Hello

Hello, I couldn't let the the year end without posting something new.

November was a month of hat knitting.  I found a childs hat pattern called "Golden Pear Hat" by Sweet Fibers on Ravelry, wasn't sure why I wanted to knit these hats but something in me just wanted to make them.  As time went along I started thinking that I would sell these at a craft show for Christmas.   As it turned that didn't work out but I did have a friend who wanted to buy several of them as gifts for Christmas and she also wanted one knit for herself. So all the hats found a home except two of them.  That made me happy.

See you soon,

Alice

Never Forever

You can't love someone forever,
just this moment.
You won't hate someone forever,
 just this moment.
You can't be sick forever,
 just this moment.
You won't be healthy forever,
 just this moment.
You can't be scared forever,
 just this moment.
You won't be happy forever,
 just this moment.
You can't live forever,
 just this moment.
You won't die forever,
 just this moment.

 You can handle it, just this moment
   - Alice Dunne

Right Direction

There's been a shift - a good thing. The look of my new reading material. Steps in the right direction.

Matilde

I just received these pictures a few days ago and wanted to share with you.

I would like to introduce you to baby Matilde . She is the cute owner of the little sweater Maile that I made and posted about on January 17. This was a baby gift that I sent to Portugal for my cousin's daughter's baby that was due in February.

What is so extra special about these pictures is that I also get to see the baby's grandma and she is modelling  one of the  6 shawls that I sent over to the family in Portugal  iin the summer of 2012.    I had been told by the family that they would send me a picture of everyone modeling the shawls but that never happened, so I was excited to see this one. 

looks like the sweater will last a couple of months

nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.

Proud Grandma, happy Mom and sweet daughter.

I`m so happy I decided to make this little sweater and send off to Portugal, as I would have missed seeing these wonderful pictures.  

Alice 

Sitting On The Dock By The Bay

This picture was taken over a month ago and as I seen it again, reminded that I had intentions of sharing it here.

It was a glorious sunny winters day so Jim and I had gone for ride. We went searching fora spot by the water. All bundled up in our winter coats, it didn't matter the temperature as long as we could feel sun on our faces and see the water with our eyes.

This moment reminds of the song of long ago " Sitting On The Dock By the Bay" . Perfect.

Alice

When Things Come Together

Not long ago I decided to make another beret for  Jim's mom.  She really enjoyed the first beret I made her a couple of years ago and wears it constantly.   I had in my mind what I wanted, and being that this time of year there are lots of toques, slouches to be found, but that wasn't her style.

Once I started reading the Ravelry notes from other knitters who made this (this is the part that can confuse me)  it appeared that this hat might be big.    So I followed one persons suggestion to knit the brim in the small size and increase to adults size later.  So glad I did as I can see it would have been too big for my mother-in-law.  To be honest I feel I could have gotten away with making this all in the smaller size.

Pattern:  Cashmere Beret by Churchmouse Designs

Yarn:  Jamieson & Smith together with Rowan Kidsilk Haze

 My Notes on Ravelry

I was so happy to get such a great photo of Lillian with her new Beret it looks so great on her !   Very soft and feminine.  Lillian is very happy with it, bonus ! 

  

Alice

p.s. it just happened the day she received her beret..she was wearing the exact shade of lilac as her hat. Perfect photo.

Pink Beret

Beret for Baby it`s a free pattern on Ravelry.

My notes:

This is the baby beret that I made to go with the baby cardigan I posted about yesterday.  This was not the design I had in mind originally.   I had thought of finding a toque that I could use some of the lace pattern from the sweater and incorporate it.   But at that time I thought I was on a time restraint and decided on this instead   I also wasn`t sure if I had enough yarn leftover from the sweater.   But I  did.    It`s amazing how much yardage are in the Madelinetosh skeins.   

I`m very happy how this turned out.  Glad I didn`t try to get to matchie with the set.   It`s a bit bigger size that the sweater so it may fit up to 6 months.   I`m going to request that I get some pictures sent with the baby wearing her gifts from me and then I can show you.

Just need to wrap everything up and just wait for the birth announcement and sent it off to Europe. 

All the best to you today.

Alice

Waiting for Baby

Waiting for Baby is what is happening now that I finished the gift I started a couple of months ago for a relative's daughter.  I found out she was having a girl and got promptly into making something girlie like.  I was initially told that the due date was in January but after completing  the gift I'm told that it's  February, thus the waiting.

This sweater i chose was done as a store sample at the local yarn store except it was done in a dark green and it looked fabulous.   I did not have yarn so I knew that I'd better use something machine washable and decided on Madelintetosh.

  Pattern:  Maile Sweater by Nikki Van Der Car

Yarn:  Madelinetosh Sock

Needles:  3.5 mm - extra notes

The pattern is Maile Sweater by Nikki Van Der Car.   I decided to work with the Madelinetosh Sock Yarn as I knew it was wise to select a machine wash yarn for the baby.   There was a lot of frustrations around this pattern on the instructions.  It definitely is not a beginners baby sweater, with the lace pattern and all.  It's a knit bottom up in one piece and you knit the sleeves flat and then join to begin the yoke.  This is another area people had issues with in the joining the sleeves.  It was so tight to join the stitches of sleeves that you  thought you were stretching things out of shape.  After much perseverance and 3 - 4 rows later you were back on easy knitting. 

The sweater looked so tiny to me at that I lengthened the body by 1 " and also the sleeve.  I could now see that you could have gotten away with going all the away to 2" to get more wear of the sweater.  It's probably only going to fit for a couple of months.

I

An adorable newborn sweater.

I also made a tiny little tam that a fellow knitter Cathy Wong had suggested.   I used the left over yarn I had from the sweater and  just finished with a couple of yards left over.  I'll share the picture on another day. 

I have been itching to find a cardigan/pullover n to knit in January with 10 balls of Rowan Felted Aran that I purchased from a sale a couple of years.  That is my knitting mission right now, besides finishing a couple of little things I have on the go, that are not giving me any excitement.

Happy Day to you.

Alice



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