Looked after, family, and getting better.

1) I’ve been unwell over the last few days – “just a virus”, but it’s left me pretty weak and exhausted, and suffering from brain fog.Β  And, of course, this is the week when K is away the whole week with work.

This morning, I was woken by A and M bringing me a beautiful Get Well Soon card that they had made together when they woke up. I was then instructed to stay in bed, where breakfast was brought to me. Then they told me that they would walk to school on their own, so that I didn’t have to leave the house. How awesome are they?Β  I’m just so incredibly proud of them both πŸ™‚ .

2) Mum and Dad picked up the kids after school and took them to their house, and they were delivered home to me after dinner by my brother. Thank you all very much!

2) After another day of doing not very much (but I did finish knitting my mystery knitting project shawl – it’s being blocked now!), by evening I realise that I have slightly more energy than I did earlier. I’m cautiously optimistic that I’m turning the corner and am on the mend…

Mandarin, good friends, and time flies.

1) With sponsorship from the Confucius Institute, M’s class have been learning to speak some Mandarin. They will also be performing a couple of songs at a concert in a couple of weeks time.

The other morning I discovered that M has obviously teaching A some of the words – as they got ready for school, I had the joy of listening to the pair of them singing together in Mandarin!

2) Friends came to visit last night. It was lovely to catch up and spend time together, but even more because they know us well, and love us anyway. Neither of us were feeling completely well and we both found ourselves struggling to concentrate, but it was all okay πŸ™‚ .

3) I really wasn’t looking forward to going bag-packing today, but we needed all hands on deck and, as Chair of the committee, I felt compelled to lead by example. I was pleased to discover that the experience wasn’t as bad as I expected, and the time flew by!!

Photocopier, helpful, and sleep-walker

1) To find out that the photocopier was able to copy both sides, and had a stapling function – before I started creating the eighty-two four page, double-sided booklets!

2) A has been exceptionally helpful today – not just doing his regular chores, but noticing other things which need to be done, and just quietly doing them. Very proud of my boy πŸ™‚ .

3) As I was writing, a small purple (yes, she’s moved on from pink!) person appeared in the doorway. Not a word did she speak, just stumbled across the room, curled up on my lap, and cuddled in. We had a nice cuddle, and now Daddy has carried her back to bed.

Back, new project, and independence.

1) The restoration of some semblance of routine and normality this week, and to find I finally have some time to myself.

2) Choosing yarn for a new project, one that I’ve been requested to knit. I’ve been imagining how lovely the new project will be (such a gorgeous colour and texture!), and now I can’t wait for the yarn to arrive now so that I can cast on and get started πŸ™‚ .

3) A was off school today (thankfully he seems to be on the mend now), so M had to take a bit more responsibility as I couldn’t walk her home from school as normal – “I can walk all the way home on my own if you want, Mummy”. I didn’t feel that today was the day to ask that of her, but I did ask her to walk to just beyond her friend’s house.

At home time, I parked the car just beyond the house, and could watch M and her friend walking towards me from a distance. They appeared to have a lovely time chatting and I was able to watch her observe the road rules perfectly, without her knowing I was watching. She loved that little bit of independence, and I’m proud that she proved herself worthy of my trust in her πŸ™‚ .

FO Friday 49

It’s quite a while since I last wrote an FO Friday post, so I’ve got some catching up to do!

First up, here’s the little Ballet bear I knitted for M’s birthday. I haven’t quite got the size of the dress right,Β  but M didn’t want to wait for me to re-knit it!

Ballet Bear for Megan - completeBallet Bear for Megan

Secondly, K’s Alpha socks. From the amount of wear they are receiving, I’m fairly confident they are much loved πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ .Β  Here they are in action!

Alpha socks - done!Alpha Socks - nice and cosyAlpha Socks - side viewAlpha Socks - heel flapAlpha Socks – all done!

And finally, here’s M’s Cherry Blossom – again, it’s been worn lots already, so I think it’s a hit – for a cardi knitted from recycled yarn, it was a cheap, fun knit and I’m pretty happy with the result!

Cherry Blossom Cherry Blossom - back Cherry Blossom - lace pattern Megan, her cardi and her bear.Megan, wearing Cherry Blossom for girls, and enjoying her new bear!

For more of today’s Finished Objects, check out Tami’s Amis

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Homework, takes me back, and nice.

1) M arrived home from school and settled down straight away to do her homework, without even being asked!

2) Lemon bon bons. A taste of childhood, bought at the Traditional Sweet Shop at the Crich Tramway Village when we visited at the weekend. I’d forgotten how yummy they are (and how much better they are than the scarily blue raspberry ones – yuk)!

3) Nice comments on my blog earlier encouraged me, when I was feeling a little despondent. Thank you to those who commented – I love to hear from you!

Megan’s 8th Birthday

Yesterday my little girl turned 8, and she’s brought eight years of joy and delight to our lives.Β  She celebrated her birthday by having five of her friends round for a birthday party after school.

First, they decorated cupcakes:

Cupcake funCupcake decorating

Next they went on a treasure hunt around the house and garden:

Treasure HuntΒ Treasure huntTreasure Hunt

Then they each decorated their own T-shirt by creating their own transfers (fear not, I did the actual ironing!)…

Megan's t-shirtMegan’s t-shirt

And, after party tea, there was cake… Megan's 8th Birthday Cake Megan's princess cake Cake from behind Happy 8th Birthday Megan!!

Lots of love, Mummy xxx

Meetings, notice, and not a taxi.

1) My week this week has been filled with meetings. Meetings: some busy, some stressful, but this morning’s was the most fun πŸ™‚ .

2) Tomorrow K leaves us for a week.Β  M wrote a note on the white board saying “Daddy going to Bangkok” with a sad face, and crying eyes πŸ™ .

3) As I head out the door for the {insert large number here, because I’ve lost count!}th time today, I mutter something to myself about feeling that all I was was a taxi service.Β  A actually overhead my mutterings and told me in no uncertain tones that I was not a taxi service, but that I was just a very kind mummy πŸ™‚ .

Experiment, happy, and thoughtful.

1) The apple-cinnamon cake wasn’t my most successful experiment (although I feel there is hope for the recipe with some tweaking…), but everyone enjoyed it anyway.

2) M talks non-stop all the way home from her first night at Juniors (Girls’ Brigade) – I think it’s safe to say that she enjoyed it.

3) I catch a lovely moment between the kids, as A arrives home from cycling club and asks M how she enjoyed her first evening at Juniors.

FO Friday 48

It’s a bit of a different Finished Object from me today, and not one that I ever showed you in progress on a Wednesday, but here it is… a baby blanket with a difference.

The concept for this was borne in a tent in the little town of Uig, on the beautiful Isle of Skye last summer.Β  I taught K and the kids to knit, and everyone contributed at least one “square” to this blanket. Where possible we used recycled materials (although I do confess to buying two balls of yarn for the project).Β  I guess I should have taken more care to ensure similar weights of yarn were used, but I didn’t. I guess I should have ensured that everyone made squares approximately the same size, but I didn’t.

I guess you could call it a sort of sampler blanket – it includes some first ever attempts at knitting (by K and the kids), my first attempts at cables, and bobbles, and all sorts of other stitches. A complete variety of colours, and textures. It may not be perfect, but the result is a blanket where every square has its own story, and the whole family played a part in creating it.

I sewed it together, and backed it with soft blue fleece (leftover from the car back seat cover my friend made for me a couple of years ago).Β  We gave it to baby Peter for his first birthday earlier this week. It was supposed to be a “birth” present, but didn’t quite get finished in time!

Peter's blanketPeter’s Birthday Blanket

Peter's blanket keyPeter’s Birthday Blanket Key

A1 – made by Aidan. The blue stripes were leftover yarn from the pullover his Grandma knitted for him when he was little. The red was an eyelash yarn I had kicking around in my stash. He loved the textures.

A2 – made by me. Basketweave stitch, and knitted in the yarn I used to knit M’s Big Sister dress.

A3 – made by me. My first ever attempt at cables. Yarn was leftover from my Oddments knitting bag project.

A4 – made by me. My Buzzy Bee square.Β Yarn was leftover from my Oddments knitting bag project.

A5 – made by me. Shingle Stitch. Leftover yarn from Aidan’s pullover from Grandma.

B1-6 – made by me. All squares were knitted with yarn left over from my Oddments knitting bag project.

C1 – made by Megan. Her first ever piece of knitting πŸ™‚ . All garter stitch, but white and lilac stripes. The white was from my Georgia sweater, but the lilac came from Blossom, the first ever dress I knitted her.

C2 – made by me. Charcoal yarn from K’s Decoder Hat, and the purple from my Sahara sweater.

C3 – made by Keith. Bored with knitting rectangles the normal way he decided to knit one in the round, making up the pattern as he went along. Charcoal yarn from K’s Decoder Hat, and the purple from my Sahara sweater.

C4 – made by me. Caterpillar Stitch. Red yarn purchased specially for this project.

D1 – made by me. Log Cabin Blanket-style.Β Yarn left over from my Oddments knitting bag project.

D2 – made by me. Simple Grille pattern. The white was from my Georgia sweater, and the pink/purple was from the Flying Geese shawl that I knitted for K’s mum a couple of years ago.

D3Β  – made by Aidan. One of his earliest pieces of stocking stitch – and with four colour changes. Yarn purchased by himself – two colour variations of the same yarn – one purple, one red.

D4 – made by Keith. Experimenting with knits and perls to make patterns – counting 1-15 in binary, and three chevrons. White yarn from my String bag.

D5 – made by Keith. Vertical bar line stitch. Green yarn purchased specially for this project.

E1 – made by me. Little Pyramid Stitch. Yarn from my Wendy Tank Top.

E2 – made by me. Practising making bobbles! Yarn from my stash. I think I knitted a scarf for M from it once upon a long time ago!

E3 – made by Keith. Simple stocking stitch with garter stitch bands; white edge because there wasn’t enough green! White yarn from my String bag and the green yarn was from some little Hand Warmers I knitted some years ago for K’s sister.

E4 – made by me. A Mitred Square. Red yarn purchased specially for this project, grey yarn from my Oddments knitting bag project.

Happy Birthday Peter!

For more of today’s Finished Objects, check out Tami’s Amis

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