Over the past few months we’ve had some major renovations done on our house and everything is still in storage until such times as the dust settles and the decorating is complete.  In the meantime we’ve had some exciting news that we’re expecting another addition to the fold and I just couldn’t help myself but root out some wool and my old knitting patterns.  Well, what else is a mother-to-be with a crafting urge to do!

Iona’s teddy very kindly modelled the finished article, in the absence of an actual baby to model it.  Even though this is a newborn size I can’t see it fitting the baby, it just seems far too big.  Still I don’t expect the baby will be long in growing into it.

Because our house is in such a building site…might post pictures soon…there is nowhere suitable to lay out the whole jumper for a picture.  Really, you don’t want to see the piles of wood and nails!  So, you’ll have to make do with a folded jumper and the promise that when the baby is around to model it, I’ll share it with you.  Should be January!

The neckline leaves a lot to be desired, knitting not being my strong point, however I’m really very pleased with this.

Five Green Acres has suggested that we all join her Rumpelstiltskin Challenge and use up all those stash items and finish those unfinished projects.  Today I made a dent in my wool stash.

This is my new wool basket made from a really long coil of finger knitting, that was made from a ball of chunky wool, which has been taking up space in our hallway for the past two years.  Be liberated little ball of wool and know that you are now a very useful basket.  No longer will you be threatened with being thrown out or given to charity.  No more will your purpose in this world be questioned…for now, you are a basket fit to hold all the other balls of wool whose purpose has yet to be discovered!

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m really enjoying finger knitting.

In the making.  I honestly never believed I’d have the stamina to finish this one.  All that wool takes an awful long time to sew together.

Up close, what to do with the rest of the wool stash…of which this is a mere fraction.  I’ve got bags and bags of the stuff.  Any suggestions given I get so fed up with traditional knitting patterns?

What do you do with a couple of hours to spare and a large ball of chunky wool that honestly you’ve no idea what to make with it?  Make a finger knitted scarf of course.

I used the whole ball of wool and knitted it over two fingers twice (if that makes any sense), then tied it together at the ends.  The result is a rather pleasing hoop of knitting that I can wear as a traditional scarf or wrapped twice round, as in the picture.

Our youngest, who is 4, received a knit it yourself elephant kit for her Christmas.  This weekend we set about making it.  It’s not yet finished, can you guess why?

Her interest was held for all of five rows, which is pretty good for a four year old who really had no idea what the point was and just wanted the elephant.  My hands got sore after knitting up the back and front…told you I need a machine.  The result of all this is that this poor little elephant will be formless for another week, but I’ve visions of a much larger one made up on my knitting machine to keep it company.

It’s got me thinking though, what age is an appropriate age to teach kids to knit?  It’s a skill I know I learned from my gran but I don’t remember what age I was.  I have a notion that it should be easy enough to pick up, yet Iona couldn’t get to grips with all the steps, of which there are really only four…in, over, through and off.

I came across these instructions on You Tube for finger knitting…much easier.  I feel that once the elephant is finished I’m going to try and guide her towards finger knitting instead.

A couple of years ago I attended a silent auction in the local village hall and was lucky enough to pick up a vintage Singer knitting machine for the princely sum of £5!  The lady who had owned the machine told me that it had been in her loft for some time and probably didn’t work, so I did what all self respecting impulse buyers do and put it in the cupboard under the stairs.  It’s played on my mind ever since, wondering if indeed it does work and whether I should just sell it onwards.

This morning I decided that today would be the day I would finally see if it worked.  Now the last time I used a knitting machine was in secondary school, where we were forced to give one a go as part of Home Economics.  My resounding memory of that day is of an awful tangle…and guess what, today I spent most of the day untangling wool!

Eventually the penny dropped and I realised that the problem was the tension.  It was too high and that was causing the wool to skip some of the needles.  Tension adjusted and I managed a strip of kitted fabric.  It then started to go wrong again.  The casting on unravelled and the next, larger piece I tried to make became a tangled mess.  The problem this time was the wool getting stuck on itself as it was coming off the ball.  I transferred the wool to a bowl to freely unravel without jumping all over the table and off I went again.  I also read the instructions and learned how to cast on properly!

You’ve no idea how proud I was of that strip of knitting this afternoon, even though it’s not of much use for anything.  I never expected to be able to make it work at all and there I was with a strip of perfectly tensioned, beautiful knitting.

When I had enough confidence I looked out my old crochet yarn to see what sort of fabric that would knit and I was delighted at the results.  I had an idea it might be too thin and have holes all over it, but it was just as beautiful as the previous, if not more so because of it’s scale.

I think this will turn into a dishcloth, which may seem like a lowly item to make for a whole day’s work but, believe me it will be the most treasured and luxurious dishcloth anyone has ever owned.

Just look at all those perfect rows of stitches…the fruit of an hour or so pushing the handle backwards and forwards…I’m quite sure it’s good for the waistline too.

The knitting machine came with loads of patterns so my next foray will be into patterned knitted fabrics.  Perhaps I’ll even try something with two colours.  Or, maybe I’ll use up all my crochet yarn on dishcloths!

Ages and ages ago I knitted this sheep from the pattern on the Flutterby Patch blog.  It’s taken me this long to get photos of it.  This is such an easy and quick pattern that anyone with half an idea about knitting can make one.

So, anyway, this particular sheep is called Mary.  One day Mary was out walking and came across the most beautiful felted rock and spiral basket.  Mary wished that the rock was in the basket and hey presto, her wish was granted (she’s a magic sheep don’t you know).

Mary climbed on top of the rock to get a better view of the valley below.  She smiled as she spotted some of her sheep friends frolicking through the fields.  Mary wanted to get down to join them but she worried that she might slip and fall.  Suddenly as if by magic (told you she’s a magic sheep) a pile of stones appeared.

Mary was overjoyed.  She climbed down the stones…very carefully…

… and toddled off to meet her friends and tell them all about her mini adventure.

Mary says while you’re having a look at the pattern, check out the rest of the Flutterby Patch blog…it’s very uplifting.