Birthday

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. At 0628 our daughter climbed into our bed, followed soon after by her brother. After a little bit of whispered direction from me, they wished their father a happy birthday and began to sing to him. We might have preferred another half an hour of sleep, but their sweet duet was certainly worth the early start.

The birthday celebrations begin in earnest. The gifts were piled up and the house decorated. The fabric gift bags I made at Christmas got another outing, along with the bunting a friend made a year or so back.....

The birthday cake was a joint effort. I did most of the measuring and baking, but the little people licked their fingers and decorated the cake as only preschoolers can - with originality and wonkiness.

Happy birthday my love. xx

Rainbows and broad smiles

Last night I had a text message. It was from an old friend; it was a birth announcement - a new baby girl has joined their family. I didn't know that they were expecting another baby, and I cried with joy for them, and smiled a big, big smile. 

This new baby has a bouncing big sister (now nearly 4!) and a baby brother too: dear wee Elias, who passed away after only 4 short weeks on this earth.  Welcome to you little one: a rainbow for your mama and papa. I wish you all much peace and happiness as you get to know each other.

Winging it...

Elsie marley has got her kids clothes make week again next week. Not sure I can manage it, but I like the idea, and have got things going just now by cutting out some new trousers for the bean.


As you can see they are being upcycled from a pair of moleskins which his dad has just put in the 'to go' bag.


Not much left over once I'd finished cutting!

Wiggle it....

Too much going on here for blogging (maybe I'll tell you about it all sometime) .... But the hooking still appeals, and when a moment presents itself, this is what I'm doing: wiggling in blue....

FO: chevron blanket

Tis done, finally. Finished, washed and dried and ready for use. The second FO of 2012 - which is rather pathetic, but there we are. All I can say in my defence is: work.

As my first crocheted item, ever,  I'm really pleased. It took about 12 balls of cotton yarn, and has made a nice dent in the stash. There is no pink or purple left, only blue. So, I have started the blue blanket, cos that itch still needs to be scratched!

Girl sized

It's not quite finished, but I think she likes it.

Wipping things up...

As usual, Lent is invoking some attempts at self-improvement. The most notable of these is a change in diet - giving up dairy products and gluten as an experiment to see if that helps some low-level health problems. Interestingly the most noticeable benefit has been a returning sense of smell, which all but disappeared after the jelly bean was born. My husband found it incredible that I couldn't detect the different smells of our children. But now I can, and it's nice :)

The crafting self-improvement going on here is all about the WIPs. I'm not casting on anything new, and trying to finish something: anything! There have just been too few FOs this year for my liking (can it really only be one thing that I've finished? Yikes).

The chevron blanket is growing nicely, and has gobbled up oodles and oodles of yarn. Even though the blanket is a bit narrower than I intended (note to self: next time allow for the chevrons/ripples when measuring the foundation chain against the bed), each stripe is one ball of yarn. As there is only one more ball of pink yarn left after the one currently being worked, I am only planning to add another couple of stripes to the length. I may yet put a few rows of DC along the edge of the blanket to finish it off. Or I may not. It has proved to be a nice project - perfect for sitting on the sofa while watching a rugby match, and easy to put down at any moment to soothe a bumped head, supply drinks or snacks to small people or otherwise adjudicate in some filial dispute. The jelly bean already identifies it as her blanket, and likes to snuggle under it on my lap.

The next blanket (oh yes, it is already in the planning) will ripple in blue, and demolish the rest of the cotton yarns in the stash. As for those birthday socks, sock two is crawling towards the toe - I managed a few rounds at the weekend when I was at the hairdresser. If they aren't finished before the blanket, they will be next on the list, and then good old Deli will have to come out of the knitting bag for those three miles of knitted trim to be applied...