August update

Thought I'd better write something, it's been so long. As usual, I've been busy with Molly and life in general. Should be working my socks off to try to get my course finished but that's not been happening and I haven't been doing a lot of knitting either. In fact, I'm not sure what I actually do with all my time.

I do have a FO to show off, after months of cursing and listening to Molly cry every time I worked on it, I finally finished her Bergere de France cardigan. It has lots of mistake but I'm happy enough with it, especially since it still fits her despite it supposedly being for up to three months (she's now seven, would you believe?!). Of course, it's been way to hot here for her to wear it, it's been in the 30's lately, phew, too hot for me, I can tell you. Bring on the autumn I say.

I can't believe we're over half-way through August already and I haven't touched any Christmas knitting yet. I think I have it all planned but I think I'm going to keep it down this year. I did have a helping hand keeping the costs down though, I usually say I will only knit from my stash but that never happens as all the yarn I buy, I buy because I like it and I want to knit it for me! So, luckily a lady in Annemasse, just over the boarder in France, had lots of Garnstudio yarn for sale after she had gone out of business and she's moving and needed to get rid of it, 2CHF (£1.15) a ball, wow, that's cheap! I bought 25 balls for various Christmas projects. I would have bought more but only had 60CHF on me and didn't want to go overboard as my stash is big enough as it is at the moment and I really need to stop adding to it. I was very impressed with my self-control!

I am off to the UK tomorrow with Molly for a month and really looking forward to it, although I will miss Mr H. He will hopefully be coming over for the last week of my visit as it will be my birthday. Again, I will have to try to control my yarn urges as my mum keeps getting beautiful new stock in the shop and I always want it. Maybe I can get Mr H to bring an empty suitcase over for me...

The shop is open!

My mum's online store is now open, so go check it out! www.interknitcafe.co.uk

I know I've not had much to say for myself lately but I've been kind of tied up with the bairn, which hasn't left me a whole lot of time for knitting, so I don't really have a lot to report on that fromt anyway.

I'm in the UK at the moment, staying with my mum but have to go back to Switzerland tomorrow, so sad but I think Molly will be pleased to see her daddy. Can you believe she's 6 months old this week? Where does all the time go?

The Inteknit Café Website

Hey, I know, it's been a while but between looking after Molly and trying to help my mum out with her website, there's not been much time for much else, plus we've been having some fantastic weather lately, so any free time I do have is largely spent outside.

If you have a chance, check out the new website for my mum's shop, it's close to completion now, I believe the shop will be available to use from 3rd July!

www.interknitcafe.co.uk

Where'd all my time go?

Wow, who'd have thought a baby would cut into my knitting time so much?! There are so many things I want to knit at the moment, mostly for Molly but I just don't have the time, or if I do have time, I don't feel like knitting. At the moment my time is taken up by Molly (obviously), my Montessori course, housework and working on the shop on my mum's website.

I did sit down last night and finally finish the first wool soaker I've been knitting for Molly. It turned out OK but looks huge. I haven't tried it on her yet. I need to put some decorative buttons on the waistband to cover up a dodgy seam but apart from that it's fine. Now I just have to treat it with lanolin to make it water repellent.

I'm still working on the Bergere de France cardigan for her too. It feels like I've been knitting that forever and I'm still only on the back. I seem to have to pull out every couple of rows that I knit too as I keep going wrong. I blame this on tiredness and that I'm not an expert at working from charts, in fact, this is only the second time I've ever worked from one. Plus, the pattern is labelled as 'expert' in the magazine, so that makes me feel a little better. There is a lot of cabelling to be done too.

Quite selfishly, there are also a ton of things that I want to knit for myself at the moment and my Ravelry queue just gets longer and longer.

I really need to try to get some work done for my mum's online store. She wants it live in two weeks, ohh err. There's still heaps to put in the shop, why does she have to stock so much yarn?! How terribly inconsiderate of her! It is looking good though. My friends have done a great job of constructing the site, especially as it ended being a much tougher job than they had orginally anticipated. Better crack on I guess, but not before I show you another picture of my gorgeous girl!

Are you addicted to knitting?

You scored 65%. You are a recreational knitter. Although other people accuse you of addiction, you are not addicted. Nope. Knitting is just fun. You could quit any time. Really.

See, now, I disagree. Maybe not a complete addict but if it had asked Ravelry based questions ie, the amount of time I spend on there and what's in my queue, I think it would be higher...

http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lucia/333

Baby hat

I knit a very cute baby hat for my friend's baby, Rosie. I hope it's going to fit, it's too big for Molly but my friend's baby's only about 3 weeks old, so hopefully it will be OK.

The pattern is Vine Lace Baby Hat from Knitting Daily. I knit it using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino on 3mm dpns. I might knit a bigger one for Molly.

I'm currently knitting a soaker for Molly now that I am using cloth nappies. We seem to be getting on OK with the nappies. So far I have been using terry nappies with Nature Babies wraps. I really like these wraps as all the poppers mean that you can really adjust the nappy to fit properly and so far we have had no leaks, so that is great. I really want to try knitted soakers as I think they might be better for Molly's skin than the PUL wraps. The soaker I'm knitting at the moment is the Wool Diaper Cover from Ottobre Design. I'm knitting it using Rowan Country and Twilley's Freedom Wool.

Good Golly Miss Molly!

I couldn't resist :-)

Molly Models Handknit

I thought I should post another picture of Molly in my knitting, so here's a cute photo of her in the Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting.

Mother's Day Monkey

I'm knitting my mum some socks for Mother's Day. In the UK, Mother's Day falls in March (22nd this year in case you need reminding). I am halfway through knitting Knitty's Monkey Socks. Love them and wish I didn't have to give them away, not an uncommon feeling for me after knitting pretty socks - I always knit far prettier socks for other people than I do for myself. I'm not convinced that I'll get the socond one finished in time, my mum is coming to stay on Friday so I only have 4 more days, I guess I had better get casting on. Too much knitting to do...

The socks are knit in Opal Handpainted yarn, colour 20 on 2.5mm needles.

Some projects finally off my needles

So, despite having a little baby to deal with all the time, I have still managed to do a bit of knitting and have actually finished some things. I finally got around to taking a photo of my Rowan Iceland sweater, after buying buttons last week.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out and think it looks really nice. I was a bit worried that I finished it just in time for the weather to start warming up but I figure I can just wear it over a t-shirt when it's a bit chilly instead of a coat. I can't wear it under a coat because the sleeves are too wide and bunch up under my armpits under a coat, which looks very amusing.

I also finally finished my Wendy baby hoodie, which I was having trouble with due to a very strange looking hood. I thought the pattern was all wrong and was going to frog the hood and knit a new one until my friend pointed out that I simply hadn't joined the top seam so the hood was quite flat. All I needed to do was remove the ribbing on the hood, sew the seam and re-knit the hood and hey-presto, a handsome looking hood, yay! So, I did that last night and found some buttons I had kicking about from a project I never finished and voila, a finished little sweater for baby Molly. No pictues of her in it yet though as it's for 3-6 months.

I need to be knitting some baby things for other babies at the moment, two of my friends have recently dropped baby girls - very cute. I feel the need to spread the knitted love.

Molly is home

My little baby girl came home a couple of weeks ago. She's an absolute delight, I couldn't be happier!

Yes, that is one of my handknits she's wearing, in fact, that's one I'm wearing too! Mine, you will probably recognise as my February Lady Sweater. Hers is called Elly and is from RYC Classic Baby, knit using 2 balls of Wendy Peter Pan DK on 4mm needles. I knit it a year or two ago, not knowing who it would go to. I was going to give it to a friend but couldn't part with it, just as well really!

Haven't had much news on the knitting front. I have pretty much finished my Rowan Iceland sweater, it just needs the ends sewing in and some buttons. No pictures at the moment.

Nothing much to report, just wanted to show I'm still around...

I will leave you with this interesting piece of information:

Tired

I'm so tired. Molly is still in the hospital so I've been going back and forth to see and feed her all week, it's really exhausting. Luckily my mum has been here as Mr H is in Canada, so she's been helping me by doing the shopping, cleaning, cooking etc. I'd be in such a state without her here.

I have been getting a little knitting done. I finished a blanket for Molly while I was still in the hospital. It was originally a basket I knit ages ago which wouldn't hold its shape, so I frogged it and knit a blanket instead. I made the pattern up myself. It's knit in Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere but I don't know which colour, and was knit on 4mm needles.

I can't wait to have her back home and in her moses basket where she belongs. I was hoping she would be back before this weekend coming so I could take her to the airport to meet Mr H but I don't think that's going to happen now. I think she should be home fairly soon as she would have been 37 weeks tomorrow, which is no longer considered premature and she's starting to wake up more and has even finished drinking a couple of bottles. She's not sick at all, it's just her eating ability. The paediatrician said yesterday that her tube should be out in a couple of days so they won't force-feed her in the hope that by the next feed she will be so hungry she will eat more. Fingers crossed.

I also started knitting a little baby cardigan in Bergere de France Caline from Knits for Babies. I hope it's not going to be too difficult as it's labeled 'expert', ohh err! I'm sure I'll manage to get through it. I'm doing size 3 months, so hopefully I'll get it finished before Molly has time to grow out of it!

Oops, I seem to have dropped something...

I had my baby! She came nearly 6 weeks early. I gave birth to the beautiful Molly Lilian on 17 January at 15:17. She weighed 6lbs 3ozs/2.88kg and was 45cm tall. I am now back home as of today and still recovering well from my c-section. Unfortunately little Molly has had to stay in the hospital as she is so young and is having trouble feeding but we hope to have her back with us soon.

I know that I'm her mum and so I'm incredibly biased, but man, isn't she a cutie?! She was instantly cute. Maybe that was helped by the c-section, meaning that she wasn't all squashed up when she was delivered.

We have no idea why she decided to come so early. There was talk that I may have got my dates wrong because she was so big for her age but the obstetrician decided that she was definitely 34 weeks and thinks it was probably my 'unintelligent' uterus (apparently they're not very smart organs) deciding that as baby was so big, it must be full term. Whatever the reason, I don't care so long as she gets nice and strong and I can bring her home soon.

What I've been knitting

So I shall give you a bit of an update on what I've been up to recently project-wise.

I have almost finished my Rowan Cocoon Iceland sweater, all I need to do now is sew up the seams and knit the welt. Since this involve sewing, it will probably be a fair while before I actually get it finished.

I knit some Mrs Beeton wrist warmers for my mum for Christmas, which she loves. I knit them using Rowan Kid Classic and Rowan Kidsilk Aura. I missed out the beading, merely because I just couldn't be bothered.

I also knit some more Chevron Socks, this time for my dad. I think he liked them, my step-mother certainly did. I also knit some more Fetching using up some Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed that I had kicking about my stash, I think they looked very cute and they were well received.

I'm sure there's more Christmas knitting that I completed but I know I'm lacking some photos, like my mum's Fidget and the hat I knit for Mr H.

Speaking of Mr H, wish him luck as he started his new job today over in Lausanne. I think it's good timing as I feel I may start nesting any time soon.

I can't believe it's only 5 more weeks now until I'm a mummy, how crazy is that??! I'm not convinced I'm going to make it that far, I'm sure bubs is trying to make a break for freedom! My mum refuses to book her flight yet until she's convinced that I'm going to make it all the way. I shall have to wait and see what my obstetrician says when I see him for my final scan next week.

I can't believe how little baby knitting I've done. I managed to finish my Pinwheel blanket after being donated some yarn to finish the cast-off. I also knit a really cute sweater using Araucania Pomaire, copied from a sweater knit by Annelis.

I really want to knit some more blankets and some booties and sweaters and hats and rompers......... Oh, when will it all fit in?

Unravel

A knitting festival comes to Farnham...


For more info, contact the Interknit Café on 01252 734666 or drop into the shop at 60 Downing Street, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7PN.

(I, of course, will not be attending, I expect to be in hospital then with a little baby!)