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.

Wool washing

Well, the fleece finally arrived and i got to work washing it...


After a few baths it looked like this


Amazing isnt it... just dishwashing soap makes such a huge difference. So now i am carding my way through it and starting to spin it bit by bit, its lovely.

The other thing that arrived was this...

An exceptionally kind gift from Rani... she even put in some Reeses christmas bells... they only just made it into the picture. I feel utterly spoiled. It's really hard to even get woolen yarn here and we dont get any handpainted....at all... its lovely and I'm really excited about what i can knit with it. These skeins however....

Are destined to become a little dress for Rafaela. I think I will do the 'liitle sister dress' with it.
I can't wait to cast on... but my 3mm needles are still busy with this....

I hope to have it finished over the weekend. Hope you all have a great weekend!

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.

Flu and festivities

Well, I have been so ill the last week that I barely did anything. What I did manage to complete was the nappy order I have on my new Etsy shop... 12 waterproof pocket Nappies. They have a layer of waterproof nylon in the back of the pocket to stop leaks and the buyer wanted them with an extra bit of elastic accross the back of them and velcro closures... so... here's a peek if you are interested...




The other thing I have acheived is to finish the back of a new cardigan that I have started, this is a pic from the very beginning...



The wool I used was not the very pricey Kidsilk Aura that the pattern calls for, I bought a mohair 70%/acrylic 30% wool from a shop here. Not only was I amazed to find anything with a content of mohair or wool in it, but the price also amazed me, it was about 1$ per 50g ball. It's a lovely colour too, so i a really pleased.

I might as well round off with a pic of the wee girl... this is Rafaela with my mother-in-law, the cafe we are in dates back to the year 1200 when the Ottoman Empire reached into Romania.

Ribbons, buttons and visitors

Well, we are enjoying a visit from my mother in law atm, who has come all the way from Australia to see the newest addition to our family. She's really enjoying spending time with her new granddaughter and is even knitting her a little outfit to grow into.



she knits so fast it was hard to get a pic



I took part in a ribbons and buttons swap and i dutifully sent off my partner a pretty package and was surprised at how quickly my own package arrived. look at these lovely buttons and printed ribbons

So thats mostly it for now, except that i have opened a new etsy shop, which I am still in the process of filling. For those of you curious... The Moody Cow

More mess and car trouble

Well, the other day the weather picked up and we went out in the car to town. We were driving on the country road to town when we decided to stop a little while in the grass, it was so pretty. So, I pulled the car over onto what I thought was grass... however, apparently the barrier was knocked down and was lying invisibly in the grass... I could tell from the crunching grinding sound that followed.... I had gotten lodged on the broken barrier and killed the tire.... impressive huh???

So this is my hubby changing the tire on our old girl...



While Rafaela and I admired the scenery...

...and played at 'driving the car'


We did finally get her moving again.... see... pic of the pretty road to prove it



Thank you for the suggestions to nap instead of blogging...I have a guilty secret to admit though, my baby sleeps all through the night and I don't need to nap... shocking isn't it! In fact, ironically enough, she ONLY sleeps at night...which lead to last nights 'white night', which I pulled in order to get peace to make more mess...



Which eventually resulted in these....


Mission accomplished! These are the finished product modeled by our little madam....


Such a lovely fit, i really like them.

Lastly, I had a fabulous parcel arrive this week, the lovely wool and lace magazine that Marie sent me from her going to paris giveaway....



Gorgeous lambs pride worsted.....Now I just have to find a perfect project for it

water water everywhere....

Ok, well not everywhere exactly....



You may wonder why I am proudly displaying a photo of what appears to be a kitchen sink on my blog...well.. it is a kitchen sink. We've lived here since the start of the year. When we first moved in we had no running water at all and no indoor toilet..... we've come a long way since then (in stages) and the last stage was completed on sunday night. We now have running hot and cold water in the bathroom and the kitchen. WOO HOO!!

This means we no longer have to boil water on the wood stove which makes bathtime easier and a lot more fun (for mummy)



Our wee girl is growing rediculously quickly...she's 7 weeks old now and is 62 cm long and believe it or not, she's cutting her first tooth.... I can't even believe it... its far too early to deal with teeth


I made baby hand and footprints with her,

I didnt want to press too hard, so they are just enough indentation to feel them and see them and I made them into decorative tins I had saved from soap and bath salts so they look pretty for her.

I have managed to do a little crochet... I'm making a scarf...


And, I'm also making a mess....

This is my 'process'....I'm making some nappies...I have a few different kinds of nappies, but I wanted to just add a couple of covers that will dry quickly (made from fleecy fabric).

So that's us more or less caught up, sorry the blogging is a little erratic... I seem to only get to blog when it's the middle of the night and the milk monster is sleeping. Ok... I'm off to enjoy a hot shower...yey!!