The Little Vintage Gansey

One of the most satisfying experiences as a knitter is seeing a garment you have made (and sometimes sweated blood, sweat and tears over!) not only being worn but really suiting the recipient. And this is exactly what happened when I made J a Little Vintage Gansey. The design is by Sublime yarns, and can be found in this book, which is full of gorgeous baby patterns so well worth a look if you have any little people to knit for.

There were a few patterns that I liked the look of, but the Little Vintage Gansey caught my eye for its simple but effective patterning, all produced through a simple combination of knit and purl stitches. I loved the colour used in the book, so decided to use the same for my version - Sublime Baby Cashmerino 4ply in Button. Because it is a 4ply, it takes only a couple of skeins to create a garment, so you can justify the expense of a luxury yarn. And I was more than pleased with the result:

The jumper knit up so quickly considering I had a newborn to contend with and very little time to myself. It is an easy enough pattern for beginners, but looks more complicated than it really is - always the best type of knit!

Here is the garment being modelled by my willing volunteer, and very smart he looks too. On a side note, he never fails to dribble on or be sick down this, and it washes up beautifully. Always a consideration for the mummy knitters out there!

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The Lopi-Along

One of the things I have been getting up to on maternity leave is a fair bit of knitting. With J in the house I don't have the room to get out my scrap supplies as often as I would like, but that hasn't stopped me from accumulating a fair bit of yarn which is mainly housed under the bed. So I really should be trying to put a dent in that pile. But instead, I caught sight of a knit along about to begin on Ravelry, using Lopi Icelandic yarn. And of course, I couldn't resist, duly buying the required amounts of yarn in ash and dark grey heather.

The pattern we were knitting was this short cardigan. Now this would prove a bit of a challenge to me because I have never knit fair isle, or attempted (gulp!) steeking. But in for a penny, in for a pound - I decided to try both techniques in the same garment.

The cardigan knit up really quickly (after the rather irritating moss stitch border) - the yarn is a little tough on the fingers but after a while you get accustomed to it. I had to go up a needle size to achieve the correct tension but this is standard for me, a tight knitter. I decided to add a few rounds to the length, I know it's meant to be a short cardigan but I didn't want it riding up under my armpits! However I pretty soon realised I would need more yarn, and true enough, knitting had to go on hold while I waited for another skein to arrive. Very irritating!

Once I got onto the fair isle section I realised quite how addictive this style of knitting is! Being in chunky yarn, the pattern built up quickly which was satisfying.

I used the excellent Cotton and Cloud video tutorials to teach myself the basics of two strand knitting, including the continental style knit stitch which I gained confidence in as I went.

Very soon, I had completed all the knitting on my cardigan - if I hadn't run out of yarn it would have taken less than a week, which is impressive for a full size garment.

So now I just have to cut the steek, but that's another story...

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Five months

So what have I been getting up to in the five months since my little man came into my life?

Mainly enjoying the wonder that is watching him grow up; so, so fast! Seriously, everyone told me that I had to enjoy every minute, or I'd blink and miss it, but I didn't realise quite how truthful they were being. Every now and then I catch myself feeling sad and shed a tear because my tiny baby has disappeared. And this may be the only time I experience such complete and utter fragility and vulnerability. But mostly I am amazed about the little personality my boy has become.




I don't want to put too much of Jake out there on my blog. Life being what it is, you can't afford to be too open.




But a part of me wants to share just a few things. Like his favourite toy, little blue donkey. The way he giggles without fail when Ed clicks his tongue at him. The way he watches me so intently when I sing Wheels on the Bus or Five Little Ducks. The extremely angry cry should I dare to try and put a vest on over his head!

These are all the little things that are so everyday at the moment, but will probably be forgotten in time. So instead I'll record them here.

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Jake

So I thought it was about time I updated my blog. It's been a very busy month. I have gone from a pregnant lady with a massive bump...


...to becoming a mummy!
Jake arrived on the 2nd July, a week before my planned C-section after I experienced some bleeding and started going into early labour. I blame a trip round Ikea the previous day and an inexplicable need to clean the bathroom - what was I thinking?
I was so shocked when they said I would be having Jake early. The C-section itself was very straightforward and I have recovered from it very well -my scar is really neat, and although I feel a bit tender when I walk far, we have started getting out and about a bit.
Unfortunately, Jake had a slightly worse experience of birth, about half an hour after birth they realised he had wet lungs which needed clearing because he was coughing up gunk. He was brought back an hour later but then had a 'dusky episode' while breastfeeding - he basically forgot to breathe. He got taken to the Special Care Baby Unit and I wasn't able to see him for another 12 hours until my spinal had worn off. It was probably one of the most difficult times of my life, I couldn't wait to get wheeled down to see my baby.
Jake had no more breathing problems, but was kept in the unit for nearly three days. I was going up and down at all hours of the day to feed my baby, but was reliant on the staff to call the ward I was in.
When Jake was finally allowed out of SCBU, he had lost too much of his birthweight. This meant a round the clock feeding regime and a fight to keep breastfeeding, which was hard but I stuck to my guns. However Jake kept losing weight, and I felt like I was going to have a breakdown!
We were finally allowed out of the hospital just over a week ago when a consultant took pity and decided our home would be a better environment for Jake and me. Sure enough, as soon as we were home Jake started putting on weight and has been very happy and contented.
Becoming a mummy has been the best thing that ever happened to me. I know it's a cliche but it totally changes your life (in a good way!). Total unconditional love for another person, no matter how many times they wee, poo or vomit on you! I can't wait to spend the next year with my little man x x x

Nearly there!

Thought I'd post a quick catch up and update you on how things are going, seeing as I'm on my first real day of maternity leave.
First up, a quick page to share. I made this ages ago, and the photo is from even longer ago! I love walking along the Southbank and watching all the street performers, but this fish on a bike has got to be one of my favourites!

I am now feeling decidedly huge, and baby is certainly making its presence felt. Unfortunately we had confirmed on Friday that my placenta is far too low for a natural delivery, so we are booked in for a C-section on the 9th July, which is three weeks today! Very close to my due date which is a little bit scary as if I start early I'm going to have to hotfoot it to the hospital pretty quickly before I start dilating.

I'm a little bit disappointed that a normal delivery is ruled out, but ultimately all I want is that the baby we tried so hard to have gets here safely, and the danger of bleeding makes a C-section the best way to achieve that.

We have had a bit of a mad dash round the spare bedroom, trying to box up all my books and crafty gear, and most of that is now in the loft. I also did a big eBay sale and have even more to load up too now - there is no point keeping stuff that I haven't used for years, it might as well go to a good home.

I have been doing a spot of knitting for the baby - believe it or not this is going to turn into a duffel coat. I'm hoping to finish it in the next few days, I'm really not that quick at knitting. Unlike my lovely friend Rach who made me this gorgeous blanket! She is a knitting supremo (though this is of course crochet).

Finally, here is a little photo of me yesterday, at a spa day I was bought for my 30th birthday. It was at a lovely Elizabethan hotel in Staffordshire called Hoar Cross Hall, with these beautiful gardens. The day was just what I needed to calm me down, I was starting to feel very stressed out. The beautiful bump massage I was booked in for was bliss, and has left my skin so soft - even hubby noticed!

Anyway, hope to be back to update soon!

Lumps and bumps

It has to be said, I'm starting to feel decidedly large now.

This is me at 31 and a bit weeks (apologies for untidy bedroom in the background!). I have now put on over two stone, am getting decidedly breathless having to walk around at work and have forgotten what a decent night's sleep feels like. But I know it'll all be worth it in the end - just counting down the days until I can go on maternity leave and have a rest!

It's been a busy couple of weekends too. We went away two weeks ago, after my very clever husband attended his OU degree ceremony. I'm so proud of him - he completed it in less than three years while working full time, which is more than most uni students can say - I worked part time at best through my degree!

Ed had booked us a couple of nights in a hotel at Ironbridge, which is well worth visiting - very pretty and the Victorian museum is great. I have quite a few photos which will probably appear on layouts in the near future.

Then last weekend we visited my mum and dad's and I got to show off my bump which had grown a lot in the five weeks since I had last seen them.

Speaking of mum and dad, they feature in this layout which I made a week or so ago, the picture is ancient, from 2007, but I really love those beach huts! I'm not in love with this layout - the balance is a bit off - but I don't want to do anything else to it right now so it is going to stay how it is until I decide to come back to it and work out what is wrong with it. I think it might be the title.

The trouble with this layout is that after deciding to organise my albums chronologically (inspired by the Shimelle Cover to Cover class) I realised that this layout really stands out in my 2007 album because it has such a different style to the one I had back then when I scrapped a lot of my 2007 photos. I used to have such a busy, intricate style, I've really pared that back to let me have a chance of finishing the odd page since work got so much busier. I hadn't really thought about how much my style has altered over time.

Shimelle's class has got me all inspired - I have printed a lot of my 2012 photos and ordered an AC album ready to start scrapping some up to date layouts and hopefully create an album with flow. We are supposed to be looking for the things that will create continuity in our albums rather than a set of disconnected pages, and I'm struggling a bit with this. I tend to grab whatever is in the Cocoa Daisy kit I'm currently working through, but I'm wondering whether for this 2012 album I need to put more thought into it.

So here are the things that are fairly common on my pages:

- 7 gypsies quote stickers (or October afternoon sometimes)
- Stamping, usually in black ink. I particularly like my set of Autumn Leaves border stamps.
- Butterfly punches, but not on every page
- Buttons
- Ribbon or ric rac, usually to underline a title or similar
- I used to use a lot of paint, and have recently been experimenting with mists instead (a bit less messy/time consuming)
- One photo layouts (though I would actually like this to change to get more of my photos scrapped)

I'm wondering whether I need to choose a particular motif or maybe a colour scheme to create commonality. I'm not sure if I could limit myself though, so maybe just colour schemes for particular events or sets of pages instead? I do like Shimelle's use of kraft cardstock on all her pages in one album, but I would have to buy a load more kraft if I wanted to do this.

It is certainly giving me plenty to think about anyway!

For the two people waiting on their flowers, they are all now parcelled up, addressed and ready to be posted in the morning. Sorry it's taken so long!

An unusual double layout

You see, this is what happens when I go back to work - any other life goes straight out of the window! I haven't blogged for a week and a half, and I had been so good up to that point. Oh well, here I am again, ready to share an uncommon sight in my scrapbooks, the elusive double page spread!

As a rule, I don't like to scrap double pages - I find them really hard work to do well, and you need a lot more space to spread them out and check you have achieved continuity across the two. I have probably done about three double page spreads in the last four years. But I decided that I didn't want to have just one photo of this event in my scrapbook, but didn't feel like squeezing them all on one page.

The first page was inspired by an old Shimelle starting point - I often struggle to use plans or sketches, and I did with this, but I was quite pleased with the finished page. I really love the little camera and chandelier stamps, but for the life of me can't remember what brand they are! I continued my experiementation wth ink mists, in this case lime green and blue, to take away some of the harsh white of the background.

I then added the second page. I'm not as happy with this one, but I tried to fit three more photos onto the layout and also take some of the design features across, hence the use of the horizontal strips and blocks of paper and the same stamp set.

Here are the two as they appear in my scrapbook album - went a bit overboard with the lime green on the second side, but never mind! It isn't the favourite double page I have ever made, but it isn't awful and allowed me to get more photos scrapped.

The event in question was my third hen do. Yes, the third. I had four in total, though I suppose not all would be described as traditional hen dos. It comes from having such separate sets of friends. The first was an awesome day out in Stratford Upon Avon with my work colleagues involving a river boat trip and plenty of dares (and booze!). I had a fantastic time, but have yet to get any photos of this from my colleagues - I dread to think what I look like.

The second hen do was with another set of friends at one of their houses - good food, lots to drink and lots of gossip.

The third was this - a really lovely meal out with my in-laws, so quite a small affair.

And finally, the fourth was with my family in London - a trip to the theatre to see The Mousetrap, followed by another fantastic meal.

So this is the first one to be scrapped, but I'm sure I'll get around to the rest in due course!

In other news, the kitchen is getting gradually closer to completion - still no sink, but we may actually have a worktop and oven by the end of the day tomorrow.

Baby is starting to make me breathless going up the stairs and walking around - I assume because it is pressing on my diaphragm. I literally have to stop half way up to get my breath back - very embarassing. It's not that I'm particularly fit usually, but I definitely have better lung capacity than a sixty a day smoker. It's like getting a taste of what old age will be like!

To those ladies still waiting for their flowers, I plan on packing these up tonight, so hopefully will post at the weekend.