Sweet socks

After posting a picture with my kitkat machine on it last time, in case you feared that my other sweet foodie passion - Lyle's Golden Syrup - had been forgotten - fear not...

Another finished knitting project:

The Golden Syrup inspired stripey socks are finished.

I really like them and can see the possibility of knitting some more stripey socks using leftovers in the future. But, I think the next socks I knit will be pirate themed.

And in case you're wondering - the Golden Syrup cans behind the socks have been made into a standard lamp.

Hat

My blog's been quiet again for a little while. It's not as if there haven't been things going on - with a nearly 7 month old baby how could this be possible? I just haven't felt like writing about anything.

So, to break the silence and hopefully get back into the swing of blogging, here is a hat I knit for David while we were on holiday for a week in Spain visiting David's parents.

A little while ago my Mum knit David a scarf and there was enough yarn left over that she knit him a hat as well - the scarf has found great favour, but the hat was a bit floppy and baggy because of the soft, fine quality of the yarn (Tynn alpakka) and so didn't really get warn. This seemed a shame, so just before we went away I found the leftover yarn and frogged the hat and started again, this time with the yarn held double to hopefully give a denser fabric.

And we seem to have success. The pattern I used was Turn a Square by booklyntweed, although using a similar stitch to the original scarf (of course we didn't think to take the scarf with us to Spain - so it's similar, but not the same) rather than the stockinette stitch of the original pattern.

I think David had just started to suck a sweet when I announced I was going to take his photo, which is why he has a slightly funny look on his face.

While I'm here - here's a photo of Frances playing with her Dad.

Fidgit knickers

A little while ago I did a post about nappies and how I was getting on with them. I mentioned that I was amazed at how well the wool outers were working. I acquired some small ones from a friend in the beginning, and my Mum has knit a few pairs. Now, I have finally got around to knitting a pair for Frances. These have taken me far longer to make than they should have done (like most things at the moment). I knit them using the Curly Purly Soaker Pattern and roving that we bought at the eco shop here in Turku produced by Jutta. They produce the roving in lots of fun colours. They wouldn't have taken me quite so long if I'd actually managed to read the pattern and not joined the crotch seam before I'd knit the full length of the front, and also if I hadn't originally cast off the legs too tightly. They're quite big on her at the moment, although look pretty neat and slim under clothes. If she needs any more I'll most likely use this pattern again as it doesn't require any seaming.

In other knitting news, I've finished the 1st module of the City and Guilds course, it has been assessed and is currently in the post on its way back here. I've had some positive feedback and only have some minor bits to look at and add to or change. In the package that should arrive any day now are also the instructions for Module 2. I've read that this second module is all about colour, which should be interesting.

I've also been knitting socks again. I've been wanting to knit some stripey socks with each colour being a single row wide for quite some time now - I think since I read about helical stripes on this blog. I had an odd ball of dark green and of white sock weight yarn and decided to add a couple of other colours and knit a stripey sock inspired by the colours of a golden syrup tin. As always with socks I'm finding them very satisfying to knit.

Seascape

There has been knitting going on here between nappy changes, feeding, washing and general mischief and merriment.

This is seascape stole from knitty summer 2008 I started it back in July 2008 but it came a cropper to knitting things that didn't take as much concentration... I never managed to memorize the chart..., hibernating, and general life. It's not as airy as the version in the pattern, but I like it, and it makes for a bit of a different type of scarf for me.

The other knitting project that I've been working on is my city and guilds - that, like seascape, stalled last year but I've been making some good headway and am hoping to have the first module done by the time my parents come in a couple of weeks time. I'm excited about keeping going with it and getting some momentum going.

monochromatic

The weather here recently has been very stable - cold and dry. We haven't really had any serious snow for a few weeks now, but because of the temperatures it's stuck around. We've also had a lot of hoar frost.

I was thinking the other day when I was walking around how monochromatic everything was looking, I'm seeing the outside world in greyscale. I thought I'd take a few photos, these are all taken in our neighbourhood.

It really accentuates the shapes of all the trees. It's very pretty although I think I'm ready now for a bit of colour - I can't wait to see the first shoots of green on the trees. (the person in blue is David pushing Frances by the way).

Nappy summary

I thought I'd do a bit of a nappy summary - more for myself than anything else....

The nappies I made: so far I haven't used them at all - at the beginning they were way too big, I tried one on Frances the other day and they gape a lot around the leg, so I can't imagine the containment would be very good.... and as we all know, it's all about the containment.

Disposable: slim, easy, reliable... but.... I don't really want my daughter walking around as an environmental disaster. I've read about disposable nappies not even starting to decompose until she's an old lady, which just feels wrong to me. So, we have some as backup and sometimes to use for convenience - ie if we're going out and aren't sure of the changing facilities etc.

Imse Vimse reusable nappies as supplied by Kela: I've tried to use these, but every time they just haven't contained anything and we've ended up in a soggy mess. I've heard that these only start working once the inners are washed a few times - I guess they must mean a few thousand times.

Muslins: Old fashioned muslin squares with knitted wool pants on the outside. These have been what we use the majority of the time. It's quite a game to "pin" (using nappi nippas) them around her while she's wriggling, but no more difficult than trying to get her into a disposable nappy while wriggling with her legs in the air. I'm curious to know how these will hold up as she gets bigger - maybe I'll have to double them up? I'm still a bit shocked that the wool pants work - I wash and retreat them with lanolin if they get soiled, other than that they just get aired.

Mothercare Smart Nappy: We used these when she was first born and are now using the medium size at night. They're pretty convenient although we do occasionally get leakage at her lower back, and even though the outers don't need to be washed every time they're used, they soon start to smell a bit pee-y.

First day of advent

Another project that came to light when my Mum was helping me organise last spring was a half made advent calendar. We think this was something my Nanna had found half finished in a charity shop she had been working in and brought home and given to me to finish off. I apparently hadn't finished it, but once again my Mum volunteered and it appeared in a parcel along with a few presents to fill the pockets. I added some more bits so there's one for each day of advent.

The pockets aren't that big, so I thought the best thing to do was to get some sweets to put in each pocket and then attach some wool to join each sweet to a present....

Today's present were some reindeer socks for Frances...

...not quite sure what is in the socks but despite all the kicking she hasn't managed to dislodge them yet.