Public libraries are great. I had forgotten just how great they are until I started working right next to the wonderful and fantabulous Swiss Cottage library, which is a beauty to behold and chock full of literary goodness. The only downside is that many of the knitting and craft books are for use in the library only, and cannot be checked out for leisurely perusal. But they do have a cheap photocopier, so I managed to copy several patterns from Stitch & Bitch Nation that I plan to knit as soon as I can find/afford the yarn.

My first project from S&BN is this cute little bunny hat for babies. The yarn is a lovely soft Rowan merino wool, and I was fortunate enough to be able to find the exact colours and the exact yarn specified in the pattern – which doesn’t seem to happen very often for me. I like to make things my own, and often purposely deviate from the pattern’s specified yarn, but in this case, the yarn shown in the picture on the pattern looked perfect, and when I felt the softness I couldn’t resist.

I seem to be on a bunny theme at the moment – maybe it’s because all of my friends seem to be breeding like rabbits! Whatever the reason, I think this cute hat turned out really well, especially considering it was my first attempt at decreasing and knitting on double-pointed needles. Here’s a picture of the recipient of this gift, the beautiful baby Xanthe Pearl. She has a little growing to do before it will fit her properly, but I am sure it will fit in no time.

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My lovely friend Sunny Kate is having a baby, so I wanted to knit her a pressie. My mother sent me some yarn in a care package, and it looks like it would be great for some kind of baby thing, because it’s washable and has lots of pastel colours in it. But what to make?

Earlier this year, another friend (Miss Digger) went to Australia and brought me back a couple of knitting magazines. In the back was a pattern for an easy-to-knit bunny rabbit, that was supposed to be made with wool and then felted, but I thought I might try using this washable synthetic yarn from my mother to see if it would work. Lo and behold, after a mere few hours of knitting, stuffing and sewing, Wonky Bunny was born.

I call him Wonky Bunny because he didn’t turn out exactly the same on both sides, mainly due to my inability (or lack of desire) to accurately count stitches. But here he is in all his wonky glory!

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