sleep). And for Austy, it's a bit more dirt and food resistant.

The pattern came from Sirdar Baby Knits (316), Pattern I - Hooded Sweater with Stripes, knitted in size 3-4. Love the book - especially for boy babies and toddlers, and love how Sirdar cater for such a size range (so I can still use it for Austy for next year too). Just not too keen on the weight and drape of Snuggly DK. Not sure about the drop sleeves - I'm a raglan lover, but unfortunately all the raglan patterns were in 4ply which would take forever to knit up in his size (I'm still plodding away at the cable vest in 4ply for him!). Now to decide what to knit for Maddy. I am thinking the cabled hoodie jacket on the far left, second row in the pic above using a ruby colur and hope to get a few unbroken nights of sleep again now those two tiny teeth have arrived.