Shrunken 'Garden Trellis Mitts'.

 I'm calling these shrunken because I had been gifted one fifty gram skein of Classic Alpaca yarn. I wanted to use it for this pattern. I knit one and a half mittens following the pattern before it became obvious I did not have enough yarn to complete the pair. So I frogged them both and began again.

 I knit one less row of ribbing at the beginning. I then knit four pattern repeats instead of five. I knit only five rounds of ribbing for the cuff. This left me with enough yarn to complete two mitts. all was well in my world.

 I gave these to my sister, Miss C, along with her Jolly Robins, for Christmas. I forgot (or just didn't have enough time) to take any pictures of them. She very kindly took pictures of them for me. She knows how I like to document my hand made things. Looking at the pictures, I realize I really should have blocked them, but with all that frogging and re-knitting, there wasn't the time. Hand made Christmas can be a crazy life to live.

Your Personal Penguin

 Did you ever read any of Sandra Boynton's books? I have to say I'm rather fond of them. I decided my youngest sister's two little boys need their own personal penguins for Christmas.

 I found this free pattern for 'Cheerful Holiday Penguins" here. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn and size US3 needles. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease, which is aran weight, and size US5 needles. So obviously they turned our a little bigger the original penguin. As with the Owl Ornaments I made, I felt like these little guys needed some feet. I knitted some i-cord and shaped them into feet. I just used yarn for the beaks and eyes, because my two little nephews are still very young, I didn't want them to choke on buttons or beads.

I love them!

Oh Christmas Tree

 I went home to England for Christmas this year. It had been 15 years since my last Christmas in England, so it it was some what exciting. I spent many weeks in the run up to departure knitting my heart out. I wanted give hand made presents to my family. Today I'm sharing with you the tree ornaments I made.

There were six owls, three white and three grey, for my sister Mrs M. The pattern is called 'Seamus the Owl' and is available for free from here. I added feet, because I thought the would be comically cute. They are knit up in Lion Brand wool-ease, as are all the ornaments I knit.

 There were four more 'Jolly Robins' to make it six for Miss C.

These mini mittens were for my sister, Mrs. B. I made six pairs of them, each pair was slightly different. You can get the 'Mitten Ornament' pattern for free from here. I think the possibilities for variations with these are endless. They are so cute, and remind me of a old movie called Mr. Krueger's Christmas.

I plan on making a couple of each of these for my own tree eventually. I love how they all looked together on the tree.

Mr. and Mrs.

 Exactly seven days before before my sister, Miss C's birthday, I realized it was exactly seven days until her birthday! Not really the best thing to happen, especially when we live on the other side of the world from each other. Last minute gifts are extremely hard to do. I'll blame it on moving and summer busyness. Luckily I had bought the pattern and yarn for these cute Jolly Robins months ago, with the intention of making a few for her.

 I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease yarn and size US 5 needles. The red breasted robing I knit flat and then I had to seam. I'm not very experienced with knitting intarsia, so even when it's simple, it scares me a little. I don't really love seaming, so my second robin I knit in the round and skipped the red breast. Female robins are plain brown in the real world, so she's the other half of this couple. I decided to add a little bit over-stitching when she was done though, I felt she was missing something without it.

 I packed them off to England  five days before my sisters birthday, and you know, they were only three days late. Not at all bad considering the times I've sent things more than two weeks before they need to get there, and then they still get there late! She says she loves them, but she needs more, so I'm going back to work.

Everything since The Witch

 I haven't knit anything for the past few weeks, but when I look back at everything I made in December and January, I realize I got a bit burnt out. Take a look at it all and you understand why I've been taking a break.

Three fun, and bright bibs for a baby boy. The pattern is available here for free. They were knit using dishcloth cotton from my stash.

My little Miss M. wanted a purple beret for Christmas. I finished that on time, and the coordinating scarf came a few days later. Both free patterns, just follow the links if you're interested. They were both knit in Lion Brand Wool-Ease.

 Another baby, this time a girl. I thought this cardi was quite feminine even though the pattern is called Baby Boy 5-Hour Sweater. It's available as a free Ravelry download. It's made in Knit Picks Swish Bare. I enjoyed shopping for the buttons at a local thrift shop. While I was there I got chatting with a woman whose daughter in law, like me, is from Bournemouth. What are the chances of that !?!

This baby girl hat drove me a little crazy. It was supposed to have little bear paw mitts to go with it, but I only finished the hat the morning of the baby shower, so the mitts never happened. The pattern is here for free if you are interested. It's not the greatest pattern, though it is cute.

I decided I needed a new hat for me. It's been a long and snowy winter here. I've had to dig out my driveway more times than I can remember. This hat keeps my ears nice and warm. I've used this pattern before for a friend. It's called Hinagiku Hat. It's a free Ravelry download. My friend posted a picture on facebook in which she is wearing hers, and I decided I really wanted one for myself. I knit with HiKoo yarn that was given to me at a yarn swap. I love the colour.

Well, I need to get my motivation back, since birthdays are looming, and there are a couple of really important ones this year. I'll be back soon.

Another yummy hot water bottle cover.

 This was sent to my Mum for Christmas. It's the same pattern I used for my sister's hot water bottle cover, but this time I put in the optional cable down the middle.

 Pink continues to be my mothers favorite colour, so I used Cascade Yarns 220 superwash paints wool. There are some great colours of this yarn. I added a few extra stitches on either side of the cable, because I thought it didn't look wide enough, and I put the cable on both the frond and back. I filled it with Reeses Mini Peanut Butter cups, and put it in the post. Boy are those chocolates heavy!

I love hot water bottles! I'm really happy with how this cover turned out. Luckily hot water bottles are much easier to come by over in England. My big sister and my niece sewed hot water bottle covers for my kids and I as Christmas presents, and sent them with much needed hot water bottles inside. We couldn't be more thrilled with them. It has been sooooooooo cold here lately, that we have been enjoying them night and day.