Can it really be the end of the year??

Wow, where has the time gone this year? I thought that being a stay-at-home-Mum would mean that the year wouldn't fly by so quickly, but boy was I wrong, I think it's gone by even faster. When I think back on the year there are a couple of things that will stay with me forever. My son getting older by the day, nearly two, and amazing me with his cleverness is the biggest stand out for the year. Plus, my newly developed passion for knitting. Deciding on a whim back in June that I might like to try my hand at a little knitting, it has blossomed into a full blown addiction and I'm loving every minute of it (except perhaps for the seaming of items!). This has also led me to find countless talented and inspiring people online and of course Ravelry - where would we be without it?? Another surprise from this year has been the discovery of a whole group of friends from high school on Facebook It's been incredible to see how much, and how little, people have changed over the years.

We've also just returned from a lovely trip visiting my family and friends in Adelaide, which has reinforced my thoughts that I need to cherish those relationships a bit more than I have over the past year or two which leads to my first idea of a new years resolution - to make sure I keep in touch with the people who are important to me on a more regular basis.

So, it's sayonara to 2008 and a big hello and welcome to 2009, may it be a year full of happiness, health, friends and family.

Knitting not blogging

I've been busy lately doing lots of Christmas knitting, so far I've completed a hat and scarf for my Handsome Husband. The scarf was the first time using Noro yarn and it was lovely Iro. I copied the fantastic Mr Brooklyntweed for this one, and the hat was one of Jo Sharp's great designs. I've almost completed a cardigan and doll for a friend's new baby and am starting another doll for my best friends little girl. This last one is a bit of madness as I've only got 4 days to finish it, plus pack and fly to Adelaide - eek, what am I doing wasting time on the computer!! I've decided though that my next project will be something for ME and am preparing to take it along on our jaunt to Adelaide for something to do in the quieter moments. Also, I've had to make a promise to myself that I've got to quit adding to the stash for awhile, it's growing quite a bit and my husband would be in for a rather huge shock if he decided to go hunting around the darker corners of our wardrobe! People keep having too tempting sales though so I add with the thought that I'll be going through a dry spell of spending soon and will have lots of lovely yarn stored up that I can use - yes, I know, that's the whole idea of a stash!! Better go and keep knitting. Merry Christmas everyone.

A pat on the back...to myself!

I made a doll...all by myself. As you can tell I'm pretty proud of my efforts, I just hope the recipient likes her just as much as I do, seeing as she's only 2 I think there may be a good chance she does. Got a couple more to make now too and am thinking of having a play around with the colours of her tights and dress, lots of fun. So many things to do, so little time!

I need all the help I can get!

Just lately I've been feeling like I'm lacking in the 'engaging the toddler in interesting activities' area, so I did what I always do and went out and bought a couple of books to try and spur me on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally inept we do have a couple of regular activities that we go to once a week but I've been finding that when we are at home I've been resorting to the wonderful ABC kids and DVDs a little too much. Plus, he's a boy and jumping on the couch is much more appealing than sitting on the floor and playing with building blocks with Mum apparently. One thing I am really looking forward too though is the Wiggles concert that we'll be going to in December, I am so excited about it, it's not funny! Hopefully Mr Lukey Dukey will enjoy it as much as I know I will.

This Is...my favourite quote

To begin with I wasn't sure what to say for this one but I remembered a quote that I've always liked and I used to have as a button on my canvas bag back in my school days. It's from Andy Warhol and it's "Art is anything you can get away with". It's not deep and meaningful but as a person who has always appreciated art, and has a degree to go along with that appreciation, it's one that has stuck with me.

Another one that came to mind was something said to me by a friend many years back and it's simply just "Go for it". It became my mantra rather than having to think up new years resolutions for a couple of years there but more recently it's fallen by the wayside, I may have to start reminding myself of it's power!

Thanks to Strawberry kisses for this week's 'This Is...' and as always to Three Buttons for hosting.

Learning the hard way

This is what happens when you get too eager to start on a hank of wool without winding it first...it's so upsetting to look at, just one big tangled mess of beautiful yarn, how silly am I???? Being so disheartened about this one I obtained a ball winder and set to work on the other two hanks I had purchased from The Knittery and proceeded to get them all tangled too. Thankfully they are a thicker 8ply and were relatively easy to get sorted out, so I have two nicely wound balls, one of which I've started working on for a friend's birthday coming up. I still have this mess waiting for me though, taunting me with its messiness, it's going to send me around the twist - aaaaaahhhhhhhh!

Feeling sheepish...

Hmmm, two weeks have passed and I haven't been blogging, I've been reading plenty but not adding to my own, why? I keep asking myself why not and the best I can come up with is I don't know what to write! It's such a blanket excuse but it's the best I can come up with. During the day I usually think of something I could write about but when it comes time to sitting down at the computer do you think I can remember what it was going to be about - no of course not! Anyway I can't make this whole post a lament about my lack of things to write about, I'll just do it and see what happens.
Today is my friends birthday, she also gave birth to a little girl today, two months early. I don't know what the details are, I just got the message that she was born, is 1.6kg and mum and baby are doing well. I can't help but worry, I guess it's just natural to do so. I've been telling myself that two months early in this day and age isn't too drastic and I'm sure she's getting the best possible care. I'll just have to put myself into action instead and start making some of those lovely Saartje's booties for the teeny tiny little feet, and keep thinking positive thoughts.

Yes, I'm wearing a beret!

I would never have thought of myself as someone who wears berets, but now I've made myself one I'll just have to see if it ever gets worn!! Being new to knitting I thought that I should start with quick, simple patterns and so this one appealed to me, being a Jo Sharp pattern and all. It was fun to make and I would consider making another one in the future so I guess that's a positive sign. I'm starting to get more adventurous now though and have bought some beautiful Rowan Felted Tweed to make Kim Hargreave's Dusk, a nice simple wrap around cardigan. I'm very much looking forward to my Finishing Class tomorrow so that I can get that extra information that I need to help my confidence in getting something finished to a wearable standard....more updates later!

Heartbreaking

Yesterday and today my little man has not been himself, so much so that today I took him to the Doctor. The poor little thing has been running a temperature, has not wanted to eat (which is very unusual) and has just been lying on the couch wanting to cuddle up to me. Usually I'm having to chase him around the house and am constantly telling him he can't jump on the couch or stand on the coffee table. Luckily the doc says he's ok, just a bit of fluid in his ear which isn't infected, so hopefully he'll be back to his usual bubbly self tomorrow. It was just heartbreaking knowing that he was hurting and he couldn't tell me what it was. It made me think of how terrible it must be to have a little one sick in hospital with something serious and thankful that we're not having to deal with that horror.

This Is...what I do with a spare 10 minutes

Hmmm, this one's a tricky one, there are so many things I try to do with a spare 10 minutes. These days I try and squeeze in some knitting, or I peruse knitting pattern books, or a cooking magazine, or any other magazine, or a few blog spots, or visit Ravelry, or......
As you can see the list can go on. I guess I'm pretty lucky really, being a stay at home mum to master 20 months I can try and squeeze as many 10minute breaks as I dare, usually at the expense of cleaning the bathroom, or ironing or the many other household things I should be doing. I figure that if I'm happy my little boy will be happy and therefore the rest of the household will be happy, that's my excuse any way.

PS I forgot to mention that a few squares of chocolate usually also feature in my spare time breaks, a bad habit that I'm trying to break.

Thanks to Hoppo Bumpo for this week's thought provoker, and to Handmaiden for hosting This Is while Three Buttons is enjoying a holiday.

This Is...My favourite band of all time

Oops, I almost forgot this one, and it's such an easy one to answer. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is my all time most favourite band, has been for nearly twenty years now I reckon (wow, how's that for making me feel old!!). I love his voice, his anger, his poetry, his sadness, his style, his dry Australian humour....everything. I also got very excited when looking at the tv guide for this week to see that SBS are showing a documentary this coming Saturday on one of his albums. I'd be hard pressed to pick one as an absolute favourite as there are so many but the ones on high rotation are 'Henry's Dream', 'The Good Son' and at the moment 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!'. As for concerts, I have attended many and have never been disappointed, they are a truly professional band with an impeccable ability together. I could go on gushing for ages but I will leave it here with thanks to CurlyPops for this week's 'This Is..' and for helping me remember that I do have a favourite band and did once have the time for listening to music other than that by 'The Wiggles'.

Spring= New Beginnings

September is here already and after two beautiful spring like days, the tail end of winter has decided to remind us that it's not quite over yet, for today anyway. As usual I've promised myself that with the new warmer weather starting my lazy ways are going to change. Rather than talk about losing weight, I'm actually going to do something about it, I even bought the exercise bike to help that along. My nephew's christening is six weeks away so I've got until then to lose the 10kilos gained after finishing breastfeeding. It doesn't sound like too much but I have a feeling that these lumps and bumps are going to be stubborn, especially seeing as I like my chocolate too much.

I'm also going to see if I can find a good playgroup for my son to join, he's so full of energy that I think it would be good for both of us if he can go somewhere to burn some of it up. I think too that with the warmer weather we should make better use of the beach that we have near by, there's a great kiddy pool there that he can splash around in.

There are other plans too, but rather than list them all here I'll keep a couple with me and will maybe expand upon them at a later date. Hmmm, sounds mysterious doesn't it?

This is...My favourite fabric/craft supplies shop

Unfortunately, living in Wollongong does not provide many options on the craft side of things, so the internet has become my place to shop. I recently found one site that I found to be a great source of Jo Sharp wool and books (she is my new hero after all). Thicket is a beautiful site, with a fantastic feel, or you could say atmosphere, and when you join the mailing list you get a little welcome package with a couple of samples of various yarns in your favourite color (see earlier post). You also get complimentary patterns periodically, I received Faolin which is in my queue to be made up soon.

As for actual stores to walk into Tapestry Craft in Sydney is a great place to be, if a bit on the expensive side. I like the fact that whenever you walk in there on the weekend there is always a group sitting around the table knitting and chatting. It's usually a class but that's great, in fact I've signed up to their Finishing Class later this month so that I can learn the basics for finishing a piece nicely so that I don't look like a complete hack and so that I can move on from making scarves for the rest of my life.

Thanks to Handmaiden for this weeks This Is... and head over to Three Buttons to learn more about joining in (I'm still tagging along unofficially).

Just one of those days...

Don't you hate those days where you wish you could have stayed in bed a bit longer? Master 19months old decided last night that he wasn't going to go to sleep until after 9:30pm and then woke at 3am and 4 am jumping and yelling and laughing in his cot. He then proceeded to wake again at around 6am and then 9am, who knows if he slept in between these times, probably not! Meanwhile his poor mother and father tried to get some sleep, with dear old dad having to get up for work at 5am and mum (that's me) trying to relax to see in the day.

Needless to say I wasn't in a good mood today, we missed our music class due to the late hour getting up and the rest of the day didn't improve much, especially seeing as the little master would not go for his day time sleep until after 2:30pm! The fact that he spent most of the day alternating between saying "hi mummy" and hugging and kissing me with throwing toys around and running around the house crying for no reason didn't do much to help my poor mood. Ahhh the day in the life of toddlerville. Anyway, I've had my rant, off to bed now for some sleep, tomorrow is another day after all.

This Is...My favourite children's book

At the moment my favourite children's book is 'The Escape of Marvin the Ape' by Caralyn and Mark Buehner. Discovered by chance this book has become a fave as the story is engaging, it's set in New York (my favourite place) and it has the additional bonus of getting you to spot the black cat and the ostrich in each of the pictures.....plus my son really enjoys it too!

I've also been trying to think of my favourite book from my own childhood and couldn't pin it down to just one. Enid Blyton comes to mind as a constant source of good reads, I was always dipping into her world with the Magic Faraway Tree and the Famous Five, etc. Actually I'm looking forward to my son getting a bit older so that we can visit them all again together.

Thanks again to Three Buttons for This Is and thanks to Potty Mouth Mama for this weeks topic.

This Is...How I like to spend my weekend

I love to spend my weekend out and about with my son and husband, away from the ever-present inlaws and extended family. It so rarely happens that the three of us get to go out and enjoy a day together that I really do try and make the most of it. The weekend that this picture was taken we went to the Australia Museum in Sydney to see the dinosaurs, and boy was it a hit. It was so hard to try and drag Luke away, he kept running and yelling dinosaur the whole time, very cute and funny to us that know him!
The other thing I like to do is to run away by myself for awhile and go shopping (it seems to be happening more and more often lately which is a bit naughty), a girl just has to do these things sometimes. This weekend I headed off to try and satisfy the knitting addiction. I managed to get some more wool to add to the stash and a couple more books to feed the growing list of project ideas. If only there were more hours in the day and things like washing, cooking and cleaning didn't have to take up so much time!

Thanks to The Bird Bath for this week's suggestion, and to Three Buttons for starting This Is...

This Is...a work in progress

I thought I'd join in with This Is even though I'm not officially part of the list yet. This was an easy one, as my work in progress is something I've never tried before, it's a baby cardigan. So far it's coming along nicely but I'm not sure how I'll go when it comes to knitting up the neck and doing the button holes etc to finish off. I'm up to the first sleeve so we'll see how it goes. My other work in progress is the study, it's such a mess with piles of magazines everywhere and bits and pieces of computers my husband has lying around as he "may need them someday". It 's the typical story really. It all looks like too much to deal with so it gets left. We'll get there one day and I'll be able to sit here without feeling guilty (I'm sure there'll be other things to feel guilty about then though!) So there it is, nothing too exciting but something I'll be proud of when it's finished.

Tired of waiting

Why is it when you want something to happen the time just drags on and on?? This week I've been waiting for a package that was supposedly sent last Monday, and for my invite to Ravelry and I'm still waiting. I feel like I'm on tenterhooks just sitting here, waiting for the post man, checking my email constantly, it just makes me sad.

On a brighter note though, I finished the socks for my sister-in-law and have plans for a few more things stored up in my head. It's also Mum's birthday today and I haven't got a present for her yet, she's coming to visit next week so I figure she can pick something out, and I can try and make her something while she's here (that's the plan any way).

Little presents

I like little presents, I received one in the mail today. Last week I discovered a beautiful website and proceeded to join their mailing list and today received a welcome package in the mail containing a couple of wool samples in my favorite colour, purple. You should check them out, you'll find them at Thicket

They also have all the stuff from my new hero, Jo Sharp. Her patterns are beautiful and I have been drooling over them for the last two months. So far I've made the cotton socks, as mentioned in a previous post, and a simple mohair scarf (see below) from her books and have a massive wish list of things of hers to make. If only there were a few more hours in the day and and endless supply of money!!

Where does the time go?

Has it really been nearly two weeks since I was last here, I've been too busy enjoying everyone else's blogs rather than trying to think of something to add to my own - lazy me!!

I've been spending more time knitting and researching new projects, with my dreams and potential stash growing by the day. On the needles currently there is another pair of socks as a birthday gift, they should have been finished this weekend but it wasn't to be. There's also my first attempt at a cardigan (for a baby, I thought I'd try my luck on something small before I try for a grown up version). So far so good, they're looking nice.

Not much else is happening, just my usual routine of taking the toddler son to swimming and music classes, and the always expanding list of new dinner recipes is getting a good work out. Two current faves are Nigella Lawson's Pollo Alla Cacciatora from 'Good Food Fast' and Donna Hay's Cheat's Chorizo Paella from the June/July 08 issue - we had that for dinner tonight in fact, yum yum.

Oh happy day

I was so happy yesterday, my new stash came in the mail...two new pattern books and enough yarn to make three scarves (unless I change my mind and decide to add to the stash and make something else that is). I also managed to finish my first pair of socks, a simple design that folds in half to be sewn up the sides, and I also started one of the scarves from the newly arrived mohair. Interesting to work with when you're an inexperienced knitter but I'm getting there, a good 30cm or so last night in front of the Tour de France. All in all a satisfying day.

I'm a knitaholic...

I've been knitting away and in the last two weeks have finished the scarf for myself and a beanie for the husband that loves beanies (picture to come). Next project is to try some easy looking socks, we'll see how they go, have enough wool for three pairs and a couple of birthdays coming up for people so if the socks are any good they'll be given away. I've been having so much fun trying these different things, and am constantly flicking through patterns to work out what to do next. One day I want to tackle making a dinosaur toy for my son who is steadily gaining an interest in them thanks to Peppa Pig's little brother George.

Gotta go, the fingers are itching to start on the socks!

A new day....

I'm back.....I've been voraciously looking at other people's blogs for it must be months now, thinking to myself, I should get going on my own blog. So, take two, I'm back and will make a concerted effort to keep making posts.

What have I been up to besides peeking into other people's lives via their blogs? I've taken up knitting and have quickly become obsessed. In the space of two weeks I have made my husband a scarf, have started another for myself and have plans for a few other projects in the works.

While looking at all of the fantastic, creative blogs I've been inspired to start something for myself and I knew that if I left it to me I wouldn't get anywhere so I figured a structured craft like knitting is, for me, a good thing. My friends think I'm crazy, but if it keeps me happy and relaxed it can only be a positive outcome, and I'll have something to show for it! I can see it now, hand knitted presents for everyone!!!

An engrossing day

Yesterday I caught the end of a morning tv show and the host closed with "Have an engrossing day". It got me thinking, how could I have such a day? It's not that easy when you're at home with a toddler, have to do the laundry, clean the bathroom, cook dinner, etc. etc. All I could come up with was an inspiration to create a post here on my new blog!!! It would be interesting to see if I am able to find something each day to become engrossed with, or in, besides my ever changing little boy who is, I must admit, incredible to watch. I know I sound like a biased Mum, but I figure that's my job. If I could do something out of the ordinary each day it would be an amazing feat. Here goes....

Virgin post

Well, I've gone ahead and done it, I've started my own blog. I've been compulsively checking out blogs for a little while now and I've been inspired to try it for myself so here goes. Not going to promise too much to begin with as I'm not too sure what kind of direction I'm going to take with it, lets just see what happens and if anyone decides to join me on my ride.