Happy Birthday

Our baby turns 23 today (22 July), and I was looking over his baby photos and thought I would share.
The first photo he is 2 days old, his brother is 3 1/2 years old. Birth doesn't do anything for the mothers looks I can tell you, it takes a few days to feel a bit normal again, and in my case after 16 hours labour then a C Section, it took about six weeks or so to get back to normal.

The second photo he is 5 months old with his fluffy dog. He dwarfs this dog now, yes he still has it and it still looks pretty good.

The third photo is with his girlfriend not sure when but in the last 12 months. I will try and get one later today of him to have a birthday picture.

As I post this today, 23 years ago he would have been 1 hour and 15 minutes old. My boys make my heart sing, they can bring a tear to my eye just thinking of them. They have been great to bring up, but sometimes with some heart tearing issues, I guess that is what being a parent is all about, being there for them, loving them unconditionally (even if they push that fine line so hard it bends a mile), Happy Birthday Timothy. Love you always, XXXX

Here is the photo taken after dinner tonight of Tim, Ruby and the fluffy dog from previous photo. What a good boy having this picture done for his mum.

I got Mail

Yahoo... I got my parcel from Amazon with The Happy Hooker and One Skein, now I can have a look and see what to knit my One Skein Wonder Pal to be sent off in August. Looking at the Happy Hooker and I am really excited to have a book that shows you clearly how to do things and with some pretty funky things to crochet.

My Sunrise Circle Jacket is coming along nicely, I am getting through the right front increases and hope to have that done by end of this weekend. Then onto the back next week.

My next project should be my gift for the One Skein exchange, then I have an order for 2 scarfs, 1 gloves and 1 fingerless gloves for a woman to send to her granddaughter in England for Christmas, so I will get them out of the way. Then it is open slather on what I will knit next, I have so much yarn still to get through and so many books with lovely things in them. I think I will get onto some more socks, and then maybe the lace knitting, which I would love to do my Mum some lace knitting for Christmas. I think I will be all done for knitting for others until I finish my stash reduction and get it down to nearly nothing. I also will probably do another sunrise circle jacket for girl at work, we swap pressies at Christmas, so the deal maybe she buys the yarn and I will knit it for her gift, that is if she still wants that jacket when she sees mine finished.

Nice cold wet winters day again, we got woken up at 4.30am this morning with #2 son car alarm, remember he is house sitting down the road, we had to ring him to come and turn it off, we then found out we had all the keys at our place, but the car battery had gone flat, but the alarm was still going, and the remotes for the alarm didn't work, so he had to get out of bed and come up in the cold wind and rain and turn it on silence, so it was still going but no-one could hear it. I am sure I will fall asleep at work today, not good being woken at that hour.

Saturday Sky and stuff

Above is my saturday sky and it is raining, raining and more rain, we need rain desperately and do get our fair share on the coast but not in the catchment areas on the mountains which is only approx. 30 minutes drive away, crazy I know.

Yesterday I had an accrued leave day off work, and with the rain not much got done but catching up with knitting. I did one load of washing and put it in the dryer, then I crochet around 2 knitted blankets of 35 x 6 inch squares, and then crochet together 2 more blankets completely. These get donated by the Knitters Guild Kiama to the Mental Health Unit at our local public hospital.

On this raining saturday morning I am getting a head cold, it has been coming on for about 3 days now, and isn't coming on very quickly either, which maybe is a good thing, although I do prefer illness to come and go very quickly, I don't do sick well, and as a wife, mum etc when does anything change, Sick or Not

I finished the left sleeve and front of the Sunrise Circle Jacket the other night, I have now cast on for the right sleeve and front and am up to the second increase. I hope to have this finished by the end of July, it is a really nice and easy knit. I may not get it put together as the next few weeks are busy for me: Work 5 days per week, today I have Knitters Guild in Kiama, tonight we are going out to dinner with friends celebrating a friends 40th birthday, tomorrow (weather permitting)we have a ride to Manly with the HOG group, next Saturday is my baby's 23rd Birthday, then on Sunday 23 July we hope to rip out the laundry, entry and ensuite downstairs, the last weekend in July we are going away to celebrate 30 years since we met, I will miss SNB in Wollongong, but a weekend away is going to be great.

Tribe Gift and One Skein Gift

I got my special Tribe parcel today from Jussi, thanks so much. I was very busy when I got home from the post office, so didn't get to open the box until I had dinner cooking, which it still is, I hope it doesn't burn...ooops. I shall be quick then.

The box contained some lovely hand dyed by Jussi yarn in the best colours, I love them and the yarn is Rabbit (how cool), also a very nice crochet flower brooch, I am thinking that will go nicely with my clapotis, a box of Boss Lady cinnamon gum, it says to chew them up and spit them out and on the side it says "sizzling nuggets, should I be afraid. A cake of Vanilla soap, I just love vanilla, I have vanilla oil perfume, and I keep spraying the vanilla air freshner in the toilets at work, just to get a smell (how sick is that). A lovely bright green notebook, a bright green with pink spots tiny make up mirror, it is so cute. A lovely skein of pink, white and green of angora yarn (for show) and a lovely needle wrap for my dpn's. The Rabbit yarn was wrapped in pink checked material bag made by Jussi.

I will cherish it all, thanks Jussi.

Earlier this week I got my One Skein pal gift, it is 2 lovely balls of Wirraworra 8ply Wool from South Australia, it feels really soft. The colour is wattlebark, I will wait until my One Skein book arrives from Amazon to see what I will make with this wool. Yes I am still waiting for my books, apparently Amazon said it must have gone missing (someone has got themselves 2 good knitting books - the bitch in me hopes they can't read english), so I had to re-order them and Amazon will refund me the money for the original order, the downfall of this is that it cost me more for quicker postage, which doesn't guarantee delivery, and customs may charge me a tax duty on the parcel now, what bullshit. Anyway I will be just happy to get the books in my hands.

A bit about Wirraworra wool (from the label) It is a semi worsted handknitting yarn, millspun from wool grown on our family's farm at Reeves Plains in South Australia by our coloured Corriedale and Merino sheep.. Their prizewinning fleeces are selected for their silky softness and sorted into 8 natural shades. Subtle variations in shading and texture are designed to create knitted garments with a unique, handspun look. Knit and enjoy - Coloured Wool Naturally!

And no I didn't burn dinner, the T-bones were cooked just right.

Baby Blue

The Baby Aran Jumper is finished, it looks great and so soft. I visited the baby and his family the other day, it is only 5 weeks until they head back to Ireland to live, they have been here for over 3 years now, and the dad is very excited about going back home, along with the mum she is happy to be going back to Ireland and making it home for her family instead of her home Australia. The baby is 7 months now and the jumper is a size one so it will be just right for the Irish winter this year.


Onto progress on the Sunrise Circle Jacket, I have finished the left sleeve and I am onto the front circle bit and raglan part of the pattern, the Jo Sharp yarn is just lovely to knit and it is nice and soft. Pictures to come later when a bit more done. It is nice knitting something for me. And I someone I work with wants me to knit her one when I have finished.

Happy 4th of July to USA knitters

Today while we are awake and USA is asleep, it is the 4th of July here, so when you all wake up over in USA (tomorrow here) then it will be your independence day. We celebrate Australia Day on 26 January each year. It is a cold and raining winters day here today in my neck of the woods, I bet it will be a hot day for your 4th July celebrations.
Below is a picture taken last wednesday by one of my sons, this is taken 200 metres from our home, we have the river (on left) and ocean (on right) out the front way (we can't see it from inside the house, but can from the front yard) and the mountains is our back view from anywhere in the house at the back. The photo is taken at very low tide. In summer we swim across the river and walk down the beach to the end and back, it is so lovely.

The Baby Aran Jumper is coming along nicely now, I have gotten my head around the pattern and am enjoying it now, although I do wish it was finished, I want to get to my own knitting for a bit. I did put the pockets in (see stitch holders), even though I don't know what a baby is going to do with pockets, but the mother wanted the pockets, so I did them. I just have the front to finish, edge and sew in the pockets, put it altogether and then do the neck.


I have cast on for the Sunrise Circle Jacket in Jo Sharp wool, and even though I have only done a few rows it is lovely and soft to knit. I don't have a timetable as to when I will complete it, but I hope to be able to work on it over the next few weeks and get a lot done, hopefully to get some wear before winter is over (plenty of time then). I am probably the last person to cast this on in the KAL for this jacket, but I will try not to be long in finishing it.

I still haven't received my books from Amazon, it is over a week late now, I just wish they were here already.