Watch Out For London Buses!

Phew! Posts on this blog are just like London buses, aren’t they? You wait ages for one and then three come along in quick succession!

Dresses for Syrian babies

In February, I posted about having knitted the two dresses in the photo above. I was sending them to Syria Relief for babies in Syria.

I found the pattern for the dresses on Marianna’s Lazy Daisy Days. It is a free download for use when knitting for charity. It is knitted from the top down and is quick and simple to make. Having said that, I did become confused about the sleeves when I looked through the pattern initially. However, it is much simpler just to knit and trust that Marianna knows what she is doing – she does!

Dresses numbers 3. and 4.

I really enjoy knitting this pattern as there seems to be a lot of result for surprisingly little effort. I finished the two in the picture above, last week and have just sewn on the two buttons that each needs. As you can see , I have been using odds and ends of balls to make them (I’m trying to clear them from my stash). I am not overly concerned about the depth of the stripes as I rather like them  when they vary in size.

Since finishing numbers 3 and 4, I have also completed number 5, although I have not yet sewn any buttons on. In addition, I have dress number 6 on my needles. I’m not sure how this one will turn out as I made a miscalculation of the amount of yarn I had. Also, I changed my mind about using one of the yarns I had chosen as it contains mohair and has a sparkly thread running through it. I think number 6 may be a little unusual in appearance!

Watch this space!

Yes, You’re Right!

Have you guessed what the title of this post means?

I have been doing more knitting since my last post. I wanted to finish the bag of teal and blue coloured odds and ends of yarn so I continued knitting hats. Do you know, it’s amazing how many children’s hats can be made from one medium-sized bag of odds and ends of yarn?

Three more hats for Syrian children and… A pair of bootees!

Yes, I managed to make another three hats from that bag! I have to admit to having added another couple of scraps to the bag but I still have quite a lot left in the bag.

A peep inside my scraps bag!

The photo above is a peep into the bag of teal-themed scraps to see what remains. The picture below gives an idea of the size the bag is – it has held all of the odds and ends I used. It is next to my iPad to give an idea of scale.

You can see that the scrap bag wasn’t huge!

The two balls I added are the multicoloured ball at the top and the one on the left of the photo. I have decided to make something other than hats with these remaining balls. I can’t tell you what it is at the moment: not because it’s a secret, but because I can’t remember what I decided upon! Oh, dear!

The knitting continued but, this time, I knitted a new pattern which I had seen on this blog. Marianna has designed lots of patterns which may be used when knitting for charity. This is such a cute dress and I like the fact that the pattern calls for it to be knitted all-in-one – woohoo, not much sewing up!

Two all-in-one knitted dresses

Recently I have taken to knitting items on circular needles. I don’t do it because the pattern calls for circular needles, but rather because, when using it, one is less likely to dig others in the ribs whilst knitting. So, with circular needle in hand, I embarked on knitting the dress. When I had skimmed through the pattern I couldn’t understand how the armholes were made and that kept bothering me whilst I was knitting. In the end, I needn’t have worried as they are simple to do. The next row was the where my circular needle came into its own. It was the perfect length for me to knit the skirt of the dress in the round! Result! Considerably less sewing up. In the end, all I had to do was sew in the ends, stitch on two buttons and neaten the bottom of the button bands. It is so easy to knit that, if I have 80-100gm of Double Knitting lying about at any time, I shall probably knit another.

Bootees knitted with leftover yarn

When I was knitting the multicolour dress I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough yarn to finish so I decided to add some cream stripes. I think the cream works well with the colours in the yarn. I also think it was the right decision as there wasn’t much of the multicolour yarn left when the dress was completed. However, I did have enough to make the cute little pair of bootees shown above. I made them a couple of row longer than the pattern said, but I don’t really know why. I’m afraid I cannot tell you where I sourced the pattern except to say that it was online and free.

I’m sure it won’t surprise any of you to hear that all of the above items will be given to Syria Relief to be taken to children in Syria.

As for me, I shall be continuing to work on reducing my stash. Well, every ball or scrap helps, doesn’t it?