I’ve started so I’ll finish

I’ve been finishing up a few projects recently and I’ve now reached the point where I don’t have much on the needles or hook. I feel like I can plan some lovely autumn and winter knitting and crochet without feeling any guilt for projects that I haven’t quite finished. More of plans for colder days in another post though, in this one I want to show you lots of lovely finished things.

A little while back I started the Elise shawl and I finished it recently. I really enjoyed making it and it seemed to take me no time at all, I don’t even remember working particularly hard on it. I just looked at it one day and realized I had used almost all the yarn and so I added on the border. It’s a very pink affair and while it looked good but I thought it might be a little small. This all changed after I blocked it. I use a yoga mat to block and when I pinned out the shawl it was huge and the edge went over the mat. I’m delighted with it, it is gorgeous. I will definitely be crocheting more shawls in the future and I will be wearing this one with pride.

Next up is a project that had been hanging around for ages and ages. I found my scroll lace scarf by Ysolda in the back of the wardrobe where it had languished for some time. I had the exact yarn for this in my stash, it’s Old Maiden Aunt alpaca silk sport weight in the colour way bracken, a lovely soft green with some brown in it. I started the scarf just as the winter came to an end and then got fed up with it, during the summer I found it when tidying up. I picked it up again and did the scroll lace repeats. After the lace edge was done it was a matter of picking up the stitches along the edge and then working in short rows to create the rest of the scarf. It’s worked at a very loose gauge which seems to suit it. I’m not massively keen on garter stitch lace but I do think it looks much better as a finished scarf than it did when it was just the lace edge on it’s own. I tend to wear a lot of green and brown so I think this will definitely be worn a lot this winter.

In between finishing up those projects I did some quick and easy baby knitting. I knit a baby hat in sublime baby cashmere merino silk DK. It’s such a lovely soft warm yarn and it knits so nicely, love it. I cast on about 64 stitches in the round with some 2×2 ribbing and then decreased at the top to make this hat. I was using metal double pointed needles and I think they were the reason I got some laddering between the needles which sort of bothered me but not enough to rip back the hat. After that I made some baby mittens in the same yarn from the book Irresistible gifts to knit volume 2. There are a lot of nice baby and toy patterns in this book. There are some particularly jaunty looking chickens in there and I’m hoping to get around to making them sometime.

Lastly I have yet another baby hat to show you. This one was made to go with the purple baby dress. The pattern is called sea star and not only is it cute but it’s very cleverly constructed too. You cast on and make a scalloped edge and then the edge continues up the side of the hat. It’s very sweet. The photo isn’t the best but as the baby arrival date gets closer I think I won’t have time to be posting as much. I will get a photo of herself wearing the whole outfit and post it at some stage.

One last thing to show you. This is another hand made finished project but it wasn’t made by me. I’ve mentioned a few times that my Mum is an excellent knitter but she is even better at sewing. A friend of ours very kindly gave us a moses basket for the baby. I looked for a nice cover in the shops but none of them were great. My Mum decided that this just wouldn’t do so she set about sewing a cover. So here’s what she came up with. Isn’t it just adorable? Much nicer than the shop ones and it’s so nice to have a place for the baby to sleep that has been handmade. Lots of finished stuff in this post. The baby will be arriving very very soon so I may not be able to post here for a while. I’m hoping I’ll still be able to snatch some knitting time though!