Bits and bobs

Well, I finished the Caera cowl, it knit up absolutely beautifully and I love how it looks, unfortunately I can't post a pic as I think the person due to receive it reads my blog. However, for all you ravelers, please feel free to peruse my pics here

I also, in a fit of sheer insanity, cast on something else, however, I believe it was a wiser choice of pattern... the dropstitch scarf, I have knitted it before, so I don't need to look at the pattern. Here's a sneak preview.



There was another pattern I wanted to knit and I checked the needle size required and I thought 3.75mm... no problem, I've got those needles. You see, a few years ago when I took up knitting, I bought about 30 sets of needles on ebay for £10 (in fact, it might have been more needles than that) and since then have completed my collection as I needed with bits and bobs, however, it seems that in all my knitting I have either never needed 3.75mm.... or I just made do with another size. So, I thought I would try out the new spectra flair acrylic tips from knit pro. They are much cheaper than the metal or wood tips which suits my 'bare minimum' price range. I ordered them a few days ago and was very happy when they arrived today... that's really fast delivery for me as they came from the UK.



I bought them at the ebay store of www.P2tog.com and I would happily recommend the shop to anyone as they were very efficient and well priced (items and postage).I can't wait to try them out!..... Oh yeah, and the little lady knitting card is a needle size conversion chart.

Last of all (then I will let you go) a while back I did a swap with a fabulous etsy shop. I received an email from Elizabeth, of Creations by Elizabeth, who was interested in a swap (involving nappies) so her end of the swap was these absolutely gorgeous fabric letters for Rafaela. We will put them on a little rail in her bedroom (once we have built her bedroom that is)


As you can see, there's a good reason as to why I don't get anything photographed these days!



Ok... I know I promised that would be it but just a quick not to say that I am having a sale on all my handpainted roving, just in case anyone is interested.

Found the uplink cable!

Well, I finally found my camera cable so I finally have recent pics of Rafaela available, so I thought it was time for a wee update on our girlie.

She's 10 months old now... can you believe it? As you can see, she quite literally gets into everything.


She loves to help mummy with the washing.


And she has this odd little habit of howling.... yes...like a little were-baby. I thought I would upload a video to demonstrate this curiosity.



We recently packed up her baby-walker and got out this little rocking horse.


This little Tri-ang rocking horse was mine when I was about her size.



It was a second hand tatty little horse with a plastic head which my dad bought for 50p (about 75 cents) and my mum thought 'oh no, what on earth is he going to do with that'. My dad cleaned it up, removed the broken plastic head, painted it, got an old piece of wood and sat one night carving the new head for my little horsie.


As you can see, Rafaela appreciates it as much as I do.


You may also have noticed we did manage to get our grass cut. Rafaela is in her element in the garden which is lovely, and in-between the dreadful storms we have had, we all spend time sitting in the garden enjoying the flowers and the weather.

So that's about it from this little chicken at the moment, I'll leave you with a photo of her contemplating the complexities of grass...

Well I'm here now and that's what counts!

Well I hadn't realised how long it had been since I updated my blog. I just got absolutely swamped. I apologise for falling off the grid, I hope you are all well, I'm going to catch up with you all soon.

So where was I....well, first of all, it was spring and we have an acre of land, that's a lot to plant and it take a good while to plant it all.

As you can see, we also need to trim our grass!!

I also had a lot of nappy/diaper orders on my etsy site, which I have been frantically sewing in the evenings after my little tot has gone to bed.

On top of this, I took on another job, a part time as a medic in another charity that run a home for the elderly. The job has a lot of work to set up systems initially, so I was a little run off my feet and exhausted. Though it's starting to get a little easier now that I have finished most of the set-up done.

Lastly, our little tootsie has mastered crawling and getting into things and it looks as though we are not far off walking, as she is already standing herself up against things and coasting along.

She's such a little monster, we have the most fabulous fun with her, she never stops moving from morning to night, she has so much personality, most days she doesn't nap and she's brimming with energy. She now has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth which, when she's not using them, she likes to grind them together. yuk!

So that's about where we are just now, hopefully I can get some more blogging done in the next little while. Can't promise it will have any knitting though...

Proper Pics

A photographer friend of ours recently came for a short visit to us in Romania. She took incredible photo's of the work my folks do and their day center and so we begged her to take a couple of pics of us too.

This is just a little post mainly for the benifit of friends and family who would like to see more pics of our growing little monster...

My girlie and her auntie

Checking out her toes...
Obsessed with the camera flash. She kept looking straight at it with this stunned look on her face.

Having a good giggle at mummy tickling her tummy


That's it for pics just now, though I added one on the side bar. She has bother her bottom teeth now and they are really sharp, I hope she doesn't work out how to bite me, though I think I am being a little over - optimistic.

Busy Busy and Broken down

Well, I have spent the best part of the last 3 weeks housebound. Our old, tired and irritating hunk of junk car played up for 3 weeks. We were paying for one trip into town with 2 days at the mechanic (who is very kind to us thankfully) we were repeatedly towed, rescued and picked up by various members of my family, until last friday when we decided it might be time to make a huge sacrifice and buy another car. No sooner had we decided this, than the car actually just gave up. So while the old car settled down for a long rest on the driveway, my sister picked us up to go look at some used cars. We finally settled with a VW Golf, diesel engine as it's more economical. We couldn't really afford it, but we also can't afford not to have a car as we live in a village and transport is crucial, including for my getting to work. So, we are very excited about it all, if not considerably poorer.

Frustrated days at home meant I could catch up on some things I had to get done, as well as having a little time left for knitting.

I finished my wee one's 'dress' but it looks like it will be a better top for a one year old than a dress for a 6 month old baby, so that's probably what it will be. The wool worked out beautifully for it, so pretty.




I have also been spinning....but not for myself. I have an order to spin 1000 yards of wool for someone on etsy. The shetland moorit tops are absolutely delicious...


This is the yarn spun and navajo plied (as per request)



It's really lovely, my hubby is jealous I am not knitting him a soft jumper (sweater for those of you picturing my husband in a dress).

My first nappy (diaper) order went down well, my client received them and was happy with them, which I am glad about. I have another little idea in the works that I am hoping to start selling soon.... will keep you posted.

So, that's pretty much it from this wee corner of the world for the time being. It's snowy still and cold so we can't start work on our garden yet but that's going to be a priority soon too. Rafaela is learning to crawl, she can get onto all fours, but she seems to start moving backwards when she does. She's still blowing her raspberries and has also progressed to sticking her tongue out too... which is embarassing in the quiet intervals at church.

National Raspberry Day

I thought I would brighten up your day with a little glimpse of what our girlie did all day long yesterday


Yup....all day long

Spinning, snow and snoozing

Well, I finally managed to get some pics of my latest spinning adventure. I won this lovely fiber in a giveaway on Phatfiber before christmas.

which has spun lovely colours

I was looking through my piles of pics and I thought I would post this...



One of my baby pics... followed by one of Rafaela


My wee girlie... she's much older than I was in my pic... in fact, I can hardly believe she is almost 5 months old now.I took this one of her last night while she snoozed on her daddy's arm... it amazes me how much she has grown.... she's so long!


And her favourite pastime is eating her fists...


We've had freezing fog, which is beautiful, but impossible to photgraph and then its started snowing again yesterday and hasn't stopped yet, but thankfully it's not been as cold and the pipes have not frozen again like they did before christmas.

The little girl and the lamb

Well, no further on the Baktus... so, sadly no knitting pics today. I should have some spinning pics but I got lazy and didnt get round to it.

However, this is not to say we havn't been busy. We butchered a lamb today.... we turned this....



into these ...


...manageable portions of lovely fresh lamb. We also made haggis, i miss haggis an awful lot and the only way to get it here really is to make it for yourself, so we did.

mixed meat and spice

and toasted oatmeal

which we then put into portion sized sausage links (rather than in the traditional sheep's stomach). I think that the mini-haggis dont look bad for an amateur.



My little girl was hitched in her little walker to keep her occupied while we worked. At one point I thought she seemed particularly quiet....



Yup.... she was sound asleep, with the musical keyboard and flashing lights going off... she just slept on....



I got video footage of her too, it made me laugh so much to see her.

Yikes.... it's New Year!

Well.... Happy new year, I hope 2010 brings new opportunities and lots of joy your way. Hopefully this one wont go by as quickly as 2009 did.

Lets catch up shall we....

The week and a half leading up to christmas saw us snowed in with temperatures of -19 C ....which is pretty cold. Outside looked like this



And driving looked like this....




.... yes that is ice on the inside of the window..... so we avoided going out unless it was absolutely necessary. This meant that I had a little time to do this....



Yes, you are looking at the finished nativity...."what nativity?" you may ask... well... when I started this blog, I shortly thereafter started a knitted nativity, which has been unfinished since. So, after 3 years and much nagging on my hubby's part, I have finished it, and we had it set up over christmas.

I also got some more gifts made....


heat bags for my grandmother



A fun little outing bag packed with goodies for Yasmina (fostered little sister who is 3)



And a patchwork tablecloth for my mum (sorry about hopeless upsidedown photo).

And we set up the christmas tree




We spent Christmas day with my folks and stayed there for a while. We got Rafaela a baby walked for her christmas.... she absolultely loves it, though she doesn't look impressed in the Photo

Finally, I'll share the joy I have over what my lovely Husband gave me for christmas. He says it's combined christmas and birthday (he hadnt given me anything for my birthday this year)

yup.... it's a .....


Spinning wheel...can you believe it? isn't it beautiful... I'm thrilled and I am also getting the hang of it now.... look...



close up....



that's my first spun and plied lot off the wheel... it's about 67m of thick yummy yarn.... it's so exciting. I have ordered 2 fleeces to prepare and spin.... I'm really enjoying myself.

So.... that's us all caught up, I do apologise for the silence but I am sure you all had enough to do with christmas and new year hope you all had as great a christmas as we did.