A finished project and a day out.

I finished the garter stitch cardigan on Friday.  I'm pleased with the result.

I think P looks rather gorgeous in it too...

It was a nice easy pattern using only garter stitch, and with one row of decreasing (making the eyelets for the ribbon to go through).  I used King Cole DK Smooth.  It is lovely to knit with, and although it's actually acrylic, it feels really light, and quite like bamboo.

Yesterday we had a trip to the Zoo with Husband, Small Ones, and Grandparents.  It was a lot of fun.  E was absolutely captivated by a little train which drove around the site, and paid it far more attention than he did the Lions, Zebras and Giraffes!

Al's parents bought a fabulous picnic, and during lunch time we (I say 'we', I really mean 'they'!) attempted a cryptic crossword.
It was an overcast and windy day, but kind of perfect for an outdoor day, as no one was worrying about trying to keep little ones out of the sun etc. - very different from the scorching heat of today! (Talking of that, does anyone have any tips for keeping a very grumpy baby cool in the heat? She does NOT want to go to sleep tonight!).

What a lovely way to spend a Saturday.

To finish, I'll give you a sneak peak of what wonders arrived in the post for me this week... Any guesses on the projects I am now starting?!

Have a lovely week.

C x

P.Y.O.

On Saturday, we had one of those wonderfully serendipitous days where we ended up doing some very lovely things.  We started off at a church hall in a nearby village, watching some electric trains whizz around mini tracks (not, until recently, my idea of fun for a Weekend morning, BUT, the look of sheer animation and joy on E's face made the whole thing a delight!), and on our way home, found ourselves driving past a sign for P.Y.O...The same look of animation now lit up my husband's face!

I'd not been to a Pick Your Own farm for years, and it was the perfect day for it on Saturday-  warm and sunny.  Glancing around the fields full of fruit and vegetables, you could forget that you were in rural Oxfordshire, and imagine for a moment that you were in Italy somewhere!

We spent a delightful half hour picking strawberries and peas, where E discovered the joy of eating fresh peas straight from the pod.  On our way to pay, I couldn't resist some freshly grown asparagus and a pot of mint either.

Strawberries aside, what would you make with these ingredients? I'll tell you next post what I decided on, but I'd love to have some other ideas...

I hope your week is going very well.  I might just jam the last of these strawberries, as I'm itching to give jam-making a go again...

C x

P.S. can I just say, nothing beats the taste of freshly picked strawberries! Wimbledon, eat your heart out!

A different pace.

Life is going along at rather a different pace at the moment.  In some ways it is incredibly busy- family life with two little ones is rather more hectic than with one! and in addition, we had E's second birthday to celebrate last week (I know that a 2 year old wouldn't have noticed if we'd let his birthday slip by without noticing it much, but I think I needed to make a big deal of it for my own sanity!).  So, on Saturday whilst E was having a morning with Grandparents, Al and I made a train cake...!

Admittedly the colours are a little unconventional and it lacks a certain finesse, but we were quite pleased with our efforts 1 week post-natal, and E loved it!

Thinking back to how I felt a week post-natal last time, it is a totally different ball game the second time round (helped immeasurably by a speedy birth!) as it was a rather tiring feat to host a little tea party, but fun was had by everyone, and E's 2nd birthday did not slip by unnoticed!

As well as going by in a bustle, life is also passing at rather a relaxed pace at the moment- I rather love having my Husband off work- E loves the constant opportunity to play and draw with him, and I enjoy the company and the help around the house.  A lot of my days are currently spent feeding P at the moment- something which I am having to learn how to do on-the-move whilst helping to supervise E!  I might not get started today on the wonders of breastfeeding, as I'm sure I'll not be able to stop, but, suffice to say I am a true devotee.  E fed happily until he was about 20 months or so, and the benefits are so many fold.  The thing I notice most though, is that there is really inadequate support for women who desperately want to feed, and the fact that life is so much less community-centred means that people who'd previously be learning from older and wiser women who went through it all before are now trying to navigate it on their own!

Luckily in Oxford we are immensely rich in breastfeeding support and help with the Baby Cafe in locations all over the city Monday-Friday, and a clinic in the hospital for 2 days a week too.  If you (or someone you know is in the situation of wanting to feed, but struggling to, then I urge you to check out their website as they are in locations all over the country!).  Two other amazing resources are the fabulous book "The food of love" by Kate Evans, and the website Kellymom!  Right.  Enough said for now!

So, yesterday I mastered the art of knitting whilst feeding!  Admittedly it was a little slow, but still, it felt nice to be doing something crafty at the same time! (Obviously she's not actually feeding in the picture below!)

Other lovely slow paced things I've been enjoying are Tea and Crosswords with Al...

... And being very blessed by several weeks of wonderful meals-on-wheels provided on the post-natal meal rota that people do at my church!

Our wonderful dinner tonight, cooked by Vicki!

I hope you are having a lovely week.

C x

While I'm waiting...

So. Whilst waiting for The Arrival, I have been keeping busy.

As mentioned a few weeks back, I went to a local garden centre, and one of the things I bought was 2 packets of seeds...

We always used to get Sprouting Alfalfa in our organic box (back when we still got one) and so I decided to do some at home.  Today I enjoyed eating some of it with some left-over filled pasta and some avocado. Yum.

I also planted some of the lavender seeds into a little pot which is on my kitchen windowsill.  As I have confessed before, I am totally addicted to the smell of lavender, so I was very excited to see some little seedlings springing up through the earth, and, even though I knew it was ridiculous, I couldn't resist having a little sniff just in case they smelt of lavender already! (they didn't!).

Although it's not strictly crafty, another thing I have done A LOT recently is build train tracks with E!  My husband is much more accomplished than I am in this respect, but today I was quite pleased by my efforts...

I stumbled across another fabulous blog recently- this time by the super-knitter Catherine.  It's full of inspiring knitting, so do pop across to say hello!  Having read her latest post, I couldn't help but pre-order the new Debbie Bliss knitting book- The Ultimate Book of Baby Knits.  I can't wait to get going on it!

It was another day of fabulous weather here today, and as the shadows were being cast later on in the afternoon, I couldn't resist taking a less conventional "bump-photo" for posterity!

Have a good evening.

C x

Take three, and lots of tractors and trains.

These past few weeks Elyseé has decided that he really rather likes colouring.  For some reason this particularly delights me, and it's lots of fun cooking dinner with him colouring (or telling me what to draw) in the kitchen with me.  At first there were quite a few flowers and butterflies, but now we're pretty much down to Tractors and Trains most of the time.

So, the knitting-in-the-round saga continues, but I am determined I shall get there eventually.  After doing about 14 rows of lace pattern down the sleeves, I discovered that I seemed to have been decreasing (quite evenly) row by row - or at least every other row! Quite how I was doing this remains a mystery, but I'd imagine it was as I finished off a round, I missed out on a Yarn Over instruction or something.  I was tempted to leave this, but decided this would annoy me whenever she wears her cardigan.  So. Another laborious unpicking and re-knitting session ensued.  It is particularly difficult to evenly pick up all of the stitches a) in lace knitting generally and b) in the round! Still.  I am now counting my stitches every row, and have done 12 rows without decreasing.  I have however noticed a small area rows and rows back where it doesn't look quite right, but I don't think I can cope with redoing that one again!

Hopefully one day I'll finish the sleeve!  It's Saturday night, and Al and I are both fairly exhausted, so a film, a spot of knitting (for me!) and a good night's sleep is in order I think.

Enjoy your Sunday.