Baby Conker

I've made this conker and shell for a lady to give as a gift to her new granddaughter, whose pre-birth name is Conker. Did any of you have a pre-birth name for your babies? 

My husband and I used to refer to our son as Nobby (after Nobby Styles, the famous footballer), and then for a while as Clovis - just because we thought it was possibly our least favourite name in our book of potential names. (Apologies to anyone called Clovis out there.) But never anything as cute or apt as Conker. Our second baby was very briefly called "Baby Bee" after she was born, before we had settled on her actual name. She was our second, so "B-baby", and she had a cute little striped suit that made here look a bit like a bumblebee.

I would love to hear your babies' pre-birth or nicknames.

If you want to make your own conker the pattern is available on Craftsy, ravelry, LoveKnitting and Etsy, or if you would like me to make one for you, it can be ordered on Etsy.

2CV Dolly

I had fun making this red and white 2CV for an Etsy customer. This model is called the 2CV Dolly. I have tried to find out why it was called the Dolly, but can't find any information. So if you have any idea I would love to know. 

This was going to be a Christmas gift, but the buyer says "... can't wait to give it to him, don't think I can wait til xmas. Here is a photo of the actual car that I worked from.

Alpaca

I've just looked it up, and the plural of one alpaca can be either alpaca or alpacas. I wish there was a more interesting collective word for a group of them than herd. Perhaps you can suggest one. But for now, as I have no better word, I have been knitting a whole herd of alpaca. This new pattern has now been thoroughly tested, and I am really pleased with the result. My husband keeps telling me that I should have made the necks thinner, but these are meant to be alpaca who are just about ready to be sheared. Sorry about the huge number of photos - I just can't make my mind up.

The very first brown alpaca was made with Bearhouse Alpaca mocha double knit, and you can see some more photos here. I made the second one with the same weight of wool, but this time Bearhouse honeycomb double knit. The smaller cream one is made with Bearhouse vanilla ice 4ply, as I really wanted to knit one in this shade, and it doesn't seem to come in double knit. I just reduced the needle size, and he has turned out fine, although I recommend the double knit on the pattern. This is quite a tight knit, with a small needle size, as I wanted to make sure that the knitting is quite firm and the neck doesn't flop. I am sure that there are other alpaca wools, but I would recommend this one which knitted up really nicely, as is 100% pure alpaca.

I just love alpacas. I have sat and watched a TV show about some alpacas near Oxford, which shows them giving birth. I definitely want to go on visit the alpaca farm where this wool came from on our next visit to Devon. I have some oddments left of all the wool, so may have a go at a piebald alpaca.

The pattern is available on ravelry, Etsy, and LoveKnitting. This was just one of those projects that I felt compelled to do.