Conquering curves

So here's my first curvy block, a circle piece for a baby quilt I am working on. As you can see it's rather unisex as we don't know the sex of the baby on the way.

However I think I will have something girly in the works again soon as my sister (who is celebrating her 30th birthday today - Happy birthday sis!), is very excited to be expecting her second daughter and sixth baby in July/August this year. That's right, I have a lot of nephews! My oldest niece (my sister's first child) spent the weekend with me last weekend and I used Aunty privaledges, keeping her up late to teach her how to sew (she is 8yrs old). I showed her how to use the embroidery machine and how to change colours etc. so under my guidance, she was able to do most of the design herself. We embroidered an owl onto some brown canvas, which we then turned into a little book bag with some owly lining from Spotlight. I didn't have time for a photo before she took it home but she was mighty proud of it. I am guilty of using the quality time with her to test out a design for a ravelry swap item though, so a similar bag will be churned out again shortly and I'll post pics this time!

Warning: Kitten photo!

Milo 5 months, originally uploaded by austysmum.

Okay, so it's not at all sewing, quilting or knitting related but I couldn't help but add another photo of my littlest baby to the blog. He is starting to look more like the Cornish Rex he is, now that his fur is finally growing. For a while there he looked half Sphynx, but now his fur is getting longer, thicker and starting to curl up like those adorable frizzy whiskers!

I never liked that strange stripe down his nose, I'd prefer it if it weren't there at all, or if it were more solid, like it was actually meant to be there. However now that I know his personality, it really does suit him - he's all perfectly sweet and cuddly, but has a mischievious streak, just like that messy little white streak down his nose! My hand has several holes to prove it but for some reason he only gets really rough with me, despite the fact I.m the one who saves him from Austy and that I'm the one he likes to snuggle up with. Hmmm go figure!

We had a rough few wekks with him last month with him vomiting all the time and then I thought that perhaps it was due to me switching dry foods from his usual Hills Science Diet to a supermarket variety when I couldn't get to the vets or pet shop to buy more of the Hills stuff. I switched back to Hills, and our carpets have been safe since, so now I know we won't be making that mistake again. He is fed mainly a raw meat diet but has the biscuits to nibble on the rest of the time as we clear away the meat after meal times so it doesn't get too germy (or smelly). I am suspecting some kind of grain/cereal allergy as those supermarket foods tend to be much higher in grains and cereals and many actually have them listed as their top ingredient even though cats are primarily carnivores, unlike dogs who will do well with some vegetable matter in their diet.

Milo is fitting in perfectly with our little family, he and Madelyn are a delight to watch as they have formed such a strong bond and play together so beautifully. Somehow Milo knows she is a baby and is ever so gentle with her. The funniest moments are when he waits in ambush mode and pounces on her as soon as she toddles past, and she squeals with delight. Austin still smothers him a bit but Milo has now become a part of his bedtime routine. We hop up onto his bed (Austin, Madelyn and I) to read a bedtime story and Milo will jump up and snuggle on the quilt while we read. When I take Madelyn out, Milo stays and when I come back to check on Austy after putting Maddy to bed, there is Milo snuggled under Austy's tight little grip - he has his stuffed monkey Montgomery in one arm, Milo in the other. Milo takes my precense as his cue that it's safe to climb out of bed without being pinned down again.

And onto crafty stuff, I have a couple of knitting swaps on the go still, almost near completion, and lots of babies on the way in our little circle of friends. Tonight I am tackling curved piecing for a baby quilt, so I promise to have some quilty stuff to show off soon, along with twin newborn knits.... aaaawww.

On the go

That could be said about many things in my life at the moment - my daughter (she never sits still for asecond these days!), me (all that running around chasing her and her big brother) or all the projects I am working on. I think I have a problem - I can't stick to just one thing! Of course, this means I haven't had anything finished to show here for quite a while, as nothing IS finished!
So to avoid dissapearing off the face of blogland, I give you some WIPs. First a little ruffled bolero for Maddy. This just needs some more seaming and the ruffled band all around. It is made from the super soft and sheeny Sirdar baby bamboo which is a wool/bamboo blend and I love it! It will give a little warmth without making her sweat when we have those strange Autumn days which aren't really warm, but not cool either.
Next up I have a secrect swap project. This little bit of lace knitting is for the Ravelry MCN Mummies 100g challenge swap, finally knitting up that knittery 4ply merino that has been sitting in my stash for a few years waiting to be turned into something special.

Next we have some longies for Maddy, now named the "Odd Leg Longies". I was planning to make shorties but got carried away as I liked how it was knitting up, then of course I ran out of wool. I did the green band thinking I could work an embellishment all the way around and make them look like they were supposed to be done that way, but now I am considering ripping them back and turning them into shorties after all. The thing is, she doesn't have any longies for the coming winter and these have a bit of extra length in them, so I kind of like them as longies, I just need to learn to live with that strange look... This one has been relegated to the "don't know what to do with" pile.

Here's the wool as I reskiened it after dyeing - I think it's one of my favourite dye jobs yet.

And I am still plugging away at this little top, hopefully she will get some wear out of it before the weather crisps up. It's so pretty, and when I have finished my 100g swap I am sure this will seam easy in comparison. The problem isn't so much the lace pattern but that the knitting pattern just says to "keep working in pattern" while decreasing for the armholes which is really hard to do when you can't work out whether to start with a k2tog, or a Sl1 or a K or a whatever! I am up to the armhole shaping on the front and have one more sleeve to go. I am not sure what to do with the neck shaping just yet as I am trying to modernise it and make it look "normal" as the pattern is from my antique patons collection with a button either side of the neck... just weird.

And some prettiness that arrived in my mailbox today. I bought the stitch markers thinking I might pop them in with my 100g swap parcel, but now they are in my hands I think I like them too much! I do have something else planned for my swap partner though. The bracelet looking things are actually row counters. The purple one is for me (I love amethysts) and the pink one for my Ravelry Pink Swap partner. The fancy bead on the pink one is divine! Madelyn helped me try it on before her nap - I wish I got a photo of that, I had the purple one on and she had the pink one and thought it was wonderful. Gosh I love having a little girl to appreciate the pretty things.

And onto some sewing - Madelyn has become quite a houdini at getting out of her nappies. I think she will be easy to toilet train as she already points to her nappy and says "wees" or "pohs" or "tinky napay" (stinky nappy) as soon as it's soiled. I decided to do her some more AIO's for naps with snaps instead of velcro to keep the cot clean, but the other day I found she had taken THIS one off and left it all pooey and yucko on the family room rug and went and sat down with a book - eeeeeEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!!! Luckily she didn't get too far before I noticed and cleaned everything up but my gosh! Now what am I supposed to do? Austy could never get out of snap nappies!

And finally a little top for Madelyn from Ottobre again. It is part of a set I am making - the ruffled jeans to match are still on the ironing board awaiting a wasit band though. Excuse the discusting backyard - it will all be lawn after Easter (I have been promised) but for now it is a dust bowl with retaining bricks lying about the place. Not that it worries Madelyn who seems to be attracted to dirt.

Woops, the colour of this little top (and the white pants!) is not really condusive to mud pie baking!

Got their backsides covered

Austy needed some stretchy shorts for Little Athletics so I whipped these up and let him press the start button as we embroidered some running shoes on the front leg (so he knows which way to put them on). He thinks he made them, because he pushed the start button a few times. In reality, I did most of the embroidery as it turned out to be an annoying one with only 4 colours but 20 thread changes! Reeeediculous. If only I could design my own embroideries... I forgot to take a closeup of the design so will try to do that in time for snap shot Sunday. These are called his "run fast shorts" as apparently they make him run fast, and do long long jumps. :)

I got Maddy's butt covered too with a very girly, princessy nappy for my very girly girl. I need to make quite a few more but the nanny hunt is taking up most of my energy at the moment with calls and interviews but still no nanny. I am exhausted by the end of the day and even the knitting has taken a back seat to going to bed early this week.

Oh and just look at HOW girly this precious princess is:

The kitten seems not to mind her feeding him her water (saying "Nigh-no... aaaaahhh"), or having books plonked on his head as she says "taaaaa", and he will happily knick off with her soft toys if she tries to share with him. I can just see her a little bit down the track dressing him in dolls clothes and pushing him around in her pram. I wonder where she gets that from.... (I have vague memories of taking our baby guinea pigs for rides in my trike when I was about two, and remember grease stained doll clothes from when the cat ran under the car to get away from me waving a bottle at him...)

Madelyn has been totally amazing us with her language skills of late. Just last week Austin and I were counting to ten as he was playing hide and seek with his Dad. We paused after 5, and Madelyn filled in 6, we said 7, then she said 8! We thought it was a fluke, but she happily repeated it and then had her grandmother shocked today when she went to pick her up and said one... two... then Madelyn finished "feeeeeeee"! She can also say arm, eye, ear, nose, and point to them on people (and kittens!), and she sounds so cute when she drops something and says "woopseee". She says "apple" a hundred times a day (the girl loves to eat and since apple and pear are the only fruit she can eat that has become a favourite word), and she tries "pear" occasionally. Tonight she was telling Austin "EAT Atty, eat, eat". She knows he never eats dinner so was saving me having to say it. Clever little girl, hard to remember she's only 14 months (tomorrow!) sometimes.

I nearly forgot- GIVE AWAY WINNER!!

The winner of my babyknit give away is.....

BECKY

who wrote:

What a wonderful giveaway, too generous really.I would love this set for my
friend who has just had a prem baby boy. She always said she would love to learn
to knit as she has fond memories of her gran knitting for her when she was a
child.

It was a close call really between Becky and Jodes - I nearly gave it to Jodes as her cousin and his wife are obviously wonderful people to be helping out with their nephew like they are, but as I wanted to make sure it went to someone who appreciates knitting, Becky's comment got the prize. I also have fond memories of knitting with my own grandmother. She is still around lucky for me, but I just don't get to knit with her much now as she won't drive to me, and her little unit isn't very child friendly so there is no time for knitting when i am keeping my kidlets out of trouble. I still remember beaming with excitement every time a soft squishy woolly parcel arrived from her when we were kids.

Becky since you are on both Rav and EB, probably best to PM me there - SkillySkally on Rav, jgal on EB. I hope your friend likes the set.

A very overdue blog post!

I know I haven't been blogging lately, but I have had an extra distraction. We picked up the teeny tiny Milo, just under 2w ago, and while he has us all completely besotted with him, he is also a little bit of a handful. Take a normal kitten, imagine how playful they are, then times that by 100, and that will give you some idea of what a cornish rex kitten is like!





Here he is the day we got him home. We treated him very gently as he was terrified for the first two or three days and wouldn't come out of the box we brought him home in.





I have been knitting though - I finished Madelyn's "In Threes" top all bar the buttons because with the weather we have been having lately it will be a while before we need warm woollies, and I hate sewing on buttons, so it will probably sit like this until it's cooler and I need to pick buttons. I was meant to finish the little tulip lace cotton top for her last month, but this was quicker and more suitable for tired eyes whilst getting back into a good rhythm starting back at work.

I also learned to crochet (thanks Mum) and Milo got my first couple of finished objects (seeing as I'm still learning and he really couldn't care less about how it looks). Here is a little mouse that started out as one of those jingle ball thingos but I crocheted a cover, added a tail, ears, eyes and nose and now it's a mouse.

I finally finished Madelyn's flirty skirty (which needed elastic, leg cuffs and blocking) - here it is blocking. I created the "cats paw" lace edge as I went, and did a ribbed elastic waistband because maddy pulls drawstrings undone but the rest is to pattern.

Oh and here is my first crocheted item ever, a door hanger cat toy, which is great for hooking over your wrist and flinging around since Milo is too little to reach it on our high door handles just yet.

I also tried out a baby sock pattern from "Boho Baby Knits". I love the look of it in the book but the sock itself is a little weird as it has a very pointy toe and heel. For some reason toddler sock patterns are like this (I have a couple of single socks from when Austy was this age because I didn't like the shape so they never got a pair made). However I do like the cute anklet style, so maybe there will be anothere one in time for cool autumn breezes.

I also dyed up more wool, some leftovers from some longies I made Austy years ago, and turned it into a curly purly soaker to be auctioned off to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes Research over at Woolly Butts in March.

I made another in purple (leftover from the "In Threes" top) in a size small, but this one was my own pattern as I was too eager to cast on and couldn't wait for permission from Marnie (the curly purly designer) so figured if I designed my own I could do what I liked with it. When Marnie gave me permission to use her pattern I decided the boy one was in order. I will also sew up some matching tops to go with these.

I have been keeping busy with the kidlets on my days off, taking them to the zoo and local attractions, getting them out of the house. Oh and look at this - NO HANDS! Not the most flattering photo, but the only one I have managed to catch of Maddy walking so far. She's up and at 'em, walking as of Tuesday last week. (Keeping us on our toes!)

Not that this pic has anything to do with crafting, but my boy is certainly getting more spunky every day! He started kindy a couple of weeks ago and is totally loving it.

More cuteness here in the form of kitty pics - I did warn you they were coming!

He's settled in a lot better now, and plays with the kids, even coming up to snuggle with Madelyn and I while I feed her ready for bed. He's a mischevious little fellow though, stealing paper, small toys, dressmaking pins (eeep - straight out of the pincushion - so scared he'll swallow one or leave them somewhere for Maddy to get!), and even my embroidery scissors have been seen hanging from his mouth as he runs away!

He puts up with Austy smothering him with cuddles although isn't always happy about it, he watches curiously beside Maddy as she plays and he sleeps in our bed most of the time (except when his 2am antics get him locked in the ensuite for the night!)

(Please accept my apologies for the bittiness of this blog post - blogger wasn't in a good mood so I had to write it three times over and lost the flow...)

Baby shoes

I was so thrilled with these last night when I finished them - I was so tired yet I pushed myself to get to the sewing desk and make them anyway. I asked Andrew to try them on her this morning as she was asleep when I left for work, and he told me they didn't fit, that they were too small. I had been all geared up to make a matching outfit, when he gave me the sad news.

I got home and found them grubby from the nanny finding them left out on the bench and using them in the backyard (I was planning on keeping them brand new until I had the complte outfit and then using them when I went out somewhere with her, not for the backyard!). They actually do fit, quite nicely in fact, but I soaked them now to get the dirt off and the brown suede has run into the fabric. So they were pretty much ruined before I got to even try them on her (sob).

So no fancy photo of a finished object I was thrilled with, just a soggy shot of a project that makes me feel a bit blurgh now to look at them. I was planning all sorts of shoes and outfit sets but for now, I've lost my motivation.

****ETA**** I took another look at them and after they dried (photos above had them still soggy and wet) they were REVOLTING!

I remembered that this is my year for trying to become more positive, so I picked my chin up off the floor and got to work. Problem solved:

SURFACE SPOT CLEAN ONLY!!!! (Anyone know where I can get some NATURAL/UNDYED suede? This brown stuff was a freebie which does the trick, but you can't get it wet)

Sunday Snapshot #2

I finally made a decision on the "pastel princess" colourway. While it would look sweet on Maddy, I didn't like the yarn carrying look on the front button band (shown here) and because the skeins were so different I had to alternate skeins.

So I ripped and reskeined:

Overdyed and hung out to dry (excuse the yard work going on in the background - we will have a new lawned play area there soon):

Still drying, this is what it looks like now:

No sewing this week, just getting back into the swing of things as I returned to work and celebrated a birthday on Wednesday, went out Thursday night and needed to wind down with some knitting on Friday. Madelyn's little tulip top is coming along nicely - the back is all done, and it's going to look very sweet I think.

Baby knit give away #1

As I have been a knitter long before I had kids, and always knit baby things for the instant gratification, there are quite a few things in my cupboard that never got worn since my babies were both too big and born in the middle of a hot Adelaide summer. Since there are no more babies planned for us, it's time to let these go. I was saving them for baby gifts when friends had babies but every time I give a hand knit as a baby gift I just don't feel it gets appreciated, or the person gets a million hand knit things from grandparents and older relatives I feel they just get tossed aside and added to the pile.

So I have decided to give them away here instead, scattered throughout the year. First up is this little cotton jumper and matching socks in lavender and blue, both 0-3m. Knitted about 5yrs ago but stored carefully and never worn. To win just leave a comment here explaining why you'd love a handknit for your baby (or friend/relative's baby). Winner to be announced on the last day of the month.

Snuggle bubbies!

Last night I was a little too hot and bothered to deal with the lace on Madelyn's little tulip top so pulled out the little Lutin doll I was working on back in November. It was made within a few nights when I started it but was thrown in the WIP pile when I was so tired with work and no sleep, just needing a hat. So I made the hat and finished him off.

Technically this project is not complete as I want to make a set of three "snuggle bubbies" - one for the car, one for the pram and one for the cot. He was pretty quick to make had I not stopped and shoved him in a bag for a couple of months... but I'm not too good at making the second sock to a pair, let alone three things the same. A great little project for in between bigger things.
It's also time to confess... I broke my own rules and started something new - something simple for when I'm not in the headspace for lace. This is supposed to be a little top for Madelyn for the Autumn/Winter but I'm not sure on the colourway now it's knitted up. I'm wondering if I should unpull it and overdye it as a semisolid green or purple - something a little brighter. Hmm.... It's a difficult one because once I do it there is no turning back. What do you think... keep or rip?