More Knitting, frogging and shopping!

I'm a sporadic blogger, aren't I? Anyway I have still got the knitting bug.
I've made more baby hats....and frogged some that I made a mistake with :-(

frogging

Joel beanie

Ruth Ann Bonnet

And I have bought some more wool....I've never used this brand before. It's to make my son a beanie. I bought it at a local wool shop. I like buying craft things from small local businesses. Hopefully they won't all disappear, if I buy from them. Large multinational companies staffed by 15yr olds are for dry goods, electrical wares and cheap imported kids clothes, nobody there would know anything about the product they are selling.


New Wool

When I was little there were lots of small craft shops around. I can remember one in my very own suburb. She used to do a 'Knitaway'....kind of like a layby, she would put away enough wool for whatever the project was and you would buy the wool one ball at a time as needed. Can you imagine anyone doing that now?

Knitting

Over the school holidays, I was knitting. It's really the perfect craft for when the kids are about, easy to put down, relaxing.....but you still get a feeling of accomplishment.

My mum taught me to knit when I was 5, and I still do it the same way, by hand, counting rows with needle holes in the woolband, the only thing that has changed is that now I do my own making up :-). I usually knit during winter and pick HUGE projects that I take forever to finish, so this year I raided my stash for lonely balls of baby wool or 8ply. This was the result - although 3 things in this pic still need finishing touches. I estimate I have enough of the wool from my stash left to do 2 more pairs of booties.

handknits done over the Easter break

Baby things it seems are just the right size to try out new stitch or colour combinations. Even if they are totally pointless as my children are older and no one I know is expecting.

I enjoyed it so much that I treated myself to a couple of balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto and I must say that I am enjoying knitting with this wool so much that I may never buy another ball of another brand. Look how distinct the pattern is showing up!

on the needles

Next I really need to make up the Jo Sharp kimono style jacket I made myself last year....and knit just one more sleeve for my daughters cardigan, thank heavens I choose the larger size for her otherwise it would already be too late!