Sunday 19 February 2012

...a commission

A lady at work saw me knitting the baby blanket that I finished this week on my lunch break, and she asked me to knit one for her, as she has just recently become a grandmother. AND she will pay me :) 

I have never been asked to make something before and been paid for it. I'm not sure how much to charge her. I think maybe £10 is fair ? I will obviously make the full sized blanket and supply the wool. 

This will be next project, a little boring for blog I know as I have already blogged the pattern and such but I will start something else on pay day when I am able to buy some more interesting coloured wool and start a granny square blanket for my spare room at home. I have knitted a large granny square before and gave it to my friend for a baby blanket, I was quite impressed with it myself...








Laura Makes x

Baby Blanket

Hello, Its Sunday again, and I have finished the baby blanket! I started knitting last week for the girl at work thats about to leave to have a baby in 2 weeks! I have knitted this pattern a number of times now, its a very good piece for a beginner as you dont notice so much if you go a bit wrong and you will notice very quickly if you drop a stitch (or gain one) as you are knitting in blocks of 5 and tend to count  your stitches. The end product also looks quite clever but is very simple.
As I said before, I chose to do it in pink, I also made it a bit smaller then the original pattern as I didn't have enough wool to do it full sized.

My blanket measures 49cm by 55cm which should be big enough for a new born :)


The original pattern states to cast on 105 stitches, this blanket started off with 95. I kept going until i had used my 3 50g balls of pink 'Click' aran wool. which I brought a while ago from a cute little shop in Stoud run by 2 old ladies. 

The original pattern.




I hope they are readable, I do need to buy a camera, at the moment I am using my mobile phone.

The pattern is fairly easy as long you are accustomed to 'knit' and 'purl'. You just cast on how ever many stitches you desire (depending how big you want it), lets say 105. (with this pattern you have to work in numbers multiple by 5, you will see why in a minute) and you work 6 rows of seed stitch; which is; one knit, one purl until you get to the end. Then again on the next row, but making sure you are doing the opposite stitch on top. (a knit on top of a purl, and so on) This will give you a sort of lumpy affect to your knitting.

see middle for seed stitch.

after 6 rows of seed stitch you start row 7 with 5 stitches of seed stitch again, then 5 of 'knit' and 5 of 'purl' until you get to 5 stitches from the end of your knitting and the last 5 you do seed stitch again. 
Start row 8 by doing the same but this time making sure (after the 5 seed stitches) to do the same stitch on top. (knit on top of a knit and pearl on top of a pearl) until you have got 5 rows of knit and pearl then you knit on top of the pearl and pearl on top of the knit and then work another block of knit on top. You will start to see the woven affect desired for this blanket.


Carry on this pattern, until you have knitted the blanket to you desired length. (the pattern states 32 inches) Then do the last 6 rows of seed stitch and cast off. 

I took this picture so you get a better idea of scale.

Laura Makes x

Sunday 12 February 2012

Rainbow Cookies

So, it is Sunday and I often dabble in a bit of baking on a Sunday afternoon. Today I made cookies with smarties in them I'm sure they wont do any favours for my waistline but with the temperatures going to -10 this weekend I think were allowed to be a little naughty.


Ingredients


Method
  1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
  2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda,baking powder and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl, then set a side.
  3. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
  4. Gradually beat in the sifted dry ingredients to form a stiff dough.
  5. Roll the fough into 20 balls, then place on ungreased baking drays, spaced well apart.(WARNING: THE COOKIES WILL EXPAND LOTS, DO NOT PUT CLOSE TOGETHER!!! )
  6. Press several Smarties into each ball, flattening the ball slightly.
  7. Bake for 15 minutes until pale golden brown.
  8. Leave on trays 2 minutes and remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
  9. Will keep in an airtight tin for up to 5 days





Laura Makes x

project 1.

So, I have started the baby blanket. I chose to do it in pink as the its for a little girl and I already had the wool. I'd say I am about 4th of the way through. not bad for a weekend.

Pictures will follow with a rough pattern.

Saturday 11 February 2012

My first blog

I am starting a creative blog to record the things I make. My aim is to inspiration and motivation to make more and possibly make a few friends along the way. I mainly knit and crochet, I also sew and draw with a bit of baking thrown in.

My first project is to knit something for a girl at work as she is having a baby soon so depending on how much time I leave myself I will knit a blanket or booties?

If anyone has any hints o tips for me being a new blogger, how to take pictures of my creations to start with not sure how good the quality will be on my phone or old camera.

Take care

Laura Makes x