La Mammina

Arrived safely

Many months ago now, I proposed a swap with Carol. She had mentioned that she didn't know how to knit, so I suggested that I knit something for her daughter Penny, and she could make something for Tilly. Well, Carol was very speedy with her offering, and I really dragged the chain (could be the fact that I was going through the first trimester of pregnancy, though I've hit 17 weeks now, so I'm accomplishing a lot more).

Once the arrangements were made, I remembered that Penny is a northern hemisphere child and a knitted item might be a bit warm, so I decided a nice cotton tank might be the go, made big enough so that she could wear something underneath when the weather starts to cool down. As the weeks progressed, I realised that winter was fast approaching, so I included the kitten ears beanie. The little face washer was something that I read about in Yarn, an Australian knitting magazine, and decided to give one a go. Oh, I also made a little matching tank top for Penny's dolly.

Here is Tilly modelling the hat.

The tank tops have a racer back, which is what drew me to the pattern in the first place.

Carol, I hope Penny likes wearing these things, and I'm so sorry it took soooooooooooooooo long to get them to you.

Operation "replacement curtain"

In an attempt to recover from the horror of losing my first hand knit project I am getting back in the saddle right away. (Plus, it's getting cold, so Tilly really needs some warm clothes!).

I got this Kermit coloured wool today to make this

We have so many pink things that I thought this green would break it up nicely. We also need to have a bit of colour in the winter time. Ok, need to get cracking now.

Goodbye knitted curtain

I took Tilly out in the pram this afternoon to run some errands and then on to park. When it was starting to get cold at the park I went to the pram to get Tilly's cardigan. It wasn't there! It had fallen off somewhere between home, the shops and the park. It was getting late, but I retraced my steps anyway. The knitted curtain was no where to be found. I'm very disappointed, as it was my first ever knitted item, and although it had glaring errors, I was quite proud of it. And geez, it took a long time to finish!

Some results

I have a stall at the Bondi Markets every Sunday. I'm hoping to one day open a baby shop in Bondi Beach, but I'm starting small by doing the markets. My plan was never to make my own products, I was just going to source original products from around the world. However, as fate would have it, the products are taking on a more "hand-made" approach. I never planned to make anything myself, I have left that up to my Mum and my Grandma. A fellow Mum from Playgroup also supplies me with some of her products and I have another lady who approached me at the stall and offered me some of her products to sell too. Well, now I want to join in the creativity! And above is one of my offerings. They are a pair of slippers for the expectant mum's hospital bag. (In case it it illegible, the embroidery says Boy? on one slipper and Girl? on the other). I get a lot of people coming to the stall and saying how much they love my products, but don't want to buy anything because they don't know the baby's gender. So the slippers are a little gimmicky offering that I thought of.

This is one of the flannelette wraps I'll be doing for the winter. Mum kept me supplied with some very pretty muslin ones for the summer, but now it is time to prepare for the cold weather.

I like to try to do some knitting whilst sitting at the stall.

And here is something I am very proud of. I whipped it up last week, a bag for my knitting.

Now, I really must get on with making some clothes for Tilly. Fortunately, we have just experienced a nice summery patch, but that cold weather is just around the corner.

Slow going

I finished this kitty hat this morning. It has taken a lot longer than I expected, but Tilly has been unwell, so spare moments have been fleeting.

Well, credit must be given to three sources for me making this hat.

1. I first saw one here, and decided that Tilly must have one. It is the Kittyville hat pattern from Stitch'n'Bitch.

2. Then I happened to see how you could unravel old items to knit new things here, and decided that I could do that. Well, it is not as easy as it may sound. This particular yarn was once the underneath part of a twin set. It is a cashmere, silk, cotton mix and is very slippery and difficult to deal with. Add to that the fact that I unwound it in a very non-professional manner (so it is a bit hacked to pieces) and you will see that I was dealing with rather compromised conditions. Next knitting project I am going to use brand spanking new yarn!

3. And just the other day I saw this super cute tutorial at Bella Dia on how to make the pom poms which now adorn Tilly's hat.

I don't think it has come out very robust, and I think it will fall apart under Tilly's rough touch. (In fact the first time she put it on she tugged at a pom pom and off it came). I can't say I really enjoyed knitting this, I like the look of moss/seed stitch but I get a bit mixed up while doing it, I'm sure all I need is a little practice. However, I am looking forward to getting stuck into a new knitting project.

Oh, and here is an action shot to show how well those pom poms swing!

A knitted "curtain"

Tilly's attempts at saying cardigan come out as "curtain". So here she is in her new curtain. She wasn't really interested in wearing it, so the pictures aren't great. My shirt and pants of a few entries back got a much warmer reception, she even said "Awww, pretty" when I put them on her.

Anyway, the curtain isn't finished yet, it still needs buttons and I need to add the blanket stitch around the bottom of the sleeves.

It's a bit loose fitting, but looks very comfortable, just the sort of thing to snuggle into on a coolish autumn afternoon. Now we just need some of those, we've been going to the beach nearly every afternoon this week. Ah, the joys of living in Sydney.

Here are some close ups: