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 ....