 April 30, 2004
Sew glad its Friday
I've been working on some sewing stuff this week, I made a couple of bags using Mariko's excellent Tote101 instructions.
This is the first one and its for me! The outside is a plain cream canvas type material and the lining is this lovely plaid fabric that I picked up from IKEA. Its actually a pair of curtains, each measuring about 2 metres wide by 4 metres long. I paid £5 for it and decided that it wasn't destined for curtains. You'll be seeing more of this fabric, trust me! The tote is just about big enough to hold my laptop which was my intention when I started. I dont like the massive laptop bags that they give out at work, they tend to weigh more than the laptop itself. I may use this one if I ever have to carry my laptop anywhere otherwise it will be a knitting project bag or general storage.
Next is this pinky / orangey tye dye bag which measures about 10 inches square. I used the same fabric for the lining and the outer in this one because I liked it so much! I may let Brooke have this one if shs is inclined.. I'm also going to use this material to make some PJ bottoms for myself. I have so much of this (about 8 metres) and everyone I've ever met apart from me thinks it is awful. So, PJ pants it is! Unless I'm feeling really mean then I may make curtains out of it! hee hee hee
Posted by Kerrie at 07:10 AM
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April 29, 2004
Lace / Koigu blocking help needed
I've been feeling a bit under the weather recently and spent the last few days snuggled on the sofa knitting and sleeping a lot. I'm still not back to what passes for normal these days and on top of wondering how I'm ever going to get rid of this sinus headache without taking ANY DRUGS AT ALL I'm worried about the Koigu baby shawl / blanket type thing. I was planning on using 4 skeins on this, I'm now close to finishing my 3rd skein and look how long and skinny the Koigu monster is!
Do you like the way the first skein was mainly greens, the second had lots of turquoise and now the third is pretty green again? Totally unblocked and lying flat it now measures 13 inches by 40 inches. Compare that with the 21 inches by 32 inches that the Neige blanket turned out to be and I'm wondering whether I'm going to get this to anywhere near the same size. The problem is I've never knitted lace before and this is my first time knitting with Koigu. Although I know the theory that it will block wider and probably shorter I have no idea by how much. Does anyone out there have any advice as to whether this is likely to block out to be something in the region of 20 inches wide? This will mean gaining about 50% of its width, I don't mind if it loses some of the length, I'm expecting it to get a little shorter. Am I on the right track or totally off beat? Its not crucial how wide / long the shawl is but I just want something that will look right. Does that make sense? I wouldn't mind if it didn't lose as much length, its the width that I'm more concerned about. I'd happilly knit another skein into this but what I don't want is something that is long and skinny. That's no use for a baby blanket / shawl type thing. So what do you experts think? One more skein or try and block it to size now?
Posted by Kerrie at 06:56 AM
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April 28, 2004
More Phildar fillies...
So the front / back of the ribby vest is finished. I left all the stitches on the needle for the following reasons : - so that I can decide at the end of the back / front which colour to use for the icord straps that I have in mind. Either one of each colour or both in a singe colour depending on how much yarn I have left. - I may decide to make this the back and have the 2nd piece higher as the front. I'm basing the pattern on a Phildar pattern that calls for 3mm needles and finer gauge yarn than I'm using and that also only goes up to 2 years. So I think I have the measurements right but I want to try it on her before before binding off. This is the completed front / back along with a picture of the original pattern. I may try and find a little applique motif for the front, Brooke still loves the butterfly on her lacy sweater. For some unkown reason last night I decided to try and cast on with the slipperiest yarn in the world. I undid the skein (I notice they are selling it in a less difficult to manage format now!) and made the mistake of walking away and leaving it with Brooke for a few minutes. Not realising that she would try and "help" by wrapping it into a ball for me. Suddenly I've lost all interest in this project!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:24 AM
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April 27, 2004
Its Annouk time..
Just because I haven't got enough projects on the needles at the moment (!!) I've been tempted to join the Annouk along that Julia has organised.
Its a gorgeous pattern (designed by the talented Kate Gilbert) and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw the latest Knitty. I figure I have at least a 50% chance of having a girl - right? If I end up with a boy I'm pretty sure I will be able to find a tiny girl to donate it to. I seem to have enough Rowan Cotton Glace in my stash to make this with, I've heard that the original pima tencel yarn used in the pattern is to die for but I'm determined not to buy any if I can use stash yarn. Gold star for me please!
Posted by Kerrie at 09:22 AM
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April 26, 2004
Springing into spring
After being motivated by seeing Leigh's progres on Saturday I picked up speed on Brooke's ribby tank yesterday.
I'm using leftover Phildar falaise in pink and orange stripes and working 10 rows in 2x2 rib before changing to the next colour. I think I need one or two more stripe sets before shaping the armholes so I'm getting there. I'd forgotten how much fun falaise is to work with, all springy and bouncy. This ribby tank sure is flying off the needles, it was a fun way to spend the sunny weekend we had over here. I also worked a little on the Koigu wave and shell, I finished the 2nd skein of yarn but it doesn't look much different from last week so no new photos there.
Posted by Kerrie at 09:13 PM
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April 24, 2004
I want to be Leigh!
I know, I know. I should be knitting away on Brooke's ribbed tank as my contribution to the Brooke and Becky knitalong. Leigh has nearly finished the first side of her tank and it is looking gorgeous. Must. Make. An. Effort. Instead though I may just make one of these needle holders that Leigh designed. Cute isn't it? I'm sure I have stash yarn that is crying out to become a needle holder. Don't you?
Posted by Kerrie at 03:59 PM
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April 23, 2004
Bit of progress
I took a half days holiday from work yesterday and had all these plans about what I was going to do. In the end I spent about 4 hours on the sofa watching TV and knitting. Lazy but good for me I think! I finished the Neige blanket, looking at it now I can see that the cast on edge was a little too tight but hey - its only a baby blanket. By the time it has been through the wash a few times it will be good as gold.. Brooke loves this blanket, I'm considering letting her have it instead of saving it for the baby. She spent last night snuggled up on the sofa underneath it, its a bit small but she curled up in a ball and then it covered MOST of her body! This really was a quick knit! The large gauge and simple stocking stitch meant that it only took about 2 hours per skein to knit up, 4 skeins and you have an 8 hour baby blankie (and you thought I was bad at maths!!) I used Phildar Neige yarn in 2 main colours with oddments of white to break them up. I hope this is going to be suitable for either boy or girl and its my first official completed baby item. Yay! It measures 21 inches across by 32 inches long. I also worked another pattern repeat on the Koigu shawl, just to remind you what it looks like here it is so far. I hadn't touched this for a while so it took me a while to get back into the pattern - a few rows were ripped before I got back into the swing of things. Here it is in all its koigu loveliness, I hope when it is blocked it will stretch to about the same width as Neige, give or take a little. I've only used 1.5 skeins of Koigu so far out of 5 that I originally planned for this project. I might see how far 3 skeins go, if I end up with something a similar size to Neige I'll be happy. Talking of Koigu, yes I did have to pay some import tax on that lovely parcel I received. It only worked out to be 11 pounds though so all in all it was still worth it, a total bargain. Some of the yarn is going towards a Big Bad Baby Blanket from the Stitch and Bitch book and some more is going to be a new design I've been thinking about for a while. There's going to be lots of Koigu being knit around here over the next few months...
Posted by Kerrie at 08:00 AM
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April 21, 2004
Koigu has landed!
Remember I said I ordered some Koigu grab bags from Patternworks? (which turned out to be discontinued later that same day!) Well my Koigu ship has landed and I'm really pleased with what I got. Now its confession time. I have been lulled into a sense of security that Wayne doesn't ever read here so I think its safe to be honest about how much yarn I bought. Especially as these boxes contain 95% of my knitting books, needles and other notions and the suitcase is one of 4 that are stuffed full of yarn. Yes, that's right - my stash has been well and truly packed. Don't worry - I still have a big box of yarn in the bottom of my wardrobe so I'll be knitting away through the summer. I think that having packed away all of that I should be entitled to buy a little more yarn don't you think? OK, a lot more! This is the Koigu explosion that happened at about 8am yesterday morning.
The 5 skeins down at the bottom are the only ones that were singles of particular colourways. All of the others are in sets of 2, 3 or 4 and mostly with matching dye lots, not bad! I do have plans for this yarn but if anyone is looking for a particular colour (especially of the odd skeins but also of the multiples) email me and I may well trade them with you. I'd hate to think that I had a colour that someone else was desperate for and I wasn't too fussed about! I've listed the numbers and dye lots in the MORE section below... Odds Pairs Threes Fours
Posted by Kerrie at 07:01 AM
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April 20, 2004
The fade, the fade!
OK - I promised you photos of Onde and here they are. This is the completed back all pinned out on my ironing board.
Do you see the fade? I love it. I'm so glad that I went up a size to make this, firstly because it meant I was left with this much yarn out of the skein and secondly because it doesn't look as massive as I thought it was going to be. I like clothes that are a little large on Brooke and I think this is going to be perfect for her. I'm a little worried about the blocking, this yarn has a high acrilyc content and is one of the curliest I've ever seen. Just look at how the back wanted to look before I pinned it. Curly, curly, curly!. The pattern called for 4 rows of garter stitch at the bottom, presumably to combat roll but I decided to work 6 instead. Still I don't think this is going to be enough as it was rolling all over the place as I knit up the back. I'm hoping that some good time pinned flat and wet to the ironing board will help. The tunic is not seamed at the sides until you get to the middle section, see where the first decreases are? If this makes the bottom all flaky I think I'll change that and see if I can get away with seaming all the way down. My hands are a little tired of the small gauge so its back to the fluffy Neige blankie for a while. I might even be able to have that finished by the weekend so then I could get back to Onde with a vengence. I really enjoyed knitting with this and watching the fade, its like magic!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:55 AM
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April 19, 2004
Just because..
Because I forgot to upload pictures of the knitting I did at the weekend (finished the first side of Onde tunic - woo hoo)..... Because I'm tired and grumpy this morning and can't think of anything witty to say..... Because I have a million things to do at work today which mean no time to possibly get creative and write something here later.... I decided to do what Alison and Carolyn told me to! 1. Grab the nearest book. "They made their way along the Trastevere waterfront at speed then took a left turn onto the tuny island that sat in the middle of the river." This is "A season for the dead" by David Hewson. Its pretty good so far. I promise you more enthusiasm and interesting content tomorrow, how about a photo of a finished Onde tunic back?
Posted by Kerrie at 07:37 AM
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April 16, 2004
Read the pattern, I tell you!
Why will I never learn? Especially when knitting from French patterns, read the pattern, read it again and then read it one more time for luck before even attempting to cast on - OK? I dont translate French patterns to English before knitting them, I just knit from the French. Combine this with not reading the pattern properly and that's why I had to rip out 6 inches of Onde tunic the other day. :( I was making age 4 for Brooke based on the fact that she is nearly 4, sounds logical right? Then I went back and read the beginning of the pattern where it reminded you to use one skein of Onde for the front and a different one for the back so that your gradient of fade would be the same. Makes sense. Until you see that 1 skein of Onde will make a side of a tunic going up to 10 years old! (the 8 and 10 years sizes suggest you use white to finish if you start to run out.) OK, so that means my 4 year old size won't anywhere near use up a whole skein, so does that mean it won't fade nicely? I want the fade. I love the fade. That was the whole reason of joining Bonne Marie's Onde Along and using this yarn in the first place. Sulk sulk. So I decided to rip it out and start again making the age 6 tunic. I know it will be too big for her now but she'll get lots of wear out of it this way (in theory as the sizes are only offered in even numbres its age 6 -7 so she should get 3 summers out of it!) and at least I will see more of the fade. Before ripping I was loving the yarn! Now I'm back to only having completed a few inches but its looking lovely don't you think?
Posted by Kerrie at 07:19 AM
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April 15, 2004
Goodies
Look what arrived in the mail from Katrina yesterday! I was a good mum and let Brooke open her own parcel but I couldn't resist opening peanut's one, this is the first gift peanut has received so he / she was very excited. I laughed out loud when I saw what was printed on the front of the little vest / bodysuit - how perfect is this?
Thanks Katrina, that was really kind of you! Brooke also loved her pink princess T shirt but fell asleep before I could snap a photo of her in it.. In other news, our house is now on the market! If anyone wants to buy a 2 bedroom, mid terraced house in East London / Essex - just let me know.. We're in a great area, short walk / bus ride to train station, 20 minutes into London Liverpool st. Great neighbours, lots of local shops etc. Can you tell I love living here? This has been our home for the last 4 years but has now officially become too small for us. (if it wasn't for my yarn stash and this next baby on the way I think we'd stay here forever!) So we've taken the plunge and put it on the market and we're now subject to huge numbers of strangers walking through every weekend... The hardest thing is having to keep tidy all the time! I packed up 3/4 of my stash and just about every knitting book I own and put them into storage along with our millions of CDs, DVDs and books that we love but dont have the time or storage space for. Our rooms now look very organised, neat and tidy which is something of a shock to us all! Finally - does anyone have any idea how to make a bird feeder from an empty milk carton? This was an idea that Brooke's school had earlier on this year, each week the kids would bring in something from home to use in crafts lessons. Week number 1 was bring in an empty milk carton and we'll make a bird feeder. To cut a long story short Brooke was the only one in her class to take one in while all the other parents complained that the school should be supplying craft materials etc and it never happened. Recently Brooke has been going on and on about making her bird feeder and grabbed an empty milk carton that I was about to throw away so that we could make one at the weekend. Help anyone? (I googled and found this one but was really looking for one with plastic milk bottle type carton rather than card one. However, this will do if I cant find anything else!)
Posted by Kerrie at 08:55 AM
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April 14, 2004
Copacabana
Read on for tales of a whole lot of finishing! Good Friday I spent probably about an hour knitting the 2nd piece of the front of the cardigan. That night I spent nearly 2 hours weaving in ends, pressing and seaming. Saturday was reserved for closure. I had bought a piece of ribbon that matched the colours of the cardigan perfectly and my idea was to attach it to the front bands of the cardigan and all the way around the neckline to give me a firm edge to attach the hooks and eyes to. I picked a ribbon that was wire bound so that it would be firm enough to stay in place. I pinned it in place and then started to sew. I didn't buy a striped ribbon for any reason other than I liked it but it helped to keep it even when I aimed to have the orange stripe at the top of the wrong side seam all the way along. It took an hour to sew this into place and now that it is finished I'm happy with the way that it looks nice and neat. I tried to get a good closeup shot of it but failed, you'll have to squint at the ones of Brooke and imagine it!! Next was sewing in the hooks and eyes which took another hour as I kept having to take them off and put them back on again. Nightmare! I don't think I'll be attempting to put hooks and eyes in anything again in the near future! It was worth it in the end though. Especially as Brooke really likes it which as anyone will tell you is a big bonus. It is similar colours to the outfit she chose for herself the other day (see topbgirl blog for scary photo!) so she decided she would add it to the look next time. Gulp! As customary around here, more photos including the out-takes can be found below. This girl LOVES the camera!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:40 AM
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April 13, 2004
Neige blanket
We had a great Easter break, got so much done in the house and also managed to take trips to Bluewater shopping, Colchester zoo and many other places. It was 4 days of fun... In the middle of all that I managed to finish the Copacabana cardigan and boy - did that take some finishing! In the end I was so sick of all the fiddly bits that I picked up my favourite needles (bamboo 6.5mm) and some yummy soft yarn (Phildar Neige) and started work on a mindless stocking stitch baby blanket. Look how quickly it grew!
This measures 22 inches wide and at half way through 18 inches long. Good size for a snuggly warm baby blanket. I figured that the greenish and purple colours could be good for boy or girl and it seemed like an efficient way to use up the 2 skeins of each colour I have. The white are some oddments that I had left over from another project, I like the way the stripe looks. I'll try and get photos of finished Copa this evening so that I can share that tomorrow. It all depends on how my model is feeling though!
Posted by Kerrie at 07:02 AM
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April 08, 2004
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter from the chicks and bunnies! I decided to make a few goodie bags to give out at Easter, 3 in fact. Each one contains a chick and a bunny finger puppet, a little toy rabbit, some mini eggs and some Easter stickers. The 2 for older children also have rabbit shaped gingerbread cookies and an easter egg in them. I made the puppets by adapting my puppers pattern, they are such fun and only take about 30 minutes each to make. I also made an egg cozy chick for Brooke (she gets special treatment over the other 2 goodie bag recipients!) by making the fingerpuppet wider but yet the same length. I think they look pretty cute. Have a great Easter everyone. Don't eat too much chocolate, unless of course you are pregnant in which case its been scientifically proven to be good for the baby. Honestly. I linked to the article from topbananagirl. Go read for yourselves. See you all on Tuesday.
Posted by Kerrie at 08:06 AM
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April 07, 2004
When is an Easter Bonnet not an Easter bonnet?
When its an Easter tiara!!
Its not very conventional but Brooke loves it and we had loads of fun making it. It was really simple, no sewing involved just lots of sellotape, ribbons, a few little chicks and some flowers. Oh, and a plain Alice band that she had in her hair stuff box. We used the wire from the flower stems to wrap around the feet of the chicks to hold them in place then covered them with ribbon to get rid of sharp edges. Add a bow and a few hanging ribbons and hey presto - an Easter tiara. Brooke helped with wrapping the ribbons, holding those little chicks in place while I wrapped them with the flower wire, applying the sellotape (and not just where it was supposed to go either!) and tying the knots in the hanging ribbons, we had loads of fun. Of course she wanted posh hair to go with the tiara so I did some little plaits a couple of inches back on her head and left the back big and kind of curly. Too cute for words.. What else happened yesterday? Oh yes, I went shopping at Patternworks. They have Koigu grab bags on offer for $25 for 5 skeins. I couldn't resist a little (OK large) purchase. The UK / US exchange rate is so good at the moment it qualified as a bargain! Woo Hoo.. PS - have you been to Jenn's site today? She sized the Exotic tank up to adult size and it looks fantastic on her, go and check it out!
Posted by Kerrie at 08:44 AM
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April 06, 2004
Bits and Bobs
OK, now I'm happy. I saw this on Alison's site and had to give it a go.
That makes me feel good! What else is going on? Not much really. I did a lot of work on topbananagirl on Sunday afternoon and although I still have more to do its looking better than it was before. The copa cardigan is making good progress. I'm up to the armhole shaping on the first piece of the front and its looking good. I'm confused as to why Phildar has written the pattern with no facings for the zipper that they wanted you to put in. The nature of the stripes means that I have loose ends at both sides of the front piece which wouldn't make for a very neat edge to attach the zipper to. As I'm planning to use hooks and eyes for the fastening (froggy was right, its a lightweight summer cardi so no need for anything too serious) I still need to come up with something that will leave a nice neat edge. I'd like to have this finished by the weekend. Tonight is Easter Bonnet making night at our house. Brooke has an Easter parade tomorrow at nursery and the teachers asked for parents to help their children make Easter Bonnets to wear. You wouldn't believe the number of parents complaining about this to the nursery. Most of them were saying that they don't have time, don't know how, think it should be something the nursery does with the children. Hey all you non-crafty parents, bring your children round to our house tonight - I'll make them an Easter Bonnet. Its not like it has to be anything too posh (these are 3 and 4 year old children we're talking about here!) The angel princess Brooke decided she wanted a fairy's Easter Bonnet so that's my challenge. Photos tomorrow...
Posted by Kerrie at 09:44 AM
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April 05, 2004
I love Phildar...
Wow. That's all I have to say. The Phildar sales were HUGE amounts of fun, here's the schedule we stuck to on Saturday. 7am - leave home, drive to the coast (especially for Leigh here is a photo of the not so white cliffs of Dover. Taken from the car as it turned out to be too cloudy form the boat) I bought loads. Seriously. Counting the stuff for me, other people and some to sell I walked away with 64 skeins of yarn! Here's what I walked away with for myself :
That's the skein of Copa that I needed to finish the cardigan (the last one in the store in that colourway I might add!) 2 skeins of Plaisance which are destined for baby cardigan, 2 skeins of neige which are going to be a baby blanket, 2 skeins of Onde in purpley colour to make a tunic for Brooke and 1 Onde in white. Bit annoyed that the pattern called for the white skein, when I read it properly later it is only used to swatch. I'd have preferred to use one of the purple skeins for that and then rip it out! I didn't realise I had such a turqoisey colour scheme going until I got it all home... In addition to this I got 2 sealed packs of Copacabana (1 in naturel and 1 in Mangue which is a lovely red / pink colourway) and 2 sealed packs of Exotic (1 in Berlingtot, bright pinks and one in Ceylon, blues and greens) I'll be offering these for sale if anyone is interested, they'll be up on ebay by the end of the week so if you want to get hold of some now just drop me an email. It works out to be 6 dollars a skein plus postage... So when can I go back again?
Posted by Kerrie at 08:01 AM
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April 02, 2004
Spring sure has sprung
Since changing the clocks at the weekend it feels like a whole new season here. Even though it was a little rainy this morning it still feels like Spring, the light evenings, the wearing thinner jacket to work and the Spring Knitty is here. My favourite design has to be Alison's rosebud and the cover picture is too cute for words. Thanks for all the lovely baby wishes, I'm not going to start a whole new blog but I plan to revive topbananagirl over the next couple of weeks and will probably use that as a pregnancy / baby / kid blog.. Its all very exciting but a lot harder the 2nd time around than I was prepared for! Knitting wise I haven't picked up the needles properly for a couple of days. I'll be taking the ribby tank Leigh and I are starting for the Brooke and Becky knitalong to France with me tomorrow and plan to come back with bags of lovely Phildar yarn. Woo Hoo! Can't wait for that...
Posted by Kerrie at 09:11 AM
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April 01, 2004
Doh!
Doh! My pregnancy fuddled brain didn't realise that it was April Fools Day today, maybe I should have waited until tomorrow to post this - I've just been so excited to wait for the final scan to make sure everything was OK before coming clean. Ask Carolyn, Heidi, Bonne Marie or any of the other Chicago KIPs - they have seen the proof... (now I wish I had thought of a cool April Fools to play on you all...)
Posted by Kerrie at 10:20 AM
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Do you see what I see?
You'll never guess where Wayne and I went yesterday? Does this picture help at all....
That's me. And my stomach containing a small child currently known as peanut, tinier or "my baby" (that last one is from Brooke") We had our 3rd and final unltrasound yesterday. The first early scan one at 8 weeks was where the term peanut came from (have you seen an 8 week scan photo? Honestly, its a head shaped thing and a body shaped thing joined together into a peanut shaped thing.) The second scan at 12 weeks was where the tiny picture on the screen actually looked like a baby and the 21 week one yesterday was fantastic.. So, in light of the fantasticness (is that a real word?) of the scan, I decided to stop being such a worrywart and show you all the stomach that won't stop growin. For those of you who haven't already pulled out your diaries in an attempt to work out the date in 19 weeks time to see when baby number 2 will be with us, tinier is due to arrive the day after Brooke's 4th birthday. That's right, August is going to be one busy busy month for us. Brooke's birthday, new baby, dad's birthday, wedding anniversary and potential house move. You know me, I love to be busy! I could talk for hours about being pregnant - but I won't bore you now. Instead I'll save that for later! We don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl and we're not going to find out. Brooke on the other hand is convinced that its a girl and will fix you with the evil stare of doom if you dare to suggest otherwise... Could be interesting if we end up with a boy! So this is the reason for no Kerrie knits this year. It does mean that Brooke is getting spoiled and also that the new baby will be nicely kitted out by the time they arrive as well. I have only started a couple of baby projects, one is the green Koigu wave and shell shawl. Its going to be a baby shawl to wrap the precious one in on those chilly days. The other project in progress is the patchwork blanket that I started with no real purpose last year and now have a reason to finish. Baby clothes will come later. I think I may even wait until the summer to start those, I have so much else to work on for the next couple of months..
Posted by Kerrie at 09:15 AM
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