For Isabel

OK two blog posts in one day? but Isabel Margaret is so beautiful she does deserve a blog post all of her own. Isabel is the new baby daughter of my friend Liz. I did mention her a few posts ago and that she was imminent to giving birth! Isabel Margaret was born on June 21st, right on her due date!! Of course I could not let the wonderful occasion go unknitted for now could I? So here are my contributions for her arrival...

This blanket is taken from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits for Babies and Mums, I have to confess I didn't knit the individual squares though, I cheated and did it in strips and just stitched those edges together. The yarn is acrylic (sorry but I know Liz, and her tumble dryer is her best friend), the yarn came from The Art Of Knitting partwork series that started a few years ago. It was weekly series and despite collecting the whole series of over 90 issues with yarn every week to knit a square and make a throw, I have to date only done a dozen or so squares. Then when the first throw had finished they then started sending yarn for a second throw using these colours, however I decided I wasn't going to knit it and ended up cancelling the series, leaving me with 17 balls of yarn. So when looking in my stash to see what I could at least use as a starting point for the blanket I was chuffed to bits to rediscover them. I love the colours and as Liz was still pregnant when I started the blanket it was a perfect and modern colour scheme that could be for either boy or girl.

This one is the Debbie Bliss Ribbed Jacket taken from 22 Gorgeous Knits For Babies and Toddlers although I got the pattern from The Prima Magazine website, it was available as a free download and Liz gave it to me but I will have to ask her for the link as I do not have it, although you should be able to find it on Ravelry somewhere. It is knitted in Sirdar Supersoft Aran in lilac. I also hand knitted the flower embellishment and this was taken from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits For Babies And Mums. The flower was taken from Amelie the knitted dress.

This tiny pink cardie was knitted as a last minute add on because all the others were too big for Isabel, it is a dolls pattern that I adapted for quickness the original pattern had a ribbed yoke and embroidery along the bottom edge and on the yoke. It is knitted in King Cole baby comfort which I have used before. I love how pale the pink is not at all garish like some baby yarns.

This was knitted from Patons leaflet PBN-02698 which contains 4 designs for babies up to 18 months. It is knitted in King Cole Baby DK. A girly variegated colour full of pinks,lilacs peaches and lemons. Very pretty and softens up a little after washing too.This was my first baby knit for Isabel and an impulsive stash buster, I found some very old Wendy Elegance which is a wool rich but machine washable DK. I had barely enough hence the short sleeves but I figured that would be fine as she is a summer baby. I knitted the sleeves together last and cast off when it became obvious I wouldn't be able to do much more than that. I think I was left with something daft like 30cm of yarn!! The pattern is Harvey Kimono taken again from Louisa Harding's Natural Knits For Babies And Mums

This green jacket is a pattern from a part work series that came out in the early 90's called Creative Needles, it is a series I started collecting at the time and did indeed knit a fair few patterns from it, however when I moved house 11 years ago it was during a huge knitting break and it got left behind along with a big black sack of yarn, needles and other patterns. I've kicked myself many times since then for leaving it there but hubby found a complete set of the Creative Needles at the car boot a few months ago and surprised me by calling me back to buy it cos I had walked past it!! It bought back a few memories and straight away I wanted to knit this again as I had knitted years ago though I forget who for as it certainly wasn't either of my older two.!

Yarn Porn (Yarn From Ravelry Day )

I know I promised to give label info etc for my Ravelry day purchases, my alpologies but I haven't had time. Rather than tag them on the end of the last post I though I may as well start a new one. Trying to juggle loads of pics on here is always a pain and getting it to look how I want is near impossible but hey ho here goes.

Firstly the softest of the bunch and my favourite! This is Dragonfly Lace from www.kraftykoala.co.uk it is a blend of alpaca,cashmere and silk and oh yes it is as soft and as smoochy as it sounds. The actual colour is a tad brighter than the pic and it is also a semi solid which is also lost in the pic. The colourway on the tag says Black Forest. My apologies, apart from a very grey day outside my photographic skills are zero but the camera is also a basic one!

These two are from http://www.coldharbourmill.org.uk/ they are both 100% merino and again very soft and scrummy. The purple is 100grms of 4ply and the cream is lace weight which weighs 50grms.

I think this purple one also came from Coldharbour Mill, but the only info on the label is fibre content which is 90% alpaca and 10% nylon. It looks lace weight/2 ply again and is also very smooshie

This is 100% Shetland Wool and came from Jamieson & Smith, I have just tried to copy and paste the link from Ravelry but it appears to be broken!! It is a lovely deep olive/mossy green colour which I adore, it is just a shame that it is traditional wool and quite hard and scratchy. I do have in mind a felting project but will try and knit and wash a tension square first to see if it softens up in the wash.

Last but least this is 100% British wool from the Sheepfold??? It is a very pretty pale green colour but also like the dark green Shetland above quite scratchy. It is 4ply and as it only has the weight on the label 317grms I have no idea of yardage either. I am also guilty of forgetting the info on this...I do remember it was the first thing I bought and it was out of a bargain bin.

The buttons which I haven't rephotographed (sorry) are from www.knitting4fun.com or www.textilegarden.com Not sure which ones came from where now but if you like them enough I'm sure you will enjoy browsing the websites looking for them.

I apologise for my awful memory, I have problems remembering what I had for dinner yesterday never mind what I brought 6 weeks when I was on sensory overload. Senile dementia runs in the family but I doubt with me anyone will notice any difference as to whether I develop it or not!!!! ;0)