warms both heart and body

I've been knitting up winter woolies for ER (11 mo).


These pants which you may have seen before to go over her cloth nappies now have a poncho and hat to match. I made up the poncho pattern as I went along and so it's not perfect - if I did it again (which I probably won't, because it was dead boring knitting round and round and round in circles), I would increase more slowly to give the shoulders some shaping rather than just being *boofy*. But it looks fine on and will fit her for years to come!!!!


I had a tiny bit of the wool left over so paired it with some velour-y feeling synthetic to make a cute wee hat which fits a newborn-sized-doll right through to MissT3.
YAY for s--t--r--e--t--c--h--y 2x2 rib.


Anybody want it?


These pants are my most favourite ever! Picking up a gazillion stitches to make the ruffles was absolutely not my favourite, but the end result was worth it. And she'll be able to wear them all winter as long pants and then next summer as capris. The hat above matches these pants too.

They make me think of portabellopixie on needles!

Some of this knitting has been done in public - at the playground, with friends, at a cafe, at the library. I love the sociability that knitting in public entails - invariably someone comes over and comments. They reminisce about how they used to knit for their children, they might sadly inform me these same kids don't want knitted items for the grandchildren, they extol the virtues of making things with your own hands, they tell me about how they would unravel sweaters after they'd been worn by all the family and then make something new, they tell me about knitting socks for the servicemen, they confide they would NEVER have the patience to knit anything, they share their frustrations at trying to learn and never mastering the art, they explain to me that it's really too expensive to knit. I don't put a price on it. Yes, it might cost as much or only a little less than a sweater from a shop, but there's something special about making something yourself. Plus there's the advantage of knowing that no slave labour was used in its manufacture. And I've never had anyone stop to chat with me and share their stories when I've been shopping in a mall the way they do when they plonk down on the park bench beside me!