Little Bow Headband

My little girls hair is constantly getting in her eyes, so I decided it's time to do something about it.  This is the fastest knit I've ever done, took less than half an hour to finish it.

For headband (6-12months)
With 4mm needles Cast on 4 sts.
Working in Garter stitch, Knit 123 rows (or number of rows to make it fit your child)
Cast off 4 sts and join ends together.

For centre of bow
Pick up and knit 4 sts from bottom side of headband (preferrably over the join)
Working in stockinette stitch, work 9 rows
Cast off the 4 stitches and join them to the top side off the headband to make a loop for the bow to be pushed through.

Bow
Cast on 9 sts
Working in garter stitch, knit 27 rows.
Cast off all 9sts.  Weave in ends and push bow through loop on headband.  When you're happy with the position of the bow, secure bow in place with the ends left from the loop.

Weave in all ends.

New projects

It's been quite a while since I last updated my blog, lifes been pretty hectic with running around after a nearly 3 year old and a seven month old.

I've come up with 2 new designs for baby dresses.  I'm just trying to figure out other sizes before I write up the patterns and put them on Ravelry.  These are the smock dress and the TuTu dress. 

The smock dress was made with Sirdar Snuggly Crofter and Sirdar Snuggly DK and the TuTu dress was made with SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Opera and Four Seasons Grundl Flamenco.

 Other items I have knit recently are:

Robins Egg Blue hat knitted in SMC
Aventiva Elegaance (left),

Lily the Striped cardigan knit in sirdar smiley stripes (right)

Owl Tuque knit in Rowan Amy Butler Belle Organic DK

Autumn's blanket

This blanket seems to have taken forever to finish. I started it when I was six months pregnant and finally finished it last week when my daughter Autumn was 4 weeks old. I hadn't originally planned to embrioder around the moss stitch hearts and the letter A, but after doing the back stitch embroidery on the keychain chicken, I decided to give it a go and I'm so glad I did as I think it makes it stand out more.  I had originally planned on lining the back of the blanket so I wouldn't have to weave in all the ends of the embroidery, but as the knitted fabric is so stretchy, it wasn't working for me, so I ended up going back and weaving all the ends in after all.  I used King Cole Smooth yarn which knits up really well.  My sister is now trying to convince me to knit one for her daughter Abigail, but after how long it took for me to knit it, she has no chance, sorry Cheryl.  Also I quite like the idea of it being unique.

keychain chicken

I decided to make the Gordon, Jamie and Hugh chicken from the organic cotton kids collection book as a keyring for my mum as part of her birthday present (she has pet chickens).  I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. This pattern included my first attempt at crocheting (just single chain stitch for the legs, tail and comb).  My sister loves it and asked me to make one for her too.  Can't wait to see mum's face when she sees it tomorrow.

Ruffle Sunhat

I've just finished knitting this ruffled baby sunhat for my little girl who is due in 3 weeks.  I used sirdar snuggly baby crofter in shade 151.  It was a very quick knit, has taken probably 3 hours.  I used 4mm circular needles as I am a fairly tight knitter. So would recommend people who generally knit to correct gauge use 3.75mm needles.  The pattern uses multiples of 7 stitches to create the ruffles, so to make a bigger size, add a multiple of 7 stitches
Pattern
Cast on 224 sts and join in the round
Row 1 & 2: Knit
Row 3: *K5, ssk, K5, k2tog rep from * to end
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: *K5, ssk, (sl1k k2tog, psso) k2tog rep from * to end
Row 6: Knit
Row 7: *K5, K3tog rep from * to end
Row 8: Knit
Row 9: *K4, k2tog rep from *to end
Row 10: Knit
Repeat row 10 until hat measures 3 inches from end of brim decreases (row9)
Shape Crown
Row 1: *K7, k2tog rep from * rep to end
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: *K6, k2tog rep from *  rep to end
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: *K5, k2tog rep from *rep to end
Row 6: Knit
Row 7: *K4, k2tog rep from * rep to end
Row 8: Knit
Row 9: *K3, k2tog rep from * rep to end
Row 10: Knit
Row 11: *K2, k2tog rep from * rep to end
Row 12: Knit
Row 13: *K1, k2tog rep from *rep to end
Row 14: Knit
Row 15:*k2tog rep from * to end (9sts)
pull yarn through remaining sts and tie off.