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.

FO: My beautiful son

This year I haven't been very productive but I think you will all agree that I've finally surpassed myself in making something really beautiful. Alexander was born on 27th November. Sorry for taking so long to post about this but Monkey, Bunkey and I have been spending some lovely days (and nights!) getting to know each other.




Thank you for all your messages over the last few months. I am hoping that eventually I will be back to blogging more frequently - as soon as the monkey and I get the hang of being parents!


By the way I have loads of knitting news to let you know but for now I'm just going to inundate you with pictures of my little boy!

FO: Bliss

Pattern: Rowan Magazine 39Yarn: Rowan Calmer (shade: Onyx 465) Needles: 5mm Addi Turbo circulars (yum yum)

I finished this a while ago but I’ve just not been able to get around to posting. It was fun to knit - the lace pattern added enough interest but was simple enough to be done while watching TV or chatting to friends. I didn’t make any changes to the pattern (other than to totally disregard the number of stitches they suggested to pick up for the button band – I’m just too lazy).

I’m sure I’ll get loads of wear out of this as the yarn is soft but easy to care for, it fits well (hopefully it will fit even better when my figure eventually shrinks back to match the dress dummy’s! Spot the difference in the photos) and I made it in a sensible, wearable black.

I’ve got some more WIPs and FOs to share but if I did that in this post it would be the longest post ever. Because I need to tell you all about Ally Pally!

Mum and I had a wonderful time, we spent hours wandering around. There was so much to see that we even sacrificed lunch in order to see more yarny goodness (just to stop you worrying we made up for it with carrot cake and chocolate fudge sundae later on).

It was my birthday and my family, knowing me so well, had all given me money to spend at the show. The only problem was that there were so many things I wanted to buy that I couldn’t make up my mind what to buy and actually left with some of the money still left in my sweaty little paws. Don’t let that give you the wrong idea though because I managed to buy a pair of Lantern Moon needles, some lovely lace weight merino from Touch Yarns (my Mum bought some Possum yarn from them), some Christmassy patchwork fabric, an embroidery kit and best (and most extravagantly) of all a namaste vintage knitting bag from Foreign Strand. Once again I have to say how lovely the ladies behind the Foreign Strand stall were, especially Forbidden Knitter who some of you might know from blogland.

Talking of meeting people from blog land at I Knit London this week I met emmms from Quelle Erqsome. It was nice to meet her and she really is as witty in person as she sounds on her blog. Luckily she had left for the evening by the time I embarrassingly ended up falling over in a big heap on the floor on my way out. Believe me it isn’t easy getting back to your feet in a crowded pub when you are seven and a bit months pregnant. Not my most glamorous moment, especially as I seemed to lose the power of speech when it happened and all I could manage to say to the surprised looking faces staring down at me was “I’m pregnant” – as if that explains everything. Actually, it usually does!

By the way do you like the Bunkey’s bedroom curtains in the photo at the top? I finally got round to making them last weekend. I love the little green monkeys.

A walk by the river

Sorry it has been so long. I seem to be saying that a lot recently… At least when I start my maternity leave I’ll have a bit more spare time (until the Bunkey makes an appearance).

I was going to come on here and moan about the long commute to my new office and how awful it is but then I thought about it and realised that really it isn’t all bad. It does take a long time but I’m getting lots of exercise and seeing sights on the way that tourists travel hundreds/thousands of miles to see (it looks like a postcard doesn’t it?). Plus I get to walk past a waffle stall. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I love the smell of waffles.

So no complaints from me today, and tomorrow I’ve promised myself an afternoon of catching up on everyone’s blogs and I won’t feel guilty about not doing housework instead.

Something exciting happened this week. Lyndsey sent me a link to her finished Celtic Knot Stole. I love the pale pink she used. It is so nice to see one of my designs knitted up by someone else, especially when they have done such a beautiful job of it.

Another exciting bit of news it that I managed to persuade my Mum to come to the Knitting and Stitching show with me at Ally Pally. We’ll probably go on the Sunday I think. Anyone else likely to be there?