Cafe Knit Web Review!

I'm very excited! Cafe Knit has had it's first review, to be published in Knitting magazine, April Issue. Once it's published I'll scan it in here.

I've also finished my secret squirrel project - image to appear tomorrow, once I have given it to the recipient! And now that's out the way, I'm well on my way to finishing a couple more small projects....

Some Baby Bootees for Spike, the 4th child of some friends, who arrived a week before Dominic. Hopefully it won't be too hot for him to wear them now...! I don't like the ribbon I've used in the photos, so I'll change that, but the yarn was beautiful to knit with - the largely undiscovered Mirasol Chirapa, 100% merino wool which comes in a range of lovely hand-dyed colours, I used 'Rainbow Jade'

And I have just cast on for another pair of bootees, this time using some pink cotton from my stash, for a friend who had a baby girl two weeks ago. These are my kind of quick and easy projects!

Once those are finished I am going to knit myself an easy jumper using Louisa Harding Hulda yarn in charcoal, with an edging of blue and purple, I think. It's meant to be a fair isle jumper from her eclectic 'Wildspur' book, but at the rate I'm knitting at the moment it would be next winter before I finish, so I think I'll just knit a plain version.

Mmmm, lovely yarn

Having a bad day today. For some reason Dom is unsettled and isn't keen on napping and consequently the 101 things I needed to get done today have been put on the back burner...oh well....

However, my day has just been cheered up by the arrival of some new stock to drool over - Noro Silk Garden Lite. It is just yummy! The colours are just so gorgeous, they are impossible to describe. It makes me want to stop what I am knitting right now and knit myself a gorgeous little jacket for Spring. I particularly love this shade - Lilac, Brown and Green - all my favourite colours in one little ball...

Liliana's Last Minute Lace Scarf

Why do I do this to myself? After my mad Christmas present knitting, I said never again. But here I am, end of February in the same situation!

I found out on Tuesday that it was a friend's birthday today (she kept it very quiet), so I decided to drop my current project (very secret squirrel) and knit her a quick gift.

I decided on a romantic lacy scarf from the brilliant book "Last minute Knitted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson, and instead of using Rowan Kidsilk Haze I substituted Crystal Palace Kid Merino Plain which comes in a range of gorgeous colours (all in stock at http://www.cafeknit.com/kid_merino_plain.php). I plumped for this rich aubergine colour as I know Liliana has just bought herself a jacket in this colour, despite mainly favouring black..

So I set to work on Tuesday morning, completing a fair bit of the scarf whilst waiting at the Dr's for Dom's appointment for his first set of immunisations, finally finishing it last night at about 11pm, when I should have been tucked up in bed.

I'm really pleased with the finished result and the bonus is that there is plenty of yarn left to make another scarf, and possibly even a third! Excellent value....

I am going to give Liliana her gift tomorrow morning. Lets hope she like it too....and for now it's back to the secret project I'm working on!

Cafe Knit Critters

Don't ask me how I have found time, but here is my first attempt at amigurumi. I came over all romantic on the 13th and decided I had to make Mike this 'Lovebird' (looks rather like an overstuffed Robin if you ask me) for a Valentine gift.

Anyway, I finished it with an hour to spare and it was then promptly commandeered by Milly, so I ended up spending the early hours of Saturday morning making Milly a pink one.

Having said that, they were great fun to make, and I can see our house becoming full of strange creatures. Next on the list is a pig and a panda....

B-Day

Today is the day little Dominic was supposed to be born, but already he is nearly three weeks old. He is doing really well, is more alert and has started to put on weight, we just need to clear the jaundice up now. Recommendation for that is plenty of sunlight, but for now we are making do with daylight...



He is already getting into the swing of knitting. Here he is clutching at the supersoft Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran I am currently knitting into what will be a fabulous 'nursing' cardigan for myself (one side of the cardigan extends over the shoulder as a wrap, which I thought would be very discreet...)

I can't wait to get my hands on the new PolarKnit yarn from Canada we have just ordered. Made from 100% Polartec fleece, it'll be just the thing for making chunky hats and scarves for this cold weather...

New Beginnings

It's only 3rd Jan, and already its been a rollercoaster beginning to 2009, starting with the unexpected early arrival of our baby boy, Dominic, who chose to make his dramatic entrance to the world on Boxing Day, 4 weeks earlier than anticipated. Thankfully despite this all is well, and we are gradually settling back into a 'normal' routine, and sorting out all the baby things that we thought we'd have time to organise during the first two weeks of January!

Here is baby Dom at 1 day old, wrapped in a supersoft baby cashmerino blanket knitted for him by Nanny.

Christmas panic!

Things are manic here! As usual I've set myself up for too much knitting prior to Xmas. Only 13 days left and about 4 more gifts to knit! Finished lots of projects but can't post pics yet, in case the lucky recipients happen to check out the blog...

Plus, I'm trying to tie up loose ends at work as only 4 days left until I start my maternity leave! In fact I'm going to have to go and do some work in a moment. Very sad for a Friday night. what's more I'd love a festive glass of wine (or 2, or 3....!) Didn't realise being pregnant at Christmas would be so hard.

And we've prepared nothing for Baby Dave's arrival yet. We still need to retrieve cot, pram, moses basket, washable nappies and all the other baby paraphernalia from the attic to see what kind of state it is in. And we've only got 5 weeks to go with Christmas in between. Agghhh!

At least I have most of our Christmas presents sorted.

Cafe Knit is happily busy, processing orders, adding new stock and preparing for some changes in the New Year with some additional suppliers and some (hopefully) funky new tweaks to the website...

Better go and do some work now....