Long awaited update!

I have been a very slack blogger! Nearly three months since last posting. Mind you I have been extra busy lately as well as having had a very nasty chest cold - caught from husband Eric on 5th January yuk! The 5th January is of course , Twelfth Night - so "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me"..................................................





I was well enough to be able to join in with a Crochet-a-Long on a group of friends - the result is the Ray of Hope Doily - so pretty!





I also joined in a mystery crochet-a-long on the same group - the result was this charming little jacket!



























If you look at the close up picture you will see a shell edge on the yoke - when I had finished I though I would like to see the yoke end with the shell edge separately from the body - so I came up with this version of the same jacket.







Done in two shades of blue baby yarn - the pale blue is a very old bri-nylon from yonks ago that Iwas given - real vintage stuff! The darker blue is Sirdar Snuggly.



What I did was end off at the shell edge of the yoke, then lifting it up, crocheted around the posts of the last set of trebles(US DC)and then continued as per the pattern for the rest of the body.












I have no idea why I used the darker Blue Snuggly to do this instead of using the lighter blue colour.



Maybe I thought the lighter blue would show through the darker blue yoke?









I ended up with a jacket yoke that looked like this:










And then I invented some booties to match.




Very pleased with the result!









By this time I was starting to feel better after three days just sitting up in bed, taking vitamin C, Senega and Ammonia Medicine, and inhaling Eucalyptus and Menthol. And crocheting of course.

I have been very guilty about the number of UFO's that have been accumulating! So one of my New Year Resolutions was to get some of them finished. So here is one. The pale pink pants (Happy Baby from Red Heart free pattern) I made months ago, in Panda Angoretta.

The colour of the jacket is a lot lighter than the first picture and a lot darker than the second, it is a colour called Fusion and I love it. It is Red Heart Super Saver from USA..


The little ballet slipper buttons came from Dave Rundell in Florida



The pattern for the jacket is one I invented and use a lot - it is knitted (in this case the stitch is Feather and Fan) straight up the back, then cast (bind)off centre stitches for the neck back, knit one row, then cast on half the amount of the back neck stitches for left front, knit down to same length of back, cast (bind) off. Back to right front, cast on half the back neck stitches , knit down to same length as back cast (bind) off. I usually change to garter stitch for last rows of fronts and back.
Mark armhole width the same on each side - then using the shoulder centre, pick up and knit equal amounts of stitches on each side of shoulder from the armhole marker and then knit down sleeves to required length - change to garter stitch for cuff, decreasing about 8 stitches four garter ridges from end of cuff. I then sew up side and sleeve seams, then knit up a garter stitch band on both fronts, placing buttonholes where required. Finally I knit up a neck band in garter.
Most times I make this with seamless sleeves - marking a generous armhole and sewing up (or crocheting up) the side seams. The number of stitches varies with size so it is a bit of a hit and miss - but as I mostly knit to give away to homeless and needy people, my little jackets will always fit someone!
With DK and 4mm (US 6) Needles, I start with about 50 stitches - this works for about a three month size.

This little jacket and hat is the Sweet Baby Bundle pattern
















The yarn is Caron Simply Soft in Powder Lilac. The pattern is a free one on the net. There is also a blanket and socks to match, which I didn't make this time! As usual, I had started it and put it aside for more urgently needed items - so another UFO is finished.





























This delicious little set is a crocheted thread confection from Annie's Attic "Heirloom Bonnet and Boooties" - it was a free Pattern of the Day from ages ago and I really needed to do the second bootie (is there a Second Bootie syndrome like the Second Sock Syndrome I wonder?) It is all finished (another UFO bites the dust) and ready to go off to Knit4Charities (see Yahoo Groups) . Hopefully Pam can think of a way to use it to raise money for postage pacs etc.

Because of the terrible bushfires in Victoria, Australia (a state 1000 miles further south than where I live in Queensland) a plea went out for beanies, and blankets, or squares to be made into blankets. I crocheted 15 25cm squares - and forgot to photo them. But I did make a lot of beanies to go down and have more on the way.

I made another eleven beanies, this time from a free crochet pattern on someone's blog called The 2 strand Ear Flap Hat. The blog is Suzy's Stuff on Blogger ( I can't get the link to work here) All went to charity (Knitting for Brisbane's Needy) to go down to Victoria's Bushfire Victims. The elven beanies were made from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon inclusive - very easy. The original was designed for an adult using two strands of worsted weight yarn. I made children's sizes just using 8 ply (DK) - bigger ones using 2 strands of 8 Ply (DK), some using 1 strand of WW - I even used up odd balls of 4 ply and 8 ply together. Anything goes - they all look great. My grandson put in an order for a black one with purple stripe to go under his bike helmet! Great for cold ears in a Toowoomba winter!

Photo is pending because I forgot to take a pic before I gave them to Karen - she has a photo to send me!

Edited to include photos of earflap hats!