Funky babies!

 

As a mother of 4, and a grandmother of many more, I despair at the impracticality and tweeness of most baby clothes! They are all pale colours that need frequent washing, and usually not that well made, so they only last for one child, which, in the current economic climate is certainly not good - having a baby is expensive enough, without having to buy new clothes for each child, my belief is that babies deserve good enough quality clothes that the standard items can not only hand down to siblings, but to the next generation!

This jumper, to fit a 3 to 6 month old, is knitted in a 51% wool, 49% acrylic yarn, so you have the natural warmth of wool, with the easy wash aspects of synthetics.  The neck is easy to get over a baby's head, and doesn't have a tight rib to ride up and leave the vulnerable kidney area to get cold.  The graduated colour gives interest, with out being too 'in your face' - probably most likely to be chosen for a boy, but, combined with denim could look good on a little girl, too.

This is a more 'girly' version of the same idea, worked in the same yarn, but a different colourway, and a traditional Fair Isle butterfly intarsia design, instead of the fishes.  Basically, I'm floating on the market the baby knits that I wanted when my children were babies, and my youngest daughter can't get enough of for her little ones!  Please let me know what you think about my approach to baby wear in the comments, I really need to know if I'm wasting my time!

Knitting jewellery

 In about 10 days I shall be teaching a workshop under the aegis of By Local, the gallery in Cheltenham where I sell my work.  Amongst the work I sell are washable necklaces, knitted from embroidery silk or fine cotton, with a sequence of bead being threaded onto the yarn before i start knitting. This is the technique I will be teaching at the workshop.  The knitting itself is fairly simple, and the geometry of the sequence is more or less the same each time, but the weight of the yarn, and the combination of beads, makes an enormous difference to each necklace.

If I use evenly sized, identical beads, the geometry  becomes immediately obvious, and the design looks extremely neat and conservative, however, the more varied the size and weight of the beads, the less ordered and 'tidy' it can appear, partcularly if i am fairly anarchic about the order in which they are threaded!  Depending on the weight of the yarn, and the size of the needles, the same pattern can make a choker or a long, pendulous necklace - to be frank, I'm never absolutely quite what the result will be!

Being made from washable thread, the results can be washed by hand - and actually hang better once they have been washed.  This makes them very appealing to those with allergies and sensitive skin, as they can select for threads and beads they can tolerate eg non-metallic, non-mineral or natural materials only.

I look forward to posting the necklaces made at the workshop on this blog ;o)

Entrelac Clutch Bag

I love doing entrelac, unlike plain knitting, it exercises the brain!  I've been trying to find a way to use it for something useful for ages (not a jumper - since I smashed my elbow, I can't knit anything big - the perfect excuse to make small bits of nonsense)  A few days ago I realised that a rectangle of entrelac, folde and edged with a band of garter stitch would make an interesting shaped bag, and I was curious to see how the texture would hold up, once it was felted.  So here is the end result, compltet with a charming, pictorial ceramic button, and a little bead tassel for a touch of glam!  I think the texture stands out really well after felting, and the 2 different shades of grey, undyed wool, can be ditinguished, without looking 'wrong'.  Happy bunny!

If you want it, it's for sale in By Local, in the Regent Arcade, Cheltenham.  If you can't make it there, and want one like it, get in touch and I'll see what i can do ;o)