The end of an era..

Today we took Kayla's "fairy wheels" off her bike. After a couple of wobbly attempts and crashes to the ground she was off and there was no stopping her! It is great on the one hand, I am really pleased she grasped it so quickly and she is so excited. On the other hand it is really sad as it is and end to another era. They grow up so quickly I just can't keep up, she will always be my little baby. I finished the back of my jumper today so I am really chuffed with myself. I also discovered Ravelry and I am having a ball with it. Did anyone catch the series finale of Bones last night - amazing! Big Brother starts next week and I can't wait!

Spongebob

I don't have much interesting knitting to show today because I didn't do much other than shape armholes yesterday so I thought I would post some pictures of our pet goldfish, Spongebob, instead. I finally got around to cleaning his bowl and I think after spending 10 minutes in the ice-cream tub, he was very appreciative of his clean home!!

Feeling generally uninspired...

It's one of those days - you know the ones. The ones where you wake up and just can't feel inspired or motivated by anything. Even my knitting is uninspiring today. I think it is because of my car. In a nutshell I got completely shafted and it is costing me a fortune just to get the car roadworthy, it has just kind of put a damper on everything. I have posted a new pic of my knitting progress - not too much progress as you can see. I think that is why I really enjoy knitting for kids - the projects go really quickly and you can see results which inspires me to carry on. My current projects are a bit like the Never-ending Story. On top of that I am exceptionally critical of my own work so I then I wonder if I will ever wear the finished garment. I knitted two other things for myself before (other than scarves - how wrong can you go with a scarf?) and they spent almost a year at the top of the cupboard and were eventually given to charity. Oh well - enough negativity...

The weekend...

Well the weekend is almost over, where did it go?? I bought my car this weekend YAY! I didn't go for the purple one but went for a blue one instead and I am really pleased with it. Knitting wise I am halfway up the left front of my purple cardigan and I started the back of my new jersey...it took three attempts to master the pattern but I got it and I am very pleased with how it is turning out. The yarn has come out very dark in the picture but it is more beige than brown.

Spring colours...

Some of the flowers that we planted (and some we didn't) have started to bloom. They are such pretty colours I just had to take some photos.

All things purple..

I seem to have acquired a recent purple fetish. Why purple I don't know but everything I am doing at the moment seems to be purple. Kayla's cardigan was purple, mine is purple and I just bought a car which is wait for it..PURPLE!! You might think a purple car sounds quite disgusting or a little garish at best, but it is a Vauxhall Corsa and it looks quite funky. I am going to collect it tomorrow and I am SO excited. I feel like a kid at Christmas. Progress on my cardigan is slow and unfortunately a bit tedious. The front border is very interesting to knit but the rest is stocking stitch which can become rather boring. So, when in a knitting pickle, what do we do? We buy more yarn to knit something else!! More Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk to make a sweater for myself and the pattern it a lovely lace at the bottom so I am looking forward to alternating between that and the never-ending stocking stitch of the current cardigan.

Hair, teeth and a finished project

It has been an interesting week so far. Kayla had a bout of croup on Monday night which had me really worried as she couldn't breath but it seems to have just turned into a cold now and all is well. I cut my hair - quite short actually which is a first for me as I have always had long hair. I like it actually although I was almost in tears as she cut my long locks. I had a dentist appointment this morning for a filling which I unsuccessfully tried to get out of - I just wasn't inventive enough and my dentist has caught onto my evasive tactics and wasn't having any of it. One filling turned into two but other than my IV sedation appointment at the end of June, my teeth are now all done - certainly reason for a glass of wine. I finished Kayla's cardigan and I am really pleased with the results and she likes it (always a bonus from a fussy 5 year old). Now onwards and upwards with progress on my own cardigan!!

On the needles

Now the garden is finished there is time again to carry on with current projects. I am making Kayla a short sleeved cardigan that she can wear during the summer, although the weather has not been so great the past couple of days so I hope there is more summer to come. I have not made much more progress with my cardigan as yet but I want to finish Kayla's one first.

Ta Da....We have a garden!

It is done at last! 4.5 days it took and now we have the summer to enjoy it - and I can knit in the garden yeehaaa!

Almost there...

Every part of my body hurts, hubby and I look like lobsters we are so sunburned, but it was all worth it! We are almost finished the garden. Tomorrow we just need to plant the rest of the plants and we are done and can enjoy the garden - what's the bet it rains all weekend :)

Garden progress..

We have made progress on the garden. Today we bought the plants, painted, painted and painted some more and put in half of the fence. We are getting there, hopefully we will be done by Friday. Not much progress though with my knitting. I have finished half of the back of my cardigan and half of the back of Kayla's one - bit boring yet for photos.

Garden re-vamp

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Today we have decided to re-vamp our little patch of garden for the summer. Firstly we went and bought some garden tools (always a good place to start) and made a rough sketch of what it is we want. To be honest there is not much to work with but I think we have come up with a nice plan. We have made a start by digging out the flower beds. It was a family affair which ended up rather muddy but we made real progress and have two done.

I delivered the Alicia cardigan this morning which was well received and have made some progress on my own cardigan. Oh, and I bought more yarn...do you think they have an AA for yarn addiction?

Look Mom - no ears!

I know for a fact that all three of my children have perfectly well functioning, normal hearing - it has been tested. So why is it that their ears only work in perfect conditions and to certain phrases? They hear "dinner time", "do you want ice-cream?" or "do you need money?" but that is about the limit of their ear functionality. They have driven me to complete distraction this weekend with their lack of listening skills. Perhaps children should come with a warning "BEWARE, HEARING ONLY FULLY FUNCTIONAL AFTER 21 YEARS!"

On the knitting front I have finished the Alicia cardigan for my niece and I think I now have enough for my charity knitting contribution - all round a very successful and fruitful knitting weekend.

I think my sister has been bitten by a bug...a knitting bug! She left my house yesterday with two balls of wool, needles, patterns and other paraphernalia and is now halfway through a very cute cardigan for her daughter. When we went there for dinner last night her husband said we looked like a couple of old grannies knitting away at the kitchen table. Good for us - go grannies!!

Scrumtious cheese muffins...

Today Kayla and I decided to make some cheese muffins....here is Kayla showing off her baking skills. On the knitting front I have made another three hats and couldn't put the other projects on the back burner (I have no resolve) so I am almost finished the second Alicia cardigan sleeve. Until next time...happy knitting.

Little Hats...

All my projects are on hold for the weekend..I need to knit more little hats. I signed up to a local charity to knit for premature babies a few months back and after the initial enthusiasm that goes with any new project, it went into the "knit it again later" box. Now I need to post off my contributions on Monday and I don't think I have done enough. Besides it is a great way to try and lower the stash a bit. Until next time...happy knitting!

Yipeee it arrived...

My gorgeous sublime yarn arrived today, I am so excited to get started, it is beautiful and soft. It is a mix of cashmere, silk and merino yarn imported from Italy. Only downside is that it has to be hand-washed, oh well, minor downside. My niece came for a visit this morning while her mommy went to the dentist (poor mommy) and we had a great time. I have made some more progress on her merino cardigan, cardigan pattern is called 'Alicia'.

A Knitting Lesson....

Yesterday afternoon I had a go at teaching Kayla how to knit... She was super enthusiastic about it and enjoyed it. It gave her super bragging powers when her brothers came home. I now have another class lined up for Friday afternoon as the boys are really keen to give it a go...maybe someday we can all make squares for a family blanket. Until next time...happy knitting.

Inter-galactic battles, sublime & glorious mudpies...

Yesterday afternoon I was watching my boys play some form of star-wars inter-galactic battle, there was much light saver bashing, cheers of victory and valiant defeats within the game which was then brought to an abrupt end by a light saver in the eye of my eldest child and big bad mommy put an end to the game. However watching them play with such abandon reminded me of days in my own childhood when my sister and I would sit in the sun for hours and make hundreds of glorious mud-pies. The dirtier we got, the better the game. We were living in Botswana at the time so the mud would bake in the sun and in no time we would have beautifully baked mud pies, my mother must of cringed at the thought of the laundry she would have to do! I think I would probably go into some form of shock induced fit if my kids were covered in mud from head to toe...perhaps I should worry less about laundry and more about letting them enjoy the feeling of squishy mud in their hands.
On a knitting note I purchased some gorgeous Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk yarn off ebay today to make something for myself...I am so excited for it to arrive in the post I am afraid I may accost the postman halfway down our street tomorrow. Until next time...happy knitting.

Spiders...

As an avid hater of spiders, I relished in the fact of moving from South Africa where the spiders are as big as your hand to Belfast where spiders and small and not poisonous. HA! THATS WHAT I THOUGHT.....WRONG! Winter here is great, not a spider to be found, now that the weather is warming up they are crawling out of God knows where and appearing across my lounge carpet! I was watching I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry last night, curled up in my pj's, knitting a few rows here and there and just generally chilling after a busy day with the kids and this huge monster crawled out from under the couch. OMG!! Well, it met an untimely demise while I choked on the fumes of the spray, and settled down again while hubby took the spider corpse outside. Not ten minutes later arrives the next one, bigger than the last. That was me for the evening, I felt imaginary spiders crawling all over me. 'shudder'... My question is where have they been hiding all winter to get so damn big? Time for a spring clean I reckon. Until next time....happy knitting.

Awwwww

The little angel came to visit today in her knitted hoody...doesn't she look sweet!

and they call it MERINO...

Good morning phantom readers and happy May Day!! I am completely and utterly taken with Merino wool. As a first time Merino user (I chose James C Brett 100% Merino) I love it. It is gorgeous and soft and really nice to knit with - bit tricky at first to keep the stitches on the needles but once you get the hang of it - yeah baby!
Delivered the hoody last night and it was met with approval - yay! Off to continue with the mountain of laundry that is taking over my kitchen so until next time...happy knitting, happy knitting, happy knitting .......there seems to be an echo when you are lost in cyberspace :)

Lost on the WWW...

This is day three of this blog and no comments at all. Not too sure what I expected really, but considering it is such a small world, the same obviously does not apply on the internet. Help! I am lost in cyberspace. On the bright side, I am not expecting a vasectomy baby, whew, and the sleeveless hoody is finished and awaiting delivery. What a nightmare to sew that hood on and I detest the sewing up bit of anything I have made. Plans for the next knitting project...not too sure really, I have some lovely merino wool that I want to try out so maybe that is the next on the needles. DH working again today and the kids are stuck in the house because it is raining AGAIN! God it rains a lot in this country. Until next time phantom readers....happy knitting!

It's a work in progress..

Saturday morning dawned dull and dreary, but at least the sun is out a bit this afternoon - this means kids in the garden and peace and quiet for me to knit as DH is at work. The pullover hoody is coming along nicely. I love the colours in the hood and pocket, so much so that I purchased some more online to make something for my daughter. DH will probably freak out as my stash is starting to take over the world!!
Been scaring the crap out of myself today as my period is a week late AND DH had a vasectomy 5 years ago. Been doing some research on the internet and apparently the tubes can grow back together!! Holy ****! Decided that I am just being overly paranoid about things and have gone back to knitting the pocket of the pullover instead. Until next time...happy knitting!

First Time Blogger

Ok...so here I am with a blank page and not at all sure what to put in it. As a first time blogger, my opinion is it should be a knitting diary, perhaps a place to rant and rave about stitches dropped, patterns not working out and the victories of the finished items! (however, being a woman I reserve the right to change my mind... alot!)
I have attached a photo of my latest accomplishment, a cardigan for my "oh so gorgeous" 9 month old niece. My sister asked me to bring her a new set of drawers along with the next finished item to accommodate them all....
As we go into summer I am now knitting her a sleeveless hoody - to be delivered without the said drawers!! I will post photos as I get further on with it.