My Mum’s Dress

A little while ago I asked my mum to have a look at Garnstudio to pick out a design that she wanted me to knit for her. She picked this lovely linen tunic, for which I used exactly the yarn that is mentioned in the pattern: Drops Lin. It was really easy to knit, but at first I was a little worried that it was a little rough around the edges. As the skirt was knitted with quite large needles it meant that the stitches were quite lose. This is not something I’m used to as I always knit quite tightly, but it seemed to work well.
    
Following the skirt I knitted some pleats for the first time ever. This was quite well explained in the Drops Design pattern, but I also found my Ultimate Knitting Bible that I recently bought (thanks to my friend Dom) extremely helpful. It explains very nicely how to do pretty much anything in knitting, how amazing is that?

I made the smallest size of the dress as my mum is quite petite, and at first I was a little worried that it might be too small and that it wouldn’t fit her. But I didn’t have worried, it fits her perfectly and looks nicely elegant.

I’m loving the fact that I’m starting to try out more and more new patterns as it is a perfect way to enhance my skills. I’ve still got a huge list of other things to finish, including a number of baby blankets (which take very long, compared to small baby clotes), some baby booties (nice and quick), a cardigan for myself (a new pattern) and a baby dress for a friend.

I finished the dress off with a nice crochet border and of course my trusted label.

Anna’s Booties: Pattern

I know it’s been a little while since I last posted and I really have been busy. I’ve been making more blankets (most are still in progress), finished the dress for my mum (she absolutely loved it, pictures to come later). I’ve also started my new website and registered my own domain name, check it out: www.annatestadoro.com. I’m still trying to work out some of the background colour, add-on, etc. So it is a work in progress.

And hurrah, I’ve also finally finished writing up my booties pattern, please find it here: Anna’s Booties. I’m offering this for free, all I ask is that you send me pictures of your finished booties so that I may add them to my blog. Also, do get in touch if you have any questions at all! Happy knitting!

Booties and Hat Combo in Blue

There are a couple of things I make that are well received, these include the blankets and the bonnet and booties. So, here’s another booties and bonnet combo.

I made this for my friend and colleague Simon, he’s found out that good friends of his are having their first baby, and it’s a boy. Hence the choice of blue and white, I think it looks quite classy.

And I keep remembering that I’ve been meaning to write up the booties pattern, but still haven’t managed to do so. It will come I promise!

I used some of my leftover wool from my stash that I’ve slowly been using up. As far as I remember it’s pure wool, so it’ll keep baby warm and cosy, especially as he’s going to make his appearance during winter. It’ll be nice to hear what mum amd dad-to-be will think.

Loving Scandinavian Knitting Design

I’ve been meaning to write about the amazing experience I’ve had every single time I order my yarn from Scandinavian Knitting Design. Bruce Bailey, the owner over there provides the best customer service experience I have ever encountered. I order my yarn from Bruce quite regularly and have on occasion ordered two different lots in one day, Bruce then contacted me to advise me he was going to send them in one parcel so I wouldn’t have to pay for postage twice.

Or a couple of weeks ago paid the courier charge to make sure I’d get the parcel the next day (I didn’t realise that this wasn’t what the courier charge was intended for). Bruce gave me a call and corrected me and advised me that he’d send it next day delivery and refund me the difference, which promptly arrived.

So, it’s not only the amazing choice of yarn and accessories at Scandinavian Knitting Design, but it’s the owner Bruce who makes shopping there a most enjoyable experience.

Little Red Dress

I just finished knitting a dress for my niece Clara. It’s from a pattern over at Garnstudio. It was really nice and easy to knit. It’s meant to be knitted with Merino wool, but I decided to use a nice red cotton, as little Clara apparently always gets really hot in wool. Maybe this will be better for her.

I like the fact that it was so easy to knit and even the borders were really easy. I’ve not crochet in a while, so had to look up some of the terms up, but managed to do it. Also, this is the first time that I’ve knitted in moss stitch, which has worked out really well. I really like the fact that I’m trying new things, now I just have to try out knitting cables.

I found it a little hard to photograph as the colour didn’t come out very well, but I think putting it on a yellow background seems to have worked.

The cotton was really nice to knit, it also meant that I my fingers wouldn’t get too hot whilst knitting.

70s Style, Retro Baby Blanket

My summer knitting so far as consisted of two baby blankets. I forget how long these take me, but the last one I managed to knit in about three weeks, rather than the normal four to five weeks. I’ve got another three on order, but am currently focusing on knitting my mother a tunic/dress and myself a cardigan. However, here are some pictures of the first blanket (I’ll add the other one later):

I really enjoyed knitting this blanket, as the stripes were nice and thin, although it did feel like me skeins of wool would never end. I also had to figure out a way to hide the thread on the outside, so I twisted it in the same direction every time I had to change, it makes it look like quite a nice finish.

This blanket was made for a colleague at work who is having a baby in September and she chose the colours. I actually think they work really well! So, remember to find me on Etsy and Folksy.

Little Honey Bee

I made this little top quite a while ago, but have only been able to put it up now. It’s another pattern from my really old German knitting magazine and I’ve previously made it. The friend I made it for saw it on here and said she wanted it for her niece or nephew, in black and yellow stripes, like a little bee.

I made a few changes to it, for example I changed how I closed up the sides, which I think makes it look really nice. Also, I decided to use some cotton yarn as the baby is due this summer, and it shouldn’t be too hot in wool!

I’ve already given it to my friend and she really liked it, the baby should be due any day now, so we’ll see if it fits!

And of course I’ve been able to finish it off with one of my lovely labels.

Stripy Romper

You might remember I knitted this romper suit for my niece in blue and red stripes a little while ago. A friends friend liked it so much that she asked me to knit it for her soon-to-be born niece or nephew. I choose a Safran yarn, which I got from the Scandinavian Knitting guys. Now, because the little one will be born some time in July I thought cotton was better than wool.

Also, because she doesn’t know whether it’s going to be a girl or boy I decided to choose some lovely bright colours. I think they make it look really cute and I’m sure it’ll suit the little one well.

It’s a really nice pattern (from a really old German magazine) that is easy to knit. I did make some changes to it this time around and replaced the zip with buttons. I just knitted on some button holes, which I think actually works better then the zip.

I’m sure it’ll fit well and look good. I’m hoping to write up the pattern as well, but that’s after I’ve completed writing up the one for the booties.

Now remember, you can find me on Etsy and on Folksy.

Personalised Scarf

Last weekend I finished a scarf for my boyfriends brother in Sydney, Australia. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, surely a scarf isn’t necessary in Australia? That’s exactly what I thought, but apparently it does get quite cold. He wanted a scarf in the Sydney Swans colours, so I came up with the following.

I think it has worked out well and the colours work well. I was going to knit wider stripes, but as I had to swap colours and change the yarn it made more sense to make thinner stripes in order not to have to sew up left over threads after every single stripe.

And of course I’ve finished it off with my label, which includes the address to this particular blog, maybe it’ll get me more visits!

Just a quick reminder, I’m now on Etsy and Folksy!

Thank you!

I just wanted to do a shout out to the 221 people that visited my humble attempts at blogging on 28th May. I’m so amazed that people are interested in my knitting and sewing. The next step will be comments, maybe you have questions?