April Life Update; More Knitting Is Happening!

Hi readers, 

As promised here's some photos of the finished rainbow blanket and blue baby jackets. The blanket itself is too big to photo in one. It's really fluffy and soft, I'm actually sad to have to put it away in the baby box as I'd rather keep it for myself! 

I also got these two baby jackets done and I realised that knit-purl stitch is better for them as the flower pattern comes up more and also I only use one ball of wool to make them. They are so cute, though I as hoping a boy would be able to wear them but they look to girly with the flowers on. 

Because I love this brand of wool I got some more balls in different colours and as they knit up real fast, I made a four jackets in about a month! My favourite in is the mix pastels, I love the sunset effect. My second is the purple one which was called Lavender Fields. My lest is actually the pink one as the colour is like a hot pink and it's not a shade I like. 

I really like knitting this jackets and they turned out so well. 

I made this cute little jacket after finishing those but I wasn't happy with the wool itself as it untwisted a lot and it wasn't as nice to knit with. I like the butterfly button on the front. 

My latest jacket to get finished is this blue and white one. I made it out of snuggly wool that's actually for blankets but mum brought it for me and didn't get enough of it, so we decided to make a sort of bath time / bed time jacket for a toddler from it. I also got to make a hood for the first time! I really liked making this and there's no shaping in it so it was simple to make. I just hope I can find a child that fits in it now. 

Big Blanket Project 

So sadden by having to put the rainbow blanket away, I decided to make a big blanket of my own! I looked through my stock pile for enough wool and found I had 12 balls of this blue/white mix which is actually like to the wool and colour I made the jacket above out of. 

I started knitted and with some help from my mum we decided to knit 3 panels made from four balls of wool as this would make a large enough blanket. I made a start a few weeks back; 

And last night, I finished the first panel off. Turned out longer then I thought it would do but it's not very wide which is why I need to get knitting the other 2 panels so then they can be joined them together. I shall keep an update of this but I've set a deadline for finishing it by the end of the month. 

In between knitting the big blanket, (I do sometimes get bored working on a long project) I have a new jacket to make. This one has a hood and the jacket itself is made in one piece. It also needed a new wool that I've not knitted with before- Aran. I choice the rainbow wool which is a cotton and then the other two are 75% wool. So I got new blends to work with too. 

I'm looking forward to 'levelling up' my knitting with this project.    

I actually have lots to keep me busy- probably for the rest of the year!- as a new wool order came in! This huge box is full of the blanket wool in a range of colours. My plan is still to knit blankets to sell, I just need to get around to it. 

Also, I got these two new squishes. They are so good for my anxiety and help me sleep better at night.  

Lastly don't forgot to check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ where I'm currently taking part in the A-Z blogging Challenge by writing a short story everyday based on a word writing prompt.

Also, here's a cute photo of my dog sunbathing. 

(All photos my own).

March Life Update; Knitting Many Things!

Hi readers, 

I'm currently really ill due to my long term illness, which I'm still in debates about writing a blog post on. Though I do feel the need to do this more and more just get some of my frustrations out! Anyway, this is a much nicer post today and it's about all the things I - and I one thing my mum made- have been knitting. Normally, I just put them into other Update posts but I've not been up to writing much lately. Though my short story a day blog is sill going - more out of habit then anything else. 

First off, let's start with the dog soft toy that's heading this post. He's so cute and snugly! He's made of Sirdar snuggly snowflake for the white bits and a soft double knit with a main brown colour and a mixed colour pattern - which didn't turn out that great- for the body but it makes him look different. I didn't give him a lot of stuffing because I wanted him soft and squidgy.

I have enough wool to make 4 or 5 more and my plan is to do one for my best friend's daughter's 1st birthday and then one each for when my brothers and their partners have kids. These doggies are so cute and simple to knit as it's all squares and rectangles. I can't wait to knit another one! 

I do like knitting baby stuff even though I'm not knitting with anyone in mind. I guess if and when I do get around to having babies all these knitted things will be useful. I think the main reason I like knitting baby stuff is because it's quick to finish things and you can knit easy or hard patterns, plus, the things are so cute! 

Booties were the first baby thing I made and I also learnt to increase with this pattern. I like to try and make different kinds of booties now. These ones below, I made in my favourite colour purple and added large star buttons to the front. I really like how they turned out. Also, making baby booties let's you practise different knitting techniques and they are super cute! 

The other baby things I like knitting is baby jackets. My mum found a real simple pattern which is just one rectangle for the back, two rectangles for the front panels and two smaller rectangles for the sleeves. There is no increasing or decreasing and it's just the plain knit stitch. Plus, its made of chunky wool so it knits real fast.

I've made a few of these jackets now and I've adapted the pattern to be made in double knit wool. My last jacket, I made out of Sirdar snuggly snowflake chunky and I decided the wool was so nice and I had many balls of it, I wanted to make it into a coat instead. With my mum's help, I learnt to add rows to make the length bigger. Once done, I also wanted to make a hood and mum helped me to that and add the little bear ears on top! To finish, large star buttons which I learnt how to make button holes for.  

I'm really happy with how this coat turned out! It looks so snuggly and warm for winter time. 

I've more wool to knit other jackets out of, including wool that is pattern to knit up like little flowers, I can't wait to try that one out! That's actually on my to do list next. 

The last thing I made and finished was this cute little bear comforter. I had problems making the head because I couldn't get the increase right. I got too frustrate with it and mum made it for me. I did the rest of it though because the ears, arms and blanket were easier. Once again it's made out of Sirdar snuggly snowflake and just snuggly for the bear bits. This bear comes from the same pattern book as the dog. 

The bear turned out well, even though I had bit of trouble with it! I'm not I'll be making another one any time soon, even though I have the wool to make a blue one. 

My mum has also been knitting baby things but of late, she's been making bits of pieces of things including a tea cosy and a regency doll's costume dress. She also made this little sheep. He come from a kit that someone give me ages ago but I can't do the little loop pattern, so mum made it instead. It took her ages because she had re-learn how to to the loop and the sheep is quite small too! 

The sheep turned out really well and mum didn't put a lot of stuffing in, so it's real squishy. There's a also a lamb in the box still to be made too, I want to say I'll have a go at making it, but I doubt it. For now this sheep is living on my bedside table and become a perfect comforter for my anxiety attacks.  

It's not just me and my mum that love wool, our dog Patch does too! She loves cuddling up to whatever wool ball we are using but the softer the better, though she's not a fan of fluffy stuff. She often sleeps between us or behind one of us whilst we knit and if the wool ever gets stuck, Patch is often the cause!  

Rainbow Blanket Project 

As part of my wool order for the Sirdar snuggly snowflake, I got this one called rainbow splash. I love all the bright colours! My first plan was to make a baby jacket/coat like I did out of the white/purple/blue mix further up in this post, but the thick strips that the rainbow colours made didn't look good. So, I decided it would make a better blanket instead, so I undid the half back of the jacket I made and began a baby/toddler size blanket. 

My first try though didn't turn out wide enough and you can see how thick the lines are in the photo above compared to the two below. I decided, despite having knitted almost a ball and half, that I did like the size of it, so once again I undid all my work and give this wool a third attempted!

This time though, I liked it better and it's wide enough now too. 

Since my re-start, I've been trying to work on this blanket as much as possible, it's been maybe around two-three months now and I have four balls left to knit in. As you can see from my recent photo, this blanket has grown! 

I really hope to get it finished by the end of this month and of course I shall post a photo when it's complete. It's getting real big now and becoming more of a toddler/child blanket then a baby's one! It'll be put to a good use in the future, I'm sure.  

That's it for this post, thanks for reading and happy knitting! 

(All photos belong to me). 

Book Review: Heartless by Gail Carriger

Hi readers, 

Today it's the turn of the 4th Parasol Protectorate book; Heartless. The plot of this one does follow on, though there is a bit of a time gap of a few months. A now heavily pregnant Alexia has decided to have her unborn child adopted by her vampire friend Lord Akeldama as a hope to stop the vampires from killing her and the baby as they believe the child to be a threat to them. Of course, Alexia then ends up moving next door the Lord Akeldama, but secretly living in his second best closet, so she can help bring up the baby. 

For the moment though, she has to deal with a threat from a ghost about the Queen being killed and that is the main plot of the book. The twist about the Queens is nice and I think it took me awhile to figure it out. What's also nice that we get cut scenes to the ghost thinking and talking. Of course, the name of the ghost is hidden up till the end, but if you close read the book, it's easy to pick up. I know some readers can find cut scenes likes these jarring, but they fitted in well enough for me. I guess because the plot does cut to a number of different people anyway. 

I did think it was a little too much for eight month pregnant Alexia to deal with though and I get that the author is going for high drama, but I just felt given the historic time setting that Alexia should have really been aware of of how dangerous chasing after the supernatural and hell-bent inventors can be for a mother and unborn child. The only time we see Alexia resting is when she twists her ankle chasing a burglary and even then she's out of bed too soon! For me it just felt like it was pushing the reality lines too much. 

I still enjoyed how fast pace this one was though and it was good that the story was centered on mother's and children, since Madame Lefoux has to save her kidnapped son from the vampire queen and of course the only way she feels she can do that is to build a mechanical octomaton to battle the vampires who stole him. Of course, she does get her son back in away as she now has to go and live with the vampires in order to do so. 

And Alexia has her baby, though it does arrive early! She has a daughter, who does as Alexia has researched turn out to be a skin stealer, which means the baby can take a supernatural's power. So, she becomes a baby vampire at the end of the book. I think that's so cute and I can just imagine some of the trouble she might course in the next book now. 

The development of the characters is still good, though it feels to have slowed down for me. I like how the second characters are used well to support Alexia and I don't feel they are just in the background. They all have their own parts to play in the story and the whole group of characters works well together. It's nice they come together to solve all the issues too and at the end of the book everything is tied up. 

I think I would have liked to see more steampunk elements coming in, but that really is a secondary genre as the main one is really supernatural romance. And this book actually focus a bit more on married and family life, which is slightly different from the other three books in that everything is being set up for the baby coming, but also that Alexia has to revised Lord Maccon's past to find out what really happened for him to become the leader of the werewolf pack. The knowledge she finds out is does keep a secret, but I get a feeling that isn't going to last long.  

I was a bit sad at the end when the werewolves had to move out of their home though and into London center, due to Alexia's too fast thinking, but this does show the progress on the characters and I get all the werewolves need to be in one place and not split between two as they end up becoming. Also, this could be a plot element in the next book.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and it ended on a high with a supernatural baby being born. The plot and characters were as good as the other books too. I'm looking forward finishing the fifth and final book off now, but also a little sad too because I've grown attached to the characters. Hopefully, it'll have a good ending. Till Next Monday.   

  

Image from: https://www.amazon.co.uk

Book Review: Blameless by Gail Carriger

Hi readers, 

Today, I'm reviewing the third Alexia Tarabotti/The Parasol Protectorate book. If you've not read the first two in this series review, it might be useful to you to do so. The opening of this book sees Alexia moved back in with her mum, step-dad and step-sisters, who don't know about her secret and the true reason her husband, Lord Maccon, has kicked her out after their return from Scotland. However, a newspaper announces it and Alexia is dismissed from her former home. She has also lost her job with the Queen too. 

Alexia goes to stay with her vampire friend Lord Akeldama, but finds he has gone missing. Having no choices left she decides to gather her butler, Madam Lefoux who is becoming a close friend and Tunstell who is a former connection to the werewolf pack but has left since his marriage to Ivy, Alexia's best friend. They decided to leave for Italy in the hope to uncover more about Alexia's unexpected pregnancy and to try and prove that Lord Maccon is the father. 

The other plot in this novel is that the vampires are trying to kill Alexia due to the fear of what her baby is. This carries on from the second book and as I'm now finding out it is also continued in the four book. I do like the second plots that appear in this series of books because it gives the story more depth without over complicated things and the second plot lines fit in well with the first.  

The rest of the primary plot sees Alexia and company finding out more about the pregnancy and ending up meeting the Templars, who had been brought up in the other books but not seen till now. this very religious group who stand strongly against the supernatural turn out to have the information Alexia and she discovers that her unborn child is a skin/soul stealer and possible has the power to take different supernatural forms. They are so rare that her baby is the second one and the vampires fear the child due to the power it'll have. 

At the end, there's a great escape moment and Alexia meets up with everyone including Lord Maccon who has finally come to his sense about the unborn baby being his. I liked the happy ending and felt this showed a good relationship between Alexia and her husband. The main plot and second plot were also good and though I did like the second book better, I read through this one quick because I wanted to find out about the baby. 

The new characters in this book are; Madam Lefoux's friend who she went to school with and is a clock maker.  A German scientist who is a member of the Brass Octopus group, but turns out not to follow their codes and his fascination with the pregnancy gets to him and the Italy Templars, who take Alexei captive because they are also worried about the powers her child might have, but her interested in her own too. I was happy with this new characters again, because they all brought a fresh insight into the knowledge of being soulless and the pregnancy. The fact that they were out for their own goals and the last two were the villains was a good switch up. 

The pace and dialogue were fine again and everything felt well written and gripping. It will be interested to find out what's going to happen in the fourth book now! 

Overall, I'm still enjoying the series and the characters. 

    

Image from: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blameless-Book-3-Parasol-Protectorate/dp/1841499730/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464184211&sr=8-1&keywords=blameless