Welcome to the world baby Emily

This past Easter baby Emily came into this world like a comet. Well her birth was long awaited and when the time came for her birth it was over almost before it began. And now my sisters family has added another girl to the family roster. Welcome Emily, wishing you a wonderful life blessed with love and fun!

I had to knit something for little Emily, so this time I opted for a blanket. From my experience with the girls, I made a baby blanket larger than the usual baby size. I went for more junior size,  the blanket ended up being around 80x100cm in size. I like the idea that the blanket can be used beyond the baby days/years.

I used a cloth pattern by Bitta Mikkelborg called Tusenfryd as a starting point. Did some calculations and ended up with this blanket. Did you know that tusenfryd is Norwegian for daisy?

a field of daisies

I have already started on another blanket, this time for another baby coming very soon. Pictures will be posted when it is given to the recipient..

-how did you spend your Easter?

Catching up

The pregnancy has taken its toll on the joints of my fingers. So haven’t been sitting much in front of the computer lately.

Just dropping by to do some catching up…both on “reading” and blogging.

The other day I got a little gift from my sweet friends Lexipo…as a thanx for “washer time” – as their washer have been on the fritz and fixing it took forever. With two kids in kindergarten you CAN’T live without a washer.

the bake-it easy set by Porsgrund

Love this baking pan! You bake, cook, store and serve all in one pan. What’s not to love? You can read more about/buy it here.

Unwrapped and started using it today….my first baking project with this new pan? An apple cake for BabyS to bring to kindergarten tomorrow…thank you Lexipo for the great tasting receipt.

Yes! BabyS is turning TWO this weekend! It feels like yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the first time. Have been trying to catch up on some scrapping since I started my maternity leave. Looking back at pictures from the last two years, how much BabyS has grown and evolved into a little person with her own unique personality.

With the new baby arriving any day now I feel I should do some prep-work. With wardrobe, nursery, baby stuff covered I do feel like I’m ready for the new babys arrival. BabyS got lots of knitted blankets during my previous maternity leave…as I have had to sit a lot with my legs raised lately I started on a knitted blanket for the new baby. One he/she can call their own, not one that BabyS has had first…

this time around, diamonds…

Speaking of blankets…Now that this blanket has been given to it’s rightful owner, I can post a picture of it! A reversible stars and stripes blanket for a little prince.

have a feeling I’ve posted a picture before…

Now off to watch a YouTube video I’ve posted before (here)….that worked well for me!

Have a wonderful Friday!

Cozy

The other day I went to IKEA for a little trip. Just to pick up a few necessities…

Usually when going to IKEA with DaddyO we rush through the aisles. But this time DaddyO had promised to let me have a little time to suck up all the Christmas spirit that was throughout the store.

Though there were no Christmas shopping on my part..except from some ginger bread dough. I did get my self an early Christmas present…for the cold days ahead…a knitted blanket from the Chalet Limited Collection of 2013. I didn’t see the whole collection, just parts of it. But I must say I liked the parts I did see.

a blanket for MommyS

Finally a blanket for myself after knitting a few for babies all around. It’s called Höfjäril and measures 120x180 cm and is made of a wool, polyester and acryl blend. Sorry for not providing a link…but I can’t find it on IKEA webpage.

Off to enjoy an evening with warmth from the fireplace and me neatly placed under my new blanket.

- Have you been to IKEA lately and seen their Christmas collection for 2013?
- What do you do to pamper yourself?

Talk about knitting

As I mentioned in an earlier post….baby blankets for all my friends who have given birth lately. A few have still yet to be given their rightful owners…but I thought I would post these pictures while BabyS was sleeping and I don’t forget…

The pattern	The result
I used my favorite blanket pattern by Pickles http://www.pickles.no/p-veg-helseteppe/ Knitted in Babyull by Viking
I wanted to make a stars and stripes blanket, but couldn’t find a pattern. As I couldn’t decide which color I wanted as the main color I wound up making this one a reversible on, like the one I made for BabyS. Also knitted in Babyull by Viking
I’ve wanted to try out the pattern for Mor Signe blankets – knitted diagonally in stead of strait up… While surfing, I came across this beautiful blanket. Knitted in Ullteppegarn by Gjestal.
And my latest creation, a simple blanket for sweet baby Maja. This is a reinvented version of Garnstudios pattern Bundle of joy. Instead of the blackberry pattern I stayed to plain garter stich (I think it’s called) To make the name part, I found a cool font on my computer, typed up the name and saved it as a picture. I then converted the picture into a pattern with knitPro – this is a super online tool! Makes a pattern from most pictures. Don’t remember who tipped me, but thank you!

Hope the newly made families appreciate the blanket they receive. After making so many blankets the past few months I’m taking a break from my blanket producing days. For some reason I tried out the game Candy Crush Saga and I’m totally hooked!

- have you knitted any blankets lately?
- which model is your favorite?

So off to get me some Candy Crush….

Inside on the outside

Officially it’s called reversible double knitting…but when I saw this I had a hard time finding the technique as it has a number of names. But after doing some research I gave it a try and I am very happy with the result.

I made it bigger than a standard baby blanket as I wanted a blanket I could use in BabyS cot when her down duvet becomes too hot. So I wound up with a 72 x 94 cm blanket.

It has stars sprinkled  all over, eventhough you can’t see it in this light. As I didn’t have a knitting pattern I just did some calculating and drawing on squared paper. I used the star pattern I previously used on my fire lighter box cover.

these stars are so versatile

I used a 100% wool yarn called “Ullteppegarn” by Gjestedal. For this blanket I used about 8 skeins – 4 of each of the two colors, grey and lilac.

It was super easy to do the double knitting, way easier than I thought at first. All the techniques you have to masker is knit and purl!

Here are some videos to help you get started;

A little intro to double knitting	This is just part 1 of 3–casting on
	An alternative way to cast on

I finished the blanket a few weeks ago, but blogging about it always takes longer. BabyS wants to play on the computer too when it’s out.

Not a bad Tuesday…already taken a morning stroll with BabyS, knitted and blogged and it’s not even 2 PM. How has your Tuesday been so far?

Baby boom

Here at CasaR we are still adapting to our new life. About a week ago BabyS turned 9 months. Time sure flies! With me slowly returning to work and DaddyO gradually staying more at home with BabyS, we are still adapting to new stuff all the time.

Barely over the shockwave caused by BabyS arrival, we are now seeing that all our friends are starting on their second round. Babies are literally popping out of the woodwork, with babies expected left and right. With the upcoming baby boom I’m hoping I have time to craft a gift to each baby.

When my friends were expecting their first child diaper cakes were all the craze. So I made a few for the coming parents. I thought that since they already had received a diaper cake, I didn’t want to make another one for them…I try to be a little original. If you are a close friend and expecting….stop reading now! These days I’m all about knitting, so this time around I thought I would knit a wool baby blanket.

I’ve decided that I will follow Pickles baby blanket pattern for a few, and a self made reverse double thread knit blanket for a few (will try to write up a post on that soon). The rest I haven’t decided yet…I know that each blanket will take some time to knit, so hopefully I will have enough time to make them all before the boom hits.

I’ve started on one blanket…and it sure is taking time when knitting on 2,5 mm knitting needles.

Yes! Finally done

“Ages” ago I blogged about knitting another blanket for BabyS using a knitting pattern by Garnstudio. Well I started in July and tonight I finally finished it! Wohoo! Though the pattern wasn’t hard to follow and BabyS allowed me a lot of time to knit, the project still had its’ challenges…

When picking up yarn for this pattern I didn’t want the blanket to be just one color. The picture in the pattern was a cute, but monochromatic, baby blue. I didn’t want a baby pink (BabyS is girl) blanket. So I guessed my way to how many balls of Cotton Light yarn I needed with what I had in mind. I wanted the blackberry pattern in the middle to be pink, framed by a light brown border.

Well about two months ago I was about 50 cm into my blanket when I realized I didn’t have enough of the brown color! Having my hands full of BabyS it took me some time to get to a store that sold this particular yarn. I finally found time to visit Tjorven and to my dismay Garnstudio had changed the blend of the Cotton Light yarn - from  a 60% Cotton and 40% Acrylic to a 50/50 blend.

Oh no! What to do now???
- do I put lots of energy into finding the old blend somewhere in the world?
- do I finish off the blanket as is? is 50 cm a usable size blanket?
- do I just knit the rest of the blanket in pink?

I wound up sitting down, did some calculating and found that with the yarn I had, it would be enough if I increased the blackberry pattern in the middle and narrowed the border frame. This way the finished blanket would still be the same size as the pattern I had chosen.

The finished result you ask? Here it is…

a nice 60x80cm blanket

Hopefully BabyS will like her new blanket when she wakes up tomorrow…

If you want to make blanket like this…

The pattern can be found here

InLinkz.com

The yarn I used…

InLinkz.com
For my recalculated blanket I used
- 3 balls of brown Cotton Light yarn
- 5 balls of pink Cotton Light yarn
Good luck to ya!

Practice makes perfect

We can never have too many baby blankets. As my previous baby blanket project didn’t go as planned (wonder why?), I thought I’d give it a new try. This time I’m trying out my knitting skills…and on a pattern I think will be easier. I picked up yarn for this project ages ago – during a sale at Bentes boutique.

If Baby S allows that is…its not easy finding time to do knitting with everything else I want/need to do when at home.

Troublesome blanket

A few weeks ago I finally finished the baby blanket I posted about ages ago (post). Haven’t had time to do a post on the result until now (Baby S is taking a long nap next to me – I’ve elected to call them “naps” more than sleeping as they never last longer than a few hours)

crocheted in white with a pink border

But I think I did a poor job with the assembly as the blanket keeps falling apart in the seams. And with 20 patches crocheted together, there are many seams that can fall apart. From now on I think I’ll stick to projects that consist of fewer parts. At least until I learn how to assemble and finish seams in between crochet parts…

A little gift for a sweet little baby

Last week I visited my friend and colleague that gave birth to a baby boy a few short weeks ago.

Just so that she wouldn’t see her gift here before I gave her, this post is a little late.

Anyways…

The gift bag consisted of:

• a baby blue crochet blanket
• a little “meal” for mamma – that she has been craving most of her pregnancy
• three Burago cars for big brother – can’t forget babys big brother

Knitting again…

Well this time I’m actually trying out crocheting. Again it’s been ages since I did any crocheting. Looking at all the beautiful designs available at www.garnstudio.com I found a few I wanted to try out.

Since my due date is in May, an airy blanket sounded like a good idea.
First out…

Wish me luck…

Knitting a baby blanket

When my sister-in-law recommended this knitting recipe by Pickles saying it was super easy. My first thought where “Ehhhhh….”. It’s been ages since I did any knitting, and I would state that it’s not one of my stronger points. But I thought I would give it a try.

First time I tried this recipe I made the blanket for a friend whom had just given birth to a baby boy. It took way longer than I had expected…but I did finish it in time for my first visit.

Realizing that I could actually follow this recipe, I thought I would make one for myself.

This time I actually finished in no time…astonishing even myself

In the picture the blanket looks more blue than in real life..it’s supposed to be lilac