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!)

Just so you know

I haven't quit blogging or anything. I know it's been a while since my last post and I have no reason or excuse other than I can't be bothered. This is not a good attitude as it seems to have spread to some other things that I really need to sort out, particularly before bubs arrived. Maybe it's the imminent arrival of the little on that's making me feel like this, I don't know and I'm not going to apologise, at least not about the blog anyway. There are some things I should be apologising to people about but I think actually getting these things done would be better than an apology.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

Christmas was lovely. I'm in the UK staying at my mum's with Mr H and Trinny (who is causing no end of trouble with my mum's cat and is acting generally like the spoiled princess that she is). I have got lots of knitting done and got some things off my needles. I also received lots of new things to put on my needles in the new year, time permitting. Baby's coming in seven weeks, how crazy is that.

I will post properly later, really not in the mood, want to knit some more. I'm currently working on my Rowan Cocoon Iceland sweater for ME! About bloody time!

34 Knitting Days until Christmas

I can't believe Christmas is so near now. Every time I think I've nearly finished all my Christmas knitting I think 'maybe I should knit something for so-and-so'. I'll never get done at this rate.

I finished my Chevron Socks last night and am really pleased with them. I'm going to use the same pattern for my dad's socks and expect I will eventually use it for myself with my Harry Potter sock yarn, although when will get around to that is anyone's guess.

I promised my mum that I would knit her some Christmas decorations for the shop as she's been too busy to do anything herself. A little foolish, I know but they're only little and shouldn't take up too much time. I should have plenty of opportunity to knit over the weekend if we get the snow we're forecast, although I won't hold my breathe, we didn't really get any in town last year. It's meant to snow Saturday through to Monday, which I am looking forward to, although I'll probably be staying indoors as I'm really rubbish at walking in the snow and I'm sure my ability won't be improved with my ever expanding belly - I seem to have lost my centre of gravity!

Anyway, so, I actually made a quick start on the Christmas decorations last night and knit up a six-pointed star. It took me about an hour to knit. I used Martifil Diva on 4mm needles. I had received the yarn from my Secret Knitting Pal on Swap-Bot. I think it looks really pretty, especially with the silver sparkles. I will knit up a few more. There are some other patterns that I'm planning on knitting, including some baubles and some knitted fairy lights, should be interesting!

Meme

I stole this from Heather and thought it seemed like a little bit of fun...

Grab the nearest book.
Open the book to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

"But if any of us were to chronicle the false patterns, the lulls, the storms of perpetual feeding, the general loony and uncontrollable eating behaviour of a new baby, it would be impossible to make a sensible theory out of it."

From How Not to be a Perfect Mother by Libby Purves

I forgot to mention - When in Rome...

Of course, how could I forget, I visited a yarn store while I was in Rome. Of course, I just had to do my research before setting off, Mr H was very accommodating and led me there to cheer me up on one of my more painful days. The store was called Lana della Vecchia and is at Via del Baullari 3, 00186 Rome.

It was a cute little shop, stuffed to the roof with yarn. The women in the shop were very friendly and one spoke limited English. I think the shop is definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the city.

Of course, I bought some Italian yarns while I was in there. I bought two balls of Laines du Nord 'Medifra' in a beautiful reddish colour (possibly going to be a pair of Fetching for myself). I also bout two balls of a yarn I'd never heard of before - Tropical Lane 'Complice', which is a bulky yarn in a mixture of browns and reds. Very cute, although I have no idea of what it is to become.

While I''m here, I can tell you that my Chevron Socks are coming along beautifully, I'm actually quite miffed that I will be having to give them away, I really am that fond of them. I will definitely be knitting the pattern again, quite possibly using my Harry Potter sock yarn.

Catching Up

Wow, it seems like ages since my last post. Well, I was sick, then I was in Rome (still sick) and then I've just been generally lethargic since I got home.

Rome was really cool, except that I was sick (Crohn's complications - I won't go into the painful detail), so between that and Mr H having a bad back we didn't really get around as much as we would have liked but we still managed to take in plenty. The weather was really great most of the time too, which was a relief as rain was forecast for our whole stay, it only rained twice, the rest of the time we didn't even need our coats during the day.

We also got around to taking some much awaited (so I'm told) "Sarena with Bump" photos. Yes, there is certainly a bump there now and it's not entirely made of chocolate and cake! I seem to be cooking a little acrobat and he's been kicking like mad; I actually saw my belly moving yesterday from the kicks, which was really freaky, I don't know how I hadn't noticed it before! We had the 25 week scan yesterday and everything is looking perfect, so around the 15th February 2009 there will be a baby H coming into the world, eek! I still can't believe that I have an actual person living and growing inside me, that's just so weird.

I have been getting on well with the knitting, despite a very irritating holdup with my Pinwheel Blanket. I decided to do a pointed cast off, like the one on my unfinished Debbie Bliss Circular Cardigan but I managed to run out of yarn for the very last triangle on the cast off, can you believe it?! I was livid! Luckily one of my fellow Stitch 'n' Bitchers has come up trumps and will be donating me a metre or so of the required yarn so I can actually finish it. I love my fellow knitters, I think knitters are generally a lovely bunch of people.

I'm actually really pleased with how the blanket's turned out. I love the colours and think they're a lovely combination and will look lovely draped over little bubs in the pram. I can't wait!

I have also been getting on with my Christmas knitting but it is still far from being finished. I knit Fetching from Knitty.com for my step-mother, using some Grignasco Australia that I had kicking about in my stash. I might knit another pair for a friend of mine but using a lighter coulour as I think the cabling will show up better and there is some reasonably priced Gringasco with an angora mix in the Coop in town.

I am also working on a pair of Chevron Socks for my mother's partner. My only concern is that he is rather colour-blind and so might not actually be able to see the pattern and the colours, hey ho, at least I'll know they're pretty! I will post pictures later when there's more to see.

So, just left is 2 hats, on for Mr H and a friend of mine, something else for my mother that Ican't mention in case she reads this and possibly a pair of socks for my dad. Then I think I'm done. Probably...