catching up 3: craftyness

And now for the third installment: what we have been up to on the crafting front.  Well, me mainly.  And this might be more than one post...

Firstly a couple of presents for friends' children's birthdays:

A cross between fuzzy felts and Mr Potato Head.  The recipient liked it though.

And a crayon roll, I love these and H has already put in a request for hers.  I particularly like the flowery/fruity fabric, so much so that I used it on another project:

This is a sandwich wrap, something I've been thinking about for a while now and I finally got around to making one (well, two actually, otherwise the kids will fight over who gets it).  I'll go into it more another time.

 

My birthday present from C was a day's dyeing course with Debbie of DT Craft and Design, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I'm now hooked!  The top picture is a sample I bought home from the day and knitted up into wristlets - I'm very chuffed with the double x pattern that's come out, couldn't do that again if I tried!  The second picture is some wool I dyed the other day for a Christmas present - excellent fun and even more personal than buying ready dyed wool.  I love it.  I love playing with colour - just need to buy some more dyes now... and some more wool... roll on Christmas!

catching up 2: family

So, another post on what we've been up to over the last few months.  Today - family.  Well, children mainly.

Crafty activities, involving paint (lots of paint)...

...and other exciting things (those are pipe cleaners stuck in universal meds bottle bungs, of which we have a lot, and twirled around a pencil with Daddy's help to make great hair).

Not to mention a bit of building...

...and several birthdays (two down, one to go, and that's before Christmas).

 

And finally, hair long enough to go in pigtails - so cute! (I know, I'm biased.)

Catching up 1: apples

Wow, it's been a long time since the last post.  I am a lot more pregnant than I was!  I haven't been feeling great which is why there hasn't been any posting, but I have been squirrelling away the photos ready for when I do start posting again.

So here are the first few.  I've tried to theme them, so today it's...

Apples.

We have two apple trees in our garden, planted about 3 or 4 years ago, and this year (like last) we got around 50 apples off each tree.  They're supposed to be cordons but have gone a bit mad because I keep forgetting to prune them.

These are our first apples, I can't remember quite what variety they are but I think they're Discovery or something similar.  They are an early variety and are sweet with a pink blush to the flesh and the children love them.

These are the second lot from the later tree and they are definitely a variety called Sunset.  I love them, they are very much like coxes in flavour but they are a little sharp after eating the others for a month or so!

We got some beauties off this trees this year, and I am inordinately proud of them (especially considering I don't actually do anything and the apples just arrive - I can take no credit whatsoever!)  I particularly love the fact that for at least two months in the early autumn we are completely self sufficient in apples - we get through a lot of apples most weeks - and it saves us quite a bit of money too.

My Grand Plan (I have a few of these hanging around, they will happen eventually... I hope...) is to remove the privet hedge down one side of the garden and replace it with a fence and fruiting cordons, mostly apples but maybe the odd plum and pear in there too.  The other, slightly shadier, side has fruit bushes down it which are a little overgrown in places but do give us a reasonable crop of soft fruit (redcurrants/blackcurrants/gooseberries/blackberries) and I have a black elder ( variety Black Lace) which I love and which we can make pink elderflower cordial from.  All these were planted back before I had kids, so come to think of it it must be the apples' fourth season because they would have been planted before I had Hannah.  Actually it might be their fifth, I lose track these days.

More knitting, and other random comments...

I finally found the fingerless mitts, so I was able to count them and see what happened.  They were a row or two out, but only a row or two, so I think it must have been a combination of tension and counting.  Next time I will be more careful!

We had a lovely time at Greenbelt, meeting up with friends and going to various things (with a fair bit of sleeping as well). Didn't get much knitting done though!  I did get quite a bit done at Granny's though, and have got past the pocket on the front of the marble jumper, which I'm rather pleased with (you can jut about see it on the photo).  I should soon be up to the armhole shaping and then the excitement of the neckline starts.

Finally a rather cute picture of S taken whilst we were away - aww!

Current knitting WIPs

I'm still trying to find the fingerless mitts so that I can a) count the rows and see if its the tension that's the problem (my sister reckons it might be as she had something similar happen), and b) take photos.  I've obviously put them away from prying fingers but I cannot remember where.  Ah well, they'll turn up eventually.  But I'd really like to take them to Greenbelt this weekend.

I have started a lace scarf which is interesting, but the yarn is horrible (it's squeaking on my needles - yuk!) so I think this might be a swatch rather than the full thing.  I'm not sure if I like lace yet or if I need something more mindless.

So I'm working on the marble jumper, which is just getting to the interesting stage.  I have spent some of this evening working out what size I want the kangaroo pocket to be, so having done that I can go ahead and knit it now!  I think this might be the holiday project to take with me.  Pictured is the back which I finished last week - I love the colours in this yarn.

Fingerless mitts again

Ok, so I finished the second fingerless mitt last night - only to find that I can't count and it's quite a bit shorter below the wrist than the other one. I counted rows and everything. Must be being pregnant. So now I have the choice either to wear them as they are, and the bit that shows the most is okay, or frog the second one and start again, which I'm not sure I can be bothered to do. Gutted.

Fingerless mitts - nearly not a WIP

I've nearly finished the fingerless mitts I started a long time ago - the second one has taken a while to do. I got to the exciting part of binding off and casting on for the thumb hole while waiting to see the midwife this morning - I'd just finished casting on when she called me in! Had to bundle everything away quickly.

I like knitting while waiting for appointments as I can still hear my name being called and can put it away quickly, plus you get some great comments sometimes. My best one was whilst waiting in antenatal clinic last time (lots of knitting gets done in antenatal), a bloke from Africa (he did tell me where but I can't remember) came up and said how nice it was to see someone knitting, he used to do a lot at home and they were all taught in school, plus apparently the boys were very into it. I keep telling Chris he should try it...

Crafting and cars

I've been doing quite a bit of crafting since my last post, but since it was for gifts they went out of the house before they could be photographed! I made some bunting with her name on for the birthday girl of a party Hannah was invited to - it was made out of felt with some ribbon from my stash across the top, felt letters on it and decorated with some flower gems. I also made a crayon roll for a very sweet little boy at Hannah's nursery who has been looking after her since she started back in January. He will be going to big school in September so I made him this with some blue material lined with acid green, and we put some pens in it too. Hannah made a thank you card to go with it. Hope he liked it.

On a completely different tack we've been looking at cars recently and today we went to Bolton to look at our first one 'in the flesh' so to speak. It was an enormous van-like thing with seven seats, we liked it generally and the ride/drive was good, but this particular vehicle wasn't for us. Poor Hannah was distraught when we didn't buy it and came back home in our old car.

Tea party

I had a lovely time playing tea parties with Hannah this afternoon - we used Steffie's blankie as the picnic rug, and Reggie Bear came too (he was very well fed, and then washed for good measure). Hannah is gradually getting into this type of imaginative play, which is something they've been trying to encourage at nursery. That makes it sound all calculated, but we just had a good time, though she wouldn't tell me what we were eating and drinking!

Very exciting...

Another long gap - we have been going through a time of sleeplessness, and I haven't had the energy to do much. There is however an exciting project on the horizon - more about that another time! It has been occupying my brain quite a bit lately, but now I need to actually do some sewing and therefore I need to go to a fabric shop. Oh dear, oh dear, what a shame.

We've been busy...

Wow, a whole month since I last posted - oops! But in my defence, we have been busy.

The major thing was a holiday, a long camping trip down south. Not only was there major packing to do, but I was also making this:
The reason for the trip was my gran's 90th birthday, and the appropriate family party accompanying it. The quilt was a gift for her, and my first attempt at a (nearly) full sized quilt. I quite pleased with how it turned out, and it was fun to do, just a little bit rushed. I set up the machine on the kitchen table together with the laptop and watched stuff on 4od and iplayer whilst sewing - very civilized!

But before the family stuff we camped on Hayling Island, somewhere I know quite well from my youth, and somewhere I never thought I'd go on holiday! But we had a great time, visiting old haunts and finding new ones.

Since then we have been happily surprised with the news that we are expecting a third little Goodhew sometime in the New Year. So I am now in the throes of those first trimester goodies of feeling very tired and icky. Mmmm.

This month is also busy with appointments and reports for Hannah as nursery prepare to apply for her statement. The dynavox has broken and we are missing it a lot; we don't know when it will be repaired. And we've had the Hadfield Carnival (very soggy) in which we were involved on three stalls - it went well despite the weather but was very frantic. We have the church camping weekend this weekend (most of the stuff is still packed!) and a few other bits and bobs happening as well.

So, I'd better go and do that form I've been putting off. Eeek.

Yes please!

It was one of those nights, when just as we're settling down for the night at 11pm, Hannah wakes up. So down I go, again and again, getting crosser and crosser and more and more tired. She was up till 2.30am in the end.

But the last time I went down, I was asking her if she wanted the light off, and she said yeah followed by another sound, quite deliberately. I asked her again, and then realised that she was saying yes please! I think she must have been saving it for when her mother's defences were at a low ebb. She's now saying it quite a lot, which is brilliant (two words together and all that), though you have to know it's what she's saying. But still. Such a clever girl. Just wish it didn't have to be at 2 in the morning.

And some photos

Couldn't resist these.
This was taken earlier in the week when I finally got around to seeing if her hair will go up in bunches - it does! We've waited a long time for this much hair!

This one is what Hannah did on the fridge in the week - not that she likes ordering things in lines or anything...

Boats, ducks, and Hannah

Just had the following rather random conversation with Hannah as I was putting her to bed. (Please bear in mind that Hannah is signing and I am interpreting and that this is the abridged version...)

Blue.
Blue?
Yeah. Green.
Green?
Yeah. Boat.
Green boat?
Yeah. Ducks.
Ducks in the green boat?
Yeah. Hannah.
Hannah and the ducks in the green boat?
No [stupid mother expression] blue boat Hannah.
Oh, so Hannah in the blue boat and the ducks in the green boat?
Yeah. [Sits back satisfied at finally having conveyed something to her oh-so-thick mother that vaguely resembles what she's actually thinking.]

Demon on the dance floor

And that's my daughter, not me.

We went to a friend's wedding on Saturday, and had a great time. But it was the children who stole the show, of course. Steffie spent most of the time (in church and at the reception) crawling round finding new people to talk at and new things to play with (other people's shoes, pushchair wheels, that sort of thing), and Hannah, well Hannah took the dance floor by storm in the evening, and would have been there all night if we'd let her. Apparently she had everyone else copying what she was doing! Unfortunately for her Mummy and Daddy are not nearly as tough and we were flaked out by 8pm. We finally dragged her away at 10pm.

The latest project

Okay, so this was me set up for an evening's sewing last week. Table free of stuff (it's piled on one of the chairs), makeshift ironing board (two towels), iron on, and inspirational flowers in the background. And what you can't see is that the kettle is on as well. Ah, bliss.

And what was I making? Well, this:A blanket for my freind's little boy, who was one two days before Steffie. (Not that his present was ready on time. But near enough.) I couldn't resist that fleece when I saw it in the shop.

Steffie is one!

Yep, my baby is one year old! (Actually it was on Saturday, but we've only just come up for air after a busy but very enjoyable weekend.) Ok, I'm now going to do the sad thing, but where has it gone? She is getting so big! And doing so much!!

She was actually smiling until I got the camera out, she really enjoyed being sung to (we did it several times during the day) and loved the candle (though was a bit bemused by the blowing thing). Hannah spent the day asking if it was her birthday too, trying to open all of Steffie's cards and presents, and then when she had got the hang of the fact that it wasn't her birthday, telling us that it wasn't. Repeatedly. (As well as telling us that Daddy had taken her to Glossop on the train in the morning, which she was very excited about.)

And the cake? I was trying to think of what Steffie's favourite things were, and how I could represent them in edible spongy form. And I cam up with this. Can you see what it is? No? It's obvious isn't it? It's a remote control!

I snapped another picture of Steffie the other day that I just couldn't resist. She'd crawled into the kitchen, all the way round the table to her highchair, picked up a biscuit she'd dropped earlier, and sat back to eat it. I just thought it looked cute. We do feed her, honest.

Lime green car

I said a while ago that I was loving the lime green/red colour combination at the moment - well I think its the lime green that's doing it. I don't like green, but at the moment I do like that fresh lime green, maybe its that spring influence. Yesterday I found myself following one of these:(that's a Peugeot 207, for those that like to know these things)
and today I found myself following one of these:

(that's a Fiesta). In the sunshine the colour was gorgeous! (Though I'm not saying I want one myself...) I did enjoy the colour, particularly with the back headlights in red to set it off. This morning I was actually disappointed when it turned off! I think I'm going mad.

Palm Sunday

We had a great time at church this morning waving palms around, and then making Easter bonnets. These were my team's efforts - the one I was working on ended up with blue furry ears (on the left) which were very cute, but thankfully I didn't have to wear it.
This was the winning creation:
There were some fantastic bonnets, and it was great seeing the kids and the adults all having fun together. Even better was the little ones being taken off and having their own fun so that their parents (ie us!) could join in with the general crafty mayhem. Though Chris did take advantage of the time and slope off with a friend to play on the computer for an hour.

And also - couldn't resist this one of Hannah modelling the bunny ears she made on Friday at nursery. She wore them for the rest of the day.

Very nice to have the camera up and running again - turns out it was an issue between the card reader and Vista, so having found the cable I can download (or is that upload?) pictures to the computer once again. I was a bit worried I was going to end up with a card full of pictures I couldn't do anything with.

The Voice has arrived

Hannah's VOCA (voice output communication aid, that's a computer wot speaks to you and me) has finally arrived. We had to wait for a new battery to come as the old one wasn't charging so it's taken a little while but it is now here. A very nice lady called Karen came to show us how it works, and Hannah was away, touching all the buttons and making it say things. At the moment it is limited to snacks and songs (very motivating for the average three year old) but it is almost imfinitely expandable and so can grow with her. The only downside is that it is a large and heavy model, but it will definitely do for seeing if she gets on with it.

So we have spent this evening modifying the snack buttons to things we have in the house and are happy for her to choose, and then we generally played around with it - it's very cool. Chris has managed to reprogramme most of it already. We have been focussing on getting it, but tomorrow we'll start to use it and find out if Hannah gets on with it and how to fit it into family life. Sounds like a long process to me, and at the moment it is feeling quite daunting.

A Very Excited Bean...

We finally got what has turned out to be a long term project launched last night. This is the highly technical linking of two households by video, over the web, so that Hannah can 'talk' (ie sign) to her grandparents 150 miles away. (Phone conversations are a bit limited when you can only say 'yeah'.) This has taken about two years and involved several steps:

1. get broadband at our end - a big issue for some years due to the length of line between us and the exchange. don't get us started. still causes problems, but we do (obviously) now have it.
2. persuade parents that the purchase of a webcam is useful, nay vital for this process (not difficult).
3. set up webcams on computers - required waiting until we visited, but otherwise straightforward.
4. teach parents how to use skype - still in troubleshooting phase.
5. work out why internet speed is so low at our end that video won't work - turned out to be a dodgy router but delayed us for a couple of months - grr.
6. arrange time with all present to try out system.

And it worked! We (three - Steffie was in bed) spoke to Granny, Grandpa, Uncle Stuart and Auntie Kerry (and bump). Hannah signed. It was GREAT! Hannah was so chuffed at seeing them, and seeing herself, on 'telly', and quickly got the hang of staying in view of the camera. I can see her spending a *lot* of time signing at Granny and Grandpa.

One plus was that she was also able to show them her certificate for being 'Hedgehog of the Week' at nursery (my big girl! - proud mummy moment) - you can't do that down a phone.

Mothers weekend

We've had a great weekend celebrating my mum's birthday (yes, a BIG one!) and Mothers Day with all my family. Hannah and Steffie have hugely enjoyed playing with their big cousins, not to mention Auntie and Uncle as well as Grandma and Grandad. So many relatives in one weekend! And we have a new record for the largest number of people we can seat in our kitchen - 10 (including Steffie in her highchair).

My sister and I had made Mum a pair of cushions - one knitted (by her) and one sewn (by me). We couldn't finish them until they came down on Friday night so it was a long evening of sewing, but we got them done. We are very pleased with the results, but as usual I completely forgot to take photos before they disappeared to their new home. (And I'd bought a new card for the camera specially.)

I am now laid low with the sickness bug that is doing the rounds at the moment - great for Mothers Day huh. At least I am getting to lie around all day.

Spring colours

I'm currently really into this colour combination - the leafy spring green with a beautiful bright red. A couple of times recently I've found myself stir-frying leeks and red peppers, a gorgeous combination and pretty tasty too! I think it's that promise of spring that is in the sunshine right now, coupled with a bit of a longing for summer. I don't usually go for green but I'm finding myself more drawn to it lately, especially the acid/leafy shades.

Letters and numbers - or the lack of them...

Well, I was going to post a picture of a great arrangement of letters and numbers that Hannah did on the fridge the other day, but the camera card appears to have died. I've photographed it twice now but the computer still won't read the card. I don't think it has anything to do with Hannah's latest craze/accomplishment - she was found the other day trying to cut it with her new scissors. So it (the card that is) is now undergoing a format to try to revive it; if it doesn't work I'll have to go buy a new one. Fingers crossed.

Daffs!

The daffs are out! I love that splash of sunny yellow against the stone wall of the house. These are greeting visitors outside our front door, and hopefully will do for some time to come. Thanks Mum for planting them for me!

Knitting circle

This morning was a knitting morning. I arrived at the church coffee morning to find not one but two friends already there and already with their knitting out! So our two small ones roamed around and (in Steffie's case) nicked other people's toast while we knitted. What's more we were all knitting with dpns much to everyone else's amusement. It was interrupted only by a quick dash to save Steffie from falling down the chancel steps, and by the eating of cake. Magic.

Spring blown away...

Back to winter then, as usual. It hailed on us this morning as we dashed into the doctors - yuk - and it is very blowy. But the sun's still out every now and again which is nice. The daffodils by the front door are budding so I'm looking forward to seeing them. Hoping Spring comes properly soon!

Signs of Spring

Yay, finally spring might just have poked her head above ground! We have been for little walks (for little legs, and Mummy's dodgy hips) the last two days as the weather has been so good. The catkins are out, and so is the pussy willow - we were showing Hannah how soft and furry the buds are. But best of all has been the sunshine - lovely, warm, golden, spring sunshine in a blue sky. We just had to sit down and enjoy it, with the obligatory snack of course.

The Library, and the joys of a glue gun

Steffie and I spent some time in the library this afternoon. The library in our village is tiny, one room that would be big-ish if it were my living room, but is small, sweet, for a library. And yet there are all sorts of books in there! Steffie spent the time pulling books off shelves in a very determined, how-many-can-I-pull-off-before-Mummy-notices-and-feels-she-ought-to-put-them-back kind of way. And as I was engrossed in books, she pulled off a lot before I noticed.

On the crafting front, it should have been knitting night at a friend's tonight but she had to cancel, so I have been playing with some pegs, some felt shapes and my new glue gun, just experimenting to see what kind of things look best. Not sure any of them do, but I'll keep trying. The glue gun is great fun though, I haven't used one since I was at school, how have I managed this long without one? I can stick anything!

Happy New Year, or What did you do with your extra second?

Well, Happy New Year! Yes, I know it's a little late, but most things here are a little late. I still have some Christmas presents to send out - must schedule that in for this evening.

So, what did you do with your extra second? When Chris told me about it (at 11.30pm on New Year's Eve, as we were going to sleep) I briefly considered staying awake to pray for peace in the world or something, but I'm afraid that in the end sleep won out. I was woken up at 3am on New Year's Day to feed Steffie so I did need that extra second. (I prayed earlier instead.) As it was a leap second maybe we should have all leapt together, like that experiment a few years ago when they tried to get most of the country to jump at exactly the same time to see if it would cause an earthquake. Hmmm.