Getting cosy

It's snowing!

I'm in the process of knitting (!) a little something for my new nephew. We were meant to be meeting him yesterday, at his baptism, but sadly snow has meant it ended up being postponed until next weekend. Still, he is less than a fortnight old, so will still be all tiny and new when we see him. I love the teeny tiny stage when babies are brand new in the world - especially on other people's babies, when it means you can coo and admire them for all their gorgeousness but also escape the totally exhausted stage that comes with it when they are your own.

Anyhow, on with the knitting. The plan is a hat and maybe a pair of pompom topped slippers. The hat came together nicely enough. Uncomplicated instructions, and moss stitch, which, I have decided is my favourite stitch. Maybe. Until I discover another that I like even more, that is. But the texture of it pleases me, and so does the beginner friendliness of it.

Ta-dah!

This current weather outside means getting cosy by the fire. I think part of what has drawn me to knit a bit lately is that I can do it on the sofa, as opposed to sitting at the kitchen table. Do you like my new cushions and socks, by the way? Hey, guess which ones I made? Answers at the bottom of the post...

So, feeling optimistic at how easy making a baby hat seemed (I finished the last bit whilst watching 101 Dalmations with my little girls - a perfect get warm after snowman building activity if ever there was one!), I decided to crack on with making something to go with it.

Can anyone help me make sense of this? 

The pattern for `pompon slippers' (also in the same Debbie Bliss Baby Knits book as the hat) claimed it was easy - no complicated shaping, it said, and, in a simple garter stitch. Garter stitch is even easier than moss stitch, I thought. I can do this.

So, with plenty of the yummy chocolate brown coloured wool (or so I thought), I got started - with a plan to make pompoms in the same pear coloured wool as the hat. As an aside, I'd just like to say that I fully approve of companies naming wool colours after foods. The marketing definitely works on me, anyway, as it fools me into thinking I am about to embark on something that will be lovely (who doesn't like the combination of poached pears covered in warm chocolate sauce?). As opposed to something steeped in confusion and ending in frustration.

Progress so far. Should it really look like this?! Help..!

I am going to stubbornly plod on to the end of the instructions, in the hope it will all make sense in the end and somehow magically sew up into something that looks like what it does in the pictures. Hmm.

Regular readers may be wondering what happened to those red socks I was knitting in the run up to Christmas. Er, well, progress on the second one has been a bit, er, slow.

Will these baby slippers go the same way, and end up stuffed into my knitting case?

But look! The cold weather has also got me baking. I know it is way too early for Easter, but who can really resist the sight of those tubes of Cadbury's Mini Eggs when the supermarkets are clever enough to position them right beside the checkout?

And flapjacks and brownies. A home with tins full of those items is a happy one, if you ask me.

Will I get to the gym this week I wonder? Much will power will be needed I can tell you. I am averaging at two mornings a week at the moment (if you discount the blip last week where I only managed to win the bed or gym battle once). It all comes down to whether or not I leap out of bed the second the alarm goes off. Any hesitation and that's it. If I give my brain a chance to stop and think about the insanity of leaving a warm place to enter a freezing cold one to go and do something I don't have to do, bed has won. 

As I type, the eldest girl is waiting for news to see whether school will be closed for a snow day.

And the cushions and socks? The cushions, of course. Both things came from Laura Ashley in town - some half price fabric, and some, er, less than half price cosy socks. Far less than the price of some wool to knit my own. And I won't bother to point out the other obvious upsides of buying socks rather than knitting myself a pair...

Cushions on a budget

Judith Kerr's Mog books are a big hit in our house. Partly because our own cat is a bit like Mog - both in looks and character. Just as my sewing stuff is looking a bit tidy, the cat comes along and topples the pile over. Here she is demanding her share of attention while I try and take a picture of a finished sewing project:

Attention seeking cat, Ceylon

Last night marked the half way point of the first sewing course - 2 lessons down and 2 more to go! And, at the risk of this turning into a teacher's report, the ladies are doing brilliantly well. The book bags are finished, and now we're on to bigger bags with pockets (a bit like the one I've tried to photograph above).

Next up, cushions. The design I'll be teaching is a really simple envelope style - one big piece of fabric folded over to create a sort of envelope. I've just made a couple as demonstrations - you can see the back has some contrasting binding added to make it look a bit more professional, and I've put a few, yes you guessed it, fabric roses on the front. 

Cushions for under a fiver

I think the design would also work well with plain fabric and matching roses. Or something else appliqued on. My aim is to teach people the basic techniques and let their imaginations run wild - or for them to see what inspires them at the shops and try and make something similar at a fraction of the price. The possibilities are endless...