Travelling scarf

Because I can never resist a swap, this is the first part of a 'travelling scarf' that will be winging its way around Australia and New Zealand and (hopefully!) making its way back to me. The idea is that everyone knits a section and everyone gets their own multi-coloured, multi-styled scarf.

I used 8-ply Marta's Pure Merino yarn, 4.5mm needles, 27 stitches. All rows are [P1, yo, K2tog] repeat. Simple but effective.

Because I can

Another 'scrap-yarn' hat to use up the last of the 'Earth and Fire' yarn in my stash. Off to one of the many charities I support.

Baby Surprise Jacket (take two)

The heart-shaped buttons work much nicer

And here is another version, in hand-dyed blues and with little fire-engine buttons.

(Half the girls at work are pregnant at the moment so it's a good excuse to play with this pattern)

Nemo's Garden Hat

I bought this amazing bright handspin from a Tasmanian spinner on Ravelry. It's one of those yarns that looks amazing on the skein but it's hard to knit up nicely.

I improvised a roll brim hat, knitting solid-colour garter ridges between the plain stocking stitch. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

It's going off in a belated swap package to the US.

Rainbow Baby Surprise Jacket

One thing I love about the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket is how a messy bit of garter knitting

folds elegantly

into a cute little jacket.

This is far from the best example of a BSJ. I love how the rainbow colours came out but had trouble sewing up the top of the sleeves neatly. I also used the wrong 'M1' - note this is what happens if you pick up a stitch between two stitches instead of doing the backwards loop.

The jacket is knitted out of out of odd balls of DK in my stash for the baby of one of my currently pregnant colleagues. Will probably replace buttons as I think the bees are a bit too much.

Happy 3 month birthday

On 5 March, 2009 Marti Aaron came into the world, six weeks early. The doctors had finally realised that his mother Jess, who had been sleeping 18 hours/day for most of her pregnancy was not simply tired or even depressed. She had a massive brain tumour and Marti had to come out then and there if either of them would have a chance of survival.

From the very beginning, Marti refused to behave like a normal premature baby. He was far stronger and healthier than all the other babies in the special care nursery and definitely preferred being fed by dad Phill, rather than via a nasal feeding tube that the doctors had inserted. If his mum wasn't recovering from brain surgery in the same hospital, the doctors would have sent him home much earlier than 3 weeks after birth (usually premature babies have to stay in hospital until their due date).


Three months on, Jess is recovering well from her second round of brain surgery and undergoing rehabilitation treatment. The surgeon said the tumour, although large, was not malignant and he was able to get it all out.

Dad Phill, who is on maternity leave from work (the HR department told him that the leave would be renamed next year to primary carer's leave) looking after Marti and big brother Josh, takes Marti to visit mum every day.

Jess is due home in a fortnight.

Marti is modelling a Elizabeth Zimmerman designed Baby Surprise Jacket knitted by the writer of this blog.