The best kind of Finished Project

I’ve not been around here for a long time; it’s been a very difficult few months. Fortunately there was a good reason for it, and I have the best kind of ‘finished object’ to show for it.

This is my gorgeous boy. We shall call him ‘Pepper’. He is just scrummy! Pumpkin and Pickle are absolutely smitten.

Pregnancy was awful, pretty much from start to finish. Hyperemesis (severe sickness) put paid to doing anything but surviving the first few months. Months of lying on the sofa hugely affected my mobility, and I suffered further complications towards the end, which led to Pepper arriving several weeks earlier than expected. The pandemic situation didn’t help much either, but he’s here safely and we are both doing well.

Most of the projects I had on the go last summer have remained untouched, but I did manage a couple of baby projects before Pepper arrived.

This is the ‘Bounce’ baby blanket by TinCanKnits. Made in Stylecraft Special DK, with the colours chosen in an attempt to recreate the original colours without splashing out on the official Rainbow Heirloom yarn kit. It’s super snuggly and soft and I’ve had some lovely compliments on it already.

This is Newborn Vertebrae by Kelly van Niekerk, a free pattern on Ravelry, which I knitted up using some leftover Cuddlebums Sparkle Sock (used for my hat back at the start of 2020) and the contrast edging is Lamington Lass Soft Sock which I bought from Etsy. It’s a perfect little cardi for keeping him warm whilst having some skin to skin cuddle time.

Right now, I’m enjoying all the snuggle time as much as possible, so my hands aren’t free for crafting, but I am looking forward to getting back to some of my previous projects in due course.

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They’re done!

The gloves are finally finished, ends woven in and all.

It feels like it’s been a long time since I had a finished object to post about, it’s mostly been ideas and abandoned projects and life getting in the way. But this one feels good and I think it may carry a little momentum too.

 

It’s done!

It’s done, it’s done!

The cardigan of never-ending doom is really, truly, actually, completely, wearably finished! Buttons and everything.

It won’t win any prizes, and I may not even wear it out of the house! But it is finished. Hurrah!

Pictures to follow, hopefully.

Excuse me while I happy-dance around the room.

Maybe now I can allow myself to work on some other things again and more regular blogging may resume.

Happy feet!

It’s been a while coming, but I have something off the needles again at long last. The anniversary socks are finally finished!
They got put down for several weeks, while I was occupied doing my most recent show, as well as reading more, but I took them on holiday with me and with the time to concentrate on it,  I managed to make a start on the heel. When I got back I knew I needed to get the heels finished, or I’d lose my place in the pattern and I’d have to rip back. Once the heels were done, I had the momentum to get them finished.

I procrastinated a little over the bind off, but went with what was in the Earlybird sock pattern; Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. I actually ran out of yarn on one sock, but had plenty left on the other, so I did a russian join using the end of the other ball and had enough to finish. It meant there’s a bit of a sharp colour change just at the end on one of them, but I don’t think it looks too bad, and won’t be seen much as trousers will cover the top anyway.

They’re a little longer than I expected, and a little shorter than I’d like, but they’re a good fit and quite comfortable to wear.

It was my first time using real sock yarn. I love the colour changes. I think doing two at a time using magic loop is the right way to do it, as I know I’d suffer badly from second sock syndrome if I tried knitting them separately. Toe-up was great as I could use every last bit of my yarn without panicking about running out or wasting lots. I liked the heel flap construction – it made sense and gives a nice fit, although I did end up with a teeny tiny hole in the corner, which I guess is just about experience with where to pick stitches up from. I’d go down a needle size in future as the fabric is a little looser than I’d like, but all in all, happy feet!