Christmas Knitting

I was worried we were going to lose Charlotte in the snow ... if it had snowed again while she lay there she'd have been covered over!

I have been feeling rather under the weather for 2 weeks now, and it's starting to get me down. Its one of those times where 60% of the time you're fully functioning, but late afternoon every day you just feel completely drained and ache all over. On top of that, due to Alfie being ill 3 weeks ago and then this niggly virus and the snow I've had I've not been to the gym for 3 weeks, and so all my muscles are starting to cease up, I've pulled my back in two places - upper right (just by my shoulder blade) and lower left (by my hip). Basically, I need to be put down, but until the vet will see me I'm stuck here complaining!

The silver lining is the extra knitting time. I've managed to complete the three bears I was making for my friends children and they're bagged up and ready for Santa to deliver. They were all up in my crafty brain waiting to come out, and I'm really pleased with them. Ever the perfectionist I can see bits I'd want to improve but I just don't have the time now, and I'm fairly sure no one but me will notice anything wrong - I'm certainly not going to point them out!!

I've also been working on a clutch purse, the pattern was a freebie with Simply Knitting magazine, and the frame came free too so I started it last week. The pattern was so ridiculously complicated as each line was different so there were no pattern repeats to memorise, but it was totally worth all the effort cause its gorgeous! I need a little practise sewing the bag to the frame as the stitches are visible inside, but I'm very pleased with my new little purse!

Lastly, I'll leave you with a picture of Alfie as an angel in his first nativity play.

Back to Bunny

I've not knitted anything since finishing Mum's cardigan, and although it was only 2 weeks ago I really missed having something on the needles, so I thought I'd use up some stash yarn and get back to a little bunny knitting. She's very colourful, and is going to have a white dress to calm the colour situation down. I'm thinking of donating her to Alfie's nursery for their raffle (they had one last year, so presumably they'll have one this year too .... we'll see).

The fireworks were excellent, I love how magical they seem, even though I'm an adult! Alfie hadn't been to a display before, last year it was raining and the years before that he was just too young really. He's always oooooh'd and aaaaaaaah'd at them out the window so we thought we'd give it a go this year. He was fascinated with the bonfire, and we were right at the front of the crowd so when the fireworks started going off we were in the midst of the action, he wasn't all that keen, so Matt stayed with Charlotte at the front and Alfie and I moved further back, we could still see everything but from a more comfortable distance and he much preferred that. He was telling me what each one sounded like; some were like seagulls; some sounded like ripping paper (his description, and totally spot on!). All in all, a successful evening. We even managed to remember to buy sparklers (or sprinklers as Charlotte kept calling them).

I have caved slightly on the Christmas Card front. I'm not going to actually make the cards, but I'm still going to put one of the little decorations inside for people to hang on their tree, I feel much less stressed about the whole situation now, no need to continue worrying about having enough time to do it all. We went shopping on Friday and managed to buy 80% of our Christmas presents so now I can sit back, wait for December and get into the festive spirit. I love Christmas, but I love it AT Christmas, none of this "decorations up in November" rubbish ... and to be honest with you, come Boxing Day I'm generally fighting the urge to clear it all away, but from December 1st to December 25th I'm very festive!

It's raining outside, it's all gloomy, it's going to get dark again before it gets light.

Christmas Cards and Fireworks!

I have spent today getting down to my Christmas Card making. I went to Hobbycraft after dropping Charlotte at school, my favourite thing to do, Alfie and I were waiting at the doors when they opened. I have been so busy with cardigan knitting that I fell waaaay behind with my snowflakes, consequently I don't think I have time to make 50 of them now. So I have pulled the sewing machine out and embarked on an idea which still uses the "put this on your tree" philosophy, but I've managed to make 23 today, a much faster turn around than the snowflakes, so now I only need to make 25ish of them, and I've already done 10.

Tonight we're all off to a bonfire and firework display. We've got sparklers at the ready and I'm looking forward to wrapping up warm, in my new mittens!

Gradually Getting Through Them

Last time I posted I had a lot of projects on the go. I am working through them at a great rate now and wanted to share a few of them.

Charlotte has been snuggling inside her jumper for a week or two now. She loves it and wears it all the time so we're going to need to stock up on some long sleeve tops for her to wear underneath.

Then my Mum's cardigan required finishing, and I can honestly tell you that I've never wanted to finish something so much in my life, the pattern repeat was fun at the beginning, but once I reached the sleeves I was dreaming about it, waking up in a cold sweat. So pleased I knitted it for her though, she loves it and it is definitely an achievement. I had a small issue with the button holes being too big, I had to sew them closed and that wasn't particularly aesthetically pleasing, but overall I am pleased with it.

The ripple blanket I was making for my friend is sitting exactly as it was left, I have however made a few little bits for Lacey, who was born last Tuesday.

It's Been a While

Well, it's been over a month to be exact. Being super busy coupled with not really having much to blog about has been the cause of this. I need to get better at making my everyday life sound interesting ... actually, I need to get better at making my everyday life actually BE interesting!

My last blog was about my wonderful boy turning 3 and starting nursery, everything was rosy. It didn't remain that way. Gradually he has disliked nursery more and more, not crying when I dropped him off but being very sad when I picked him up. For a week or two I considered it was all just new and overwhelming, then a random sentence from him put everything in to place. "I don't like storytime. I don't want to sit on the carpet" was suddenly and randomly proclaimed one day. Turns out that he's just not wanting to be told what to do and wants to just play with the toys all day! Actually having to stop and listen to a story is far too inconvenient for him! Anyway, we tried lots of encouragement, lots of "well, just enjoy the rest of it and put up with storytime, it only lasts 10 minutes". Nothing has worked and the past 2 weeks he's been crying as we've gone in, yesterday he cried before we'd even left the house. He only goes 2 mornings a week, they think this is why he's not settling quicker so after half term he's going to go a third morning (ssshhhh! don't tell him!!) and hopefully he'll just get used to it! Apparently he's not crying for long (as is often the case) so I'm fairly sure it'll improve within a month or so. I've been very brave though, only one morning has brought me to tears!

Knitting wise I've been mainly concentrating on a cardigan for my Mum's birthday. It the February Lady Sweater pattern and I'm now about half way through I think. My Mum knows its coming and although her birthday is next week she has said it doesn't need to be completed by then if its not possible so not too much pressure.

I'm really enjoying knitting it, the pattern repeat is complicated enough to keep my brain engaged but simple enough to not have to keep check on the pattern or count rows. This is the first item I've made that has to actually fit someone, you'll see a great range of toys and blankets from me, but no wearables as yet so I'm quite nervous about it. Mum has tried it on and it fits, although I'm still a bit concerned about how tight it seemed round her shoulders and chest, but looking on other peoples project notes it does stretch out once complete and blocked so fingers crossed! The colour is gorgeous, I'm not sure this photo quite does it justice.

I'm also knitting my gorgeous girlie a jumper/poncho that I am making up off the top of my head after seeing something similar that a friend was wearing. It's a poncho with a heavy, chunky ribbed roll neck that buttons under the arms (at the waist) creating a loose sleeve. I've done the back and am halfway through the front but I need to finish Mum's cardigan first, not just so that I can give it to her, but because I need the circular needle for the rollneck and refuse to buy another one when there's a perfectly good one 20 rows away from being free for use! Do you like the sparkly buttons? What a great find!! This is half of the back, the cables go sideways and the top is rolled under in this photo (darn stocking stitch) but it'll lay flat once I sew it to the front! Can't wait to finish this, Charlotte's really looking forward to wearing it too.

Lastly, I'm starting another ripple blanket for my friend who is due to drop a baby any time soon. We know she's having a girl so its a lilac blanket and I'll do cream edging I think. I'll show you a photo, but there's not much to see yet, I started it while I watched the Chilean Miners being rescued on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (how amazingly awesome was THAT?) but didn't get very far ..... didn't get much sleep either, think I managed 3 hours on Tuesday night and 4 on Wednesday!!She lives quite far away so I'm fairly sure I wont be able to get up to see her as soon as the little bundle is born, hopefully this will give me time to finish it off, history has shown I can knock one out in 4 days if I knuckle down to it so I think we'll be ok.

Phew! For someone who had so little to say I've surely filled my blogging brief for today haven't I? Now I'm off to work on making my life interesting .... and to finish that cardigan!

Birthday Boy

My baby boy was 3 on Thursday. This was also his first day at nursery. He's had a big week, and therefore I have also had a big week. He has been worried about going to nursery, we've had a few nightmares in the past 10 days, waking up scared of trains, giants etc etc but knowing the little man as I do I suspected the anticipation of nursery would be more worrying than the actual reality of it. I was right. I busied myself with a few bits of paperwork and he wandered off to play, when the time came for me to leave he seemed quite content and for a moment I considered just sneaking out, but it was his first day AND his birthday, I couldn't bring myself to just creep away without saying goodbye. So I went to where he was playing and asked for a kiss, he gave me a kiss, said goodbye and that was that!! I was very proud of him, and a little bit choked up, but mainly I'm excited for him, he's going to have so much fun there!

This weekend we had a little teaparty for his birthday, all the family came round to make a fuss of him. I made cupcakes, we ate lots and laughed lots. I love having the whole bunch round. We've only got a tiny place, but there's nothing nicer than it being filled with laughter. Nothing made us laugh more than the little man dressed as Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story!

Today the birthday boy has a runny nose and has seemed a little under the weather, lets hope its nothing that wont move on as quickly as it came! Don't want it ruining the week ahead for him, although I'm somewhat concerned he's going to expect present after coming home from nursery every time! Day two tomorrow, I'll keep you posted!

Phone Crazy

I have been going a little knit-loopy this past week. I found a gorgeous free pattern on Ravelry called Lacy Cabled Cell Phone Cozy and in three days I knitted three of them. I knitted one for my sister in law, then one for my friend before finally deciding I loved the pattern so much I wanted on for myself. The pattern is for magic loop, a technique I haven't attempted as yet so I converted it to knit flat and seamed it when I was done. Such a simple pattern but looks so good when its done.

Spring(?) Cleaning

This week has been filled with lots of clearing out. I started with my son's toys, lots of them are broken or have pieces missing and with his 3rd birthday coming up in 2 weeks I knew we needed to clear out the old to make way for the new. He would never let me throw things away though, not if he could see me doing it so Matt took them out for the morning while I sorted through everything. I did all his puzzles to make sure all the pieces were there, I threw out anything broken and I freed up so much space in there it looks lovely!! He hasn't missed anything either, so I know I did the right thing!

After clearing all his stuff Matt went up in to the loft. We knew there was a 'Woody' toy up there that we bought for Charlotte when she was a toddler and seeing as Alfie is in to Toy Story in a big way right now we thought we'd hunt it out and give it to him. We sorted through the entire loft, filled the boot of the car with rubbish and sorted out 2 bin bags for ebay. It was a productive afternoon. But then of course the rest of the house started to look messy, so room by room I 'spring' (summer) cleaned. It looks so neat and tidy, its a nice feeling sitting down and knowing there's nothing that needs doing for a day or two!!


I have been knitting a monkey this week, he's still naked because the recipient hasn't made a clothing choice yet but he's full of character already!! I find it fascinating how quickly they come to life when you embroider their features!

We'll wait and see what he ends up wearing, although I know he's for a boy so its unlikely to be pink and sparkly!

An update on the snowflakes. I was aiming to make one a day, but I've fallen behind schedule already. I think I'm about 10 down, not too bad though!!

It's Only August ...... but us crafters must think forward to Christmas!

I have always enjoyed making my own cards, Christmas cards especially. The past year or so I haven't been able to, I think having a (then) baby gave me a good enough excuse to slack off. He is almost 3 now, and its time to get back on the wagon!

Last time I made my Christmas cards I wasn't such an avid knitter and I couldn't crochet at all, but this time round I'm going all out! My cards wont be over the top, infact they'll look very simple with a crocheted snowflake across the front, hooked on to the card. This snowflake will be removable and can be used as a tree decoration.

The first few snowflakes took a good couple of hours, it's all very intricate and detailed and they use a very small hook (1.75mm to be precise) but after I got the pattern in my head I managed to speed the process up. I can crochet, block and stiffen a snowflake in an hour and considering I have to make in excess of 50 of these snowflakes the speed can only be a good thing! I guess now you realise why I am thinking about Christmas cards in August!!

The snowflakes look very odd before they're blocked and stiffened, all floppy and with no real shape, but they completely transform once they're pinned. I created my own makeshift pinning board using sponges intended for car cleaning and covering them in a small amount of fabric. I couldn't find crochet thread stiffener in my local Hobbycraft so I researched online about other methods you could use to stiffen them and hairspray was an option I read that was perfect for snowflakes, so that is what I've been using and it seems to be working well enough. I have left a snowflake hanging in my living room to see if it loses its crispness over the next few months but 3 weeks down the line its still going strong so I think it'll be ok!


In other news, Molly Mouse has been out with us to feed the ducks and has spent the day with Charlotte at her friends house. She is also being snuggled LOTS at night time so I think she's going to like it here.

The Amazing Adventures of Molly Mouse

The weather here in the South East has been a bit of a washout over the past few weeks. We seem to have had our beautiful summer in June, and as lovely as it was, it didn't coincide with the school holidays, therefore Charlotte has spent quite a bit of her time off school cooped up inside. There's nothing like a DVD and a snuggle under a blanket, but we prefer to leave these activities til the winter.

The time inside has provided some excellent knitting time though, and I have made Charlotte a little mouse to add to her (ever increasing) collection of stuffed animals. Molly has come with the idea that Charlotte write stories about the adventures they can get up to together, let's stretch her imagination shall we? There's nothing my darling girl likes more than to write a good story so hopefully she'll come up with something good.


Welcome to the family Molly, I'm looking forward to seeing what mischief you can get up to over the next few weeks.

I'm 33 rows in to Charlotte's granny stripe blanket, that's a third of the way there. Hopefully I'll get that finished off this week. Then some further projects need to be brought forward. I've been asked to knit a monkey for one of Charlotte's friends to give her cousin as a birthday present and my beautiful God Daughter turns 1 at the beginning of September so something soft and squishy should be going her way too. Watch this space ....

Blanket Envy

When I made Alfie his cozy ripple blanket (here) Charlotte asked if I would make her one. Now, baring in mind she's 10 I knew it would have to be slightly larger than Alfie's toddler sized one so I started but kept putting it down. Then, a month or two ago I decided to make myself a blanket ( .... I know, how dare I right?) and her little green face got even greener.

Having finished my huuuuge double bed sized ripple blanket (to the left) I decided she needed hers so I embarked upon finding a pattern that she wanted. She fell in love with Attic24's Granny Stripe Blanket so I have started hers. It will be the size of a single bed and I'm just under 1/4 of the way through.

Lets Get A Bit More Serious ....

I have had this blog running for a while now and have posted occasionally and never in any uniform fashion. But that is going to change. I am going to put some real effort in to this blog, mainly in order to record all the projects I'm working on and interesting things I'm coming across.
Last Thursday I borrowed my Mum's sewing machine, I've used it before for very simple projects and I borrowed in initially to sew together an envelope cushion cover I'd said I'd make for my friend. I decided to have a read through the manual and look at all the different things you can do with it and on Sunday I started practising various techniques. Freehand writing was my first challenge, it certainly takes some getting used to.

Attempt one left a lot to be desired, but I could see potential
Attempt two went slightly better, I managed to stay in a reasonably straight line and write 'Charlotte'. I then made this in to a bag for my daughter, who is always very grateful for my little gifts.


After finishing the bag for Charlotte I was inspired to make my own. I had bought a dress back in May which didn't sit right on me, it puffed out in ALL the wrong places. It had been sitting in my wardrobe never worn so I decided the kindest thing to do was to chop it up and make it in to something I will use! Tuesday evening saw me perched at the table, sewing frantically. I have some sort of disorder which physically stops me going to bed until I have finished what I'm doing, with knitting and crochet this isn't possible .... there's no way I could go without sleep for weeks on end, but with sewing the end is always in sight and so at 2am I finally finished stitching the lining to the outer bag. I am VERY pleased with my first handbag, and I'm obviously certain that I will now make millions selling my handmade handbags (ha!). The lining has since come unstitched in places, I obviously wasn't quite tight enough with it so tomorrow I will be re-stitching and maybe doubling the thread to prevent further disasters!

Not bad eh? Even if I do say so myself!!

Final Development

I have spent the weeken developing Annabel Mouse. I have fallen completely in love with her. Here's a sneak peek before she's clothed.

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Alfie's Snuggly

Alfie is enjoying snuggling under his new blanket! I'm still enjoying looking at it!

I've added to his snuggles with a new monkey who is a lot bigger than the others, mainly due to yarn thickness and needle size, George will be around for a long time we hope!




- sent from iPod

Bedtime Blankets

I finished my friends baby blanket. Her little girl was born last week so it was finished in time, although I haven't been to see her yet!





I have also done a blanket for Alfie, I worked solidly on it so I could know how quickly I could whip one up, that way I can wait til babies are born and colour the blanket accordingly! It took me 5 days, Alfie loves it. Haven't uploaded the photos of it but will post them soon



- sent from iPod

Cable Guy

Ok, there's no guy, but plenty of cables going on. I lined the bag I made and loved it so much that I made an accompanying makeup bag!












- sent from iPod

Bedtime Blanket

I'm desperately trying to finish a crochet blanket for my friend's baby (due any day) partly because of his/her imminent arrival and partly because the pattern is so repetitive that I'm growing tired of it! The pattern is gorgeous, but I think a variation in colour would be a little better at least!




- sent from iPod

Update

I've been without my iPod which is my main source of blogging, but the knitting hasn't stopped! It's freezing outside so I'm in the warm!

I made some sock, my first pair, and they're so lovely to wear



I've started the knitting for my friends baby (due in 2 weeks) and have finished a bunny



But I'm still working on the blanket



I have started on my own crochet hexagon blanket



But this is going to be a long term project I think.

Another work in progress is a snuggly snood, will be ribbed. Also a cabled bag which is complete but needs lining and handles



Lots going on!!

- sent from iPod