More stuff

Nicole got so much cool stuff for the kids... then Nana and Old Nana (my grandmother) got in on the action. Seriously, Saturday was like Christmas! Freakiest thing was the 'Percy Pigglets' - complete with pork gelatine....

Presents from afar

My sister is back from her sojourn - with presents!

The pendant is from Mexico and the shells from Argentina (now cunningly made into great big earings).

I've got heaps of pictures to share at the moment and very few moments to blog, so I'm just going to dump them here and write about them later. Maybe. If I've got time.

gifts and cockington green

I won a competition over at Funky Finds a little while ago and the first present has arrived! A wonderful monogramed T for Lil from Oliver Lane. Isn't it the most gorgeous thing?? I love pink and brown.

And during the week we went to Cockington Green. I love the little plants more than the other little stuff - but the playground (with about 10 dolls houses) was a hit with Lil.

Canberra's Got Style: Looking forward to: Re-fab

Canberra's Got Style: Looking forward to: Re-fab

This sounds fantastic, although Crafts ACT could do some better promoting of the Clothes Swap a Rama... there are very few details online.

Where my needles at?

Today I made a circular needle holder.

I've had this idea buzzing around in my head for a while and I thought I'd give it a go. I was kind of thinking that if they look like they might be practical and pretty then I could make some for the wool fest at the OBDM. It measures about 7" by 3" and was based loosely on a similar one I found somewhere online or at craftster. There are 6 needle sleeves, made from medium weight pvc. I'm planning a dpn case too, based on the same principle.

I do have some issues though... I don't know if I should go for the pvc or plain fabric. The pvc means the stitching looks a bit messy although PVC has some great benefits - the obvious benefit being that it's see-through so you can see the needle; you can write the size and length on the front in sharpie; and the pvc sticks together to stop the needles from slipping out. BUT - fabric would hide the stitching and make the whole thing a little more tactile and softer (the pvc can be a bit stiff).

So, gentle reader, would you use such a holder? And if you did, do you think you'd prefer pvc or fabric...

This is... a little late

but This is... the contents of my handbag. Its really way too small. I can't even get my sunglasses in. And I notice most mothers have some motherly items in their handbags - but I hate pulling out my wallet and slinging a dummy across the room.

• Cigarettes
  
• Lighter
• Mobile
• Swiss Army knife (doesn't every mother have one?)
• purse that won't close
• hand-me-down mascara from my sister
• hand-me-down lipstick from my sister
• emery board
• receipts and bits of cigarette paper
• a Brumbies balloon (naturally...)
• keys
• work pass (i went for a visit yesterday)
  

And here's a little pic of Lil in the Parisian outfit... at half time in the easter egg hunt (ie, before we had stolen them from her basket and re-hidden them!)

Knitting in literature

And when I say literature, I mean children's books. Because that's about all I get to read now days. So how delightful to find an Australian children's book which mentions knitting. Not only that, but a male knitting. Ruby Roars is about a Tasmanian Devil who tries to make scary noises, but can't seem to frighten anyone. But then she finds her mojo and scares the bejesus out of her parents. Her dad is knitting when this happens...

"You little devil!" said her Dad. "I've dropped three stitches - you nearly scared me out of my wits!"


"Excellent," said Ruby.


I like to imagine Ruby saying 'excellent' in a Monty Burns kind of way...

Earth Hour... whatever

My blog title will no doubt startle some... While visiting QuiltingMick's blog this evening she mentioned Earth Hour and her cynicism. I soundly second it. I commented on her blog with the following

Earth Hour, Clean Up Australia, Plant a Tree Day... they all give folks the impression that they've 'done their bit' for the environment rather than making long-term changes for the other 364 days a year. If WWF was serious about getting people to change then they could have pushed a couple of messages about turning the lights off in empty rooms EVERYDAY. Or turning your appliances off at the wall EVERYDAY. I'm happy to go along with the crowd on these days too, but maybe we should say to ourselves 'for every "day" that I do, I'll do something "every day"...

I've worked in the environment department for several years and have always been frustrated by the 'days'. I understand that it raises the profile of many issues and for that we should be happy. But it more often absolves people of their guilt for not doing anything the rest of the time. So that is my challenge to you. Make a commitment to do something for more than just one hour a year.

20 Questions For Women Who Aren't Us

From The Park Bench website -

20 Questions For Women Who Aren't Us

This is my favourite -

• Why do you wave your hands in front of your face when you cry? Are you trying to keep the mascara dry or are you doing LOLCat jazz hands? I hope it’s the latter because everyone loves LOLCats.

Some of the questions remind me of your recent post Spidey...

Beautiful creations

My Mum's partner has just come back from a work trip to Paris and brought back the most gorgeous clothes for Lily. The man has an eye for fashion, no doubt. This outfit is not only lovely for its beachy design, but also because it is not pink. A constant frustration to me is that I can't buy interesting coloured clothing for Lil. Just pink mostly. Or pastels. Anyhoo, I love this and I can't wait for her to wear it! Its from www.DPAM.com - well worth a browse!

All the idiots are out today*

I was just singing to Lil (part of our bedtime ritual) and some maniac with a 5000 decibel engine tore past our house, did a burn-out around the corner and sped off. This of course startled her out of her alpha sleep making it a damn site more difficult than in needed to be to get her to sleep. This kind of thing makes me so angry for several reasons.

1. It is thoughtless and dangerous.
2. It makes me rehearse arguments/remarks/things to shout.
3. It makes me imagine creating devices or items that i could use to slow them down or damage their cars without being detected (i was just considering throwing a bouncy ball with nails all through it)
4. It fills me with totally impotent rage. I can't do anything to relieve it.
5. It fills me with negative thoughts such as the above when I could be sitting and contemplating the wonder that is my daughter falling asleep.

arggggggggggggggggggggggh. Does anyone have a magik trick to zen that kind of feeling away?

In other news, I've finished a mitten. Thumb and all. I've been walking around with it on in the 33 degree heat just admiring how clever I am. I'm very proud of myself for knitting on dpns!

check ya later.


*This is what Lil and I say when people do dicky things when we're driving around. Like sticking in the right-hand lane even though they're not overtaking or turning, or doing 75 in a 40 zone... more things that fill me with impotent rage.

I'm a what now?

You Are An ISTP

The Mechanic You are calm and collected, even in the most difficult of situations. A person of action and self-direction, you love being independent. To outsiders you seem impulsive, surprising, and unpredictable. You are good at understanding how all things work, except for people. In love, you tend to be very easy going and flexible. The only thing you can't stand for is someone trying to change you or your life. At work, you can stay completely calm under pressure. You handle stress well. You would make an excellent pilot, forensic pathologist, or athlete. How you see yourself: Logical, flexible, and unconventional When other people don't get you, they see you as: Indecisive, flippant, and disrespectful

What's Your Personality Type?

via Mogs Blog

I'm back on the knitting bandwagon... with mittens! I've even been to two SnBs - accompanied by my beautiful little man. Although he wasn't a very attentive date - he was found shamelessly holding (or being held) by other women!



Anyhoo, the mittens are from Knitting-and and are pretty easy. I haven't done the thumb yet and the red strip is where I've used waste yarn and will now pick up those stitches to do the window where your fingers can pop out. Picture's a bit dodgy, but you get the idea...

I've also finished four roman blinds for my lounge room - only taken 2 years since we moved in, and one year since I got the fabric. But the camera is flat so you'll have to wait for those.

Must go, Master Paddy is bellowing.

A different meme

Just because I feel the need to 'get back on the horse'... and that 7 weird things meme has been so, like done

The One Word Challenge

1. Where is your mobile phone? handbag
2. Your significant other? sleeping
3. Your hair? up
4. Your mother? babysitting
5. Your father? riding
6. Favorite thing? reading
7. Dream last night? swimming-pool
8. Favorite drink? milk
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. Room you’re in? messy
11. Your ex? scary
12. Your fear? greyness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? relaxed
14. Where were you last night? home
15. What you’re not? slender!
16. Muffins? chocolate
17. One of your wish list items? ring
18. Where you grew up? canberra
19. The last thing you did? knitted
20. What are you wearing? jeans
21. Your TV? on
22. Your pet? sleeping
23. Your computer? sloooooow
24. Your life? blessed
25. Your mood? ok
26. Missing someone? Yes!!!!
27. Your car? functional
28. Something you’re not wearing? makeup
29. Favorite store? Ikea
30. Your summer? declining
31. Like someone? Yes
32. Your favorite color? Orange
33. When is the last time you laughed? 1pm

Instead of tagging people, I reckon you should do it if you're currently wearing any item of red clothing. And I'll know.

Going coastal

We're in Nowra at the moment... going coastal so we don't go postal hehehehehe

But the reason I'm blogging is because Nath's aunt has a wifi laptop. I never knew that my computing life could be so good! I never want to surf any other way!   

See you next week!

Videos anyone?

I've been doing mucho cleaning out recently and have taken loads to friends and the Salvos and the tip. Nothing to rival TSS and Taph's 7 things efforts of course, but a fair slab of the 'this adds no further value to our lives' type items have been relocated. Best of all was getting rid of the maternity clothes - yay! But I digress. I have found some videos and thought I'd offer them up here first. I've got the first three season of Cold Feet (3x 2 video set), the two-video set of Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Palin) and the two-video set of Gone with the Wind. Let me know in comments and I'll shoot them over. Not literally of course.

Time, time, time, see what's become of me...

Last month I made this.

It's an ongoing project, and I'm working on it every day. Its grown 1kg (2.2 pounds) since I started it primarily because its feeding incessantly. Some days I've been unable to put it down because of various problems, but I think they're all ironed out now.

Since I've been so tied up with that project I've not had much time for anything else... But I did embroider this little picture - a facsimile of a picture that Lily drew of her family.

The egghead on the left is Daddy, the amoeba with eyes was 'the baby' (the picture was drawn before PJ arrived), the one with the big smile is Lil and the one with the wonky head (or enormous ear coming out of her head) and insanely long legs is me. Apparently the tallest person in a child's family drawing is the most important (or perhaps that should be 'most scary' given aforementioned head/nose issue)...

I decided afterward to add a clock so we could hang it in Lil's room, but I need to paint the hands black because it looks odd as is.

And in other news, I got this delicious package from Miss Dot - resin artist extraordinare. My dodgy camera skills do not capture the majesty of her work.

My favourite is the lady in profile.

Thank you to all of you who sent kind wishes welcoming Paterson - and for those Canberra folk, we promise to pop in to an SnB soon. And hopefully I'll be able to get posting/crafting a bit more regularly now that things have settled into some kind of routine.

Announcing...

Paterson Jens arrived 31/12/2007, 7.45am after a nine hour labour. 3.4kgs or 7.5 pounds, 50cms long and 34cm head circumference.

We’re all well and back home now.

Little things

Christmas presents for the neighbours. Tartan from Nath's great aunt's op shop - what else am I going to do with 20-odd meters of tartan!! - and other fabrics from Nana's stash. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out actually.



And a new project. Those who I've seen at SnB recently will know that I've mainly been working on my Clayton's knitting - a drop-stitch scarf that I carry around and rarely knit and don't really like. But after seeing Quilting Mick's bamboo the other day I thought I might try some. I just got the dodgey ole' Bamboozle from Lincraft which I thought was going to split like buggery, but it seems ok. This is going to be a little cross-over cardy for bub #2.

Speaking of which, would you all mind crossing your fingers that I have the baby today? That would mean that I could have the baby and be home in time for Christmas (all being well). I don't mean to sound ungrateful, I mean, I've had a pretty good pregnancy. But I'm thoroughly sick of it now.

That's all for today. As you were.

Making house and cleaning house

Its a miracle this house was built at all - my child seems to have an insatiable desire to eat/lick anything that I mix in a bowl...

And this is the result of clearing some cupboards that were horribly stuffed full of useless or meaningless consumer items. Off they went to the Salvos.

*Edit* I would love to take credit for the gloriousness of the gingerbread house - but its beauty is primarily due to the idiot-proof mould I used. Its from a Chefs Toolbox party plan thingo I went to (this was my 'oh jesus I have to buy something' purchase) because I too have long harbored a desire to make one, but knew that attempting it on my own would result in a saggy, baggy, gingerbread humpy.

Wildlife

When we were down in Nowra recently we spotted some great wildlife - the Kookaburra and the Blue Tongue lizard were in Nan and Pa's backyard (Pa's a bit like Dr Doolittle) and the beautiful parrots at Huskison.

This little monkey was pretending to be like Mummy - I bet she wouldn't be so keen if she had my swelling digits and sleep issues...

From Black Dogs to Greyish Puppies

I know many of you are assailed by black dogs in various forms, sizes and shades... I am too and have been medicated against such canine visitors for quite some time. However, during pregnancy I have to cut down - in fact I put my two miscarriages down to the fact that I had not reduced my medication. I've done fairly well considering, but as I come to the last few weeks of pregnancy I've started seeing signs of the black dog's return - a bone here, a distant howl there. Much of this is due to the fact that I'm so damned frustrated at my inability to do what I want to do. There are jobs and tasks that I cannot physically do, things I have to do that sap my small reserve of energy, and things that I just don't have the energy to do, no matter how much I want to. And being at home now I'm all the more aware of what I'm not doing. To the ordinary person it would seem that this is a phase that will pass.

To me it is a sign of my inherit failure to be and do all that I should.

I'm totally aware of the folly of that statement. I found it beautifully described recently in Romulus, My Father by Raimond Gaita, speaking of his father's battle with mental illness:

My father's strength of character had much to do with his recovery, but it could not have been only to to that. Stability in character goes hand-in-hand with a capacity for steady judgment which insanity undermines. The terror of insanity lies mainly in the fact that one cannot overcome or even properly confront it through any direct application of thought and will, and so one feels desperately helpless. Often the will can only be exercised indirectly, supported by medicines or by psychotherapy, but the resolve to persist in these supports itself is constantly undermined. And often one cannot rely on one's mind because that too has been at least partially lost to the illness.

His father was obviously a very sick man. But the bit that resonated with me was that 'one cannot overcome or even properly confront it through any direct application of thought and will'.

I don't know that there is any point to this post, except that I hope in writing it down that I may accept this is the way it is for a little while to come, and this illness does not define who I am.


Beyond Blue
Post and Antenatal Depression Association Inc (PaNDa)
Posie
Black Dog Institute

Is this not the most beautiful thing?

The feijoa is flowering again... fingers crossed for an improvement on last year's harvest of one.

Other bits of our garden...

* My husband does not normally look like Chopper - he was participating in Movember.

In other news, my sister has just reported back from her 5 days in the Galapagos Islands. She had her 29th birthday on board a catamaran surrounded by dolphins, manta rays, sharks and sea lions. She's sent a few photos, but this one is my favourite....

So how's that - two posts in two days! And I'm going to bust a gut to get to SnB tonight.

Perhaps....

Well perhaps I was taking the whole 'blogging without obligation' a little too far - as Quilting Mick suggested.... In my defence, I am 34 weeks pregnant and we've had a loss in the family (granted that was only last week) and basically I haven't done anything more remarkable than sleep. I finish work this week which will be great - lugging my increasing girth around in the heat is becoming tiresome. I did make it to Stitch n Bitch on Sunday which was wonderful food for the soul. But I certainly haven't done enough to keep you folk entertained.

What I can do is bring you an installment of 'Where's the Dayflower?' You may remember that my little sister is off gallivanting around the world and before she left I gave her a Dayflower scarf. Seems she's been using it, because I just got a photo of her at Perito Moreno Glacier. Looks likes she's learned to wear it properly too.

Yay for useful gifts!

I've got more to tell, but I don't want to raise your expectations. I'll leave it a couple of days.