Spitting Yarn

With baby number two arriving in single digit weeks, a confirmed diagnosis of ASD for our dear boy, antenatal appointments, appointments with therapists and paediatricians, and trying to get an ABA programme off the ground, there shouldn’t be much room for anything as trivial as blogging.

But then a parcel arrived this morning and it reminded me that I have been meaning to post about April of Rhubarb & Rose fame for ages. Spike has been taken off for a jaunt by Daddy, so I am seizing a cup of tea – and the moment – to correct my error. This is of course a cheat-post as I am pressing someone else’s hard work into service, but I hope April will not mind the exposure (to my three readers), and I get eye-candy and a post out of it!

The parcel contained these creatures…

Most British parents of toddlers will recognise Nok Tok, Yojojo, De Li and Lau Lau from Waybuloo rendered in cake pop form. I commissioned them from April for my dearest friend’s birthday. She is a new mother, a yoga-aficionado and watcher of Waybuloo, so I thought they were a sweet choice. I shouldn’t be surprised at how awesome they are. April has a track record – a good one.

We had a Very Hungry Caterpillar-themed second birthday party for Spike back in March and April made this fantastic arrangement of cake, cupcakes both big and small, and cake pops for us.

April has more pictures of the comestibles on her very beautiful blog here. The fruity cake pops, in particular, were irresistible in both form and flavour and were sampled by almost everyone. I thought it was almost a shame to eat everything, but thankfully there was a gaggle of toddlers who thought differently!

In April, I hosted a retro red and white-themed baby shower (think bakers twine and stripey straws) and April ran a cake pop workshop. It was such a fun thing to do and lovely to learn a new skill.

I can’t claim that ours turned out as beautifully as April’s, above, did, but they were still pretty cool. The class was wonderfully organised and everything was supplied, including the balls of red velvet cake, so we could focus on the important business of decorating.

Finally, when faced with the birthday of a quite-difficult-to-buy-for male relative, I turned to April for help once again. The relative in question is an orthopaedic surgeon (who likes cake), so I commissioned some bone-themed cake pops.

I love the contrast between the stark bony appearance and squidgy red velvet cake I know is (or was) lurking within.

Anyway, I hope you’re getting the idea that April is some sort of cake pop wizard and you should go to her for all your cake pop needs. If you require further proof, do torture yourself into a state of drooling imbecility by reading her blog, or by reading her fabulous new book.

[I pinched all the lovely pictures from April's blog, apart from the Waybuloo ones.]

With my dear boy starting nursery, there was a short hiatus in knitting while I sewed in name tags, planned lunch boxes and read and re-read Spike Goes to Nursery School. I’m happy to say the transition to nursery has gone much better than expected. We still have a few tears when I leave, but he recovers swiftly and always looks happy and absorbed when I pick him up.

The arrival of the latest in a long, dense line of squidgy newborns has necessitated that I up sticks once more. It’s always hard to find sweet patterns for baby boys, so I was very pleased to happen upon a unisex, season-appropriate vest – Thora’s Top. I had some lovely fingering weight alpaca in my stash from my trip to Copenhagen. It’s the perfect yarn for babies born in the cooler half of the year. In fact, I’m slightly concerned that I am running low on this yarn staple. I’ll have to look out for some at Ally Pally (anyone else planning on going this year?).

The vest was a wholly pleasurable knit. As the pattern claims, it is purl-free which is a boon, and it knitted up quickly. I do hope it is boyish enough. I like patterns like this because they can be worn tunic-length when the baby is very small and sweater-length as the baby grows. I’ll almost certainly knit one for the little boy due to arrive Chez Spitting Yarn in December.

I really need to crack on with knitting Little Ivanhoe which has stagnated just under the armpits (what an unpleasant image). The tiny yarn and large stitch count has made it slightly difficult to pick-up-and-put-down, as I hate doing so in the middle of a row. If I can just reach the armpits, my stitch count will decrease and the project will proceed a little more quickly.

In a brief segue from usual crafty topics…

Our dear boy, Spike, currently has a working diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder so life is currently a whirl of assessments, appointments and sessions of one kind or another.

There are obviously long term concerns which we are only beginning to come to terms with. However, there are also real challenges looming just around the corner. I feel woefully under-prepared and under-skilled to deal with them, but we’re doing the best we can. Nursery School is one such challenge. I do not want to underestimate Spike and I hope to be pleasantly surprised, but we are expecting that he’ll find the transition more difficult than the average toddler. So, how to prepare him?

We walk past Spike’s nursery school frequently and talk about it to him. He has attended a New Starters’ Afternoon, but that was at the beginning of the month and he doesn’t start until mid-September, so I doubt that will help a great deal. I decided he needed a more concrete idea of what “Nursery School” is, so I made him a little book.

Who knows whether it will help. Spike’s delayed speech/language means we can’t be sure whether he is taking it in. I do hope so.

I used Bob Books. The end product is exactly what I wanted and I am happy with it. However, it was tough going putting it together. The software is not user-friendly. Not on a Mac, anyway. It wasn’t cheap either, at GBP14.99 (not including P&P). If anyone knows of a company which has a similar range of photo book products in the UK, do let me know. I expect we’ll make more of these books and I don’t want to have to endure that software again!

I doubt a silly book will mean he rocks up on day one and makes himself part of the furniture, but if it makes it a tiny bit less confusing, then, that’s a good thing.

With my mind busy, I am still managing to knit quite a bit and have finished a little something, but the recipient has not made his debut appearance yet, so I’ll keep schtum for now. I have started a little project which I can show though.

The picture was snapped on my iPhone, blindly, in full sunlight, so it’s not great. Hopefully, you get the idea. Little Ivanhoe is knitting up beautifully in Patricia Roberts Fine Cotton, but it’s slow going on tiny needles. I am not a great fan of purling and this is a 6 row pattern repeat of which ONE of those rows is knit! I don’t know what I was thinking. I know I’ll finish it though, as I love it.

If anyone has any up-to-date information about any of the shops featured on my London Yarn Shops page, please do get in touch with me, preferably via Ravelry (user: spittingyarn). I think some shops may have appeared/disappeared/moved since I last updated.

Thank you!

The next in a long line of baby knits is this sweet cardigan for a new arrival named Poppy. I have a long-standing, dear friend named Poppy so, biased though I may be, it seems like an auspicious name.

This is a great little pattern named Garter Ridge Baby Shrug (a Ravelry link). It costs 5 dollars, but it is a quick, effective pattern that I can see myself knitting several times (the example shown here is already the second outing). In fact, I would say it is the perfect pattern for a brand new, summer-born baby girl. It’s not a shrug, though. It’s a short-sleeved, cropped cardigan.

I looked quite hard for some non-tacky, small Poppy-themed buttons and was delighted to find the perfect ones from this eBay seller. They are mother-of-pearl. I think they complement the yarn and pattern very nicely. The yarn itself is half wool and half silk from Avril in Kichijoji, Japan. It’s a dream to knit with. I am so happy to finally be using it.

I love knitting for babies. It’s so quick and satisfying and it’s making a great dent in my stash, which means – I get to buy more yarn!

Finally, all the baby knitting I have been working on is becoming declassified and I can archive it here.  The recipient of the following garment was born almost two years to the day that my own darling boy arrived.  I only got to hand it over a week ago, although I have sized it for the coming autumn, so there was no hurry.

The pattern is the rather unimaginatively named b13-3 (Ravelry link) from DROPS design.  The cardigan is of a very simple construction and it is wise to go with your gut and common sense when the slightly wonky translation throws you.

The grey yarn is alpaca from a shop in Copenhagen and typically I ran out before the end.  Why is it always the difficult-to-get-hold-of yarns which don’t quite go the distance?  Anyway, disaster was averted via the deployment of some rather snazzy German sock yarn.  The kimono-style flap makes this garment deceptively yarn hungry, so I think quite a few people have been caught out by a lack of yardage.

It almost looks like I planned it, eh?

Aside from a few pattern nuances getting lost in translation, I thoroughly enjoyed knitting this.  I like the origami-style construction, the mindless garter stitch, the crochet embellishment and the happy pairing of yarn and pattern.  I liked it so much, I’ve cast on another in Koigu KPM.

Well, the first quarter of 2011 has been packed full of make and do, primarily because people are spawning like crazy frogs. I am literally surrounded (admittedly, not right now) with pregnant ladies, and new babies mean compulsory crafting. The most significant of these imminent arrivals (to me) is Button*, the soon-to-be baby girl belonging to Spike’s godparents and my very best friend.

This past Sunday, I hosted a baby shower for my friend and I finally got to hand over my gifts and can therefore blog about them with abandon. First up was a sweet trouser and cardigan set.

The trousers are the Quick Change Trousers from Anna Maria Horner’s Handmade Beginnings. They are reversible, which is great – so practical. I love the cheery Liberty fabrics I used. The sweater is the Kumfy Schlüttli (excellent name) knitted with Amy Butler’s Belle Organic for Rowan. The buttons are vintage. I knitted the smallest size so that it could be worn straightaway, before the weather gets too warm, but Button is turning out to be a big Button (she is due in two weeks and weighed 6lbs a month ago!), so I’m hoping that it gets at least a week’s wear(!) I would say, as written, the pattern comes up quite small. The smallest size would be perfect for a small newborn.

The shower attendees and I also set ourselves a bit of a challenge. We decided to make a summer quilt (inspired by this one), with each of us making a quarter of the quilt. I was the only one who had made a quilt before (and mine was pretty basic) and one of us hadn’t sewn with a machine since GCSE days, so it’s amazing it ever got made. Unfortunately, I only have terrible pictures of it. I’ll try and get some better ones.

A blurry close up of my wonky log cabin square.

We used Anna Maria Horner cotton voile and folksy flannel. The cotton voile is fine and silky like Liberty tana lawn, but seems to have a lower thread count than the latter. My guess is that it won’t wear as well as tana lawn. The flannel is gorgeous.

All we need now is a Button!

Today, I received a consignment of Patricia Roberts Fine Cotton. Oh my goodness! The colours! The sheen! I can’t wait to start knitting with it. But what?

* A cute in utero name (I approve of the crafty connotation). However, it doesn’t trump the name given to all those in utero on my father’s side of the family, i.e. Sid. Is that not the most unlikely name for a burgeoning human being?!

Spike is not a hat fan. He’s not a scarf fan, either. Also, gloves don’t really rate with him. In fact, if it’s woolly and warm, he doesn’t dig it. Deep inside, I know this is because he is clever. He is taking early, but necessary steps to avoid embarrassing photos returning to haunt him when he brings his first sweetheart home. He knows that given half a chance, I would smother him in “cheerful”, mama-made knitted goods and take lots of photos “for my blog”.

Well, he can’t get through winter without jumpers, so there is still a window of opportunity for me. I’ve been eyeing up Five Fruits for ages and finally dug some appropriate yarn out of my stash and got on with it. The pattern is quite straightforward, although I made a pig’s ear of the button placket (the buttonholes ended up on the bottom flap of the placket), the buttonholes themselves (I am apparently unable to follow seemingly simple instructions) and the hem of the body (it flipped like crazy so I unpicked it and let it roll). Anyway, it’s finished! My version is more Three Blues than Five Fruits.

I always intended Three Blues to be a dry run because I don’t love the colours, but it was all I had in my stash. Blue – meh. I have cast on for another in rainbow colours, which Spike loves. I think I might get some embarrassing photo mileage out of that one.

In my last post I mentioned a sneak peek I wanted to show you. This was a very fun crochet project. I can’t say more as it has not been passed to the recipient yet, but I can heartily recommend a really bright project to get you through the dour winter months.

Cheers me up just looking at it.

I been on a bit of a crochet binge over the last year, but I think my affair with the hook may be over. True, it is quick, but I’m looking for a challenge and hankering after the fine structure and detail you get with knitting. I’m also thinking of knitting some – gasp! – flat garments. By that, I mean garments not knitted in the round. I’m tired of all the interesting-looking projects disappearing from view when I click Attributes/Construction/Worked in the round in Ravelry’s search facility, but my sewing up sucks, so I really need to address that. I will shortly have the pleasure of teaching a friend to knit in weekly lessons and have chosen Debbie Bliss’ Boat Neck Sweater as a suitable project to learn with (after a practice square) and will take the opportunity to perfect my mattress stitch. After that, Ravelry is my oyster.

In my final piece of craft-related news, I got the Gocco out again.

I’m trying to be economical with my Gocco prints because the supplies are super-expensive. I am so sad that this amazing machine is becoming defunct. This card was an attempt to be creative with my self-imposed limitations on use – a multi-purpose card. To make the most of each screen, I always make at least fifty prints. I’m hoping by the time I come to the end of my supplies, someone will have seen sense, realised that there is a thriving market for the gadget and thrown some money at it.

That is all.

…goes the refrain in one of Spike’s favourite books, and one of my least favourite. It has become an expression of shock / dismay / disappointment / sympathy in the Spitting Yarn household.

I employ it today with reference to a rather typically Spitting Yarnish occurrence. In April of last year I was knitting a rather fetching hat in Koigu. The monotony of the straight section on sock-weight yarn caused me to down tools for, oh, eight or nine months. I rediscovered this project a couple of days ago and would love to complete it, BUT I don’t know what pattern I was using.

The sheer doh-ness of this event recalls oh-so-many others: the time I left my cello at the bus stop, the seventeen pencil cases I left on the bus (why I felt the need to get my pencil case out on the bus so frequently is unknown), the time I mixed up those important papers at work (I feel sick just thinking about it). I do seem to have got slightly less absent-minded with age, but clearly I’m never going to shake it off entirely.

Anyway, I can’t find a paper pattern in the house, I didn’t list it in Ravelry or mention the pattern on here.

It seems a rather generic beret with no particular design features, so I don’t think anyone is going to recognise the pattern. This leaves me with the “winging it” option. I don’t suppose someone with more knitting acumen than me might be able to give some pointers on how to finish it? I do know it was intended to be quite slouchy, so I imagine I should knit the straight section for a good few inches, but when it comes to the decreases, I am clueless.

I’ve been knitting quite a lot recently. Hats for a new baby (not mine, I hasten to add), a jumper for Spike and those secret things I alluded to. I have also done some Gocco-ing and have some general plaintive moans about the whole Gocco situation (please will some kindly business angel purchase the damn company, before the supplies bankrupt me). I will pull it all together into a proper post in the next few days. Promise.

A photoless post is poor form, so Spike says Happy New Year!

Poor, poor Spike.

I can see it now. “Mummy! Ppplllllleeeease, please can you buy me this Buzz Lightyear costume to wear to Trixiebell’s party?”. “Don’t worry, my darling boy, Mummy will…MAKE YOU ONE!”. And poor old Spike will end up at Trixiebell’s party looking like a cross between Marvin the Paranoid Android and a cardboard box. I will of course have made him a name badge to limit the possibility of confusion about his identity, but to my craft-blinded eyes he will look just the spit of Buzz.

It began here. I noticed that Spike liked driving his small toy cars through tunnel-like apertures, so I MADE HIM ONE! While he slept one nap-time, I selected a cardboard box from our collection of boxes (we are demented horders), splurged out some red poster paint and wielded a Sharpie and some green stickers. This is the end result.

It is so lame. But he loves it – so, score! He will sit it on it tomorrow, of course, but at least then I won’t have to hide it when his friends come to play.

I think this stay-at-home mum needs to get out more…