Knitted gifts

I wanted to make a present for a special friend who was about to have her 3rd baby...not just a present for her baby but also something little for my friend. When I followed a link from the Tiny Happy blog and saw the gorgeous free drop-stitch cowl pattern by Spiderwomanknits, I decided that this is what I would make for her! Then I found this gorgeous vibrant chunky yarn at the knitting shop in Glenelg. The yarn is "Katia Ushuaia", it's really chunky, I had to knit using 10mm needles.

The pattern is quite easy, although it had some new techniques for me to learn, such as the 'drop-stitch' which I really love. However it was meant to be knitted in the round, but when I joined up the circle I must have somehow twisted the stitches and when I got to the end I had to unravel it all and start again which was a bit disheartening. So I decided to attempt it again, but without knitting 'in the round', and instead sewed up the seam at the end to make the tube-shape of the cowl. I'm pretty happy how it turned out, and so I was glad to realise I had enough yarn left over to make a second one for myself! I really do need to figure out how to 'knit in the round' though...there's lots of good patterns that call for this, but somehow I haven't managed to get it right yet!

For my friend's baby, I knitted these little charcoal coloured booties. I know it's my go-to pattern, but I really like it, and each pair is different depending on the yarn. The yarn I chose for this pair was from New Zealand, and is a blend of merino wool and possum fur (Possum's being a pest in NZ, unlike in Australia, they are allowed to make yarn out of them...and it's very nice and soft).

It feels so good to be knitting and crafting again! :-) I'm going to try to get on a roll again, and also branch out and try a few new techniques/patterns as well as my trusty favourites. I have signed up for Dry July (No alcohol for a month, trying to raise money to help support adult cancer sufferers)...it's not going to be easy/fun to give up alcohol for a month as I do enjoy a glass of wine most nights while preparing dinner, but it's for a very worthy cause, and as a reward/distraction for myself I've decided I'm going to try to do a bit of craft each night or read a book. So hopefully I'll be updating this blog with some new projects soon! :-)