Easy baby booties

While he napped today, I made some cute little baby booties from scraps that I had left in my stash. I found the pattern over at www.sascha-lovetoknit.blogspot.com
I made them in just over an hour.

Go and check out her blog and have a go too!

Bananna & Chocolate cake

Tonight we had a go at making our first banana cake. We tasted the mixture and thought it tasted too strong, so we added dark chocolate. It was quite a wet mixture and took far longer to bake than I thought it would.

My 6 year old and I made up the recipe as we went along. We used:-

175g caster sugar
175g butter
3 eggs
and mixed it all together. Then
175g self raising flower
2 mashed very ripe bananas
8 chunks of Bournville chocolate all chopped up.

we baked it for 45/55 minutes on 180 (fan assisted).

Yum!

Slow & steady progress with the blanket

I'm such a slow knitter...

Knitted baby bib

While I was pregnant with my third baby, I discovered a pattern on Ravelry for a knitted baby bib. It was very simple and very fast to make. If you'd like to have a go too, here is a link to the free pattern!

Cake date

Today was cake date day. It was Clare's turn to host and bake. My my my did she raise the stakes! An amazing chocolate orange cake and a walnut coffee cake, hand pied. Marvellous!

 

The blanket , progress so far

I've not had much time to work on this due to my four month old being ill, but it's coming along slowly. It's about 15cms high at the moment. I'm still not crazy about the colours from the self striping wool, I'll have to see a few more colour repeats to judge it fairly. 

What do you think?

 

Cute blankie buddy's

These were created for my two boys to snuggle at night. (Not that the older one would ever admit to having one). Here is the link to the free pattern (as long as you are a Ravelry member or you could join Lion Brand Yarn as the pattern belongs to them.

 

An apple for the teacher?

Nope, I don't think so, but how about a cute baby blanket? My sons teacher's baby is due any day now. I made this for the new arrival, what do you think? Unisex enough or too boyish?
It's totally reversible.
Thoughts please....

The rainbow self striping baby blanket

This is a blanket I made to bring my newborn baby home. We didn't know if it was a boy or a girl at that point, so we decided to go for a rainbow colour as a unisex option.

He's 4 months old now and loves his blankie. He rubs it up against his face to help him go to sleep.

If you'd like the pattern leave me a comment!

The self striping baby blanket

Yesterday,  I started a baby blanket for a close friend. Her baby boy is due in 7 weeks time. 

She's chosen a blue double knit self striping wool. I'm not sure I'm in love with the colours yet, but then It doesn't really have any colour repeats yet so it's hard to judge.

I'm a little worried that I won't finish it in time as these blankets take many hours to complete. There are over 140 stitches per row and it's very fine wool knitted on a UK size 4 mm needles.

Having said that, my four month old is a poorly boy at the moment, so my job is to cuddle him and make him feel better, this project is going to have to wait until he's feeling brighter.

The finished knitted headband

I'm really pleased with it! It's soft and stretchy so should be really comfortable for the baby to wear.

 

You can find the pattern in a book called 'Baby & Toddler Knits made easy'.

 

The flower headband is tricky!

The pattern is simple, but it seems that I can't watch TV and remember what row of the pattern repeat I was on. That's bad as there are only 9 stitches and 4 rows, so not that much to remember! I blame it on my sleep deprived and addled brain. 

I have completed the band, but I have gone wrong and it resembles a wonky snake, so it just won't look right on the head.

I've decided to scrap it and start again. This time I'm going to pay attention!!!!

A Flower Headband

This is tonight's project for a special litle girl I haven't seen for a while. I've never made one before so it's going to be fun!

Basket weave heavy weight blanket

I've finished it! It's bright, heavy and full of texture. Just what I wanted. The baby seems to love it too. It came together very quickly and took me about two hours a night over a week. It'll look great in the nursery and can also double as a large play-mat on the floor.

It measures 1.3 meters squared so it's the largest piece I have every completed. I must admit, I liked working with the chunky wool and seeing it come together so very quickly. When you have limited time and energy for your craft, it was a very rewarding project indeed.

I used Patons Big Fab wool on a 10 inch needle. I chose a super bright Neon Green to make it fun and colourful, but they do sell calmer more sedate and natural colours.

If you'd like the pattern, leave me a comment :-)

Chocolate chip loaf cake

Last night while they all peacefully slept, I made a chocolate chip loaf cake.

The ingredients are as follows...

225g butter
225g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
225g self raising flower
As many chocolate chunks as you like!
An optional half teaspoon of vanilla essence.

 

For the chocolate, I'd recommend a plain chocolate with at least 70% coco. You need quite a bitter chocolate as this is quite a sweet cake and it will help to balance the flavours.

 

Cream together the butter and sugar, add the beaten eggs, add the flower and then add the chocolate.

 

I use a standard loaf tin with a loaf tin liner. If you don't have a liner, line the tray with baking liner.

 

Spoon the mixture into your loaf tin, bake for 40-50 minutes on 160 (fan assisted) 180 non fan.

 

Check with a knife to ensure the cake is baked through.

 

Then enjoy!

Hair changes

While he slept today, I forgot all about the knitting and tried to sort out my crazy hair.

The ginger has now gone and been replaced with a nice rich dark brown. Much better!

 

Lemon Drizzle cake, Yum!

I thought I'd have a go at one for tomorrow. We are having a ladies coffee morning and I promised to bring the cake. 

 

I followed a Tanya Ramsay recipe from the BBC good food guide website. It was very clear and simple to follow.

 

I found out half way through that the fan on my so called fan assisted oven had stopped working so I've had to 'trim' the edges off.

 

I can't wait to try it tomorrow. Is it over it under baked? We will see how the three judges mark it in the morning :-)

 

My baby's favourite blanket

It's knitted using my stash of wool. I had no set plan about how I was going to structure the stripes, I just knitted.

I knitted it diagonally starting with just 5 stitches and increasing until I got the blanket to the right sort of size (the width x 2 would equal the size that the blanket ended up becoming).

He loves it and it pretty much goes everywhere with him.
 

If anyone wants the pattern, leave me a comment.
 

While he slept today

While my 3 month old slept today, I continued to work in a really heavy weight blanket. I plan to use it in his cotbed as the nights are so cold at the moment. I'm sure he wakes due to being cold sometimes.

 

It's a simple basket weave knitted on 10 inch needles.

 

I'll blog my pattern when I've finished it.

 

Time to blog

I don't know how much time I will get to blog, or how often I will get to post, but I thought it might be a nice way to record the things I do for my three boys, my family & friends.....in the only time I can.... When they sleep!