More knitting, and a walk down memory lane

I have not done much to report in the last couple of weeks, but have learned to knit cables. Hooray! This is a scarf I knitted for my mum's birthday. I'd always imagined cables would be very tricky to do, but in fact there is not much to it, just using an extra little needle to swap some stitches around every few rows, and then the twisted rope just forms itself.



I was knitting it right up until I gave it to mum, I pretty much cast it off the needles and then handed it over, so I didn't take very good photos of it - it is made from a really soft alpaca yarn which was lovely to knit with.

We have been visiting family in Sydney, which is always really nice - I sometimes wish we lived much closer to my parents, they are such willing babysitters, and Thomas just loves them.



While at mum and dad's I found this paper mache zebra I had made as a teenager. Mum had kept it all this time. This was another of my many crafty phases - for a while I really got into this and made all sorts of animals - I loved the fact that you could make pretty much anything you could imagine, using just newspaper masking tape and glue, even though craft wasn't very fashionable at that age. I have a secret hope that Thomas will enjoy doing some crafty things with me when he gets a bit older - we will have to wait and see.

Finally some progress

I've finally sewn the rows together with the sashing on the quilt, and am very happy with how it looks - thanks to everyone who made suggestions. It took so long because I am not very good at cutting and sewing straight lines - lots of unpicking!



I still have to put on the borders, not to mention actually, like, quilting it, but it still feels good to get this far. I am thinking that I might make it a single bed size quilt for when Thomas eventually moves out of his cot. It should be finished before then anyway.




I think I might have to try something quick and easy for my next sewing project. I love the look of the binding on these clever baby shirts, they are quite similar to this wrap top of his which I just adore and have been thinking of copying. I can just see a shirt with Japanese fabric binding (how predictable am I becoming!)



I have been enjoying knitting lately, because it is something I can take with me anywhere, and I can pick it up easily when I have five minutes, or while watching tv in the evening. It is also less intimidating to tackle baby size knits.



This is the latest, a little cardigan for Thomas. I seem to have a thing for variegated yarn - you never quite know what patterns will form when you start knitting it up, so it keeps things interesting.



And finally, some fallen leaves outside our front door. More variegated colours. While Warren looks forward to the winter snow (not where we live, but in the Snowy Mountains, not too far away) I love this time of year, glorious leaves, cool enough to enjoy walking, and not yet that biting chill in the air.

Winter on the way

After weeks of staying home, we have now had two weekends away in quick succession. Last weekend we went to Perisher Valley for a working bee to get the Nordic ski shelter ready for the upcoming cross country ski season. We stayed at a lovely house in Jindabyne, this is the view from the balcony. Warren is a very keen cross country racer, and I think he will have Thomas skiing as soon as he can walk.



I took some knitting for the long car ride, and managed to finish a hat to match the jumper, from some wool I had left over. Poor Thomas looks very serious in this photo, he's probably wondering what he will be forced to wear next, knitted underwear?

Making the pompon for the top was fun, I hadn't done that in years, but I made the cardboard circles too big, so it turned out to be enormous, practically as big as Thomas' head. I'd used up all the blue wool, so instead of starting again, I had to trim it back to size. Our house is now covered in a layer of blue fuzz.




My mum dropped off some children's books for us a while ago, and I was looking through them today and found this craft book. It has some very seventies fabrics and styles, but some of the dinosaurs look quite cute, I might have to try to make one someday.

A short sea change

We had a great couple of days away, driving through the mountains to some lush green countryside - this is Tilba Tilba, and then on to Narooma.



It was the first time Thomas had really seen the water, or a pelican and he seemed quite intrigued by it all.



Now we are back home and have had our last visitor for a while, and I've finally got back to the long neglected quilt. I was inspired by Rachel completing her beautiful calendar project. I need a bit more of that kind of staying power to finish this off.



We have been enjoying this banana bread recipe, now that bananas are affordable again (for a while they were a luxury item in Oz). I hadn't made a cake for a while and I was reminded how fun it is to bake things from scratch. A lot more instant gratification than quilting, that's for sure!



one and a half cups plain (all purpose) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
quarter teaspoon salt
125g butter softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 large very ripe bananas
half a cup buttermilk (or quarter of a cup each of plain yoghurt and milk if you don't have buttermilk)

Preaheat the oven to 170 C or 325 F
Grease a loaf tin (9x5inches or 23 x 12 cm)
Sift together flour baking powder, bicarb and salt
In another bowl cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater until pale and fluffy
Gradually add beaten eggs, mixing well after each addition
Add mashed bananas, then add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beating well after each addition
Spoon into the tin and bake for 55 to 60 mins or until the top of the bread is firm and deep brown, and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for ten minutes then turn onto a wire rack.

We found that it tastes even better after a day or so. Keeps for several days wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge, or can be frozen.

Happy baking.

Back again

Wow, three weeks has flown by since my last post. We have had such a busy time here with lots of visitors, there has been no time to open the laptop.

Thomas has been loving all the attention. Here he is with a little friend - it was fun but hectic having two babies in the house for a while, and none of us got any sleep.

Somehow in the quiet times I managed to finish this jumper for Thomas. It was a very basic design, but I hadn't done a neckband or buttonholes before, so it was a great learning experience. I'm quite keen to do another one now, but perhaps something a bit more interesting.

It is still too big for Thomas right now, but should be about right for winter.

We had a great time with another friend last weekend, and we all went on a bushwalk to the top of Mount Majura - Warren managed to carry Thomas all the way - he was quite happy looking around and taking it all in.

I was given these beautiful tulips as an early birthday present, and am really enjoying watching them slowly open up.

Tomorrow we are off to the coast for a couple of days. It will be too cold to swim, but it will be great to get away for a while.

Right now I'm going to have a quick look at my favourite blogs, while Thomas is still napping. Can't wait to catch up on some crafty inspiration.

6 months already!

I can hardly believe that Thomas is 6 months old this week.

He is such a healthy happy bub I think it would now be hard to tell that he was a premmie baby. He was delivered by emergency caesarian at 34 weeks, after I had sudden bleed.



Little Thomas needed lots of help when he first arrived, and was in the special care nursery for three weeks, learning to breathe on his own and then learning how to feed properly.



We weren't quite ready for his arrival, I was still at work and was supposed to teach a class the next day, and we had friends staying with us - we had to leave them at a cafe while we raced off to hospital. The first few weeks were a strange time, spending all day at the hospital but with not much to do while he slept for hours on end in his humidicrib. I wish I had taken up knitting then - I could have got so much done!

It has been amazing seeing him grow and change over the months since we brought him home. Thomas has recently started laughing, and loves to roll from his back to his tummy. He can stand up holding my hands, and loves to jump endlessly on my lap. I love seeing his sense of humour and personality emerging and can't wait for his first words.



You might have noticed the lack of craft activity around here lately - the quilt and the jumper are still works in progress (I'm now on the sleeves, and then I have to learn how to sew it all together and 'knit up' stitches for a neck band). April seems to be a very popular time for visitors - we have friends and relatives staying with us pretty much non stop for the next few weeks. It will be great to have the company, but it may be hard to get much done for a while. I'll have to get my creative fix vicariously from all the great projects everyone else is up to in blogland.

Best wishes for a lovely Easter holiday.

Autumn has arrived

It has suddenly turned quite chilly here in Canberra, almost overnight it has gone from blazing summer days to breezy autumn weather, so I'd better get a move on finishing this jumper for Thomas:



So far I've done the back and have moved onto the front. It is such a simple design that it has been quite fun to knit in front of the TV. I've been practising knitting without looking (kind of like touch typing) generally this works but I have dropped a few stitches - that crochet hook has come in handy for picking them up!

We have just got home from a very unsuccessful expedition to a local second hand baby clothes shop. For a few weeks I'd been walking past their sign which suggested that we should do our bit for the environment and recycle our baby clothes. However, when I took in a bundle of things Thomas has outgrown (all freshly washed and ironed), hoping to swap for some bigger clothes, they were almost all rejected - apparently they will only take things which are designer brands or which look brand new. I couldn't help feeling a bit affronted that they didn't think our clothes were good enough. Never mind, we will save them to pass on to friends or perhaps we might one day have another bub - certainly not thinking about that yet though!

We have been out in the garden lately, trying to find some plants which will grow in a tricky spot Warren calls the 'wall of death' , against a shady courtyard wall. Everything we plant there meets a sad end. We have now put in some red flowers (verbena and dianthus), but the new buds have turned white - that is surely a bit strange? Perhaps it's something in the soil.



Finally, a gratuitous photo of my two lovely boys. This was just a spontaneous shot in Thomas' room, but the lighting seems to be very nice and soft, almost like a studio.

Thomas is now letting me know in no uncertain terms that he is awake and wants milk immediately, so it looks like that is it for the time being. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Still waiting for the tooth fairy

Sorry for the lack of posting, it has been a tricky week here. Thomas has been very upset most evenings, and one night he screamed hysterically for twenty minutes when I tried to breastfeed him, and nothing we tried would calm him down. We were getting quite frantic, and were about to drive to the hospital , but then it subsided and he slept straight through till the next morning. It made me realise how lucky we are that he doesn't usually cry much, it is so upsetting being unable to help him. I don't know how parents cope with 'colicky' babies who are like that all the time.

I took him to the doctor the next day but she couldn't find anything wrong with him. On the bright side, he went to sleep without a fuss last night, and has been a happier chap today so perhaps whatever has been troubling him is easing up. Still no teeth to be seen though!



Thanks so much for the feedback on the quilt - it is really great to be able to get all your creative input. I am going to follow the popular consensus and go with the red sashing - I've cut up the pieces and made a start on the sewing. Kayla asked about the fabrics I used in the quilt - actually they mainly came from a local quilt shop in Canberra, in a rather touristy place called Gold Creek Village. They have an amazing range of Japanese quilt fabrics, the only downside is they are around $24 (AUD) per metre.



Although of course I should be concentrating on finishing the quilt, as often happens when I am in the midst of one project, I suddenly want to start another one. With the weather finally turning cooler here I had an urge to learn to crochet (it has been so popular in blogland lately). I thought it would be nice to have something I could do in the evening in front of the tv, when we collapse in a heap after getting Thomas to bed. So I bought a hook and some yarn, and after many unsuccesful attempts to follow drawn diagrams I found this website with videos of the stitches which was very helpful.

I still found it difficult to pick up though, and my ineptitude with the hook made me hanker for knitting needles, even though I haven't knitted for years, but at least I know how to knit and purl! That inspired me to start a little jumper/sweater for Thomas out of the red wool (this is just a tension square in the photo, it is not going to be that small!), but I would like to persevere with the crochet and might make some kind of chevron patterned cushion or bag.



I wish I had the patience to make a big blanket like this one we inherited. Lucy seems to have taken a fancy to it. I think she is pretending to be one of the toys. She is probably hiding, in case that annoying new little human starts screaming again.

Teething troubles

We haven't seen much of this little smile lately, as it seems that Thomas is teething. He is usually very sunny, but at the moment he is quite grizzly and chewing on everything. Not much to show for the sleepless nights yet, but I think I can see two tiny tooth buds in his bottom gum.

Meanwhile, I have finally finished all the quilt blocks, and am now wondering about how to put them together, and whether to put sashing between the blocks to outline them.



This is how the blocks look when put directly together



This is how it might look with red sashing between the blocks.

I can't quite decide which I like - the sashing makes the square frame block shapes clearer, without it the navy pieces blend together and creates stripes and other patterns.

I'd love to hear any thoughts on this.

Brain on holiday

As the quilt progress does not make exciting reading (another ten squares this week), I thought it might be good to break things up by making something quick and crafty. I stumbled across the Softie Awards 2007, and even though it was Wednesday, and the closing date was Friday, I decided that I could whip up something fun, just for a change.

I saw there was a category of 'Best Holiday Inspired' softie, which appealed to me. I must explain that in Australia, 'Holiday' generally refers to what Americans call 'vacations' - usually involving travel to somewhere more interesting. So I started thinking of soft toys inspired by our holiday travels.



I have a real soft spot for the cats in Turkey who lounge around on the carpets in shops and streets all over Istanbul,



So I had a go at making a Turkish carpet cat, painting a kilim design on a remnant of furnishing fabric.

I was making a pretty bodgy job of sewing him together - that fabric is a bugger to sew. Anyway I was just getting around to his face (I've drawn it in in Photoshop, just so you get the idea of what I was intending), when I thought I'd have a look at some of the other entries.



I looked at the Holiday category, expecting Arabian camels, exotic geishas and softies in Hawaian shirts. Instead I found lots of mice and owls inspired by Valentines day and Christmas, with a few Halloween creatures thrown in.

What on earth do Christmas, Valentines day and Halloween have to do with Holidays? I wondered. Then the penny dropped. Ahaa.. those Holidays, like "Happy Holidays". So a Turkish cat would not be so much what they were looking for...In fact he would look pretty damn silly in that crowd!

Thomas wondered why I was suddenly cracking up with laughter. To be honest it was a bit of a relief, as I wasn't very happy with this effort and it meant no more rushed embroidery today.

In other news, Warren officiated at a triathlon on the weekend, and took Thomas along to help direct the traffic



Nah, just kidding, don't call child protection, this is what he was really doing, lounging around at the picnic afterwards. The boys just thought it would be fun to dress him up.




Well, that's all from me in an exciting and productive week.
Happy Holidays to you all!