Mittens and Hood

Sarah asked me to make a hood like one she had bought for Isla. Then she thought some mittens would be good too so I said you buy the wool and I'll do it. She ended up getting two different colours and this is the first set.

I didn't have a pattern for the hood so it took a lot of measuring and designing but eventually I came up with the design on the right. The hood Sarah had bought had long knitted ties that tied up under the chin but as she didn't really use them I thought  a buttoned strap would be quick and easy and able to keep the hood on.


















I had a couple of patterns for mittens but only one with a 'thumb' so I made up the smallest size. Once made I could tell they would be too big (the ones in the bottom of the pic) so I adapted it to a smaller size and made a second pair thinking she could grow into the first pair.

Once I had them finished and gave then to her we found the first mittens fitted Sean and the other two wanted me to knit them a pair each with their choice of colours so the next few days will be knitting days.

I am half way through a second hood for Isla and the mittens in a lovely lavender colour, but being small they don't take long and with the pending rainy cold weather coming on it will be good days for me inside knitting.

A Girly Grey Cardigan

A request for something with silver in for all the girly things little girls wear had me looking hard for something to edge a basic grey cardigan Sarah had asked me to knit for her Evelyn.

We needed it to be something easy to wash so I chose an acrylic from Spotlight - 4 Seasons Marvel 8 Ply Yarn Light 100 g in grey. But the silver trim was a bit harder to find . In the end I just used DMC Perle Metallic Thread in silver as I just was using it around the edges and crocheting it rather than knitting with it. I used to lengths of it to make it thick enough to match the thickness of the wool I had used.





I had numerous patterns from my collection so was able to find a basic drop should cardigan pattern in double knit and the size I needed.








Some time ago Jennifer had given me a huge collection of buttons she had been passed on from an elderly lady and I had fun finding a set of silver buttons to match.







I wasn't completely happy with the way the silver thread 'sat' once crocheted but I'm hoping it will be better after a few washes and being acrylic it can be done in the machine rather than hand washing.

And Evelyn seemed pretty pleased with the end result which is good as she had mentioned to me, one time I had visited, that she couldn't wait for her knitting to be done! Something a Nana quiet likes to hear.

It maybe a little big but that allows for growth and also the chance of it lasting more than one years worth of seasons

Lady Bug Jumper

One of my beautiful granddaughters was given a ladybug toy similar to this one when she was just a baby and she has made it her special "baby" that goes everywhere with her if she can. And because she really loves it and all things to do with ladybugs her mum found a pattern for a jumper with ladybugs crawling all over it.

The original pattern had a repeat of the the front design with the ladybugs crawling all over mirrored on  the back and some on the sleeve.

However after completing the front we decided that the back could be left plain as Natalie wouldn't see the back This also meant I was able to finished a lot quicker. I also made my own positioning of some ladybugs on the sleeves.

I just used the pattern of the vertical bug coming up from the waistband at the bottom right, going up on one sleeve and down on the other making sure that the positioning of them were sort of on the front part of the sleeves.(and remembering when I was sewing it up which side the sleeves needed to be!)

Not knowing if it would become hard to take on and off and knowing that some children struggle with tops being tight when being pulled over their heads, I left an opening at one shoulder and crocheted  around the opening making two loops for button holes. I also managed to find some ladybug buttons at Spotlight just for fun,

With a fore thought that she will want to wear it often we decided to use an acrylic so that it could be easily washed and quickly dried often. I used 4 Seasons Stallion 100% acrylic from Spotlight which is an 100gr ball of 8 ply.

Needless to say Natalie was quite impressed and when she was allowed to try it on she promptly found her "baby" and just settled into it, pointing out the ladybugs with delight.

It is a little big at the moment but this allows room for a full years wear. So she will be able to wear it now and even next winter if she doesn't grow too big.

Mind you I have known acrylic knitted items do tend to stretch a little so it may well grow with her for a year!

A Fair Isle Jumper

As I have mentioned in a previous post I have a Pinterest account and one of the boards is titled “Things I’d Like My Mum To Make.” Each of my daughters with children, adds pics to it when they see something they would like me to make.

I am slowly making my way through the requests and this is a jumper Jennifer wanted me to make for her daughter. The picture she chose is for a jumper that read...

“A cute little lopi-sweater for toddlers and kids. A traditional Icelandic yoke and high neck to keep warm during cold winter months.” 



It had a pattern named ‘frost’ that had to be purchased from America but I knew I would be able to adapt a pattern I already had.

Hunting through my huge selection of knitting books, pattern collections from magazines and old patterns from family and market sales, I was able to find a really old one that had actually come from my grandmother The smallest size was going to mean it would be a little big but it would be able to allow for plenty of growth and possibly two winters wear.


I then studied the design of the fair isle and graphed it out on some old maths books papers. These graph pages are nice and big and just great for this very purpose.

Then it occurred to me that being a yoke style there would be decreases every few rows evenly around the yoke. So I had to work this concept into the design hoping the decreased stitches wouldn't alter the design too much. Taking a bit of “knitting” licence I managed to work the design and decreases to suit me rather than follow the pattern precisely and still come out with a great copy of the pattern.

I found some wool in almost the same colours although the brand only had the dark pink and I prefer when knitting garments to stick to the same brand and type of wool so that if there is any shrinkage it will be the same.

I used 100% Pure New Wool actually grown and spun in Australia (much to my disappointment - no disrespect to my AUstralian friends, but we do actually have sheep in New Zealand!) Panda Machine-wash 8 ply crepe exclusive for Spotlight

Once finished Natalie was very happy to model it and I think she found it "quite warm thanks Nana."

(and 'no' the top right pic is not Natalie!)

A Little Black Vest

Jennifer has started a board on Pinterest titled:

Things I'd like my Mum to make :)

that her and Sarah have added to. I check it out and have started making some of the items; quite handy if I am just feeling like knitting, crocheting or sewing and not sure what to do.

This is a child's v-necked vest but she wanted it in black for her dear son to wear next winter with a good shirt for things like church. She ideally wanted it in four ply but I couldn't seem to find it in black, but I had some double knit in an acrylic that would mean easy washing so we decided on that.

I had an old English Woman's Weekly pattern I used. I used to get the magazine every week for a few years and when I had finished and before I threw them out I would rip out patterns, recipes and other articles I was interested in and have them saved in clear-files that the girls often look through for items they would like me to make.

I actually don't like knitting in black as for some reason it is very hard on the eyes especially when looking for errors. Must be because the contrast between shadow and the colour (if you can call black a colour) is the same. But it didn't take long and I was reasonably happy with the result.


Of course it was too big for Jacob at the moment but it will do good for next year. When he tried it on he sort of mentioned it was a bit big but then proceeded to just wear it. We told him it wasn't really for him just yet. That way we managed to get it off him and put away before he ate food in it!

Now on to the next garment.

Three Little Kittens and My Lost Mittens

I had come to a bit of a standstill with my knitting as I had started a little jacket for one of my grandchildren with some lovely red mohair but I had but run out before I had finished. I couldn't find any in the shops to finish it so I had just stopped altogether.

Then I remembered that I had promised to make some mittens for Kate so quickly made one pair and posted them off.
After the weekend I had spoken to my daughter and she hadn't mentioned them. I thought that was a long time for them to get there and my impression of the New Zealand postal service lowered a bit. However Monday morning there in the letterbox was my parcel - returned!
Insufficient Postage thank you very much!

"Right", I thought, "I'll fix them!" I opened up the parcel, took some photos (as I had forgotten to for the first ones) and slipped the second pair I had made over the weekend in as well. I then "peeled off" the label, affixed the correct postage and sent them off again.

I was reminded of the nursery rhyme

"Three Little Kittens"

Three little kittens they lost their mittens, 

And they began to cry, 

Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear Our mittens we have lost. 

What! lost your mittens, you naughty kittens! 

Then you shall have no pie. 

Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow. 

No, you shall have no pie. 

The three little kittens they found their mittens, 

And they began to cry, 

Oh, mother dear, see here, see here, Our mittens we have found! 

Put on your mittens, you silly kittens, 

And you shall have some pie. 

Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r, 

Oh, let us have some pie. 

The three little kittens put on their mittens, And soon ate up the pie; 

Oh, mother dear, we greatly fear Our mittens we have soiled. 

What! soiled your mittens, you naughty kittens! 

Then they began to sigh, 

Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow. 

Then they began to sigh. 

The three little kittens they washed their mittens, And hung them out to dry; 

Oh! mother dear, do you not hear, Our mittens we have washed! 

What! washed your mittens, then you’re good kittens, 

But I smell a rat close by. 

Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow. 

We smell a rat close by. 

Historical Background "Three Little Kittens" is an English language nursery rhyme, probably with roots in the British folk tradition. It dates to before 1858, when R. N. Ballantyne wrote an amplification of the poem under the championship The Three Little Kittens, published as region of the Good Little Pig's Library, book 1. An often late edition of the tale was published under the Little Golden Books impression in the United States. The rhyme as published today, however, is a sophisticated piece usually attributed to American poet Eliza Lee Cabot Follen (1787-1860). The poem was first published in Britain in 1833 as an anonymous addition to a volume of Follen's verse “Little Songs for Little Boys and Girls”. and in the United States in 1843. Follen may have developed and refined an existing, rude version of the poem, and, in the process, made it her own. With the passage of time, the poem " was hugely popular and quickly absorbed into the Mother Goose collection, “Only True Mother Goose Melodies” in 1843. Its tune is a variant of “The Seven Joys of Mary.” It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16150

You can read more about its origins here.

“Three Little Kittens” tells a cautionary tale of three kittens, who first lose, then find and soil, their mittens. When all is finally set to rights, the kittens receive their mother's approval and some pie. The profound significance of these verses represents a typical situation involving the relationship between a mother and a child. The child, represented by kittens and the common occurrence of losing an article is subsequently punished. Then finding the lost item, the child is finally rewarded for the good deed.

The word "meeow" shows effective use of onomatopoeia where a word sounds like the action. The mother cat was correct in her view that she could "smell a rat!" It may have been that the kittens had indeed been playing with a rat. The fact that the kittens saw the reward in finding their mittens meant they could have pie, suggesting that good behaviour was rewarded; when their mittens were soiled and they were pronounced naughty, supposes that they washed them to be rewarded again. However “Mother” saw through them!

The poem is a sophisticated production considered a cornerstone in the shift from moral literature of 19th century children's literature, in favour of anthropomorphic fantasy, satirical nonsense, and word play. It is one of the first pieces of children's romantic literature produced for amusement and entertainment, and may be the source of the idiom "to smell a rat".

The poem can be learnt in a request and reaction choral manner featuring the sound of a storyteller and the voices of the kittens. Like most rhymes, this verse is unnamed.

So the mittens I made were in a pure wool. I didn't use a pattern as they are generally just a simple 'bag' with a curved top. I made one with a rib cuff feeding some hat elastic through for tightness and the second had a simple picot edge with a band that I was able to thread some thin elastic through. The second pair also had a little 'snowflake' pattern knitted on the back. 

A New Creation.

With all the baby clothes I have knitted over the last few years I am beginning to build up a few end of balls in different colours.
I am never quite sure what to do with these and have used some to make crochet squares to make into blankets. I have also made knitted soft toys, but I found a use for a few of the softer shades.

 

Our latest grand child is a girl, Kate, but her mother isn't that keen on pink so we are not allowed to give her pink things.
Well I don't think that is fair as a girl is a girl and if she wants pink then you have to let her, surely.

Well I found a way to get a little pink into her clothes ;)

Using a pattern for a yoke necked jacket from Cleckheaton No. 425 Little Babies - volume 2, I knitted a basically white jacket with some colour added in with a Fair Ilse yoke and border.

I used left over pink and green wool and the white in the pattern was a different shade to the main garment and this way I used up nearly four end of balls.

I just made up the pattern as I went along depending on how much of each colour I had left as the garment was nearing completion.

This jacket is commenced at the neck for the circular yoke. You divide for the sleeves and the fronts and backs are then joined and knitted so the only seams are down the sleeve.

McVan Lent Tartan

My Dad loves a cup of tea.
But he hates tea bags.
He has a two cup pottery teapot that he uses and a very large selections of Twinings teas. He has his favourites but he still has the occasional others.

His teapot cosy was wearing thin and needed a good wash so I thought I would make him a new one to have as a spare.

While In Wellington visiting them and our grandchild I found some wool and started to make a cosy to fit.
I wanted to make a tartan as Dad has Scottish ancestry and loves his tartans.
I didn't follow any particular clan and could only use the wool I had found.

I started doing just stripes and then stitched vertical strips to hopefully add thickness and so insulation.
Some how I had the idea of a tartan wrong so it didn't quite work.
Anyway it serves as a tea cosy which was the main idea.

When I stayed the second time Dad seemed quite chuffed with the cosy and called it his McVan Lent tartan.

Plunket Singlet

When my children were babies I knitted a few of the Plunket singlet patterns both the fancy one and the thicker rib one.
I also sewed their nighties from a pattern set I still have. In fact I even used the pajama pattern. I really love a wrap around nighty.






One day at church I saw one of our young babies wearing a coloured knitted top as a tank top over a skivvy.

I thought I know that pattern and sure enough it was the singlet pattern. It does have a very pretty delicate lace yolk neck design so I thought what a great idea, I'll make one too.

I have lots of balls of wool, as left overs from other garments and as baby items don't use much or take much time I enjoyed knitting it.

So here it is, a little top for our youngest granddaughter at the moment.

Post script:

I have tried scanning the pattern but it came out too dark so I have photographed it and posted it here so you can either print the photo off or just save this post for future use.

More Knitting - Newborn Layette

With grand-baby number six arriving soon I have had my knitting needles out again.

Theresa and Steven are expecting their first baby in March, the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere Autumn so I am doing a couple of first size jacket/cardigans.

The pattern book I used was one I have knitted a lot from and find them easy to do.

It specifically has premature and small baby sizes and as our family tend to make them small they are ideal fits for those first few weeks.

If this baby is a girl Theresa has said it is not allowed to be dressed in pink!

So...

It is a set I have done before in yellow and the hat and bootees in white however Theresa and I chose white for this one.

It's baby's first hand-knitted outfit she had received for it. I haven't done mittens but I may if it gets colder closer to the time.

Poppet

"What?" you ask.

A dear friend, Rose, gave me a bag full of balls of wool and old patterns when she was tidying out her house because she had to move into something smaller with family.

One of the pattern books was a Fontana booklet of 11 Baby Cardigans (number 94) in black and white. It had cardigans in 3 and 4 ply wool.
I imagine it is a similar book that perhaps my mother and grandmother would have used to knit cardigans for me when I was small.

But really the designs don't date as its just the colours that dictate the fashion.

I really liked the style called Poppet and thought one of my grand-daughters would enjoy it.

I had some left over pink 4 ply wool from some baby jackets I had made and thought I had enough to make the cardigan. I started on it getting the fronts and back completed within a week, only to discover by the sleeves that I wasn't going to have enough wool. Never mind, I thought, I'll visit Spotlight again thinking as long as I used the new ball for the sleeves it shouldn't be too obvious that it wasn't wool in the same batch number.

However the colour is no longer made. I hunted three spotlight stores, on their website and the website who produce the yarn, Trade Me and even my bags of wool scraps to see if I could find anything the same, but alas no where to be found.

Reluctantly I purchased a ball in the closest colour of the same ply in the same brand. I started with the cuffs in the same colour as the rest of the cardigan and then finished the sleeves in the new colour.

I felt the difference was so obvious but my daughter thought it took a good look to notice.  Even if it just becomes a home or daycare cardigan it will still make her "look a real poppet in it"

I must admit knitting things for little ones give such satisfaction as they don't take a lot of time - as long as you just get on with it!