UFO Malaise

Well Happy New Year everyone! Dan and managed to see 2008 in (just) with a bottle of bubbles. We regretted it when Euan woke up really early in the morning though! So I have sent the boys off to the playground so I can straighten my head out. And it wasn't the champers. I had half a glass for the whole night although even that was enough to make me feel wobbly. Bed early again tonight methinks as tomorrow will be 39 or 40 degrees and that'll kill me on no sleep.

Anyway, I have woken up this morning just itching to start something new knitting wise. I'm sure this wasn't helped by reorganising my Ravelry project queue last night. It reminded me of all the wonderful projects that I want to start, most of which I even have yarn for. But I am trying to be good and finish a good chunk of my UFOs before casting on something new. I know my WIP list doesn't look like much but that's mainly because I haven't loaded them all onto Ravelry yet. I figure if I can finish the ones listed then I can start something new. So while the boys are out I'm going to get cracking (although I've already wasted half a hour having a shower and typing this).

Euan's ABC jumper is coming along well. I finished knitting the body yesterday and then had to deal with this:

Oh how I wish I'd learnt how to weave in the ends as I was knitting. Must head back to TechKnitter and read her instructions. So I spent all of yesterday weaving bloody ends in! Still, it looks much better after that hard work and I have finally started adding some letters:

I really should've blocked it before starting the duplicate stitch but I have to remind myself that this is a jumper for a 2.5yo and he will probably kill it or only wear it once, so close enough is good enough. I still have the second sleeve to knit but I want to finish the body so I can feel like it's almost done.

Now I'm going to make some more headway on the Branching Out scarf. It was supposed to be a Christmas present but obviously it wasn't done. I've done about 22 repeats and I'd like to make it to 30 today so I only have about another 10 to do. I really want to get it to France while it's still Winter! Wish me luck!

Just a few WIPs

Just a quick post while the boys are out playing to show you my currents WIPs. It is so nice to have refound my knitting mojo, now I just need to stay about past 8.30pm and I'll be unstoppable!

Last post I mentioned that a soaker skirt thingy, better known as a Flirty Skirty. I've made ok progress on it so here are a few shots.

This is the finished, though unblocked, skirt.

And this is the rather small progress made on the soaker. This bit is quick to knit though and can be done with Euan's help so I should be finished tomorrow.

Sorry, I'm just starting to play with Flickr a bit more so the pictures may not do exactly what I want.

I've also been spending far too much time on Ravelry and came across this beautiful scarf that Bec is knitting for her mum (sorry, it's a Ravelry link). I realised that this would be the perfect Christmas present for Dan's step mum so I've pulled out some yarn and am giving it a shot. The only problem is that it's not very Euan friendly, being lace, and it's got to get to France before Christmas. Anyhoo, it's great fun to knit and is looking great so far.

Only 6 repeats out of 30 odd so I've got a little way to go. Hopefully Euan has some nice long day sleeps this week so I can get a load more done.

Nothing much on the baby front. Still gestating happily and ignoring those people who are worth my effort :-)

3 weeks 'til Christmas!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!

Ok, I feel a little better now. I always hit this time of year expecting to be organised and every year I'm shocked to find out that I've done as little as the year before. At least this year I managed to drag the boys out on Dec 1st and do most of the overseas shopping. In fact we had a very productive day. Then of course we all got gastro! I'll spare you the details but it was absolutely horrid. I couldn't even keep water down. After throwing up for a good 7 or 8 hours I eventually made it to the Dr who gave me a shot and sent me home. After a little while I could start drinking a little and steadily improved from there. Euan had a small bout of throwing up and Dan has woken up today with a dodgy tummy. Everyone I know is or has been sick over the last few days so I guess it's just a nasty virus doing the rounds. Still, I really felt like I was going to die for a while there. Luckily Dad was brilliant and helped look after Euan while Dan looked after me. Thank goodness for being near family!

Of course this means that I have only just finished the purple thingy that I showed you last time. I'm just getting ready to block it now so you'll have to wait a while for photos. I have to deliver it first so it could be another week or so (I'm staying quarantined. I don't need to get sick again!). I have just started on a skirt and soaker combo which should be pretty cute. I'll wait until I actually have some progress before taking some pics. It's only about 4 rows so far.

The pregnancy is going along very smoothly now. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my last pregnancy and how things have differed. Last time was really hard on me physically as I was in the lab full time and had no chance to rest, eat or drink during the day. I know that's why I ended up with pretty impressive oedema and a severe kidney infection. This time I get lots of relaxing when Euan has a nap and he is pretty happy for me to lie down during the day. I am also going to the osteopath regularly and watching what I eat, so my body is much happier. Mentally, however, it is a completely different story. Last time I didn't know anyone with kids, had no pregnant friends but really felt like my friends cared and were interested in what was going on. I felt like I had support and it was really great. This time I have all the friends with the kids, the experience, but I have never felt more alone. It is really bizarre as I had expected the opposite. Sometimes I think I could post on JB that I was going to kill myself and my family and get no response. I really thought I had friends out there but maybe I really don't fit in. I don't know.

Anyway, the important bit. Here are some pics of our little bub. They aren't the best as the scan wasn't great quality but they are beautiful all the same.


There's a cute little foot.


And a slightly hard to make out face.

Isn't she beautiful! Unfortunately most of my friends (acquaintances?) have jumped on the "scans are evil" bandwagon so I can't even share my joy with them, so I'll just tell cyberspace who I know doesn't care so I don't have any expectations.

Oh, and if anyone feels the need to leave a nasty comment, don't bother it's very tedious and a waste of my time. If you don't like me don't read my blog.

Going off to knit now. Bye!

Post xmas malaise

Well I haven't achieved much over the last few days. I was doing really well with my twinkletoes and finished the first one really quickly. Unfortunately, even though I had used the exact yarn and right needles I ended up with a really weird gauge. Instead of 22/26 (or something like that) I got 26/38 so my first slipper is very, very small. I'm so upset that I have put them on hold until I get the motivation back. Serves me right for not doing a gauge swatch. I know it's fine for scarves, but not so good for slippers or socks, or clothes for that matter. I guess I'll just have to become a "proper" knitter one day and try them! I'll get some picture up shortly so you can at least see how the first slipper turned out.

My wavy scarf is rattling along now that I have given up on the twinkletoes. I'm onto the 6th repeat fter doing 2.5 today. I have to ball up the next skein so I can finish the second half of the scarf. Should be done soon though. Hopefully it'll still be a little cool when we go to the UK so I can wear it. Will get some pictures of that soon too.

On a non-knitting note. We have finally decided to head to the UK about Easter time for 4-5 weeks as Euan is yet to meet any of his family and Dan and I haven't been for almost 2 years. I get such itchy feet after a year without travel. Luckily Dad has agreed to give us a few extra frequent flyer points so we shouldn't have to pay for the flights, otherwise we just couldn't afford it. Yay, I'm so excited!! Just trying to work out what nappies to take now.

Christmas was really nice. Euan was spoilt rotten by the family which thrilled us. They'd been pretty nonplussed about his birthday and first Christmas so we weren't holding out breath but it was a wonderful day. He is so tuckered out after all the parties and eating.

I promise I'll have a whole lot of pictures for next time. Hopefully I'll get them up before we reach 2007!

Present for me

Although I've been slack getting other peoples presents, I've managed to get a couple of little things for myself. I was starting to worry that this parecl would never arrive, but on the last postal day before Christmas my parcel man (well not my normal one, I think he's left as I haven't seen him for ages. He was so nice too) arrived with this little beauty:

Sorry, I'm having major problems with my camera. Everything looks crap :(

But anyway... I got four balls of Rowan Calmer. I refused to pay the prices asked in Oz so I bought direct from the UK and it was so much cheaper. It is just beautiful yarn. I plan to make a few pairs of knitty's finest. Hopefully some will be done in time for Christmas as I wanted them as presents. Fingers crossed.

While I was at it I thought I'd chuck in a ball of 100% alpaca sock yarn for myself. I want to have the finest dressed feet around. Artesano Alpaca is fair trade wool from Bolivia and OMG I have never felt anything so soft. I can't wait to start knitting with it, though I might try some cheaper stuff for my first pair of socks. Watch this space...

Christmas is coming

OMG! It's Christmas in 3 days and I'm so unprepared. I have just put together my first presents as I have a lunch with some long term friends today and every year I forget to get them presents so this time I thought I'd make an effort. Luckily they don't know I have a blog so they won't read this :) Here are some samples of the little gift boxes I made up for them.

The blue things are luxury White Christmas, with pistachios, craisins and white chocolate. The pink ones are a really rich chocolate fudge. The little things in silver foil are mini choc-coated christmas puddings. And the biscuits and almond shortbread. All made with my not-so-talented hands.

The final presentation: