Woo! I’ve reached over 100 projects on Ravelry!

*do a happy dance*

I realised I have 102 projects on Ravelry, so here, for you knitting folk, is a run-down. End here if you aren’t interested in knitting!

Works in progress

• 1 of these is a long term blanket and unlikely to be finished anytime soon.
• 1 just needs ends sewn in and blocked.
• 1 just needs some embroidery.
• 1 just needs a photo but the yarn isn’t playing nice with the camera.
• only 2 need more knitting done!

Most favourited by others
Most of my projects aresn’t favourited by more than 1 person, if at all, so special mention to the following:

• Cat Pyramid: Made just for the house out of acrylic yarn and from a mochimochiland pattern. Quick to knit and very cute.
• Sheepy Handwarmers: Made for my friend Roz for Christmas 2010, to a pattern of my own.

Personal achievements this year include a few lace shawls (for my sister and for a friend), some socks and my first felted project.

I’ve a few big plans for knitting for the rest of this year, and I feel like I’ll need to sign up to a few challenges on Ravelry before the year is out – any ideas?

Painting Pottery Day at Leith

Today I went to the Ceramic Experience in Leith with Rebecca and Fiona. We got a really good deal as part of Itison and so we weren’t really sure what to expect.

It. was. awesome. Super fun! You pick some unglazed pottery and are then let loose with paints. No time limit and they even sell tea and cake although you can also BYOB!

You can paint the table to test your design, and they have stencils and sponges and stamps, as well as aprons if needed

My camera decided to delete my photos during upload, but here you can see Rebecca’s tea set and my dino plates.

They look all pastel and cute but these are the unglazed masterpieces – I’ll post the results of glazed goodness as soon as we pick up the pieces in a few days.

I *heart* baby knitting

Close up of cardi

Originally uploaded by squeejay

One of my friends is expecting a baby girl any day now and so I’ve had to knit. Although I haven’t seen her for years, and thats my fault for moving around the country, i just love baby knitting so had to do something to send.

I chose a simple round neck cardigan, in double knit wool on 4 and 3.25mm needles and then a pair of bootees on 3.25mm needles. If you are on Ravelry, then the projects are linked to my username: squeejay. (http://www.ravelry.com/projects/squeejay/project-13—striped-round-neck-cardigan and http://www.ravelry.com/projects/squeejay/saartjes-bootees)

I’m happy with them, except the collar on the cardi which I managed to sew on backwards and the spacing of the buttons. I just hope the baby likes them!

Summer weddings and Cake

The last month has been pretty busy, so there haven’t been any posts – I’m about to make up for this now.

Let’s start with the Brookes Heggie wedding that happened last month, a gorgeous sunny day in Devon with a gorgeous couple. Laura looked amazing in her ‘film star of old’ style dress, Harry looked like Harry in a tweed suit and my Andy did a great job as best man and looked awesome in his kilt.

There was also fantastic food: roast lamb and summer veg, then three kinds of pudding followed by the wedding cake! Tiered cupcakes topped with a smaller sponge to be cut. I also got ridiculously excited by the mismatched teaset used for the coffee. What an awesome day.

Old Men in the Pub – Some quotes

Some time ago, I was in the BoB pub in Reading with some friends. At the next table was a pair of old men. Nice, homely looking gents just passing the time with a pint. They began to chat quite loudly, and we couldn’t help but overhear them. As they became more and more merry, the chat became more and more serious.

It might have been wrong, but we took some notes. Why? Because what they were saying made *no* sense. Here, for your delectation, are the quotes.

Barbed wire is a sign…don’t go near!

But there’s no sign…don’t go over!

All they’d find is my goolies.

—-

man1: My idea of Egypt is somewhere wet and cold.

man2: Tell me a famous Egyptian woman.

man1: Cleopatra.

man2: Cleopatras a bitch.

—-

Sand, finer than talcum powder .

There are two things I haven’t done with a camel…and I don’t want to .

—

They graze goats in the trees. Them trees have a special name.

Tree climbing goats?

—-

What I got is outside furniture. I got a bed and a bedside cabinet.

What do you make of that? You couldn’t make it up!

Baby JH models my first Knitted Baby Jumper!

Roz sent me a picture this morning and here you can see Baby JH modelling my first Knitted Baby Jumper! I made it back in December but he’s only just fitting it now. I’m pleasantly surprised by how good it looks on a real life little person rather than as a flat thing just sewn together. You can’t even see the mistakes! Doesn’t he look fab! Hooray!

Books I have read – pinched from Koisty at otherstories.com

BBC Book List

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions: 1) Look at the list and make those you have read bold. 2) Star (*) the ones you LOVE. 3) Italicize those you plan on reading.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

Fuzzy Lamb

Made from a free pattern by Barbara Prime at www.lulu.com/content/907313.

Took a few evenings to make up, bit fiddly to sew up with the fuzzy wool but I think it was worth it! Soooo cute! It’s for Baby JH when I head up to Manchester next weekend

Fuzzy Lamb

Originally uploaded by squeejay

Amigurumi Love Bug

Made for a valentines present, but not for the other half! Who could it be for? :p

A dinky 3 inches high and made with tiny bits of snuggly dk wool. Took about 3 episodes of Peep Show to knit and stuff

Amigurumi Love Bug

Originally uploaded by squeejay

Trinity Baby!

Baby JH - the First Trinity Baby!

Last weekend saw a trip to Manchester to see the latest addition to the bambinos of the last few months, and the first of the Trinity Babies! Baby JH (as we aunties will call him). He’s well beaut, and his mummy is looking fabulous, despite having a sprog only 6 weeks ago. Hopefully, he’ll be the last baby amongst my friends for a while, this auntie business is expensive and there is only so much knitting one can do!

Knitting for Baby MJ

There have been hats, bootees, jumpers, cardigans and blankets for some of the most notable births in 2008. These probable stars and famous archaeologists of the future include:

Morgan Flynn O’Riordan (nephew 2!)

Isobel Amber Munday (first girl baby!)

Murran Jean Haston (first archaeologist baby!)

John Harry Edward Callaghan (first Trinity baby!)

That means lots of 1st birthdays in 2009, and so lots of hunting round the shops for suitable dinosaur presents as well as cute yet chewable book! Hooray!