A Different Kind of Needle...

I feel like I've been absent without leave once again - time has been flying away, with me totally absorbed.  

If you read the last post you may think I've been on more fictional travels.  In fact, because I have a tendency to become so caught up in what I am reading that I neglect to do the cleaning, laundry and cooking or even to converse with my nearest and dearest, I thought I'd better take a little break from reading and get back on track domestically speaking.  Boring, but necessary!

However, the housework, you will be pleased to hear, is NOT what I got absorbed in.  

As part of a big tidy-up, I had a bag of Miss U-t-B's clothes and toys to take to a local charity shop.

This charity shop is just round the corner from a pretty good crafty shop.

We call it 'Aladdin's Cave' because it just goes on and on, back from the street, in little sections, going from rubber-stamping to papercraft and scrapbooking supplies, to jewellery-making, haberdashery, tapestry, embroidery and finally to knitting and crochet.

I found myself right at the back, sorely tempted by all the beautiful yarns.  It's years since I did any knitting - I never even knitted anything for my own daughter when she was a baby.  But all the beautiful crochet I have seen in Blogland seems to have seeped into my blood,  and I felt a real urge to create something yarn-y.

So I found a lovely pattern and the gorgeous yarn with which to create it.  It is 'Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK' - not a cheap choice, but as I remembered I can't bear the screech of man-made fibres on knitting needles and I only needed two doughnuts of it, I felt it was worth it.  Besides, it was for someone very special - Mr U-t-B's nearly eight week old grand-daughter.

I was a good girl at the outset and knitted a tension square.  Fortunately it was the right size.

Then off I went!  It knitted up surprisingly quickly - though being first size probably helped.  I managed the back, two fronts and one sleeve on Monday afternoon ( a reward for having dealt with the ironing) and then did the remaining sleeve and most of the borders yesterday, in between cooking for my parents and brother, who came round in the evening.

Finally I finished it this morning.

Ta-dah!

So sweet!

Here's the pattern.

I had to pop back to the shop yesterday, as I didn't have the right size needles for the borders.  The 'yarn-trance' took over and I came away with a book full of patterns and some more yarn...

The Little Sublime Hand Knit Book
How cute is that baby?

 I may make the 'Sailing Sweater' next...

'Sailing Sweater 'and 'Vintage Car Coat'

Or maybe the 'Sunday Best Cardigan', or the 'Babies Who Lunch Cardigan'...

But I also adore the 'Sunday Brunch Jacket'...

There's also the 'Little Pixie Coat' (though the pattern for this is not in the book I bought, but in the second one of the series)...

Maybe I'll have to make the 'Retro Bonnet' whilst I make up my mind...

How many cardis does the modern baby need? 

I'm hoping lots!