Little knits II and competition update

This is another project I made for the baby of a friend, different baby but the project was just as cute! I know that mittens probably won't be much use in the summer but I made them a little bigger so they should be just the right size when winter comes. 

I didn't follow a specific pattern but I was inspired by this Pinterest post which seemed easy to copy. I didn't include the thumb because I thought for that age it's not necessary yet but it would be easy to add them. I love the simplicity of it. If I did it again I would choose a lighter shade of grey though, the contrast between the black and grey is not strong enough.

And finally, a small update on the knitting competition: I did make it to the pre-selection but sadly I did not win a prize in the end. However, my project is being displayed as part of an exhibition that is travelling Belgium, France and Luxembourg in the coming months so if anybody is interest to see it and the other selected entries to the competition you're very welcome! Here are the dates:

• Verviers (B) : 5 June - 5 August, Centre touristique Laine et Mode, 30 rue de la Chapelle, 4800 Verviers

•  Ventron (F) : from 12 September onwards (at least until beginning of October) - 8 Chemin Vieille Route du Col d'Oderen, 88310 Ventron

• Tournai (B) :  May - June 2016, Crecit-Ateliers tournaisiens de tapisserie

• Esch sur Süre (Grand-duché de Luxembourg) : July - August 2016, draperie musée de la Maison du parc naturel

You can also have a look at the entries that were shortlisted here.

 

Pimp my terrace

Summer in the city calls for a refuge outside my four walls. As beautiful as they are, when the temperatures go up a flat under the roof is not the place where you want to be (unless you want to save on the trip to the sauna). This being my fourth (!!!) year in my lovely home I have now mastered the art of relocating into my summer-bedroom a.k.a. the terrace

But this year I didn't only plant flowers and put up my parasol, I got a little something extra that I had been thinking about buying already for a while: a hammock! I finally got one on a spontaneous shopping attack while I was on a 5-hour layover in Colombia on my way back from Peru; a very wise investment of my last Peruvian soles. So now I have a beautiful Colombian hammock and I didn't even need to drill any holes, I just tied it to the railings - done.

I have to say that the railings are very sturdy though and it probably doesn't support the weight of more than one (slim) person. But I don't want to test its limits, considering that the terrace is on the roof of a four-storey building.  But I already saw my neighbours trying to copy me so the idea can't have been that bad.

Besides the flowers that I bought on the market (I managed to kill ALL of them over the winter except for the oleander and the olive tree) I also put the seeds for basil, mint, and forget-me-nots. Basil and forget-me-nots are progressing great and are actually turning into real plants while this stupid little mint thing doesn't want to go anywhere. Nothing except for tiny little hints of green that I successfully drowned with my first watering attempt. Seems like my mint tea will have to rely on the Moroccan shop for a bit longer.

Little Knits I

Apparently I'm not only at the age where everyone gets married but also where everyone is having kids (sometimes in that order, sometimes the other way round). As with my dress-sewing challenge, this is another occasion to get creative and make something for all those new, potential knitters and welcome them to the world. To be honest, I don't know much about babies and how they work - I'm still at that stage where I'm afraid to drop them - but I'm sure they do appreciate a nice knitted jumper!

Here is the first of probably many more baby-projects to come: a very simple top-down raglan cardigan in this lovely Rowan yarn. Fortunately, baby clothes are very forgiving since their body shape is more or less rectangular so there's no fussing about the fit. And they're fast to knit, too! All in all a fun little project and I can see many possibilities for variations of this pattern. 

Pattern: Raglan Baby Cardigan

Yarn: Rowan Fine Art Aran