Motivated Motion

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Coffee To Go And Knitting Goes In The Mail

My poor little espresso machine died.
Carl bought it for me probably 8 yrs ago.
I cleaned it and something inside was leaking, like the reservoir seam gave out.

It took me a few weeks, but I finally found a suitable replacement.
Alex had a lot of input on to the one I would buy this time.
He wanted me to get at least a 15pump pressure unit with an external and removable water reservoir.
I followed his professional barrista advice....

It wasn't so easy to find one that was in my price range.
I finally found one at The Bay store.
It is a lovely Breville unit with a steel milk steam unit.

She is really easy to use and easy to clean.
Here's a photo of it.

I finally finished the knitting projects I have been working on.
I got them ready today for the post.

Our Friends Andre and Marie have had their first baby.
Dec 29th their daughter Ricarda was born.

I made her this blanket I call "wild cotton candy", and two little sweater and hat sets, plus I got some baby supplies.

This blanket is a chamis fluff. It can be machine washed and dried.

The sweater sets are made from a pattern in Knitters Magazine summer 2003. The pattern is called MexicaliBabyOle.
The original pattern is designed to make use of pre-patterned sock yarn that would make a cute striped pattern like the striped one a couple of pictures down below here.
I modified the pattern by trying out a basically plainer sock yarn to make this little white one with the baby colour dots on it.

The pattern is soooo easy to do.
The sweater is made in one piece. You fold it over and sew up under the arms and down the sides, then add a roll collar.
The cap is easy too.
It requires double pointed needles to knit it in the round.

The cap and the sweater can easily be worked on in places where you may not be able to look at your pattern or mark down rows for extended periods of time.
The cap is really simple once you place stitch markers after every 11 stitches once you are ready to decrease.

The white one is 3-6 month size, the striped one is 12month size, and the pattern can be adjusted again for an 18month size.

If you are interested in buying sock yarn for these sweaters, and want to know more about them, you can contact the gals at Knit or knot. They have the yarn for sale at their shop in Aurora, Ontario (plus you can order from them online too). Marion made a set for display in the shop. After I saw her working on it I just HAD to try it. It is as easy to make as a scarf.