A Birthday Gift

Joyce emailed me around the time of my birthday in September and mentioned that she would be sending me a birthday present. I was so surprised and excited since I have never officially met Joyce as we live on opposite sides of the world. Well today, feeling rather blue (yes I have days like these occasionally), I heard the postie and went to check the letterbox and found Joyce's present for me. Isnt the card and the little gift box of patterns just super special. It has brightened up my day considerably and I am sure that very soon you will be seeing some new knitted hats, scarves and mittens from these pretty patterns. I am going to treasure this present and THANK YOU JOYCE for being so nice to me.
Thank you to everyone who left comments on the green textured jacket too, they made me feel so happy. Hope everyone has a lovely lovely happy day!

FO No. 29

Pattern: Textured Jacket from Baby Knits by Lois Daykin

Size: 6-9 months

Yarn: Harvest yarn from Spotlight, nearly 4 balls. This yarn has a crepe look to it, but knits

up beautifully.

Started: October, finished today

I had bought some other buttons, but forgot where I had put them, so instead went through my button stash and found some to replace the ones I had misplaced. I really like the pattern in this little jacket and it was quite quick to knit up too. Lovely for a present, or even if you have your own baby it will be a great addition to their wardrobe. Now I can cast on for some other projects now that I have finished up 2 today. Happy knitting!!

Fo No. 28

Pattern: Design from Sirdar Baby Knits book 316
Yarn: 8 Ply pure new wool, about 8 balls
Started: September sometime, finished 18th October 2007
Size: 5 - 6 years
This is the second time that I have knit this cardigan, and I really love it. Considering the weather today is 19 and very cold and raining, I might be able to persuade Isabelle to wear it for a photo after school. I attached small heart buttons onto it, since the flower buttons that we bought were too big for the buttonholes. How frustrating. I really hope she likes this one as the pattern just pops in this yarn.

Parcels

The Softies book arrived today. What an interesting book this is. I havent had much time to look through it properly as yet, but I am sure I will later today. The toys in this are quite cute and I can see myself making one or two for a gift.

I also visited Meaghan and finally ordered a Jordana Paige bag. They are so beautiful and they even have their own dust cover bag so they dont get dusty or dirty. Lots of room inside too. I ordered the olive one and it arrived in two days. Meaghan is always such a great person to order from and will try and help as much as she can if need be with an order too so pop on over and see her.

I have also finished knitting Isabelle's cardigan, although the buttons still need attaching and I can get her to wear it for a photo. It has been too hot lately, and now today it is cold and not much sunshine. Perhaps after school today I can get her to model it for me. The green cardigan is nearly finished too, just one sleeve and a bit of seaming. Oh and buttons to be added on that one too. I have started another sweater for my nephew who turned 4 yesterday. The hoodie I had knitted earlier looked a bit small for him so I am knitting the Digging Sweater from Miss Bea series. It should knit up nice and quickly. I am knitting it in a light blue color and it is from stash so I feel good about reducing it a little bit. Well I am off to sew and knit and do whatever else needs doing around the house. Happy knitting and sewing!

Textured Jacket

This is newest knit that I started knitting on Thursday afternoon. It is the Textured Jacket from Baby Knits by Lois Daykin. So far the back, two fronts and one band is complete. I hope I can finish it by the weekend as it is for a good friend who is expecting their first baby, a little boy, any day now. I am using Harvest 8 ply yarn for this in a nice sage green color, as it looks a bit dull in the photo. I will need to find some cute buttons to put on it once it is finished. I only have half a sleeve to finish on Isabelle's cardigan too, so I hope by tonight I can seam it up. I made a quick trip to Spotlight and bought a ballerina fabric panel to make Isabelle a lap quilt. It will have pink polka dot fabric on the back of it, so I will try and complete that over the weekend too. Once I have finished them up I will show you some pictures.

Garden Update

The garden is growing very nicely, apart from the cucumbers that died due to the cold frost at night. As you can see from the picture, the silverbeet and tomatoes are growing quite nicely. The capsicums are too. There are lots of carrots at the other end and a few peas which are growing nicely too. I just hope the birds dont come and try and eat them all before we get to.

Family Update

Isabelle's new tooth has finally decided to appear after waiting for it to grow for about 3 months. The new one at the top hasnt made an appearance as yet. I was worried that since they hadnt made an appearance as quickly as the others did that she wasnt going to get another one. Of course, every time she grows a new tooth she gets like a headcold thing where her nose is blocked. Today I kept her home with a box of tissues by her side and we watched the Bridge to Terabithia together. It was a really good movie and sad too, but I really enjoyed it. We have been waiting for it to be released on dvd for a while now and I am glad that we saw it. After the movie she managed to take a nap for about 40 minutes, but woke up crying due to her nose being blocked. I should have known something was wrong yesterday when I picked her up from school as she cried all the way home. Can you imagine how stressed I was by the time we walked home, people staring at Isabelle wondering why she was crying. I am sure most must have thought it was because of me, but it was because she was getting sick and run down. I only hope that she will sleep well tonight and feel much better tomorrow. She has another birthday party on Sunday for one of her school friends, and our neighbour's son is having his 1st birthday tomorrow at the local park. If she is still sick I wont risk taking her tomorrow and we will hopefully have a quiet day at home. Well that is all for now as I can hear an argument brewing in the rumpus room. Time to referee again. Have a happy and wonderful weekend!

Back On Blossom Street

I have been reading since the weekend (apart from blogs) and I have been enjoying it too. I discovered this book at the local K-Mart last week and since it was the only copy I decided to buy it. I still have the first one (Shop on Blossom Street) somewhere around here. It is about a young lady who in the first book goes through the trials of having her own yarn store whilst dealing with cancer, family problems, etc. Now this book continues on with the story of her and a few friends from the last book, and what happens to each of them, plus a few new characters too. I used to read a lot of books before I had children, so now when I find a book I really want to read I go to my bedroom and read for an hour or two whilst the children are occupied with their friends or doing something together. I find it quite relaxing to read and get immersed in the story quite easily. Lachlan is a bookworm like me too, and we just bought Deltora Quest 3 for him to read. He had finished the first series of it, and we are now waiting on the bookstore to get Deltora Quest 2 in for him to read. I think he read for most of the day yesterday.
Paul took the kids to the local park yesterday too for a fishing competition. They had stocked the lake with about 800 trout and held the comp from 10 to 2 yesterday. They only stayed an hour as it was impossible to fish with so many people. They didnt even have room to cast their lines properly. The park is only a 5 minute walk from our house, so the boys will go after school during the week and see if they are lucky enough to catch a fish. I hope they do so we can have some nice grilled trout for dinner.
Oh, and I took Isabelle to get her ears pierced on Friday morning. She has been asking for a while now to have them done and I was a bit worried about how she would be. We went to the chemist and they said to come in at 10:00. Imagine trying to entertain a child for an hour whilst they are waiting to get it done. By the time we got back there she was feeling better, until the lady had to get everything ready. Isabelle was holding my hand looking a bit worried, and I was going to cancel it. She said no, she wanted to still get it done. She cried a little bit after the first ear and then knew what the second one was going to feel like. It always breaks my heart to see my children upset and in pain. She did really really well though and only cried a little bit. I tried to explain that the hard part was over and that that was as much pain as she was going to be in. After an hour or so she said it didnt hurt as much, so we went to McDonald's to have some lunch, and distract her from thinking about it. Later that night she did say to me that it did hurt a lot, and that after the first one she didnt want the second one done. I can imagine why too. Now she is full of smiles and her earrings look lovely on her too, little peridot ones which is her birthstone. She is already thinking about what ones she wants for Christmas as a present. This is a good idea too as people never know what to buy her. I have been knitting too, and am on the sleeves for Isabelle's red cardigan. I did the collar and bands last night. I seem to be a on a sleeve rolll as I am knitting up the sleeves for Lachlan's jumper too, so hopefully I can finish two in the month of October. I have also been on ravelry and it is so fantastic. If you would like me to add you to "my friends" list just let me know your username so I can find you. I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful day.

FO No. 27

Pattern: Ribbon Edged Cardigan from Special Knits by Debbie Bliss
Size: 6 - 9 months
Yarn: Cotone cotton from Spotlight, dark pink, 4 balls
Started: Last week
Finished: Today
I loved knitting this pattern since this is about the 4th time I have made it. I decided not to add the ribbon, but added this embroidered ribbon instead around the neckline and the cuffs of the sleeves. This will be a present for my friend whose baby girl is due in February 2008. It always knits up so quickly too, and this is the first time I have knit it in cotton too.

FO No. 26

Pattern: Ribby Cardi by Bonnie Maree Burns, size largest
Started: 10th September
Finished: 2nd October
Yarn: Cotton Ease, about 5 balls.
I really loved knitting this pattern, and it fits quite well. I really should have knit it a little bit longer, but it will be fine. It feels quite smooth knit up in the Cotton Ease too. Now I have some more time to knit up some other knits for a friend, and finish my son's sweater!

Modelled Just For You

After a few of you wonderful ladies asked to see how the skirt looked being worn, I grabbed the skirt out of the ironing basket to give it a light press and here is the result. Trying to get a twirling photo is simply out of the question as the photo turns out too blurry, but as you can see it has a nice drape to it. Isabelle was a perfect model, and this is the photo she didnt know I had taken under the verandah with Bella the kitty. The skirt washed up nicely and kept its shape, after Isabelle had so nicely dropped icecream on it last week. Rushing in to tell me that some ice-cream had accidentally dropped on it, she had tried to wipe it off with a baby wipe. No babies, we just keep them on hand for little messes, although we did have a baby visitor on Saturday and being just 3 months old she is so delicate and petite and absolutely gorgeous. Isabelle and Lachlan fell in love with baby Jessica as you do with wee ones. Isabelle even held her whilst she was screaming, and didnt seem deterred at all. So cute! Oh well I have some housework to do, and some sewing up too and installing a zipper, so tomorrow I should have another FO and a new book to show you all. Happy knitting!