Her stripey vest

When my daughter saw my son's stripey vest she wanted one.
One exactly the same but with bigger arm holes (his fits her but the armholes are a little tight).
We talked about it for days and days... could she have different colours? - no, she wanted it *exactly* the same so they could be twins. (erm right, I'd get blamed for that in years to come, I just know it)
Eventually I managed to get her to choose some different colours and popped to Spotlight to get some more to mix in.

Here it is started. It's purple on the bottom (but a very blue purple) a jade colour (her choice not mine), lolly pink and I've just started the blue row there.

I can't say it will be a beautiful thing when it's finished, but I'm sure she's going to love it and wear it with everything. There's not much more I can ask for than that I guess.

(I just hope taste comes with age!)

Ishbel Mark 2

Ah Ishbel.
Well I did start one. And it was fraught with danger. The first part is a simple stockinette stitch and I was fair flying along until I thought I'd done something wrong. It all went down hill from there. (Note - don't knit with a migraine)
I undid the work I did when I had a migraine and then my brain seemed to turn to mush and I kept miscounting so kept undoing (I only figured out later that I was counting the wrong way). In the end I frogged the whole thing (knitters term for undoing everything - you take out the knitting needles and rip the yarn - rippit = frog)

I wasn't happy with the yarn colours either. So....

I had some 4ply 100% wool that I had dyed and was saving for my second Ishbel (or some other exciting project). Maybe I'd try it and see if different yarn made a difference.

Hard to get a good shot of the colour. It goes from deep red through to hot pink.
I like knitting the Ishbel in a lighter weight yarn. The edge pulls a lot more in the fingering weight.
It's coming along. I can't decide what size to knit. I'll see when I get there I guess.

Maybe the lace bit will be easier than the plain bit!This one is forming part of my knit-a-long for the Tour de France, must keep working on it.

Just whipping things up

We're taking a seven hour plus trip on Saturday, down to Mum and Dad's farm in Victoria.
I found my daughter's travel pillow and she was all excited, so was my son, but he doesn't have one.
Step in one already over committed mum.
How hard could it be, I had the shape in front of me, it just needed a bit of overlocking and some seams.

Here is draft one.The neck wasn't right, and the bits at the front curled in too much so it got a bit of a work over.
It's stuffed now, and just waiting to be sewn up and used. Hope it helps him have a nice long sleep in the car.
(for the record, not too happy with the pattern I ended up with so if I want to make more I'd probably try and source a proper pattern.)

A birthday bag

One of my friends is having a birthday.
She's hard to buy for as she's a shopaholic and I'm not really up to the point of understanding what is new and wonderful in the world of knitting, so I couldn't get her that.
In the end I thought I'd make her something. Being a fellow crafter I know she'll appreciate the input time.

She likes wine red, and although I didn't have any wine red in my extensive material stash, I did have some nice red on cream.
I'd wanted to make a bag with this material that involved cane handles... I don't know why, it's just what it cried out for.

I haven't made a bag in this shape before. I started by reading this and then modified mine to get the result I wanted. (I would advise, if inserting round handles, to shape the top of the bag a little.)
I like my bags to have a bit of a flat bottom so I made that adjustment too. It was a bit fiddly, but worth it.

And as per usual, I didn't make two because I wasn't sure how it would turn out, then when I had finished I wished I'd made one for myself.
I put two large pockets, one with two compartments. Pockets are good for knitters or all your little bits end up on the bottom, with you scrabbling through your bag trying to find them.
All in all I'm very happy with it and will have difficulty in parting with it.
I love the colours, and of course, I'm going to have to make one for me (and everyone else who admires it).

Who?Me!

I finished my hat as the first part of the Tour de France was starting.
(I'm knitting along with the race.)
The time difference makes watching too hard, quite frankly. I think I might knit while they sleep, I'm sure they'd prefer it that way.
I'm going to have to find updates other ways.
Obviously while I was pregnant I couldn't sleep, or was napping at other times and was suffering severe insomnia as I was up in the middle of the night watching it then. Right now, it's a struggle.Anyway I blocked it today too.

The cables form owls, aren't they cute?
I think I might look out for some tiny buttons though, these ones have shanks and are hard to sew on.
If I can find some four hole buttons I might give a few more owls some eyes.
I love the hat though, it's very comfy and should keep me a bit warmer down on the farm.