Knitting with the Monsters...

2007-10-14T19:45:00.000+01:00

ALLY PALLY!!!!!

Well, despite initially saying the words "yarn diet", I succumbed to the draw of all that yarn in one place. I took M and went - she was much better than expected! The show, of course was great. I only gotta few small things...

Wool for a hat that M picked out herself. She loves the color and when she is showing it off (as she did to daddy), she put it on her head saying Mommy makes me a hat! How cute is that?

Sublime - dk (the top two) and aran(the yummy chocolatey one)
6 balls in each color for more kiddie sweaters...

The cardigan I was knitting for Maddie - finished and drying! I've done the neck ribbing and tried to put in one of the sleeves... which I knit the cap wrong on. So I've had to rippppp that off and will reknit...

I love love love this kit - my best friend is having a wee one in March so I'm going ahead once I know if it's a girl or boy, I get to knit!

<---------- If you haven't been here yet, go!
socktopus !!!

We have a skein each in the orange and pinky orange to make socks for the little ones and some somoko (merino, silk and something else) for mememememe

And that's our picturetastic post for now. I must go finish work on the blue sweater - I refuse to touch any new wool until I do!!!

Oh and I'm number 877 on the ravelry waiting list...

2007-09-30T20:34:00.000+01:00

Patience

Well I'm down to a mere 4 digits in waiting for Ravelry. I'm currently 8543 in like with nearly as many people behind me. 53% of the list has been invited... It's not FAIR!!! I wish I'd known about this thing earlier, I'd definetly have signed up in June and be in by now... ah well. I'll just have to wait. The only good thing is knowing there are 8000 people who will wait longer than me, lol.

On the knitting front, I feel I have had some sort of breakthrough with the Digger success. I keep getting compliments on the sweater when he wears it and it just makes me so proud! I want to make more so I can, ahem, encourage (some might say force) Maddie to wear something too. She's quite jealous of Jamie's sweater, she was extremely grumpy the day I finished it and kept wanting it to be Maddie's sweater.

So I thought making her a new one might help. I chose a new sweater - one from Rowan's new Little Knits book (Kite, for those interested...) and a different yarn to the All Season's Cotton suggested - the last sweater which she is currently refusing to wear is in ASC and besides the fact I have loads, I wanted something warmer for her since she tends to get chilly during winter. This evening, for example, DH made the bath a little cooler than normal and she had blue lips. Jamie had red cheeks. But I digress.

One of the things she kept saying was that Maddie wanted a blue sweater. So I went up to the stash room and started poking about, having a think about what could work and what I had enough of. I've had a stern talk with myself about using up the stash lately, I tend to finish so little and start so much, not to mention BUY so much, and I'm ready to try to remedy that. Unfortunatly I don't have that much blue. Just like I don't have that much pink. I tend to force myself to not fall into that stereotype of blue=boys, pink=girls. Ironic, then, that Jamie's sweater is blue, no? Whilst rifling through everything I found a bag of Kid Classic that had been bought at a Liberty sale about 2 years ago. I hate going to those sales, I never really need to get anything and then feel compelled, having trekked all that way, to get something. Then I get two or three bags and sometimes it just molders (and molders).

But now, one less bag moldering. It's perfect, too. It's Iced Jade, a pretty bright aqua (BLUE), and it's light, and just about the right gauge (not that I swatched. If it's too big, who cares, she's 3 and she will grow. Oh the freedom of knitting for someone who grows!). One sleeve down, one halfway there. I discovered this technique some years ago - sleeves first. Being someone who suffers terribly from finishphobia, the sleeves are the worst bit. They take forever, especially when it's just stockinette and it's just about getting them done. The challenge of the pattern or detailing on the front/back is over, the love has usually faded into the dim and distant past, and I've got 3 other things more important to knit. But if I do the sleeves first? Well they seem to take less time, and I'm still aching to get on with the main knitting.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes. For now Maddie is excited, "Mummy is making Madddie sweater!" so I'm trying to knit like the wind. For god only knows how much the attention will hold if I don't knit fast, and then once her attention is gone (poor hearts sweater), the willingness to wear goes with it.

At least Jamie doesn't seem to notice OR care what he wears. Is this a boy thing or a 1.5yr old thing?

2007-09-25T16:42:00.000+01:00

The Digger Sweater

This is undoubtably my favorite project so far for children's knits. Well, second favorite, my first being the matinee coat I made for J just before he was born. I seem to recall blogging on this sweater when the first panel was drying (but I might not have, let's just say there is a blogging black hole for the last year... I've photographed stuff and written posts in my head that never made it to the the actual typewritten stage...), which was back in March-ish - just checked, it was March!

The knitting was done in between other more important and still unfinished works, socks, scarves, etc. Then we had the summer-that-never-was, and I decided he needed something to keep the chill off. So when we went on holiday in August I took the yarn to make the sleeves with. Finally I had my chance, some child free time which was surprisingly rare, and wouldn't you know it - I didn't pack any 4.0mm needles. But I found I'd thought some 3.75mm circulars were 4.0mm(it is a mere/.25mm difference!) and thought, eh, won't make a difference!
Ah hahahahaha you laugh to yourself! Yes, you're right, it DID make a difference. Not too much, just you know, about 1.5inches of sleeve legnth. I realised this when I finally got a tape measure and measured poor J's arms, and realised that I was indeed an idiot, and that there was also no way the width was going to fit the arm socket. So I improvised, picked up the cast off stitches again, added the length which magically fixed the issue with the width.
Other that that (and fidgetting with the seaming of the armholes), it was smooth sailing. This is also the first finished item since Ling and I took a finishing course from Debbie Ahbrams at Stash. Well worth the money already!

So, stats: Digger Sweater from Rowan's Miss Bea's Colors. Can't say enough about how much I love this series of patterns. All simple and effective!
Started March 2007
Finished Sept 2007
actual time spent knitting - about a 2 weeks
Made with Rowan Wool Cotton, shade Aloof, about 4-5 balls. 3.25mm, 3.75mm, and 4.0mm(for main body) addi turbo, straights and circulars.

Jamie seems like he likes it! I've already gotten several comments from total strangers about how nice it looks! Needless to say I am quite chuffed about this sweater. I just hope this is a sign of things to come, more finished stuff.

<----- Don't you like the seams on this? I'm so impressed. This sweater makes most of my previous efforts look like pretty dire amateur work...

I just love the details on this sweater as well, like the open vents on the bottom where the ribbing is, and the few rows of garter to delineate where the circles start.

Also, surprisingly this is my first knit item that I have made with wool cotton. Love, love, LOVE this stuff! Will definitely be looking for something to make for Maddie with it as well. I've had my eye on the sweater that's the front cover of Miss Bea's Colors (the Fleur cardigan). One of the mummies at M's new school has a little girl wearing it in the color called Hiss, it is adorable. Is it bad that I can recognise most Miss Bea's patterns a mile away (and Rowan yarn/shades...) ?

Anyhow, that's my latest knit item. Unless you count the new sweater M's Big Bird is sporting. M picked out the yarn herself - some orange acrylic, I mean 'microfibre'. She got very upset when I finished J's sweater, saying she wanted Big Bird's sweater too. So, as the upsetness included tears, 24hrs later a custom made (sleeves are wing-shaped) sweater. I will post a pic as it's too funny not to!

On the needles at the moment is a new sweater for M - a warm one in Kid Classic's discontinued shade of Iced Jade. Does anyone else feel like yarn colors are decidedly more sombre these days? Just take a look at the shade card for Kid Classic - it's boring and dark. Ah well. I've got lots of discontinued wacky colors - 4ply soft in Goblin - about 15 balls of that! What I'll do with it is beyond me. Didn't they initially do 4ply soft as a replacement for Botany? And now most of the 4ply is also sombre. Where's my Wink! ? Where's that lovely darkish purple? And bright turquoise? It's all dark and mud. yelch. also thank god for ebay!!!

Okay, well my steak dinner has arrived on a tray for us to eat in bed. How decadent. Life at the moment is good:)

2007-09-19T13:14:00.000+01:00

I.Am.A.Bad.Blogger.

So it's been a mere 5 months since my last post. I keep meaning to... take the pictures... then don't.

Ah well. I'm not going to witter here about the whys, it's boring enough just thinking about it! Let's just say I'm still coming out of a dark tunnel, I can see the light even!

Onto bigger and better things. Here we have Maddie's birthday sweater that was in my last post. It is the Hearts Sweater that I am not quite sure if I posted pictures of in progress... I seem to have an inkling that I posted in progress pictures of it and the digger sweater that is also very nearly finished. Gawd sometimes it is sooo easy to start and finish the first 80% of things... WHY is the last 20% so painful? The sleeves. The blocking. The sewing up. The neckband. These things alone I don't mind. It's just saying well the knitting is done, now all I have to do is... The digger sweater which is so lovely and perfect as been sitting with the knitting done. Well nearly - I realised that I need to add length to the sleeves but only if I want to - they're bound off.

ah well. So I'm currently in the middle of the neckband on Digger, as well as fixing the sleeve length which will mean blocking the sleeves again... I could leave them but it'd be obvious every time I see it... like the one 1/2 row where I picked up some stitches after ripping out and knit it all wonky. But that's on the back. Or where I bound off the front neck not-in-the-pattern and then have a line where I picked up for the neckband (artistic decision).

and whilst I am working on that I am also going wild and sort of designing my first sweater for Maddie. While on another (hellish holiday) I found a lovely little knitting shop called Sea Needles. We went to Rehoboth/Dewey Beach, in Delaware. As far as beaches go, it's my fave - I used to go when I was a little girl and it brought back the same memories. Only when we went, it didn't rain. Yes, that's right. We went to the beach for 7 days, and it rained for 4 of them. Falls into the F*&^ing FIGURES catagory in my book.

But I digress. Sea Needles was a lovely little place that had all sorts of sweet stuff like minnowknits patterns as well as aranciana ( why is that so hard for me to spell let alone pronounce?). I got 5 skeins in this glorious colorway that has aquas, peaches, and rose. The staff were very friendly and initially I only bought one simple pattern and a few balls of Louisa Harding (yes I get the irony that technically I'm bringing it back home!), I went back later when I found much to my dismay that the other store in the area which was near the boardwalk in Rehoboth (not plugging it) had SAID they had Lorna's Laces, only to have a scant 5 or 6 skeins. Some sock wool, and literally 4 skeins of Helen's Lace. Not only that but the ladies in the shop, one of whom was tutoring another lady, were not the friendliest I've come across.

Now here's a question. Have you (anyone there?) ever been in a yarn store, or just anywhere else where someone is knitting or teaching knitting, and just found that you want to jump in? This lady who worked at the store was 'old school'. Now we've all experienced these types of ladies, like my MIL who has been knitting since she was 11, mostly with whatever was available or cheapest.

But this old schooler was being decidedly useless for someone who obviously been knitting for quite some time AND whose JOB it partially is to provide wisdom to carry on the craft. And yet I heard her saying to this other (surprisingly) older lady whom she was tutoring, "I can't tell you how to hold the yarn. People usually just figure that part out on their own." Jeeeyyysus. An integral part of how successful this newbie knitter is going to be (because gawd-dammit the way you hold the yarn IS important!!!) is dependant on this crabby useless old crust of a woman (who was rude to me as well, making her even more than useless)

Makes my blood boil. So I'm sure you're asking whether or not I jumped in? No, I wimped out, mainly because I DID teach myself and it slowed me down for the first 5 years. I mean slow. The type of 'I wish I'm known' slow. you know, the type where I tried to knit a sweater and it took me an entire semester of knitting in classes (lectures) to get... about 30 rows. But I still don't understand how you're supposed to hold the yarn so that you control the tension. I think they call it throwing the yarn. Ah well.

Poor newbie knitter. I feel your pain. I learned to knit from a book! Took me 2 weeks to cast on! No one showed me either! and yet I wonder if I'd taken the trouble to take a class or ask someone who was a knitter who, of course was nice, if it wouldn't have been so painful.

The question remains: why does it seem like the older generation is so unable to teach us at times? They can seem (not trying to outwardly insult an entire generation) almost to be of the mindset 'well no one taught me, why should I help you?' My answer? Because when you were struggling at my age, wondering what in the hell you were doing wrong, wouldn't you have wanted to know too?

Wow, talk about all over the place. I was trying to tell you about the sweater I'm designing, not to discuss generational issues. Okay so one of my favorite knits I've ever done was the matinee jacket I made for Jamie when he was a tiny baby. Way before I blogged and since he's a whopping 35lbs versus the 8-10lbs when he wore it, there aren't any on him shots. But it was luverly, I used RYC baby cashsoft and it was a pale aqua. So when I picked up my argentinian wool I thought of that jacket, but also of garter stitch for the skirt part since it's such a lovely rustic type of chunky wool. And I said to myself, self you can design something similar to ther jacket with its adorable pleats, how hard can it be?

Famous last words. Pretty darn difficult. But the good news is that the skirt is knit, and since I'm knitting on 6.5mm needles for the bodice, and it's a grueling 22 rows and 18 stitches across to the neckline, I can rip rip rip out those mistakes. I've probably ripped the half with the buttonholes about 6 times now. But I think I'm nearly done. It just better fit is all I can say and she better wear it - I have visions of the ballerina sweater she refused to touch. Then it's finishing the back which is loads easier not needing buttonholes. After that... the sleeves. I'm contemplating picking up stitches and knitting downwards, but we'll see.

And that is more than plenty. Since the pics are on the other computer, I'll see about having a picture-tastic post next time. (not in 5 months, either!)

2007-04-15T20:37:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday Maddie!!!

I can't believe it's been another year. I do recall it's vaguely my blogiversary as well... one of my first posts was a birthday post with Maddie and her orange and pink striped hooded cardigan that I made in time for her birthday last year.
Her birthday this year means another sweater, and almost FO. No pictures as of yet due to unfinished sleeve/side seams, and an unusually beautifully hot day for my little girl's birthday. It's a welcome first as all her birthdays (including her Birth day) have always been cloudy, rainy, or cold. Not today! It was beautiful, lovely weather. See?

Of course you knew I wouldn't post without a picture (I try not to, at least, my writing definetly isn't interesting enough to linger for...) so here's some to prove I'm not biased against the little man... he just usually doesn't stay still enough!

Now then. Onto more knitting news and a proper knitting post...

So NYC.

Because I didn't premise the last post, I'll tell whomever y'all out there are about it. I mentioned a few posts ago that my friend Ling and I wanted to go away for a weekend together to knit and not have the husband and kids around. We planned for the spring/summer/fall, and it was somewhat of a yes we should and let's eventually type of thing. Then Ling found out she was expecting baby number 3. Which means now there's a bit of a deadline because my little man is 16 months and there was no way I would have left him the first year. So we agreed to go for it, and with both of our lovely dh's support (and ££) we booked our trip in between family obligations.

So onto what happened..

Wow. What is there to be said that someone else hasn't said better about New York city? There's so much to love about New York. It's like a little slice of America that's not too jarring from the UK for me. After being in London for over 6 years, I'll admit I've gotten used to being in a big city. I like it (most of the time...). I love feeling like I'm in the hustle and bustle, love the shopping, always find the people interesting, especially as London't such a melting pot of cultures.

And New York is like that. I find when I go home to visit the folks once or twice a year, it's so difficult for me to re-adjust to all the driving. My parents now live out in somewhat the somewhat rural eastern shore of Maryland. And it's 40 minutes to the outlets. An hour and a half to Annapolis. To visit my friends it's a bigger driving nightmare. And although I drive 30-45 minutes depending on traffic ONE WAY to drop Maddie off at school, it's city traffic which isn't as wearing as high speed long distance driving can be.

The thing about a big city (I am getting to knitting, honest) is that yes, there's plenty of traffic (gah! the horror of the traffic!) in London, but there is Public Transport. Might not work perfectly, but the option of train, cab, tube, bus is there, as is walking. New York is the same way. So if you want to be lazy (and you have no prams or not alot to carry) you don't HAVE to drive. It's also such a fabulous way to see some of the city's culture that they don't nessacerily show in the guidebooks...

So we arrived at our hotel, gasped at the size of the room which was as big as the double bed (not lying), and went straight out to the mecca that is... PurlSoho. I had so many things on my list - about 8 or 9 projects. The dh gave me a generous budget, and so, yes, I Splurged. There was alpaca. There was cashmere. There was also some Cascade, both Luna and 220. In the end I walked out with two bulging bags. I should point out here that I bought enough for the Ombre Alpaca blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (by the owners of Purl!), which was 41 skeins. That took up ALOT of space and made me look like a yarn piggy. Which, okay, I AM.

On the way back to the hotel, we made the important decision to ask if there were any other rooms available. I-don't-care-what-it-costs. And we got a suite. Which was a nice sitting room, and a bedroom the same size as our old room. It madeit sooo nice to have a place to knit. I'll admit here that I didn't actually knit as much as I wanted to. I was Distracted by the yarn. I was Distracted by Having No Kids around and being able to do Whatever I Wanted to. By having another adult around whom I'm not married to. It was nice. I had fun. Lots. I missed the kids and the dh, but every time I thought 'I wish they were here', I mentally smacked myself and reminded myself of the nightmare it would have been, and I was grateful to be alone.

The other places we visited were the PointNYC, which was really great. I think actually we visited after Purl. We were yarned out (hell I know my chequebook was) so we went in, gazed lovingly at the yarn, sat in their lovely cafe with a red velvet cupcake (for me) and water for us both, read magazines, and chatted to the other knitters around. For me, it was heaven. Being connected to everyone because hey, I can do that too and what are you working on? and where are you from? and the best - do you have a blog? We met a lovely lady whose address I DO have, I just have to find it on the back of a business card... but when I do I'll link to her! and saw a knitting group working on their weekly projects. THEN we went back and changed rooms.

Saturday I met up with an old college friend and her husband, and did loads of not yarn shopping. And lots and lots of walking. I wish I'd taken the subway, but I wasn't quite confident enough for that, and hey, I stupidly thought, it's only a few more blocks (cough, miles...) to the hotel! Had a nice afternoon and then went out to dinner with Ling to Asia de Cuba, recommended by the loving and amazing dh (and paid for!). I've been to the one in London (one of my favorite places when I ate without children) and it was just as good, only the portions were, let's just say, Bigger. And I got two pork dishes (duh!) when there was loads more to choose from. Sometimes I suffer from overload. Ah well, it was good anyhow.

Sunday we lazed about, found breakfast, and then went to Knitty City. Lovely place, helpful ladies, and lotsa knitters. It was crowded for a late Sunday morning. Something else I love about America... no Sunday trading laws. Thank God for that! I held myself back and 'only' got some Handmaiden Sea Wool - for socks!!!, and a project for Mads and Jamie. Not sure if the project for Mads will happen but the color of the wool is lovely. Actually, I think we went to Knitty City on Saturday. (never mind. we went).

I had a funny moment whilst there - I thought I spotted brooklyntweed. There was a guy with a similar build sewing up a sweater. Could Have Been! I didn't make an ass out of myself or anything, but kept browsing, and as I was next to the books session, he was asking someone about blocking his sweater he was seaming. Which of course meant there was no way in hell it could be mr tweed, as we all know (well if you don't then read his blog) what a technical guru he is... there's no way he'd be considering blocking a wool sweater by steaming it on a hanger in his bathroom!

Okay now that I realise we weren't there Sunday, I remembered we chilled out Sunday, did a touch more shopping and headed to the airport earlier than planned. Which was good because of TRAFFIC.

And that, is enough for today. If you're still reading. I'm going to bed!

2007-04-03T14:26:00.000+01:00

NYC!!!

Well Ling and I had a great trip this past weekend to New York City. No kids, No husband. Lots and Lots of yarn and shopping.

We made it to the knitting mecca that is Purlsoho, as well as The Point NYC, and Knitty City. I'll be posting more (editing this post, probably) later, but I just wanted to see if I could have just oneee post whose comments were allowed. Duh.

2007-03-13T22:40:00.000Z

One of my first successful pictures of Maddie as taken with my 4x5 camera. There are, of course, about 5 or 6 pictures out of focus, badly exposed, or just bad, but this one works (minus the weird line on the couch in the background).

Yes, yes, it's a knitting blog too...

I have stalled on the hearts sweater. I am just at the heart that I planned on doing with the hot pink Blue Sky Alpacas dyed cotton, and I've done just about the whole heart... two or three different times. And it's just not working. If this was another sweater or the other part of the sweater hadn't been as perfect, I'd just have said hell I'll just keep going. But I want it to look better than that. Of course the other problem being that the nicer the weather, the more I want to get out in our garden and do as much as I can before I'm forced by one or both kids needing my attention...

Off to Malta on Saturday. Am taking the hearts and digging sweaters and hoping for the best. 10 days of no housework, no cooking... maybe I'll get somewhere with these sweaters. And when I get back, a few days later Ling and I are off to NYC!!!!! Home of the mecca we all know as Purlsoho... I want to spend the trip knitting for memememememememe...

And if you're not lucky I might have to bore my huge HUGE audience (well I know of at least ONE person who reads...) I might post more of my favorite piccies...

2007-03-07T10:18:00.000Z

Pictures - FINALLY!!

See, I promised I'd try to show some pictures of what I'm Knitting, for a change...
At the moment I'm having monogamy issues, so instead of showing half a finished sweater, I've got two back pieces of two sweaters. The doldrums are forcing me to do every other piece... I'm now working my way through a dark pink front!

Here we have Digging Sweater from the Miss Bea's Colours
Knit in Rowan Wool Cotton, shade called 'Aloof'

And this is Hearts Sweater from the same book, in All Season's Cotton, which I adore. This is the color Kiss, long discontinued (4 or 5 years ago). I originally made a sleeve of this sweater for another little girl who is way to large for it, and not into pink hearts either. I found out that I loved this color and it was discontinued and at the time searched everywhere until I found it at a craft store. I got 7 skeins even though at the time I knew I only needed 6, just to be sure! I feel good knitting this up for Maddie, she'll love it! I'm going to add some intarsia on the front piece, a bright pink heart for a little bit of fun, then use the same color for the collar and cuffs of the sleeves. The dark pink is, well, too dark!

I don't know why I can't seem to stay interested in knitting anything for myself long enough to finish it. I could have finished half if not more of my SKB if I'd been working on it, but I haven't. Maybe when I go to NYC with Ling I'll take something to knit for me? Maybe finish that other sock, which is sister to the pair I knit for my mom? Oh I don't know... there are sooo many cute sweaters in these Miss Bea books that I want to knit. And what's more I have like most of the wool for the all seasons cotton ones... I could literally knit every sweater in the book I'm working in, and be happy. But I'm not that sad... am I?

I should go for now. The now walking Jamie is bored and pulling down everything he can find from every height. Oh joy...

2007-02-28T10:30:00.000Z

I think it's fair to say that I've got the winter blahs. It's lasted, well, most of the winter. But now that spring is almost here, well it's even worse. I keep wanting to start new projects, and do one piece, and then want to move on. For example, I've knit one sock in Kissed. I've made the back piece for a sweater for Maddie in All Seasons Cotton. I'm trying to finish the hood on a cardigan for Jamie (finishing for Tamsin who can't knit at the moment), and working on the back of a hooded jumper for Jamie/Maddie (my god they're the same size, they can share!) in Summer Tweed. And have like so many other things I want to do... And I've stalled on my simple knitted bodice and a sock I started for my dad. Not to mention the scarf I was trying to knit for DH in DB superchunky cashmerino.

I'm also trying to change my template so it can be more interesting. Cuz maybe that'll mean I blog more? But I'm stuck. My short online HTML authoring course 7 years ago isn't enough to help me navigate the newfangled internet languages. That and my lack of brainpower these days, I'm lost (hence why it's green now instead of pink).

And today's random idea is to knit myself some rugs - for the kitchen and the utility room. I'm still trying to figure out why I don't just BUY one...

I wish it was spring. I need to get out into the garden and put my hands in dirt. It needs to stop being grey and rainy. Maybe this is a little Seasonal Affective Disorder? We're supposed to be going to Malta in two weeks but we don't know. The tickets and hotel are already booked and paid for. But DH might have to be here for a business trip. might. Can't I just go and leave him with the kids? Oh right, that's my trip at the end of March. (yeay!!!) Maybe I should buy a sun lamp or go to a tanning booth?

Anyhow, it is my solemn promise (to me) is to attempt to post more often. More than once a month. So I'll have more than 12 posts a year...

2007-02-09T15:13:00.000Z

This was yesterday! We had about 4 inches of snow, here just in Dulwich! It was supposed to turn to rain and stop at 8am but didn't until almost 1pm. Now of course there's not much left at all, but it was so pretty for the less than 12 hours it was here.

What else? Well I've got so many pictures but am holding back whilst I try to finish some things. I'm currently working on a pair of socks for myself in the same pattern as the last ones, but this time it's the colourway Kissed from Sweet Georgia. I just adore her colors and the bigger yarn is soooo quick for socks. What with the weather, instant gratification is my type of knitting.

Today I dyed for the first time. Not my hair, yarn! I got this cone of 100% cotton chenille natural colored back in college (god we're going back almost 10 yrs now...) from my favorite yarn store. Back then I was just teaching myself how to knit, and fell in love with a Rowan pattern called Pee Wee that was in cotton chenille. It was the magazine with the girl in a green sweater and Liberty print skirt, leaning against a wall and laughing. Anyhoo at that point in time my affections were being wasted on a guy whom I had a crush on. He recieved my first hat (Fiber Trends pattern number one, the felted hat) which is a whole other story, and I decided to knit him a sweater. Now hard could it be?

Well I bought the first cone of chenille and it wasn't enough to complete the sweater and so they ordered another cone for me. Later when I came to pick it up they swore up and down that I'd paid for it, whilst I was convinced I hadn't. They checked their records, checked and checked again. I didn't want to just take something that wasn't mine. (honest, moi?) The funny thing is that by the time I picked up the second cone, my crush had faded, but my love of knitting hadn't. All these years later and I've still got that brand new 2kg cone of undyed chenille, sitting on my shelf, wasting away. Til now.

I was watching Nick Jr. with my kids and started seeing the film trailers for Charlotte's Web. And there's a short snippet of a scene in which the lead (human) character, Fern is walking the pig around town in a buggy (pram, pushchair, whichever you want to call it). And she's wearing this yellow cardigan. And I just thought, ooh that would look amazing on Maddie. Except for that I can't find the color I like. Or yarn. So decided to try my own luck with dying. And then I remembered the Procion MX starter dye kit that I got at Alexandra Palace. And so now I have dyed chenille drying in my kitchen!

Honest, will post piccies later. Promise. Only my first try... well... it's not yellow. They had 6 colors, and the yellow was vivid yellow. and I wanted a softer yellow. So I added a smidgen (litterally, I have these spoons labeled pinch, dash, and smidgen) of scarlet. I just wanted to warm it up some! But it's sort of a peachy orangey yellow color. My plan is to dry it, and knit up some samples. Hey, and one interesting tidbit I learned from the Charlotte's website (no pun intended) was that Dakota Fanning, the lead human character, lists knitting as one of her hobbies! Not bad for a 12yr old.

So that's as much of my ramble as I'll allow for today.

Happy Knitting:)

2007-01-29T22:05:00.000Z

Hello, neglected blog reader… Well I thought I’d start off with a little FO for the day:

These are (hopefully) on their way via Royal Mail to my mum in the states as a thank you for helping out at Christmas. They’re also a slightly belated Christmas gift, but I’m sure when her feet are all toasty she won’t care that they were late!

Knitted with Sweet Georgia Speed Demon Sock yarn, color English Bay. Pattern is my own, based on the Sell Your Sole pattern with a link on the Sweet Georgia website. I modified it to include the sweet little cable which is on both sides of the sock, then instead of the flat toe, made it with a round toe. This is the third time I’ve used this pattern as a base, I think by the next modification, it’ll only barely resemble it’s ancestor pattern!

In other knitting news I am nearly finished the top part of the simple knitted bodice. I’m using Malabrigo, which is absolutely amazing. I’m warming my chilly hands underneath the fabric as I knit when I get cold. I wish I could wear it, NOW, but I still have 2/3 left to knit. I’m not so sure about the lace panel, but I’ll soldier on. I’m looking forward to joining and knitting in the round. I LOVE knitting in the round.

Not much else to tell. Christmas is over. Winter has set in. We actually had snow in London. We’ve booked a vacation in Malta for March. Come on Spring!!!

Enough babbling. Night.

2006-12-26T21:02:00.000Z

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sorry I've been so awful at updating - can't believe it's been almost two months... yikes! In that time I've survived a trip on my own with two kids to the states for two weeks, and done loads and loads to the house. My little man celebrates his first birthday in 4 days, and along with his birthday we celebrate the good news that he doesn't need surgery on his kidney next year!

Christmas this year has been interesting with my parents here for 10 days and my inlaws here until tomorrow. This has been somewhat stressful however everything is as clean as it can possibly be and organised too! My dad is very much a doing man so every single project I want to do is up for grabs! Parents are wonderful sometimes...

ON the knitting front, there has been loads of activity. I finished the other sock from the last post, and am 1/2 done with the last sock of another pair. There's been a hat for Jamie which ended up as Maddie's hat, and mittens for her to match. I've just started the second sock to the toddler sock from ages ago in Lorna's Laces Desert Flower...

My New Year's resolution is to finish all, er, most, okay some of my WIPs. There's my nephew's cardigan in Calmer, 1/3 done, the other part to my tank top in Posh Yarns, the other sleeve and seam to Jamie's organic cotton vest, the end to the linen washcloth... oh not too many others, really... (no, really)

Along with my parents came more Malabrigo in glazed carrot. I'm going to hopefully going to make myself a simple knitted bodice (fingers crossed)...

Anyhow, that's me at the moment. Like I said here's to wishing everyone a happy new year and hope everyone has survived christmas!

:)

ps... am going to the Liberty sale tomorrow, yeay!!!

2006-11-06T23:11:00.000Z

SOCKS!!!

Here is my very first adult sized sock!!! Included for your laughter is a close-up of the crappiest kitchener stitch - ever.

Sweet Georgia Speed Demon sock Yarn, colorway Fondant. Crappy images of the actual colors of the yarn - this short post is really to let everyone know I finished a sock!!!

Tension was between 3.25 and 3.o mm, at different times, knit with both dpns and 2 circulars.

Ribbed cuff down to heel flap were both knitted with 3.25mm - single circular because I couldn't find another one. I taught myself and it's quite easy! Got to the heel flap and needed more needles, and not being able to find my 3.25 dpns, for some reason assumed .25mm didn't make much difference, and knit flap in that. Got to gusset with 3.0mm dpns, tried it on and gee whiz, it was snug. So instead of either a) ripping out and getting 3.25s to do this whole thing properly, or b) just continuing to knit with 3.25s (becauase by this point have LOST the 3.25mm circular), I put the sock on my 12in 3.0mm addi, increased 3 st each side, thus creating a 'feature' out of the sudden increase. In my head it made sense.

Knit until I thouhgt I needed to start toe, found the 3.25mm since circular, and finished toe. All of a sudden when I tried it on near the end of decreasing for toe, have found that a) the decreases look REALLY sharp, and b)it's too small to fit my foot. Can we say WALLY? Of course as is the theme here, instead of ripping out, have decided that since my sister is owed a pair of socks and loved Desert Flower which is a Lorna's Laces colorway, I'll give her these. Oops hopefully she isn't still reading this, or forgotten I have a blog!

Next sock I PROMISE will be more 'professional'. Oh and I won't even mention how crap the kitchener stitch is.

Nuf said.

But it's MINE and it's DONE!!! Two rare things:)

2006-10-14T14:52:00.000+01:00

Much Better

Well house is now cleaner, I am much calmer. And have had a 'chat' with the man, so hopefully will need to rant less (but not holding my breath). Am going back to Ally Pally with Ling tomorrow to see if there are any bargains or anything that I just NEED. I'm thinking some Cascade 220 as there are like a bunch of stuff I'm interested in felting. The kittens need cat beds, for instance. Also neeed (well want, but y'all know what I mean) to see if I can find any bargains so I can start my rug. I need 30-40 strands and well I don't want to kill off ALL of my project wool at once.

I've learned my lesson and will wear trainers and a backpack;)

Stay tuned for piccies of my spoils...

2006-10-13T22:12:00.000+01:00

ALLY PALLY!!!

Whew. What a day. First time it seems in ages everyone had a day out and not all together! I went on my own to the knitting and stitching show, and the kiddies went to the zoo with Tamsin.

Ally Pally was great. Bought lots of sock wool. Yum. Also bought huge needles to make myself a rug or two (or three). More about this later.

Then I have to walk home - we live on a 'hill' which is really city speak for ohmygod-its-a-small-mountain, and having joyfully taken the train which was a nice ride home, I had to walk about a mile. Up'hill'. Bad thing about today was that when everyone left this morning the house was a wreck (not lying, either, it was a pigsty). I hate coming home to a mess. And... its still a pigsty.

Pet peeve of the day no.12098: Why do men never call? Dh (which today no longer stands for dear husband... subsitute dumbass or some other mean term of your own) was on an overnight last night. Which is fine. But didn't leave where he was, didn't take a phone charger, and showed up at home at 830pm. And has the nerve to say he's tired (oh, my back is killing me, he whined) after a grueling day of 'team building' which was nothing more than an excuse to have a team conference and spend the later part of the day playing football (oh, i have soooo many bruises) and then driving home (I got stuck in traffic, and my phone is dead. I tried using my blackberry to call but you didn't pick up. -because I was feeding and bathing our children, moron- what was I supposed to do?). Whoop de f*()ing do. Any other normal not thoughtless person would have either called EARLIER IN THE DAY, taken their charger, or sent and email with the blackberry they tried calling from - any of these, to tell me not to expect him until late. But not dh.

And then has the nerve to get angry when I say he needs to change the cat litter, feed the cats and listen/take care of the kids for the night. Since, you know, he hasn't done ANYTHING for anyone else other than himself in over 48 hours. Must be nice. And all of this because why? Because he couldn't find any way of communicating with his family since 11am yesterday morning. I get TIRED of being the ONLY caregiver for two small children and two kittens. (yes I know I have Tamsin during the day, but I'm talking about being the Ultimate responsibility here) I ask all you mothers out there: when was the last time you were able to go incommunicado for over 24 hrs when your children were/(or if they are) under 3? When do we get to flake and forget our chargers and not call - and expect everything to not fall to pieces? And I say to all you men: Must be Nice.

okay, rant over, really. And to anyone wanting to poke holes in my arguments, including my slightly more sane self, just leave it. I know my arguments are completely crap. But so is dh.

time to drool over my new purchases...

2006-10-09T08:14:00.000+01:00

PICTURES!!!

Ahhh here we are at last. Found our card reader. Images galore! So here we have he two boleros I made for my cousin and his wife who have just had twins. They also live in Southern California where it's not usually hot, so these were (hopefully) perfect!

Baby boleros from One Skein Wonder. Both in Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. Two different shades, one Sand, can't remember the other one. On 5mm needles. Started mid-August, mailed mid-September (wow, a personal record!) I learned how top knit slightly different (long story) between the two sweaters and so my gauge was off for the second (boy's) bolero. Hence the pale blue border - I RAN OUT of yarn! I mean used the last bit and just had enough to tie on the new yarn. Thankfully the blue is also blue sky cotton (dyed, obviously) from a Jamie's vest project. I think it adds a nice touch. I was assured I didn't need to run out and so the same for the girl's sweater so I just sent it. Hope they like em!

Next up is the back from my Mondo Cable Shell by chicknits. It's with my favorite cashmere cotton from Posh Yarns. This yarn is so lovely, I really like it. The variation in the color is purple with pink or blue. So lovely (clicking on the picture might or might not enlarge, so try it!) The knitting story about this one (related to why the bolero gauge was off) is that whilst on holiday, I sat down with Tamsin who wanted to know why my knitting looked so different to hers. Long story short it's because I taught myself to knit and so all of my knitting for the last 10 years has been twisted. You can see this in a closeup of any project - my stitches take on an odd v look to them instead of the nice u that they're supposed to be. So after learning the slightly better way to throw the yarn on a knit stitch (where I was differing), I was going to switch to my new method when I came home from holiday and continued the back of my sweater. Well, Ling kindly pointed out how odd it would look to switch stitches mid-garment, so I finished the back in my old method. How laborious! But she was right, it looks better that way. I did switch stitches on the booga bag I'm knitting - it's soooooooo obvious. Thank god I'm felting it (the booga, not the cable shell).

Not too much else exciting to tell. News, obviously, but this post is about knitting knitting so if I get loads of free time -yeah right- then I'll post more about everything else!

later:)

2006-09-30T19:53:00.000+01:00

What a WEEK!

Well after such a difficult start to the weekend, we had a pretty decent week. We had a hard time accepting the sudden death of Ziggy, as expected. We couldn't really figure out a way to tell Maddie, and more importantly we really wanted to do something positive to remember Ziggy. It wasn't as if he was an older cat, he was barely two. So we decided Sunday morning to look at kittens. And of course as anyone else who has ever done and looked at kittens knows, it was irresitable. So we came home on Sunday evening with two 9 week old sisters. We've called them Eva and Zsa Zsa after the infamous Gabor sisters.

Eva is the top piccie - white with really interesting tabby spots (as if you'd lifted bits off a striped tabby!) and Zsa Zsa is the bottom piccie who is a calico, mainly black and rust with a white front and white booties. They're completely adorable!

So that was Sunday and the rest of the week Tamsin's been here from early to late in the mornings, so it's been a productive week! I've done LOADS of sorting, everything from emptying boxes to organising my STASH(!!!) in the room that will be my craft room/ a guest room as well as hubby's dressing room/also a guest room. We both like it that we have a room each for our own things and then the room we sleep in is OUR room (well aside from the fact that it's where all of my clothes are organised).

Today we had Visitors. Always puts me in a frenzy (no matter who they are) because I hate it that there are still boxes everywhere. I want it all to be like I want it - NOW!!! Everywhere I look I see painting that needs to be done, bathrooms need to be fixed, the garden needs work... Sometimes I feel like everything about this house needs to be redone and when I wake up in the morning I feel like I can do it all and when I go to sleep I feel overwhelmed. I know, I know all in good time, etc etc. Part of me is enjoying every second that I unpack and organise but it's SUCH a big job!

Ah well...

On the knitting front, I'm trucking along with a new sock, using Lornas Laces whitewater colorway in just a plain stockinette.

I'm about 2 inches down from the cuff. Also making constant progress on my booga bag which is my watch the kids knit, when we're all down in the playroom. I'm almost in need of the second ball of wool!

I need to figure out what I'm going to knit for my nephew's second birthday. I've not knit anything before for him, but my sister likes to dress her boys in dark and boyish clothes so most of my stash sort of doesn't qualify. I like knitting sweaters with really dark colors for kids with a bright color in it somewhere, so my dk purple calmer and military green all seasons cotton both need another color, and alexandra palace is getting nearer and nearer - yeay!!!!!!

I'm now watching the second x-factor show of the day. I missed most of the first one - why they put it on at 6pm when loads of parents will be either having dinner or putting babies to sleep is beyond me!!!!!

More later, maybe
;)

2006-09-23T13:34:00.000+01:00

RIP Ziggy
October 2004 - October 2006

Today we got the news our beloved cat had an advanced stage of Feline AIDS. He went downhill very fast and I'm left feeling somewhat guilty that I thought he was just moping. This morning they thought there was a slim chance that it could be anaphalatic shock from a bite or something, but after getting off the phone 10 minutes ago, he is in a coma and it will be minutes before he's gone.

Ziggy was a lovely cat who was wonderful and affectionate and who suffered the most from our interment in the apartment. I wish we could have treated him better but it was the best we could do and he was so happy these last few weeks - I am glad for that. We love him and will mourn his passing. He was too young and I am only thankful that it illness didn't drag on.

2006-09-18T07:43:00.000+01:00

No Piccies - YET...

Well it seems like it's been ages since I did that last post! Actually it has been almost a month. Whew. Well it was only this past Friday that we even got internet access. God it took forever! But we have it now and it's probably better that the last two weeks here I've been able to concentrate on what was nessacery which was alot of organising and unpacking. I'm only halfway there due to Tamsin's absence the last week, but every day I get closer. And actually the fact that I've been able to do so much on my own leaves me feeling quite proud and feeling a bit like Suuuuuper-mommmy!

On the knitting front I've done a pullover vest of my own design for Jamie which needs one edge on a sleeve and one seam down the side. I can't believe how Lazy I've been not to finish that but it is what it is. I've also nearly finished the second of two baby boleros from One Skein for my cousin and his wife who have just had two 6lb twins (ouch!). I've just finished the back for my cable shell from chicknits (my first serious attempt at something solely for moi - that I've finished half of... I've tried before and finished one sleeve...) and am going to persevere with it as it's not even summer anymore! At least it'll be a warm layer for fall (is what I'm telling myself anyways)

Kiddies are doing well. Jamie has thrush in his mouth but otherwise is fine and getting so big and is quite ready to crawl. Madam is her old indestructable self and back to more successful potty training. You have to ask her alot and put her on the potty yourself but she prefers to wee/etc in the potty and not on the floor which obviously is step one.

The funny thing about having been on my own the last week is that I get a reality check on what it's like running a house and two kiddies. They really are a double act! If Maddie's done something like throwing food/drink/wee/poo on the floor, you have milliseconds before Jamie either tries to eat it or rolls into it. The eating of course being far worse when it's not food/drink and you find yourself running down the kitchen screaming NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! so you don't have to figure out if eating poo means a trip to the ER... At least when he rolls in the water/wee/liquid Kandoo soap (where did she even GET that?) you can just take his clothing off...

Ahh well. of course having a Nanny around means I can do things like decorate. But with Maddie in school twice a week and Jamie who sleeps alot when she's not around, I figure I could probably even manage that. But who would watch the kiddies when I plan on going to Ally Pally with Ling on the Friday? That would be a tough one. Could I actually ask dh to take a day off work for that? Almost. But I'm hoping we still have Tamsin then and I won't have to wonder!

Oh, and when I find the card reader for our new camera we bought before we went on our trip, I PROMISE to not be completely boring and you'll get more pictures that you can shake a stick at!

Oh nd next time, my blog will be a little less manic...

2006-08-24T01:48:00.000+01:00

HOWDY From The Road

Well, we made it over the pond. I need a few bottles of wine to discuss the horrible nightmare that it was. The beginning was the airport security trying to destroy Big Bird. Yes the one that is so important she will not sleep without it. Wonderful DH convinced them to let him go back thru security and he checked the Big Birds (Jamie now has one because Maddie thinks he should too) into baggage. We got quite lucky because if the whole situation had occurred 15 minutes later the bird would have been gone - they stopped letting people go back thru and it got really crazy. I can only compare the carnage in the airport parking lot to a Turkish bazaar with everyone milling around. Me with two suitcases, a pram and a toddler in tow with dh and 3 suitcases and a toddler - she kept going between the two of us.

Enough about that it was too depressing. But we made it and on the baggage carousel at BWI, just before our luggage... came a small plastic bag wrapped with bright yellow packing tape - and two Big Birds inside. The relief and smile on Maddie's face echoed all of our relief at the end of a long trip.

We apent a week in Virginia Beach, VA - near enough for me to be near my last American hometown of Richmond (I lived there when I finished my last degree and met dh). I was hoping that some of my friends could make it 90 miles to visit us but it was not meant to be. However we hung out at the beach, swam in the ocean, and I got to watch Maddie's confidence in the water blossom. It so reminded me of the beach holidays we had when I was little and I loved that she loved it so much. Mister Jamie enjoyed the water but we kept him off the beach. English fair skinned baby and hot American sun do NOT mix well. Just ask my fair skinned English hubby about that!

Now we're in Nashville, Tennessee. I've just found the internet for the first time in a week and so I feel like I'm near civilisation again. It was harder than I thought being cut off! But I think we needed to unplug some. Today we arrived and couldn't check in for a few hours so we hit a local mall to let a very very stir crazy Maddie run around some. Also in the same area was Angel Hair Yarn Company which was really good and they were very friendly. I only did a 5 minute tour because everyone was waiting in the car. But I wanted to see what they had and my mum and I are going back tomorrow or the next day. Whilst in VA Beach I visited Ewe Knits and they were lovely even though I was distracted by a certain someone yelling and running around and trying to put all the yarns into a basket. She was good and didn't try to pull any of it apart! But the sorter that she is... she sort of sorted it HER way and mommy had to put it all back. Ah well...

So that's my update from the road so far. If I'm feeling nerdy I might take some piccies at the yarn store. Otherwise you'll get picces of my kiddies and some dolphins we saw on a dolphin watch.

Talk to y'all soon (said of course in the heaviest drawl...)

2006-08-12T00:49:00.000+01:00

WE. HAVE. A. HOUSE.

Less than 24 hrs before we leave on vacation for 2.5 weeks. But the nightmare is over!

Hallelujiah.

it's midnight and we're leaving for the airport in 9 hrs and I have to finish packing. Ahh and then there's the delight that will be a 8 hr flight with NO entertainment for our kids. I. HATE. TERRORISTS. Worse than the thought that they almost blew up planes, in a funny way I sometimes think that the interruption they've brought to our lives as a result is almost as bad. And it means that they've been successful without having to kill anyone - we're all packing our dry contacts, scratching up our expensive glasses and tasting our babies' formula because 24 people thought it'd be a laugh to blow up innocent people. Nice.

Might post from the road but due to handluggage restrictions we can't bring our laptop. Whaaaahhh!!! So might have to post when we get back. I just got a new camera so defintely will take piccies with it!

later:)

2006-07-29T07:05:00.000+01:00

Pirates and the promise of piccies

If anyone wants to see a movie this summer that they can sit thru and just smile at, go watch Johnny Depp, Orlando and Keira. It was pretty good, even if it was mainly a set up for the next movie. Well, I say pretty good... I mean it wasn't an academy award winner or anything BUT it made me smile and I forgot how long I was sitting there, which in my book with my baby addled brain is what I need at the moment.

I even managed to knit whilst watching. Okay, so I'm knitting a stockinette portion of the cable shell from chicKnits so it wasn't rocket science but I was still impressed with me for being able to knit by only the light of the movie. and because the posh yarn is sort of strand-y (I've also heard it referred to as split-y) (but don't get me wrong, it's lovely stuff). I am also proud that i only have one stitch about 7 rows down that needs to be re-worked.

And later today, promise, I"ll show piccies. I frogged the t-twist (did I say this already?) because I realised for some bizarre reason I knit slower in the round. Must be my general lack of speed combined with the way the stitches are held when they're on the round? Found similar issues with knitting socks on two circulars only it's just 50-50 odd stitches and not 234 every round with difficult yarn.

So next week is the move. Things are a mess here, but we're half packed. Moving date is still 'set' for this Friday only we're just about positive we won't be moving, it'll be Monday instead. To combat the depression and general stress of this situation, we're thinking of a short break for the weekend - here. Nice, huh?

Pictures soon, promise:)

2006-07-21T11:25:00.000+01:00

Ahh the horrors of the British Summer...

So we're moving. Apparently in 2 weeks exactly despite not having exchanged contracts. Oh-kay. It's hot. It's sticky. My air conditioner (hey, I'm American and we don't suffer needlessly without a fight) is 'cooling' down our one darkened room (think cave-like) down to a chilly 26-28deg. It's still better than what it's like outside. It also is helping the Jamie monster sleep.

I've just recovered from a nasty throat infection. What kind it is we'll never know. Now here is my basic problem with any private or public healthcare on this weird little island... they're CHEAP. Even when you pay, the system is cheap, so they don't do little things like take a bloody throat culture. Tamsin (who's worked for the NHS plus loves being a devil's advocate) says well it's an expensive test to do for everyone with a sore throat. When I said well what if they've got pus on it? She said fair enough but they still do NOT DO throat cultures in this country.

I went to the doc's Monday morning after discovering pus on the back of my tonsils. I've had strep throat on and off my whole life - which is why my tonsils ain't the prettiest pair ever - so I KNOW what it feels like. I KNOW when I have it. Yet I go in, tell the man I think I might have it, he looks at my throat, feels the lymph nodes, takes my temp (I'd already been on nurofen so I'm sure that was far from accurate!!) and says, "well studies have shown that with antibiotics the infection even if it isn't bacterial will clear up 16hrs faster. But we can't be sure that it's bacterial. So what do you want to do?" EXCUSE ME?? Are you asking the patient to treat themselves? WTF!!!???

In the states, you'd have gone in, they'd have done the same assessment, they'd have taken a throat culture which is a little cotton swab that is enclosed and sent off to the lab, they send you home with drugs then they will CALL YOU with the results.

**ring ring** "Yes?" "Oh hello Mrs. X, this is the hospital. Your culture has come back positive for strep throat. So keep taking the precribed medication" " oh thank you, goodbye".

or maybe even,

*ring ring* "Hello?" "Hello is that Mrs. X?" "Yes it is" "This is the hospital, we've gotten your throat culture back and the test is negative. You can stop taking your prescription and please make another appointment with your dr. if the throat infection does not clear in the next 24hrs" "Oh thank you, goodbye".

There. Was THAT so hard? But noooo... this country's too cheap for that. So not knowing this country was really THAT bad, I went back on Wednesday because it had actually gotten slightly worse. And instead of 'well let's actually see if something's wrong', I was told that it 'must' be viral and there was nothing that could be done. Good f*&king grief. And then after a conversation, no treatment! with the doctor, I got to pay £60 for the priviledge of getting told nothing. What a freaking rip off.

And if you're still with me, dear reader ,that's only one small iota (no, I don't know what an iota is, either) of my frustration at the moment. Has the world gone mad with heat stroke? Is everyone in existence (okay that I've dealt with) in the world gone completely mad?

Quite possibly.

And why is it that women in the City (that's London's financial district for those who wouldn't know what the City I'm referring to is) in the summer can all wear nice airy skirts and tops and flip flops yet the men - one of course whom I'm married to - have to wear suits? Yes they could indulge and buy linen or cotton for the 2 weeks out of the year on certain years that they would wear them, but we all know they look like a wrinkled mess after about 1 minute sitting in the office after the walk/cabride/tuberide to work and being sweaty.

Day after day in this heatwave my poor dh has walked to work, 30 mins each way in the sweltering heat. Oh, to top it off, for those of you not around the city, there is contruction - EVERYWHERE. Every bridge from westminster to London Bridge is either tied up with construction jamming it up, if not on the bridge, just before or after it. After several 45 minute-when-it-should-have-been-5 minutes cab rides, dh has given up and is walking. So WHY is it that the men MUST wear suits? I'm not suggesting that we force the women to as well, just that maybe there should be a teeny bit less of a double standard on this issue. and that's from a relative feminist!

I bet everyone would be alot more comfy if the men could walk around in shorts. Maybe there should be a fashion revolution for the first time in about 100 years and change the way a suit looks? How about a short sleeve/shorts version? Anyone? no? Okay, it probably wouldn't work... But it IS a damned good idea.

Hmm. Am I done ranting and raving? Yeah pretty much.

Onto knitting news.

Have been back to Stash - took tamsin after my horrid second dr's appt on Wednesday. I got Mason-Dixon Knitting - oh why have I waited so long? and spring's vogue knitting and more desert flower sock wool for moi and some blue sky cotton in bright pink for maddie and .. .. .. .. about a gazillion pairs of addi turbo circulars for socks.

Am almost finished with the first sock - it's been hard going trying to knit in this heat. I fear SSS so for my next attempt which are going to be Jaywalkers for my sister, I'm going to try BOTH on circulars at the SAME time! Wish me luck...

And I'm off. To knit in the cool heat of my room with the Jamie monster beside me sleeping peacefully. Which should last as long as my first stitch...

2006-07-18T19:34:00.000+01:00

Socks, socks, socks

So, in the interest of helping out anyone else who a) would like to try socks also, b) has a toddler somewhere to knit for and c) is a little frightened by sheer number of patterns, let alone 'turning a heel'...

Here's the pattern my friend Ling sent me, slightly modified for my own yarn and monster foot Maddie...

My socks were made with Lornas Laces in Desert Flower - one skein this far has gotten me two socks and hopefully the third since my first original didn't quite work out... Socks were knit on 2 addi turbo 2.5cm x 40cm circulars, this pattern is for dpns or 2 circulars, knit from top down to toes.

1.Cast on 50 stitches in picot cast on:
Using Knitted Cast-on, *CO 5 sts, BO 2 sts, slip st rem on right needle back to left needle, repeat from *

2. Work 2x2 ribbing for 10 rows.

3. Switching to stockinette, knit 30 rows for the leg (or until it seems long enough)

4. Heel Flap:
Knit 13 sts, turn
Row 1: sl first st, p24 turn (move the rest of st to spare needles)
Row 2: sl first st, knit 24, turn
Work row 1& 2 for 12 rows

5. Shape heel
Row 1: sl first st, p13 st, p2 tog, p1 turn
Row 2: sl first st, knit 5, ssk, k1 turn
Row 3: sl first st, p6 p2tog p1 turn
Row 4 sl first st k7 ss2 k1 turn
Continue until all the st in the heel flap are included (14 st on the needle)

6.Gusset
-pick up 7 st knitwise down side of heel flap, place marker.
-Knit 24 st from cuff, place marker, pick up 7 st from other side of heel flap.

7.Gusset shaping
Row 1: k to within 3 st of marker, k2tog, k1 and knit to next marker, k1 ssk, k to end of round
Row 2: knit row
Repeat until 50 st remain

8. Foot
Knit 30 rows
**or to the measurement of the foot before the toes (so basically from just after the heel to just before the toes.

9. Toe shaping
Row 1: k to 3 st before first marker, k2tog k1, k1 ssk, knit to 3 st before next marker k2tog, k1, k1 ssk knit to end
Row 2: knit
Repeat until 18 st remain.

10. Graft toes using kitchener st. Then you are done!!!

*** I should say here I still haven't quite got the kitchener stitch down pat. I do some other version of it, so if you don't know what kitchener stitch is then I can't help you. Sorry...

I hope Ling doesn't mind that I've put her pattern up. It's really a very basic sock but if you're anything like me then you might NEED basic. Ling said she frogged her first attempt about 7 times before finishing it but I'm way too lazy for that. Hence the ill fitting first sock. hmm. I should have tried it on Maddie when she was awake - using two circs allows for that but again, I was too lazy. Story of my life I'm afraid...

2006-07-13T21:58:00.000+01:00

Well here it is...
My sock. The one I made for Maddie. If it looks out of proportion it's because she's stretched the heck out of it. Her foot is so big that the heel of the sock is about an inch from the her heel. Hence the rest of it being stretched out...

And below here is the newest cast on for the Maddie socks. The other one may not fit but she loves it and wears the single lone ill fitting sock around all the time. I've not gotten far with it since the initial cast on. But it's got a picot edge that I love. Initially I was going to make the whole leg portion 1x1 rib so that you could fold over the leg and have the picot stick out, but being realisitic, I hate rib, so we'll have the picot, some 2x2, then normal stockinette for the leg etc. Hey I'm lazy.

Here are some of the other recent cast ons...
My t-twist - at last! It's a long slug so far and I've only gotten 5 rows up. It's 234 stitches around and that's aran weight. Ugh. But it feels and looks lovely...

A vest type thing for Jamie in the Blue Sky cotton I bought. It's got cables at the top - I designed them meself, but am now at a standstill and might frog it and make it plain. Like I said. Lazy.

I can't seem to make up my mind on what to do. Ive been going thru my stash and frogging old projects that I never intend to finish. Has felt good. The one thing that I should frog but can't bring myself to do is the snuggle I was making for Jamie before he was born. It's the one from Zoe Mellor's nursery knits (one of those two). I made the two front pieces and 1/3 of the back whilst waiting for ultrasound results, when Maddie was in the hossie for pnuemonia... knitting that snuggle got me through alot of bad times. It was my catharsis during my last pregnancy. But it'll never be worn by the intended recipient, so I am thinking if I frog it then I can make something he WILL wear and it'll be that more meaningful.

Good news so far... provisional closing date of 4 August. That's only like 3 weeks. eegad. I'm excited and dreading it. More excited. the dread is mainly that it'll fall thru. Don't get me wrong I hate this apartment.

The last few weeks have been trying. Finally made it out with dh for an anniversary dinner - two months late, and 2 years since we last went out but we did it! Ate at Chutney Mary in Kings road in London and it was amazing. great meal and a little too much drink. Perfect night out. Maddie started her potty training today. It's, um, not going that well. She'll sit on the potty for 25 minutes drinking water, get up, and wee. alot. Hopefully tomorrow will bring success.

And the terms of our contract with the people who own the house says specfically that they are supposed to leave all curtains, light fixtures (unless one or two light fixtures are sentimental, like a chandelier) and the washer /dryer. And the inventory turns up today... they have either been lied to by their estate agent as to our offer (unlikely) or they're being complete and utter A**holes. Which I suspect is the case. They're trying to charge us £1050 for 8 yr old curtains and refusing to leave the tatty old stuff in the bedroom. They are nasty rude awful people and I hate them. Why do people behave like this?

Okay well that's the news. We'll survive... i hope.
nighty night...

2006-07-05T15:20:00.000+01:00

Sock it to me...

Well after all this time - Finally I get it. I fear addiction might set in. Yikes. Thanks to Ling, I'm about 75% done my first toddler sock. She emailed the pattern to me this morning or rather her last night, and I'm onto the foot rows. Only 3 days (of broken knitting, kids, ya know) and I'm nearing completion! E-gads I might have to break out the ugly yarn. Hmm how uninspiring. I"ll break out my sister's sock yarn and make her a pair... while I start the sweater for me. Must make it. I'm feeling dread because it's alot of straight stockinette but I want the sweater... (she said, whining). Almost (almost but not quite) makes me want a knitting machine...

But I just HAD to post to tell everyone I have done it. I have made a sock:)

2006-07-02T19:31:00.000+01:00

Pictures!

Well, I will try to post some pictures, as promised. Here are the goodies from Stash...

Everything which includes two balls of the blue sky cotton, the other is behind the tags, one ball of sock wool, Interweave Knits Spring edition, vogue knitting's stitchonary, and knitting on the edge by Nicky Epstien (and some nice simple white rubber stitch markers)

And a close up of the Lorna's Laces Shepard sock wool in desert flower along with the Blue Sky Cotton in a very pretty aqua:) yummy...

And onto today's acheivement...

tada!!!!!!!

Maddie's Ballet wrap in RYC cash cotton color framboise. Pattern from classic bambino from RYC!!!

I am sooo proud - two sweaters FINISHED for my Maddie in one year. I really am getting faster;)

So, onto the content part of this post. I've made a real breakthrough the last few months, having gotten to know the knitting world through blogging. Before, I used to just limp along, figure things out in my own sort of bumbling way, and I saw knitting as my private creative outlet. Then I started reading my friend Anne's blog (hello if you're reading!). And a whole new world opened up to me. All of a sudden I realised there were loads of people like me, with compulsions to buy wool and dream of all the things to make whilst not finishing most of them. I love reading everyone's thoughts as much as I like writing my own, and I get spurred on by seeing all the stuff other people make. It makes me want to knit more!

Now a few months later I almost feel like an 'official' knitter. I have proper tools, markers that work, needles I really love, and know people I can talk to that don't dismiss what I'm doing as wasting time. It's made me so happy especially with two small children to find a real outlet that is constructive as well as creative. For a former art student, it's important. Now I can dream of a studio where I've got a knitting/sewing/quilting area, darkroom, and pottery area. And even bigger is my dream to run some sort of business either selling my pots or selling yarns that I love. Someday.

So back to Earth, today's other achievement aside from Maddie's wonderful sweater is socks. Ling showed me her sock yesterday at Stash, and to my amazement, it was small. Toddler sized (which is why in the photo the person wearing the sock has cute chubby ankles - he's 3). And I thought (after I smacked my forehead and said duh!) how smart! Since I finished the sweater today, I sat there looking round thinking, do I start my twist-T with the posh yarn or socks in desert flower? I spent the morning in the cool darkness of my bedroom with Jamie sleeping beside me and getting over a minor migraine and wound up the half of a skein I'd tangled up. So that is waiting for me. But so is desert flower. Socks on two circulars. Calls me. (because I HATE dpns)

Spurred on by Roo and Ling's socks in the flesh, I boldy cast on my 48 stitches on three metal 2.75 dpns. I couldn't find the two 2.5 circulars I'd bought. But I had to cast on. Then as I was struggling with the f$*@))g metal needles I spotted one of the 2.5 circulars. I put the socks on the one and agressively searched the area and came up with the other. After some fiddling, whe...heeeeey! I have done it. Figured out how to knit with two circulars instead of fiddly dpns. Now all I have to do is make a sock. Hmm. all I've done up til now is ribbing on my other sad effort (which is still lying round forlornly unmade).

Stay tuned for piccies - I vow I will will will figure it out!
Night:)

2006-07-01T17:14:00.000+01:00

Stash

Ahhh well how time flies. Things here are still plugging along only in recent weeks I've come more to terms with my lot for the moment and am happier. Have lost a friend who's moved up north, and found a new one who's within train/easy driving distance. What a difference this makes!

Also come more to terms with dh and our current lot in life. It's amazing what happens when you start to have more time to yourself and can calm down some - you start to figure things out. And I've (she said proudly) been able to step away and calm down from fights more. No, we still can't go every few days without a tiff and growling, but they're just less and less big, and I don't get quite so red-mist angry.

On the knitting front, things are plodding there too. Have knitted swatches with my beautiful posh yarn, and am thiiiiiiiiis close to finishing the ballet wrap for Madam Maddie, and have figured out the claptois and am making steady progress when I'm bored of everything else I'm working on. Promise, Promise piccies will be following. I'm making a serious effort to put the computer down and pick up the knitting. It's hard work!

So today met up with my new-found friend Ling, and left kiddies at home with papa for the very first time all on his own. We went to Stash and had a good time talking with the owner who I'm failing to remember the name of. But she's very friendly and a fellow expat from the states - the East Coast even! Had a nice lunch at Strada (I do so love Strada and even managed a carb-free meal. whey-hey!) and trundled back home in the heat. Jeez it's hot today.

And what a small world, met a fellow blogger there in the store... we were looking at her lovely socks in Lornas Laces colorway black purl and Ling asked if she had a blog. She said she did and I'll be looking for it later on to say hello!

I am ever so glad I decided to do the blogging thing, it's gotten me out of my baby baby baby world and into an adult one!

How long can the happiness last?

2006-06-17T18:25:00.000+01:00

New Computer!!!

Well obviously I'm here on our new computer. IT came yesterday and we're still playing with all the new gadgets and widgets (literally)!

Have made some progress and almost have a FO so stay tuned! Also if I get loads of free time (so probably not), I might inspect the iWeb and get a new look for my blog...

On the house front they say 6 weeks but it's been 8 already since the original offer was made. It's been even longer since we found this house and viewed it the first time... At the end of it all it'll have taken us probably 5 months since first finding this house and seeing it for the first time. I've never bought a house before so I don't know the games that people play, but thus far it's been a thoroughly UNenjoyable experience. People can be so awful and selfish and just plain arseholes and the people who are selling us the house better hope to never see us again, is all I can say, because one the sale is completed if I meet them, I'll be telling them off.

I'll probably not blog again for a while as the mood here in both the flat and in my head is pretty dismal. Usually when DH is home we manage about 2-3 waking hours before the squabbling then fighting kicks in. We're all pretty much at a pretty low point and all I can say is I can't wait for our vacation in August which is more than likely going to be a week or two after we move in. Oh joy, we'll NEED the vacation, or we'll need a divorce lawyer. God help us.

2006-06-08T15:52:00.000+01:00

I know it's been a while since I last posted. I'm still living on borrowed computer time as this computer isn't doing well either. We have a computer on order but it's any guess when it gets here...

On the knitting front not much is happening. Ok well that's a lie I've indulged and started figuring out how to knit myself a claptois (spelling is probably wrong there but y'all know what I mean). And I know that might sound daft but I'm a pretty basic knitter and it took a few tries before I got the hang of what was actually going on!!! Now all I have to do is figure out what color to choose in the lion and lamb from Lornas Laces. Hopefully one of the shops I'm going to visit in the states will have it. I know I can get it from get knitted but I want to SEE the colors in person before I pick them this time round!!!

In other news, the flat's under offer (again) and the house situation has been resolved begrudgingly. Fingers crossed it'll all go to plan and we'll be moving in six weeks. God knows what we'll do if not.
Kiddie news is Jamie's eating baby rice (yeayyyy solids at last!) , Maddie's eating everything else. It's gotten hot here and I wish I could persuade her to wear her ponytails for longer than 30 seconds before she rips them out. I'd make her much cooler when she's running around... and they're SOOOO cute!

I just love this piccie:)

Anyhow, that's all from here. Don't be too surprised if there's a while before the next post as who knows what to expect with this computer...

2006-05-30T20:08:00.000+01:00

It's Always the Computer

Well our favorite computer has died. I have to take it downtown to get the apple guys to take a look. Eventually. It only comes up with a grey screen and nothing else. This means some sort of operating system issue. And of course having moved twice in 18mos means we have NO clue where any of that type of stuff is.

Other than that there's new news on the flat front. M put the pressure on the estate agents last week and they came up trumps (if that doesn't mean they did well then have a laugh at my expense;). One viewing on Friday, and three on Saturday and we have one offer and one second viewing request! And two more viewings tomorrow. This is a perfect example of forcing your estate agents to DO THEIR JOB! Good news because now we have a bigger stick to hit the house guys with. We've resigned ourselves to the fact that we're going to be here until near the end of the summer. Ugh. I strongly dislike that fact. But for a few months I'll suffer for the next 7-10 years of the right house.

On the knitting front, I've almost finished the first sleeve to the stripey sweater. I've not had that much time to knit lately so it's been a row here and there but it's getting there. I'm so tempted to finish the ballerina sweater or to start blocking what is already done on both but I'm staying strong.

So my next post will hopefully be from our Newwwww computer!!! should be here by the end of the week. We were hoping to buy one once we were moved. But our computer had other thoughts.

Anyhow, so rather than stay hunched over this computer which is broken and has to be propped up because the display has no hinges, I'm going to knit.

More and hopefully a FO or two when I next check in...
Later:)

2006-05-23T21:11:00.000+01:00

Proof

Normally I wouldn't have bothered to post again today but I realised some of you thousands (ha!) of readers might be concerned for poor Jamie. So to allay any fears for the poor lad, here's proof that he's juuuust fine. He cares not that he upsets poor mommy and daddy and keeps us up all night. Oh and he slept the better portion of the day to add insult to injury... So here he is in all his glory!

He was smiling at me whilst I was making faces and not looking thru the lens. Hence the camera dropping just too low for the top of his head...

An action shot of the lovely young lad.

And now he's sleeping. and now I'm going to go knit.

I did the deed and ordered the wool from Posh for my twist-T sweater. Dee was lovely and is going to hold the wool once dyed for a few weeks so I don't get side tracked. I can't wait!

So if I don't knit, I can't get more yarn. Is this addiction?
I'm going. Really.
night:)

2006-05-23T13:03:00.000+01:00

We've learned about titles...

Well it was a pretty awful weekend. Jamie hasn't been sleeping well - teething and congestion from that means he wakes up and basically just wants to sleep in my arms. So my back is killing me. And I'm not sleeping well. This means I'm not exactly the nicest of people right now. And the potty training, well let's just say she's back in nappies at the moment. Because Jamie was in such a state I sort of left it to M. And, well, as well meaning as he was, he's, ah, Useless. Ladies and mummies out there, if you want something done right, do it yourself.

Now I don't know that much about potty training. Actually that's not totally true, I've just gotten Gina Ford's book. And altho she is usually a little overzealous for my taste, I think potty training IS a cut and dry thing. But before that, well even I knew that the whole first day you put them in panties you follow them round and make the potty a fun thing, get them to sit on it all the time, etc. To start with we had to go out to get the stuff. Then she had a nap - a 4 hr nap. So we tried to start a little beforehand and after naptime. And M would leave and go and do something else and then she'd pee. I'm sitting in the glider with Jamie so I can't exactly make it to her on time. And I yell M! She's peeing! And he yells back, 'well what am I supposed to do?' So went the day. By Sunday he just gave up and put her in those pull ups that you can feel when they get wet.

Bottom line, the whole thing was a disaster. But I've now read Gina's advice and so this week is all talk about the potty. I've got her nursery in on the bandwagon - I've asked that any time one of the other kiddies in her class who is potty trained goes to the potty that Maddie goes with them to get the idea. Even if it means all day the whole week she's watching people on the pot, lol. She's a smart girl (maybe too smart for her own good sometimes) so she'll eventually get it. And THEN first thing Sat morning, we're going to start the proper potty stuff. I don't care if M has to be strapped to the glider with Jamie, I'm going to give it my all Sat and Sun. I'll crack this if it's the last thing I ever do!!!!!!

I hope.

Last night was particularly bad. Jamie screamed and cried all evening long from the moment we all got home from getting Maddie from the nursery. Oh and we locked outselves out of the flat and the porter had to break in. M said isn't it nice that the head porter that taught the porters this trick was an ex crim? I say who cares it meant I wasn't stranded waiting for a husband who was never going to show because he didn't check his messages or email.

So got in, Jamie fussed the entire evening but thankfully M came home early enough to give the monster her bath and bed routine. Jamie fussed thru most of it so I'm not sure how it would have worked had he not come home aside from me just leaving Jamie to scream it out. I've had to do it before... By 9, just as I was thinking about bed, Jamie woke up again. By this time I was frazzled and sternly talking to Jamie. I do this when I get to the end of my tether and need to vent, usually Jamie's face crumbles, he cries, and I calm down. M sat on the couch and was just staring whilst I grew angry and Jamie cried. There is nothing, dear readers, worse than knowing you need help and someone just watching you and doing nothing. So being me, I screamed at him that he needed to get out or something and he was like oh should I take the baby? Needless to say after a few choice words, he left, I calmed down, and Jamie went to sleep.

After this episode you can imagine how, at 2am, I was past my tether. After several tries to nurse, with Jamie screaming and snuffly and just awful, I marched into the living room, turned on the light, and plonked him on daddy's chest, and walked out. Must have been a sight because when I went to the loo afterwards I realised my hair was really crazy, my nightgown was half opened and buttoned wrong... you get the picture.

Poor M, he didn't really know what hit him. However he did rise to the occasion. When I could hear Jamie calming down and starting up again I was able to think straight (him not being in front of me) and realised that Calpol was needed as was a bottle of something to calm him. I delivered these items to M and went back into the bedroom where I knitted one round of sock to calm down, and went to sleep. M, who now is at the top of my favorite list, and should probably be nominated for hubby of the year, brought back the monster at 6am. He fed like a champ and passed out for another quiet two hours beside me.

Have made the smart decision to take him to the osteopath tomorrow after my dental appt. M, whose nomination grows stronger by the second, is coming to sit with Jamie whilst I get my teeth re-sealed, a process with makes the teeth somewhat impervious to rotting. So fingers crossed it wouldn't be painful... Hopefully the osteopath can work her magic on poor teething Jamie. Who, by the way, has been a sleeping angel this morning so far. Just have to remember to keep the calpol in his system and we Should be OK.

On the knitting front I've managed in my needing to calm down-ness, to finish the other front of Jamie's stripey sweater. I'm working on the first sleeve at the moment. When I finish the other sleeve I will allow myself to finish the final front on Maddie's ballet wrap. And because I haven't shown any piccies lately hopefully I'll manage to post stripey sweater and ballet wrap piccies here:
the ballet wrap - only one front and the edging to go!

Love this color which is the same one as in the picture. First time I've made the exact sweater as the pattern, color and all. And I love the yarn - RYC Cashcotton. Lovely and warm but not too warm yet not enough to make you sweaty. Perfect for summer!

the stripey sweater which now has two front panels finished and much progress made on the sleeve...

I love the colors and feel of the fabric. But I dislike knitting with the yarn as it's so - strandy. I keep getting one tiny strand caught as I knit. SO annoying...

So the push is on to finish these two sweaters and finish finishing the yellow one (it's somewhere below in one of the other posts). THEN I can get my posh yarn. M thinks the Bluebell would look good on me. I dunno... I love all the colors! The bluebell is nice and deep and would be 'useful' in my wardrobe. So we'll see. Any other ideas? I kind of like the greens but M said they were a little too acid. I wish I could see them in person but they don't sell in the shops and I'm an instant gratification type of person.

Ok, well that's this weekend. Jamie's fussing again and if I can catch it, he'll go sleep again. Stay tuned for more progress...

2006-05-20T18:28:00.000+01:00

Well what a weekend here. Maddie decided last night that she wanted to be potty trained. It's been coming this whole week... taking her nappy off when she doesn't like the wet, watching mommy on the potty (my favorite) and cheering when mommy tinkles, flushing the toilet... And the Big Sign - last night she came home, and took off her bottom clothing. I figured she was wet, put on a new pull up nappy, then 5 minutes later she's pulled off new nappy, set it aside, and peed on the floor and on the carpet. And plays in it quite happily, delighting in how it splashes about. Hmm. Can't ignore or hold it off any longer. She only just turned two in April and we were hoping to wait til we moved to a house...

So this morning mommy and Maddie trundled out to mothercare and picked out all the accoutrements for potty training. And so far... it's not going well. To start with she HATES her potty. Isn't that fond of the one on the main toilet either. but she likes the stool and she likes climbing. The most progress we have gotten is when mommy tried to sit on the potty to show Maddie... and Maddie sat on the stool and peed. Nice. Stay tuned for more potty fun.

M and I finally made it out of the house alone to a pub last night and ate a meal and had a drink. Some knitting went - more of the felted bag project so I could knit and not think. I've got around 54 more rows to go but I'm enjoying not having to think too much about what I'm doing. I believe it's actually called pub knitting... something you can knit at a pub whilst you imbibe unknown quantities of alcohol and not worry about missing stitches, etc. I could be wrong and pub knitting is simply anything that's knit whilst in a pub, drinking or no. Whichever.

The current house news - so apparently both the lawyer and the estate agents of the people selling the house we sort-of-still-want-to-buy had serious conversations with the idiots. Told them that they WERE going to have to give us something back or suffer the reality that no one might buy from them. So they conceded and offered us a rebate. Our initial proposal was for 35,000. We should not have to eat the total cost of out of date roofing, wiring, plumbing and guttering. And what did they offer us? 2200. Where they came up with that is beyond us. And both the estate agent and the lawyers for the lovely couple have assured us they will work some more on the IdIOTS. We'll see. I still want to meet them in a dark alley with a big stick. Or maybe even a phone call to tell them what I think. Preferably After we've gotten what we want and all is said and done.

To give a more complete picture to all of this hilarity, I offer this image: in one of the first floor bedrooms of this million dollar home is a fishtank which clearly at some point in the last 6 months or so had fish and plants. But no more. And instead of emptying said fishtank, they have left it there to moulder and rot. I hope they're taking it with them, is all I can say. Now WHO in their right minds shows a house with a dead fish tank? Anne the House Doctor would be mortified. And so am I.

Well, dear readers, I have a toddler running around grabbing her bottom. And a baby wriggling around in a stinky nappy. I think I can safely say, goodbye and good night from the house of poo...:)

2006-05-18T20:13:00.000+01:00

Dentist today. Ugh. It was not the happiest of times. I've not been to an adult dentist ever. Up until I left the states I went to the same dentist that I'd been seeing since I was 5. I know it sounds silly, an adult in those kiddie chairs, etc, but there you have it. My parents had also been bugging me to go see a dentist when I left, so now that I've thought about it, it could have been as much as 7 or 8 years.

So they used that little drill thingy on me. The one that grinds down the plaque on your teeth. And she scraped. Alot. And now I'm sore. And already having flashbacks of that drill thingy. Needless to say I'm not in any hurry to go back. and my next appointment is next week with the dentist. Yikes!

But Jamie was a good baby. He had a small bottle when we got there because he was fussy. Fell straight to sleep and woke up near the very end of my appointment. Unfortunately this meant he had to cry it out until we were done. By the time I picked the poor little man up he was beside himself and completely drenched in sweat even though there were no blankets on him:( Ah well it was nothing a good cuddle didn't fix.

I've made a Decision. I'm desperate to start knitting something for myself. I really really want to make the twisty T from this springs knitty. But I have loads of other projects and they're much faster and more urgent for something which may or may not fit for myself. and I don't have very much space so I shouldn't buy the wool until I'm ready to knit. So... I'm going to finish Maddie's ballet wrap, Jamie's stripey sweater, and sew up the yellow sweater my MIL made. THEN I'll allow myself to buy this yarn to make it. At least I think it's that yarn... and then deciding on color... oh boy I am just crap at chosing for myself!

And not to insult her but I dislike all the Debbie Bliss yarns I've used. I've had the cotton silk aran (still have loads left!) that is now discontinued and now the cathay. My problem is the way the yarn is not that well twisted. It means the way I knit I get lots of one strand of the yarn that dangles because I didn't catch it with the needle. I hated the silk I knitted with and now I'm not loving the Cathay for the same reason. Being stripes it looks especially bad to see one tiny strand of another color on the next stitch. Or dangling off the front end.

The only thing that makes me knit it and not throw the whole thing out the window is that the fabric it makes is really lovely and the colors are great, especially if I do say so myself the colors I put together for the stripes. And Jamie will look really good in the sweater when it's done. I'm just trying to figure if I should be lazy and knit a shawl collar or make it like the book says with a hood. And I know from my big bird sweater experience that hoods take a long while to knit. BUT I like the whole hood concept. Hmmm, a tough one.

At least Maddie's ballet wrap will be easy peasy (famous last words) to finish off. Just one front and then block it, put it together and knit the picot trim - et voila!!! And no I don't speak French as anyone who does can see:) But I want to finish both sleeves on Jamie's sweater before I do the one front on Maddie's sweater because he's growing Much faster than she is, the longer I wait the less likely he is to be able to wear the darned thing when I actually DO finish it.

So finally the house situation. We've officially started the search again for a new house. We're going to use Garrington, which not many people know but phil and kirstie actually work for them. It'll be a hell of alot easier to have someone else do all the mind-boggling legwork. I'll still have to do all the initial viewings etc but I'll know that there is SOMEONE out there who knows what they are doing, cuz it sure as heck aint us. And we desperately want to be out of this flat ASAP. So if you know anyone looking for a 2 bed flat in central London...

That's today's news.

2006-05-16T22:48:00.000+01:00

Bad news. The people who own the house we want to buy have decided that they aren't going to consider any financial re-negotiations like they promised when they accepted our offer. We had a proposal drawn up saying what the survey had turned up and what we would pay for and expect them to reimburse us for. Stuff that is not even up to code on the house. Like the rotten window frames on an extension that isn't even 10yrs old.

Sigh.

So we have two options.
1. Say okay yes we'll eat all the costs and give you (the owners) whatever you want (basically bendong over)

2. Walk away and find something else and the heck (LL) with them. These people were obviously going to screw us at some point anyways, better now than the day before keys are exchanged, with everything packed and ready to go... As they've said from the beginning... they don't NEED to sell. Whatever.

You can see which option I'm game for. They won't even READ the proposal. Idiots. I REALLY wish I could have a conversation with these people. They're arrogant beyond belief. The estate agent is less than happy. They have a time waster for a client, they've put in 8 months of their time and the owners don't even want to sell.

Ah well.

On a personal level, I'm feeling as near as normal as I have in weeks. Thank GOD for antibiotics. I'll just scarf down yoghurt with Maddie every night since she has one or two a day as her normal diet, and hopefully my gut won't be too affected. Boobie is even doing loads better. I can almost see a day where I'll actually be nursing pain free - fingers crossed on that one!

Haven't knitted today. Instead started Maddie's Christmas stocking. It's a Jolly Red kit, the Angel one. I made M one a year ago as he didn't have one, the alphabet one, and so I figured Maddie being 2 and 8 months at Christmas, well she needs one. I'm going to attempt to do Jamie's as well since he'll be one, but if it ain't done by the end of August then it'll wait til next year. The place I had M's and my own from my childhood finished is in the states and next and only time I'll be there is August so that gives me a definite deadline. deadlines afterall are Good things.

I figure I'm not setting aside my knitting, I was just in the mood for something new. Y'all know how it gets!

Right, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is my first dentist appointment in this country and the first one in over 5 years. Yeah yeah I know I shouldn't have waited. I made the appt when I was there yesterday because M's been bugging me and he promised the dentist is really good and very nice. Uh huh. We'll see. When I was little there was a space from when I was about 9-12 when I would go to the dentist to get a baby tooth removed because the adult ones would be coming in on top and the baby teeth weren't loose. That pretty much did it for me. Well... that and 4 years of orthodonture which they should call orthotorture. And I won't even get into wisdom teeth removal or the jaw realignment surgery I had when I was 17. I have nice straight adult teeth that even meet in the back, but it ain't because I wanted em. Needless to say the dentist will never be my favorite person to see in my free time.

nuf said. night:)

2006-05-16T05:03:00.000+01:00

So have been to the docs and gotten meds for the sinus infection. And more than likely the ear infection. Same antibiotic will take care of both. Also discovered that I've got ALOT of pain from the infection, making my whole head feel like it's about to explode. Nice. But on a good note boobie is better. Or as I said to someone I'm not sure it's better but it hurts less than my head.

I'm a little happy because I've just taken nurofen plus. And it' s WORKING. I've not felt this pain free in over 24hrs. Boy it's bliss. After this post I"m going to go back to sleep and hopefully wake up much more rested.

On the knitting front I'm proud to say I made it thru the 16 rounds of ribbing. Because I don't hold the wool like you're supposed to I have alot of trouble when doing ribbing... it's K1, place yarn in back, P1, pull yarn to front, K1 (you get the picture). My MIL has tried to teach me how to have the yarn in your hand properly so you control the tension etc... but after nearly 10 years of developing my own wrong way, it's just easier for me to pick up an place the yarn instead of carrying it in my hand the whole time. Someday I will get someone to teach me correctly. They'll have to have the patience of a saint...

So originally I was going to knit up one of the basic socks from 'knitting vintage socks'. I LOVE that book. But after my last frogged attempt which was supposed to be the lichen ribbed sock, I remembered how much I hated any ribbing and decided to make them from the pattern only without the ribbing. I HAVE to get through actually making a sock before I"m prepared to deal with the pain of knitting ribbing. God help me when I decide I want to make even more fancy socks and I will because there are some really cool ones in that book!

Really I should sleep. Today I'm back on my own... M was kind enough to see that his wife was completely out of it yesterday and worked from home so he could take Mads to school and watch Jamie whilst I was at the drs. He really can be sweet sometimes.

Night, or should I say good morning!

2006-05-13T22:07:00.001+01:00

Ugh. I have a sinus infection with a lovely sinus headache. and ANOTHER blocked duct on the same poor boobie. Poor boobie. Ouch. And I've got spots (zits) on my face. Oh joy. I am having a bad time of it lately.

On the knitting front...

I managed 5 rows on my socks.

At this rate they'll be done sometime in December.

night:)

2006-05-12T23:56:00.000+01:00

So now the pressure is on. Oh and sorry about the big font in the last post... it was a test. And I write too much most of the time to have big font...

As I was saying... the pressure is on. Because now there are people I KNOW reading this. Hmm. Now I have to watch what I say...

So tonight is Tamsin's night to come and watch Jamie so I can rest without him for a night. M and I were supposed to go out for a drink when he got home from his gazillionth business trip of the week (okay 4th but that's a gazillion for those of us who haven't flown to Moscow, Helsinki or Zurich lately). But instead his plane got re-routed to Stanstead instead of Heathrow due to 'freak electrical storms in the area' which apparently is code for securite emergency that we're not going to televise. Very boring story short he got home at 1130. But it IS Friday night and travel is difficult at the best of times on Friday nights.

Instead Tamsin and I chattered away about stuff. She's a really lovely woman but has had alot of difficult times in the past 6 or 7 years. And I mean Difficult -how did you survive that? times. Also she's the proper English person I've gotten to know in this country. I mean M's English but she's from the opposite type of family (Mark's family is fairly Conservative (repulican to you Americans) and her family is dyed-in-the-wool Labour (socialist some people would say or Democrat. Think of all those staunch Clintonians out there and you'll know exactly what I mean). So I find it very interesting knowing someone whose point of view on MOST things is completely different from mine. And not only is it different but she is sooo not afraid to tell you what she thinks about something if her opinion is different.

Well tonight we had a very interesting conversation. She said a few things that I'm still nto quite sure how to take and I'm sure she's probably wondering if she should have said them. But still it's her opinion and how she feels and there was some truth to what she said so I don't feel I have to run back and whinge about it. And funnily enough she had an opinion on things with M - and anyone who knows us knows you'll see us fight and things are 'strained' at the moment - and most of what she said M and I had a talk about last weekend and have decided to work on. Okay so everything won't go away immediately but I've vowed to change things becuase we weren't on a good path and a good part of that was my fault. So to hear someone that doesn't know us that well saying how uncomfortable she was, well it just drove home the obvious.

I guess I'm finding this so unusual because it's not very often (I can't even remember the last time) that someone you're becoming friends with sort of passes judgement on you. It wasn't a personal attack. It was a 'this is how you seem to me and this is how you make me feel'.

E-Gads.

How deep is that on a Friday night? Which is interesting because at the same time she's revealing more about herself. I know a HUGE amount of personal information, probably more than I've told her. Nor do I imagine she tells this same information to every Tom, Dick or Harry. And I guess what I've taken away from the whole chat is that I complain. alot. BUt she does like me. I'm not going to triple guess myself now, I'm on a roll. Which is fair enough because she's come to work for us on the tail end of an extremely difficult time in our lives in which things are rocky. And the reason she's here to help is what I'm complaining about (the things which i have a problem with, not that she's here if you see what I mean.). Things that we're working on.

Anyhow, I've rambled on enough about my personal life. Are you supposed to be this personal on a blog? Oh well if not, I am so there. It's now time for beddy bye. I've done about 10 rounds on the new pair of socks from the dreaded but loved wool from my MIL. I WILL WILL MAKE SOCKS.

I'm off to bed. Nighty night.

ps. I'm still weirded out.

2006-05-09T12:07:00.000+01:00

So today is UFO day. This is my first sock. It's not very good and a small admission - it's been frogged. SO why show it? eh, well, why not? plus I wanted to show the wool my MIL was kind enough to get me whilst on a trip in Germany. She picked it up (it's a double ball of regia 4ply) in a post office and it was on sale. 2 euros! I really really want to make socks. And the trouble I'm having with them... is that I really dislike strongly this wool and these colors. So I'm trying to force myself thru this first pair of socks so I can get the experience and then give them as a present to my MIL. She said she liked the colors and thought I would too. Bless her. I NEVER look a gift horse in the mouth.. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it when people give me wool. (yes that's a hint to anyone who's listening) I'm a process person really and it's the act of picking out the yarn and knitting it that I love so much. So the idea that people GIVE me wool means they understand this. That they went IN a yarn store and thought hmmm what can I get for Kate? So that leads to THIS Ufo...

My mom's got a friend who has sheep and she spins and dyes the wool herself. This is some sort of sheep wool starting with L... it said so on the label and well anyhow I got two generous hanks of it plus a tester freebie (dunno what to do with it, prolly edging somewhere). And the nice lady friend of my mom's makes felted (okay, fulled) things with the wool and sells them. So what better to do than to make a booga bag? AND the pattern's free!

So c'ommon, gimme gimme wool. And no this isn't to you lovely but total strangers out there. It's for those people I know out there who might be reading this saying, 'gee, I never know what to get her'... or 'she only likes expensive stuff'. Well that's partially right, I'd blanche if someone gave me some worsted/aran weight acrylic stuff which I loathe. But I'd still cherish the thought. And since I might even make you something with it, make sure it's something YOU like!

Okay so another failed techie moment... Comments. I've faffed up how to have them post with each post that gets commented on. at one point I had them sent to my email which had a button to publish comments. The button DOES NOT WORK. So if you post a comment, (so far I've got 5 readers, yeay!!!) please be patient with me if it seems like I didn't respond. I am not rude - promise! I'm just tech-illiterate. A book is on the way from Amazon as we speak (for the HTML to make things fancier at least). And I'll eventually get the hang of it all.

So Jamie's in my arms again. He's been clingy the last few days. He'll only sleep for about an hour and then fusses because he's lonely or lost his dummy when he woke up. He's not quite able to get it in his mouth and his newest thing is that he can grab the leash sort of accidentally on purpose and then waves it around unconsciously all the while staring at it and screaming as if it were someone else's hand and not his own. It would be funny if he wasn't so upset about it. we'll get there eventually...

Typical man. Can't even make his own mind up. He also, while being clingy and waving his own dummy around, wants to be left to it to sleep on his own. Just beside me on the bed, mind you. Why don't they tell you that having kids is actually one big scientific experiment? Let's see if he's okay when this happens, or what does that cry mean - today? It's never the same and when you think you've got them all figured out they change. I'm sure parents of grown up kids will all tell you that never stops happening until they're like 30, but at least hopefully by the age of 3 they can articulate a little bit more. Cuz trust me, you mothers of 2yr olds, you can't trust what they're saying yet!

M's on his way to Moscow, visa and all tonight. At the moment he's actually in York. At one point he said he wasn't going and then realised he had to go to Moscow. And he'll also at some point be in Zurich and Helsinki at different points this week. Maddie probably won't see much of him during the next few weeks but especially this week... Jamie might - he's on a different schedule. We've agreed that I'll take over the morning and evening routines completely again. M has been in charge of Maddie by his own choice (and a little un-subtle encouragement from moi) since Jamie was born and I think it's fair enough I take the reins back. I'll have to learn the dance eventually anyways. Tonight is official night number two of the new regime. Maddie at nursery full time (a while nother story) and mommy in charge. M had a client dinner last night. Apparently his firm rented out the Tate Britian. Must be nice for some. He came in late and I'd just gotten Jamie down and wasn't in the mood for how great it was. And all I have to say is drunk men are about as quiet as a bull in a china shop. He meant well but dropped hangers, kicked boxes... I did mention this flat is tiny?

And thankfully, Tamsin is coming tonight. So I get a break from the piece of clingfilm I call Jamie. On the feeding front, those of you who are waiting with bated breath (I'm Sure that's all 0 of you...) I'm still struggling with my poor left boobie. That plugged milk duct really messed things up. And no one ever mentions how nearly impossible it is to heal nipples whilst still breastfeeding. Of course the traditional picture they like to show when ramming 'breast is best' down your throat is now good it is for the baby's health, the mother recovers quicker from childbirth, blah blah blah. Well. Nowhere in the literature so they mention the downsides. The exhaustion. the blocked ducts, sore breasts, even more sore nipples and tounge ties and lazy babies. oh, and how long it can take to get the hang of it. Huh. I still agree it's best. But damn it's hard work. And they should stop (in this country at least) making women feel guilty when they don't want to do it. and they SHOULD offer more support.

Okay, rant over.

Just talked to Tamsin who probably can't come tonight. Darnitall. And even worse just talked to Mark and the people who put the offer in on our flat have pulled out. Dammitall. THey said it was because of the lease, we're not quite sure how long the lease is for, but I think it's because we're in the middle of the chain and have no idea when we're going to be able to sell. We're waiting for these completely arrogant a#$holes to gett off their lazy butts and agree to lower their price or refund us some money back when we settle. Don't know how much I said about the house but it's turned out the ROOF is unsound and that's the easy bit. We're game for a project but not to pay outrageously for the privilege

I am beginning to strongly suspect that's going to fall thru as well:( and then I'll have to find something on my own this time.

On another but related note, I've decided we're taking Tamsin on full time (day, not night) as of June 1. I'm sure we won't have moved by then But on the chance I have to pound the pavement personally, I'll have someone to watch Jamie for a few hours here and there while I do so. Basically I'll have to be my own Phil or Kirstie. I'm going crazy with links today so see here if you have no idea who phil or kirstie is.

As everyone today has said... when it rains it pours. so far a crappy outcome for an otherwise okay day.

2006-05-07T17:47:00.000+01:00

Yeay! I managed to figure out how to post the button. AND I managed to take a load of piccies of my FOs and UFOs. I figure the UFOs will encourage me to finish them. I'm a horrid finisher. More of a process person really. I love the actual act of knitting and imagining what it'll all look like. Then I get an idea through a finished piece and well the challange is sort of gone. Hence my stash of UFOs. I've got about 5 or 6 further projects in storage...

Anyhow, this afternoon I devoted some time while M had Jamie and Maddie was running around like a crazy person to photographing what stuff I could find. I'll try to do it in some sort of order... FO first, obviously.

Okay so after a LONG time getting the pictures to post and writing the blurbs, it's all in backwards order. and I'll post UFOs later. Ugh. Time for bed.

Knit by my wonderful MIL
Pattern from Tadpoles and Tiddlers (rowan, I think)
Jaeger Sienna 4ply in Buttermilk, and two others (have no idea which, lol)
Knit with 2.75 and 3.25mm
Started summer 2005
Finished (knitting) Nov 2005
Sewen up May 2006...
Love this sweater. Bought the cotton and gave it to MIL to knit for Mads since she kept saying she didn't know what to knit. Asked her to knit a size bigger as I knew it might take a while... it's now a perfect fit!

Big Bird. In the flesh (as it were)
Pattern from Zoe Mellor's Nursery knits
Lorna's Laces Superwash Worsted in Carrot and Poppy
Knit with 5mm needles
Started Nov 2005
Finished April 2006

Jelly beanie in cashsoft dk from RYC.
Pattern from Classic Bambino

4mm needles
started Feb 06
finished Feb 06
really really quick knit, even for me!

My FIRST ever sweater. Knit for Maddie when I was sure that if I knitted in Pink she's turn out a boy. I used to have purple ribbon round the collar but adapted it for Jamie. He wore it once. Ah well...
Rowan Babies Sweeten pattern
Rowan Soft 4ply in what color I have no clue
2.75 and 3.25mm needles
Started September 2003
Finished March 2004

And that's it for now.
nighty night

2006-05-06T22:41:00.000+01:00

Whaaa - hey! I have one reader!! (hello Alice;)

I am not the techie person I used to be - I have joined this lovely knitting ring and for the life of me cannot figure out how to post the button in my blog. Once upon a time I actually wrote HTML webpages by hand and would have known how to do this... now? I have NO CLUE. My poor one brain cell cannot cope:(. Anyone out there know how? Where in the world to I fit in the code, is it in the template? Ugh I hate feeling like a dork. I want my blog to have those little columns with links and stuff.

So Alice asked where I find the time with a toddler and a baby. Well truth is I steal it. Life with a baby once you have a toddler and live in a teeny tiiiiiny (800sq ft) flat in the middle of a concrete jungle is about as stressful as it gets. Especially when your husband has a busy career and you don't have much family around...

And when I say steal, I mean baby fussing... knit knit okay baby crying, put knitting down. It's why I can type (like now) with a baby on one arm. Oh and of course knit with him as well altho he's getting bigger and more interested in the funny dancing string. Who the heck needs expensive baby toys? Computer screens and yarn are what they like! I've knitted while crying in waiting rooms (long story), I've knitted in taxis, last night I knit in a pub waiting for M who didn't show up. I used to stay up an extra 10mins after I expressed when Jamie couldn't b.feed at 2am then 4am...and knit... 10mins a few times a day add up!

Basically it's for my sanity. Even if I can only manage simple stockinette or stripes at the moment. In the future I aim to get back to more complex things... really...

And of course I still mean to do piccies. but that's getting the camera, the right light... hey actually I just realised that my FIL sent us a CD of Maddie piccies from her birthday day which was spent with them. AND there's a shot of her. With the sweater on (she demanded to wear it even though it clashed with her lovely outfit (see below for piccies of Maddie and the big bird cake)) AND with the beloved big bird (though you can't see his legs - everyone knows what they look like anyways!

without further ado...

Ahhhh there it is!

And as for Maddie - where is she while I knit? Well that's another story completely. She normally naps 2-3 hrs the days she's home. And up until now, she's in nursery school 3 days a week. But we're all seriously showing signs of strain lately due to being cooped up in this stupid flat. And I've noticed she's more and more bored and unhappy the days she's here. So against my better judgement - that'st he judgement of the sane person I once was... I've decided that until we move and Tamsin comes to work for us, she'll be at nursery 5 days a week (whoo hoo more time to knit! - yeah I wish). Once I made the decision, I've since realised that it really is the right thing. Until we move. Once we have a HOUSE, things will be Different. We'll have Tamsin, who will become our nanny and general other person around to keep me sane. Or in a normal world, to take on the role that M would play if he was a normal 9-5 working man. Which he's not. And that's fine, because we get Tamsin instead.

So finally, after a very tough start and very very very tough past year, we will hopefully start to work things out. A house, some help, and a healthier family life. That's the plan at least. I'm sure it won't go as smoothly as all of that. Honestly, this is ME. nothing is Ever smooth.

Nuf said for now. really, tho, anyone know how to publish the ring button on this blog thing so I can play my part? It's not that I don't want to, honest...

Did I mention I've got a cold? And our fifth anniversary last night was ruined by my (bloody) hormones (another story for another day.) Good grief why doesn't anyone tell you it's going to be this hard? Well, why would they?

night:)

2006-05-02T22:21:00.000+01:00

So I had to do an emergency re-knit and sewing of the seams on the big bird sweater for Maddie (in case I forgot to say why it's called this, well let's just say the colors of the stripes are the same as Big Birds' legs). The cuff was coming undone and the seams had undone themselves. I had the sweater in my room to be redone and Maddie kept bringing it to me to wear. Bless her. So I felt guilty and in light of my new seaming trick I completely fixed the one side. Now the other side looks like cr*p but I'll fix it. Eventually.

As a result this killed one day of knitting and reseaming. Am now reseamed out for the mo. So finished the 4 rows of the front of Maddie's ballet wrap. Now am feeling guilty as the wrap is almost done and I promised myself that I was going to do one piece of hers and one piece of Jamie's stripey sweater until both were done. Have discovered that I don't like stripes. Well now I know. It's the whole rejoining every other line OR carrying up the side bit that is soooo boring.

And have been online looking at new knitting books. Am ADDICTED to knitting books. And there are so many out there needing a new home. Am trying not to collect too many before the next move. It's not easy. Lucinda Guy has a new one out... I love the first one only this one doesn't look as good. More heavy on the accessories and lighter on the sweaters etc. But I always mean to make toys etc for all my relatives etc. Only they're not really the dolly types. Hmm. On the other hand Maddie's taken to the dolly I knit originally for someone else but got too lazy and had to send out the package and as a result Maddie got the doll instead. Lol. Someday when I don't have tiny children maybe I'll get to sit around all day and knit. Yeah right.

Mister snuffles is beside me again on the bed finally asleep. I had both monsters home today after a bank holiday weekend. Mads was bored out of her skull and Jamie was fussy because Maddie kept him awake most of the day. And M decided to forget to tell me that he wouldn't be home for the evening routine and so when he did make it thru the door as Mads was getting into the bath I sort of left him to it with her. For some reason M cannot and has NEVEr been able to tell me at the beginning of a work day when he will be home. Nor can he manage it midday. He will only know just before he walks out of the office door. He cannot understand why this infuriates me. I would only like to know if I'm going to be running things solo for the evening routine - it makes a HUGe difference in the planning ahead stage. It's not exactly easy to get a toddler's routine running while the baby is screaming bloody murder because he's not been fed and had there been someone else they would have been able to hold him and distract him OR I'd have been able to make sure he was fed before starting the routine. I'm sure my 0 readers are wondering why the routine is so important and I just say if you've had a toddler you'll know. With the possible exception of I can't remember, Maddie has her routine and has done for the past 18ish months. In the next 1-2 months somehow we've got to work Jamie's into it. Should be interesting.

So M came in right as the bath was ready and he finished with Mads and then threw the baby and nighttime bottle his way. GOD I needed a break from mister snuffles-and-fussy and everything else. I wanted to get the edging done on the other half of the front of the stripey sweater that I'd just cast on. Was almost done when I realised that I'd turned about halfway thru by accident - must have been distracted, and had to frog it and start again. But managed to get it thru the first stripe change and now it's just gone 1030 and I'm expressing before bed (look away if you don't like mummy stuff) because Jamie didn't want to b.feed when he got hungry earlier. And perhaps when I'm not exhausted and have nothing else to whinge about I'll tell you the fascinating saga of getting him to breastfeed. the short short short version is tounge tie snipped at 6wks, expert brought in at 11wks. Until 11wks I was basically expressing 5-7 times a day. I am in fact a human cow. Probably in some people's opinions for more than that reason alone.

But I'm extremely proud of the fact I WON the war against my newborn and he's breastfeeding with the exception of one or two bottles a day. Yeay! Up until Tamsin (our expert) came into the picture I thought I was going to go crazy. All my American friends and family were like why in the world are you bothering? Because it's better for him and me and because I want to - it's important. If babies were meant to drink formula then why on earth would we produce milk? This is NOT a rant about formula fed babies, it's a rant about the attitudes of certain countries towards b.feeding. I'm no earth mother but I believe natural is best when possible... I had so much guilt over not bfeeding Maddie for many many reasons and I wanted to make it work with Jamie and I did. Now if I can just get past the 'congested' ducts and sore nipples from a teething at 4 months baby then it'll be all rosy like it's supposed to be when you b.feed. Yeah right.

Hmmm. I think I've ranted enough for one day/night. Well not really but I'm tired and the b.milk needs to go in the fridge.

nighty night.

2006-04-30T08:23:00.000+01:00

Just a short short post for my 0 readers (gotta feed those 0 readers!)...

Well blow me down I've discovered a 'new' way to knit seams. The Three Needle Bind Off (cast off - whatever). I decided to try it to attach the collar to this sweater my MIL knit Maddie before her hand surgery, and it worked sooooo beautifully. I knit the sleeve in the same way and it's almost what I'd call professional! The trick, it seems (ha) is to use needles slightly smaller than you knit the garment with so that they're not too bulky. I'm currently working on the side/sleeve seam. You know, the one that goes all the way from the cuff on the sleeve down the side of the sweater. The Long one. I'm at least proud that I've figured this out. You know, 10yrs on from my first cast on...

Oh and am also repairing (and reseaming) the Big Bird cardi Maddie loves so much. I had to re-knit the cuff which had disintigrated. My daughter clearly is not exactly a Dainty two year old. So the cuff had developed a hole in the middle, one seam was undoing itself, and in general the sweater was looking much worse for the wear. I'll fix that!!!

Honest, honest, I'll eventually post pictures....

2006-04-22T22:26:00.000+01:00

Am going to force myself to get in the habit of posting. Sitting here with mister snuffles just before I am off to beddy bye. I've finished the back of Maddie's ballet wrap - wa heeey! Have finished casting on for the front. I Hate casting on. Am the world's slowest caster-oner. I use the knit casting on method or long tail... not really sure what they call it, actually. It's the one where you knit then put the stitch back on, etc.

Have I mentioned yet that it is Despite my poor knitting skills that I knit? Oh yes, dear readers, I taught myself in college. No one ever showed me and I wanted to know. So I got meself a book and it took me over a week to decipher how to do it. Fast forwards nearly 10 years and I'm much, much faster, but I still knit wrong. People always laugh when I say that but I don't control my tension with the other hand wound all funny round the yarn - the yarn flows freely and I pick up and put the yarn round. This results in the yarn getting relatively twisty. In my early days I used to unwind the yarn when it goe really bad. Someday when I have loads of free time I must (must!) learn to knit the right way. It seems like it'd be millllles easier than my way.

God I'm tired. am up trying to drain the nose before bedtime. Oh and if everything were not enough, have developed a blocked milk duct in the left boob. It HURTS. Nice, huh? I should say more about lots of things but I'm going to pass out now... nose clear and tooo tired...

nuf' said.

2006-04-22T05:07:00.000+01:00

opps...

for the 0 people out there reading this I thought in all fairness I had to say something about my mum's visit since I was so mean about her earlier...

It Was Great.

She was relaxed and Helpful and not too Pushy! I was actually sorry when she left and wish I could see her sooner than August. She was really great with Maddie and even changed a poopy diaper on her last morning.

Why is it we always want to complain rather than brag (brag being happy complaining)? I promise more 'bragging' later. You know, when the brain cells magically regrow themselves.

As proof of above comments on Helpful Mom, here's a piccie of my 2yr old on her birthday - note my mum in the background feeding Jamie!

And if any of my 0 readers are wondering where the pictures are of Jamie, well lets just say he's NOT photogenic at this age. But will keep trying...

And the cake was made by yours truly and Supposed to be Maddie's Favorite character - Sesame Street's own Big Bird. My mom brought a cake tin and Wilton's cake decorating set all the way from the US of A and it still turned out bad. Oh well. I've got Years to practice! And she loved it and Apparently the cake was VERY good. Thanks to Nigella Lawson for her buttermilk cake recipe - domestic goddess strikes again! (not the name of the book, btw)

really, I'm going.

2006-04-22T04:46:00.000+01:00

So this blog thing takes time and energy... I sort of can find the time however my brain cells seem to be rapidly decreasing along with my energy... But here's the other big news... Kids make you stupid. I hesitate to have more than just my two for Exactly that reason. Before Kids (BK), I was a pretty smart person. I was a pretty good writer and could organise a sentence. Now? Well let's just say I won't even drive a car most days. Nuf' said.

So I'm up at 4:48am with a cold. And of course when you're b/f you're not supposed to take anything that can help you. Well that's not totally true - you're allowed liquid nasal decongestants and sudafed but sudafed is supposed to decrease your milk supply. so at 430am on the third day of a cold that's got me so stopped up I can't think straight much less sleep, I've taken the drastic measure of sudafed. We'll see how it works. (fingers crossed, I could REALLY use a break).

Jamie's beside me snoring away. He's just decided that he wants to sleep on his stomach. This is a milestone because he can roll over onto his stomach when he wants to! Not too many kudos, though, he's on a small hill - a bed. But he's done it in his crib too... Ahhh to be a baby with no cares except change my diaper and feed me. He's got a cold too but not quite so bad as his momma. Soooo not fair.

On the knitting front have used some of my sick time to finish the back of Maddie's polly ballerina wrap and part of a sock. Boy using those dpns are sllllllow going. Or maybe it's just everything being slooooowww going.

On the house front we had the survey done today. Gave me a chance to walk around a bit with a decorating eye - I've decided to do a fair amount of the work instead of hiring decorators then despairing when they botch the job. Only one bedroom of the 5 is not a complete disaster. It's the room with (are you ready for it?) a dead fish tank in it. Yup you heard right. These idiots are showing a million plus pound house with a nasty decrepit fish tank in it. They're taking that when they leave, right?

The Survey turned up that the roof isn't properly (at all) joined to the house, causing 'thrusting' and cracking walls and 'movement'. And the roof needs to be redone. Hmmm. This is turning out to be more work than we thoguht. Definetly going to need a nanny/some help for mommy. We're hoping that we still get the house - at a reduced price. I DO love a project! And for anyone who just happens to know me out there thinking Oh My God - another project Kate's not going to finish well you can just stuff it because this is Our House we're talking about! and IF I do the work then it's ONLY because I've got someone around to help with housework and looking after the kiddies. Otherwise well I"ll just have to cry and pay someone else to botch the job.

5am.

I'm going to attempt sleep now...

2006-04-08T19:14:00.000+01:00

Maddie at 1 yr 1 month

Maddie 2 yrs

Still haven't managed much posting. I can't believe that my baby's almost 2... This time 2 yrs ago I was struggling not to throttle my mother who had come over to support me through Maddie's birth. She stepped off the plane one week before Maddie was even due... and said, "well this baby can come out now, I'm here!" Not hello, not how are you feeling. The following week-plus-5-days until Maddie was born was, ahem, difficult to say the least. 'Nuf said.

As for knitting well I'm vowing to post pictures. Of Maddie's favorite pink-and-orange-striped hooded cardi (finished!), the 'Bobby' stripped and hooded cardi for Jamie - one back and one piece of the front, and the Polly short sleeved ballet wrap for Maddie - two sleeves. Bobby is Debbie Bliss Cathay, and Polly is in RYC Cashcotton DK, same color as in the photo in the book. And since I'm promising myself that I'm going to work on this post and publish it later, then this is the place for the pictures:

This should be another interesting week in the run up to Maddie's birthday. The Man is going to be gone on a bunch of business trips, one overnight on Tuesday. I hate it when he has late nights or trips on Tuesday/Thursdays. With Maddie and Jamie on my own all day, by the time 6-7pm rolls around, I'm desperate for a break. Then there's the evening meal and bath and bedtime routine while Jamie's going through his desperate hunger stage. Ugh. Altho I must say that FINALLY this week it seems he's ready to be more independant. Witness me actually TYPING - it's only because he's not in my arms! The past week has been a complete nightmare. He's been teething and growth-spurting and generally as cranky as a baby gets. Wednesday I actually lost it and put him in Maddie's crib and shut the door and let him scream whilst I expressed from the boobs he was refusing. Took me another half hour to calm him after that. He has Such a temper...

And then Friday Duh duh DUHHHHHHHH - my mother arrives. After the big fiasco with Maddie's birth, she asked if I wanted her this time. To which I said Heeeellllll no. F*ck no. Not on your life, no. The Man ended up saying he wasn't going to allow her to come even if I wanted her there, she just made me so miserable the last time that he didn't want things any more stressed. And so she wasn't there. The Man's parents were, though, to take care of Maddie. Boy were they wonderful. My MIL actually cleaned the whole flat and did ALL the laundry while I was in the hossie!!!

What a dream come true... Anyhow I digress. So no mommy. And then to make matters more weird, she sent my dad for a visit when Jamie was about a month old. And complained about not getting to see Jamie. uh huh. Because her job which she's retiring from in June is Tooooo important. She's decided to come at Easter because she has off anyhow. Uh huh. She's flying the 3672 miles from DC to London and unlike any other sane person who would allow a week or More, she's allowed herself 3 1/2 days outside of travel time. So she gets in this Friday and leaves Tuesday.

Now when I married the Man and 2yrs later we started thinking about having babies, I naively assummed my parents would be the wonderful amazing grandparents and his parents would be the difficult ones. And in a lovely twist of irony it's proven the opposite. Well I'm not unhappy about this... the Man's parents are only about an hour and a bit away And retired And Willing To Help (as their social calendar allows). Plus my MIL has been a knitter since the age of 11, and she's a wealth of information. Whenever something gets so hard I can't figure it out, she helps me. My own mother knit some when I was little - garter stitch slippers, but has always done counted cross stitch instead. She'd prolly make a great knitter with all that counting!

And so I realise now that in fact I have gone off on a complete tangent. Meant to blog about happy things like my lovely kiddies and how much faster my knitting has become in the last year. But no. Got distracted about family.

News on our home situation! We GOT the house we were looking at, after a Painful week and a bit - call it an even two weeks really. Now the fun begins. So far we've only agreed that we want to buy and the seller is going to sell it to us. In Theory. Now is the actual exchanging contracts and surveying and Paying and then finally Getting The Keys. That's all I'll allow myself to say about the house. I don't want to jinx it...

As for the teeny tiny flat, well, 4 more viewings the past week, no other offers than the one that's 20k below our asking price. Incidentally the house was 20k than we wanted to spend. So we don't want to be 40k out of pocket in total. But we prolly will be. Grr. This house buying and selling thing is hard work. At least now (we hope) the end is nigh... Did I mention I HATE getting the flat ready for a viewing? It's The Most Painful thing Ever with a toddler. Which is why I asked for them not to show it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Nuf said on that.

What else in the world is there for me to blog about? Loads I'm sure but I'm tired. On my night off from Jamie I didn't get to sleep til 11pm. What an idiot.

Ok really. I'm off to bed.

2006-03-30T19:24:00.000+01:00

Hello anyone,

I just figured I'd post something as it's day two since I created this blog and haven't had the chance to do anything yet.

Today was another day from hell. Two kiddies under two at home with a viewing on our flat which is just over 800sq ft. In other words, teeny tiny. The viewing was scheduled for the worst part of the day: just after nap time. Jamie who is almost 3 months old spent Maddie's naptime (she's two in a month) not napping and finally dropped off so that I could drop off and we got close to an hour before her highness woke up.

Good news is that before Jamie got grumpy he spent some time looking around doing nothing at all so I was able to get some knitting done. Which is what I REALLY want to blog about, besides my boring thoughts on my day and motherhood. I'm currently working on my first sock in the most hideous colors I've ever seen - okay it's not the most hideous colors... and when I get myself together I'll start posting images But the wool was free and a gift from my MIL who is very thoughtful. She knew I was interested in knitting socks and being a longtime knitter gave me a pattern (which I'm not using) and a large ball of Regia 4ply that she found in a post office in Germany on their last trip. She got it for a song and I know she likes the colors... so I want to make my first pair of socks and then give them to her.

Also working on a cardi for Jamie as last week I finished off a cardi for Maddie. She loves it and wears it all the time. I'm soooooo proud. It's my first effort that is finished before she's too big for it. Only took me almost two years. In my defence I DID finish three other sweaters AND had a baby during that time. (that's three sweaters for her) Anyhow back to the cardi. It's from the new RYC Classic Bambino book 12. Called bobby. But I'm using Debbie Bliss cathay instead. Have about 3 inches since last night. Whoo hoo I'm on a roll.

Hmm. Enough for now. I'm sure whomever you are reading you're confused as I've got no other details published. That's later tonight. Promise.