Daily Drivel

Jubilee Tea and Playdate

Noemie had a Jubilee tea party/picnic at her school on the last day before half term on Thursday. They were all told to wear something red/blue/white to celebrate the Jubilee. I was at the mall the day before and found this cute little dress for Noemie to wear. It's a pretty popular dress though as one of her little classmates had it as well as someone in the year above her. She had a lovely time despite not liking her scone - she didn't like the cream that was in it - but was excited to be all dressed up and hanging out with her friends. 

She'll get to wear it again tomorrow as we're going to a street party at a friend's place. We're really looking forward to it as there'll be lots of fun activities for the kids, food and hopefully no rain. 

Half term started on Friday so we kicked out with a double playdate. Noemie's classmate M and her twin sister O came over to play for the day. O likes more boy type stuff so she kindly plays with Charlie while M and Noemie play girlie stuff together. I had bought a bunch of fun crafty kits, one of which was a pack of four pirate masks made from foam. They all decided to make one, some embellished theirs a bit to make it more girlie of course, and then they got dressed up in whatever we could find in Noemie's clothes and got ready to head out to their "ship" to dig for treasure. First though, they had to eat some lunch to prepare for the hardwork ahead. They found a ladder into someone's dining room and feasted on waffles with chocolate and strawberry syrup.

Still Alive!

It's been a while, again, but we're all doing well and keeping busy! In the last month or so, we've celebrated 4 birthdays (N, my Dad, me and my Mom). One of us had a big Hello Kitty themed birthday party. I've knitted a lot of stuff. I decluttered some major messes in the house and got rid of loads of stuff. Lots of playdates have taken place. Nana came by for a visit and to join in on Noemie's birthday celebrations. I got back into my dollhouse projects. K quit his job. We booked our summer holiday. I'm sure I've missed a few things, but those are the highlights. 

Loads of photos from her birthday but here are just two... 27 kids total and 2 amazing entertainers from Sharky & George who have so much energy I wish they would bottle it and sell it. The cake that I baked. It was MUCH easier than the one from last year so I wasn't up until 1am finishing it this time. It was done before 9pm. Tasted pretty good too if I do say so myself. It was chocolate on the inside with buttercream frosting. 

Here's a photo of my Dad and Charlie on my Dad's 76th birthday. No way does he look 76. Nana was here at the time and she made my Dad an apple pie, one of his favorites (mine too, but I had already eaten my entire pie the week prior). We went to the pub for lunch before my folks took Nana to the airport for her return trip to the US. I think I gave my Dad a sock. Yes, a single sock. I never manage to finish the pair before any gift giving occasion. Not to worry though, I managed a week later so he has the pair now though I doubt he's wearing them in the 90000million degree heat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first pair are the ones for my Dad. The next pair went to my Mom for Mother's Day. The last pair are mine. The ones for my Mom were knit using my own 3ply fingering weight handspun. The other two are self striping yarns from Hiwassee Creek Dyeworks.

Then I knit a zip up hooded vest for Charlie and once finished, realized it fit Noemie better. So for now, it's in her closet. In a year it'll be in his. I made it a bit longer than the pattern called for as Charlie's tall but I guess I made it a tad too long. Poor kid always misses out as I never get it right with his sizing! 

 

 

 

 

 

Nana was here. And it rained loads and loads during her visit. The kids had lots of puddle jumping opportunities which they took full advantage of. Nana did plenty of gardening for us which the kids enjoyed helping out with when they weren't too busy with their puddle jumping duties. Next time we see Nana will be this summer in the US. 

 

 

 

 

I think that's about it for now. Stay tuned for my next update next month ;)

 

Noemie Turns 5, Easter Break and the Plague

N turned 5 this past week yet I swear it feels like I was just uploading the photo of her turning 4 a few months ago. No party yet as it's the first weekend when the kids go back after Easter break. Nana flew in on her birthday though so there was great excitement all around. 

N has been on break for the past nearly 3 weeks. She spent the first few days in bed with a high temperature which made her do nothing but sleep. Then when she was just about over it, C came down with it for a few days and had a bad cough to go with it. Before he was even over it, I came down with it. And had it really bad. Near 40 degree temps for 3 days, medicine didn't really do much for me and I slept so much it was unreal. I can't remember the last time I was so sick and I hope it's not again for a very long time.

I think we're all just about better now though C and I have a residual cough. N had 4 days of swimming lessons this past week and managed to swim 20m on her own in back stroke. She's getting so much better at it so I'm glad we stuck with the lessons. 

Other than that we've done a lot of lazing about. I've cast on a few more projects, 4 socks at the same time to be precise. I had a lot of gorgeous yarns arrive with Nana and I can't seem to stop casting on everything. 

N goes back to school this week as does C. Have a few final touches to do for N's birthday party and then a cake to bake and perhaps some cookies. Got most of the other stuff done weeks ago so I wouldn't have to stress about it all at the last minute. It should be fun with about 28 kids I think. Glad we rent halls and stuff here as there is no way I'd have that many kids in my house! 

April Fools Day

It has to be for me to be blogging! I figured it was time once again, before my Dad (hi Dad!) starts nagging at me. 

Kirk got this cute photo of C while he was eating dinner tonight. His hair is getting long and he is such a goofball. He has to be THE happiest kid ever though, not to mention a non stop chatterbox. He's always on the go, always smiling, chats a mile a minute and is just always so upbeat. He's great fun to be around and has been my little fella that does everything with me. Lately we've been playing hours of Lego StarWars on the Xbox. Being bad parents, he played for probably 10 hours today. N was under the weather and slept most of the day so we all had a chilled day. Just so you know we're not all bad, when I came downstairs this morning C was sitting on the kitchen floor reading his phonics book and sound out letters. On his own. No joke. He tells me letters that he recognizes while we're out and about. And numbers.. oh boy, the numbers! He reads just about every single number he sees, on doors, license plates, anything. Either he's a genius or a freak. 

The kids have been having lots of sleepovers in each others rooms. Mainly in C's as his bed has sides so no one falls out of bed. C has a hard time getting up on N's bed as it's a trundle bed and then the other night he fell out before they even fell asleep. Some nights they fall asleep quickly, other nights it's really late and we sometimes have to send N back to her room so they both go to sleep. It's great they are so close though and love being with each other. Now we know why we had two kids: built in play friends!

N is having her break in between terms. Three whole weeks! C only gets 3 days but we'll give him more as it's only nursery and not like he's going to miss much by not going. The kids are both booked into craft club at N's school which they are both really excited about. Then N has some swimming the week after not to mention the excitement of her upcoming 5th birthday. 

I've been busy as usual with my knitting, yarn purchasing (was very naughty this month so am back to being good again for a while) and then with meeting up with friends, planning playdates for the kids and general house stuff. Started training again at the gym after taking a few months off and deciding I feel far better when I do train. Hopeful also to have my clothes fit better again!

Happy Mother's Day (UK) 2012

The kids decided we should celebrate Mother's Day today as they made cards for me at school/nursery. I'm hoping I get to celebrate again in May which is when I consider it to be Mother's Day. A friend of mine in Argentina has told me there Mother's Day is in October so I might aim for that one too.

Had a nice relaxing day and K cooked us a roast chicken dinner. He got flowers for the kids to give to me and when asked what they should say, N said "Happy Mother's Day". C on the other hand broke out in a rendition of "Happy Birthday". He always makes us laugh!

Have other photos to share so will try and remember to come back later this week. I seem to forget I even have a blog anymore but the urge to scrapbook has returned so with any luck I'll take more photos and blog more often in the coming months. I'm not promising anything though!

The reference in the video to R2D2 is as a result of K downloading Lego Starwars for the kids one of the games consoles. They've spent some time today trying to say R2D2 and C3P0 with very little result. It's been fun listening to their versions :)

Nearly Spring!

The weather has been so nice lately, totally warm enough to wear just a long sleeve shirt and a light sweatshirt. Unusually warm for this time of the year but I'm sure it'll get cold again soon. Perhaps it'll snow in August or something to make up for the early warmth. 

Here's N with a moustache, one from a collection that Nana bought for the kids while she was visit last month. C refuses to have anything to do with them but N was more than happy to pose for photos. I think she's going to be an actress one day as she's full of drama, can cry at a moments notice and likes to ham it up for the camera. 

C on the other hand is going to be a train driver or railroad engineer. He is OBSESSED with trains. He plays in his bedroom when he first wakes up. He watches videos on Youtube of other kids with their collections. He wants to look on ebay to see what's available. He plays before bedtime. And any other time in between. I've never seen so much focus from a kid like this considering N has a new passion every .5 seconds. I have to admit I've got a bit of the bug as I've been on ebay buying all the trains C doesn't have yet, along with discontinued accessories and then a bunch more tracks when we ran out the other day when building in the living room. Sadly our funiture gets in the way of what might be an even cooler track layout but I doubt K would be okay with me donating the furniture. So I guess we'll just need a bigger house with a spare room for track building. 

I've still been knitting and finished off another pair of socks for a gift, 2 things for our neighbor's kid's American Girl doll and now I'm knitting myself a shawl that is pretty  but might numbingly easy/boring, so I need to cast on a tougher project to keep myself interested. I'm also in the process of sorting out my scrapbook and dollhouse stash as I don't appear to be doing either. I would ideally like to do some pages for Charlie and then when I feel satisfied I've done the basics, I want to get rid of the rest of my stash entirely. Same with my dollhouse stuff. There's a few small projects I still would like to do, but I'd like to get rid of the rest. We need more storage space which is being used up by my various stashes which is just collecting dust. I'm thinking I'll do a massive ebay effort and then whatever doesn't go, I'll donate/give to friends, etc. Our house is overwhelmed and I think it's mostly my fault. 

I did my monthly yarn tally and I'm still doing alright:

Jan Yarn: 171,034yds

Feb Yarn: 151,656yds

19,378yds down. I've given up on the 5 out 1 in ratio as it was just setting myself up for failure. Instead I'm just hoping for a 25% decrease in stash by the end of this year. 

Time to do a few things before I take C to join N at a playdate with one of N's classmates and his little sister. Should be a good time and a nice way to finish off the week :)

I've been a knitting fiend

Here I am, back to blogging as my Dad gave me the routine "hassle" about how I've gotten really bad at updating this darn thing! So, I'll go with knitting progress for today. I might have more kid photos this week as it's half term and we've got playdates and fun thing lined up to keep everyone entertained :)

First up, I finished a pair of socks in four days. I LOVE them. Unfortunately they are a bit snug on me as it's the first time I've done an afterthought heel and I could've done with about 1/4" more of length in both the foot and the heel. I've made a note for next time. I might still wear there as they are not horribly small and I don't have enough of this yarn left to do another pair right away. Perhaps I'll have to order more. I got the yarn from Ladybug Fibers on Etsy. Awesome yarn, totally knits up a dream! And anyone who knows me will know these are my favorite colors all together and as it's probably not a very common favorite, it's hard to find sock yarn which gets it all right in one skein. 

Next up is a hat and a cowl, both knitted out of Malabrigo. The hat is the Hurricane Hat using  worsted weight yarn. It is really simple but knits up looking pretty cool. The cowl is Dolores Park Cowl which called for chunky yarn. A few simple increases and it's super warm. These were made as a gift for K's aunt who is going to unfortunately be undergoing chemo very soon. I am planning on at least another hat for her and perhaps some fingerless mitts. I just remember all too well how hard my Dad found it to stay warm during the time he was having chemo and he wore a hat even when indoors. It feels like something little I can do to try and make things a bit more bearable. 

Last but not least is a baby jacket knit up from some Malabrigo worsted weight yarn for Alice's soon to arrive baby girl. I already made a crochet blanket for her before she moved away last year but I've had this jacket in my Ravelry queue for a while and this was the perfect opportunity to knit it up! It's in a tiny size 0-3 months but with my wonky tension, it'll probably fit her when she's around 7 years old or something. I knit loose, lol. 

 

My yarn tallies are going along nicely. I have bought some stuff but am still within my 5 yards out 1 yarn in allowance.

Starting Yarn Yardage: 171,034 yards now 151,540

Starting Fiber in Stash: 25lbs approx now doing a bit worse. Oops.

Knitted so far: 707 yards now 1807

Destashed so far: 13,754 yards now 20,915

Allowance: 2,892 yards currently 1,158 yards

Current Yardage: 158,113 yards (8% decrease) now 151,540 (9% decrease from Jan 1)

So, at least my overall yardage decrease is headed in the right direction. I think I need to cancel my fibre clubs for the short term as there is no way I will ever get ahead and I see other fibres I want to try so I get them yet the fibre club stuff is still coming in. I can't have it both ways so I think I'm going to go for being able to choose fibre/colors myself rather than having them chosen for me. I can always rejoin later on if I miss them. 

I better get back to knitting!

 

Need more hours in a day and more days in a week!

Honestly, times goes by so fast and we're so busy it seems that I stop to check my blog and it's been a lot longer than I can remember, lol! This photo was taken this morning with the kids wrapped up in blankets on the couch. Both of them have a cold so are a bit clingy and extra cuddly this weekend. Poor K has thrown out his back and can barely walk or move so I've been extra busy. I'm also babysitting the next door neighbor's dog as they have gone away for the weekend. I love their dog as she is super sweet but this weekend has confirmed that I never want to own a dog. At least not in the next 10 years until the kids are old enough to take care of it or at least share care of it. Walks 4x a day, constant need for attention, having to pick up poo... it's worse than having another baby and we all know I don't do well with babies. I do feel awful though as the dog is in it's crate when I am not over there as she's not shall we say a well trained dog. She is housebroken but she would probably destroy the house if left to her own devices. I was over there for a while with N yesterday but I've got to be at my own house as well so into the crate the dog goes. That's another reason I couldn't have a dog... too much hassle to have to be home to walk it, etc. A cat is an awesome low maintenance pet. I must show our cat more appreciation from now on, not just for not being a dog but for being easy.

This past week has been full of activities. Both kids are in school a lot but I have C at home in the mornings with me. We went pottery painting on Wednesday, swimming on Friday morning, N didn't have swimming this week so we moved stuff around in her bedroom instead and played a lot. She and C both had a playdate on Friday after school which was a lot of fun. One of N's classmates came home with her after school and then a little while later the Mom brought over her son who is 6 months younger than C and they played well together as did N and her friend. So us Moms got our own playdate as well! I went up to N. London on Thursday afternoon to a charity knitting thing at an old friend's house which was great fun. She has a Chinese friend who made the most delicious dumplings so we all got to eat loads in celebration of Chinese New Years. I also had a gym training session that morning, had a bunch of people over for lunch so it was a full day for sure. On Tuesday I met up with my usual knitty friend and we had a good chat, lunch and got some knitting done. Always a highlight of my week to see her. Other than that it's the usual housework, boring laundry, food deliveries and trying to stay on top of the clutter piles that form around our house with very little effort. I've pretty much given up on having a super tidy house though so I am able to sit and knit with all the chaos around me.

This week will be another one filled with plenty to do. So chances are there won't be another update for a while. Now it's time to get back to a knitting project before I go back out to walk the dog again and then it's lunch and a bit of tidying up. Hopefully K will be back to walking like a non 80 year old before long. Poor guy.  

The Great Yarn/Fiber Diet 2012 and Another Finished Item

I managed to finish another project this month. It's a little shawl/scarf for N's teacher as it's her birthday tomorrow and N asked me to make something. The thing with making lacey shawls for non knitters is that when it comes time for them wash it, chances are they won't be able to block it properly so all the detail will get lost. I chose this pattern as it's super easy to block... just soak, remove water with a towel and then lay flat and shape and leave to dry. I used this pattern which was free and then used some Madeline Tosh Pashmina which is a Sport Weight yarn in a 75% Merino/15% silk/10% Cashmere blend. It was gorgeous to knit with and luckily I have 2 more skeins so I might do a pair of gloves for myself or something!

So, this year I've decided I need to cut back on my yarn and fiber purchasing and actually do what I can to use up/sell/give away as much as possible. In order to do this I had some friends come over to help me with photographing and inventory-ing all my yarns and fibers so I know what I'm starting with and then I'll keep a spreadsheet through the year to track my progress and will update here at the end of each month. I know I can't/won't/shouldn't have to go without any new yarn/fiber this year but I've set myself a goal of 5 yards out 1 yard in. So for every 5 yards I knit I get to bring in a yard. With fibers, when I spin something up, I won't count the yardage in from the yarn made, instead it will count as ounces out, and then when I knit it up, it will count as yardage out again. Otherwise, there's no real incentive/benefit to spin anything. 

Here are my starting numbers:

Starting Yarn Yardage: 171,034 yards

Starting Fiber in Stash: 25lbs approx

Knitted so far: 707 yards

Destashed so far: 13,754 yards

Allowance: 2,892 yards

Purchased (yarn for Kirk's Xmas 2012 sweater!): 1,540

Remaining Allowance: 1,352

Current Yardage: 158,113 yards (8% decrease)

I'm not counting my one sock club yarn against my allowance although I'd probably be fine even if I did. I am in 3 fiber clubs at the moment so might have to drop at least one, if not two, unless I start spinning a lot more. We'll see! 

 

 

 

How easily a week goes by!

Here's another photo taken in the US in December. Noemie wearing her favorite Hello Kitty on her dress and Charlie looking all motorcycle dude in his faux leather jacket. I found both at H&M... a store I generally don't like for adult clothing as it's so cheaply made but for kids stuff is great! 

Noemie has gone back to school and is still enjoying it which is great. She starts swimming at school this term and also takes lessons at our gym one day after school so hopefully she'll gain more confidence in the water. 

We had a new nanny start this past week working two days a week with us. I've been spending a ton more time with the kids and while it's tiring, it's a lot of fun now that they are older! It's been wonderful having help during the harder years of have two kids close in age but now that they're little people in their own right, I'm glad not to have as much help. I'm even feeling like two days a week is too much and I'm considering trying to find someone that just does a few hours here and there. I've got a person in mind so I'll meet her this week as the other nanny is still in her trial period. She is nice but I'm not sure she's the right match for us. 

Charlie's new big boy furniture arrived this past week so Kirk is putting it all together. Our house is a bigger tip than usual with all his bedroom stuff all over the place. I still need to make space in a wardrobe for my new clothes purchased in the US. I have sorted out my yarn stash with the help of some knitty friends and have destashed quite a bit as well. I'll do a blog entry once a month just for me to keep track of what I have, what I use, what I sell, and what I bring in. I'd like to see the total yardage number go way down by the end of this year!

Better go help Kirk with the furniture. Lunch with the neighbors today as it's the little boy's birthday, then coffee with a friend in the afternoon and then some major tidying up at home. Yet another busy week ahead as well!