It's too hot and the Moomin is poorly

Well, what have I been up to since I last posted? Well, last Sunday we took the Moomin to a re-enactment event not too far from us. It was really good, with re-enactors from all different eras, such as Roman, Viking, Medieval, American Civil War and First and Second World Wars. I particularly enjoyed it, as I used to do Medieval re-enactment when I was still a student, so it was nice to see it all again. Moomin wasn't too keen on the canons firing, though!!! On Bank Holiday Monday, we went to Bridlington for the day. We had a great day, and the weather stayed nice for us - if a little overcast.



Then this week I've been working and attempting to knit a beret for myself. I've frogged it three times now, and am getting a little bit mad with it. But today my Twilleys Freedom Spirit wool arrived from McA Direct, so I have now started it again in that. I ordered two balls in shade Fire, and can't wait to get it finished now.

Me and the Moomin stayed over at my parents last night. She was poorly in the night, and was sick a few times. So today we got her some medicine, as she seems to have a cold, poor thing. All she wanted was her daddy, so she's been cuddling up with Mr Deravelled all evening since we got back home.

Anyway, off to bed now. :)

The Teeny Titchy Preemie Hat is finally complete!!

I have now finally finished the teeny titchy preemie hat that I'd had to put on the stitch saver a few days ago. I have completed it using the 2.75mm Aero metal needles that I got from the charity shop yesterday. It really is tiny. Looking at my baby head size chart, it will fit a 1-2lb preemie baby. That really is teeny!!! I have taken a photo of it next to an iPod Nano 3G to give you an idea of scale.

I like this hat because it looks like an acorn cup. How cute!! :)

More Stash!!

Yesterday, The Moomin, Mum and I took a trip into the local town so the Moomin could have her feet measured, as we thought they had grown. Turns out they had, and she's now a 7E!! So she got new pink shoes from Clarks, which she is very pleased with.

I picked up some bargains whilst in town. In Woolworths, they were selling Patons Fab! 100g balls for £1 each, so I picked up 2 balls of black, 2 of white, and 2 of cream. We then went to the market, where I picked up 2 balls of James C Brett Denim DK in a denim colour, one ball of elmo red, and one of cookie monster blue. Surprise surprise I'm going to use the blue and red yarns to make the Moomin a cookie monster and an Elmo, as she loves those characters!! From another stall I managed to get a small silver jingly bell for the Moomin's cat that I'm making now.

I also picked up a pair of 2.75mm metal needles in the PDSA charity shop (35p!!!), and a pair of 2.5mm metal needles in Dunelm. When we got home, my Mum gave me her copy of Nursery Knits, by Zoe Mellor, which is a gorgeous book full of yummy patterns for clothes and toys etc. She also gave me some of her yarn remnants for me to knit more preemie hats. I might even have a go at a pair of booties!! All in all, a great bargain stash day!! :D

Nooo!!! My Pony Pearls!!! Nooo!!!!!!

Well, last night I was happily clicking away knitting the teeny titchy preemie hat I was telling you about the other day, and guess what?! One of my 2.75mm Pony Pearls went and split at the end, making it impossible to continue knitting. Luckily I was just at the end of a row, so managed to at least get it to a state where I can pick it up again when I get some new needles. For now it is on a stitch saver, looking very sorry for itself.

However, this has now given me the opportunity to get started on a new project - a little knitted kitty. You can find the original pattern for it here. Please be aware that there is a certain amount of bad language on this page!!! I have cast on to my 3.75mm METAL (lol) needles using James C Brett's Top Value 100% Acrylic yarn in a lovely shade of dove grey.



We had a lovely day on Tuesday, celebrating the Moomin's second birthday. Mr Deravelled managed to prise himself away from the office and clients for a day (well, almost!) and we spent a lovely day at Eureka! near Huddersfield. It was very rainy, but luckily it was all inside, so we didn't get too wet!! The Moomin loved it! The photo is from last Sunday - her Nana (as seen in the photo) made the cake. It has yellow icing - as required by the Moomin, who is appearing to develop a penchant for yellow food!!

Argh!! The hat is too small for the Moomin!!

Well, I finished the hat for the Moomin whilst at my parents' on Sunday, and guess what?! It's too small! I've checked the measurements against my chart of head sizes to ages etc, and it turns out that this hat will fit a 3 - 6 month old, which is poo, seeing as the Moomin turns two in less than eight hours!!

Ah well, back to the needles I suppose. I will have to get some circular needles to knit a bigger size for her, as the hat really looks lovely now it's all made up. Luckily, we have been invited to some of Mr Deravelled's friends' baby girl's blessing ceremony, so we may include the hat as a gift for her.

Now on the needles is another preemie hat. This time it's going to be tiny. Before I used a pair of 3.75mm needles, this time I'm using a pair of 2.75 needles. Already it looks loads smaller. I will take photos tomorrow or wednesday, when I'm not being so lazy!! :)

Yet another hat!!

I am now knitting another hat, this time it is actually intended for the Moomin. I am using James C Brett Marble DK yarn, in lovely shades of cream and pink, with speckles of grey. It's coming along nicely, and is looking good! Only thing is, I'm a bit worried that it wont be big enough for her head, so I suppose I will have to wait and see when it is finished. Fingers crossed it will be ok, because it is taking AGES to knit!!

My next project I have lined up is to have a go at knitting a pair of socks, as I've just got some DPNs. I've never used DPNs before, so this should be interesting!

Going to visit my parents tomorrow with Mr Deravelled and the Moomin, so hoping for some sunshine for once. I think we had our summer for two weeks in May, and that it's only going to get worse now. Mind you, it's still really hot and muggy - just not dry for long enough for us to enjoy it properly.

It fits on an apple!

Here is my second attempt at the aforementioned preemie hat. And I think it looks pretty good!! The tension is really even, and it would appear that all my tweaking and adding to the pattern I used last time has resulted in a wearable hat for a teeny tiny preemie baby!! Yay!!

I have modelled iton an apple, btw, incase you were wondering what that was peeking out of the hat!!

Holey preemie hat, Batman!!

Well, my first attempt at a preemie hat went a little bit wrong, as you can see from the photo above. Not only did I slip a fairly obvious stitch, but it is also big enough to fit on my almost-two year old daughter's head!! Well, it definitely was after she rammed it onto her head, claiming it in the name of Moomin. Sigh.

Knit knit knit!!

It was Mr Deravelled's birthday on Thursday, and the three of us spent a lovely (if rainy) day at the local Butterfly house, finishing off the evening with a meal with friends at an American style grill restaurant.

Then yesterday and today was spent with the Moomin at my parents' house, relaxing and playing with the Moomin. My Mum took me to her LYS, and I picked out some yummy (and really cheap!!) new yarns to try out, including a ball of cream 4-ply, which is now being used to knit my first preemie hat. So far it is going well, and when I figure out how, I will post a photo to show you. Only problem is, I slipped a stitch as I was coming out of the ribbing, and so now I'm going to have to work a bit of magic with a sewing needle to get rid of the hole!! Other than that I am really pleased with how it's going so far - I am managing to keep my tension pretty even, and the stitches look really neat. (This is after three false starts, when I had to rip out what I'd done as my tension was FAR too tight, and was eventually too tight to knit any more!!)

I'm hoping to have the preemie hat finished by tomorrow. It is for the Three Little Birds group, that have a forum on Ravelry, and I am also going to knit some hats for my local hospital's Special Baby Care unit, where my daughter stayed when she was born prematurely. The Nurses and Doctors do a wonderful job there, and I cannot praise them enough. When I was there I thanked them with chocolate cake (a BIG one!!), now I plan to thank them with tiny knitted hats for the babies in their care!!