baby cardi finished

So, here it is...

I am very pleased with the finished product.  There is a couple of things i would do differently next time, but that is okay, life is all about learning.  The opinion at work is that it is lovely (i concur with that!) and the only thing I should have done differently is sewing the ends into the seams and not across the back of the garment. It can't be seen from the front, hasn't shown through the knitting so that is okay.  I will take the lesson and do it differently next time.  Also, one of my front bands was cast off just a touch too loose. It was becasue i sometimes do it too tighlty so I was trying to avoid that and went a fraction the other way. Not to worry. I was told I could undo it and redo the cast off row but I am not quite that upset about it!!!
So it wont be going into any shows later in the year but it will go away for any future grandbabies. 
I started knitting a baby singlet lsat night but pulled it out after nearly two hours of knitting!  I will do it again later.
 I do really want to get to some sewing.  I have a couple of projects in mind so the knitting might get put down again for a bit.

Work in Progress

This is what I have been doing the past few days.  I really do not class myself as a knitter as such, although I can (and do ) knit. I knitted some baby things when I had my first baby 15 years ago and then put it away in favour of sewing which I found I enjoyed much more.
Since starting work in a wool store, i have of course picked it up again. How could i not with so very many lovely patterns and beautiful wools surrounding me every day.
So, this is what i have been playing with.

It is a newborn sized cardigan/matinee jacket (not sure how they are defined??) knitted all in one piece up to the armholes; less sewing up: I like that!  It is in a pure wool baby wool which is nice and soft and machine washable; all good.
I am not totally happy with it.  The picot hemline has been designed with two few rows (in my humble opinion!!!) and the sewn edge on the back can be seen through the top row of eyelet holes.  i have sewn it up just a little below the holes so the picots sit okay and the edge can't be seen.  So that has worked okay.
I am not happy with the instructions for the sleeve; it tells me to do the pattern as given for the back, but the amount of stitches at the start of the row on the sleeve is different to that on the back.  So with my limited experience, I had to try to nut it out and mostly it has worked but I am one stitch out half way up the pattern, which has made the rest of it one stitch out too. A blind man would be happy to see it I guess.
The sleeve has been sewn in, but I hedged my bets as i wasn't totally sure of the right way to set in a raglan sleeve so the front has been done one way and the back another!!  i will take it to work tomorrow and get a professional opinion and take out the wrong way.  i think i know which it will be.

Anyway, that is what I have been doing these last few days.  (Besides staying out of the rain). Thankfully we are not anywhere near any floods and my thoughts go out to those who are.  Stay safe everyone

Farewell, faithful companion

My eldest son, the 15yo future architect, has been rearranging him bedroom in readiness for the double bed we have promised him. At 5'9" he really deserves to have a bigger bed!  In the midst of the clean up on Sunday he walks up and deposits this in my arms:

Ambulance Bear, his faithful companion. Sigh! 
He was given this as a toddler by an ambulance officer as he was being rushed to hospital with a severe bout of croup. I gave him a heap of Elmo toys as a newborn , and one of these became his constant teddy bear until he was about 2, when he decided he didn't need him anymore. It was only a few months later that he was given this one and took to it immediately.  For quite a few years now he has floated around the bedroom (to be honest, he is usually tucked into bed after I change the sheets; until the master architect gets home and he is piffed onto the floor!).  But not anymore. So Ambulance bear has joined my menagerie of stuffed bears, and will be looked after by me.

I am not sure I like this growing up that is happening in my house!!! It was always inevitable I suppose.   :-)

one scarf finished

I managed to finish this last night, i started it over Christmas and have recently put it down to do other things (which are as yet unfinished!!). But as i didn't have much left to do i have been working on this during the past week and am happy to say it is done.

It is a lovely scarf, done in a 2ply baby alpaca (gloriously soft; and no scratching).
 I knitted it in a basic feather and fan pattern , on 4.5mm needles to get the lacy effect.

I am very happy with it and happily have seen that Monday should be a perfect day to wear it in to work, nice and cool and just right for a soft scarf.

This afternoon i have been embroidering some baby singlets for a friend. I promise to show you when  they are done.

Heirloom dress mend

i know, it has (again) been ages since i have been here. I blame the whirlwind of kids going back to school (I have to blame someone!!).
I mentiond this dress the other week so thought I would pop in and show you what I was talking about.
A lady brought this dress into the shop where i work and asked it if could be fixed. It was very old, she explained, and she wanted the smocking repaired where the thread had disintegrated.

Now, I feel I must tell you that I hate hate hate doing mending of any sort (ask my hubby!).  I said yes, for the only reason that she was desperate for it to be done and I knew i could do it.  So do it I did.
She wanted as much of the original smocking left, but i told her I could not salvage the bottom row of cream and it wasn't worth saving the next one up, the blue. But she was adamant that she wanted it left. So i found a blue that matched, better than I originally thought and the repair is barely noticeable. 

The back was quite simple, although again, matching the threads was crazy difficult so i did the best i could. I am happy with the result.  But her wish that I leave as much original thread as i can meant that one of the rows on the side back is new thread, and it's matching row on the other side is old thread.  So one is bright and one is dull. 

She was talking about it being used for some new baby in the family. I really hope this doesn't happen; the material is so old it is fraying  under the collar.  What would I do with it? I am not sure but I think I would have left it as is and framed it. 
My last word on this piece is this: she sent her husband to come and pick it up, which he did, and paid me for it, but I never got a phone call from her to say whether she liked it, or God-forbid, thank me for it. I think after all her fuss and bother with various things, I think a thank you was not out of the realm of what is reasonable.  Makes you wonder why you put yourself out for anyone.  I am glad it is done, I am satisfied it was done well, but  I am not happy at being snubbed.

So to better news; a snippet of family news before I go-
my son has just umpired his second basketball weekend competition; a statewide comp with over 130 junior teams playing.  I just want to say how much more confident and capable I see him growing. I am proud of the way he was confident enough to tell more than one coach to be quiet and that they cannot speak to the umpires that way. He wouldn't have done that in Bendigo.  And I see him more confident with his calls of fouls.  He is growing up, and I am so proud of what he is achieving. It is nice to see your kids achieve things in life, and become adults that you are proud of.

Growing up

I can't deny the fact that my kids are growing up; the signs seem to be everywhere lately.  None more so than this past long weekend when my eldest went away for three days (two nights) to referee in a junior basketball tournament in Bendigo without parents present.
What a hard thing it was to let him go away for three days without parents and not being on a school camp, and staying in a motel. So he was essentially in an adult world where he had to sort himself out, be ready for whatever he needed to do, sort out what (and how) he was going to get for meals.  And be at each game that he needed to be at, on time and ready.
I am very proud of him and what he has achieved this weekend.  He umpired eighteen games of basketball in three days; quite an effort and has been passed for his first official referee level, so is no longer considered a trainee and can now wear the proper black and white shirts.  I am proud of how he has coped, making adult decisions.  And I am relieved that everything went well.  It is so hard to send them out into the world without us.  I think this was much harder on me than on him!!

So at the end of the three days, here he is, very tired, very hot, but happy.

A perfect day

for some of this...

And more of this...

We travelled for two hours to get to Lake Eildon, just to have  a look really.  We took the fishing rods, and spent a few hours catching nothing; mostly laughing at the kids who seemed determined to get wet in one way or another.
It was too nice a day to stay inside, I mean, look at it, beautiful!!

We are home now, kids are outside throwing ice at each other out of the esky; what else would you do with it I wonder???
I have a mending job to finish tonight, I will show you photos of it later.  I would rather be back at the lake!!