I made my own tote bag!

I bought red material to put as throws over the couches - but my husband hated it and then it just got thrown into a cupboard.

Recently I've been inspired about all the stuff I saw on Pinterest, so I got myself a Tote Bag Tutorial and then I started making my own bag.

It took me about an hour and I found out that your iron is your best friend when making stuff.

I can't believe how well it came out and I'm not even ashamed to show the inside (unlike some other sewing projects I did)

Here is my bag :)

 

And it came in handy when Jaco was in a foul mood (teething). I packed it full of stuff and he unpacked it.

Pink Baby Blanket

Here is my pink blanky and some of the blocks I have knitted...

  

   

   

   

  

  

   

  

   

   

   

    

 

  

 

Flower blanket / blommekombers

This is a pattern Charlene showed me. She knitted the leaves in plain and purl, but then it curls up. So I decided to knit it just with plain.

To make ONE hexagon:

• Cast on 10 stitches.
• Knit 2 plain rows
• For the 3rd row and every 3rd row thereafter: increase one stitch at the beginning and the end of the row. (12 stitches)
• Continue until you have 20 stitches.
• Knit 2 plain rows.
• This row and every 3rd row thereafter: knit 2 stitches together at the beginning and at the end of the row.
• Continue until you have 10 stitches.
• Knit 1 plain row.
• Cast off
• Remember to leave long string for working hexagons together.

 

Make 6 hexagon in e.g. red and 1 in yellow for 1 flower. Now use any colour you like and knit many flowers. I have no clue how many flowers to knit - I will tell you when I have made a blanket like this.

Then, terrible, but you leave the flower edges, i.e. the blanket won't have a straight lined edge
(unless of course you knit semi-hexagons and work them in)

How to make "semi handwarmers"

Amount of stiches: you have to guess! Remember it must be able to go over the widest part of your hand, which is just below the thumb. You must times the length by 2 because it most go around the whole hand.

For example: Start with No 3. knitting needles; double knit wool 30 stiches.

Then the first 8-10cm you must knit ribbing: 2 plain, 2 purl

Go to e.g. no. 5 needles and knit the next part straight. You will have to measure your hand to see when you are almost done.
When you are 3cm from the end, then knit the last 3cm ribbing with the no. 5 needles (2 plain; 2 purl)

Fold the block double with the inside out. Work the sides together but leave an opening for the thumb - again, measure your own hand to see where the whole must go.

Obviously the top and bottom must be open! Don't work that together.

Then I worked beads on top - otherwise you never know which one is the right-hand one and the left-hand one.

O yes, obviously you must knit 2 because you have 2 hands! :)

Or you can just work beads on it for the bling factor :)

 

OR...Ena's mother knitted the loveliest ones by just knitting a ribbing square!

Knit, knitter, knittest!

...like fit, fitter, fittest. :) And now I am thinking of a colleague's mug that says "I am silently correcting your grammar."

I just LOVE knitting! At our school we encourage each learner and teacher to knit at least 1 block. Then we work it together and make blankets for less fortunate babies.

I always want things to be "perfect". For example, if I work blocks together for a blanket I make sure that the pattern of the colours are symmetrical.

Recently I challenged myself to make a "less perfect" baby blanket for my son. Instead of knitting blocks, I knitted strips of blocks. The length of the blocks in the strips had to be different every time, so that things don't line up.

I was so surprised with the finished product - to me it looked even more beautiful than any other blanket I have made before!

Somebody commented that by making the blocks different lengths I just made the blanket "perfectly imperfect" - which is a statement I agree with.

I also loved making this blanket because I knitted lots of different textures - all patterns I've "made up" myself. I hate boring knitting. Knitting a plain block just kills me. So it was amazing knitting this interesting blanket and each time I could think of new and interesting patterns.

Now I'm hooked on this perfectly imperfect blankets and I'm busy with my second one...

Here are some photos of some of the blocks I've knitted:

Blue Baby Blanket

[I've posted about this on my original blog, so now I want to put it on my knitting blog...]

After I knitted an "imperfect perfect" blanket for my son, I decided to try it in blues and white. And it came out beautiful!

[PS: the blanket is "square", it's just difficult to take a nice
photo of a blanket lying flat. That is why you will always see a blanket draped over a chair or something in a knitting book - to make it look good.]

The blanket is trial-and-error. I make up the patterns as I go along - which means that each blanket I knit will be totally unique! :)