And so you're back from Outer Space

But man, those last few light-years seemed to take forever, didn't they? Yes, I am still alive, although I have been sucked into a mouse-wheel of routine since I've been back at work that doesn't leave a lot of time or energy for my poor blog.

A blog is a lot like a garden - you've got to tend it, water it, weed it, keep an eye out for pests and other icky things, plan for it, make time for it. Although I do love the *idea* of gardening, sadly I tend to just whack seedlings in the ground and leave them to fend for themselves. My blog has clearly suffered similarly. I think about it often, just don't get around to getting down and dirty with it as often as I should.

So in no particular order, here are some recent happenings from the Kitchen Table:

1. I have quite a number of FOs to blog. There has been a big push to get things finished for the Canberra Show (I handed them over this morning). I'll give them all their moment in the sun shortly (promise!). There are a couple of items that belong in the Long Lacy Summer too - even though it's almost over!


2. Spinning class went really well. The teacher's method of plying and I didn't get along, and I'll have to find my own way with that, but I did wind up with this:

I was much happier with the spun singles than with the plied yarn, but I'll be working on that. Perhaps using a different plying method.

3. Work is bearable. The first few weeks were very slow, but my line manager returned at the start of February and immediately found lots of things for me to do. (My sometime-manager doesn't really know how to handle me. I probably don't help him out as much as I should with that). So I am kept really busy, which is good.

4. Princess Grace has settled in fabulously well to childcare. It helps (both of us!) that I go in and feed her once a day. She is growing like a weed, putting on stacks of weight. She's quite pudgy now! After languishing in her size 000 clothes for moths, she's almost out of the next size up (00) after only a couple of months. At weigh in on Thursday, she was 6915 g, and is tracking very nicely along a percentile, instead of resolutely crossing them as she was a few months ago.

She is busily trying to crawl, and so spends much of her time like this:


until she tires and face-plants, at which point someone has to pick her up. Repeat, every few minutes!

5. Pirate Jim is busy being 3-and-a-half. Which means he seems to spend every waking moment driving me crazy with frustration. I so hope 4 is better than 3. Please tell me this is true.

6. In amongst it all, there has been some crafting. In addition to the knitting and crocheting, there has been some sewing. I was stoked to find that the fat-eighths my favourite fabric store had out at 5 for $10 were wide enough for bibs from this pattern:

Very funky Princess wear!

And that is all I have the energy to report for now. Here's hoping it's not another 6 weeks until my next post.

Day Two: It's oh so quiet....

I have to admit I'm at a bit of a loose end. I'm the only person in the house. Just me, all alone. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't have a million things to do, it's just that I don't want to really start anything because I keep expecting childcare to call.

The plan, you see, is that I go to the centre around lunchtime to feed (nurse) the Princess; they'll call me when she wakes up from her late-morning sleep. She was going down to sleep when I left her at 8:45 this morning, and I expected the call about 1230 or so. Except it's nearly 2:00 and they haven't called!

Yep, my phone is still working. Just called it from the landline to check.

I raced out this morning to the supermarket - how novel, to do a week's shop entirely unfettered by little people! - and a couple of other errands, then raced home again by 11:30. I was afraid I'd get The Call in the checkout line at the supermarket, or some other place where I couldn't just grab my keys and walk out.

But now I've been killing time at home, waiting, not wanting to start anything in case I have to leave. I've got cooking to do, sewing projects, major clearing out of cupboards, phone calls to Government departments to make. All things that can't really be abandoned instantly. Instead, I've caught on some blog reading (Bloglines had 450+ posts when I opened it, I am dreadfully behind), and I've got the cricket on the telly (in the middle of the day! Naughty!).

Yep, phone still working.

I'm happy, because this means Gracie has slept and eaten lunch. Otherwise I'd have been summoned ages ago.

Looks like there's nothing else for it - I think I might just have to sit on the couch and watch the cricket and wait. Some crochet might just accidentally fall into my hands.

How nice is this quiet though?

Wooooosh!

The sound of 2008 rushing by and receeding into the past. It seems to have flown; it feels like just weeks ago that the Department I work for took up residence in our new building (January 08), we moved to our new house (April), Princess Grace was born (June)....she's six months old already, where did it go??

And now, with the new year, a new phase is about to begin for us. Tomorrow the Princess has her first day at childcare. I can't even begin to describe my feelings at this event - my brain and stomach are both churning. PJ loves it there, and can't wait to go back and see his mates. But he's 3 and a half - the Princess is just 6 months old. Yes, he did start childcare at 4 and a half months, but the circumstances were somewhat different.

This week is practice week - I don't start back at work until next week. We've been practicing giving her expressed milk in a cup a couple of times a day, and she's taken to it really well (and Beloved loves the special calm time feeding her too). I hate sitting there watching her drink while expressing away with the electric pump. And I know I'll hate sitting in a closed room at work expressing as well. I'll still visit her for one feed a day, but still....enough of that. I'm sure we will all adjust, and everyone will be fine.

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you enjoyed yourself, however you chose to celebrate. We had a lovely break at my parents' home over Christmas and an equally lovely time schlepping around home these last days.

I am such a doofus at the mosaic maker thingy, so sorry, no captions!

There's been lots of reviewing of 2008 and looking forward to 2009. I've got nothing much to show for 2008, in a crafting sense, unlike some people I know. (And that's only the handful of blogs I've caught up on today - I'm scared to see more examples of outstanding productiveness that will make me feel terribly unorganised and slack!). And I'm not quite ready to look forward yet (let me get through this week and next).

I've got one or two little FOs to share to finish off the old year, but they're for future posts. Yes, I know I've said that before, but I promise I will share!

In the meantime, my knitting calls. I've got a rather big deadline looming (that's for another post too), so I need to get some serious time with the sticks.

May 2009 bring joy, peace, happiness and all good thing to your house.

G x

Just dropping in....

Once again the days and weeks have flown past and I have failed to keep my resolve to blog more regularly.

I have been busily making ready for the silly season, crafting, baking, wrapping, socialising and enjoying what remains of my time at home. I am now officially finished my maternity leave, and on rec leave until January 12th. I am sad, but trying not to dwell on it too much.

Tomorrow we head off down the highway to my parents' home, where we will celebrate Christmas. PJ is beside himself with excitement, both at the prospect of a visit from the man in the red suit, and a whole week of playtime with his Grandpa.

The Princess, well she's not so sure what all the fuss is about, and she's not too keen on that beard either.

The good news is that she has been putting on weight, 350g in 3-and-a-half weeks, and is no longer falling off the bottom of the charts. She's started "solids" and is vacuuming up all manner of mushy things. Especially yoghurt!

No, I do not feed her through the nose. It just looks that way.

But I really just wanted to drop by and wish everyone, near and far, a very Happy Christmas if you celebrate, and warmest Season's Greetings if you do something different. Travel safely (if you are travelling) and enjoy the time with your loved ones. You're in my thoughts and my heart.

G x

From his Sunday best to his Wednesday worst

How to begin.....a confession perhaps? Forgive me, it's been 24 days since my last post.....

It's not that there's been a lack of activity Chez Kitchen Table - quite the contrary. But I have put myself on a little internet diet, trying to savour the last days and weeks of my maternity leave. I think it's working, because it's 8:05pm and I've just turned on the computer for the first time today to write this post. Normally I turn it on on the way from the bedroom to the kitchen to rendezvous with the teapot first thing in the morning.

A few things have been going on, so here are some random (love the random) points.

1. As alluded to above, my maternity leave it nearly over. I'm due back at work on December 15th, just TWO WEEKS away. To say I feel quite unsettled would possibly be understatement of the year. Childcare for the Princess doesn't begin until the new year though, so I'm taking more leave until January 12th. That gives me a week to settle her into childcare and get our feeding routine sorted out.

One of the perks of the Public Service is that I am entitled to the very glamorously named "lactation breaks" to go the the centre and feed her, or to express. I hope to do a combination of both - go and feed her once a day and express however many more times is needed.

I went into the office last week for a meeting about my return to work, and it was made quite clear I wouldn't be getting any projects of my own. One of the downsides of those afore-mentioned perks, and working for a group of middle-aged men with teenage or adult children, is that I obviously have to prove myself all over again, while dealing with my emotions about returning to work and continuing to breastfeed my 6 month old daughter.

Looking forward to January. Not.

2. As I said, lack of blogging does not signify lack of activity. Today, for example, I kicked off the Christmas baking season with the first batch of biscuits and two plum puddings, dyed, dried and skeined 200g of yarn, did the menu for next week (in which Beloved is away and Nana is visiting), cleaned up the living room three times, and the kitchen twice, fed the Princess 5 times, picked a kilogram of mulberries (it turns out we have a tree in the backyard!), put away 2 loads of washing, made lunch and dinner, bathed both kids and read several stories to PJ.

3. There has been mucho crafting. I've got several knitted FOs to blog, several more things on the needles and I've been continuing to sew up a storm. Almost finished (and to be blogged - all in good time my pretties) is my first Softie. It is for the Princess for Christmas and I love it. PJ saw it and immediately wanted one of his own.

Although I haven't taken the Handmade Pledge due to lack of time and confidence, I've got a few things on the go. The kids will each be getting something handmade, and gifts for friends will be handmade too.

4. This internet diet. I have been reading blogs every few days (keeping Bloglines closed when the computer is on is a good way to cut down the computer kilojoules), but obviously I haven't been commenting. Or emailing. If I owe you and email, I really do apologise; I think of you all the time and I promise I do love you and care! Part of my To Do list every week is a list of emails to write. I think I've crossed off two names in the last three weeks. Please don't abandon me just yet.

One of the upsides of returning to work (I'm taking all the upsides I can get) is that I get to spend 8 hours in front of the computer. I will get back into online life then.

5. The Princess is growing! I say this with some excitement because despite being almost in the 90th percentile when she was born, she had dropped to 10th percentile at 3 months and was only putting on about 80g a month. I nearly slapped the Maternal and Child Health nurse when the first thing she said was "You should try giving her formula". A baby who sleeps 10 hours straight, who puts herself to sleep several times a day with barely a whimper, and who is happy and calm and alert and engaged for her waking hours is NOT HUNGRY and it made me furious that the first thing they think of is to give formula to a happily breast-feeding baby. Her next suggestion was that I WAKE UP in the middle of the night to feed my otherwise sleeping baby. Not doing that either, sister. The Princess has since started waking for an early-a.m. feed, but entirely of her own accord.

So when we weighed in last week and had gained 250g for the month, so we are now tracking along a percentile instead of crossing it, I was really happy. And she's finally into the next size clothes! We are off to the paediatrician this week just to rule out any underlying cause for her slow weight gain, but I'm really not terribly concerned.

Is this a starving baby?What I am concerned about is that this nurse is advising first-time mothers, who are probably anxious and uncertain when they face issues like slow weight gain, and take what the MACH nurses say as gospel. Your baby is low on the charts, therfore she isnt getting enough food and it must be a problem with your supply, or with you in some other way. Grrrr.

And no, I've no idea where that red hair comes from!! She's quite the strawberry blonde.

So, that's enough then. I don't pretend to be caught up; hopefully that will come soon. I also don't pretend that I'll suddenly become a super-commenter and timely emailer (at least not until January!), but be assured that I'm lurking about and you're often in my thoughts.

G xo

Day 31: Love Fridays!

There are several reasons to love Friday this week.

Friday is my day for hanging out with Pirate Jim. As regular readers would know, sometimes it's desperately trying and exhausting, but many days, it's good fun and exhausting. Today was Good Fun. We made lanterns and monsters from empty toilet rolls, went scuba diving in the lounge room. When the Princess and I got tired we could sit on the couch-beach with PJ told about all the under-sea things he could see. We did some other secret-squirrel crafting for an imminent birthday that I will show you later, we had a stress-free trip to the shops (shame about all the boofheads and morons who were also at the shops), we watched Playschool, which has thankfully overtaken the Wiggles as PJ's favourite viewing and we read stories.

It was a fun Friday.

I love Friday because I'm going to cast on something new tonight after finishing the birthday jumper. I've no idea what, but it will be something that's not a pink-striped jumper!

And I love Friday because today is the end of Blogtoberfest - and I made it! I didn't think I would there for a while, but here we are, 31st of October and 31 posts!

I haven't got to visit nearly as many blogs as I would have liked - I'm barely keeping up with my regular reads - but I have discovered some fabulous new blogs that I will be dropping in on regularly (in an ideal world!).

I also feel like I've got some of my blogging mojo back, after a dire few months where I felt all dried up and without inspiration. I almost certainly wont be blogging every day from here, but I've got some momentum and feel like I can find the blogginess in the everyday once again.

I must extend a huge thankyou to Bigcat for dreaming up and hosting Blogtoberfest, she's done a brilliant job. Thanks too, to others who have held my hand for part or all of the way.

Now, if it's OK with you, I may just not blog for a couple of days, and knit instead!

Day 28: I just want your extra time and your list

I mentioned the other day that I've started making a list of meal options for the week. I loves me a good list.



The plan is (and there's always a plan!) that it will make shopping easier, make deciding what to cook every evening easier, mean I have all the necessary ingredients to hand, and reduce waste. I'm a shocker for buying things on a whim then letting them rot or go off in the fridge because I don't have a plan for them.

I've even got a dedicated notebook where I make the list, and then make a note of how the meal went afterwards. Beloved is always saying "That was great - we should have it again" and then I forget about it and we never do! So I hope this is a way of keeping track.

Each Sunday, I sit down with a couple of magazines or recipe books, and a cup of tea, and browse through them to choose a few recipes to try for the week. Then I add a few sure-fire favourites, and make sure there is a variation of "chicken and rice" included. This is PJ's favourite, so it's essential for household harmony.

Then I check the ingredient lists and add anything I need to the shopping list for Monday morning.

This week's list includes:

• Lemon baked chicken with couscous


• Vegetarian chili with brown rice


• Chicken stir-fry with rice


• Tacos


• BBQ - sausages, flat mushrooms and corn on the cob with salad

It has been slightly complicated by the partial-breakdown of our fridge on the weekend. Freezer Roulette will now feature highly as I try to use up stuff that has been lurking in there. A container of unidentifiable something, which turned out to be bolognese sauce, will now be tonight's dinner.

I'll report back on the success or otherwise of the new system!

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I've been a bit slack with the Blogtoberfest Inspiration Word. The word for Wednesday, from page 1511, is opinion.

Day 24: One Good Thing

Because some days, especially on a Friday, I need One Good Thing to hold close at the end of the day. In a day of what feels like many crappy things, when my nerves are frayed to a single quivering strand that threatens to go "ping" any second, One Good Thing makes me take a deep breath and know that I can do it all again tomorrow instead of running from the house, screaming.

Today, it was finding this little guy before the home-grown lettuce leaves made it on to our dinner plates.

And watching PJ watching him-her (because snails are hermaphrodites) cruise over his hand and a clear plastic lid before releasing her-him back to the wild.

OK, so that's two good things. Bonus.

Day 22: Random Wednesday

I'm struggling a bit today. So here are a few random happenings from Chez KitchenTable.

1. Today was week 2 of Swimming Class. PJ was once again brilliant - engaged and responsive, and happy to be there. I remembered to take knitting, so got and extra 45 minutes of knitting time today. Given that I usually get about 1 to 1.5 hours a day right now, this is Worth Noting.

2. The Princess has started waking up at 5am. Before that sometimes. Anything with a 4 as the first number does not count as morning in my book. That's still Middle of the Night. And not going back to sleep after a feed. So we are taking long morning walks so the rest of the house can sleep. Although I know these walks are good for me, and it's really lovely to watch the sunrise, and the Princess certainly enjoys them....well, I do rather wish she'd go back to sleeping until 6 am. But given that she has been sleeping through the night, from 730 pm til 5 am, for the last 6 weeks, I really can't complain. Not many babies start sleeping through at 8 weeks old.

3. I had to take the Princess for some blood tests yesterday. I have a thyroid condition, and it needs to followed up with her in case she develops the same thing. PJ had to have bloods done at 3 and 6 months too. It is one of the most awful things I have ever done, holding my baby down while a stranger sticks a needle in her arm. But the techs were great and got a vein first go, and she stopped screaming a short while later. I was still shaky a couple of hours later though.

4. We had a lovely weekend, with two couples, who are very old friends, from Kangaroo Island visiting. Lots of eating, a fabulous day at the National Botanic Gardens with a picnic lunch, eating on the deck in the sunshine, going for walks. One of the women, S, is a keen quilter and sometime knitter, so we had lots to talk about, much to everyone else's amusement. I love such visits and miss the friends very much - we would see each other several times a week when we all lived in Darwin. I think a holiday to Kangaroo Island is on the cards for next year.

5. I have been trying to be more organised by making a list of meals for the coming week and writing my shopping list to make sure I have everything on hand to make said meals. Not rocket science, and I've done it before, but fell out of the habit. So far it's working well. On the menu for this week are such culinary delights as chicken schnitzels and steamed vegies, lamb filo scrolls, tuna and corn fritters with fresh salsa, butter chicken with rice and farfelle with bacon and peas. I'm even keeping the lists in a bound notebook so I can look over meals from previous weeks and see what was good (and tantrum-free). See - organised!

6. My knitting continues apace (albeit a snail's pace) on the deadline gift knit that should have been finished last week. One sleeve and the neck to do, and the sewing in of about a trillion ends (it's stripey and I'm stupid for choosing that pattern!). I will post pics and details once it has been gifted. And then there's the Back-to-School vest to finish off (I'm up to splitting the front and back) and some lace to get started on! Not to mention entries for the Canberra Show in February next year. I'm determined to enter several items, and at least one of crochet. Oh yes, I've started crocheting again...but I'll save that for another post I think.

I'm afraid that's as thrilling as it gets around here right now. I'm retiring to the couch to get a decent whack of sleeve #2 of the deadline gift knit done.

Day 21: Desko Fever

There is a groovy weekly game played by lots of crafty blogs that I read called "On my desk", hosted by kootoyoo. I love seeing little glimpses of everyone's crafty inspirations and projects, watching the glimpses turn into wonderful creations, but I'm much to shy to play along.

D'you think this could be why?

My desk, 2pm today.

I think "shambles" is generously understating the reality of my desk. I long to be organised and inspired, to have a desk like other people. I'm organised on the inside, but sadly it never seems to manifest on the outside.

PJ likes to come and play while I'm on the computer, and he's as bad at cleaning up after himself as I am. The last few days my desk has been his construction site, and you can see his roller, bulldozer, trucks, racing car and workmen. Oh, and a forklift.

There's also my diaries - yes, two, one for the desk and one for the handbag - Bendy shadecards (I may have bought some yarn recently - wanna make something of it?), the cutest owly quilt pattern I bought the other day, 4 different USB cables and three separate piles of filing. No one can call me unorganised when I've got three piles for my filing.

There's also a notebook where I've started jotting down important stuff, like phone calls with government agencies, lists of things to do and what patterns I intend to make with yarn purchases. I was writing those on scrap paper, but for some reason I kept misplacing them.

Turn 90 degrees to the left and this is what's beside my desk.

Beloved allocated me a whole bookcase for what he very nicely calls "my things", but what is really all my crap, so I don't leave it in piles throughout the rest of the house. I'm still getting used to that system.

There are numerous bags of yarn - the most recent purchases - and fabric, my pattern folders, and a box of...wait...oh, look, more yarn! No, this is not the stash, this is just the customs lounge where new arrivals await processing.

Today I finally got jack of the whole debacle and spent 2 hours tidying my desk. A generous contribution to the recycling bin was made, and I even did some filing. I'm down to one pile, yay me!

Tomorrow I will tackle the bookcase.

And then Thursday - the WORLD! Mwhahahha....

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The Blogtoberfest Inspiration Word for Wednesday is habit. I'm starting to wonder if PJ can actually read....

Dear Teacher.....

Please excuse Georgie from posting anything intelligent or worthwhile on her blog tonight. As you know, she has really good intentions, and signed up to Blogtoberfest in good faith, but after today she just doesn't feel she can deliver. Even with me here to help her out while Beloved is away for work, it's been a difficult day.

If the Pirate was asleep at his usual time of 7:30, instead of still bouncing in and out of bed like a jack-in-the-box for the last 90 minutes, then maybe she could have come up with something interesting.

If the Princess hadn't had an hour-long screaming session that started at the precise moment dinner was placed in the table, then maybe she would be in a position to string a few words together.

If she hadn't spent most of the day walking around the Plaza with me, waiting while I tried on clothes, trying to get the self-serve checkout at the LargeLetter store to work, patiently following me around the supermarket, and taking me to the yarn store (ok, ok, I didn't say it was all hard work!!), she might be in some sort of state to sit upright at the computer.

If she hadn't been woken three times in the night by the Princess, then four times by the Pirate before he finally climbed into bed with her and then took 95% of the available space while she clung to the remaining 5% and shared it with the cat, perhaps she might be able to relate an interesting anecdote about her day.

And I haven't mentioned the other tantrums, tidying, bathing, cooking and wrangling that has taken place today. Or the six, 45-minute breastfeeds that she's delivered since 6am.

So I'd appreciate it if you excuse her for tonight. I'm sure she'll be back at her best tomorrow night.

Yours,
Georgie's Mum.

Nothing much

That's what happened today - not much at all.

Rain overnight, an early visit to the markets, friends whom we havent seen in about 5 years for a bbq lunch, kids tearing around the backyard (it stopped raining), cleaning up afterwards, leftovers for dinner and collapsing on the couch with a Hitchcock film on the teev, a cup of tea and knitting in my lap....

So, instead, just a quick piccie of the wee ones taken yesterday.

Can you spell "irony"?

For a whole lot of reasons, I have been very quiet on the blog front lately ("Really Georgie? No!" How kind of you to say so....).

Since being at home on maternity leave with the Princess, I find if I sit down in front of the computer, hours just get sucked away, I do an email or two, read some blogs, do a little Ravelry-ing, and the whole day is gone.

I have lots of goals for my leave, not the least of which is to enjoy my special time with the Princess (but never doubt I have a massive, multi-layered list of Things to Do), and unfortunately being on the computer excludes every thing else. I don't think sitting on my lap watching the screen counts as suitable stimulation for a 3-month-old.

I have made a conscious effort to reduce my screen-time. I don't want to find whole days have been sucked out my week by faffing about the internets. I don't want to find it's January, I'm heading back to work, the Princess is 6 months old and I've done nothing of consequence with this very important time. I am very privileged to have significant maternity leave in a country where many women are forced to go back to work after just 6 weeks (and many don't even get any remuneration for those 6 weeks), and I feel obliged not to fritter it away on frivolous things.

It's spring here in Canberra, and I want to enjoy being outdoors with the Princess and Pirate Jim. I would like to achieve some long-standing goals around the home, such as decluttering and re-organising all the stuff we have. I want to have more than an hour a day to spend on knitting. I want to get back to sewing, and crocheting, and spinning, I cant do that from in front of the computer.

As a consequence I have dropped out of the blogging habit, and although I try and read them, I comment much less often on other blogs. I still read, but I just observe, don't participate as much. I have been an appalling correspondent of late, and am dreadfully behind in returning emails.

But I miss it. I have decided that, rather than feel guilty about my screen time, I need to be more disciplined, give myself discrete windows of usage time, and not stray from that.

So ironically, rather than step further back from blogging, I will step up instead, and take on a challenge. Blogtoberfest has started over on Big Cat's Emporium, and I'm signing up. There's no pressure, just the challenge of posting every day. I'm a day late, but better late than never, I say!

Bring it on! Now, I'm just off to check Rav, and my email, and the weather in Belgrade....

It's oh so quiet.....

Shhhhh. Please. I'm savouring the quiet. The lack of bustle. Being the only person in the house (well, almost).

Our Germans guests (all 5 of them) departed Friday morning, giving us just enough time to wash (some of) the sheets and towels, vacuum up all the dried play-doh (that stuff gets everywhere) and re-stock the fridge before the arrival of dear old friends from our Darwin days.

B & C now live on Kangaroo Island, along way from Canberra, and we see them terribly rarely. But they were in the area (visiting relatives about 200kms away), so they "dropped in" for a few days. It was a fabulous visit, reminding me how much fun we had in the "good old days" and how I wish we could see them more often.

But in the true style of old friends, it was as if we'd seen each other just last week. We had a lovely couple of days, eating out, meandering around the National Gallery, endless cups of tea.

They left us this morning, and now I'm revelling in the emptiness of the house, and have taken my time feeding and cuddling the Princess, thinking about all the other things I need to do.

Tomorrow.

Shhhh.

A very special post

I'm still here.

I contemplated taking Rosered's suggestion to save my 100th post for the arrival of the bump (who's ready for the live streaming?? Kidding!!), but an opportunity to good to pass up has presented itself.

What nicer way to mark one's 100th blog post than with a celebration of the kindness and generosity of knitters, crocheters and bloggers?

I have commented before on the joy and acceptance I have found with the Canberra SnBers. Ive been going for a bit more than a year now, and look forward to the regular gatherings so I can catch up with those whom I now regard as friends, ooh and aah over everyone's projects, paw through new books and pat new yarn and meet new folk. I was introduced to blogging, and a whole new world (literally!) of blog-friends, through SnB.

On Tuesday evening, at one of the regular gatherings, I was reminded once again of the importance SnB and blogging now has in my life.

I was presented with the most gorgeous, thoughtful, generous gift for the bump.I cant do it justice with any single photo, but you get the idea: a blanket made from squares knitted and crocheted by a raft of SnBers and bloggers, sewn together and edged in crochet.

I'm not sure if it was evident, but I was quite speechless and overwhelmed that this has been going on behind the scenes for so long and with so much enthusiasm!

I love it - both because it is so lovely and snuggly and perfect for the Bump, but also because it represents all the things I love about being part of the SnB and blogging communities.

I would like to thank everyone involved, both local and remote: a special one to Beth Bynnag for organising, coordinating, sewing up and edging, and to all the contributors: Jejune, Othlon, Kuka, Taphophile, Happy Spider, Quilting Mick, Silkydoll, Luckycat, Twitchy Fingers, Rosered, Tinkingbell, Monnsqueak, Olivia, kms, Bells, and the bloggless Jacqui and Krissy.

So finally my 100th post (you were so right Bells! June - and only just!) and Im so glad I had the opportunity to make it about something special. Since the Bump Sweepstakes is still going, I think there will a random celebratory competition sometime down the track.

Thank you all, more than you can possibly know.

G x

p.s. The Bump Sweepstakes are still open, of course, but enough with the middle-of-the-night predictions already! Please!

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ETA: It had to happen, It nagged at me when I wrote the list, and I thought "I bet I'll forget someone".

And I did: Caffeine Faerie, Im so very sorry!! It wasn't on purpose, I promise!

On the move, and desperately seeking...

Today we pick up the keys to our new house and start moving. We have been packing and cleaning and moving furniture downstairs (with the very welcome help of Bells and Sean on the weekend - thankyou!). My Dad is coming up today for a few days to help Beloved actually relocate stuff.

So now the telly is sitting on a box covered with a sarong and we are playing freezer roulette for dinner and reminiscing about we were students and this was standard practice! All we need is the bricks-and-planks bookcase to complete the look.

Of course moving house means moving phone and internet connections, so we'll be offline for the next few days. Not that I've been particularly communicative the last weeks (sorry if I owe you an email! I still love you, honest!), but at least I could be found if needed. I'll check back in when we're all hooked up again.

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I also have a request. My non-blogging, non-Ravelrying friend, Dr Fe, is desperately seeking a discontinued yarn. Its for a Zoe Mellor pattern (fair isle cardi - Rav link) that she'd like to knit for her daughter, Little Miss M. I thought I'd throw the request out there and see if anyone has a ball lurking at the bottom of the stash. Hell, even part of a ball might do it - its for part of the the pattern, not the main colour.

She's after just one ball of Rowan Cotton Glace in the colour Bud (800). It seems to be as rare as hen's teeth. If you can help Dr Fe out, please let me know.

Alternatively, if you can suggest a substitute (that will knit up fine in fair isle in combo with the Cotton Glace - she has all the other colourways for the pattern), please let me know too! It seems to be on of those annoyingly unique yarns - not quite a 5ply, listed as DK in yarndex....

Thanks!

See you on the other side of packing box hell.....

All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey

We are finally waving goodbye to summer in these parts, and although this year has been lovely and mild (only a handful of days over 35oC), I'm not going to miss it. I was feeling the heat as the bump grew, and its nice to snuggle under the doona again. The trees on our (soon-to-be-former) street are starting to turn colour and we've even had a little rain.

My lack of blogging can't be written off by disaster or tragedy - it has been simply due to lack of time and anything interesting to blog about.

But there has been knitting. A commission for my colleague G (who either admires my handknits or uses it as a way to shut me up about knitting!) as a gift for his partner's birthday next month.

G wanted some socks. After much discussion, and cruising of Ravelry, he decided on embossed leaves (sorry, Rav link) from 25 Favorite Socks, using The Knittery's cashmere-merino sock yarn in Merlot.

This yarn was just a dream to knit with, and they came up beautifully. It was very hard to give them up. Sorry about the dodgy photo though; little fingers smeared the camera lens and the light has been tricky this week. It doesn't do them justice (even if I do say so myself).

Egads, its worse than I thought. Trust me, they're pretty!

Yarn: Knittery merino-cashmere in Merlot (link above)

Sticks: 2.75mm knitpicks dpns

Mods: Several. Remedial sock knitter here, don't forget. I didn't follow the first two lines of the pattern; I just used my usual cable cast on and then did 20 rows of twisted rib. I also had to make them a bit longer to fir the recipient's foot, so did an extra half pattern rep (rows 9-16), then did a usual flat unpatterned toe shaping and grafted toe (instead of the slight patterning as stated). Oh, and an eye-of-partridge heel too. Just to make myself feel clever!

I really can't take credit for these socks coming out so well; the pattern is really straight forward and I enjoyed knitting them. But I must thank Bells and RoseRed for holding my hand when I got all angsty and needy over the changes.

In other news:

The bump is growing. All is well.

We may have finally found a house to move into to. Its not yet 100% certain, so please keep up the sacrifices to the goddess.

PJ and Beloved are both recovered from the chocolate-induced comas of Easter. Am I a bad mum if I steal the easter eggs out of PJ's basket while he's searching for more eggs, to hide them again and keep the fun going?