More lace

This is my favourite drawer in my entire home. Look at all that lovely lace weight yarn. The problem is that I really need to knit this yarn up before I can allow myself to buy any more. Knitting lace is definitely more difficult since Alex was born but during my maternity leave I came up with a new design and the temptation to start it was so great that last week I cast on.

I'm making it in Jaggerspun Zephyr in a gorgeous shade called Ruby (it reminds me of the colour of the Grand Prix roses I had in my wedding bouquet). I'm probably being a little bit over ambitious but I was thinking that perhaps I might try and get the design into one of the online knitting magazines. I know that this is unlikely as there are so many people trying to do this and most of them have much better patterns than me but I thought I'd give it a go. However, this means I'm being extra picky about the knitting and the design. I keep changing my mind and having to undo about 10 rows or so at the time and mistakes that I might normally turn a blind eye on have to be corrected. Anyway, I thought I'd tell you about my knitting ambition for 2008. If nothing comes of it I'll put it as a free pattern on here and try again another time.

Time for tea...

I'm going to have to write today's post pretty swiftly as Alex is beginning to stir and will soon be wanting his next feed. I think that I've got used to the way I live my life in 3 hour blocks around Alex's eating times now. It takes roughly an hour to do a complete feed and change his nappy, then about 30 minutes of play time, then he settles down for a sleep and I have an hour and a half to do housework, wash, eat etc. It took me a while to get used to this but now I've got it down to a fine art! I usually cook the evening meal at about lunch time and leave it on a low heat in the slow cooker for the rest of the day (this limits the options for meals but what's better than a tasty stew at this time of year?).

Alex usually has trouble settling down to sleep in the afternoons and I stay next to his bed to soothe him and cuddle him when he needs me. This has officially become my knitting time as I can sit near him keeping nice and quiet and just put my knitting down whenever he needs me. If he is really unsettled though we go for a nice long walk (and Mummy buys chocolate from any shop she happens to pass, which is almost as good as knitting). The title of the post comes from the fact that Alex has a tea sensor. He knows when I have a cup of tea and invariably wakes up. This means that by the end of the day there are usually at least 3 cups of cold tea sitting around the house. There is definitely no time for tea here!

I didn't manage to get pictures of my finished project yet as my camera is out of batteries but I've put a picture of one of my other projects up. It's Buttercup from one of Kim Hargreaves collections. I'm enjoying it so far - I always like Kim Hargreaves' designs though. Everything is done with such style and care. I love the new book by Kim Hargreaves - I'm finding it hard to resist. Has anyone else bought it yet?

Anyway, I'll leave you with another photo of Alex. He has no trouble settling down to sleep like this - who would?

Easing myself in: comfort knitting

I didn’t really understand how much work looking after a baby would be. I secretly laughed at comments from friends about having no time to myself when the baby came. ‘No time to myself? I’ll be off work for an entire year!’ I thought. How wrong I was. To give those of you who don’t have children a measure of how much work it is, I will now tell you that my baby was 8 weeks old before I managed to knit a single stitch. 8 weeks without knitting, how did I cope? Well to be honest I didn’t even notice and that’s not just because the lack of sleep meant I barely noticed that I hadn’t brushed my hair, ironed my clothes or eaten my lunch. It is because I was mesmerised, obsessed and totally in love with my beautiful son. A day could easily go by in which all I had done is fed, cleaned, cuddled and looked in adoration at my baby. Eventually, however, I have slowly begun to be able to change a nappy in less than 30 minutes (without him taking out 3 outfits – mine included) and I gained back a few hours every day while he slept and during which I didn’t need to do housework and I knew I could knit again.

I’ve got a few projects on the go at the moment – something I hate. I’d much rather concentrate on one project at a time but the yarn keeps getting the better of me. But I needed something to ease myself back into knitting, a project which could be put down and picked up at the drop of a hat (or the wail of a baby) and luckily one just dropped into my lap (literally - I’ll fill you in on this in a later post). This project is very different to anything I’d normally knit but I love it. Big needles and bulky wool equal instant gratification.

I’ll post pictures of the finished item tomorrow. Yes tomorrow! To wean myself off spending any spare time staring at the baby monitor and waiting for a cry, I’m challenging myself to post every day until Easter… We’ll see if it works!

Anyway, I’ll finish with a picture of my baby. Isn’t he perfect?

Thanks for all the good wishes you sent to my little family.