Catch-up

Some crafted items made a couple of months ago finally got to meet their new owner. Much wanted, and much admired for her cuteness, baby Dora was born last week, and has a nifty baby hat, a booties and mittens set, and a nappy changing mat which will eventually replace the travel nappy changing mat her parents have which will, eventually, inevitably, crack and tear.

Here I have to say that her parents thought the mittens were booties (if you are confused, too, the mittens are on the left in the picture). Once, I knit my sister some fingerless mittens/cuffs and she thought they were legwarmers but was too polite to say that she couldn't get them over her feet.



The change mat pattern is this one from Amy Butler. I've made the change bag, but there's nothing that will ever, ever convince me to make a separate drawstring bag for a changing mat.

The mits and booties are from Claire Montgomery's Easy Baby Knits. I like how the booties have tight ribbing. They don't look as dainty as booties with straps, but at least they will stay on baby feet. There's a pattern for a knitted mobile in that book, how cool is that?

Also knitted a few months ago, a chic beret for Moot.



It's the pompom beret from Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby. I've read people complaining about Debbie Bliss's "giant baby sizing", but I found this hat came out rather small. Or Moot has a giant head. Possible, considering what a genius she is. (That's a joke.) Maybe I should consider swatching.

With my knitting spark firmly relighted, thanks to Ravelry, I'm making good progress towards finishing a sweater for Moot which has been on the needles for months and months. Can I say again how much I love Ravelry? I love seeing what other people have knitted from pattern books I have. And I'm thinking about thinking about knitting socks.

I have have two more projects waiting to cast on. The first will be a wedding present for my cousin's wife-to-be, Rowan's Birch, from fall/winter 2003, using some Blue Sky alpaca. I tried knitting it a few years ago, but didn't get on with the prescribed Rowan Kidsilk Haze.

The second project is another Debbie Bliss cardigan for Moot. I'll spare you which one for now, I think you should be Debbie Bliss-ed out by now.

Finally, a thank-you to Fanja from Le Train Fantome for making my week the other day, by mentioning that Clothkits is relaunching this month.

I've blogged about some Clothkit overalls my mother-in-law passed down to us. She's got a girl's hat and a dress, too, from the 1970s, but she's holding onto those for her daughter. It spurred me on to eBay, where the Clothkit pickings are slim, but a few months ago I won this, a fantastic changing bag.





I particularly like the missed register. Moot likes the cat.





I used it as a change bag for about, oh, an hour before deciding it was too precious, and it's now waiting for me to get my act together to hang on the wall in Moot's room (away from direct light, away from direct light!).