FO: Goldilocks.

I finished this lovely tunic for G. few weeks ago and finally I found a bit of time to post about it. For the past few days we’ve been blessed with wonderful summer weather and most of the day we stay outside so I haven’t had enough time for blogging lately.

Pattern: Goldilocks by Justyna Lorkowska.

It is an amazing pattern, extremely well written and very thorough. It is also a pattern that taught me few new things. The sleeves are knit with contagious method- I must admit I was anxious about it since it was my first time using this method but thanks to very detailed explanations, it was an easy and smooth knit. The pattern is well presented and directions are easy to follow. Every step is explained very well. You can’t go wrong but if you stumble on a problem, the designer has her own group on Raverly where you can ask for help. The pattern gives a knitter three choices of length- Gaia’s choice was tunic length. She loves it the way it is and I’m so happy to see her wearing her tunic- that’s the best prize for me as a knitter. 

I loved the pattern and the result so much, that I decided to join the Goldilocks KAL that is going on at the moment over at Lete’s group on Raverly.

Yarn: Araucania Lace Merino

I do like Araucania yarns, I’ve used few of them and was satisfied. Lace Merino didn’t disappoint me either. I really liked working with this yarn, it felt nice and soft and it blocked beautifully. The fabric drapes nicely. I’m really glad that I chose this yarn for this pattern. I still have roughly 75g of yarn left and I think I will knit a small shawlette for G. with it.

More photos on my Rvaerly project page (here)

Have a great weekend Everyone!

FO: Easter bonnet.

 

Yesterday there was Easter party in G.'s nursery and all kids were supposed to wear Easter bonnet. I bought a plain straw hat and decided to decorate it with some crochet flowers. I stayed up late the previous night and almost went blind but loved every minute of working on those flowers in Easter-y colours. I find working with crochet hook more and more enjoyable. Making crochet flowers is particularly relaxing for me.

 

I owe special thanks to Baby F. who cooperated nicely that night and slept six hours straight without waking up once, giving me some quiet, uninterrupted time to work on this hat for his big sister.

 

This bonnet doesn't maybe look exactly as Easter bonnet should but it surely looks very fresh and springy. The only thing that is missing is spring itself: it is so cold these days, with freezing winds and snowy rains. I lost count of how many times G. and F. have been sick (they both are now, again...). I'm so fed up with all that sneezing and coughing around...

 

As you can guess looking at these photos, G. is very happy with her new hat. She doesn't want to take it off and that makes me one happy mama. Seeing her smile and watching her dance with the bonnet on her head is the best prize for my work.

 

Easter bonnet (Rav link)

I hope the beginning of spring is sunnier and warmer in your corners.

Happy weekend!

Birthday baking.

Our Little Big Girl turned 4 yesterday. We decided to bake a carrot cake together. Unfortunately, it didn't raise but we still had lots of making it. G. really is a good and eager helper and if only she could read she would propably have let me know that I got the wrong bag of flour from the cupboard (plain one instead of self-raising). I didn't check properly so our cake resembled a huge pancake. We ate it nonetheless and it was delicious.

Happy Birthday my Four-Year-Old-Girl! (...when did you grow so big..?)

Corner View: What makes me laugh.

Not a single day can pass without her making me laugh :-)
*
For more CVs, please visit lovely Francesca.

FO: Summer flower.

One of my recent finished projects is this summer top for G. I made it a while ago, having our holiday in mind. There's no hope she will wear it here any time soon (rain, rain and more rain on the way...) but I do hope we will have nice sunny weather in Italy. We're leaving today and we couldn't be more excited. All we want is some blue sky above us. And we can't wait to see all family and friends!

But coming back to the summer top: I absolutely love the way it turned out. I'm not very good at crochet but every now and then I like to swap my needles for a hook and play a little bit. It was such a quick and enjoyable work. A flower detail to make it more girly. A bit of sewing (this time without swearing) and it's done. We're ready for the sun.

Project notes:
Hook: 3.5mm
Yarn: Rowan Pima Cotton, 2 skeins
Fabric: bought on sale in Jenners, Edinburgh
More photos on my Ravelry project page, here.

Thank you all for your comforting and uplifting comments and e-mails I have received after my last post. So many warm words and thoughts- thank you for all!

G. slept through last night without any interruption which is almost a miracle. I don't want to sound too optimistic- she's been better for a day before and then it would all get back to the sick state again- but today has been going really well. She's eaten a bit more than usual without throwing it up and we even managed to go for a short walk to the park nearby. I do hope it can only get better now; she needs to get back her lost weight very quickly.

Things haven't been great lately for our little girl. She's been sick for over three weeks now and we don't really know how to help her. We're running some tests now, hoping it's nothing serious. We are all tired, feeling lost and helpless. Seeing your child suffering is a nightmare. Every night I go to bed hoping to wake up back in happy smiley days. She's become so clingy she doesn't leave my arms. We're staying indoors most of the time, cuddling and reading and watching Peppa Pig, the only things that make her little happier these days.

Little sister's dress (or: big girl's vest top)

Last week we had C.'s parents visiting. This time they came by car, bringing us some stuff that we left in our flat in Genoa in January. They also brought almost all my yarn and needles and started projects which made me really happy. I found this dress among them: I started knitting it before G.'s first birthday and left it unfinished and didn't really think it would suit her now. Long time has passed and now she is a big girl, defenetly too big to wear a dress in 12 month size. But I liked this dress and I wasn't keen on frogging it so this morning, when G. was still sleeping, I got up, made myself nice cup of coffee and finished this dress. Actually, it turned out to be a top.

I realized I didn't have nice buttons for this dress/top and decided to attach a crochet flower. The thing is that I can't really crochet, although I have tried many times to learn this craft. Crochet still is a mysterious art to me, hook is a wand, charts and patterns are a top secret coded information understood only to the chosen ones and any crochet project is just a pure magic to me. I own few hooks and every now and then I try to play with them but this little flower is actually the first crochet thing I successfully completed. I really feel proud; maybe there is some hope for me after all ;)

With some help of YouTube I managed to produce this little beauty:

I accessorized it with a pearl in the middle:

And then I attached the flower to the dress/top:

I'm really happy with the final result. And G. seems to be happy too :)


Project notes:
Pattern: Little Sister's Dress by Tora Frøseth
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK
Needles: US4/3.5mm