Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a lovely holiday, had plenty of rest, food and TV. During the Christmas holiday, I managed to sew a few presents including long version of the faux fur snoods x 2, a pair of the Kwik Sew 3926 slippers for my father-in-law who turned 80 on Christmas Day. I did some beginner knitting as well.
For the faux fur snoods, I used the whole length of the faux fur fabric (about 60″ long) and reduced the snood depth to about 8″ compared to my previous version so there’s more drape and it’s easier to wrap around the neck.
Faux fur fabrics – Both are from eBay and I ordered half a metre each
Long version of the grey snood
A chestnut colour version
After making the two gift snoods there’s still enough fabric left for another chestnut colour one but this time I just folded the faux fur fabric in half along its length to make a double sided version.
A double sided faux fur version – extra warm!
Following the baby booties, I finished knitting the garter stitch baby cardigan for little Jenson. This is my first ever knitted garment! The yarn is from Sublime and it’s washable cotton.
The garter stitch baby cardigan
Although it’s tiny, it taught me how to put stitches on a stitch holder and pick up stitches along the knitted selvedge. The pattern is from Erika Knight’s Simple Knits for Cherished Babies and I also referred to Knitty Gritty for general knitting information.
During the Christmas break, there’re plenty of sitting down / watching TV time at my in-laws so I knitted a hat for Mr. H as well. I followed Craftsy’s Circular Knit Lab class and did this Wheeler Hat in two days using a short circular needle at the base and ‘magic loop’ at the top. The yarn is Rowan’s silk tweed which is really soft!
The Wheeler Hat
Spiral decrease at the crown
The online class is really good as it talks about customising the hat’s circumference and Stephanie went through four different ways of knitting in the round, including short circular, double pointed needles (I had no idea what ‘dpn’ stands for before the class), two circulars and one long circular aka ‘magic loop’.
I also made a short sleeve silk blouse which will be blogged in the following post. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!
The baby sweater is dear. Thank you for the link to the book you used – I’ve just starting knitting in anticipation of the birth of our first grandchild – and you have definitely inspired me! Happy New Year to you – may it be filled with many happy hours of sewing and knitting!
Thank you! I hope you’ll enjoy the books too! There’s also a second Knitty Gritty book on circular knitting, cabling, etc. I got them from Amazon and they’re both very useful and clear. Congratulations on your first grandchild!
Those snoods are soo lux and shops charge a fortune for those! Congrats on the little cardi, mits and bootees, adorable. I ‘ve started knitting again after a 20yr absence and had forgotten how relaxing it is.
Thanks! I still like sewing but knitting can be done anywhere which is convenient. I don’t have the courage to knit an adult garment yet but I hope I can knit at least one sweater or cardi for myself this year!
check out the Rowan Tumble range – chunky and knits in no time
Thanks for the tips!! I take a look
The cardigan looks very professional. Jenson will feel the love of his Aunt when he wears it.
Thank you! Jenson is probably too young to know what’s going on but I’ll remind him in a few years’ time!
My Grandmother (who was quite sensible) would say the babies are comforted by the love they feel from our hand made garments. Too young to know what is going on but not too young to feel happy and safe in Aunt’s cardigan. My Grandmother was of Scotland background and the one who taught me to knit, crochet and sew. Bless her and your family and happy new year.
That’s so sweet! Grandmas (including mine) often have remarkably sensible understanding on these things.
Oh my gosh, your snoods are luscious! Sooooo beautiful. I have a store I shop at that has tons of faux fur and I never think about using it, but you’ve inspired me. Thank you for stopping by my blog and becoming a follower. I look forward to seeing you in 2013.
No problem! Faux fur fabrics look difficult to sew but as long as the few sewing rules are followed then its not as difficult. Look forward to reading your blog posts too!
I love the baby knit cardigan. Looks like a pretty easy knit…did it take long?
Thanks! I’m a new knitter and it took me about 2 days to knit this. Also the yarn used is a DK weight so it would be faster than knitting with finer yarns.
that hat is lovely – I knitted a hat this winter and ran out of wool half way… I am thinking maybe I can start again and make this one as the one I made was full of cables and took a lot of wool!