Rose turns 7 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

She's growing so quickly!

Custom Order completed

Made using the Dandelions Dreamers Pattern Which I made under a special cottage licence.

I used The Knittery Hand dyed wool. in the Orange Blossom Colourway. I loved working with this wool. It's soft and spongy.

I'm addicted to socks

Peter's sock pattern came from HERE
Babies sock pattern is HERE

I knitted Peter a pair of socks! 4ply yarn on 2.25mm needles. And then knitted a baby pair for my BABY BOY :D Yep, the new baby is a boy. We had our Ultrasound today.

R.I.P Dad - passed away 13 July 2007 aged 61 years

My dad passed away after a long battle with cancer.
He fought hard and never gave in. He was so positive and strong.
He died with my mum holding his hand at home.
I was fortunate enough to be there when he passed and to share the last hours of his life.
My mum was amazing she cared for him to the end.
She and Dad kept their marriage vows of 41years and only death parted them.
My Mum 's mum also passed away the day before at the age of 86 years. A huge double blow to us all.

He is Gone

You can shed tears that he is gone,
Or you can smile because he lived,
You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see him
Or you can be full of the love that you shared,
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember him and only that he is gone
Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on,
You can cry and close your mind be empty and turn your
back,
Or you can do what he would want: smile, open your eyes,
love and go on.

"Tomorrow is a new day." Dad would tell us when things were tough

I've been tagged!

8 Things About Me
I was tagged by Mel & now I have to figure out what I'm going to write about :)

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Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
******

1. I'm pregnant with my 6th baby :)
2. I'm married to an almost perfect man.
3. I love dark chocolate
4. I bite my nails when stressed.
5. I'm a caffeine addict
6. I love spending money on fabrics and yarn
7. I can spend 2 hours in Spotlight and walk out with nothing!
8. I love my children.

Now I'm going to tag:
http://www.moon-milk.blogspot.com/ - her mum dobbed her in :)
http://greenfingers-sue.blogspot.com/ - my dear friend

umm got to find six more to tag ..any volunteers??

New Born Knit Wrap

Made with two strands of totem 8ply wool knitted together.
Ribbing was worked with 4.5mm needles and body 6mm needles.
The leg gussets were crochet with one strand and a 3.5mm needle.
Wrap used 2 x 50g balls.

I started by using the Jen Wrap pattern from the wool soakers yahoo group I'm a member of. I found it wasn't working for me the rise was way too short and I couldn't follow the gusset instructions. I unravelled it and increased the rib section from 5in to 10inches and redesigned the leg gussets in crochet using trebles and dc's.

Looming - A first play

I bought the looms a while ago at Spotlight and have only now had a go with them.
I made three new born hats with the smallest loom (blue) in one eveing! I used 2 strands of 8ply yarn worked together.
and followed the patterns and instructions from here Bevs Country Cottage.

The larger hat was made with the yellow loom with some yarn I bought from an op-shop.

Baby It's Cold Outside - Jacket

I made this with Country 12ply. It took 125gms of purple and a small amount of the contrasting white.
It was very quick to crochet up. Taking less than an evening.
The pattern is here

1932 - second attempt

Pattern is here

I changed the pattern reducing the number of stitches cast on to 36. If I was doing this for Lilly again I would go up to 44 stitches so the bottom isn't as stretched.

Lilly's Rise is 48cm, hip 60cm, weight 15kg

This was knitted with Country 12ply on 5.5mm needles in the body.
This one took less than 100grms and knitted quicker than the other.

I also reduced the leg from the first attempt to 44sts.

There is still a little stretch in the soaker.

I've discovered that you really need to increase the rise to more than your childs rise as once the soaker is stretshed across the rise reduces.

Also the lesson of knit a tension square is now firmly learnt :)

Miss Lilly's art work :(

Not happy!!!!

Lilly tells me her "drawing" is a picture of mummy.
Can you see my head, boobs and belly? on the left cushion. Clever really but......

Being chalk I thought it wouldn't be too hard to remove but...
I've vacuumed and dry wiped and it's still there. Will have to try some upholstery cleaner next.

1932 Soaker

Without the cuffs and tie added.

With cuffs and tie.

Knitted from here

I used 12 ply Country by Cleckheaton and 5.5mm needles on the body and 4mm needles on the cuffs.
I used a 100gms of the red and 30gms of the green.
They knitted up quickly, taking about 6 hours to complete.

The finished rise is 48cm (19 inchs)

I used the same number of stitches as the pattern (52) and knitted up 52 stitches on each of the cuffs.

I think it's too big for Lilly. The stretch is HUGE on these. May re-try with an 8ply wool and see how that works.

Lilly has large thighs and I like that you can easily adjust the leg holes to suit the size. I did this pair with a lot of stretch in the leg as I don't like them too tight.