There has been knitting, honest!

Anyone stumbling across the blog for the first time might be forgiven for wondering if I ever actually do any knitting at all. I do, honest, I really do! Just that I haven’t been able to show it, mostly, or (more recently) I haven’t had very good internet/camera access! But now I’ve got a bit of catching up to do, so I’m going to start with a special project that I am very happy with.

It’s been a little while in the planning, but as it was for a special baby on the way, I had a bit of time. Which was lucky, as it ended up arriving well after the special baby! Oh well, I figured I’d avoid the new baby gift rush, spread the love out a bit more!

Here it is:

Knitting by me, embroidery by my mum (thanks Mum!)

Details:

Pattern: Embroidered Kimono from Debbie Bliss Special Knits. I’ve long loved this pattern, so when I discovered that the mother of said special baby thought a chocolate brown edged with pink garment would be great for her baby girl, I thought of this pattern and said a little ‘woo hoo!’ as it meant I could finally knit this (and also use some stash yarn – not all, because clearly I have no pink yarn in my stash!). I also decided to make the 12-18 month old size, so that it would fit the special baby next winter.

I made a couple of minor modifications – I didn’t do a ribbon closure on the front, as I thought that would be a bit awkward for the mumma to tie and also very easy for the baby to untie! So I sewed on a cute button and a ribbon loop, so it was still pretty, but (hopefully) more practical. And I included some extra buttons in case mumma would like to add them. I also used ribbon for the inside ties rather than i-cord – easier and I think cuter!

Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Zara – one of my favourite 8ply/DK yarns! Soft, knits up beautifully, machine washable, great range of colours, and relatively inexpensive for such a lush yarn (well, I think so anyway). I used about 4 balls of the chocolate (col 1663), half a ball of pale pink (col 1392) and some very short lengths of lemon and lime for the flowers – which, yes, I had to buy as well! (you know, I know you all think I’ve got a huge stash, but there isn’t really that much 8ply in it that isn’t jumper amounts!)

Sticks: KnitPicks Harmony options, 4mm (and 3.5 mm for the pink edgings).

Time: 7 September 2008 – 9 December 2008 – of course, with big breaks in between – the actual knitting of this was surprisingly (for me) quick! Just love to knit with the Zara!

What I learnt: It’s so much easier to have your mum do the embroidery! I did have good intentions to do it myself, but when mum came to stay, it was too good an opportunity to pass up! And I’m pretty sure, no, in fact, I know, that it looks much better than it would if I had attempted the flower bits!

And who is this special baby, you might wonder? Click here to see … I think she likes it!