Magic Yarn Vest

Back in 2009 my friend Kira sent me a 'magic yarn ball' for my birthday. The wool was hand-dyed by Kira and looks lovely - and she had wound it into a ball with lots of little knitting tools embedded in it, so as I knit and un-wind the ball little presents are revealled. It was such a cool present. However back in 2009 I had only just started to learn to knit and hadn't progressed past the basic scarf design, so I didnt get very far with it and the half-made scarf sat in my craft drawer for ages.

Earlier this month I unravelled the scarf and decided to use the magic yarn to make a cute little baby vest. The pattern is available free from Pickles website. I modified the pattern slightly (by mistake, but then I liked the effect my mistake had and decided to go with it rather than unpicking it). My modification made the little ridge of different stitches around the middle of the vest. I found the little flower buttons at Spotlight. I'm very happy with how this vest turned out, and I still have a little of the magic yarn left over! :-) Thanks so much for the great present Kira - sorry it took me sooo long to actually use it to make something!

Scarf weather

Making the fingerless gloves inspired me to finish the matching scarf last week. It had been sitting neglected and half-made for months in my craft project stash, so it felt good to finally finish it. I love the colours (they seem to match the colours in the ocean) and the merino/silk blend is so soft and warm. And now I have a lovely matching scarf and gloves just in time for the cooler autumn weather we are having now :-)

Fingerless gloves and a vintage find

As a bit of a change from the bootie madness of the last couple of weeks, I made a pair of fingerless gloves. The pattern was really quite easy - following instructions from TinyHappy's blog. I used 4.5mm needles and Moda vera Picchio fusion wool (it's lovely and soft, made up of merino and silk), and matches the scarf I started making last year. Now that I've made the gloves I better make an effort and finish off the matching scarf, especially now that it's starting to feel like Autumn here.

I also had a great find at a local op shop this week - a whole heap of 'vintage' knitting patterns, which from the looks of them date back to the 1950s and 1960s. Some of the prices on them are written in shillings and pence. They are classic, some great patterns, plus it's just fun looking through all the pictures with the hairstyles and props for the models. I can't decide which pattern to try out first! :-)