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

My best friend is a gentle giraffe

A couple of weeks ago, SweetP shared her list of what her three girls will get for Christmas. The list looked like this:

• something to play with
• something to share
• something to read
• something made by mum

Like many others, I am trying to not get caught up in the consumerism and pressure of the Silly Season. I love this list. Although I'm already a little beyond it (I've been stashing bits and pieces since the middle of the year), next year it will be game on.

In the spirit of the list, I have committed myself to making at least one thing for each of the kids. (Well, between you and me, I've been dying to make this for the Princess for ages, and christmas was just the justifcation for a blissful hour spent at my favourite fabric store buying the pattern and choosing fabric!)

Introducing Mrs Perkins*.

Doesnt she have the sweetest face?

She's made using this pattern from Melly & Me. They have lots of very lovely patterns for softies (and very funky bags - shame I can't muster the courage to finish the one I've got on the go!), but this one has always tugged at my heart-strings.

She was remarkably easy to make - about an hour to sew, then about the same to stuff! And a bit of fiddling to do the finishing. But I'm terribly pleased with her. PJ has been fascinated by the process, watching all the pieces come together, and has demanded a Mrs Perkins of his own. I have other plans for him though.

I hope the Princess likes her. They're about the same size! And if she doesn't well then I'm quite happy to give Mrs Perkins cuddles. When I'm not cuddling the Princess of course.

* Mrs Perkins is the name given to her by Melly & Me. I'd like her to be called something else but I'm not very good at thinking up witty or clever names - any suggestions??

Oh-no-Back-to-work Vest

I like to think that my internet diet has led to an increase in productivity in other areas of my life (efficiency dividend, anyone?), and I have a few FOs to post about to prove it.

Here's the first: my Oh-no-back-to-work Vest. Cos I don't wanna go back to work yet. Hopefully by the time its cool enough to wear it here I will be back in the swing of work.

Pattern: Back-to-school U-neck Vest from Fitted Knits. Easy to follow, logical construction (for me), and I even remembered to check the errata. There are a few for this pattern.

Yarn: Lincraft Balmoral Tweed, 5 balls. This is a weird yarn; the label has it at worsted weight, but it's quite thin. But it blooms really nicely when washed and blocked, and I made the correct tension with no worries. And the meterage is fabulous; I bought 10 balls thinking I'd need 8 and I used less than 5.

Needles: Knitpicks Options 4mm.

Size: 37" bust. I should probably have knit the next size up; I was a bit too hopeful about my potential for post-baby weight-loss. Possibly (hopefully!) by autumn next year both boobs and belly will be a little less....out there.

Mods: Just a couple: I added 5 cm (2") length to the bottom section. I like my tops quite long, and if I did it again I would add twice that. At least. I also did a three-needle cast off at the shoulders. Why seam them when I could do that?

Time taken: September 9th to November 18th 2008. There was a large break to knit the birthday jumper in there; all in all a fairly quick knit.

What I learned: how great knitting in the round is. Well, Miss M's birthday jumper was the first, but this has confirmed how easy and quick it is. This was my first use of bust darts, and they make such a difference to the finished garment.

What this really did for me was boost my knitting confidence. I'm becoming more intuitive in my knitting, I now have much a feel for how the garment goes together and what different parts of it do.

And I love the waffle stitch bodice!

Apart from the *ahem* firm fit, I am totally happy with this vest and I know I'll get lots of wear out of it.

Shame that's likely to be at the office. *sigh*

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

The answer is sewing in the wind

Phew, after Blogtoberfest I needed to have me a little lie down!

But it hasn't been all feet-up here at Chez Kitchen-Table. There has been crafting. Not so much knitting, but lots of sewing.

For some bizarre reason, I cannot justify in my mind sitting down and knitting during the day. There's some ancient hind-part of my brain that feels like it's wasted time, and I should be out in the fields or milking the cow or something.

Sewing, on the other hand, is a justifiable pursuit, as it involves moving between table, ironing board and machine, and is somehow more active than knitting. If i knit, I want to have the teev on, and that is a no-no for me during the day. The exception is when I'm feeding Grace and would otherwise be staring at the wall, since I can't knit - or sew - and feed her. Television during the day feels very lazy, passive perhaps. See Mum, you did have some influence!

But I digress.

Much of the sewing has been for gifts, so I can't reveal it yet.

But the first item was gifted on Monday, to Bec's newly-three-year-old Charlotte, so I can show you. And in the words of someone much more famous than me, I'm loving myself sick over it!

The hat is from Kwik Sew pattern 3079, and the bag was based on this tutorial. Of course I made it much harder for myself because I wanted the bag to be reversible, so it's a little gumby at the side-seams. The hat is also reversible, lined in the same plain purple cotton as the bag.

The birthday girl was pretty impressed - you can see the hat on the intended noggin here.

As for the other projects...all will be revealed in the fullness of time. And at the pleasure of Australia Post.

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!