FO Olearia

 
Pattern :  Olearia by Georgie Hallam
Yarn :  TWC Utiku, 226gms Cherry

I was lucky enough to be a test knitter for tikki again.  This time for her latest pattern Olearia.  Olearia is a gorgeous wee pattern that features three different designs – two cardigans and a shrug, all which are knit seamlessly and easy to knit. 

I knit the 2nd version of the cardigan which features a gathered bodice with a plain stockinette body and did capped sleeves instead of long sleeves.  I really enjoyed knitting this cardigan, as all of tikki’s patterns, it was easy to follow, well set out and simple to knit.  

If you want to buy the pattern, check out Ravelry here or tikki’s blog here, sizes range from size 1 – size 8 making it great value for money!!

I’m also licensed to sell all versions of this pattern so if you don’t knit and would like one, e-mail me at info@littlemooknits.co.nz or see http://www.littlemooknits.co.nz/knits/olearia for more information.

FO: Teddys Summer Breeze

More clothes for Teddy!

 
Pattern : Kaia Babydoll (Dolly Sized) by Rachel Evans
Yarn :  Bodice and Lace – BWM Cotton, Skirt – Patons Smoothie (don’t know yardage)

Another quick test-knit for the lovely Rachel.  This time a doll sized Kaia Babydoll.  As you can see Teddy is rather pleased with her new outfit (she’s getting quite a collection now)
  
Not entirely happy with the lace at the bottom nor my cast off, should have done a stretchier cast off instead of being a lazy bum! But I’m sure Teddy won’t complain.

Two Little Dickie Birds

Two little dickie birds,
Sitting on a wall;
One named Peter,
The other named Paul.
Fly away Peter!
Fly away Paul!
Come Back Peter!
Come Back Paul

Normally I don’t knit toys – the whole sewing up seams and sewing on limbs etc completely puts me off, but when I needed a quick gift for Zoes friend I found this pattern - Sweet Little Bird, I decided to give it a whirl.  And “Little Birdie” was born.

When Morgan saw him, she informed me “knit red birdie moo” so he was soon followed by “Big Red” (seen below trying to find worms for his lunch)

They only took a few hours to knit up (even with a very persistent toddler trying to help some of the time) and used of some of my scraps.  The purple one weighs 17gms (including stuffing) and the red one (wool held double stranded) uses 41gms wool, although he doesn’t have a tail as I ran out of wool.

I’ll definitely be knitting some more of these in the near future.  And at least one more in the very near future, Zoe has put in a request for a nice colourful birdie.

FO Pinkalicious

 
Pattern : Pinwheel Sun Hat (8ply or DK version) by StitchyMama
Yarn :  70gms Moda Vera Bamboo/Cotton

TNN 10 in 2010 – babies and kids - #1

I was looking through my yarn stash the other day and mentioned that this yarn would make a cute sunhat for Morgan.  Well my little madam overheard me, and kept passing me the ball of yarn, pointing to my needles and telling me “Moo hat”.  Every time I dared out the needles down for a minute, she’d pick up everything and bring it back to me “Moo hat mum” needless to say we ended up with big tangles a few times *insert rolly eyes emoticon here*

Love this pattern, super easy knit this time, the last time I knit this pattern, thanks to Kelly - I realised I had been doing my YO’s wrong  which would explain why a couple of lace type patterns I’d tried to do hadn’t worked out too well.   I think it turned out super cute and I love the way the yarn knits up.

As you can see Morgan loves her new hat (shes also quite the little poser) and has worn it a lot, I wasn’t even allowed to sew in the ends or block the edge until she went down for a nap.

(click for a better view – will open in new window)

FO Summer Breeze

Another delayed FO post, was finished in November.

 
Pattern : Kaia Babydoll by Rachel Evans
Yarn :  Bodice and Lace – 62gm BWM Cotton, Skirt – 82gms Patons Smoothie

The size 2 test knit of the revised Kaia Babydoll I was supposed to do, instead of taking a quick detour and doing this one.

Made this one out of cotton and acrylic and even did the lace down the bottom as per pattern.  Still love this pattern. very quick and easy knit and the result is a gorgeous little top that can be worn on its own or overtop of something.  Looking forward to knitting lots more!

(click for a better view – will open in new window)

FO Birthday Top

Time for another FO post!!

Ok, so I’m very unimaginative and couldn’t think of a better name than that...since its for a birthday present and its a top, made sense to me at the time :P

Pattern : Kaia Babydoll by Rachel Evans
Yarn : (don’t shoot me) Some acrylic I had in my stash

Another (kind of) test knit here (told you I love test knitting? – nothing better than having a deadline and being one of the first people to try out someone elses brilliant ideas)  I was supposed to doing the sz 2 version of the revised Kaia Babydoll but am waiting for my yarn to arrive, so I thought I’d knit up a 12 month size for my niece who’s birthday is the day before Morgans.

Love the pattern, very quick and easy and I love the way it looks. I didn’t do the lace down the bottom as per the pattern because I was knitting in acrylic (don’t like acrylic as much as I used to and found it very squeaky so after the acrylic I have is gone I’ll stick to nicer yarns :P ) and I wasn’t sure whether or not the lace would come out ok so I did a ruffle that came out looking gorgeous even if I do say so myself. 

Will definitely knit this pattern again, hopefully some of the pregnant people I know will have some girls :D

(click for a better view – will open in new window) 
Stay tuned for Morgans Top in a couple of weeks (this time in cotton and acrylic – yes I know acrylic again but apparently the stuff I’ve chosen is one of the better acrylics but we’ll see)

On a completely unrelated topic, this will be my third post in 2 days, thats like a world record for me, and 6 posts for October!  – I normally would have given up blogging by now but this time I’m quite enjoying it :)

FO Teddys Spring Butterfly

Pattern : Spring Butterfly by Rachel Evans
Yarn : The Wool Company Utiku, 20gms Raspberry, 23gms Sunset

While knitting Teddy’s Meg Pinny, I realised that I quite enjoy knitting clothes for dolls and furry creatures alike (that and Teddy whispered in my ear about needing a few bits and pieces) so when I saw Rachel’s Dolly Butterfly I fell in love with it. I pestered asked Rachel if she was planning on releasing the pattern soon as I really wanted to knit it for Morgans birthday and she kindly let me test-knit it for her!

Unlike the bigger version, the bodice is only knit using a single strand of wool but everything else is pretty much the same, I can see myself making a whole heap of these.

FO Meg Pinny

Pattern : Pinny for a Dolly by Kelly Brooker
Yarn : 48gm Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic, Denim

Pinny for a Dolly is a set of 4 dinky wee pinnys to fit the anatomically correct dolls many toddlers have.

This pattern was brought to fruition as an accompaniment to The March Sisters - a series of pinafores for Little Women aged 0-5yrs. (Due for release October 15th 2009)
Little Women love to wear pinafores, and they adore it when their dolly wears something to match!

FULL VERSION of the pattern is for all four pinny styles - Meg (mock cables), Jo (with foldover hem), Beth (lace edge) and Amy (ruffled ege), and all three yarn weights (4ply/Fingering, 8ply/DK/Light Worsted, 10ply/Aran/Heavy Worsted)
(Blurb “borrowed” from Ravelry page)

When one of my favourite designers asked for test knitters for her Pinny for a Dolly pattern, I put my hand up (seriously I love test knitting – think it’s the whole knitting to a deadline thing) and as you can see the result is gorgeous. Teddy is definitely pleased with her new dress, and has now become Morgan's favourite toy.

Kelly has done it yet again with another quick and easy knit, this time for your little peoples favourite dolls and teddy's.

So what are you waiting for? Get the pattern and start knitting! :)

FO Spring Butterfly

Ok – first up, I messed up my blogs colours while trying to play with the layout yesterday so excuse the look for a couple of days - all fixed



Pattern : Spring Butterfly by Rachel Evans
Yarn : The Wool Company Utiku, 89gms Raspberry, 93gms Sunset

As I mentioned before I was lucky enough to test the Spring Butterfly for Rachel. She’s resizing one of her patterns from sizes NB-5y.

Such an easy knit, although I’m going to admit it took me a few tries to get the butterfly at the back but that's more to do with my skills not the pattern. I was also surprised at how quickly it seemed to knit up, especially for someone who’s purl rows take twice as long as her knit rows.

The bodice is double stranded with a cute picot bind off on the arms, I also chose to do a picot bind off down the bottom to tie it all in together :D

Will definitely be making this pattern again – it’s absolutely gorgeous.

(click for a bigger view)

FO Jo

Pattern : Jo Pinafore by Kelly Brooker
Yarn : Cascade 220 Heathers, 93gms of purple, 80gms of green

When my friend Kelly asked for test knitters for her latest patterns "The March Sisters - a series of Pinafores for Little Women aged 0-5yrs", I jumped at the chance (although I’ve never read the book)

I tested out “Jo – which is a pinafore for the tomboy; a simple, non-girly pinafore perfect for throwing over a long tee and pair of jeans, ready to jump around in the muck” in a size 36 months for my little miss muck who hates getting her hands dirty inside but will quite happily go outside and dig around in the dirt….go figure.

The pattern is a quick and easy knit (even for a size 3!), and as always when I knit Kelly's patterns – I learnt something new, this time it was double knitting! A great knit for sitting in front of the TV.

(click for a bigger view)

I can’t wait to try the other 3 pinafores - Meg, Beth and Amy!!  This series is due to be released mid-October but if you really can’t wait that long, try out Pinny for a Dolly which Kelly has generously offered for free, and if you hurry I think there's a competition ending soon in which you can win some yarny goodness, more about that here

FO Lollipop

Delayed post but nonetheless :P

Pattern : Rainbow Dress by Tikki
Yarn : Contrast - 44gms of Sullivans Cozy Wool
Main Colour - 122gms of Te Awa Wools Natural Wools - Rainbow Colourway

Have always wanted to try a big sized Rainbow Dress (read – bigger than the dolls size I made earlier this year) so when a non-knitting friend asked if someone could make one for her daughter I thought why not. Tried to make it between a size 12 months and a 2 but it didn’t work out very well and when I tried it on Morgan for size – it was a tad tight, so ended up making a size 2.

Very easy and quick knit when I was actually knitting it, would have finished it a whole lot quicker if I wasn’t distracted so easily. Also made a matching hat but forgot to take a photo of the finished project.



This version of the Rainbow Dress was knit using the free pattern before it was updated. The Rainbow Dress is now a pay pattern and can be bought from here or here. Tikki has put alot of work into the updated copy which now comes in sized NB – 10years making it a great value for money :)