A belated Merry Christmas

Life has rushed by in a whoosh over the past week or so, leaving me no opportunity to post.  So it is a belated Merry Christmas, I hope it has been a peaceful and enjoyable time, however you've spent it.  We have had a quiet, but nice time and my hand knits have been well received.  I think I will blog again this week  about them and show you the pictures I could not show before.



For my sister, who cannot eat Christmas Pudding, I made a Summer Fruits Pudding, using a recipe by Jane Grigson, from her book English Food, a volume I shall be exploring more fully this year.  I was somewhat nervous about it, never having made it before but it was well received and came out of its basin smoothly.  Indeed I have a feeling I will be making this for my sister again, which is no problem as it is little bother to put together and is the same shape as Christmas pudding - my dad even stuck a spring of holly in it.



Although I have had less time than I would have liked for reflection I did find two points very comforting, the first being that the King is coming and that He will come again, simple but true.  The second being most comforted by parts of Isaiah 9, in particular verse seven:

Of the increase of his government and peace
    there will be no end.

God's kingdom is coming here on earth and it is growing and will increase without end.  Amidst all the war, violence and trouble of this world this is a valuable promise.

In fact it seems I cannot count - I said two points - there were other, related verses that have helped and encouraged me this Christmas.  While I was reading the Nativity stories in Matthew and Luke I also looked up some of the Old Testament passages that were quoted, to read them in their context and find out more about them and why they were quoted.  Micah 5.7-8 encouraged and comforted me so much:

He will stand and shepherd his flock
    in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
    will reach to the ends of the earth.
      And he will be their peace.

Lastly I've been loving this version of Come Thou Long Expected Jesus by Kings Kaleidoscope - do have a listen, or just read the words.

Advent Angels

Advent has dominated my thoughts for quite a while now - I find it very exciting.  It is the season of remembering that Jesus came and joined us here on earth and that He is going to come again.  Of remembering Emmanuel - God with us, forever.

Of course it is also a very busy time of year, although I've been trying to mitigate that by being organised and also trying not to wear myself out, which has led to having to turn down some invitations.  I've not fully recovered from November's spectacular crash unfortunately.  However, I think that keeping it quiet can be a good way to go.  I was even thinking the other day that spending Advent in retreat, focussing on Jesus and meditating on His coming would not be a bad way of preparing for Christmas.



I've been finding this song hugely exciting, the bell like chorus of "Christ is born" is wonderful.  The song and its sheet music, is available as a free download, along with four others, on Kingsway's website, although you do need to create a log in.



The angel above is made using a pattern from ravelry, Nordic Angels, I think they're rather charming and look even nicer when hung up, I'll try to get a picture when we put our Christmas tree up.  The glitter comes from knitting in a strand of Drops glitter, as with the snowman.

Titchy snowman

I sincerely hope that this is as close as I come to a snowman this winter, but he's awfully sweet.  He's from Mochimochiland's tiny collection, brilliant patterns and well written and clear to understand, I'd recommend them.  Knitted in Sandnes Garn mini duett (bought at Scandinavian Knitting Design) with a thread of Drops Glitter alongside, his scarf is rather big for him, I forgot that it was supposed to be 4ply, but at least he won't get cold?



The penny is in the picture for size reference, not because he has holes in his pockets as one of my Ravelry friends suggested!  I think I'm firmly in Christmas mode already, but if you knit presents and decorations I suppose you need to get organised early.

A blogger's miscellany

1. I'm aware it's been a while since I last posted, unfortunately I haven't been too well, I overdid things somewhat and then muddled up the date of my flu jab and turned up 24 hours too early.  This lead to me missing sleep to get up early two days running which is what finished me.  It seems that despite more than 12 years' practice I still haven't quite got the pacing thing quite right.

In order to combat my disorganisation I have purchased a diary for the coming year, it's simple, small but stylish and a great cheerful colour.


2. I have been enjoying this song a lot lately, it is simple but full of hope


3. I have done a lot of knitting lately but most of it is secret Christmas knitting, which I can't show on here just in case.  In between I have been doing some small ornaments though such as the small jumper below.  I'm also having a go at the adorable mini snowman from Mochimochiland's miniatures' collection.


4. I'm very excited about Kate Davies' forthcoming book The Colours of Shetland and am looking forward to knitting the shawl shown at the top of her blog and in the meantime am planning to knit her pattern which came out today - Snawheid hat, .  You can see her adorable dog Bruce helping with the photographs of the hat here.

I'll try not to let it be quite so long before the next post.

St Mungo's Simple Hat - free pattern

I made the prototype of this hat for St Mungo's Woolly Hat day and having wrestled with the crown decreases for a considerable period of time thought that the pattern might be worth sharing.  At some point I intend trying out a larger size for those of us (myself included) who do not fit in the "one size fits all" sizing favoured by high street shops.



St Mungo's Simple Hat
125m/137yd heavy sportweight or light double-knit yarn.  I used King Cole Mirage
4mm 40cm circular needle, 4mm double pointed needles, or your favoured method for knitting in the round

24sts/4 inches

To fit medium adult head, c.20 inches

C/O 100sts and join to knit in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.

Knit for 4 inches in K2 P2 rib (or less if you do not wish to have a turn up in the brim)

Then change to stockingette stitch (knit every stitch) for 5 inches.  If you wish to have a slouchier beanie make this section longer, but bear in mind that it will require more yarn.

Crown decreases: (when the stitches become too few for the circular needle transfer stitches to the double pointed needles)
*K8 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K7 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K6 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K5 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K4 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K3 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K2 K2tog* around
Knit 1 round
*K1 K2tog* around
*K2tog* around

Cut yarn, thread it through the stitches remaining on the needle, pull tight and fasten off.

St Mungo's Woolly Hat Day

St Mungo's, a London homeless charity, are having a big fund-raising day on 26th October 2012 and they're looking for people to knit orange woolly hats for them to use to highlight the problem of homelessness and then to sell to raise funds.  They're hoping to collect 5,678 hats, one for each of the people who slept on the streets of London in the last year, a 43% increase on 2010/11.

I'm getting involved because I remember seeing homeless people on the streets as a child and how sad it made me feel, that early experience has meant that homelessness has always been a cause close to my heart. Anyhow the point of this post is to say: get knitting!  Join in!  There are free patterns on St Mungo's website and on ravelry.  Have fun knitting and make the world a better place while you do it!



My first hat

A couple of FOs

Finally, after several months of hard work I have finished my Thelonious socks and I feel like I understand better how travelling lace patterns work.



I have also finished the stripy scarf I showed off in my last post.  For a scarf in knit 1 purl 1 rib it simply flew by, the chunky yarn helped, as did the mesmerising colours.  In fact I do have to admit that I have been plotting more similar scarves and wondering if there is a limit to how many stripy scarves one person needs.  The scarf is lovely to wear, smooshy, soft, squishy and elastic and I am hoping it will brighten up the winter.



This finishing has not left me bereft of knitting though, I am beginning seriously on Christmas knitting, early though it seems, these projects take time.

Stripes before my eyes

Five years behind the trend, I have started knitting a Noro Striped scarf, using Jared Flood's instructions and am finding it utterly compelling knitting. It is very much "just another row" knitting, or rather in this case "just another stripe".
 
I would also recommend it as a soothing, almost meditative knit. When I was planning this scarf I was worried about getting bored of knitting a knit one-purl one rib for the entire length of a scarf, so I bought some now discontinued Noro Silk Garden Chunky from Black Sheep Wools at a discount. Although the boredom has turned out not to be a factor I am still glad I went with the chunky weight. It is becoming a thick, soft, stretchy and squishy scarf and judging by the weight of it draped across my lap as I type, should be gorgeously warm.
 
Naturally being Noro there is the odd unfathomably itchy bit and the occasional bit of straw/grass/vegetable matter but I am being fairly successful at picking those out and with a wash it should be fine. Silk Garden is definitely the softest of the Noro yarns I have used so far and I am definitely thinking of giving the sock weight a whirl - Noro striped socks here I come?

 P.S. While we're on the subject of socks, I should have some finished sock photos to share tomorrow.

6am

Sometimes there's an advantage to being awake before 6am and thankfully I did eventually get back to sleep. I have got terribly behind with blogging and still haven't managed to write about our holiday. I had intended to post a photograph each day: I'll try to catch up soon.

Holiday day 2

Awandering down country lanes

Holiday day one

Sunset, day one

Holiday excitement

The past couple of "WIP Wednesdays seem to have drifted past me, never mind, these things happen and I have been feeling worn out and really rather out of it, as though the world were quite a long way off.

But, excitingly, on Saturday I am off on holiday for the first time in six years.  Previously I have always felt so tired and just could not face travel, but I have decided to take a step out and be brave and go away for a week.  So I am going with my parents to spend a week on a farm in Sussex.  Hardly a huge adventure or trekking in the Andes, but for me, who has not been outside London in a number of years and lately not even outside Croydon, it is a huge step.

When you are so tired and ill your world does tend to shrink, to places you have to go (hospital appointments etc.) and places you feel safe going and know you can manage, which tend to be repetitive (I can get anxious about new places) and close by.  So a distance that my parents would not turn a hair at as a day trip, becomes for me a trek and entirely new territory, new places to explore.



Naturally I am anxious about being away, about a different bed, new places, there are lots of unquantifiables, and so I am trying to quell my anxieties.  If I have been on the website of the place we are staying once I have been on a dozen times; I have examined the location and the surrounding areas and even looked on Google Earth!  I am packing things that help me cope with all eventualities such as hot water bottle and a fan and will have the internet while I am there so that I can stay in touch with my ravelry friends too.

But despite all this I am genuinely excited, I am looking forward to peace, quiet and green - being able to see the countryside and see beautiful things instead of grey pavements and tower blocks.  I know there are limits to what I can do while there, my world there will be small just as it is at home, because I am not well enough to travel miles or go for day trips in the car.  But I plan to make the most of what I can do, seeing the animals on the farm, sitting with my knitting looking at a beautiful view, enjoying the fresh air and freedom from the Met Police's helicopters.  And I have a couple of little excursions I want to make, notably to Lewes, a town I have not visited in years, but used to love going to.



If blogger's interfaces and my little Android tablet get on then I hope to blog from Sussex; if not then I shall do a post (or two) about it when I am back from my great adventure.  For now I need to finish packing (itself a tiring, anxious process) and try to keep my fear and excitement under check, now I come to think about it they are rather linked emotions; for me this has all the emotions of a ride at Alton Towers.

The photographs in this post were taken at Coombe Wood, one of Croydon's hidden gems and well worth a visit.

What I pray my church will be

Recently while praying for my church I scribbled down a list of attributes I pray my church and the church more widely will have and will further develop, suitably enough on the back of an envelope.  Then I lost the envelope for a few weeks'.

As I have now found it again I thought I would post the list here, in the order in which I wrote it down, in the hopes that it would prove helpful to you as you pray for your church and our church.  Of course the list is not comprehensive, but I hope and pray it can be a place to start from.  I dearly love the church, it is a wonderful concept, the body of Christ, a series of loving relationships changing the world, working through the world like yeast through flour, to make all things new.

Let us pray.


What I pray my church will be:

Founded in Christ – our sure foundation

welcoming, open

a window on another world

learning from the past but not bound by it

preaching the Gospel
boasting in Christ crucified

loving

discipling one another

one as He is one

of pure heart

full of joy in Him

a lamp on a lampstand, a city on a hill, shining for all to see

full of peace

fellowship

different

genuine

a place of healing

a place of prayer for all the nations

Amen.

I will leave you with this song I discovered yesterday, which is a tremendous encouragement to pray.

WIP Wednesday (with added biscuits)

Another bad week, I suppose it's a crash or what some people call a "fibro flare".  My mood is very mixed too which makes things extra hard, and the weather is not helping.  So in between trying to stay cheerful, stretching and trying to get the movement/rest balance right I've mostly been knitting.



I have finished the first of the Thelonious socks, which I'm very proud of although I am hoping that the second one takes less time than the first.  Hopefully it should since I now understand the ideas behind the design.  Other than more ploughing on through my alpaca cardigan I have mostly been working on my lace shawl, I've finished two more sections since last week and am into the next section.  It's a satisfying and interesting knit, good for those times when you need to focus on something to take your mind off life.



Lastly the ghastly weather has made me itch to get baking and yesterday the need to bake took over and I made a half batch of melting moments from the Edmonds' cook book, they are very very yummy and moreish, definitely something to make occasionally rather than regularly!  I'd recommend Edmonds', which is a New Zealand cook book my mother, a native of that country, introduced me to at a young age, apparently every household in New Zealand owns a copy.  It contains a tremendous variety of baking recipes that work beautifully every time as well recipes, tips and instruction on general cookery.  Thus it is a great favourite in our family.  You can find the recipe for melting moments in Edmonds' virtual cookbook, where it adorns the front cover.

WIP Wednesday

Last week, after much dithering and a long time of wanting to make a shawl, I finally decided upon a new pattern called Fledge, by Megan Goodacre using some Malabrigo sock I got from a friend's destash.  Fledge is a very beautiful pattern, well written and clearly laid out and the Malabrigo sock seems to compliment it well, even now, before blocking, the lace is distinct and clear.  I have been taking a photo after each completed section and am now on the fourth section.



While the pattern requires some degree of concentration it is not so tricky that it is exhausting or that it feels like hard work.  The colour, called Solis, is very me, as a number of friends have commented.  I'm looking forward to wearing it as I think it will compliment my wardrobe nicely.  I'm glad I've had this to occupy me this week as I've been very tired from overdoing things earlier in June; though it does seem almost incredible that it is already July and the weather isn't helping the illusion!

Observations in a garden, between seven and eight on a June evening

I am sitting on the old bench in the middle of the garden in the cool of the evening. Little snatches of sunshine have made their way through the tall trees to the west and are illuminating a piece of the trellis, making the bark of the wild cherry shine in a fluttering leaf-filtered light and turning a few privileged leaves of the apricot tree translucent and more intensely green.

The biggest sensation around me is the wind, first in big whooshing gushes in the taller trees, then echoed down lower in the shrubs, bushes and smaller trees of our garden. The sound is all around me, gentle, rushing and persistent, putting into sound the scritchy-scratchiness of the holly trees as the leaves scrape against one another. Most of the sound is more gentle though, a soft constant, drowning out more modern noise, lifted and enlarged by bigger gusts, varied with sudden stillnesses when only the slightest breeze travels lightly across my hands and around my body.



The tall trees are like illuminated green tents, formed by leaves caught in evening sunlight, full of life. Around them insects dance and birds fly to and fro chirruping to one another. One young bird cries persistently, as though searching for his parents, or wishing to affirm his own identity.

This is the hour when often a blackbird will sit on an ariel above a neighbour's roof, or perhaps on a convenient chimney pot, singing to all the world, but tonight he is elsewhere. Often when I sit here I am aware of the birds around me, even if I cannot see them, hearing the little scufflings and hoppings and twitterings as they go about through the trees and bushes and fences around me, communicating with one another in a constant game of, "Where are you?" "I am here, where are you?". Occasionally a bold fellow, usually the robin, will come closer to see who or what I am and what I am doing in his territory, sometimes lingering to look over my shoulder and hovering near.

If you sit still for long enough you can be rewarded by the birds coming down to the seed feeder as though you are not there, scuttling in for a piece of sunflower seed before carrying their prize into the wild cherry or holly trees to peck it into submission.

My fingers are cold now but I have no wish to go in, the evening is so perfect, the sky so blue after so much grey and rain and I can smell the already dampening grass beneath my feet, speckled with clover flowers. In between the wind bears towards me the scent of the roses and honeysuckle, both blooming profusely and other scents whose origins are foreign to me. The wind ruffles my back and I watch the golden green leaves of the biggest of the trees fluttering too and fro, the branches pitching and tossing like the sea.






The adult robin comes onto the trellis, looks around the garden to check all is well, flutters to the fence and speeds off between the houses. Leaf shadows show like puppets across pots, plants and bows and a bumble bee, out late, investigates a likely looking nasturtium, crawling bodily into the heart of the flower. A snatch of song comes through the wind, comes closer and the conversation continues across the gardens, but I must leave the garden to its true owners, it is only ever on loan to me, and go in and attend to supper.


(As written except for corrections to typing and spelling errors, 30th June 2012.  Photographs from other occasions)

Late again

No surprises there then, I'm late again with the work in progress post for this week.  I've been very tired this week and a touch out of it (though my body is adjusting to another new medication, so I'll let it off).  I have finished the knitting on the baby cardigan, though I think it needs one more row on the ribbing, so I'll have to go back and undo the casting off.  Although it's a nuisance it will look better and I only skimped in the first place because I was worried about running out of yarn.





Other than that I'm plodding on with my lace cardigan, I'm finally half way through the body but I was right to think of this as a long term project.  Mind you, as ever, actually knitting the cardigan, instead of leaving it to its own devices, might help.



I shall illustrate this post with a couple of recent pictures from the garden (since I have no new project photos), which is looking thoroughly overgrown after all that rain.  Some of the nasturtiums have already reached three feet, climbing up through the ceanothus.  The great tits and other birds continue to fill the garden with movement and chirruping, you can see even in just a week how much they've grown up.  I love to watch them "sun bathe" (for want of a better word) stretching out all their feathers to their full extent in the sunshine and pressing their bodies flat against the ground, or the tree, as two blackbirds were doing earlier in the week.  This morning the great tits were sunbathing on the shed roof, an excellent location as they were well camouflaged.


Verdant chaos

WIP Wednesday

I've remembered to post on the right day this week, which is a start.  I'm currently recovering from doing a lot of cooking in preparation for my sister's birthday, which was this Sunday, everything went down well including making a proper (non-packet) jelly for the first time ever - and mercifully it did set!



Meanwhile I'm still ploughing through my Pomme de Pin cardigan, it's now at seven and a half inches long, only ten and a half left to go, although I will try it up against myself as it gets longer to check it doesn't become too long, as I'm not especially tall.  Luckily I'm still enjoying knitting with the alpaca and getting the hang of the lace pattern and I can just about knit it in front of the television.



The improved weather has been such a relief and has provided lots of opportunities for watching the fledgling birds on the bird feeders, especially a whole group of great tits who spend hours on the feeders and a beautiful juvenile robin, who is yet quite to get the hang of the feeders.  I managed to get some photographs of the birds, by sitting very still in the garden holding the camera focused on the feeders and clicking away, although the slightest movement sent them flying for cover.  The juvenile robin, however, was most interested in what I was doing in the garden and spent a lot of time looking at me from the safety of the holly bush and chirruping away.  I do enjoy watching the birds and I'd recommend it, especially if you aren't well as it is a low energy, very cheering occupation.

WIP Wednesday (only a tiny bit late)

Thelonious sock by Cookie.a in Elle sock yarn, which is sadly discontinued, I'm sorry about this as it is a lovely yarn to knit with, has a good stitch definition and a lovely spring to it.  This pattern does require concentration, though I have now got the essential idea of the pattern and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself.  Sometimes it is good to do something that requires focus; it is almost a tutorial in living in the moment.

Since I have unfortunately been experiencing a lot of anxiety, with periodic panic attacks, lately so having something outside myself and worrying and anxiety is wonderful.  In addition to the usual relaxations of feeling the yarn flowing through your fingers and material forming on the needles and the miracle of turning yarn into fabric and creativity in general.

While we're on the subject I found this post from blogger, designer and knitter Karie interesting and liberating on the subject of creativity.

Sock Swap

Lately I've been lucky enough to take part in the first ever sock swap on the Ravelry group "British Banter" and today was the day we opened our parcels.  It's also been my first ever sock swap and it's all been very fun, encouraging one another along the way as we knit our socks, then seeing them all unwrapped.  I made the teal lace socks I have already posted on here and received the following beauties in Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Sock in return.  My feet passed a very comfortable day in the new socks and I have washed them so I can hopefully wear them tomorrow as well!



Here's to the next swap!

WIP Wednesday

I am working on a baby cardigan this week, trying to come up with a prototype for a top down raglan sleeve baby cardigan that can be made in 4ply or sock yarn, preferably in under 100g, so that I can use some of my stash of machine washable sock yarn for baby knits.  After a bit of a wrestle with standard baby sizes, positive ease and Barbara G Walker's invaluable book Knitting from the Top I am a good way through the raglan increases.  I started this project this week because I needed some simple stockingette stitch knitting with which to relax, all my other projects were getting a bit too complicated.  It also makes a handy project to take out and about with me as it requires relatively little attention at this stage, providing I don't go on knitting it longer and bigger than it needs to be!



Although it is blue the cardigan is for a little girl and will receive flower buttons and hopefully some flower style eyelets around the bottom of the cardigan, before the hem, something like this.  I was inspired by the forget-me-nots in the garden, though I could not get a blue that was quite right, this Sandnes baby wool was the closest appropriate yarn.

The green scarf I started ages and ages ago is finally finished.  Well, I say finished, I still have to Kitchener stitch on the end and then block the whole scarf.  The Kitchener stitch (in garter stitch just to make things more interesting) is my next task when I have finished writing this.

WIP Wednesday

Nothing that exciting to show you this week, sometimes that's how life goes, just working away on the same projects.  I've this minute finished the purple lace socks and they are currently in the sink having a soak, I also finished the turquoise Wollmeise lace socks and sent them off to their recipient (in the Ravelry group British Banter's first ever sock swap).  Since I seem to be very much into socks at present I can see a new pair coming into my future very soon, possibly Cookie.a's Thelonious.



Meanwhile I am working away on a cardigan in turquoise Drops Alpaca, in the shade (prosaically named 7240m) I have been dreaming of using for ages, making Pomme De Pin cardigan by Amy Christoffers, a cardigan I knew I had to knit immediately as soon as I saw it.  At times it felt as though the 24 rows of K1P1 ribbing with which the body commences would defeat me, but I am through it and beginning on the lace pattern, although prepared for it to be a long haul project.



The weather has suddenly warmed up, inside two or three days I went from cold to too hot and my body is struggling to keep up with the change in temperature.  But the roses are thriving on it and have finally flowered.  I am out everyday photographing them and watching their progress, while in the pond a group of frogs have emerged from the undergrowth and are sunbathing, part submerged in the water.

WIP Wednesday, after a hiatus

Sorry for the break in blogging, we were left for two weeks with no Internet thanks to BT's incompetence.  I'm feeling rather pleased with myself for managing to sort things out with them, though it has meant a lot of time phoning call centres in India.

No Internet has meant getting more knitting done, I've made some more stay on baby bootees, this time in Drops Baby Merino.



And I've made a start on some purple lacy socks, a variation on Duckies, in Sandnes Garn Perfect (bought at Scandinavian Knitting Design), a yarn I am highly impressed with.  It is soft, soft enough for baby clothes, but also feels hard wearing, thanks to the 15% nylon it contains.  It is the sort of yarn I would use if I were making a jumper for a small boy as I think it would be soft enough not to be proclaimed itchy, but tough enough to survive tree climbing, mud pie making etc.



I have invested in sock blockers and I must say they do make socks look good in photos, very pleased with them, they're by Knit Pro and weren't too expensive, among the cheapest I've seen.

Finally I have mainly been working on these socks for a sock swap I'm taking part in on ravelry, they are Edgewood by Rebecca Blair in Wollmeise Twin, a yarn that looks good and makes a lovely fabric, but is very inelastic and not that much fun to knit with I have to admit.  Thankfully I've almost finished the second sock so should be done in time to post them.

WIP... Thursday

Yesterday disappeared somehow without me managing to blog, but here we are now.  A sock for a swap, the first sock swap I've ever taken part in, even more excitingly it's in Wollmeise Twin, colourway Aquarius.  The pattern is called Edgewood by Rebecca Blair, a really pretty, well written pattern, to my eye there is something vaguely Victorian in style about them.  Although mystifyingly I am the first person, other than the designer, to knit a pair.  I would definitely recommend the pattern to one and all.

My photo does not truly do the pattern justice I am afraid, I am considering investing in a pair of sock blockers for photography purposes, I do not know if anyone has any opinions on them?

WIP Wednesday

Nearly finished socks...

...and peas that are just starting out on life.

WIP Wednesday

Baby sweater on two needles from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters' Almanac, commonly known as the "February Baby Sweater", in Zauberball 6ply, colourway 2079

Gloriously girly.

Boys' knits - a list

I have seen it written here and there that there are insufficient good patterns to knit for a baby boy around, so I thought I would make a list of some of my favourites, with a short list of further sources at the end. I will admit I have not yet knit all of these patterns, but Ravelry has full details if you wish to read feedback from others before choosing. Hope this provides some inspiration.

1. Stay on Baby Bootees

Ideal for boys or girls, really do stay on and perfect use for those bits of leftover 4ply

2. Baby Surprise Jacket

A brilliant, fun knit, providing you're willing to think a bit to get through the pattern. Shows off stripy yarns wonderfully.

3. Pebble (Henry's Manly Cobblestone Vest)

One of the most practical baby knits for a small baby

4. Owlet

5. Baby Poonam

6. Baby sophisticate

7. Gramps cardigan

Too cute, like a little old man jumper

8. Epsilon vest

9. Pembroke Vest

10. Sunnyside

A cardigan which handily comes in a lace or cable version, suitable for either sex.

Good sources for boys' knits:

Sirdar - do a lot of baby patterns, a good proportion of them for boys. Some of them sell online on patternfish

Petite Purls - like knitty.com for babies and children, some wonderful patterns.