Simple Knitting Project

Ever since I can remember (and my mom can rememebr, in fact!), my Ouma has been busy with either a knitting or crochet project (or ten!)... Since she lives with us and is quite an influence in all of our lives, a little bit of her rubs off every once in a while! I have shared a few projects which she's had something to do with and this one was no excpetion. Wonderful as she is, my dear Ouma feels it necessary to forcefully offer advice when it comes to my handiwork... Nothing major this time around and I managed to gently get her to understand that I needed my own personal twist on this one!  

My inspiration came from a trip to the yarn shop to buy supplies for Ouma to make blankets - she makes about 40 knee rugs for retirement homes every year which means a few trips to various wool shops! :-)

I think it turned out quite gorgeous!

I found the most divine cotton knitting yarn and couldn't resist buying enough for a few projects! My motivation for making a baby jersey is nothing exciting I'm afraid... It's just that making a jersey for a big person takes so darn long and I'm prone to making mistakes along the way - I figured a baby was less likely to notice the errors than an adult would and they certainly wouldn't be in a position to put my jersey in the back of a cupboard to be forgotten! I searched online for a pattern I liked and this was the second one I tackled... The first one is about 50% complete but I decided I didn't really like the shape of the jersey so I started on option 2. I will finish the other one now that this one is done and post pictures shortly! This jersey is called the "bellflower baby hoodie" and is available free on Lion Yarn's website which you need to sign up to gain access. I didn't use Lion yarn but the cotton is double knitting. I used size 3.5 needles for the ribbing and size 4mm for the rest.    

How cute is this hood?! I'm in love!

The buttons came from billabong pants and shorts I've bought through the years - I thought they added a little character!

When I get really upset I................

So, at the end of a particularly challenging day, I slowed down to reflect on just how I'd dealt with the stress... I will not bore you with the details of my day as they're over dramatic and I have had enough drama for a lifetime already!

I started a little knitting project about a week ago and it's gone surprisingly fast (That's when the stress really started, you see...) I used google to find a pattern and just dived straight in. I don't have anyone in mind for my little baby blanket and it looks like I certainly won't be producing any offspring for quite a while but this seemed manageable and I didn't have to run out and buy extra yarn as I had enough at home :-) I didn't put two and two together and realise why I'd started the knitting until this afternoon when I realised that my blood pressure had returned to normal and I wasn't even thinking about the drama anymore after just 5 minutes of the needles clicking! 

 The second thing I do is to organise and clean... Again, this is not something that happens consciously, I only realise afterwards what's just happened. I guess it's some sort of spring cleaning of my life thing. Historically, these major clean-ups coincide with big changes of direction in general... I found this amazing storage/organisation system in the plastics shop today

 it came in a surprisingly small box as all the pieces  pack together flat. You click them together and the instructions say you can cut them down to the size you want with a pair of scissors. They're designed to go inside drawers but since I don't have any drawers they're going onto one of the shelves in my cupboard :-)


Another thing I am known to do is cook, clean the kitchen and bake...  So far the self-prescribed therapy has worked and I'm ready to go searching for the perfect pair of shoes now!