Snowdrops

Busy making some baby shoes and mittens. These were ordered to match a specific baby suit. I love green - my favourite colour. And so I have been waiting for the chance to go out and photograph some real snowdrops. One of my favourite flowers, and a sign that Spring is on its way.

Wrap Over Felt Shoe

Using varicolour wool gives an interesting look

 I have been sewing some felt baby shoes. 

I love this thick felt, although 3mm thick was just about on the limit of what my sewing machine can handle.

I made the first pair as part of the process of designing my wrap over baby shoe knitting pattern. This is not the way I normally work when knitting. Usually I have an idea in my head, and just sort of go for it, adapting and altering as I go along. But for the wrap around on the knitted shoes to work, I knew the shape had to be precise. The best way to get this right was to make a pair, first out of paper and then out of felt.

This green pair was my first go, and they are completely stitched by hand. The button is just sewn on through all the felt layers without a buttonhole, as I was just checking the shape. But they turned out so cute, I thought I would have a go at making a few more. 

To make these a bit more hardwearing and practical I have machine sewn the seam, and just oversewn around the edges by hand with wool. The buttons are functional, and really useful when putting them on a baby's feet. On some I have handsewn around the buttonholes, though explain on the pattern how you could machine sew them if you have this available on your sewing machine.
 
The pattern for these shoes is available to download on Etsy. It comes in two sizes - 0-3 months and 3-6 months. It is very good value (that is to say cheap). The little shoes are very easy to make, and I think the wrap around makes them quite different to other felt shoes I have seen. It would be really fun to customise them with a bit of embroidery, but for the photos I wanted the shape of the wrap around to stand out. I suggest you use the best quality felt you can find. 

If you don't have a baby to make some for, I think with a ribbon attached they could make a really nice Christmas decoration, perhaps with some sweets popped inside. I know I shouldn't even be talking about Christmas at this time of year, but I may have a go at giving some of them the Christmas makeover.

I am sure than there must be software that is useful for creating sewing patterns (I would really welcome any advice with this), but the only way that I know is to very carefully draw the pattern pieces by hand, and then scan them on my printer. So this pattern has the same rustic charm as these little shoes. 

As you can see, I just can't stop making them.

If buttonholes are really not your thing you could us a little velcro.

Stitchwort Slipper Pattern

There is nothing nicer to have a pair of slippers to pad around the house in. This is my second go at these, and this time a bought some super chunky wool, so I could be absolutely sure what I was working with. I also made them a little bit smaller, but still with enough room to fit a pair of woollie socks on for when it gets colder.

As you can see, we are having a bit of a heat wave here at the moment. I am not very good with the heat, but am trying not to grumble and make the most of the good weather while we have it.
 

My pattern only comes in one size at the moment (4-5 UK sizes), which is because that is my size. The wool that I used is Wendy Serenity Super Chunky. (Be careful as there is also Wendy Serenity Chunky, which does look quite similar.) I usually tend to knit with quite fine wool, so it was lovely to use super chunky and knit something very quickly.

I have just done a bit of free style embroidery. Why not gave a go at this? It is really very easy, but instantly makes your shoes a bit special. I think making the sprigs of flowers asymmetrical looks nice.

Apart from all the usual places (Etsy, ravelry and Craftsy) I will also put this pattern in my new shop on LoveKnitting. Felt rather enthused when I saw this online London-based shop store, so I have put some of my patterns for sale there just to see how it goes. 

Stitchwort Slippers

We went for a countryside walk on Bank Holiday Monday, partly because I wanted to take a stroll through a bluebell wood. You really have to catch the right time to do this. But one of the other flowers that we saw a lot of were stitchwort. Stitchwort is such an unassuming but pretty little flower. 

I decided to have a go at knitting an adult sized version of my Baby Tundra Shoes. This was great fun, although harder than I imagined. Adult feet are not the same shape at all as baby feet, much longer and thinner. I worked with both shoes on the needle at the same time, which was rather fun. 

Although I have jotted down what I did, I am not going to publish this as a pattern at the moment. One reason is I have no idea what this wool is. It was given to me as part of someone's stash that they no longer wanted. It is really, really thick. I have no idea if anything similar is available. So I may be off to my local wool shop to study the chunky wools.

My family think the shoes are extremely funny, and although I know they are not at all elegant, I do think they would be lovely to wear on a cold winter night. I have them in mind as a gift for someone who I know hates to have cold feet.

Tundra Baby Shoe

Baby shoes are my favourite knit. So relatively quick to make, and the end result is so pleasing. 

I had an idea for a new design, as two of my work colleagues are expecting. (In fact one of the babies has already arrived.) Although I love knitting my Baby Daisy Shoes and Baby Bee Shoes I thought it was about time for a change. I am sort of trying to work up the courage to design a baby garment, so these have been a welcome delaying tactic.

Those of you who know me are probably looking at this new design and thinking "why no embroidery?". Well I may add some later (I just can't resist) but for the pattern photos I wanted to show the simple shape of the shoes, and I thought that embroidery might be a distraction. 

I have put a lot of thought into the shape of these shoes. I had in my mind that they would be very simple. 

Just for once I can say that this is not a difficult knit. You do not even have to know how to purl. (I am usually so worried about people buying my patterns and finding them hard, that I think I exaggerate the difficulty.) But this pattern is all knit, and has only one technique that new knitters may not have come across. 

These were made with my last scraps of this wool. Unfortunately I don't know what it is as I would love to get some more. Any clues?

This is the wrap method to prevent holes in your knitting when you change direction mid-row. I explain this at the start of the pattern, and have put a photo tutorial on my blog to help more visual learners. (There is also a link to this in knitting tips in the right sidebar.) Once you have done this a few times you will see it is not hard. This gives the front upper of the shoe its very distinctive curves.

Knitted with James C. Brett Marble DK

The pattern just comes in one size, and the finished shoes are 8-9 cm long, so about the size for a newborn to 4 months. You need no more than 22g of wool. I am thinking of getting some chunky wool and trying to size it up to adult size, as I would quite like to pad about the house in a pair of these. 

Knitted from Jaeger Luxury Tweed (unfortunately this wool has been discontinued)

The shoe is made up of three pieces, and I have used doubleknit slightly fluffy wool to give them the look of a felted shoe, and to make them really cosy. So like my other shoe patterns you will find this a tight knit, but that is what helps give the shoes their structure. The pattern is available on ravelry and Etsy.

While knitting these I have had the idea for another baby shoe, which I am already working on. So expect even more baby shoes. 

P.S. I had lots of visitors here this week, mostly from South Africa. I can't quite work out if I have been featured somewhere, so I would be very grateful if anyone could let me know. 

Poppy Shoes

Here is one of my holiday knits. When I am on holiday I usually like to knit a from my own patterns. I am away from my computer, so it is difficult to write anything new, and it gives me a good opportunity to see if I can make any improvements. 

Did I mention that my children said that I was not allowed to knit on the beach? I rather reluctantly agreed to this as part of the deal that on their part no electronic gadgets were allowed on the beach. Rather annoying as there is nothing nicer than sitting knitting on the beach, but I still had plenty of time to knit, especially on the car journey.

So here are some new baby shoes, from my Baby Bee Pattern, which is for sale on Craftsy and ravelry. There will be some more baby shoes with other flowers on the way. I try really hard to embroider them in a way that I have not done before, so anyone buying them has a truly unique gift. I thought a bold poppy would look great on this soft grey chenille wool (I know they look blue, but they really are grey) that I used for this pair, which will be heading off to my Etsy Shop as soon as I have made a little shoe bag to put them in.

Baby Shoes

Between other knits I seem to always fit in a few pairs of booties. I haven't tired of knitting these yet, and they do seem to be the most consistent seller from my Etsy shop. I guess no one minds treating a new baby.

I wasn't sure about the yellow ones to start with, but once now I have embroidered on the daisy flowers I find they are my favourite. The wool is a really nice cotton, and and unusual mix of yellow and white. I'm not sure of the brand, but wonder if it comes in other colours as it was so nice to work with. I wonder if anyone will recognize it.

And these green ones (Is this green? It is a bit hard to put your finger on this colour) are knitted in Rowan Calmer, which came from my sister. I decided to return to my little embroidered bumble bee. As usual they come in a cream dupion silk shoebag.

Baby Bug Shoes and Snowdrops

Some more baby shoes. These ones I have called Bug Shoes. I have knitted with this wool before, and just love all the different shades in it. I have no idea where it came from, and am a bit sad I only have the tiniest bit left. The bugs were my daughter's idea, at least the ladybird on the leaf. Then I thought it would be rather cool to have a different bug on the other shoe. I'm not sure that caterpillars are considered quite as cute, but I really like them, and it had to be something really small to fit on the shoe.

I then thought for these little pink shoes I would go back to my little bumble bee, and a sprig of white blossom. For these I used a wool that is 100% cotton. The pink in the photo is really accurate, and I love the gentle shade.

My neighbour told me this morning he has a few snowdrops in his garden. So for the last pair I have made a new pair of Snowdrop Shoes. Previously I have made these in yellow and green, but I thought a light blue would look good and wintery.

These shoes are all knitted from my Baby Bee Shoe pattern, and are off to my Etsy shop. Although the embroidery may look tricky, there are tutorials for all the stitches you need in embroidery corner in my right sidebar.

Summer Meadow and Cornfield Shoes

I've realised that my knitting has a bit of a pattern. I like to alternate working on a new pattern, and then for a bit of a relax I return to one of my own old patterns. So I've been chilling for a bit and knitting from my baby shoe pattern.

I've also been having a lot of fun with the embroidery. I've called these ones Summer Meadow Shoes. Can you see the cow parsley, cornflowers, buttercups and daisies? Although very fiddly to stitch I hope I have given the impression of a summer field.

The second pair of shoes are decorated with a cornfield. This time there are scarlet poppies, deep blue cornflowers, cow parsley and daisies amongst stems of yellow corn.

Both pairs are in the smallest size, so would be for a newborn. The pattern comes with details for a larger size too. They come in a little dupion silk drawstring shoe bag.

Apple Blossom Shoes

I've been busy this week knitting baby shoes from my own pattern. I've been having a bit of a play with the embroidery decoration. One of the teachers I work with is expecting in September, so I have been thinking baby. She doesn't know boy or girl yet, and these are definitely girl shoes.

I really love the main shade, which although perhaps a bit unusual for a baby, has little flecks of all sorts of colour in there. Usually my shoes are one-offs, but I liked this wool and design so much I have made two pairs. It may not be completely clear from my photos, but one pair has white blossom and one pink.

They are both for sale in my Etsy shop, and I am busy with another new design  on my needles.

Daisy Daisy

Once again I have got slightly sidetracked. I have a plan for a slightly bigger knitted toy, but other things keep getting in the way. My best sellers at the craft fair were my baby shoes. I added a cream dupion silk shoebag to keep them in, which I have also added to the shoes for sale on Etsy. But noticing that I only sold the decorated shoes, I decided to jazz up the few plain ones I have left with some handknit daisies. I love daisies: such a simple but pretty flower. 

So I set about designing some daisies. I have knitted fairly large ox-eye daisies for the shoes, but then thought I would also have a go at some tiny daisies, like the ones on my lawn. So this pattern shows you how to make flat daisies for decoration in both sizes, and how to knit a stem and sepal back if you want a really realistic flower. The pattern for these daisies is available on Ravelry.

Just to show you what you could use your daisies for I knitted a hairband, which is probably heading to my Etsy shop.  I just love these little daisies, and think they could look lovely on all sorts of things.

Little One was not really in the mood to have her photo taken in the garden, and she was suffering from hayfever. A bit ironic really, though I guess knitted flowers is one solution.