The delightful Alicia Paulson designed a little rabbit. Then my delightful little offspring really took a shine to it. And as this particular offspring tends to really play with all her dolls and stuffed animals I thought well alright, we'll make room for an adorable bunny with, let's face it, the most adorable boots I've seen in a long while.

Her name is Blushers. Officially it's Maggie but, and I am sorry to say this Alicia, when I informed my daughter of this she looked me straight and stern in the eye and went "oh no, that is a horrible name for a rabbit. And for everyone else actually, just horrible." She shook her head in sheer disbelief and then suggested a name that was "totally suited for a bunny and just absolutely smashing.... blushers!" She seemed really chuffed that this bunny had a narrow escape from that awful name and could now relax being a cute Blushers. Oh well. She's 5. We'll put it down to age shall we?

And as much as she disliked her official name, she is just smitten with this sweet bunny. And secretly so am I. And hence I am in the process of making her a blanket, a pillow some nightwear and whatever I can think of in the next few weeks. But hush hush, Blushers' chaperone knows nothing of these grand plans and I'd like to keep to keep it so for a little longer.

Last week I was asked by my offspring if they could put on their sleeveless cardigans. It was a little cool that morning but they added some strong arguments to their case 'It's so nice to wear a beautiful cardigan that you made mum!' 

Defense lawyers to be, surely.

Anyhow. It sparked the idea to make them both a second cardigan. It's such a practical model for those spring days when the mornings are still quite chilly but the daytime sun gives of quite some warmth. 

In my stash I found enough Kaleïdo yarn, a mix of linen and bamboo, to make one for the oldest. This yarn is super soft and flows beautifully. It gives warmth yet feels cool to the touch. Ideal for summer knits really.

The model is from Citronille and as their sizes are quite big I decided to make the 4 year old size for my 6,5 year old. And tadaah, a perfect fit. For my 4 year old I'll go for the 2 year old model knitted in a 4mm needle instead of 3,5 mm. 

The light blue color tends to change quite a bit depending on the light. It goes from light blue to grayish and pearl. There's a light shine on this yarn as well so that the light seems to bounce right of it. The color suits my fair girl to the bone.

And in my button drawer I found a set of old flower buttons in just the right color. 

It's a joy to knit this little cardigan. It is worked top down without seams on straight needles and it advances pretty well once you're past the yoke. I think that for the little sister version I might go for Cascade cotton. But which color to choose? Oh well, I guess I'll have a good think about that whilst finishing of a cowl I'm knitting for myself...

Okay. So I have a household. One that needs running. And as I am a housewife of the efficient kind, I like my household stuff to be practical. Makes sense, right?

But what doesn't make sense to me is why I can only get these huge, rigid oven mitts to protect my hands from oven disasters. Really, I can't work with those things. It's like sewing with thimbles. Just no good. I need to feel what I'm doing. To have some grip. Some control. 

And so I went and made my own oven mitts. 

But what's so special about those? Well, for one, they aren't mitts. They are just squares. But used folded in two, so they're rectangles really. Rectangles that fit perfectly in the palm of my hand.

And they're not rigid... because they are knitted. In cotton.

What? Won't they catch fire? Heck no! Remember, when taking things out of or placing things into the oven, speed is of the essence. You just don't linger long enough to burn your digits to a crisp.

And so without further ado, here they are, the most practical and most used knitted items that I've ever owned:

So, a thick cotton thread meant to be knitted with needles 5mm but in reality firmly knitted with needles 3,5mm. A simple basket weave pattern and a little loop just for show as I keep them in a neat stack, right next to the cooker. 

Silly really how I can be this pleased over something this small. But I am. Really pleased. And really efficient. 

Remember when it was still winter? Windy, frosty, even snowy at times but mostly cold. A lot colder than right now?

Well, back in those days I knitted protection gear. Better known as scarfs. Some of them already made it onto here. A couple didn't. In an effort not to disadvantage those unfeatured scarfs, I'll show them off now. Even if it's a little out of season by now...

A boneyard shawl in Madeline Tosh Pashmina, color 'logwood'. Just one skein is enough to make this a royal version for children... or a large bandana sized version for adults. Either way works splendid. And is so so so soft...

And then there was another, yes really another... I could knit this pattern for all eternity, flutter scarf without the flutters. This time, for myself. But modeled by my offspring. In Madeline Tosh Sock, color 'posy'. Pretty in pink, believe me!

As much as I really love this upcoming spring, I'm not keen on the prospect of no longer doing winter knits. But sweaty hands and merino yarn are no great friends. So as long as the sun doesn't push temperatures up and above the magical 20°C, I'll persist in doing some more winterly knitting. If anything, I won't be surprised by sudden cold spells after summer. 

Yes I know, my mind often works in ridiculous ways. I tend to indulge it. 

How about this for yarn...

You're looking at -from left to right- Madeline Tosh Pashmina, Madeline Tosh Sock and two skeins of Frog Tree Sock yarn. All in the most luscious colors.

Dear Niamh sent me these as part of a yarn swap. Into yarn heaven she sent me! Thank you many times over Niamh!

The first one, the Madeline Tosh Pashmina in Logwood color is destined to go on my needles over the weekend. I can hardly wait to get started.

In the mean time this purple Cascade Eco+ has turned into the first of the handmade Christmas gifts that will keep me occupied till the end of the year. So off I am to make some progress on that list!

With a pair of scarfs and one hat for the youngest under my belt, there was a second hat to be knitted. This weekend, with some frosty mornings in the weather forecast in mind, I had a race against time to finish it.

I won.

Now, the big head thing is a of a genetic nature over here, so with this in mind I went looking for a cool pattern in an adult size. Preferably a pattern with some lace knitting in it to create a good match with the new scarfs. I found this one in an accessory magazine by Phildar. It's meant to be knitted with 3.5 mm needles, but as I was using sock yarn anyway, I went for 2.5 and 3.0 mm needles. Omitting about six rows spread out over the pattern made the hat fit perfectly.

Yep, you recognized the same Madeline Tosh sock yarn. Winter wheat. Golden it is.

Now try to imagine that hat and scarf on a cobalt bleu winter coat and it isn't hard to see that she makes heads turn!

So contrary to myself, this blog hasn't been too busy lately. I guess some catching up would be a good idea. Hold on tight, here we go:

A couple of weeks ago I started knitting some scarfs for my offspring... thinking that this Indian summer would probably not last all the way to spring 2012. I was right. Soon after finishing this pair, a cool wind started blowing. Timing is everything.

The same pattern but in in different colors. I went for the Flutter Scarf but omitted the flutters. I'm not a flutters nor ruffles person as it is and especially as childs' scarfs I felt the flutters made the whole thing a bit too adult-like and grand. It turned out to work just fine without them. The lace knitting is now beautifully accentuated and the the simple line of the scarf gives it a timeless and classic feel. That in its turn allows for many styles of hats to be combined with the scarf. Just how we like it.

Scarf numero uno is a purple variation to be worn on a yellow coat. I went for Malabrigo sock yarn, color 'eggplant'. It's a beautiful hand dyed yarn that is so terribly soft to the touch. The scarf is worked in 3.5 mm knitting needles and 80 gr of yarn made the scarf 120 cms long. Just right for a small neck.

Scarf numero dos is made from Madeline Tosh sock yarn, color 'winter wheat'. It's a fabulous yellow... some think it has a touch of mustard yellow in there, some ocher, and so on. I just think it really looks like wheat does. A warm glow on a cold winter day.

Again, 3.5 mm knitting needles and one skein used to the last inch. This one is a bit longer as the child in question is a bit taller.

Do not be fooled. These scarfs are slow knits. Responsible for that are the small needles, the length required for a practical scarf, the fine yarn and mostly the three lace parts that run length wise throughout the pattern. But stick with it and you'll see a delicate and soft scarf take shape. I'll give it a bit of time, right now I can dream that lace pattern, but I'm sure I'll end up knitting a version for myself at some point...

A little knit this time.

Something I finished earlier this morning and is part of my 'before-getting-any-new-material-start-using-the-existing-stash' plan. So far, so good.

A little bit of Surnaturelle by La Droguerie in color 'Blue Horizon', a little button, a little patch by Puti de Pomme and a wee bit of time and voilà... a little vest for my little girl.

It's the same model as this one but as I've used other yarn, I opted for smaller needles, a 4.5mm this time, which then automically left me with a vest a size smaller. Easy peasy, just like that.

And I love the little patch. I'd been saving it for a special project. Like this one for example. The colors come together so nicely and the touch of red in the label just brings out the blue of the vest even better!

So tomorrow I'll send my little one of into her worldly adventure looking really smart...

Just dropping by to give you a peek into what I'll be doing this week. It's going to be a hectic month. Many projects with deadlines, important birthday deadlines as well, and many dates with theaters, friends and get togethers.

As soon as I find a moment I'll share some of the stuff I managed to finish of last week but for now I'd better get moving with this little lot:

Madeline Tosh, sock, in color 'Winter weath'... ah...a knitter's life can hardly get any better! 

I've done some knitting. 

That's no surprise.

Knitting that took place somewhere in June. It resulted in a cardigan for my oldest daughter. Somehow I never got round to taking pictures of it... let alone posting and blogging about it.

But now, I've done some more knitting. 

The same cardigan, a tad smaller for the daughter who's also a tad smaller. And this one actually likes modeling... so I did take pictures and here's to blogging about it:

And for the details. It's a model by Citronille. And Citronille is rather large and wide... mostly wide. So for the 4 year old daughter I knitted the size 2 years... and in fact I also knitted the size 2 years for my 6 year old kiddo.

Huh? Well, I used Ultra Pima Cotton by Cascade Yarns in a mint green color. For the smaller of the cardigans I used 3.5 mm needles. For the larger version I went for 4.5 mm needles. And of course, for both cardigans I adjusted the length to suit my particular offspring. Two skeins made these two cardigans. 

The cardigan knits top down in a single motion. No ends to weave in apart from the start and finish, and a mere 2 buttons to sew on. A joy to knit. Not in the least because this cotton is so fluid to knit with. It just glides over your needles. It's light, really light, and has a subtle shine which brings out the soft green nicely. 

My model has been promoting her new cardigan to everyone in a 10 feet radius by asking aloud "isn't this a most beautiful cardigan? And oh oh, it's so soft." 

Yes, a model like her is a treasure to hold on to. Just like she's holding on to this green pastures cardigan...