There’s a new baby due in our family in July, so I’ve been busy.

The details:

Pattern: Sunnyside sweater
Yarn: Martha sock from Posh yarn. Gorgeous tones of French navy, turquoise, and many shades in between.
Needles: 3.5mm
Buttons: Sweet little bunny buttons from the lovely Bridport Yarn. They have turquoise tails!

This is a great baby cardigan pattern. Knit all in one piece  from the top down, with raglan sleeves. There is a lace pattern that can be substituted for the cable if desired.

I still have enough yarn to make a hat and even some booties so watch this space!

The details:

Pattern: Catkin, by Carina Spencer
Yarn: Socktopus Sockushu Originals (forgotten which colours)
Needles: 3.5mm

I love how this turned out. The colour contrast is relatively subdued but, I think, enough still to be interesting.

The multi-coloured yarn has elements of the blue and turquoise that are in the main colour which ties them in well together. The pattern is excellent – I love the way the corners are worked.

And again, in even more detail:

The Socktopus yarn is truly beautiful. To complement it I was going to use mother-of-pearl buttons. But I actually thought the backs of them looked better.

If I were to make this again, I would use larger needles, and also add extra rows to each section, to make the whole thing bigger. Mine has turned out smaller than some other versions I’ve seen on Ravelry.

But I don’t want to quibble. I’m very happy with this and am sure I’ll get a lot of wear out of it.

Life has got very unbalanced for me over the last couple of years. I am lucky to have a great job that I enjoy, but it is demanding and I have been giving it too much of myself. This has not been good for me and so I am taking action to rebalance myself and my life. Having reduced the hours that I work, I’m using this extra space and time to take a step back, remind myself what really matters to me and start to do more in those areas that have become neglected.

One of the big areas of neglect is my creative life, of which this blog used to play a large part. Which is not to say that I haven’t been making stuff – I have! I’ve been knitting, have finished my first quilt and started another, and have re-started dressmaking.  I have also been writing up knitting patterns for things I designed in the past and for new things that I’m in the process of designing  and making. We are also about to ‘de-modernise’ our house, taking it back to the 1920s when it was built. I’ve been doing a huge amount of research to design and plan this refurbishment and am keen to share these ideas and show how we get on.

Indeed, photographing and sharing all of these things is something that I enjoy hugely and have missed.  So, here I am, back again. I’ve got lots and lots of things I’ve made that I can’t wait to show and share, and am excited about plans to shake things up here.

But for now, Hello (again)! Oh, and if you’d like to keep reading, click the link to follow my blog with Bloglovin.