Bags that one

wintery knit purses

Knit bags, how cute. Perfect little homely parcels for a child’s treasures. Also hopefully a way to raise some funds for our school this week on the craft stall!

I knit them freeform based on how much yarn I had rather than to a design. I’ve made 6 so far – I think I may also make some girly ones.

Manly chunky

manly-chunky-scarf

Manly chunky? What I mean to say is how lovely it is to switch from a fine 2 or 3 ply yarn on 2.75mm needles to a super chunky yarn on giant 9 or 10mm needles, and back again. Just before Christmas I made some man scarves and ladies neck cuffs for family and friends. I thought I’d share one of them with you since I am all about TEXTURE at the moment. I love this man scarf – super-chunky and super-fast in yes, garter stitch again. I finished this one off with a deer horn closure. oo rustic woodman look.

Cosy gauntlets

I will not wear my luscious cashmerino gauntlets while walking the dog

Having seen SO many beautiful knit wristlets, cuffs and wrist warmers on Etsy I have now, with Winter nearly over and Spring officially beginning on Friday’s vernal equinox, made myself some cosy, snuggly knit gauntlets. I knitted them freeform based on my own wrist size (nice haute couture!). I tallied up my rows as I went so the second of the pair would be the same (but this didn’t work first time, see below!)

I will not eat sticky foods while wearing my luscious gauntlets

I used a lovely yarn – Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (cashmere, silk, merino) – in a rich chocolate brown. As you might have noticed from my Purist the Giant Pig posting the other day I am really into texture at the moment. Here’s where ‘boring’ garter (plain) stitch comes into its own. I have completely revised my perspective on it and love it now. While I am also loving two/two ribbing i chose to do garter stitch to finish these fitted gauntlets. I wasn’t in the mood for knitting in the round either for the whole gauntlet or the thumb so I simply left a space on the sewn seam for my thumb to poke through.

I think it looks great. Kinda minimalist. My plan is to use these as the base for very fancy sewn and knitted cuffs and wear them through Spring and cooler Summer nights. Here is my free pattern – I just scanned my workings rather than type them up. If you decide to knit these sweet gauntlets, email me [darling[at]lullabylily.com] for any help – for example, I cast on 44 stitches because I have quite skinny wrists and forearms so you might want to experiment a bit with the number of cast on stitches but I would keep the same decreases from elbow to wrist and small increases over the knuckles.

free knit gauntlets 'pattern'

And please don’t feel bad if you mindlessly increase instead of decreasing because unbelievably I did this and couldn’t understand why my second gauntlet was so much wider than the first! *lol* So had to rip it out – after sewing it up even – and start again. Have a go if you like these and especially if you want a base gauntlet to then put fancy cuffs [like this LIASION luscious affair I just noticed on Etsy] on when you feel like it.

PS  (10 April 2009) I am now making my Gauntlets to order through my new Knitkin shop so if you’d like a pair in a color and yarn (wool/cashmere/cotton/silk etc) of your choice just email me at darling[at]lullabylily.com. Have look in Knitkin because I may already have some knitted up.

Natural hand knit toys

Hand made hedgehog, rear view!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against polyester in any way and definitely not against polyester filling; it has a lot of benefits not least affordability. But, hello, there is just no comparison (em, let’s leave the easy laundry factor to one side for a minute!) with pure wool as a filling for natural hand knit toys.

I only use pure wool stuffing like Merino roving for all LullabyLily knit darlings. It sculpts beautifully, has a warmth to it, it is cosy and dense but squishy too. It was once a living fibre. It is comforting. And at LullabyLily we like comforting.

Giant slugs for little boys

LullabyLily Giant Slug needing home

(Yes, still here and not at my blogger second home yet.) As I made two Giant Slugs today to give as birthday presents I realised again how gorgeous these babies are. The shape of them is so appealing and you can squish them into different sluggy positions. [I have a continual impulse to tweak upwards the feelers on all my girl’s knit slugs, I can’t help it!] I made one each for two 6 year old birthday boys who were having a combined party. Boys love these knit slug toys, and no doubt there is competition over who has the biggest one.

This Giant Slug is now the beloved pet of an older boy in England

One of the things I love about knitting something for someone I know, child or adult, is allowing my intuition to choose the yarn colors and seeing what is created while I’m thinking about that person. So the first boy whom we’ve known for a couple of years now has a giant slug which was made with several different yarns in a rich burgundy, natural yellow mohair, natural mushroom raw wool and a soft twisted stripe yarn in brown and cream. He’s a warm Autumny honey just like this darling boy! (I am putting a slightly smaller version in my Etsy shop.)

The second slug I made was for a boy I haven’t known for long but like very much who is sensitive and complex and charming. The Giant Slug he inspired in me is so stunning I am delighted to have enough of all the yarns to make another similar one. It is in greys and blues, but different to the bluegrey one above.

Natural Giant Slug

Knitting with as many as 8 different yarns of varying plys [a fine mohair with a chunky raw wool or a thick chenille with a tape yarn] on big needles (7’s or even 9’s) reminds me of some of the different parts of each person that make them the individual they are. OK, I know I am sounding slightly pretentious but there we are. I feel the various yarns I use to knit, in this example, a Giant Slug, somehow DO represent the many facets of a particular personality. And I also think that by allowing my intuition to guide me this way I make something that in turn resonates in a surprising way with the recipient.

PS We found a real, live Giant Slug in our compost bin yesterday, he was a beauty!!

All things are possible

Baby Angel Pig

If darling angora knit pigs such as winged Baby Angel Pig can fly then I CAN move my blog over to blogspot.

AGAIN WordPress doesn’t allow something blogger does so I am going to move my blog over to a blogspot home. This time it was not being able to put an RSS feed of my tweets onto this page. But it’s easy to do on blogspot. This on top of not being able to add my etsy shop and favorites means it is bye bye wordpress……. *soon*

Dress-up is tiring mama

it's exhausting horsing around in fancy dress

Here we see just how tiring dress-up can be even if you are a knit pony with lots of natural energy about you. Dancing Pony has a nap with Carnivale Pony while still wearing royal crown and cape (the crown is a vintage doll’s underslip BTW, who knew what a great crown it would make?).

I will post more captured moments of the candid knit toy play my girl creates because it is just so happy-smiley!

Dreamy, swoon

LullabyLily lilac bird flies into a sumptous Etsy front page treasury

I think “swoon” and “dreamy” are my latest words of the moment. Handy since I can say ‘what a dreamy treasury one of my knit birds made it into’ and also ‘swoon, this treasury made it to the front page of Etsy’

I love these delicate, fragile-feeling colors.

Thank you to shavingkitsuppplies for featuring ‘bird, grace’ and also to gorgeous maker of beautiful wooden darlings, mamakopp for letting me know.

Twins, really they are!

Twins

Clearly they are not identical but here are TWIN loveys made on the same day, at the same time. Unbeknown to either of us, I made one and my extraordinary galpal M. made the other – at the exact same time and look at how I have managed to unwittingly channel M. who has Covetables and created a similar slightly curlicued head!

I would love to say that I made the elegant lady on the left but then that would be a bit of a betrayal of em, ‘unusual lovething’ on the right who I did make. She was an experiment, made from a second hand Laura Ashley lambswool cardi with machine embroidery and beading. I liked the strange one-eyed look of her face but my daughter preferred she have two eyes and chose two pretty and glittery buttons which I have now sewn on.

The point I have tangented from is that my darling pal M. made Elegant Lady doll for me (!) at the exact same time I was making upcycled Laura Ashley monster sweetie doll for my daughter which makes them TWINS. It does, it does!

Peaceful place

I am really loving UK-based handmade online universe  Coriandr having just opened a shop there. It is a beautiful place for darling hand knit creatures to rest awhile. Very peaceful. *snooze*