when it's cold outside

Spinning by the fire, originally uploaded by Claire Badcock

My mother-in-law had been given some lovely soft carded but unspun wool from Waverley, for whatever crafting purpose I could think of. I immediately decided to hand it over to my mother for spinning, of which you see above. Mum has been spinning for many a year, usually wool from their own sheep. I can sit and watch her spin all day, but she soon tells me where to go - she doesn't really like being watched.

So here I was last night just after a feed, starting on a little jumper for the wee girl. I'm making it in the 6 month + size, otherwise she may be too big for it by the time I finish!

Oh and take note of the outdated fabric on the lounge chair, these will be changing soon so consider this to be a 'before' photo. Ant chose the fabric years ago, so it's rather bachelor style has seen better days. I'm recovering in a medium/dark grey, nice and monotone and shouldn't date very quickly.

baby steps

I managed some sewing on Saturday. We needed a 5th birthday present for Ant's niece Laura, and as shopping isn't easy at the moment I thought it might be safe to whip something up. Tamsyn slept really well that day and I felt almost surprised that it came together so quickly. The pattern was from American Patchwork & Quilting's Quilts and More from a few months ago.

The pattern is designed to accommodate crayons but we felt Laura is past that so I increased the width for the sake of pencils. Ant went out and bought a sketch book and the pencils, so it was a lovely team effort.

Ant's auntie has recently returned from a trip to New York city. Before she went she asked me if there were any shops she'd like me to visit, the first (and only) place that sprung to mind was Purl Soho. I've been an avid reader of their blog for a while, as they have so many inspiring ideas and tutorials. I had bought fabric on-line from them in the past, but then the sky-rocketing exchange rate stopped that...

Jane had a blast in the shop, and came away with a great little range of fabrics, mostly Japanese Kokka. I can't wait to use some of it for Tamsyn, just have to wrangle some more sewing time.....

Oh and the Gund bear is for Tamsyn of course.

thank you all..

.. for your lovely comments on my last post.

We've been home from hospital since last Friday and are settling in to a new way of life. I've had the adopted parents staying with us as well which has been wonderful, Mum has been spoiling us rotten doing all the cooking until Monday night when Ant offered to make the evening meal (bless him!). It's been hard for me to give up the kitchen but I knew I had to, especially as I'm a kitchen to a certain wee one at the moment anyway. Thankfully my milk is bountiful and Tamsyn's enjoying it a lot.

We had 7 hours uninterrupted sleep last night, let's hope she likes this trend.

introducing ....

Tamsyn Jane Mabel Brock. Born Monday 11th May at 10pm, weighing 3.5 kilos (7lbs 11oz).
It was a 14 hour labour. The hospital staff and my obstetrician were wonderful and Anthony, well, I couldn't have done it without him.

It's our first night home from hospital, so now the adventure begins......

the wait is almost over

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post, they really mean a lot to me.

So, I'm going to be induced tomorrow (Sunday) and baby will probably be born sometime Monday. They've decided to bring me forward after I had a scan on Thursday. It's nothing major but to cut a long story short, the obstetrician thinks this one may already be fully cooked. So who knows when I'm going to get my quince jam done....

I've just come back from a little walk in the park with Lucy. Behind the trees there, is the Launceston General Hospital (known locally as the LGH), and that's where the action will be taking place.

Lucy loves this park, there's so much to smell. Five years ago I wouldn't have been able to let her run around off the lead like this, she'd give me a cheeky look over her shoulder as if to say "see ya, I'm off on an adventure!" and no amount of calling or chasing would induce her to come back. I'd have to revert to the reverse psychology thing of walking in the opposite direction, thankfully this usually worked. Thereafter she was always on the lead.

She's mellowed now, thank goodness, but still has her moments. I suppose she wants to keep the spirit of adventure alive, just toned down a bit.

And now we're about to embark on another adventure. Since Thursday the anxiety levels have been a bit high, but I have Anthony who is my rock. I also have my family and friends (including you peoples) who are wonderful support.

I'll keep you posted, don't know when but I will...

mothers x 3

I have three mothers, one biological, one adopted and one in-law. All three are very special to me (and yes, this also means I have three fathers).

I have just deleted a couple of paragraphs that explained the above in more detail but it became too personal, and may be saved for another bloggy day. I suppose what does matter is that all three women play a very important role in my life, not just as an example to me but as an ideal of what type of mother I should be. Right now, with about a week before baby is due, I'm feeling that the role of a mother is such an important one, and desperately hope that I can live up to it.

Having said all that, I thought I'd share some of the presents I've made for these special ladies (I know 2 of them don't read this blog!) -
This is the Jane Market Bag, I bought the pattern on-line courtesy of Posy Gets Cozy. It's an antidote to the green grocery shopping bags which, though very environmentally friendly, aren't really that attractive.
I made mine out of discontinued upholstery samples (Swaffer has been very good to me!), from Ant's work. The pattern was very user friendly and came together in no time. I wouldn't mind making a couple more for myself.
And some fingerless mitts for the mother-in-law. I think the pattern was from Ravelry, if not then it was Knitty. It's been some time since I did cables, but again, the pattern was easy to read and they knitted up a treat. I also want to make a pair for me, but not until I've finished Ant's socks....

It's interesting that all 3 of my mothers have and are prolific knitters, especially when they had growing families themselves. I like to think that I'll continue to follow in their footsteps.

Niche goodness

Yesterday (Saturday) was the first day of Niche, which brought out a lot of locals in search of handmade goods. (click on the photo to take you across to my Flickr page for larger photos)

I went along mostly to catch up with Tara, but also to catch up with fellow bloggers such as Black Eyed Susie and to finally meet Gemma of Loz and Dinny fame.

It was great to see so much local talent in one place, and the turn out was great - much bigger than last November's. Maybe the weather had something to do with it, yesterday and today have been perfect autumn days, one feels compelled to venture out and make the most of the sunshine. :o)