Woodland Tee

Introducing the Woodland Tee
My first knitting design, was published last month by Petite Purls

I was inspired by the tall trees of Eastwoodhill Arboretum, New Zealand, to design a practical textured tee and wee owl for endless entertainment hidden in the front pocket. Perfect for distracting your wee one while you lounge around in the shade of a dappled tree on long summer days.

The Woodland tee is a raglan tee worked from the top down in the round with seed stitch and waffle stitch details. The pattern also includes a waffle stitch pocket sewn on with whipstitch or your preferred method, and contains a hand sewn owl softie made from wool felt scraps.

The Woodland tee would knit up nicely in a light dk 8ply or heavy sport weight 5ply wool or wool blend yarn for extra warmth in the cooler seasons.
A few suggested yarns include

Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton (which the sample was knit from) in the colour Basil

Bendigo Wool Cotton

Bella Baby Layette a bamboo wool blend dk

Cascade Ultra Pima  cotton dk
Jodulbug Creations DK 8ply a hand dyed nz yarn
Mosaic Moon Gaia Organic Merino Spot  a hand dyed yarn from the US
Red Riding Hood Yarns "Belle" 8ply Superwash  a hand dyed nz yarn

These are just a few of the many suitable yarns the Woodland Tee, I can't wait to see some more knitted projects.
I'm so excited about this Design, the first of many to come.  I already have another swatched and couple of others in the planning stages.  

It's Blogtober again!!

 It's October again and it's time for a month of daily blog posts, with the annual blogging festival called Blogtober which is hosted by the lovely Kat of the I saw you dancing blog.
So go on, have a look at what everyone is up to, and join in if you feel like it. There are over 230 blogs participating this year, wow so much talent in one place.

And finally here is my finished Griffin test knit by the very talented Tikki of Tikki Knits.
I am just about to cast on for the dress version called Gwendolyn, but I'm still deciding on the perfect yarn :)

Tobias

Here's Corrin in one of my latest test knits, Tobias.  A very sweet cabled cardi for our wee leprechaun by the very talented Georgie of Tikki Knits. 

I used some gorgeous 'Bark Fairy' 8ply superwash, dyed by the very talented indie dyer Jo of Jodulbug.

Tessa decided she needed to get on the photo action. I'm so glad she did, they look very cute together, these are some my favourite photos of them together.

 Another test knit for Georgie in progress, a Griffin sleeveless hoodie.  I have been knitting this with Mosaic Moon 'Bean Sidhe' and 'Moonlight' semi on BFL Aran, a stunning yarn from Morwenna.  I can't wait to finish this, it's a very clever pattern.

Summer dresses

Last weekend I was lucky enough to get some time in the sewing room uninterrupted, and these are what I created.
 

Some cute size one Summer dresses, which seems bizarre as we have just had the wettest July in over 20yrs. The above dress is my favourite, which is yours?

A Dancing Skirt

Last month I finished knitting Tessa's 'Dancing skirt' as she named it.  The pattern is from the very talented and prolific Elena called the Coral Skirt and is part of ebook  consisting of five skirts inspired by the sea called Itty Bitty Pool.
The photo above I just love, Tessa is so happy and the lighting is great. The skirt still has the under layer to be knitted on.

Now to talk about the yarn, which is from the very talented NZ indie dyer Hannah of Red Riding Hood Yarns, she has just celebrated two years in business and has done so a wonderful job.

I used one of Hannah's Petite sets which has 5 x 55gm 8ply Superwash wool in coordinating colours called 'Enchanted Garden'.

Wee knitted things

Corrin is wearing his Beyond puerperium cardi that I knitted for him in the 0-3mth size with gorgeous and soft hand dyed Red riding-hood yarns 4ply merino.  I used an I cord bind off around the edge in Malabrigo Sock in the scrummy 'Chocolate Amargo' colour which has really finished it nicely with the matching buttons. This has been my favourite knit for him so far and it has lasted him quite a while considering he has grown like a mushroom. I'm quite sad that he is finally growing out of it at nearly 5mths.

Tessa is very happy with her cosy Paige babydoll that I knitted for her with a scrappy set in Wooltopia worsted 3ply 100purewool.  This is a super soft merino yarn which many yarn dyers use for a base, perfect for baby knits and super soft projects, perfecting for felting which tells you that it is a hand wash only yarn. 

 Our sweet Corrin has settled into the family really well and Tessa just adores him.

Autumn in pictures