Miss Aine

The ladies in the knitting group suggested I make a hat to go with my wedding cape, so that I can wear it after the wedding. I had a pattern for a lacy-ish beret in an old CraftsBeautiful magazine. Its called 'Ooh La La' and is by Sublime Yarns. When I had it finished I discovered, through Ravelry, that there are mistakes in the pattern, which explains why I ended up with unaccounted for stitches at the end of a few rows. I'm not sure that I totally like the pattern. I like it down at the brim of the hat but not how the detail decreases towards the top of the hat. And its quite big. Oh course, as its me, there was no checking of gauge! So its nice and floppy/slouchy when I put it on, but maybe a tiny bit too slouchy. Shows why you should always check your gauge ;)

A while ago I submitted a design to the new online knitting magazine, Petite Purls , for their winter issue. And yesterday morning I got a lovely email to say that my design had been accepted! I'm so excited. Its the first time that I've submitted a knitting design to a magazine. Its just an online magazine, rather than printed, but its really causing a buzz in the online knitting world. Check it out. Its just got patterns for kid-related stuff. The current issue has an absolutely darling ladybird coat/cardigan which I am itching to knit - if I manage to find the time! Woo Hoo!

MyBeautifulLittleBird. A pattern will be winging its way through cyberspace to you today. Thank you to everyone who entered and thanks for all the lovely comments. Its nice when people appreciate your work!

Apologies for the lack of blogging this week. I've been trying to get a pattern out for this month and am pretty busy at the moment. This pattern is different from my normal style as the body is knit as a front and back, with the arms knitted in, and then sewn together. It means the only things to be sewn on and the ears and trunk so it makes it a more baby-friendly toy. Meet Bo and Lori: Leave a comment with some sort of contact details to be in with a chance to win. One winner will be chosen at random on Monday and they will receive a pdf knitting pattern for Bo and Lori. Good Luck!

My current WIP. Think it needs a few modifications! Smem saw me sewing it up and wanted it immediately. Then wasn't too impressed when it had no face. I may give it one just for her!

Had my Hen Party on Saturday night. It was a lovely time, for all I think. We did a salsa class in the afternoon and then went for dinner, drinks and dancing. And the 'tat' was kept to a minimum. I was given a flower for my hair and a flashing necklace and wore my hen brooch too.

As promised, my pattern for the Hen Badge. 1. Print off the picture below. It was drawn on an A4 sheet, but print it larger or smaller if you want to make it a different size. 2. Choose your felt colours and cut out all the pieces. 3. Sew the wing to the body. 4. Position the body, head feathers and tail feathers on one of the background pieces. Sew in position, catching the feathers behind the body. 5. Sew the beak in position. 6. Embroider the eyes and feet. 7. Sew a pin to the second background piece. 8. Sew both background pieces together all along the edge. 9. Pin your badge on!

I'm off on my 'Hen Party' today so I made myself a 'Hen' badge. Will post a tutorial tomorrow.

I managed to get a clip in Smem's hair today without her noticing. Bodes well for the wedding!

Its finished and it didn't take long at all. I got the pattern for this cape on Ravelry. Its from the Drops design team. Really easy to make and super quick. I can't believe I have it finished so quickly. So now I can get started on this month's giveaway pattern. I only started today so the giveaway will not be until next weekend (26/27th). Hopefully it will turn out nice!

So I ended up wearing the pink stripey dress to the wedding on Saturday. The green dress I had bought was just a bit too revealing around the bust area! And I ended up putting a mustard-yellow knit belt (that I'd gotten with a cardigan ages ago) around the middle. And it all worked out in the end. In our wedding planning, things have changed dramatically. When I went into the church for mass on Sunday half of it was completely covered with scaffolding. And there's enough scaffolding still outside to cover the other half! So our wedding has been moved to Straffan, which is a little church closeby which is part of the same parish. But it does mean my head is in a bit of a fuss these fews days. It should work out though. Not sure about this month's pattern yet. I haven't even started it! A bit obsessed by wedding stuff at the moment to be inspired.

I finished my Aimee Ray embroidery. Just changed a few things - like doing some felt applique, not doing all the birds, and adding a little 'thank you' in the bottom corner. Just need to get C to take a picture of it on his fancy camera so that I can get it to the local print shop and make wedding thank you cards from it.

Very sleepless night last night so I wasn't up for doing much today. I did some baking this evening as its the only time when Smem won't keep insisting that I go out into the garden with her. I'd seen a recipe for raspberry coconut muffins but didn't have the right ingredients. So I found a recipe for blueberry and white chocolate muffins and just substituted. I haven't tried them yet, so hopefully they're nice! I also solved the dilema of what to wear to the wedding tomorrow (that stripey pink dress just isn't doing it for me). I got a Zara dress at one of the local second hand stores for €7 Its really pretty and I just have the shorten the straps a bit and it will be fine on me. Which I must do tonight as the wedding is tomorrow!

There is actually a daddy there under her to catch her!

C came home from a lunch out today, saw this on the kitchen counter: And said: 'Are you knitting fairies?' Ah bless! I am, in fact, knitting a little cape for me for the wedding. Hopefully it turns out nice! p.s. thanks to 'Anonymous' for the comment on my dress. I actually had tried a yoke-yellow ribbon but it just didn't work for me. I thought I may end up looking like a 6 year old going to a birthday party. I think I need to adult-up the accessories.

The dress has now been hemmed. It needs some sort of a belt or sash to finish it off. I bought yellow ribbon, but its a bit too yellow. And a pink sash seems just a bit too much. This gold coloured fabric is nice. It kind of tones down the dress a bit. And I could wear my gold coat to tie it all in.

The new hoodie for Smem is finished (made from a Bernat pattern I found through Ravelry). She didn't protest too much when I put it on her too!

Apologies for the blurry picture. Took this one on my new phone (fancy touchscreen malarky!). I've been doing quite a bit of dress-making. I finished my stripey pink dress so need to take a photo of that. And I started another dress last night, but its not so successful. I think it looks like it will turn out really boring. So I may have to do some surgery on that.

Apologies for the crap photo. It lashed rain all afternoon so the light was terrible. And I'm not a great photographer! I might add beads or something to jazz it up. In Smem news, had the first episode of her jumping out of the cot just after I put her to bed this evening. I saw her on the monitor trying to look out the window so I'd say she stretched too far and tumbled out. So my first task for tomorrow is the lower the base on her cot!

I bought two packs of flowers while doing the weekly shop - a pack of various pink roses for €6.99 and a pack of carnations and gypsophelia for €3.99. The carnations are not exactly right but the overall effect is what I think I will go for on the day. And not bad for only €11!