birthday bear

my little man turned 1 in August and instead of buying him some too crazy and colourful birthday present, i wanted to give him something i made and hoped that he would treasure for life.

one of my earliest childhood memories is of a sweet woolly pink teddy, my uncle Gerald gave me when i was born. this teddy was my favourite of all soft toys that i had during my childhood. i also loved the fact that this teddy had shiny blue button eyes and a black nose.

so with this nice memory in mind, i set about trying to find a pattern online but had little luck. in a op-shopping trip, i was fortunate to come across a rather yellowed, 1965 womens weekly magazine for childrens knitted toys, and wal-ahh!... there was my teddy pattern.

i used a 100% wool yarn in natural tones. i wanted teddy to be simple and understated and not your typical baby boy blue. as you can see i opted for a button nose and used a simple cross for eyes. there are also little hints of red with the cotton thread used in the attaching of the buttoned nose and a tiny red scarf, just to keep him warm. teddy now sits (or lays down) in my boys cot, awaiting the day he can rome around the house dangling of the end of my boys fingers.

photographing kids is hard work

200+ shots and a couple of 1/2 hour sittings with my bub and his dad was all that it took to get a few great photos...

of course i am being sarcastic.... what a lot of hard work and at times i felt that i was being a mean muma by running around all places of our house trying to set up the perfect shot. lucky for the digital camera these days, as if this was done on a conventional camera with film and processing costs, it would have cost a fortune!

bubba vest v2

here is the end result of the up-sized vest. up-sizing a knitted garment like this took some quite time set aside, along with some deep thought and the tapping into my old high school-level mathematics. an hour or so later i had scribbled a heap of numbers alongside a print out of the original pattern and began to knit

i am please to say that it worked and it fits fine! it is such a sweet vest design and so easy to get on and off because it opens to a flat, all in one piece

i went for a royal blue button hue to brighten things up a tad + i had wanted to match this vest with the burkenstock booties for the knitting competition

all in all i have two very nicely matching vests, one that fits and another that will fit a bubba around 3 months of age.

bubba vest v1

our winters are rather mild where i live so i thought a vest would be a great little wardrobe addition for my little boy. this easy on/off style is based on a pattern from THE THRIFTY KNITTER and the other reason i wanted to knit a vest was to enter a baby knitting competition run by Australian Country Spinners saw advertised at my local wool shop

i used the size outlined in the actual pattern, thinking it would be bigger enough to fit, but unfortunately it was way too small! because the competition requests a photograph of your baby wearing or holding a knitted item, and that i wanted my boy to actaully use the vest this winter, i simply had to make another, so this is version no. 1

the garter and stocking stitch combination is gorgeous and was influenced by garter yoke and hem in BROOKLYNTWEED's Cobblestone sweater

the buttons are from my collection and are a deep British-racing-car green

the yarn is a beautiful Australian wool and silk blend in a lovely chocolate hue

8ply
100% wool & silk blend
no.4 pair needles

birkenstock booties v1

wanting to make these booties more boyish, i selected colours of wool from my collection that i hope would reflect this more so

the buttons are from my own vintage collection, as is the background fabric

based on a pattern from Saartje Knits
100% wool (brown yarn is silk/wool blend)
8ply
3.25 pair needles

birkenstock booties sampler

in my constant quest to keep my little boys feet warm i began searching the internet for a free pattern to knit him some more booties / shoes. I came across a pattern from Saartjes de Bruijn

purple haze

another in the beanie-request-series... the wool was selected by my sister in law who ventured to Spotlight and selected the VERA MODA HARMONY col #36 which is a 50% wool 50% acrylic blend

the design is a full rib stitch throughout. it was also chosen by sister inlaw and is beanie no.4 in the PATONS LEAFLET 7010

i too made a trip to Spotlight to explore their wool range and came home with two baby wools and a couple of pairs of these lovely rose wood knitting needles. i was hoping to find some bamboo needles as i have heard they hold the wool on the needles better than metal of plastic. i will keep searching for bamboo...

the background fabric is an IKEA textile that i purchased about a year ago for recovering an 80s cane sofa bed i purchased from the Salvos. maybe one day when i remeber i will take some shots of this couch and show it here.

first ever beanie attempt

probably the proudest moment behind my renewed knitting passion... and the all aspiring drive behind my chosen direction of knitting beanies and booties...

this handcrafted piece of knit wear was born out of a pure need to keep my 8 month bubba boys head warm coming into his first winter

i live in a inland regional town where clothes for little people is limited to the Country Target store

but we have one of those great old fashion craft and wool supply shops that had the sweetest kids hand crafted beanie in the display window, which i instantly wanted to purchase for my boy

after inquiring about the beanie within the store and being told it was not for sale, i began poking around the wool section and thinking 'surely it must not be too hard to knit my own...?'
10 minutes later, pattern leaflet, wool and needles purchased i enthusiastically headed home to begin knitting


fortunately for me, my mum (who was one of those avid 1970s high-speed knitters) was visiting and she reintroduced me to the basic of knitting

before this all important crash course, my previous knitting history encompassed a couple of days as a 10 year old knitting a very colourful and wonky garter stitch scarf

so anyway, the specs of this beanie are as follows...i used the HAT C pattern from the SIRDAR 3149 LEAFLET (minus the ear flaps). the decorative stitches went a little pear shaped, and instead of a nice regular stitches i ended up with random stitches, which were formed by purposefully choosing to knit different stitches for a bit of experimenting and fun

all in all i am both happy and proud of my first attempt at knitting a beanie

4ply
100% baby wool
marl blue
# 2 3/4 + # 3 1/4 needles

stripes are go! bubba beanie

i saw this navy and white stripe idea knitted into a ladies floppy beanie on a great site called PURL BEE

so cute, and looks and feels divine in a small, fine baby wool

i adapted the design from a 8ply baby hat pattern

4 ply
100% baby wool
# 2 - 3/4 needles
navy & white

basic gals beanie

knitting for the extended family begins...

this gals beanie is a very basic design knitted off the #3 Hers PATONS 7010 LEAFLET

it has the classic upturned brim and can have a tassel or pom pom added to the top

the colour of this JET wool carries the tones not too similar to that seen in peacock feathers

12 ply
# 9 needles
PATONS JET
100% wool (merino & alpaca blend)