Shepherd Baby Set Video

 

My Shepherd Baby Set Pattern is for sale in all the usual places. 

 

https://www.ravelry.com/designers/ginny-sturdy

https://www.etsy.com/shop/GinxCraft

 

I thought you might like this photo montage. If you want to buy it as a Project Kit it is for sale by mail order at Blacker Yarns. The kit includes the pattern and 2 x 50g balls of lovely soft Blacker Swan yarn. Also your kit will be packed and posted by me.

https://www.blackeryarns.co.uk/shepherd-baby-set-project.../

Shepherd Baby Set

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed that so far I have not been very productive with pattern writing this year. I have been busy working away, and am finally ready with this new three patterns in one Shepherd Baby Set. For me this has been a bit of an epic, as I have not written a coordinated set before.

The set is knitted in 4ply wool, and the pattern contains instructions for all three items Hat, Shoes and Mittens and for three sizes: 0-3 months, 3-6 months and 6-12 months. All the examples in these photos are knitted from the lovely Blacker Swan 4-ply which is sold at my place of work Blacker Yarns. I would recommend this wool, which is very soft and lovely to knit with. If you wanted to gift the pattern and wool to someone, it is available as a kit, or you could gift it to yourself. 

The pattern is also available in my Etsy and ravelry shops, and could be made with other 4-ply wools. The shepherd’s baby hat is knitted in the round, and designed to be deep, and with earflaps to keep the baby really cosy. The pattern also contains instructions on a very easy method to make a little pompom.

The shoes and mittens are knitted on two needles, and by the ingenious method of shaping made by turning midrow, you will be amazed that the shoes are knitted in one piece, with just one short seam to sew up.

The mittens can be stitched to a length of icord, and then threaded through your baby’s jacket or cardigan, so they are always handy!

I am very grateful to my lovely little model, my great nephew, who was happy to be dressed in wool despite the nice weather. This pattern could also be for girl babies, or little shepherdesses.

I have made another of my little videos, from a montage of photos, and I will share here after it has been published on the Blacker Yarns social media.

More Moss Stitch Booties (and My Photograph Spot)

It is hard sometimes to find a good spot inside for photographs. It is probably why I often take my photographs of knitting outside. The light has to be just right. Plenty of light, but not direct sunlight, which is usually too harsh. In my old house there was not a lot of choice, as there were no window ledges, and my favourite place was at the top of the house, under the velux window. Even that was difficult at times, and I might arrange a raised surface to get more light, or use material as a backdrop.

My new home is a cottage, so has its own problems. The windows are fairly small, but I have found my self a photography spot. One of these fairly small windows on the stairs has a deep window shelf area, all painted white, which is perfect. On a nice day (although we have not had many of those recently) there is light, but not too direct. I really like the plain white background. Positioning the camera is a bit difficult, as I am standing on the stairs, but I think I have found my spot.

 

 

As you can see I am still knitting moss stitch baby booties. I must thank my pattern testers, Jennifer and Jo, who have both knitted booties from the pattern, and helped me come up with some corrections. All they get is a copy of the pattern, but I am incredibly grateful for their help. It is very reassuring to know that someone apart from me has followed the pattern successfully.

 

Just a reminder that although we are approaching the end of the month there is still time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for August. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

 

Is It Too Early?

I think the answer to that question is probably "yes". Too early to be thinking of shopping, and I am very happy to have a husband who takes the lead with cooking. But perhaps not too early if you are thinking of making some Christmas decorations.

I am trying to design a pattern for a new Christmas decoration - which may not be done in time for this year. I would definitely put it in the non-traditional category, with my Christmas Elephants, Shells and Sand Dollars.

So I thought I would just make a collage of some of my other Christmas patterns. I love using the Layout app to put pictures together. Patterns for all of these Christmas ornaments can be found in my shops, with links to the patterns in ravelry in the lefthand sidebar.

Just a reminder that there are still is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for November. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Frog Baby Shoes

I have a new pattern for sale in my shops. I have made these frog baby shoes for Jennifer, who has just recently had a baby. Although we have never met in person, I have got to know her through knitting and the internet. Quite a while ago she made a Red-eyed Tree Frog, from my Frog Toy pattern. I was so impressed, and since she really seems to get my patterns, she has been testing them and proof checking. 

However thorough I think I have been she fairly often finds something. For me it is very reassuring to know that someone has tested the pattern, as before this I would often end of doing multiple test knits myself .... just one more to make sure. I used to do some proof reading myself in a previous job, but I do think that sometimes the eyes see what they expect, and not what is actually there.

So these shoes were posted to Jennifer for her new baby, and here are some adorable photos of him wearing them.

So having made the Frog Baby Shoes in one colour, my husband (who likes to give me helpful suggestions) thought that they might look nice with the frog knitted in a contrast colour. So the pattern contains instructions to make them this way as well. 

Although they are quite a quick knit because of the size, I would suggest that anyone making them has a go at the one-coloured version first. On the two colour version you also have to be careful to carry your main shade across the back. Not difficult if you are used to intarsia knitting, but it gets a bit complicated when you are also thinking about the cables. 

The beads for the eyes are not sewn on, but threaded on to the wool at the very beginning. I thought this would make them more securely attached to the shoe, so there was not risk of baby pulling them off.

So just to make sure I have done a second speckled frog version using some sock wool. Fortunately quite a few of my friends seem to be becoming grandparents, so I don't seem to have a shortage of babies to give these to. 

If you want to make some Frog Baby Shoes for a baby in your life, the pattern is available in my shops on ravelry, Etsy and LoveKnitting. It uses any brand of doubleknit wool, and ..... At the moment of pattern is only available in 0-3 months. 

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for July. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Baby Button Shoes

I've been busy working on a new pattern. Baby shoes, this time with a strap. I was going to call them Mary Jane's, but in the end decided Baby Button Shoes was a cuter name. The pattern is available on ravelry, Etsy and LoveKnitting.

In fact the button is simply there as a decoration, and the shoes are designed just slip on and off. I decided that mums of new babies have enough to do, without fiddling with tiny buttons and buttonholes. But if you wanted the button to be functional, it would be quite easy to make a buttonhole in the strap. But in my samples for the pattern the buttons are just sewn in place through the strap and shoe.

They are very easy and quick to make. I think most knitters could make a pair in an evening. The pattern comes in two sizes: 0-3 months and 3-6 months. I think they look cute plain, but have also jazzed some mine up with a bit of embroidery. 

Made with doubleknit wool, they only take 14g or 20g of wool depending which size you make. So they would also be a great way to use up any wool you have left over from other projects. 

On these green shoes I have embroidered a few daisies on the straps. 

... and on these I have used french knots to make some forget-me-not flowers. It is really quite simple to embroider with wool on wool. There are some tutorials of some of the basic stitches in my sidebar on the right.

The red shoes have gone to baby Scarlet, but the green daisy ones, and the forget-me-not shoes are for sale in my Etsy shop.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Doll's Shoes

I had an order for two pairs of my wrap over baby shoes, and after emailing the customer found out that she actually was buying them as an Easter present for her two daughters' for their baby dolls. A few more emails flew between the UK and USA, with measurements and photos of the baby dolls' feet, and from me photos of various coloured wools etc. (People moan about the internet, but this sort of thing would just not have been possible before it.) And so these scaled down version of my shoes are now on the way to the USA, where I hope they will be thoroughly played with, and the baby dolls will have warm feet.

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for March. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Butterfly Baby Shoes

Yes, I know, I have slightly wandered off the Spring flower theme. I was looking through my embroidery stitch book, and found a page where they actually tell you how to embroider a butterfly.  I couldn't resist having a go.

Unusually for me, this is just a generic butterfly. I usually like to be precise, possibly with a latin name, but this time I just used the wool colours that I had to hand.

These shoes are for sale in my Etsy Shop, and the pattern is my Baby Bee Shoes.

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for July is now running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Summer Meadow Baby Shoes

In nearly the last of my series of baby shoes, I have strayed from Spring into Summer. 

I have not been able to take a photo of the meadow I have in my head that inspired these shoes. I was going to look for a picture online, but perhaps I don't need to. 

The meadow I was thinking of is a complete mixture of flowers: a few bold scarlet poppies, a smattering of deep blue cornflowers, some jolly buttercups, a cow parsley reaching above them all, and some daisies down low. Can you see the meadow now in your mind's eye? The sun is shinning and the flowers are blowing in a gentle breeze. It is a perfect day. 

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for June is now running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Spring Flowers - Wild Garlic Baby Shoes

One of my favourite spirng flowers in my garden, are the wild garlic plants that come up every year in a shady corner at the bottom. (This last sentence gives the totally wrong idea about my garden - that it is huge and I live on the edge of an area of woodland. My garden is actually the size of a postage stamp, and I live in a town. Hubby planted the garlic, and it comes up every year.) 

I think these flowers are so beautiful, so used them as inspiration for the design on these shoes. I'm not sure that garlic is a particularly popular theme for babies. But if you look at the beautiful flowerhead above it really should be.

These Wild Garlic Shoes are for sale in my Etsy Shop, along with a selection of other baby shoes inspired by nature.  I'm getting near the end of the spring-flower inspired shoes.

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May is still running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Spring Flowers - Daisy Baby Shoes

I love daisies - such an unassuming little flower but so pretty. I have made daisy shoes before, but looking at the flower really carefully, I realized that by using daisy stitch I was not really reproducing how the flower actually looks. 

So with the shoes above I have used a simple circle of stitches, which I think is closer to the real flower. I love the greyish wool, which I think looks like a stone wall. I was going to knit another pair from it, but don't have quite enough. Annoying!

The pattern is my Baby Bee Shoe pattern, and these shoes are also heading for my Etsy Shop. I still have to make some little drawstring bag for them, and am definitely GOING TO DO IT TODAY. (I am shouting at myself.)

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May is now running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Spring Flowers - Apple Blossom Baby Shoes

So many Spring flowers seem to be appearing. I love this season, but you have to make the most of it, as with some of the flowers they are here for a week or two and then they are gone. So I have been out with my camera, and then using the ideas for some inspiration for embroidery on some new baby shoes for my shop.

These shoes were inspired by Apple Blossom, but also by this lovely blue wool that I found in my stash. I love it when wool changes shade, and for these I was careful to get the colour change to match in both shoes. The pattern is my Baby Bee Shoe pattern. It is a fairly easy knit, but I love to make them individual with a bit of embroidery. These shoes are heading for my Etsy Shop, although first I will make a little drawstring bag for them. I have some more flower-inspired shoes and photographs on the way.

Just a reminder that my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May is now running. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.