Baby Isaac's Bobble Hat!

These are my own Fishermans Rib Booties that I created for Hattie originally, Isla had a matching dress and now there is a matching hat. 

I had to change to garter stitch for the decreases as they didn't look right in the rib but I'm happy with the final outcome. I love the textures and I got to use my pom pom maker again which is great fun and so easy! 

My colleague Danil and his wife loved them and Baby Isaac looked super cute in his photo when he tried them on at 3 days old 😊! 

My first Quilt...

My friend Lizzie and I recently started a quilting course at Studio 39 in Baldock! It's been so lovely to spend every other Saturday in such a lovely environment and playing with my birthday present! 

With Lizzie and Joe expecting their first baby in March and Henry and I getting married in April we are having to take a little break soon but we wanted to make something from start to finish before we did! We went for a playmat so it'd be really useful for Lizzie and great practice for the quilt I want to make after our wedding! 

Quilting, like knitting is a labour of love, it takes hours with all the cutting and piecing and finally the actual quilting... And there is a lot more maths involved that you would think! 

We had a great time working out our first pattern together over tea and chocolate and spreading out over Lizzie's lovely living room with Alfie the cat! 

Half square triangles caused us quite a few problems as the instructions in the book weren't very clear, but apart from a slightly shrunken middle star, you wouldn't really be able to tell... I'm still impressed we managed the maths to fix the problem!! 

So here it is, my first ever quilting project - it's definitely not perfect but I totally love it and am looking forward to my next one... 

Knitted Christmas...

I love Christmas and this year I was particularly excited about creating presents

 for my two lovely nieces Isla and Hattie. 

This is Hattie's bunny... she has named him Bob - a nod to Blackadders Kate character whilst being the only thing she can really say at 9 months old! The texture of these gorgeous crochet animals is great for teething babies and with arms, legs and ears to chew Bob Bunny is very popular!

I also made her Olly the Owl to fit in with her owl themed nursery! She really loved all of his bright colours on Christmas day and took to swinging him round by his legs!

Isla also had a bunny... currently known as Bunny! She didn't let go of bunny for the whole of boxing day and his sticky-out ears are a result of lots of dribbly chewing! 

Isla's second present were a pair of pink converse which her mum absolutely loves. They fit perfectly and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. These are proving to be my most popular item at the moment...

All four of these presents are machine washable and so super practical for little ones! 

Present wrapping took about 4 hours this year, complimented by Christmas films and Hot Chocolate... 

I loved every minute!

Even Juno got into the Christmas spirit!

~

Hattie's Winter Warmers!

Totally in love with this pattern from Sirdar - it matches the jacket I made for Anoushka and I just couldn't resist making one for my niece Hattie too! 

Anoushka Maya Masters

So pleased to welcome baby Anoushka into the Masters family! And so glad we all got to meet her for cuddles before mum Becky took her to join the New Zealand wing of our family at just 3 weeks old! 

Becky wanted a surprise on her arrival so I knitted in mustard and deep red which I know are favourites and would suit her gorgeous skin tone. Couldn't be prouder of my independent cousin!

Finley Jacob Malpuss...

...Not Tiberius Fox Malpuss as I had been rooting for but totally gorgeous all the same! My cousin Lynsey - his mum - is a crochet queen so I thought it would be nice to make Finley some knitted bits as well and it was lovely to use some more unusual boy colours! 

Charlie Pryde

My second pair of converse and a matching cardigan for baby Charlie!

Olivia Rose Blissett - 3rd September 2013

My Big Cousin Karen and her partner James welcomed baby Olivia to the world in September... And now I finally get to be a BIG cousin after always being the youngest! Karen requested bright, rather than baby colours for any knitting or gifts so I had great fun creating these for little Olivia. 

The converse were a special request and after failing to find a pattern I liked, I wrote my own which I now hope to sell on Ravelry! They have proved rather popular so I'm onto making my fifth pair now, which are for the lady who owns Knit Knacks in Hitchin - she is also my best friends Auntie and has just welcomed her first grandchild Poppy to the world. 

The dress is also my own pattern and lovely to make as it is knitted in the round and has no seams!

Calvin Macaulay - The Dramatic Arrival!

I feel I have been slightly (well majorly) neglecting my blog lately! Over the next few posts the reasons may become clearer... my spare time has been absolutely full of baby knitting and wedding planning so the blog has suffered. I am hoping to add in quite a few updates over the next few weeks though... now the babies are finally starting to arrive!

 

Calvin James arrived in the world rather dramatically when he was expertly caught by his daddy while waiting at home for an ambulance! He is baby brother to Lyndon (Grub) Macaulay who is actually responsible for the start of my baby knitting obsession. Huge congratulations to my lovely friend Leonie and her husband Sam - (though I am missing our work lunches now she is back on maternity!)

 

As I made Lyndon two cardigans and a hat in 6 - 12 months, which I know Leonie has kept, I wanted to make Calvin something special of his own! After some thought I decided on this Snuggly Snowdrops hoodie and booties to get him through his first winter... hopefully they will fit for a little while, though he was a whole lb heavier than his big brother when he was born!

 

 

I then couldn't resist having my first go at a cuddly toy! My eagerness was mainly due to finding this gorgeous free koala pattern on Deramores.com which was just perfect for my Aussie friends living in the UK. The nametag was a little running joke at work as that's what our boss wanted her to name both babies... luckily they thought of two lovely and unusual names (a non-intentional nod to two American Presidents!) ... but I wanted her to still have a "Bruce"!

 

 

I must say I do love him and he was very hard to part with, but I know he has gone to a good home! I've already had a pic of Calvin and Bruce making friends - see below! I have definitely got the bug for Cuddlies now and I am hoping to do some more in the near future, starting with an Owl for Hattie's Christmas stocking and then onto some TOFT Alpaca crochet patterns.

 

 

Awww! He is so much like his brother... I can't wait to see if that continues...

 

xx

 

The first born Wetherman girl in 64 years...

She spent 36 hours without a name, but the gorgeous Isla Jessica Wetherman arrived on the 15th May 2013 weighing a deceptive 7lbs 4oz, in person she's teeny tiny! 

I'm so proud to be an auntie to my second gorgeous niece and loved knitting up a gift box of pink & pretty things for her!

And here they are...

These were the first Mary-Janes I made after Isla's mummy Sarah showed me something similar in her baby magazine. I then made some blue ones for Hattie and will definitely be making more of these!

This one was a special request hat for Isla's first photoshoot in a few weeks time! 

Teeny tiny cardi :) even this one won't fit her for a while! 

Snuggly winter cardi :) this one was nice and speedy which helped me catch up after the next one took me so long. Both totally worth it though!

This one is a very vintage pattern from my nan, which my mum has made quite a few times! It's a lovely pattern... though very slow... But I was really pleased with how it turned out! 

Isla's mum mentioned to me early on that one of her friends had a gorgeous vintage white baby shawl. I've never done one of these before or crocheted anything so big, but I'm really pleased with it, the wool is so soft and silky and it's very well travelled... I took it on the Eurostar to Disneyland with me so I could finish it. This was just in case baby Isla arrived early :) like her big brother did! 

And finally here are the dress and booties that I invented specially for Isla, I think it'll be a long time before they fit her but I can't wait to see her in them! Very glad I made a note of this pattern so I can make these again.

So after months of baby knitting it now feels very strange to now be knitting a shrug for myself for my friends wedding! After that's finished I'm hoping to get a few wedding bits done for us. Then its back to babies... another four due before Christmas this year :D xx

She's finally here...

After making us wait an extra 9 days... Harriet (Hattie) Faith Austin was born on the 6th April 2013 weighing 7lbs 13oz and she couldn't be more perfect!

I wanted her mummy and daddy to see her new knitwear wardrobe first, but now I can share them :)

The His 'n' Hers hoodies are for Hattie and William her cousin who was born exactly one month earlier on the 6th March.

I made the bear-suit from a pattern but then invented a new-born version for her so she could wear it home from hospital as requested by her mama!

The Project Ada jumper is a special homage to her early code name within the family and two of the booties are my own creation. The little owl dress is my favourite i think and I designed the 'Owl Hattie' specially for her.

Hopefully i'll be making lots more of these in the future when I'm finally able to get 'Let me be your fancy tea!' up and running! Maybe I'll have to start with made-to-order requests...

Juno the Crazy!!

Considering how much we spoil our cat it is surprising that there are no posts of her on the blog! So... here is an action sequence from a few weeks ago. We bought her the tunnel for Christmas, it was a little pricey and we worried it may be a complete waste of time but she is actually obssessed with it and it's given us so many giggles that it was totally worth it!

So angelic at first...

"The Tunnel of Insanity"

Elusive fake mousey!

So close, I can nearly taste it...

Mine! Yum Yum!

...Now stop taking my picture!!

xx