Jenny asked me to make a birth gift for a friend of hers. I'd just made Ada a pink-with-brown-trim bonnet so had Kid Classic in Peach Sorbet and Bear on hand, and decided to make another bonnet in reversed colourway with matching slippers. The garter stitch slippers pick up on the garter trim on the bonnet nicely. Kid Classic proved too fuzzy for embroidery, and after a few experiments, I settled on a bobble accent. The result looks like Neapolitan ice cream, and certainly good enough to eat.

Wind-up: Springy and smooth yarn, great for active babies. Departed from the pattern by doing a 3-needle bind-off on the hood, and Kitchener-stitched the shoulders. I made a rattle bracelet with some of the leftover yarn (flower pattern from "Lottie" cardigan", grafted to i-cord) and put a button inside one pocket and another button on one of the flowers (to wrap around the wrist twice and secure through a hole in the petal). When it's not being used, the toy can be buttoned to the inside pocket.

Wind-up: The yarn knits like a dream; looks and feels like well-tempered chocolate ganache. Italian rib-cast-off is tricky at first and takes much, much longer, but well-worth it. Blanket-stitching the ears made them look messy. Good buttons are hard to find.

Wind-up: 4-day sweater reminiscent of the Cookie Monster. Fast, but not my style. Disliked using needles that look like cruise missiles, knitting with not much regard for neat stitches. Biggy Print is far too large for anyone smaller than Medium. Purchased the wrong needles (35 instead of 36), so had to use the size S cast-on numbers with XS length.

Wind-up: Because my mum is more xxs than xs (across shoulders: 34cm; shoulder to hip: 43cm; hip to underarm: 31.5cm; shoulder to wrist: 42cm) , I had to resize the jacket somewhat. I didn't worry about the width since Rowan patterns are thankfully slender in width, but I did shorten the overall length and the sleeves. She says it fits, but I would like to check it for myself the next time I see her. I screwed up on the front shaping (the 'seam' should near the opening end, not the sides) and made stingy and unsightly mid-row yarn joins. Not doing that again...