Category Archives: children

Happy birthday!

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matching outfits

matching outfits

It’s my niece’s birthday today so the right day to post about the cardigans that I have knitted for her and her doll. The girl’s cardigan is custom made after a few emails back and forth with my sister in law. And as my daughter quite likes it when I make something matching for her and her doll (like the pictured strawberry skirt, which I find rather cute myself) I thought my niece might enjoy dressing her doll in a matching cardigan.

I really like the design and the colour combination of this “final” version but I had something completely different in mind just after agreeing on the colours. In fact, I was convinced enough to just knit another cardigan which I will put in my etsy shop.

same input - different output

same input – different output

So I have used the same colours but I chose the light beige (linen) as a kind of background colour with wide stripes in pink, blue and green (or raspberry, atlantic and gooseberry). So none of the colours really sticks out, whereas the cardigan for my niece is clearly a pink one with thin stripes in other colours. I find both really nice and can’t really tell which one I would prefer. So up to you to choose your favourite.

For the shop version I have also made a matching doll cardigan and a tiny bag. As far as I know toddlers can not have enough little bags to take their little treasures on a trip or just to play with them at home.

coordinated set 1
coordinated set 2

I find those little supplements make hand knitted items for children even more special. You certainly don’t get that on the high-street.

Twins

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twin set details

twin set details

 

I have shown those two cardigans already in my last post but as their new owners have finally made their appearance into the world I thought it is a good reason for a proper post – congratulations again to the happy parents.

When it comes to this blog, I have been a bit lazy lately… I have written many posts…. but only in my head and I really should get them online rather than wasting my time with knitting 🙂

But back to the cardigans. I’ve used again the Little Rascals pattern by Julia Stanfield.

As I made them for newborns I used this super soft gorgeous Rowan purelife organic cotton. I find it really special and as it is discontinued, I will really save my stock for very special new born outfits.

I made these for a set of twins, a boy and a girl, and initially planned to make them completely matching, just in different colours but changed my mind half way through. After all, the whole point of a hand knitted item is to be unique and very special. They have still similar enough features to be recognized as a set that belongs together but each one is individual – like those twins are. They belong together but they are also an individual each.

I decorated them both, the blue one with a simple whale, the pink one with a more eye-catching flower.

flower detail

flower detail

To enhance the floral cuteness of the pink one, I added little flower buttons, to keep the blue one simple, I chose grey buttons and made only one big bold stripe in the middle rather than thin ones like on the pink one.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take good pictures…. the longer I am going to my photography class the more difficult it seems :)I had to give up eventually as the cardigans had to get to the babies before they will grow out of them.

blue newborn cardigan
pink newborn cardigan

Colours everywhere

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I don’t know about you but I really like strong and bright colours. Especially as it is all grey when I look out of the window. It is may though, isn’t it?

Maybe I suffer from some kind of parrot syndrome or lets call it rainbow syndrome, that sounds slightly better…. Anyway, I really love these few tops that I have knitted using the “Versa” pattern by Shannon Passmore. She has a great blog too: crafty-desires.blogspot.com

There is also more info on this pattern with even more pictures on my projects – page.

This blue-purple-red one, I made  for my niece last year and I have been told that she has been wearing it a lot. And as it is a tunic, it fitted her for ages. In fact I think it still does:

bold colours with pockets

bold colours with contrasting pockets

For the next two, I have used rather sunny colours, they remind me a bit of a sunset:

sunset colours, pockets and bow

sunset colours, pockets and bow

I also really like the details. The bow is fully stitched on, I guess it would look nicer if it wasn’t so securely stitched on but I made it in a under 2 size so I wanted to be on the safe side.  The pockets are really small as it is a small garment but my daughter always managed to get at least a tissue in hers and she just loved them.

I have used Lana Grossa Elastico Big for these. It really comes in great shades. It is a cotton yarn with 4% Polyester. I guess I can live with such a tiny amount, it still has all the good sides of cotton and is just more stretchy, which is very good for this type of garment that should sit closely to the body.

On the other end of the intensity scale there is this set of cardigans for newborns for hopefully soon to be born twins (and they better are the announced girl and boy 🙂 ) And even if I am normally a fan of bright and bold colours, I do like this yarn a lot. It is just right for tiny new babies. It is a discontinued yarn (Rowan purelife organic cotton DK)  so I will only be able to make a few very precious little things out of my last stock anyway.

softness for newborn twins

softness for newborn twins

I guess this project deserves its own post, hopefully with better pictures…. I just need time to catch up with everything I have done….