Author: toryawintersdesigns

Designer, maker, lover of colourful sparkly things.
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Gifts for baby Harry

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I found out the other day that one of my ex-workmates had become a father for the first time. I love any excuse to make baby gifts, so I had a look through my patterns and planned a wee present. I decided to go with a brown/natural theme rather than the traditional boyish blue, which gave me an excuse to go yarn shopping.

Here’s the completed present –

I made the teddy bear from a pattern that was free with this month’s Knitting magazine. Designed by Emma King, it came as either a ballerina or a pirate bear. I took the basic pattern and made it in Freedom Sincere DK, a gorgeous soft organic cotton. Then I cut out little patches from denim with pinking shears and hand-embroidered a satin stitch H on the tummy patch, as the baby’s name is Harry.

The socks were from an amazing book, packed full of adorable designs – Cute Knits for Baby Feet by Sue Whiting. I made the pattern “Socks in a Box”, in a 3-6 months size to allow for growing room. The yarn was Patons’ Eco Cotton, in a lovely variegated brown and cream colour with orange flecks. I had a few problems with the wrap and turn technique and grafting the toes, as the socks are just so tiny. I forgot how small baby feet can be!

Finally, I decided to make a wee beanie hat with the remaining yarn. I wanted something that would be wearable in summer and autumn, and would fit a 3-6 months size. There are many beanie hat patterns around, but I just decided to make up my own, after measuring a baby hat that I had lying around. I was really happy with the result, and will probably write up the pattern when I get a chance.

I wanted all the packaging to tie in with the theme, so I made tags with brown paper and attached them to the gifts with raffia. I also made a little card with brown cardboard and denim, and then wrapped the whole thing up in brown paper. I hope they like it, and I can’t wait to see some cute baby pictures!

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Stash burning!

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I have a confession to make – I have a ridiculously large stash of yarn in my loft. When I say large, I really mean large – at the moment it fills 10 stacking boxes, a bin bag, and a big crate. In my defence, I didn’t buy most of it. I live in the town where Patons’ yarns were originally produced, and when the mill closed down my mum bought up loads of the stock. As she doesn’t knit much, I took at lot of it off her hands. Then other people found out that I knit, and offered me their excess stash. Then there’s Freecycle, charity shops, etc etc – the stash just keeps growing!

Over on Ravelry there’s a thread where people are flashing their stash, posting a photo of the whole thing altogether. I couldn’t do that without some major reshuffling, but I decided to have a look in the boxes and see if I could actually use some of it. As it happened, I found five big 250g balls of baby acrylic yarn, which I had bought when Aldi was doing a craft offer. I’ve knitted in the past for the charity Bonnie Babies, so I decided to use up the yarn by making some clothes for them.

For those who haven’t heard of them, Bonnie Babies are a brilliant Scottish charity who make clothes for premature babies in hospitals, as well as blankets and burial garments for the little ones who sadly don’t make it. They send to hospitals all over the UK, to a neonatal unit in Rwanda, and to Blythswood Care as well. They’re being supported by John Lewis in Edinburgh and Glasgow, so if you’re in the area you might see their patterns and information on display in the stores. I dug out some premature sized patterns and got knitting, starting on May 11. I finished the last ball today (well, I cheated a bit – about 75g of the white was so tangled up that I threw it away) so that’s almost 1250g of yarn used in less than a month!

Now I’m going to finish up my other projects currently on the go, and I also have a baby gift to make for a little boy who was born the other day. Then I’ll have a look through the stash and see if I can clear some more out of the way – leaving me room to buy more of course!

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A good use for old jeans

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My little sister turned 17 today, so I spent a few hours the other day making a present for her. I have a couple of old pairs of jeans that I wanted to make use of, so I decided on a denim tote bag. It took about 3 hours to make and broke the needle of my sewing machine, so I had to put the handles on by hand, but I really enjoyed making it. Here’s a picture of the finished bag –

I ripped open the leg seams of the jeans and sewed them together front and back to make a square bag shape. Then I stitched down the pocket linings at the front to make solid pockets, and sewed the zip and fly shut. I had a black and white skirt that I got in a charity shop, which I used to make the lining –

The handles were two strips of denim, folded in half, stitched together and then turned right sides out. I stitched them flat and attached them with a solid backstitch. After that I added a felt applique – probably should have done this bit first, but it was an afterthought as I thought the bag looked a bit plain. I also added a necklace from my goth days as a bag charm.

She usually wears mainly black, so I was slightly worried that it wouldn’t quite be to her taste, but she seemed to really like it when I gave it to her today. I still have another pair of jeans left in my fabric stash, so might have a go at making another bag now I know what I’m doing.

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Freecycle finds

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Weaving is something I’ve always wanted to try, ever since I experimented with a plastic toy loom as a child. I was really excited to see weaving looms advertised on Freecycle, and even more excited when they arrived at my door! A local school was throwing out the old stock from its home-economics department, and I got two looms and a knitting machine.

The knitting machine is a Bond one, and looks as if it dates from the 70s. I’ve not had it out of the box yet, but it looks as if all the bits are there, and there should be instructions that I can follow. The looms are a bit more confusing though. This one is a children’s toy, probably from the 60s.

There are basic instructions inside the box, which are beautifully old-fashioned. The user is advised to start off with scraps of wool from “Mother’s sewing box”. There is supposed to be a pattern book included, which has obviously gone missing at some point, but I think I should be able to work out how to thread and use the loom, as everything else appears to be there.

The other loom is much more confusing though. This one is larger, about 12 by 18 inches. It has a project on it already, made with string, raffia and wool.

I’m not sure how it’s supposed to work though. I don’t really know much about weaving looms, but I thought that you should be able to wind the completed work round one end, so that you could make a piece of cloth that’s longer than the length of the loom. There are also these pieces of cloth attached to rollers at either end, which have wooden slats tied to the edges of them.

I don’t have a box or any instructions for this loom, so I’m not sure how to identify it. If anyone knows how to use it, or can point me in the right direction for some advice, that would be really helpful! I can’t wait to get experimenting.

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Babies on the brain

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I only have 40 days to go now until my due date with this little one, so I’ve been thinking about crafty things I can make for her. I tried making reusable wipes with some old towels, by cutting squares and then machine sewing a zig zag stitch about a centimetre in from the edge. Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped them fraying, so I might need to work out another way to finish them. I’m also going to knit some little washcloths with soft pink and blue cotton that I have in my stash, using the Grandmother’s Favourite dishcloth pattern. After that, I’m sure I’ll have time to make a little summer cardigan or two – baby knitting is so much fun, and the patterns for girls are lovely!

Of course, I’m getting really broody with the due date approaching so fast. Also, Vonnie from Adventures of a Lady in Training has just had the most gorgeous new baby girl, so I’m even more desperate to meet my own little one after seeing the pictures. I’ve also been knitting a lot recently for Bonnie Babies charity, doing premature and newborn size cardigans to try and use up the masses of baby acrylic I have in my stash. Here are a couple of things I’ve been working on in the past few days. This jacket was from an old King Cole pattern.

This little cardigan took ages to do because it had separate button and buttonhole bands. I remember now why I usually avoid those kind of patterns!

On the needles just now is a garter stitch baby blanket, the sort that is worked like a giant dishcloth, from corner to corner. The pattern calls for a knitted lace edging, but I haven’t got the patience for that, so I think I’ll be trying out my rusty crochet skills and making some sort of basic crocheted edge just to finish it off.