Little Blue Bolero

This was very quick to knit, though the Sirdar Snuggly Bubbly was a bit ... well ... bubbly! The lumpy-bumpy texture made it a little fiddly. The end result was good, though. A little large still for my Little Cherub, so it should last her a while.

Book Review: Simple Knits for Little Cherubs

With a Little Cherub of my own to knit for, how could I resist Simple Knits for Little Cherubs by Erika Knight. This is a follow-up to Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, with patterns for little ones aged two to five. The book is divided into three sections: plain classics, patterned classics, and classic accessories. That gives you a good idea of the style of the knitting projects - classic and traditional. They are intended to be easy to knit, using stocking and garter stitches.

The two projects I have picked out to knit are this loose fitting sports-style sweater - nice to put over jeans or a cotton dress for playing outside on cooler summer days. It has three-quarter length sleeves, two patch pockets on the front, and a polo-shirt style collar.


... and this little denim pinafore dress. It uses Rowan denim yarn which is supposed to perform like the real thing, including fading and shrinking (the pattern allows for shrinkage). I love it with the stripey top in the photo.



There are plenty of other patterns I would happily knit - a little fluffy bolero, a patchwork style blanket, a rather endearing cuddly fox terrier with felt nose and eyes would be high up my list. On the whole I preferred the plain knits to the patterned ones.

Endless Possibilities

Since my new year's resolution to take up knitting again sparked my interest I have started noticing some of the more bizarre knitting and crochet possibilities out there. Here are two:

(1) The recycled carrier bag bag. You can use all those eco-unfriendly carrier bags from the supermarket to crochet your own bag. I also saw a pattern for knitting one, but it looked harder and the end product less effective. A lady at my mother's church crochets these and sells them to raise money for charity. Mum bought one and if you look carefully you can just see that it is made from carrier bags - Waitrose, we think. I'm not going to try this one, though. Preparing all those bags into "yarn" looks too tedious.

(2) The crocheted Swiffer cover. I use a Swiffer to clean my bathroom and kitchen floors, and the cost of the floor wipes I use with it bugs me as an unnecessary expense. I decided to economise by buying an old fashioned floor mop, but it leaves the floor too wet. Then ... duh! Lightbulb moment! In a thread at the 4 Real Learning boards someone pointed out that you could use any cloths on a Swiffer. And someone else linked to this pattern for a crocheted Swiffer cover. Who knew? A couple of these and I'd never need to buy floor wipes again.

Just Finished

This "little" cardigan for Little Cherub turned out to be not quite so little. The pattern makes it look shorter than it really is - I was thinking it was more bolero style - and Cherub's miniature build means the age 1-2 size is still a bit large. I draw the line at knitting the 6-12 month size for a 20 month old toddler! At least it will still fit easily next winter.

The Snowflake yarn is lovely and soft, and the cardigan warm and cuddly. The only downside to knitting is that the texture of the yarn makes it hard to count rows. The pattern uses Sirdar Snuggly yarn for the bobbly border, but I tested out both some spare Snuggly I had and the Snowflake on the sleeve and preferred the Snowflake. The effect was chunkier, but it felt softer (and saved me having to buy more Snuggly wool in the right colour!)


As modelled by Little Cherub, slightly dishevelled ...