a blanket

One blanket made, sewn up and posted to Canada- it got there safely, just a week later than Royal Mail said.My sister reckons Royal Mail just don't understand Canada Post.

I had lots of help getting the blanket to lie straight for photographing- can you tell?!

Happy New Year

Belated  Seasons Greetings from us. Life is lovely and busy and very, very full these days. We're definitely busy living it and not recording it! This is nearly 2 months worth of photos. I don't know if we hid the camera for a while, but I was surprised to see we've had a couple of weeks without taking a single picture. Wow. I didn't know it was possible with photo-happy Flower in the house! 

Rainbow in the 'disguise' Princess was given in some homemade crackers friends made.

We are very lucky to count Purple Pixie Crochet (her blog) in our friends- Princess has this beautiful snug hat made for her birthday by her- Thank you! She does enjoy slinging her brother- I'm not convinced he always enjoys it to the same degree....

We've had a flying visit from friends who are normally at the end of the country. I'm very glad they have managed to visit us (we didn't manage to get away down to visit when we hoped last year, but hopefully we'll do better this year).

Who's the boss? I'm really not sure!

Christmas Day with family was lovely.

They are all growing up quick.

A Frugi Christmas present Princess is very happy with. She has another hedgehog top from them that is a few years old. Its still a favourite but definitely too small. I don't think Flower is allowed the old one yet...

Sometimes babywearers move in packs. We celebrated the new year with a walk and meal with friends. A rare photo including me- Rainbow is on my front.

Rainbow is growing up and getting interested. The last few weeks have seen him discovering toys and sitting up a little on his own. He still does a fab face plant though!

I've been back at the sewing machine. I've got a sewing class coming up, so I had a practice at a quick top for Princess. You remember the hedgehog top above? Well, I tried to remember how to take a pattern from an existing item (we did this in my class a few years ago) and had some fabric left from nappy cover making back when Flower was in them. Its a lovely soft stretchy fleece. I've not tried sewing a stretchy knit before, so it has been- um,  interesting, but she's happy with it.

Its a nice simple shape and I'm looking forward to getting some tips on improving next time.

 I've also started some trousers for Flower, using fabric from a couple of extra-large charity shop cotton shirts. I need some help with the construction, so hopefully in class I'll get them finished.
Ah yes, the class. This'll be the first time I leave Rainbow for more than a quick errand. It should be fine, but I am a little anxious, seeing as I've not managed to express and he's never tried a cup or anything- he'll have to wait for me. DH and everyone will be quite nearby just in case, but he can go  few hours. Sometimes.

I've not stopped knitting- I've been adventurous and started adult toe-up fleegle heel socks. This is definitely a huge project. It'll be a very long time before i have a pair.

The girls have been helping bake bread, making pictures, bits of sewing, looking at craft kits from Christmas, been interested in a bit of science (today its been solutions and crystal growing). Princess was given a kit to make raw chocolate, so we we've been experimenting with that and tasting the difference between cacao and cocoa- what's an 'a' or an 'o' between friends! We have pets, much to the girls delight. Two fish were being made homeless (complete with tank and food!) so we didn't mind taking them in. Handy to get the girls used to creatures dying, if nothing else.
 When the snow arrived a snow woman was made, Princess has been better at mental arithmetic than me (admittedly that isn't hard), and sneaky reading has been happening. natural history/wildlife  has just finished, and many talks about death, mortality and illness after a very local serious car crash- every trip in a vehicle means driving through the crash site, so those tricky home ed 'intensive conversations whilst driving' (the majority of indepth home ed discussions seem to happen while driving, its a known fact and not just us!) have been death oriented all week.
And finally, tidying has also been a major feature this week, but of course it has to stop when there is tickling to be done:)

A crochet moan

Back for my birthday I treated myself to some lovely yarn. My plan is to make a lovely Attic24 rippley baby blanket. She gives lovely clear instructions here. But.

But.

Arrgghhh! See the darker green stripe I started with? I've done that SOOOOO many times! I carefully counted, but then the next row didn't match up. Ah, I must have miscounted. I started again, counted again, many, many times, unpicked it, redid it, etc- I even got DH to count for me. Phooey. I've left a little tail of extra foundation chains that I'll extract when I'm feeling confident, and now I'm making up each end of row as I get there, as they still don't fit somehow. So, my row ends aren't as consistent as I'd like but I'll just have to explain to bump that definately noone has a blanket just like this. Sigh.

On a slight plus, crochet is my 'defense' for sitting around so I don't look like I'm ignoring the boxes and unpacking and sorting. I've been signed off for 2 weeks from work as I'm struggling with remaining upright -a similar problem happened when I was expecting Big One, only home life wasn't quite so busy without children (!!!), so I think the extra tiredness is making it a bit different.
I'm annoyed I'm unreliable at work, but also know the best thing for me and bump is to be able to sit and rest- without watching work build up while I do that, or have to ask someone to do my work for me. I'm certainly not pulling my weight at home so here's a public thanks for DH and the girls for putting up with me, and looking after me!

Anyway, I think I'll get some more crochet time in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully this blanket wil fly along.

Crochet blanket

I've been on the mend-a whole week without puking! Soooo,I've been feeling like getting on with my crochet squares. I've even got a little fed up of doing simple squares, but wanted a simple blanket for my first blanket for me, and good practice before trying something for the bump.

Do you like my fancy crochet hook? Its wooden (Birch to be precise) and the brand is Brittany. I couldn't resist it in the yarn shop in Crosshills near Skipton. I look forward to the day when DH or I can just turn our own on our lathe, but for the time being (I'm feeling it'll be a few years before we can be that precise) I love this one!

I think the blanket is ok, very happy for first attempt without any real plan and left over yarn :-) and all done since christmas,while I've been feeling pretty rough.

I've learned about sewing up- that's why squares usually have the same colour edging!

Back to work Monday,so I'm glad its done now. I'll decide about an edging another time. My only worry is the whole 'staying awake all day' problem with going back to work, but lets try not to think about that.

The girls have had fun playing with Aunty Wendy- she even bakes with them both at the same time!

An Unexpected Holiday

I went to work today- and I didn't need to. I'd booked some annual leave a few months ago, planning that I'd need some time to pack and get organised, but forgot to write it down. As it happened, they'd booked a patient at my start time anyway, so I had something to do for half an hour, and then I came home. I'd have been annoyed if I had a commute, but at a two minute walk I can't really complain, and it was lovely finding out I had extra time, and I have tomorrow off as well! I won't make the same mistake tomorrow...
I've had a lovely day, which I'll say more about later. When I got the photos off the camera I realised I'd not shared us making Flowery Foot Powder from The Holistic Beauty Book :
Firstly- this wasn't made for any necessity or desire- purely that I had offered to use the grinder to make curry powder with the girls, only to find we were out of coriander ( and it just isn't curry powder without coriander)- and this was the first thing I found I thought we had the ingredients for at short notice!
The main ingredient being flowers, rose petals (bought) and lavender (home dried):

I had some help:

And a shot with the ground flowers:

It smells lovely, incredibly messy to use with small children, and very obvious when its all over the bathroom floor!

I've had a little time to do a bit more crochet while the girls chose to stay playing at a soft play place for hours- and I still had to drag them away- we'd been the only folk there for ages too! Anyway, I have now learned how to change colours which was something new for this week.

A neighbour returned  a book today, which personally I think all expectant mums should have access to. I had no idea about what was behind the low breastfeeding rates in so many places- that we are all exposed to so much marketing its no surprise so many mothers have no choice ( or feel they have no choice) but to use formula, and as a culture 'not breastfeeding' has been the norm for so long today's grandparents have no breastfeeding experience either- my friends mother-in-law came out with the classic 'its just not natural!'. Although I have been aware of people boycotting Nestle for years, now I actually get why its worthwhile to deprive us of Smarties and Aeros (you can get non -Nestle alternatives!). I can't explain it well- you'll just have to read the book!

In a similar vein, my Moby slings have come home for a few days, ready to pass onto the next mum:

Something I think all maternity units ( or some other stretchy wrap, other brands are available, lol) should introduce all mums to- I remember being taught how to bath a baby (which seemed incredibly faffy, I preferred the 'getting into the bath with baby' version that I figured out for myself) but its would have been much more useful to know how to use a stretchy wrap. I heard of them before Little One, so got myself to a sling meet and bought a cheap one off ebay before bump landed. I was very glad to get good advice, but the downside is seeing so much of what is out there, and there are so many lovely slings out there!

We order food from Suma, and we're stocking up for being away. They have had a special offer for customers of a goody box for the New Year, with orders before this Friday:

The Goody Box was advertised as being worth £25, and I'm impressed with it all- we ate the spaghetti for tea ( nice, not too smooth so the sauce sticks to it!), so that's not in the picture. The only thing we won't eat is the liquorice, but we probably know someone who'd like it...

We used to order with neighbours as you had to be a business to order wholesale, but they now recognise you might be a neighbourhood co-op and order with friends, so anyone can order (you need a customer number to see the prices on the wholesale pages, which have different quantities and prices to their retail page). We usually ask around relatives and sometimes remember to ask friends if they want anything, but we order enough for it to be worth our while. We get 3% discount for collecting as well, so it all adds up, enabling us to get organic 'things' that we might not otherwise be able to afford to get organic.

Anyway, that's part of the nice day, but the other bits aren't pictures. Seeing DH and Big One playing fireworks, Big One picking up a picture dictionary and asking questions and sneakily learning things (which kind of camel has two humps anyone?). And I've had a holiday- I was instructed to work on a jigsaw I'd like to finish before packing it away, so I did. DH planned a swimming trip this afternoon before we found out I wasn't at work, so I took her swimming while DH did other things. Apparently its different going with me, but we both had fun and I'm worn out! Later Big One got some rice out to play at making pictures, which DH joined in ( I was distracted in the jigsaw again), and not only did we tidy up enough to find some floor, we even found the vac again so a small amount of what I think may be termed 'housework' happened. Wonders will never cease!

We've also got another week arranged through WWOOF, though it sounds a bit tight for getting our van to it....

And we're getting some time to go visit http://www.portlandworks.co.uk/events/  while the girls have quality time with Grandparents. I nearly rented accomodation at uni round the corner from there...but that was many, many moons ago now.

Festive Season Photos

Big One as Mary at her Nativity- Wellies essential for all the walking Mary had to do!

The Girls were so happy Santa had some of his mince pie ( made by Grandma) and warm  milk:

And left presents! Little One with some of her stocking presents-Big One was really into presents this year.



As mentioned in a previous post, Mother- In- Law gave me crochet things in a lovely homemade bag and scissor case:

First attempts at crochet- they might not look like much but its been interesting to learn so far, and even the girls can recognise the flowers as, well, flowers. I even figured out what I was doing wrong without help!

Thanks to Lucy at Attic24 for the pattern.



 

A quick picture of a gift I made to give: we have a Secret Santa thing at work, so I gave my first attempt at a spoontula- I prefer the spatula, but I just need more practice at a spoontula. The handle on the spatula works well, and I like the colours in the wood. I hope they liked them- I had a wobble at the last moment, so gave a jar of homemade mincemeat as well. The value of the gift is meant to be £10, so I feel my recipient got a bargain!

 The snow melted, but the ice stayed behind. the plastic bucket was ok, but the metal bucket split :(

The girls enjoyed playing with the watery bit in this one!

I've been able to get in the kitchen a bit over the last few days:

Some bread from The Handmade Loaf which is really called 'cucumber pickle juice rye loaf'! Well, we'd finished a jar of pickled cucumbers so I had to give it a try. The taste is much milder than a sourdough rye bread, and it rises more ( in this cold weather!) so I think its a pleasant change.

 DH normally makes the tortillas in this house- but we'd run out and he'd gone to try out his chainsaw on a tree that has fallen, so I had a go- no idea where he got the recipe from, he keeps it on his phone. Mostly slightly over-cooked, so not great as wraps but lovely dipped in home-made hummous. Again, something we had run out of, had the ingredients in so I had a go. This was from Delia's Complete Cookery Course (Vol 1-3), but next time I make it I'll omit the cooking liquid at the beginning, and only add a little if needed. I like my hummous scoop-able, and this came out too runny. Oh, and I use tinned chickpeas, much quicker when everyone's hungry!

Finally, some crackers, also from The Handmade Loaf . They puffed up a bit, so I guess I didn't stab them hard enough with a fork, but I'm happy they're edible for another first attempt.

We made some butter yesterday. We had a large tub of cream Grandma asked us to buy that didn't get used for Christmas.We don't usually use cream, and if we did  it would be for something that'd last a few days- not great for cream already passed its use by date.Anyway, lots of vigourous shaking later, it turned into butter and buttermilk. The buttermilk works fabulously in scones according to Delia's Complete How To Cook, and I left the butter unsalted. I'd share a pic but, as we finished the shaking at Grandma and Grandad's, the scones were made there ( and eaten up!) and we managed to forget to bring the butter home. We used some of the butter in the scones, and lovely on baked potatoes.
  One or two of us will go to get it later, so we can make our own batch of Delia buttermilk scones.

Seasons Greetings

Short days and long nights- brings pictures in my mind of curling up by the fire (carving spatulas of course, they're a little more house friendly than bowl carving in my experience) after playing out in the snow.

Only our snow has melted, leaving us with buckets full of ice but thankfully the van can get around again. We haven't found snow/mud friendly tires yet, so skid and skate with it if there is even the slightest coating of snow on the roads. Unfortunately we made the decision to get better tires after the snow started, and everywhere has sold out. I was looking rather enviously at a truck on our road with brand new snow tires!

I've been able to book onto a spoon carving course at the end of March. As we will be homeless then (our landlord wants the house for a family member as soon as possible, and our contract ends the beginning of March so we've been given notice) I luckily can use some holiday before my career break starts 1st April- travelling to work when having to live in a tent with two small children just doesn't sound fun. And that's without logistic issues like washing uniforms! We're looking on the bright side and will have a couple of weeks 'settling in' whilst being handy for where we're storing the 'living in a house' junk to rescue what has been packed or ( hopefully) store non-essentials we planned to travel with. DH is convinced we'll need a trailer as well as our long wheel based crew cab transit, and I think he might be right.
I am just hoping we'll keep warm enough in the tent with woodburner in March- we've done overnight in the snow in the smaller tent last Christmas, but that's not living in  it full time! I know we're planning on travelling in the tent all summer, but April was when I planned to start, and we might have even found somewhere with housespace for us to start off with!
I've sadly put away the sewing machine as the next 10 weeks or so will be far too busy packing up to start new projects...though I have just remembered some of our sleeping foams need covering, and the machine would hurry that up..anyway, apart from that my mother-in-law has got me onto something new.

For Christmas she has given me a crochet hook, some wool (yarn I believe may be the technical term), a patchwork bag (expertly made by herself) to keep it all in, and a book to get me started!
I've had approximately 2 dismal attempts at knitting, when I was much younger and that is the grand total of my experience of 'that sort of thing'.
Growing up in Canada meant I had options at Junior High like Hunter Education that caught my attention, with plans on Driver Ed for grade 9 had I stayed there -I think you could learn to drive at 14, back when I was there, anyway. Secondary school here didn't include much in the home crafts or cooking. I seem to recall about a school-terms worth of cooking but there being a horrible amount of writing for what I expected to be practical classes.
To avoid too much PE I did Latin GCSE- the teacher came from the 6th form next door, but the only place in the schedule meant missing out on an hour of Games and some other (non-GCSE) lessons a week. The Latin class was fairly evenly split between really brainy folk and the rest of us doing anything to avoid running around outside in just pants . That was something that really shocked me moving to England, uniform for school I could cope with,quite liked even,  but having a see-through top and big pants to wear for PE- and not being allowed to wear anything on top? Winter classes in a freezing gym 'if you're cold you need to run about more' being a repetitive strain and the classes in 'summer' (I use the term loosely, it wasn't warm most of the time by any stretch of the imagination) being outside where even more people could see you  half dressed?! I gladly scraped through Latin to avoid it, but quite possible missed finding out about fun crafting stuff (this might have been in the other lessons grouped with it on the timetable) for another decade or so.

Anyway, M-I-L has kindly given me the crochet things as something to keep me learning, and quite importantly with our travel plans, doesn't need a lot of equipment or space to work on. She's shown me how to get started, and I think she's taught me how to do doubles or something. I'm getting to grips with the row bit, but I seem to have a problem at each end of a row. I'm hunting on utube for tutorials I can follow -the first one I got showed you how to do a slip knot so quickly that, seeing as I watched it about a dozen times and still didn't see what she did, I gave up on her.
If anyone can point me to somewhere good to start online I'd be grateful!

Hope you've had a happy, healthy (sounds like half my friends have had 'flu this Christmas so hope you've escaped) and warm Christmas, and hope 2011 brings dreams to life, or at least one step nearer, for you.