from lilly lane

{this moment}

2012-01-27T07:48:00.001Z

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Project 366

2012-01-26T22:10:00.001Z

I have always wanted to take part in a 365 days project and really needed a reason to learn how to use my camera properly so I took the plunge at the beginning of the year and started my very own project 365. It only took me about 12 days to figure out that 2012 is a leap year and I in fact started my very own project 366.

Never have been the sharpest tool in the box.

It seems that many people take daily self portraits but I could not think of anything worse than take pictures of myself, so I have opted for 366 random daily photos.

I have surprised myself by actually playing along for 26 days so far. For me, as a master of over-thinking and procrastination, it has been quite liberating to just snap photos everyday, without much of a purpose or a concept. I have even learnt a few things about my camera(after downloading the manual and playing around a bit.) I have been posting them in this here flick set.

I hope I will be a little better at the whole photography thing by the end of the year!

The Darwin Centre- a toddler's paradise

2012-01-24T23:06:00.001Z

It was raining again today so I put little b in the babyhawk and we went for a rummage around the Natural History museum. The main galleries are a little bit crowded with school children but The Darwin Centre is brilliant for a roaming toddler. Wide open spaces and not too many visitors. She loves wandering around in there and I love pottering along behind her.

{this moment}

2012-01-20T09:26:00.000Z

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Playing along with Soulemama again.

Rainy day

2012-01-19T18:23:00.001Z

Cuddled up under a cozy blanket on the sofa.
Runny nosed toddler and tired mama.
Watching the rain.
Hot chocolate makes it all better.

Sunrise

2012-01-17T09:30:00.000Z

I was treated to this lovely sight as I was coming out of the bedroom this morning. A few minutes later it was all gone. Fleeting but beautiful.

The elusive alone time

2012-01-16T17:44:00.000Z

At the end of last year I was thinking about all the grandiose plans I could make for 2012. Many things came to mind: things I would love to do, things I would like to do, things I wouldn't mind doing.
Knit for 2 hours everyday. Take a yoga class before I get too old and un-bendy. Sign up for a textiles course. Go back to weaving class. Meditate daily. Learn to sew better.
See how they might all require actual alone time? Yes, well therein lies the problem. I have no alone time. I have toddler time, that is monday to friday all day and all night. I have work time, saturday and sunday all day, with toddler time all night. Even when the wonder husband is home in the evenings I spend a lot of time nursing little b to sleep, and nursing her back to sleep when she wakes.
Then I usually feel like my brain has melted and I invariable gravitate to Pinterest. And thus even that time is wasted.
Recently I have evaluated all potential knitting and crochet projects in view of their easiness. But if something is mindless enough to attempt after 12 hours of toddler taming it is usually also very dull, so that is out of the window.
Sewing is also a problem as I have to pull out the machine and everything else I need from the bedroom(where little b sleeps) and set it up in the living room. Then I have to put everything away again and make sure I didn't drop a pin or other tiny,non babyfriendly tool anywhere.
Weaving, I don't even know how I would start.
Studying any type of course? I think my head might explode.

So the problems as they stand at the moment are:
I have only a tiny amount of toddler free time and no alone time.
I have very little energy and even less brain power at the end of the day.
I have extremely limited space to do any kind of crafting.
How do I solve this without selling my beloved toddler into child domestic servitude( she is very fond of the hoover though, maybe she wouldn't mind)?
I think I might just have to wait a bit longer until little b can be trusted not to run off with the yarn ball or stick her finger under the sewing machine and plays on her own for a bit. Wonder when that might be, 2020?

ps: I love her really, I do! I promise not to send her out to work just yet. ;)

pps: I feel totally guilty whinging about my lack of alone time when I have to most wonderful , sweet and kind daughter and I have a great time with her. And I love her like crazy. But sometimes I miss being alone, all on my own with only myself to think about, just for an hour or so....

{this moment}

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000Z

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Playing along with SouleMama this week.

Buggy cam

2012-01-11T21:46:00.000Z

We went to the Science Museum today and I snapped a few pictures while walking along, only to notice the slightly odd angles when I got home. Lets just pretend I was trying to be artistic.
This was the first time I went to the Science Museum with a fully walking toddler, there was much gleeful running around in circles. The museum has two great areas for young children. The garden, at basement level, is not really a garden but a sensory play area, it is really great but little b wasn't too interested this time.
Instead we headed up to the pattern pod. I didn't know about this area until a few months ago, it is on the ground floor right at the back of the museum behind the IMAX ticket desk. It seems like a dark little area, but walk around the back of the desk and you will find a fun little space for little ones to explore.
After she grew tired of that we went to the first floor and had another run around and just when I thought I need a lie down and a rest, she started to yawn and volunteered to go back in the stroller. Oh joy! Amazing how long it takes to tire out such little legs!

I think I met Gilbert and George

2012-01-06T22:42:00.000Z

Or rather Gilbert OR George.
Let me explain.
Yesterday when we went on our little stroll around Whitechapel I decided on a detour to Spitalfields Market. If you walk down Brick Lane from the north you first get a section of Vintage shops( mostly clothing) then a section of impossibly hip shops and bars around the old Truman Brewery and finally a section of Curry Houses towards the southern end. In that last section you will see the Brick Lane Mosque( which in itself has an interesting history) on your right. It has a beautiful Minaret.

Turn right immediately after the mosque and you are in Fournier Street, one of my favourite London streets. It is fairly unassuming and small but is made up of wonderful Georgian houses and has a real air of history about it. The houses were originally built for Huguenot silk weavers in the 1720s and most have been beautifully restored.

I let the wonder husband and little b go ahead while I took some photos. About halfway down the street I noticed a very dapper looking gentleman in an immaculately cut green tweed suit exiting one of the houses. I didn't take too much notice to be honest but I remember thinking he fitted the street and atmosphere perfectly. Then I continued on down the road towards Spitalfields( he went in the other direction). When I got home last night I read up a bit about the history of Fournier Street and was informed(by wikipedia no less, so it must be true!) that artist duo Gilbert and George live and work on the street. I am fairly certain that the dapper gentleman I saw was indeed one of them, and no I haven't had the inclination to figure out which one it was, I think not being sure adds an air of mystery to the whole thing.
Wikipedia further informed me that Tracy Emin also lives on Fournier Street, now I assure you I would have recognised her, I'm not a complete ignoramus!
Maybe I should write a post about my London celebrity sightings, though to be honest, none of them are super exciting...no actually, I lie, one of them was.
Here it goes because it probably isn't worth its own post: I once, many years ago, nearly ran into Nick Cave, twice within the space of a week, on Peckham High Street of all places. It was most peculiar. I did later read that he was recording in the area at the time so I'm sure I wasn't hallucinating!

Museum of Childhood and a stroll through Whitechapel

2012-01-05T21:25:00.002Z

Today the wonder husband had a day off so we braved the high winds and rain clouds and went to the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. Little b had a brilliant time practicing walking and running. She switched from default crawling to default walking between Christmas and New Year, hardly ever crawls anymore and is delighted with her new freedom. The exhibits are really interesting, covering historical children's clothes, prams, dolls houses(oh my, the dolls houses!Amazing!) and other toys. I didn't get to look at them very much as I was chasing a small person round the display cases. There are interactive play areas throughout to occupy little ones and a shop and cafe at the centre of the museum. We had a tasty lunch in the cafe( word of warning though, it was quite expensive, but there is a picnic area downstairs for those more organised than me) and then strolled back to the tube(subway to those not from London Town) via Brick Lane where I let out my inner tourist and took far too many photos.

Tomorrow I'll take you down an interesting little side street.

Calendar Love

2012-01-03T19:05:00.000Z

I'm not normally a calendar girl. I don't really need them, which tells you what a boring life I lead. My day job simply requires me to turn up and work, no meetings or schedules or advance planning. I may or may not remember to send birthday cards in time, which I'm sure does not make me a very good friend. And I have simply bumbled through the rest of my life like a care free little bumblebee.

This year, in an attempt to be organised and grown up, I have not one, but two calendars. (And a filofax that will probably get opened about 3 times- baby steps, right?)

The first calendar is this work of art by Nikki McClure. It hangs over my kitchen table and fills me with joy every time I look at it. I love the simple nature of the paper cuts, there is something so peaceful and calming about them. I ordered it here.

The second calendar was a happy surprise, it came with the November issue of Molly Makes. It was designed by Jeanette Lunde, who writes Fryd+Design, a truly stunning blog. I put this one next the the computer and have actually added birthdays! There is hope people will get their birthday cards on time this year.

First family walk of 2012

2012-01-02T23:13:00.002Z

We didn't get to go for a walk yesterday as I had to work, but we were blessed with beautiful sunshine today so we used our chance and went for a long walk. Little b was quite taken with the squirrel, she likes to talk to them, I do wonder just what it is she tells them.

By the way, I don't have a morbid obsession with cemeteries, I just happen to live near two which make quite good green spaces.

Welcome January!

2012-01-02T00:27:00.001Z

It probably isn't very rock'n'roll of me to admit that I slept right through midnight last night but there you have it. I did. With a 15 month old in the house you tend to grab any chance of sleep that presents itself.
And I am not very rock'n'roll. Never was, never will be. I like it that way.

I have been pondering over my plans for this coming year. If I learned anything from last year it is not to make grand plans. So this year's list is short:
1. Be kind to myself.
I'm a worrier. That is bad enough by itself but now that I have a little person to take care off I have taken fretting to a whole new level. You know: 'Is she going to need years of therapy because I switched the stroller to forward facing when she was a year old, how can she possible exist on just yoghurt and thin air, are plastic toys the work of the devil' that kind of fretting. It really is not very productive at all so this year I shall be practicing kindness towards myself and allow my poor worried mama brain to relax a little.

2. Less talk and more action.
I love to read blogs, browse Ravelry or waste away my time on Pinterest but sadly all that admiring of other people's lovely lives means I don't actually have much time left to get creative in my own life. I am playing around with some projects that will be fun for me, little b and maybe even this blog.

I hope you all have some sweet little plans for the coming year!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T20:31:00.000Z

Wishing you a joyful and blessed 2012!

The one with the obligatory end of year recap...

2011-12-31T18:21:00.001Z

I never really like doing this because my list from the start of the year usually makes me cringe, but I just read Holly's post on Decor8 and felt a little inspired.

So I dug out last year's list and applied a critical eye to it. Written in bold is what I hoped to achieve in 2011.

Here we go:

go with the flow

This hasn't always been easy. Who knew that raising a baby would be hard work?
As a family we made it through the year with minimal tears, a reasonable amount of sleep and many, many smiles.

enjoy the moment

I think I did, apart from the occasional grumpy fit in the middle of the night.( I really can not be held responsible for things I say at 3am)

shift about 5 years worth of weight

Hahahahaha...

No comment.

explore my hometown

Did fairly well on this, we went on many lovely walks and excursions. I have been a little slack lately though, mainly because it has been cold and miserable.

look up more
Nope, my eyes have been welded firmly to the ground. It kind of seemed more important to know where I was going while either carrying or pushing a baby. I'll keep that one for another year when she is old enough to look up with me.

continue to bust the stash

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I wrote that(considering I had a 3 month old at the time). Presumably I thought I would have time on my hands.
Let me tell you one thing if you have just had a baby: you will not have spare time on your hands for the foreseeable future. Just resign yourself to that fact and it will be much easier.

declutter,declutter, declutter
I had been quite good at keeping on top of all our stuff and clothes and toys in this tiny apartnent. Until grandma arrived with a wagonload of toys 2 days after Christmas.
More storage, I need more storage...

Reconnect with practice

I struggled with this until I went to see my teacher a couple of months ago. Just to talk to her and be in her calming presence has made me feel much more positive and has untangled a few things that had been rumbling around in my mind.
Mindfulness in the way to go while wrestling with a toddler.

And finally:

My main and most awesome accomplishment in 2011, achieved in equal partnership with the most brilliant wonder husband, has been to raise a sweet 3 month old baby to a walking, talking(after a fashion), opinionated, gorgeous, happy, kind and joyful 15month old toddler. I am so thankful I get to be her Mama.

2011-12-24T22:32:00.001Z

I wish you a warm and cozy Christmas, may your festive season be merry and bright.

xxx

A walk and peppermint bark salvaged

2011-12-22T16:12:00.000Z

The sun was out today so I chauffeured little b along the thames path for a few hours. Sunshine, crisp air, a river, rowing practice and beautiful bare trees. What's not to like? And there were plenty of buses, dogs, birds and squirrels for little b to wave at too.
Yesterday I was moaning that my peppermint bark turned out decidedly unpepperminty. When I filled in the wonder husband on my disappointment at the lack of mintyness he said "Why don't you put in some more?'. Well, because it is finished, set, cut up and stacked in jars, bit late, non? 'Just pour some in the jar' says he. Ha, men, what do they know about peppermint bark. I grumbled some more about his silly ideas but, as I had nothing to lose, waited until he wasn't looking and chucked a generous glug of peppermint extract over the cut up pieces. And lo, this morning there was peppermintyness! Whether it magically infused into the chocolate overnight thanks to the wonder husband's intervention or whether it would have turned out that way anyway I have no idea but it is now decidedly yummy. The recipe is from Orangette, via Soulemama. You may want to experiment with the peppermint extract.

Has anyone seen my mojo?

2011-12-21T22:21:00.000Z

Because I seem to have misplaced it. Or maybe it ran away.
I have been feeling a bit blah lately. Don't get me wrong, little b is awesome and super sweet, the wonder husband is wonderful and I'm not exactly depressed but I'm just, well, not quite myself. Or as my neighbour, who also had a baby not so long ago, said to me the other day: 'I don't know what happened, I'm a shadow of my former self'. I hear ya, sister.
I can't really put my finger on what the problem is exactly. I guess having a toddler clambering all over me day and night is not much help and the only break I get from that is when I go to work. Oh joy.
Crafty stuff used to cheer me up but lately whenever I start a knitting or crochet project I hate it after a while and it ends up frogged. I keep tinkering with the apartment and never really seem satisfied with it. Maybe I need to lay off Pinterest for a while. To top it off I made peppermint bark today and I must have bought really pathetic peppermint extract because the bark is not pepperminty at all. I'm rather disappointed at that.
So it looks like I need to drag myself out of this mojoless funk by the hair before I get really stuck. I will be pondering ways and means in the coming days...

Feeling festive

2011-12-15T23:57:00.000Z

Baubles from Paperchase( they seem to be sold out online, sadly).

Vintage deer ornament from HappyLovesRosie.

Wreath made with handspun yarn(my own).

Before the storm

2011-12-13T00:37:00.000Z

It's blowing a gale outside tonight. I had to brave the rain earlier and secure all the things on the balcony least they end up all over southwest London.
Hard to believe that a few hours ago we strolled through Hyde Park in glorious sunshine.
I am very grateful for our warm and cozy home tonight.

Saving my sanity one leap at a time

2011-12-09T23:18:00.002Z

'The Wonder Weeks' by Hetty van de Rijt and Frans Plooij: worth its weight in gold.

I'm not very good at reading parenting books really. I got tired of second guessing my every word and deed and decided to listen to my mothering instinct instead(its much less stressful). Plus, you know how it is, too much to do, too little time, so the parenting books on my shelf only get consulted in emergencies.
Having said that, this book is different.
I got 'The Wonder Weeks' back when little b was about 8 weeks old. I think I saw it recommended on a message board somewhere.
I found it a bit repetitive and slow to read straight through to be honest so I just stuck to the chapters relevant to us at the time. And what a revelation it was. The authors take you through each of your baby's developmental leaps and explain just why your baby is acting the way it is and how you can support your baby's development. If you are more organised then me( that shouldn't be too difficult) you can read a chapter ahead and know what is coming next. What usually happened for me was this: just when I was totally worn out from little b's sudden crankiness, general clinginess and marathon nursing sessions,when I was convinced it would always be like this, I would never sleep again and when I wanted to go hide under a rock, I'd remember the book, sleepwalk over the the book shelf and look for which ever week we were in at the time. And sure enough, I always found that little b was getting ready for, or in the middle of, a developmental step up. Having an explanation and guidance was all that I needed. I would breathe a sigh of relief each time as the book whispered to me gently: 'Its ok, its not you. Its just what it is. It will pass. You are not doing anything wrong. Just love her and follow her and help her along her path. You will both be alright.' The stress and tension would slowly melt away and be replaced by renewed patience and strength, ready for another marathon nursing session or another sleepless night. This too shall pass.

Imperfect Mamahood Part 5: The Co-sleeping

2011-11-04T00:29:00.000Z

Ah, sleep. Finally something I'm good at.Years of working nightshifts are pretty good preparation for motherhood. Gets you used to being awake at weird hours and it has given me the ability to sleep standing up with a light shining in my face, should the opportunity arise. All very useful when you get woken up every two hours.
Now, Co-sleeping. Otherwise known as ' I don't want to wake up to a screaming baby, get out of my warm bed, shuffle into another room to feed and calm said screaming baby while getting cold feet myself.' or 'well, we could move into a 2 bedroom flat but then I would have to work more and we would still have less money.' Both applies in our case ( you could just say I'm lazy really).
There are many more scientific benefits to co sleeping of course, I recommend Dr Sears' thoughts on the subject as a starting point(including important safe co sleeping advice)
It was the wonderhusband who first brought up the subject of co sleeping when I was pregnant. Only he didn't call it that. He simply said: 'Of course, when the baby arrives I will sleep on the floor.'' Erm,what?! 'Well, the baby needs to sleep with you so I'll sleep on the floor.' Uhm, I don't think so!
This makes more sense if you know that he grew up in India and that is apparently how it is done there. Fair enough, but I still didn't want him on the floor. After perusing various (very expensive) co sleepers online we settled for the poor man's co sleeper: an Ikea cot with one side removed and bungee corded to the side of the bed. We could have got a kingsize bed instead, and these days I sometimes wish we had, but I was worried I might roll on her in my sleep.(a needless worry as it turned out)
When she was brand new little b slept in the cot and I would rest me head right next to her and feel her tiny baby breaths on my face. She very rarely cried when she woke up, if I was close enough she would wallop me over the head with her hand or she would pick up both her legs and drop them back down on the bed to make a noise. A very considerate baby! For the first few months I sat up to nurse her , later we learned to nurse lying down, requiring even less effort! When she was about 6 months old and learned to roll over while in her sleeping bag she got fed up with the cot and would roll over to me and complain until I put her in the middle between Mama and Papa. And to this day this is where she sleeps. The cot lies abandoned and is used to store books, toys, the remote control for the stereo and, most nights, mama's (rather large)bum so little b can sleep in starfish mode.
Waking up nose to nose with your baby is the comfiest, snuggliest, most beautiful experience. We love co sleeping!

Perfect front garden

2011-10-03T19:59:00.001+01:00

If I ever have a house this is how I would like my front garden to look. We spotted this one last week on one of our extended neighbourhood walks. Such a lovely contrast to boring hedges or worse, weeds and litter.

Last weekend of summer

2011-10-02T22:11:00.000+01:00

I go back to work from next weekend and family outings will need be carefully planned in advance and will involve taking annual leave days for one of us. At least for the foreseeable future. With that in mind I cooked up a rather yummy picnic at the crack of dawn and we spend the day on a blanket in the shade of some beautiful trees in the park. The weather could not have been more perfect. Little b started walking with a little help from grown up hands. And a lovely time was had by all.

Finally Summer!

2011-09-29T19:03:00.000+01:00

29 C! At the very end of September. Obviously we have to make the most of this good fortune while it lasts. We have spend lots of time outside strolling by the river and having picnics in the park. Little b has taken a sudden liking to the push chair ( she tries to climb into it on the way to the bathroom after breakfast, I take that to mean she likes it) so we didn't have to get all hot and sticky with the slings.

1

2011-09-25T23:58:00.000+01:00

Times flies when you're changing nappies.
I now get to hang out with a one year old. She'll always be my little baby bird though.

Mama and Papa went a little overboard with the decorations.
We had blueberry and banana muffins with whipped cream for breakfast.
The present pile got unwrapped( ripping off the wrapping paper was obviously the best part).
We walked along the river, went to Battersea Park Children's Zoo, had a little picnic and took a turn round the Saatchi Gallery(because we happened to walk past it, it wasn't on my list of birthday venues for 1 year olds!)
We had decided against a big party and now I'm glad we did, little b wasn't super well on the day, tooth number 8 was bothering her quite a bit. Poor pumpkin. Still, with lots of cuddles and a few snoozes in the sling we had a wonderful day and she loved the playground and the zoo (and I think she quite enjoyed the Saatchi Gallery too!).

A first birthday is almost upon us

2011-09-19T23:22:00.001+01:00

I don't know how to write eloquently about motherhood, so forgive my random rambling.
I read an interesting quote today while browsing the Artful Parent:
Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.-Elizabeth Stone
You see, if I had read that before little b was born it would have just passed over my head. I had no idea of what it actually means to be a mother. Really , none at all. Of the way my heart would be expanding and overflowing with love for this little person. Nothing could have prepared me for that. I just didn't understand, until I laid my head next to hers while she held my little finger tightly in her newborn baby fist almost a year ago. My whole being did a somersault and will be forever changed because she is in the world.

Home again...

2011-09-05T18:07:00.000+01:00

Every time we have been to Germany lately I think of moving back. I have no idea if it would be good for us or how we would work it all out. But I dream...

Imperfect Mamahood Part 4: Cloth Nappies

2011-08-14T21:51:00.001+01:00

I'm really not that good at the whole earthmother thing. Little b. didn't go into cloth until she was about 6 months old. Not because I didn't know about cloth nappies(or diapers as they are called in other parts of the world),I did know, I even had a few. But, to be honest,in the greater scheme of juggling a brand new baby with only the help of a wonderhusband, the cloth nappy thing kind of fell by the wayside for a while. When we finally came up for breath around the 6 month mark I came across some good deals on a few more cloth nappies and suddenly we had enough to go (almost) full time.
So we did.
We still use disposable nappies if we go out for long and at night(haven't found anything good enough for night time yet) but one pack lasts a long time now.
Washing the nappies isn't much of a problem and at the moment I can line dry them on the balcony most days. I'm really not sure if we can continue to use them in the winter. Our tiny flat did resemble a laundry most of last winter(no tumble dryer and not much drying space) so I'm not sure if I can successfully add a nappy load every other day.
But at least we try our best. Does wonders to calm the 'Oh god, I'm destroying the planet' guilt attacks. Oh, by the way, little b. doesn't seem to be bothered about which nappies she is in, though I'd imagine the cloth ones are comfier. She never had any nappy rash either. I think the secret to that might be water. Yep, I only use cotton wool and water to clean her baby butt, no baby wipes, I am that crazy.

On being a nice buddhist while people are rioting around the corner.

2011-08-10T22:13:00.000+01:00

I live in London.
I quite like living in London.

My neighbourhood has not been very affected so far. We are very lucky and I feel desperately sad and angry for the people who have lost their homes and shops and livelihoods.

On Monday night we listened to the constant sirens and we packed a little backpack with important documents before we went to bed. Shortly afterwards we watched someone get arrested by riot police just outside our house.

Yesterday all the shops and businesses around here where closed by 4pm and we went to sleep to the sound of sirens and a helicopter overhead.

Today it seems quieter, I haven't heard any sirens for a while.

I thought I was a lentil weaving, liberal, Guardian reading, peace loving, non violence advocating buddhist.
Then the riots started.
And I find it very hard to have a measured, intelligent response.
Just that.
My brain is wondering why people would behave like this but my gut reaction is far from liberal and disturbingly violent towards the rioters.
It gives me a headache.
Maybe it's a 'mother bear defending her baby' thing.
I clearly need to work on the buddhist thing a whole lot more.
Little b. has slept serenely all these past nights while we lay awake worrying.
Oh to be a baby.
I hope her world will be more peaceful soon.

Oops, I seem to have skipped July

2011-08-01T18:44:00.000+01:00

Happy 1st of August to you!
We finally have a bit of summer. Lovely. We had not one, but two picnics this weekend, we are trying to make the most of every weekend while we still get to hang out together. Once I have to return to work in a couple of months the wonder husband will be working all week and I will be working all weekend and family time will only really happen if one of us takes a day off. While that is not much fun, it does mean little b. does not have to go to nursery which I am very happy about. I don't have anything against nurseries as such but I think she is just too young to go at the moment. ( I'll probably think 10 is to young to go, to be fair. Ahem, over protective mother much?)

The whole work thing rearing it's unpleasant head has made me come over all gloomy again. In a 'what are we going to do with our lives' kind of way. Then today I saw this quote, posted by Amanda at Soulemama:

"Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

With your one wild and precious life?"

~ Mary Oliver

That sums up my dilemma perfectly.

Imperfect Mamahood Part 3: The Babywearing

2011-06-24T11:26:00.001+01:00

Oh boy, was I smug about that one.
I swore my precious first born babe would be carried everywhere, all of the time. Her little babybum would never touch the seat of a stroller. Baby wearing is good for their development don't ya know!(It actually really is good for their development.See here.) I was so smug in fact, that I didn't even get a pram before she was born.A moby wrap would be all we needed.
All this despite the fact that I have a dodgy back at the best of times and had pretty bad pelvic pain for the 3rd trimester of my pregnancy. What the hell was I thinking?
I could blame it on the hormones I guess, but really, I think I was just traumatised by the cost of strollers/prams/buggies/whatever you want to call them. I knew a baby wouldn't be cheap but I was stunned to discover that you can easily spend £1000 on baby transportation. 'And would you like an Iphone holder or a coffee cup holder with that Madam?' Yikes! Yes it was definitely trauma. So I ran screaming from John Lewis and huddled in a corner with my Moby, patting it gently every now and again. A Moby would do fine, thank you very much.
Did it?
Well not exactly.As usual, my road to card carrying mamahood was a little twisty and turny.(I do know that is not a word by the way,but I'm foreign, I can make things up as I go along ;) )
The first time we took little b. out she was 4 days old. I carried her and she looked super snuggly all wrapped up.We went to the supermarket, a 15 minute walk( 30, if you had stitches in unmentionable places).
She slept the whole time.
I nearly died.
Five metres of fabric and a hot little baby strapped to your chest keep you very warm. And my back was not at all impressed. When we got home I retired to bed and feebly informed the wonder husband that we needed to get a pram.
Once I had recovered I changed my mind, did a bit of research and ordered a Ring sling and a Beco Butterfly 2. They arrived the next day. I didn't get very far with the ring sling( still don't like it much) but the Beco was and is awesome.Still use it every day.
In defence of the Moby, I have to say the wonder husband got on with it just fine, it really was my back and pelvis that needed a lot of rest and recovery.
We did eventually get a pram when she was 4 weeks old. I had to admit that there will be times when I might need to put the baby down somewhere( at the doctors for example) and that my back would thank me for the occasional break. We finally settled on one that had a parent facing option, carrycot included and looked comfortable for the baby. And with a price that didn't give me palpitations. It is a bit big for public transport and for taking on holiday for example, so last month we also got a little umbrella fold for public transport and holiday emergencies. Mostly they end up covered in coats by the front door though.
In the last few weeks I have ventured further into the world of babywearing and am now the proud owner of a sunshine yellow Didymos Indio wrap. This was a bit of a revelation.Being a woven wrap, it is much more supportive than the Moby,better for bigger babies(little b. is nine months old now) and actually very easy to use.
Little b. is currently snuggled into it and fast asleep as I type this. I never used to wear her much in the house, much to my regret. If she fell asleep in the Beco outside I would keep it on inside until she woke up.But when she fell asleep indoors, mostly after a nursing session I (or the wonderhusband) would just carry her around on our shoulder or sit with her on our chest. Not much gets done round her on an average day! Now with the wrap, I pre tie it in a front cross carry, nurse her and then pop her in the wrap and she either doesn't wake up or is asleep in minutes. And I can use both my hands and potter around the house at will. Genius!
I'm also waiting for a Mei Tai carrier that I have hired for 2 weeks to try out. Exciting times!

In Summary:
Having options and flexibility has worked best for us. I wish exclusive babywearing had worked for us but the pram/stroller has been useful sometimes and we still babywear about 90% of the time.
By the way, all the above stuff still cost less than a Bugaboo stroller. I just have to put my phone in my pocket and carry my coffee in my hand!
I shouldn't have been so scared of woven wraps, it really is very easy once you practice a bit and very comfortable.
Babywearing is a wonderful thing to do, there is nothing better than having a cuddly, snuggly, snuffly little person strapped to you chest. It will make you smile all day.

Hints and tips if you are new to babywearing:
Sling guide is a great site to learn more about safe babywearing. Please take the time to do some research before you invest in a sling of any type.
Most places have slingmeets were you can meet other babywearers and try out different types of carriers before you buy your own. Similarly, in the UK many areas have sling libraries where you can hire a carrier to try out. Many online vendors also let you hire slings for a small fee.
Natural Mamas(more UK and Europe centred) and The Babywearer (more US centred) are two lovely Forums where you can learn all there is to know about slings, carriers and babywearing.

And finally:
Babywearing is supposed to be a comfortable, cuddly experience for you and your baby. Whatever carrier or sling you are using, it is a good idea to look in the mirror and ask yourself honestly: 'Does my baby look comfortable like this?' If you feel there could be some improvement, visit sling guide to do some research.Your baby and your back will thank you!

Small scale strawberry picking

2011-05-24T19:07:00.000+01:00

8 months old and picking her first balcony grown strawberry. Might have gone just a little overboard with the polka dots. What can I say, I love polka dots. And they look much cuter on her!

Yesterday we went to the museum....

2011-05-11T15:44:00.000+01:00

Past the geraniums...

Through the lovely streets of Kensington...
We reached this beauty in next to no time...

we wound our way around the 4365 school groups, past the dinosaurs and towards this:

We wandered and stared and marvelled...

There was something a little creepy and alien-like about the 'cocoon'...

'Oh don't be so ridiculous Mother!'

'Nevermind.'
We saw pretty pictures built into the floor...(Excuse my battered feet.)

and pickled animals...

'What?!' oh yes, pickled animals, looky here...

The mind boggled.A little.
And finally we walked back through the original building and admired the beautiful craftsmanship...

And today we rest...

Green

2011-05-07T19:22:00.000+01:00

Is there anything more relaxing? I love green.Trees, grass, frogs, grasshoppers, dresses, shoes, cushion covers. It makes me happy.

We went to Germany over Easter. Thats my mum and stepdad up there, and right at the front are my grandparents making off with the baby in the stroller. They were forever running off with the baby, to show her off to their neighbours, friends and often random strangers. They are very cute great-grandparents.

Oh thank God I am not alone!

2011-05-05T13:17:00.000+01:00

A Mother’s Prayer for Her Child By Tina Fey

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.”

I think I have a crush on Tina Fey.I just saw this on the baby lead weaning blog. I read it while wrestling little b with one hand and scrolling with the other. Why, you may ask, do I not just put her down and let her enjoy one of the myriad developmentally appropriate toys that have transformed my living room into a nursery?

Because,you see, we are having a phase. A phase of 'I must not be separated from my mama at any time or else my pitiful wail will alert social services in 7 neighbouring counties of the fact that my mother thought she could just dash to the toilet for 2 seconds and abandon me on my playmat.How very dare she!' That kind of phase. Hence I have been attached to a small warm wriggly baby for the last two days.

Anyhow, I digress, I was reading the above prayer and will freely admit to crying at the end. Then little b threw up on me.I think she was trying to make a point.

If you have a crush on Tina too and are wrestling a little one(or more, making reading pretty much impossible) you may be pleased to know that you can get her book 'Bossypants' (of which the above prayer is an excerpt I believe) on Audible. Well, I was very pleased anyway and will use my next credit to get it. Bring on the clusterfeeding sessions!

Tuesday afternoon walk

2011-04-13T09:02:00.001+01:00

We had another sunny day yesterday and I discovered Bishops Park is much closer than I thought.

There was wisteria!

Did I mention the wisteria?

I really must show you this wisteria. Glorious!

Oh, how I wish I had a little cottage overgrown with wisteria.

Not much to see here

2011-04-12T11:45:00.001+01:00

The balcony garden is still looking a little bare these days. But there are signs of life. The herb corner is
slowly turning green again. I have oregano, thyme, and chives coming back. There are also some spring onions and I will sow some coriander, basil and parsley I think.

I'm trying to grow some salad leaves this year. Below is the start of a mixed seed mat(the white bits are the mat) and hopefully there will also be some lamb's lettuce. I love lamb's lettuce!

Last weekend I planted out 2 different tomatoes, a chilly and a bell pepper plant. I just buy these at the garden centre, I don't have the space to start seeds indoors and well, I only need one or two plants so it is just easier all around. I'm still waiting for the garden centre to have eggplants in, they always do really well on the balcony.

Imperfect Mamahood Part 2: Breastfeeding

2011-04-11T12:34:00.001+01:00

Now that we have passed the six month mark I can honestly say that I am much better at this breastfeeding business than I was at the 'giving birth naturally' business.
And I am very proud of it too. Yes, I do know that it is perfectly natural and all mammals can do it and lots of other women do it and its not a big deal, but I still like to tickle her chubby checks and think: 'Look, I made that!'.
That is just how I reward myself for not having had more than 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep since September.

I thought I might share some things I learned along the way in the hope it helps other breast-feeding mamas a little bit.

1. Prepare
If you are like me you may have got to your 30's without ever seeing anybody breastfeed. I have had no friends or relatives with babies at all so naturally I had no idea.
I did what I always do when clueless, I turned to books and the internet(whatever did we do before the internet?!).

Read these while you are pregnant. Because I can guarantee that you will not have time to read them once the baby has arrived.
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by La Leche League International
I think this covered every question I have ever had about breastfeeding. I have read other breastfeeding guides but have found this to be the most comprehensive and informative.
'The Politics of Breastfeeding -When Breasts are bad for Business' by Gabrielle Palmer
Not so much a 'how to' guide, it explores cultural, political and economic aspects of breastfeeding around the world and through time. Sounds incredibly dull but is in fact a riveting read. It explores how women have been disempowered and made to doubt their ability to feed their babies and how artificial baby feeding became big business. Reading it made me very sad and angry at times but also made me all the more determined to breastfeed.
Kellymom
Wonderful breastfeeding resource, a website that can answer questions you never knew you had.
Dr Jack Newman
Another great source of information and it has videos to illustrate good latch.

Add the following numbers to your mobile before you go into labour,that way you can call them from the hospital should you need to( obviously if you have helpful midwives you should ask them first):
NCT- National Childbirth Trust
I have to admit I never attended their antenatal classes( too expensive for us) but their breastfeeding helpline is awesome.
La Leche League
They also have a great breastfeeding helpline.

If your hospital has a breastfeeding councillor, ask to see them, hopefully they will be helpful and be able to spend some time with you if you do have problems.

2. The stuff they should tell you about but don't, in case you run off and leave the baby in the hospital.
Probably not a comprehensive list but these are the things I wish someone had told me about before:

The early days and Cluster feeding
When little b. was three days old she nursed pretty much continuously from 9pm to 3am. I now know she was only trying to get my milk to come in and seeking comfort but nobody had told us she might do this. She would finish on one side, I would give her to L. to burp and she would go crazy trying to latch onto him!(yeah, it was kind of funny) so I would put her on the other side, she would finish there, burp and go crazy again. Rinse, repeat. For 6 hours! Needless to say we got a bit worried after about 3 hours of this. Cue me sitting in the comfy chair nursing a seemingly ravenous lion(though sitting is not exactly comfortable 3 days postpartum) and L. frantically searching the internet for information. Thanks to kellymom.com we learned our baby was indeed normal and would not carry on like this until she went to university. Eventually she did go to sleep. And then she did it again the next night. But it got better after that, honest.

Mastitis and breast lumps
About 6 weeks into our breastfeeding adventure I got mastitis from a combination of a not so great fitting bra and sleeping on my front. Then I got a lump. Then my GP prescribed me the wrong antibiotics. The lump got bigger. I had to go to the breast lump clinic. I had an Ultrasound and they concluded it was not yet an abscess. They prescribed me the right antibiotics. Then I got a hideous reaction to the antibiotics that floored me for a week. Then the lump went away and I breastfed happily ever after.
Lessons to be learned: Make sure your bra fits perfectly or don't wear one at night, don't sleep on your front and amoxicillin alone is no good for mastitis. And: this too shall pass.

Doing it in public without causing an outrage
Not an easy feat when your boobs aren't exactly tiny! I admit I was very selfconscious and I just didn't feed in public for the first 4 or 5 months. When I practiced at home with various nursing covers and scarves we got all in a tangle every time and I still ended up with more on show than I was happy with. So I just avoided it.
Thankfully that did not necessarily mean I had to become a recluse. I discovered parent rooms! If you are in London, Mothercare, John Lewis and Westfield shopping centre all have nice little rooms where you can sit and nurse your baby in at least semi privacy. Awesome. The Science museum has one too apparently but I have yet to check it out.
These days I'm a little better at staying decent and have actually fed little b. in various public places including Berlin airport, a tube platform, a restaurant and a coffee shop. Nobody ever said anything and nobody stared. Maybe I just need to get over myself.

Biting
This is a new one for me, little b. cut her first two teeth a couple of weeks ago. So far she has had a little chomp every now and again. My current strategy is to not react( easier said than done) as apparently some babies find this funny (and see it as encouragement) and to take her off and end the nursing session for a while. Hope this will work, I'll report back when we have it worked out.

3. Have patience- this is exactly what you should be doing right now
Unless you are one of those amazing women who can breastfeed their babies anywhere and everywhere, probably while running a marathon and cooking dinner all at the same time, it will take up ~~all~~ a large chunk of your time in the early months. In the beginning I felt like all I ever did was nurse her, all the time.And it stressed me out. I kinda felt like I should be doing things, like house work (I can hear the wonderhusband chuckle at this) or go out.Thankfully I came to my senses and realised that feeding my baby was pretty much the most important thing to do right now. So I took a deep breath and relaxed and it all became much easier.
The wonderhusband is still stuck with doing the housework though. ;)

Something pretty...

2011-04-01T11:54:00.000+01:00

Growing up...

2011-03-31T10:48:00.001+01:00

Food! Teeth! Sitting at the table!

This is all going way too fast.

Here and there

2011-03-08T13:07:00.000Z

Last week the little madam and I went on a trip to see our family in Germany. Papa had to go to India to sort out some paperwork and so we were home alone and he had suggested we might as well go away too.

The flights required some precise planning and packing but were not so bad and she slept on my chest most of the time.Using a sling and breast-feeding made things a lot easier too I'm sure.I am very glad we decided not to go to India though, I think 8+ hours of flying would be hard work, even with two people.

Germany was cold. Freezing actually, but sunny, with bit of snow still on the ground. Not really my idea of a holiday but it was totally worth it as my grandparents were so happy to finally met the baby(they are a bit scared of flying so would never come over here).

We are going again in a couple of months, this time with papa.

I was very pleased to find spring was still around when we got back. We went out for a walk yesterday afternoon and it was beautiful and sunny.

Is it spring yet?

2011-02-25T19:40:00.000Z

Yesterday, after what seemed like years of grey and cold misery, the sun finally came out! I went out for an afternoon stroll with the baby and spotted this lovely patch of colour from afar. I practically ran to have a look, it has been a long winter and I'm so grateful for every bit of colour these days. I can't wait for spring to get into full swing.

Imperfect Mamahood Part 1:The Birth

2011-02-24T09:21:00.001Z

The dream
When I was pregnant I envisioned myself as a serene earth mother,calm and confident in my womanly abilities, blissfully labouring at the birth centre and bringing forth new life entirely unassisted and without any pain relief.The baby would be breastfeed, carried in a sling, cloth diapered(I drew the line at elimination communication- too much carpet),attachment parented and homeschooled. And of course there would only be educationally valuable wooden organic toys.( I'm not being sarcastic here, that really is my dream life)
Oh what a wonderful dream it was...

The reality
When it came to it my waters broke a week early at 2 am. And then...nothing much happened. I had some contractions every now and again. We went to the birth centre so they could confirm my waters had indeed gone. Like you could mistake that for anything else. And since I wasn't exactly making progress in the prescribed way, they washed their hands off me and told me to turn up at the labour ward the next morning to be induced.
You know when all the books say you should keep active to get your labour going? Well, I speed walked around the neighbourhood for 2 hours, went up and down 4 flights of stairs sideways too many times to count and cleaned my entire apartment in the middle of the night all while my contractions piddled along, slowed down,stopped, started up again....bla bla bla. They don't prepare you for that at the antenatal class. Well at least they didn't in mine.
So I found myself on the labour ward the next morning. Having been examined and found to be (apparently miraculously given the lack of proper contractions)3-4 cm dilated I was strapped to a monitor and told to lie on the bed.
I feebly asked for a birthing ball(same as a gym ball, only 3 times more expensive if you buy one) which was finally rolled in after the 3rd request. The ward round descended a few minutes later.
2 obstetricians, 2 anaesthetists and 2 midwives lined up at the end of my bed and proceeded to tell me that I needed an oxytocin drip to speed things up as we were now about 30 hours after my waters had broken(risk of infection, fetal distress etc).
Oh and:'You REALLY WANT an epidural if you are having the oxytocin. And you have to decide right now, otherwise you will have to wait for hours as we will be busy and by then you will be screaming in pain and that will be irritating for us.'(or words to that effect).
A woman down the corridor screamed like she was being ripped in half for added emphasis.
I asked them to give me a minute with my husband, they said I could have 5. And off they went to their next victim.
I was a bit upset about it all, but really, after having lost one baby in early pregnancy, I just wasn't brave enough to tell them to stick their oxytocin. And I caved on the epidural too, I think by that point I had lost all faith in my 'womanly abilities'. The birthing ball was rolled out again.
The rest of the labour was a bit dull and involved drips and monitors, reading the papers and snoozing. In the end we needed the help of this snazzy little device to get the baby out. I opened my eyes(squeezing them tight kind of helps to push) just in time to see the baby being passed up and across to the paediatricians. L. went over and came back to report that we had a girl, she was fine and that she looked thoroughly pissed off with the paeds for rubbing her down with a towel. I would have started to cry had I not already been crying through the whole assisted delivery. So I cried a bit more, with relief and happiness. So did the wonder husband. When the paeds were done irritating her with their towel they bundled her up in it and put her in my arms. She was so calm and peaceful, despite her rather stressful entry into the world. She didn't cry at all and took to nursing straight away. 24 hours later ~~we ran from the hospital as fast as we could~~ our little family came home.

The Aftermath
I haven't said much about him so far but the wonder husband was just that, absolutely wonderful through the whole thing. I love him.
I know this is a bit silly but I have some guilt issues because I didn't give birth to her the way I hoped I would. I still lie awake at night sometimes thinking about it all.
Could we or the hospital staff have done things differently? Probably.
Could we have had a better experience? Possibly.
Does it matter? I don't know.
I have a form here next to me, to request a copy of my hospital notes. I might fill it in and post it. Maybe reading them will clarify a few things and stop me thinking about it.
I am hugely grateful that our beautiful baby girl was born healthy and that she is such a calm and happy baby. I am relieved that her stressful entry into the world does not seem to have bothered her (she even has a lovely shaped head!). And I know that at the time I did the best I could. And I will be ok with that one day.

the last one standing...

2011-01-05T16:35:00.000Z

The wonder husband appears to have been floored by the Flu(definitely not man-flu, he is quite stoical in the face of misery) I have been dosing him up with paracetamol for 3 days now and he still gets really high temperatures. And last night the baby started to grumble too, though her temperature is not as high, thankfully. She is sleeping and feeding lots and is grumpy and miserable in between. The flat resembles a pharmacy right now, which brings me to my current bug bear. Why oh why is it so strange to give babies and children suppositories for a fever in this country? What is it with this obsession with liquid gunk?Calpol has nasty additives, some of which are banned in other countries, Disprol is supposed to be a little bit better( at least it looks less fluorescent) but still, do I have the only baby that hates this stuff? Tried some Disprol last night and she looked at me like I was mad and proceeded to manoeuvre all of it back out of her mouth. Gave up this morning and asked the doctor for a prescription for paracetamol suppositories. She didn't think I was totally mad, apparently the French use them too, as do the Germans and the Dutch and probably most other sensible nations. No additives and she didn't even notice when I gave it to her. Easy. Hope she and the wonder husband feel better soon.

Good bye...and Hello!

2011-01-05T10:23:00.001Z

I could try and recap 2010 but really all I remember about it is this: we had a baby and she is awesome! We are having so much fun here in our new little family that I find it hard to post about anything else. But today I am trying the dream up a few things I would like to do in 2011:

go with the flow

the only way to go when you are breastfeeding on demand, leaning firmly towards to whole 'attachment' parenting thing and want to stay sane.

enjoy the moment

who better to teach me that than a baby!?

shift about 5 years worth of weight

so apparently you loose weight easily when breastfeeding, ha, that turned out to be a myth, though it might not help if you eat constantly. In any case it has to change.

explore my hometown

which happens to be London( am I allowed to call it my home town if I wasn't born here, I hope so). Who knows how long I will be able to stay here so I better see it now.
look up more
see previous point, you can discover lovely things by raising your eyes skywards every now and again.

continue to bust the stash

Yarn, fabric, yarn, tools, more yarn. Money is short this year and space is even more difficult to find so the stash has to shrink.
declutter,declutter, declutter
we do not actually have that much stuff(apart from aforementioned stash) mainly because I really have to keep on top of things in this tiny flat but there is always room for improvement.

Reconnect with practice

this time 5 years ago I had just come out of a 4 week silent retreat and had had a wonderful time. Then I met the wonder husband, got married, worked till I dropped and made a baby. Time to find some stillness again I think.

Love...or...time flies when you're sleep deprived...

2010-12-24T17:28:00.002Z

I'm typing this with a sleeping three month old baby attached to my chest( in a baby carrier). How the hell did this happen? She was only born, well about half an hour ago surely?
Thats what it feels like anyhow, and yet I look down and she doesn't need a newborn insert in her sling anymore and she has hair! She spends all day smiling and giggling and practicing her new grabbing and holding on skills. Or discovering her hands: 'Look I have hands Mama, check them out!How come I never noticed them before?Wonder if I can get that whole hand in my mouth? '

And it is simply a joy to watch.If anyone had ever tried to explain to me just how stupefyingly happy this little human would make me I would have thought them crazy. I had no idea...

Happy days

2010-10-20T20:16:00.002+01:00

4 weeks old! Where did the time go?
Filling our days with milky bliss smiles, burps, nappies and lots and lots of happiness! Needless to say no crafting has been done around here. I'm lucky if I manage to have breakfast by noon!

She's here!

2010-09-30T10:23:00.002+01:00

Actually she has been here for a week, she is a delight and we are so happy, even after the marathon 6 hour feeding sessions.

Dear Superhusband,

2010-09-15T12:14:00.001+01:00

Summer is gone...

2010-09-08T16:26:00.002+01:00

Or was it ever here? I don't think so, once again this year it mostly rained. Well, living in England I should not be surprised. As usual I'm a bit disappointed, once you have grown up with hot summers (yes, even in Germany) I suppose its in your blood.
The balcony garden has been quite fruitful this year, lots of peppers and aubergines, chillies, herbs and rhubarb. The tomatoes on the other hand have not been doing so great, I had much better luck with them last year. Maybe it was because I have not been gardening much, hubby got grumpy with me when I wanted to do the watering and so he took over that task(well, when I reminded him anyway), perhaps the tomatoes felt neglected?

I have been knitting a feather and fan shawl for a friend who suffered a pregnancy loss recently, I really want to go and give her a big hug but the last thing I wanted to see last year was a heavily pregnant woman so I think its better if I don't impose myself. And so I knitted her a portable hug instead. No photos yet as its raining again.
2.5 weeks to go now. I couple of days ago I caught sight of my reflection in a window and nearly burst out laughing, my baby belly is huge! I don't have a big mirror at home and looking down on my belly everyday I hadn't noticed quite how big I have become.
The list of names seems to narrow itself down in my head without much thinking about it, or maybe the baby is narrowing them down? Hubby thinks I'm a bit mad because I talk to the baby in my head, maybe I am, but if it can feel when I'm stressed then why should it not get a general idea of what I'm thinking? Seems perfectly reasonable to me. But then I am a little bit strange.

{baby countdown} 3.5 weeks to go

2010-09-02T16:57:00.001+01:00

The bag is packed. We have been to the antenatal class. And the breastfeeding class.And the nappy natter.We have visited the (rather lovely) midwife led Birth Centre. I have written a birth plan( I called it birth preferences though, best laid plans and all that).
We have a car seat( though no car) and everything else a baby might need( and then some). We have a list of potential names.
And so we wait....

Thank God for knitting! I am determined to wrap the poor little baby in as many handspun and handknitted items as possible. I guess I have a window of maybe 18 months before it starts to object and demands to be clad in designer outfits.

Pakistan Flood Relief

2010-08-19T15:49:00.015+01:00

I have been a little surprised that the crafting community has been rather quiet about this issue. Compared to the reaction to the Haiti earthquake at least. I'm sure many people are simply quietly giving to their charity of choice without making an announcement about it but I thought some people might want to combine their donations with a bit of crafting or shopping on the side.

Here are some interesting projects I have found( you need to be on Ravelry for some of these, its free to join but you will spend all you knitting time browsing patterns instead, don't say I didn't warn you!):

Pattern buying:

This thread on Ravelry has several pattern designers who have pledged at least part of the profit from their pattern sales to charities working in Pakistan. There is some nice stuff there, pretty socks, gorgeous shawls and awesome dinosaur mitts to name but a few.

Have you heard of p/hop? It stands for 'pennies per hours of pleasure' and is a charity knitting project that raises funds for the emergency medical aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders(who work in Pakistan). Designers donate patterns to p/hop which you can download and then you make a donation based on how much pleasure you think you will get out of the pattern. Again there are many lovely patterns but I am very partial to this little baby kimono. P/hop also has a Ravelry group.

Raising money in other crafty ways:

For Haiti there was a craft hope etsy shop that was very successful I believe, but it seems to be closed now. My own etsy shop is on a little break right now while I wait for the baby to make an appearance but of course you could always donate some proceeds from your own shop if you have one. For the German speakers out there I have also found a 'your yarn or project for a donation' thread on the 'Wir wollen helfen' ( We want to help) group on Ravelry. You can post your yarn or finished object and add if you have a minimum donation amount in mind and whether you want proof of the donation. The person who wants your goodies then makes the donation and you send them your very precious skein of Wollmeise(or whatever else you would like to donate). I think I will dig through the handspun stash to see if I have anything nice to offer.

Please have a look around the links and treat yourself to some of the wonderful patterns out there or if you have discovered other crafty ways of helping share a link in the comments!

{baby countdown} 6 weeks to go

2010-08-16T18:56:00.001+01:00

SIX weeks! I think I might be getting a tiny bit scared!
Deep breath... 3-2-1 relax...as my Natal hypnotherapy CD tells me. Actually that is the only thing I know it tells me, I have never been able to listen to the whole thing all the way through, usually I'm fast asleep after about 10 minutes. I think there are beaches involved, and waves. Apparently it still works even if you snore through it, I'll report back on that when I have put it to use.
Despite being sucked down the KC wormhole on Ravelry many times last week I still managed to start and finish something!

A tiny baby hat, for our future tiny baby. I used Koigu yarn that I got on sale from Loop a while ago and cast on in multiples of 8, I think I cast on 104 stitches and knit on 2.5mmmm needles. The finished hat measures 5 inches across at the ribbing and 5 inches top to bottom. Which is probably way off and will either fit a doll or a one year old. I just can't get my head around sizing. How big is a newborn? Just trying to figure that out makes my head explode. I think I will take monthly measurements once I have my live model.

In other craft news: I asked hubby to get the loom down from the top of the wardrobe for me last week, and now it is standing there looking at me and I still haven't warped it up. Bad newbie weaver!
I have a ton of things I would like to sew too but again, not much progress.
However, I have discovered an excellent time suck for the sewists(is that even a word/?Please forgive me, I'm foreign) amongst us. As the knitters and spinners and crocheters(and weavers even) have Ravelry, the sewists now have mysewingcircle.com .
Casey and Jess mentioned them in their Rav Talk at Knit Nation recently and I saw a write up in Sew Hip Magazine today. So in the spirit of endless online procrastination I have joined up. I'm lillylane on there too, just like on Ravelry, please come along and say hello.
The site is very new, it just started in February I think and therefore is still quite small but it certainly has great potential. It seems to be modeled on Ravelry, which is no bad thing if you ask me and Casey didn't seem to mind. I have explored a bit and so far the site has a nice clean look to it and it has forums, sewing circles as well as project and stash pages, which are all fairly easy to navigate. The founders have a blog too where they post news,updates and improvements to the site. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Now go along and sign up, you know you want to!

{baby countdown} 7 weeks to go

2010-08-09T18:23:00.001+01:00

The babe seems to alternate between sleeping, doing yoga and playing football(the english kind- soccer to you across the pond) , very cute. My wonderhusband has been nagging me to pack my hospital bag for about 3 months now and I finally saw the wisdom in that last week. So when we had a day of sunshine I washed all the little baby wear we have acquired so far. I have a few newborn and 0-3 months sizes. Now I bet the babe will be the size of my baby brother when he was born(huge!) and will have to go straight to 3-6 months. For the sake of my girly bits, I really hope not. So the hospital bag is making good progress.
What is a flaky, hippy person like me doing giving birth in hospital you ask? Well, the midwives in my area have turned out to be so rubbish that I had to change to a different team which sadly does not cover my area for home births. They are more on the ball though so much preferable to the other lot! I wouldn't have trusted them to turn up for the home birth anyway. Probably would have said they could not find parking.I also managed to get referred to the apparently lovely midwife led birth unit so it will be almost like a home birth. I say 'managed' because I almost didn't get in, they have a rule that your BMI has to be under 35 at the booking appointment. Now I know I'm not exactly slight but at the normal booking time of about 10 weeks I was well under that, but, since my booking with them was at 18 weeks(bit more baby on board by then) I just got through. Note to self: diet before next one.
Knitting news:
I started another baby blanket this week but got bored with it and frogged it. I have lovely green cotton yarn for it, but I think I will weave one.
Instead I made a little nappy wrap:

Yarn: Malabrigo
Pattern: WHW Plain Wrap by Ruth Garcia
Lovely and fast little knit, I see many more in my future.
I aslo started a new grey cardi for myself:

Yarn: New Lanark Aran
Pattern: Cloud Bolero by Ysolda Teague
Not sure about this one yet, its complicated.I don't do well with complicated.
In other news: We had a rainbow! I can't not take picture of rainbows. I love rainbows.

Knit Nation

2010-08-03T13:57:00.000+01:00

Let me confess first before I start gushing about the wonders of Knit Nation:
I bought yarn. Yes that's right, in the middle of trying to bust my stash I bought more yarn. And it gets better(or worse) I bought 6(yes,six) skeins of yarn.
Now in my defence(at least this is what I told the wonder husband when I got home):

It was Wollmeise. Which, really, one could look at as an investment if the figures on eBay are to be believed. Not that I have any intention of selling it.But if we ever run out of food money I could supposedly make a killing. Take that Rowan.
It is very hard to get in real live apparently. Unless you have a very fast computer and even faster reflexes on shop update day or you can think of a legitimate excuse to stop over in Paffenhofen an der Ilm en route to Berlin to visit your family. I'm still trying to come up with one.
I was swept up in a wave of mass hysteria. It can happen you know.
There are people who seem to have spent upwards of £500 at the Wollmeise both. See i'm very restraint really.
It is awefully PRETTY! Just look at that

And here is what I bought:

I was particularly pleased to be able to check out Wild Fibers Magazine. I have always wanted to read it, having seen it advertised in Spin Off. I'm not sure if we can get it in the UK. The 3 copies I got are very interesting, I'm contemplating getting a subscription(educational, does not count as stash enhancement!).
The whole Knit Nation experience was lovely. I was so lucky to have this amazing event take place so close to my front door. People came from all over the UK and even the US and all I had to do was get a cab for 5 minutes! Frankly I don't get much further either these days so it really was the greatest set up for me.
Wheel transportation wasn't a problem either as the wonder husband kindly helped me to get the wheel there and back so all I had to do was sit down and learn. I had a spinning class with Judith MacKenzie McCuin and I'm still in awe. She is the most fantastic teacher! got to play with lots of lovely fibres,including cashmere, silk, yak and bison.

We also learned how to change spinning diameter by simply adjusting the break tension and pulley(whorl) used. It was a revelation:

I can't believe I managed to spin this. I am still spinning up the rest of the samples and will ply them into a 3 ply. I think I might have developed a serious addiction to silk.
I also attended the Ravelry talk where Jess and Casey talked about how they came up with the the whole Ravelry idea and how they developed the site. They really do seem as lovely in real life as they do online and I hope they will run Ravelry until they are very, very old and then hand it over to their children. Or Bob.
The rest of the market place was great too but I had to stick to my self imposed budget so didn't buy anything else.See, I am good really!

{baby countdown} 8 weeks to go

2010-08-02T10:42:00.000+01:00

I finished the first baby blanket today!It was really fun to knit and, as I wove the ends in as I went along, my sanity was saved at the end. I left about 3 cm for each end and threw it into the wash with 3 sheets of colour catcher(maybe I should have left out the red) and a little prayer to the knitting goddesses.

It did come out with the colours pretty much intact and I cut all the ends off once the blanket was dry.

I had an awesome time at Knit Nation last week and have to admit I tripped up when it came to the no yarn buying rule but I will post about that later.

Whew! All(well,almost) stash busted...

2010-07-23T19:58:00.000+01:00

I started the Tour de Fleece with this and here is how far I have got in 3 weeks:

Not bad, even if I say so myself. I guess it helps being laid up at home with a dodgy hip and back. Funnily enough it turns out spinning keeps my legs from swelling up (another joy of pregnancy) and seems to help my hips as long as I sit on a straight back chair. No sprawling on the sofa for me.
The only substantial amount of fibre I have left is some cormo( in the bottom right corner of the top photo), but I'm too lazy to card that up right now. I might try to spindle spin some silk hankies on Sunday for the final day of the tour but I really want to get some knitting done too. Now I just need to get through Knit Nation without restocking the fibre drawer!

{baby countdown} 10 weeks to go

2010-07-22T15:11:00.000+01:00

I had a couple of epiphanies this week. The first was that the baby is due in 10 weeks, the second that it is actually going to come out. Yeah, I know, both seem to be fairly obvious, but not when you have foggy baby brain apparently. I really love the little nudges and kicks I get throughout the day( being kicked in the cervix- not so much!) and I think it will be strange not having a little wriggly baby inside. On the other hand we can't wait to meet the little person and both hubby and myself are grinning like lunatics whenever we spot a baby anywhere.
We still have a few things to get before the big day so I better get organized sharpish.
On the health front I was told I had failed the diabetes screening a couple of weeks ago and had to go for a full Glucose tolerance test today. This basically entails having blood taken on an empty stomach, drinking a bottle of Lucozade within 5 minutes and then having another blood test 2 hours later. I can't believe people drink Lucozade for fun, its gross. I get the results tomorrow. Fingers crossed the first test was a fluke and everything is ok.

Tour de Fleece so far...

2010-07-14T10:35:00.001+01:00

I believe we are on day 12 today and I'm pretty proud of my efforts.
I have been chain plying like mad and it has turned out quite well, love keeping the colour sequences.

Right now I'm working on some alpaca which will be a ply mate for some Wensleydale I finished yesterday.

After that i have another lot of Wensleydale that will become singles and then I can move on to my favourite- hobbledehoy batts!

Slowly, slowly...

2010-07-13T11:51:00.002+01:00

I've been pottering around like I'm about 80 years old as anything more strenuous gives me wicked sciatica/pelvic girdle pain. Oh the joys of pregnancy! Baby is getting quite boisterous in there, I get kicks that make my tummy move(as in, its visible from the outside). It just cracks me up every time it happens, it's so cute.
Thankfully spinning doesn't involve putting weight on my legs and hasn't made the pain worse so I have been able to carry on with the stash busting.

Have worked my way through the Falkland and a couple of braids and am now on to the Wensleydale.
No more baby knits at the moment, still working on the blanket.

The Great Stash Bust 2010

2010-06-25T13:19:00.005+01:00

Well, at least that is what I hope it will be known as, once I'm done with it.Compared to some people on Ravelry I have a minute stash, but then I also live in a minute home. Which I share with my husband and very soon our baby. Naturally something had to give. My mother's philosophy would be to keep everything and buy more storage furniture, she has a whole room full of clothes, most not worn since 1990. Needless to say,I do not want to go down that road!
So, for the last month I have been organising and planning. The only thing we did buy was a smallish wardrobe because so far we just had a rail for our clothes(yes, I may be over 30 but I still live like a student). The wonder husband put it together all by himself (with me halfheartedly holding the odd piece of wood, its not like he would let me lift anything) and it is working very well.
Books have been culled and shelves moved around, the kitchen has been turned up side down and rearranged and we are ever so slowly getting somewhere.But the biggest problem is still the stash.There is yarn and fibre and fabric and assorted tools everywhere. And of course there is the constant temptation to buy more. Loop has just moved to bigger premises and the John Lewis sale starts tomorrow. This is really not helping!
Consequently I have had to make several promises to myself:
1. All projects in the future must be made from stash until all yarn(bought and handspun) fits into one drawer.
2. No fibre is to be purchased at all until all present fibre is spun up.
3. Any fabric is to be bought only for a specific project and to be used up straight away.
4. Patterns and necessary notions are allowed.
phew...
Thankfully there is a baby to craft for so projects are not hard to come by:
Pattern: Bombay Love by Rima Aranha
Yarn: Mission Falls Cotton
Notes: This pattern is lovely and super easy. I see a few more of these is baby's future. Not sure about the yarn, I think its a little too thick for this pattern but we will see how it works for the baby. Need to finish off the closure, not sure whether to go for a button or just ties yet.

Pattern: Baby kimono wrap by Susanne Visch
Yarn: Sock yarn bought at All the fun of the Fair awhile ago, lost the ball band so no idea what kind of sock yarn it is, sorry!
Notes: Also very easy to make and the thin yarn gives it a nice drape.

Pattern:Pebble (Henry's Manly Cobblestone-Inspired Baby Vest) by Nikol Lohr
Yarn: A little bit of Rowan Pure Wool Aran and my own handspun.
Notes: So cute, I have to make more of these, took only a day to make and the pattern was so easy to follow(I'm not great with patterns).Need to find some nice buttons for it.

And I am proud to report all where made from stash yarn only!

Growing... gardens, bumps and handmade projects

2010-06-13T18:23:00.002+01:00

I made this little bouquet from balcony cuttings this week, I don't have many flowers out there so I added in some mangetout, mint and an onion flower(not smelly at all). Free indoor summery magic. And here is a look at the outdoor magic:

The tomatoes are making slow progress this year but the strawberries have gone wild.

Add some herbs and mangetout and the balcony is beginning to look very tasty.

My bump is getting quite impressive! I must get the wonderhusband to take a picture of it while I still have it.Now that I'm past 24 weeks I have started to look at baby projects. I have a a lot of yarn and not much room, I need more room and the baby will need clothes so, logically,the stash knit down has begun. It will also be a crochet and weave down and, if I have enough patience, a sew down too.
I started a stripey cotton blanket:

and plan to line it with a pretty brushed cotton maybe. Here is the pattern inspiration: Wild Stripes .
In other baby news all seems to be well, lots of kicks and nudges and I'm much happier since I changed hospitals, the new midwives I have met so far have been awesome. I'm still debating whether to get a doula or not. I totally see the benefit of one but it is bloody expensive. And to top it off the one we had an appointment with yesterday cancelled at the last minute and hasn't bothered to call me back to reschedule. Not impressed. Maybe its a sign that we don't need one, and who knows, we may even have a nice midwife(fingers and toes crossed)!

Hot feet and honeysuckle

2010-05-21T18:05:00.001+01:00

We have had a lovely couple of days, warm and sunny but not really too hot. This pregnant body of mine has its own little heater inside though so I have had to spend today on the couch in front of the fan, with a wet towel over my feet. Summer is going to be interesting!
I started doing my pregnancy yoga today. I had been planning to go to a class but sadly with shift work and bosses who are not exactly flexible I had to give up on that until I get maternity leave. Instead I ordered the Pregnancy Health Yoga DVD by Tara Lee. It felt so wonderful to stretch and release, I don't know why i have been putting it off for so long. I used to do a little bit of yoga, and while i never could stand on my head or do a proper bridge pose I like to think I was fairly flexible.
The balcony garden has really benefitted from the nice weather. Everything has shot up and the radishes I sowed last week are coming up. The honeysuckle is in full bloom and the tomatoes are coming along nicely. Hubby won't let me wield my watering can anymore, 'too heavy' he says, even if I only fill it up to a third. But he does all the watering for me and I am 'allowed' to go out with a 1 litre jug. Bless him.

Rag rugs and rhubarb

2010-05-17T17:06:00.002+01:00

Its been lovely to read all your wonderful comments on my last post.Thank you so much for all the kind wishes!
In the last few weeks I have started to de-clutter the flat, making room for the baby I guess, as we live in a very tiny place.I have dragged several bags of clothes to the charity shop already but I had also sorted out a large pile of old T-shirts and cotton scarves. I was planning to make rug out of them for a while and finally started on it last week. I first tried a braided rug but lost patience with it, it takes a long time! So I moved on the plan B and dug out my largest crochet hook. I can't say I put much thought into the rug, just went ahead and striped away randomly.And here we have my new kitchen rug:

There is a great tutorial on the Vintage Chica blog if you want to have a go yourself.
I have got all the things in that I want to grow on the balcony this year. I have 2 tomato plants, a chilli , a sweet pepper plant, an aubergine, some mangetout, herbs, a strawberry from last year, and I have sown some purple radishes and lambs lettuce. The random experiment this year was a rhubarb plant which seems to be doing really well, I think I will get my first harvest of it this week.All round yummyness.Hubby has banned me from watering the plants with anything bigger than a 2 litre jug(not allowed to lift anything heavy etc.) which makes it a bit slow but I just love pottering around out there in the morning.

My latest(and best) WIP

2010-05-11T19:55:00.001+01:00

It's been a little quiet round here lately. And here you see the reason why.

I'm pregnant again! I have kept the news to myself for a long time since I have been quite anxious about the whole thing after last year. Today we had our 20 week scan though and all seems to be fine so I thought it was time to start the baby swooning publicly. We choose not to find out if its a boy or girl, seems more fun that way and avoids the whole blue/pink thing.What is with that anyway, I was looking at those little blankie things online today and it seems you can get them only in either blue or pink. Silly. I see much gender neutral crafting in my future.

Welcome Spring!

2010-03-03T17:11:00.002Z

Well, I know its not strictly speaking spring yet, but after basking in beautiful sunshine for the last two days I decided spring begins now. At least on this blog. Never mind that today was cold and grey again. I'm turning a blind eye to this miserable winter.
I have begun planning the balcony garden in the back of my mind. I will have to change some of the planters this year as they are falling apart. In their defence they weren't designed to be planters. They were the plastic boxes I used to move a lot of my stuff when I moved into this place. I had no storage space to keep them and it seemed a shame to throw them away,so I knocked some holes in the bottom and grew flowers and veg in them. Unfortunately after 3 years of this they are giving up and bits keep breaking off them all the time. So they will have to go. I want to keep growing herbs as they are easy and grow well. Except for coriander, Don't get me started on the coriander!(I think its called cilantro in the States)
Tomatoes grow really well too, so I will have some of those.I have also had success with pak choi. Other than that I have not had much luck with aubergines(eggplant) and peppers last year, mainly due to the lack of sunshine. The ones I did get were yummy though so I think I will have another try at them anyway.
And I want more flowers too.
Looks like I will need a lot of planters!

What is your favourite thing to grow in your garden or on your balcony or windowsill?

Oh Pretty!

2010-02-25T18:16:00.003Z

I think I will start a weekly(more or less) column of pretty things I either own or have spotted elsewhere that make me smile. Because,as they say, if you smile the world smiles with you!
To start things off here is a beautiful print I got for Christmas last year. It hangs in my living room and is the first thing I see when I walk through the door. Whenever I look around for new art I seem to be fixated on trees. I think its because I grew up in the country and I loved to climb trees and sit up on a branch reading a book and hiding from the world. I talked to them too.(I'm strange like that). So when I saw this print on Etsy I was smitten.

Its by Erin McNulty whose shop 'erinjane illustrations' sells beautiful and inspiring art prints. I love the clean lines and fresh colours of her work.And, as an added bonus, lots of them feature trees! :)
I think this one would be a lovely reminder to be open and generous. In a workspace perhaps?

And I adore this custom family tree, I think we really need to get going with the family thing.I want a family tree of my own!

Please check out Erin's shop and visit her blog to find out more about her wonderful work!

blog inspiration

2010-02-24T11:57:00.001Z

...otherwise known as a selection of things I love and can't stop talking about or: homework(a tad late!)
I could have just taken a snap of a big pile of fibre and yarn but I restrained myself and kept the spinning and knitting related stuff to the edges. The pile of fabrics is for sewing related crafts, the doilies and easter egg relate to vintage inspired purchases(etsy or otherwise) and the business cards and the small corner of a Selvedge magazine at the top represent craft and blog related connections with other artists/crafters/makers. I also threw in a picture of a buddhist stupa because it reminds me of times in India and past travels in general.

Where did the last 4 weeks go?!

2010-02-22T18:54:00.001Z

Wow, the last month has just been a blur. I signed up to the 'Blogging your way' e-class thinking I would have plenty of time to keep up with it and then my life went just a little bit mad.In a good way, really, but still I have had to totally neglect the class, the blog, the shop and any crafty projects. I haven't even been to my weaving class for a month.
Last weekend the wonder husband and I got married in Church.His idea really, but as we never had a proper wedding in the first place(read this if you want to know why not to get married in India) I agreed to skip along to the Church and do it all again. We were joined by wonderful family and friends and after lots of cake and wine at home took them all to our favourite local Indian restaurant 'Seasoning', which serves the best Indian food I have ever had outside of India.
The whole celebration was very low key but we all had a fantastic day filled with joy and laughter. In fact I think we might just get married about every three years from now on!
Now that the washing up is done, and our family has gone, I can go back to my usual routine of crafty pursuits and try to catch p with Holly's fantastic class. In the meantime I will leave you with a view of my wedding flowers. I raided the flower aisle at Waitrose on the morning of the wedding and bound the bouquet myself(told you it was low key!), I did throw it for the ladies after the ceremony and was very pleased with who managed to catch it. I hope I can skip along to her wedding soon!

Craft Hope Update

2010-01-27T20:31:00.001Z

The Craft Hope Etsy store has sold 1541 items and raised over $27,000 towards the Haiti relief efforts of Doctors without Borders!And of course it is still in business, so click on over to the store and buy something! I was very pleased to see my yarn sell fast and have shipped it to the lovely buyer, hope she enjoys it!

Rainy days...

2010-01-25T13:25:00.007Z

I'm getting a little bored with the cold and damp these days, I really miss the sun.

To entertain myself I have started a couple of exciting projects. The first you may have already spotted in the sidebar. I'm a student on 'Blogging your way', an e-course by Holly Becker of Decor8 and Leslie Shewring of A Creative Mint. While I don't expect fame and riches from blogging I do want to make this a more interesting and most of all more regular blog. I love sharing my crafty projects and photos and spend far too much of my day reading other blogs. I figured if am going to be a part of the blogging community I may as well scrub up and but my best foot forward. I can't promise that I will never whinge about my day job again though!

The second project is in the planning phase. I few weeks ago I discovered the Open College of the Arts. It's kind of like the Open University but with a focus on creative arts. They offer courses in art history, creative writing, fine art, music, photography and best of all, textiles! You can do just one course or collect enough credits to give you a creative arts degree at the end. And you can study from anywhere in the world.Perfect!

I am going the sign up for the level 1 textiles course. If I am going to go for a whole degree eventually my main focus would be textiles, so I thought it best to try out a textiles course first.

I will keep you up to date with my progress!

Craft Hope for Haiti

2010-01-17T07:59:00.005Z

I have been working night shifts these last few days and hadn't seen much of the TV coverage about the devastating earth quake in Haiti. Nowthat I'm back in the world of daylight I felt the need to do some thing, as small as it may be, to help. I came across Craft Hope who are running an etsy shop to fund raise for Doctors without Borders. I have send them the details of one of my yarns for a listing, I hope it will sell fast. If you already are an etsy seller or a crafter/maker please consider donating an item to the shop and if you aren't please take a look at the shop and become a buyer!
Of course you can also join me in going down the 'traditional' route of helping and make a donation to one of the many organisations working in the area right now. Medecins sans Frontieres(also know as Doctors without Borders) and the Red Cross are the first to come to my mind but the Huffington Post has a list of other organizations too.

Snowday!

2010-01-13T17:02:00.006Z

Woke up to more snow this morning. A sprinkling really but everything looked so pretty.After breakfast I put on the handknits and the sensible foot wear and headed out for a walk. I would have preferred a pretty German forest but Brompton Cemetery is the nearest thing I have round here. The snow crunching under foot and the animal tracks in the powdery snow made it almost as good though.
And here are the previously mentioned hand knits that kept me cosy on my walk.
They are the first two results of my commitment to improve my knitting skills this year. Cables and lace(with aran weight yarn but still...I had to start somewhere).

The cowl is 'Crofter's cowl' and the hat is the 'Star crossed slouchy beret'. Lovely patterns both and very easy to follow. The beret turned out a little small, well, not very slouchy at least, but I love it. I seem to have a deadly fear of making hats too big and always end up making them slightly too short.The cowl turned out great and I love the colourway , its Malabrigo in Amaroso.

Mrs Moon

2010-01-12T17:45:00.005Z

This year I have made a (sort of unofficial) resolution not to increase the stash. I can still get yarn, but only if it is for an actual project and only for one project at a time. And, at least every other project must use yarn from the current stash. I forgot to make a rule about tools though, so when I cast on for the 'King of Confidence' cardigan from the current Knitty(it uses handspun yarn!) I didn't have the right needles.I could have gone to any yarn shop and got the right size needle for relatively little money.Instead I decided I really should just bite the bullet and get an interchangeable needle set.Cheaper in the long run, I told myself(actually true I suppose, if I look very far into the knitting future). I did a bit of research and settled on the metal Knitpro needles.
Now, where to get them? Iknit has the wooden ones and seemed to be out of stock, Loop also stocks the wooden needles and had stock but also stocks cascade yarn in lovely colours and I didn't trust myself not to walk out with an armful of yarn in addition to the needles.I checked my new LYS Mrs Moon, who stock Knitpro but don't say which type on their website. I supppose I could have called them but where is the adventure in that!? So off I went towards Richmond in the freezing cold.They still had some snow down there too.
The shop is about a 20 minute walk (or a short bus ride) from Richmond tube station and is rather lovely. It is named after this poem:
Mrs Moon
sitting up in the sky
little old lady
rock-a-bye
with a ball of fading light
and silvery needles
knitting the night
(Roger Mcgough)

Which just adds to the loveliness, a yarn store named after a poem, all they need now is an attached cakeshop and it would be perfection!
They have a nice selection of yarns, including Fibrespates(yummy), lots of books, Some fabric(Amy Butler I think) and lots of pretty buttons and ribbons (and liberty print bias binding!Some of that might have come home with me.) No metal Knitpro interchangeables though.They did have the wooden ones and also an acrylic set in different colours.The assistant kindle let me have a fondle of the acrylic ones. I didn't like the feel of the surface much so I finally settles on the wooden ones. They also had Addi bamboo circulars, straight Knitpro needles and Prym needles as far as I could see. I will try to get some pictures of the goodies and my recent knitting tomorrow(the light is so awful these days, I feel like I'm living in the arctic circle). In the meantime, Mrs Moon is well worth a visit!

Frosty

2010-01-05T22:02:00.003Z

Its cold!

New hope

2010-01-04T19:35:00.004Z

I'm not looking back on 2009 with much joy. It was hard, it was sad and I'm glad it's done. The challenges we have faced together have made me love the wonder husband even more(if that is possible) and I am immensely grateful to have found such a beautiful soul to share my life with. He really is the most amazing, kind and thoughtful person.I am a very lucky girl.
I am looking forward to 2010 with new hope and optimism.I have a few exciting plans lined up and look forward to more peace and happiness.

Frohe Weihnachten!

2009-12-24T23:16:00.004Z

Merry Christmas! Hope you have a wonderful day filled with love and happiness!

Handmade connections

2009-12-23T20:45:00.010Z

I while ago a customer,the lovely Laurie, contacted me on Etsy because she wanted a specific amount of one of my core spun yarns. No problem, I set up a custom order for her and off went the yarn across the pond.Because I am a curious soul( or a nosy old so and so, depending on how you look at it) I asked her what she was planning to use the yarn for.Turns out she creates one of a kind art dolls, accessories and wigs and was planning to use the yarn for making doll hair! How exciting, I love finding out what customers use my yarn for.Even better, Laurie kindly sent me pictures of the finished creations:

Aren't they beautiful! Go check out Laurie's website and gallery, she extremely talented and there are many more amazing dolls to admire!
Knowing that my yarn is being used the fuel other's creativity makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!Now back to the spinning wheel...

Weaving round up

2009-12-09T18:53:00.007Z

Last week was the last session of my weaving class for this year so I thought it was time for a little weaving round up.

The class has been really interesting. Most of the students have been going for years and work on their own projects but there is one other new student apart from myself. The class is called 'Spinning and Weaving' but most people do weaving and we both wanted to concentrate on that too, so Jan, our lovely teacher, set us to work on a twill sampler using rug yarn on a 4 shaft table loom. Its not exactly a master piece!

The second pattern from the right was my favourite.

I have to admit I have trouble visualising how it all works but the patterns we produced were fascinating.Now I just have to work out how to do it again, on my own. That may take a few years.

Our next project is going to be a double weave sampler.

We did the warp last week(above) but spend most of last week's session eating cake and cheese sticks with hummus and reading weaving magazines.

In the meantime I really needed something to weave on at home(Yes, I really needed it.Needed, I tell you!). A table loom was, well, off the table. Too far over my budget and I have no room left to put anything anywhere. After some research on the Ravelry boards I ordered a 24" Kromski Harp Rigid Heddle Loom from Wingham Woolworks.Its within my budget, its easy to use, it doubles as a warping board and it folds! What more could a baby weaver want?

For my first project I warped it up using some cheap(but nice) sock yarn I got in Germany in September and then used the same yarn for the weft. The varigation in the yarn made some nice patterns and it turned into a rather lovely scarf. Its 17cm wide and 190 cm long.It was a bit longer but I had to unpick the first few inches of the scarf as the selvedges were just too embarrassing!

The scarf will be granddads second Christmas present.

I actually twisted the fringe but forgot to get a picture of that before I wrapped it up!

Corespun goodness

2009-11-13T22:34:00.004Z

I love core spinning. I use crochet cotton for the core and I can never remember whether to spin it clockwise of counter clockwise until I start and test it out.I never remember when if the clocks go forwards or backwards either. My brain just doesn't work that way.

umpf...

2009-11-11T15:57:00.005Z

Its raining and I have been sleepy all day.

And now at 4pm its getting dark. Can't get used to this at all.

I have a week and a half of leave left. Must use it at least sort of constructively.

Things that will need to be done:

~~Clear up the balcony garden.~~ Pretty much done, just in time for torrential downpours and galeforce winds.

Finish up Xmas projects.

~~Purchase Rigid Heddle Loom.~~ Coming on Monday!

List yarns in the shop.

Buy some winter shoes.

Go on a couple of day trips.

There, since its written down it must be done now.

Now back to the sofa to knit in my PJs and listen to 'The girl with the dragon tattoo' on Audible.

But first I have to switch on the lights.

Berlin Wall

2009-11-09T15:23:00.005Z

A thread on the Ravelry forums just reminded me that today is the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.The OP asked where people were when the wall came down. It seems I was the first East German to answer, hm, we need more East Germans on Ravelry!I do recall seeing things on TV but sadly I can't remember anything specific.I was 12. I can't believe it has been 20 years, makes me feel very old.

I was very happy when we didn't have to go to school on a Saturday anymore(that came a few weeks later).

Somehow I don't think I was particularly surprised about the fall of the wall, even when I was small I remember thinking that it could not go on like this, locked away from the rest of the world.Somehow I was always convinced I would not be stuck there my whole life.

Since then I have been round the world once, been to lots of countries, got married in India, been living in the UK for a long time, got two degrees(both useless, but still).

Had the wall not come down I suspect I would be milking cows on the local community farm.That is not a joke, I would most likely not have been allowed to go to university(regardless of my grades) and decide my own fate because no one in my family, including my mother who was a primary school teacher, was a member of the party(there was only one party).It wasn't that they were particularly rebellious, they most definitely weren't.Actually I don't know why my mum wasn't in the party, I must ask her. Lack of party membership most definitely closed a number of doors.

So thank you to all the people who risked imprisonment and went to peacefully demonstrate on the streets of Leipzig and other East German towns, and thank you to the people who left everything behind and fled the country via Hungary and Czechoslovakia in their thousands. They ultimately forced the government to it's knees and brought down the wall so that I can think what I want and go anywhere I please. Thank you. I am very grateful for that.

Family knitting

2009-11-09T12:09:00.004Z

I like knitting for other people. There, I've said it.

But(there is always a but) with reservations. Only if they are at least mildly appreciative of handmade things and hand work in general(or at least pretend to be).That leaves me with two friends(one boy and one girl) and my family.The rest of my friends are of the 'but you can get it cheaper in Primark' type and therefore not worthy of yarny magic.

The first autumn knit of every year is the wonderhusband's winter hat. seeing that he lost his first one at the end of the winter I admit I didn't go all out with last year's hat. It was a bit boring.But he managed to get it through the winter so this year I made a bit of an effort.

Turn a Square in Rowan pure wool aran and handspun(!) stripes. He better take good care of this one.

Next comes the Christmas knitting.Since I picked up needles and hook my poor family has been abundantly blessed with handmade gifts.They haven't complained yet.The last person in our family to have any interest(and ability) in knitting and the like was my grandmother. My family treat my own recent knitting revival with a kind of awe, it seems they think I'm channeling my grandmother(wouldn't mind that one bit).

My first christmas project this year is a pair of socks for my granddad. My granddad is a farmer, well, was a farmer, he only has some chickens now. No frilly fussy socks for him. Only a sturdy pair will do.

Which is just as well, as my ability to knit frilly fussy socks is severely limited.

Silver's sock class, one 6ply and one 4ply sockyarn held together, makes fat cosy socks.

When I was little we used to have sheep and the fleece would get sold to some mysterious place in the next town and sometimes they would get back some yarn(along with payment I suppose). This was pretty rough stuff, about aran weight to bulky and in the grease(I think). It would invariable to turned into sturdy socks by my grandma. My granddad still has some of them. Next time I'm home I will have to take pictures for historical research.

I have to admit knitting this pair of socks made me very happy, not sure why, but I always caught myself smiling while knitting away. I think its because I know my granddad can put these on on a cold January morning(and Germany gets cold!) and go feed the chickens with warm cosy feet. And partly its because I'm channeling my grandmother. And that just gives me the warm fuzzies. :)

It has been getting a little cold round here...

2009-11-05T16:29:00.004Z

Our home is fairly new and very well insulated( I swear we would suffocate in here if we didn't open the windows once in a while) and hubby gives off enough warmth to heat a draughty old Victorian mansion. But I still felt there was something missing in my life, something with a little extra heat. So I finally got a hot water bottle for the first time at age 32.

I think they are a very English thing, it seems most English people spent their formative years near hot water bottles. I, however, do not recall ever having one. I think its because I'm German and we have...well, decent central heating and properly insulated houses(and mixer taps, but that is another story!Don't get me started on the mixer taps.).

I had this one for a couple of weeks before I decided a needed to make it a cover and, as I'm trying to use up things I have at the moment, I picked up half of a knitted pillow case(my first knitting project) and put it through the washing machine once to felt it a little bit. It came at just double the width of the bottle so I simply folded it over, sewed up the side and the top(leaving an opening for the neck of the bottle) turned it inside out and folded over the bottom. The edges looked a bit untidy so I made a scalloped crochet border with some matching Noro left overs and finally added some pretty buttons to the bottom of the cover. Snugly warmth guaranteed in less than half an hour!

Mouse mat!

2009-11-03T16:46:00.003Z

I loved 'Handmade Home' when I finally got it in the post and I picked the bath mat(page 57) as my first project from the book. After that I decided there needed to be more mats in my house and last week I got round to making the mouse mat(page 113).

I only left it so long because I had to go to John Lewis to get some iron-on interfacing.Once I had picked some up the rest was quite easy to make, even for 'me of zero sewing skill'.

The plain fabric is a natural linen and the flower fabric is a japanese cotton I picked up at the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace last month. The stall was Euro Japan Links and they have a website too where they sell lots of lovely japanese fabrics and sashiko supplies.

I used 4 layers of interfacing, rather than the two recommended in the book. With the interfacing I used 2 layers felt a little flimsy. The mat works really well and I love looking at the pretty fabric every day.

Productivity surge...

2009-10-30T11:48:00.003Z

...a rare thing round these parts. I usually do a lot more planning/ thinking/dreaming about projects than actually doing them. Some might call it procrastinating.I prefer to call it creative pondering.

So, much to my surprise, yesterday I managed to complete 3 lovely projects that I had been 'pondering' over for a while.

First: The ironing board cover.

Mine had become a bit ratty and not very nice at all really and something needed to be done about it. I wish that I could actually do something about it on the day I make these decisions, but no, I had to mull it over for several weeks.I even went to John Lewis and inspected the Laundry section for Ironing boards and covers.There I discovered that my ironing board compares to John Lewis ironing boards as a rowing boat would compare to the Titanic. I have slept in beds smaller than those ironing boards.People who shop in John Lewis must have very big cupboards.

Here is what I finally decided to do(in my muddled, roundabout way):

I striped the cover down and washed the foam padding.
the old cover was elasticated so impossible(or at least annoying) to measure, so it went in the bin
I measured the length and width of the frame and added a generous seam allowance(cause my sewing skills are rubbish)
I marked a rectangle that size on my chosen fabric(Ikea, upholstery weight), said a little prayer to the sewing goddess and cut it
Placed the fabric on the ironing board, I rounded off the edges at the front where the board tapers down by cutting some more
then, with the fabric still on the ironing board I folded and pinned the edges all around
I only folded them once because I'm lazy and figured 'Hey, who is ever going to see the bottom of my ironing board anyway!?'...I know, that's bad, I'm sorry....
then I stared at it for a couple of days while I did other things(this is optional if you are not a procrastinator)
yesterday I finally caved and got to work
I picked a sturdy cotton yarn and and placed it inside the hem, starting in the middle of one of the long sides of the cover, I used a tapestry needle and threaded it behind the pins
I cut a small hole in the hem and threaded the two ends of the yarn through
then I sewed all around the hem taking care not to sew over the yarn
the yarn is now trapped in the hem, making a drawstring
placed the cover back on the board
pulled and adjusted everything to where I wanted it and pulled the drawstring tight
I asked hubby to put his finger on the knot so I could make a pretty tight bow( and so he would feel like he contributed ;)
tadaa, ready to iron once again!

It occured to me while I was typing this that I also could have used the foam as a template, but it was in the washing machine at the time. Out of sight, out of mind...

Showing off the other two projects will have to wait until tomorrow, I'm off to have a little snooze, I'm working tonight.

Autumn walk

2009-10-29T18:27:00.004Z

I live right in the middle between Brompton and Fulham Cemetery. They are also my nearest green spaces, so I usually end up going for a walk in one of them.Yesterday was a beautiful autumn day so I went out to take some photos.

Today I had some kind of productivity surge(that does not happen often!) and re-covered my ironing board, made a cover for my hot water bottle and made the mouse mat from 'Handmade Home'. Unfortunately it is dark now so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to take decent pictures.

More finished loveliness...

2009-10-19T12:16:00.004+01:00

First up a lovely and simple project from 'Handmade Home' by Amanda Blake Soule, author of the beautiful Soule Mama blog:

The bath mat:

The pattern calls for towel stripes to be added to the front but I didn't have another towel that would be good for this so I skipped that step.The fabric on the front is by Anna Maria Horner. I love it much more than the IKEA Bathmat I had before, it feels lovely to step on and dries very well .The book is wonderful, I highly recommend it. I think I'll make the mouse mat next.

Secondly:

I have a meditation mat and 2 cushions sitting next to the sofa. They serve mostly for extra seating when we have visitors these days and not so much for meditating on( my practice is sadly lacking).

One of the cushions is orange and the other one (plus the mat) is black. Very boring and they don't blend in very well.So I have started to spruce them up a little.Here is the first cushion(the formerly back one):

Its a simple circular piece of double crochet with a drawstring closure on the back(so I can take it off and wash it). The flowers are made from yummy malabrigo yarn.

Small (almost) finished projects

2009-10-17T11:19:00.005+01:00

My sister in law is having a baby, sometime in November we think. They don't seem so big on due dates in India.Anyway, I have been making a little something for baby:

First up, a hat:

Hubby was insisting I should make a wooly hat.

'Really?For a baby living in Goa? It's kinda hot there.' I said. 'Never mind that, we feel the cold more than you frosty Germans!' Hm, he has a point there,I find it rather amusing to see Goans bundled up in Parkas and balaclavas(no , really!) , usually in the early morning when it's (to me) a balmy 22 degrees C, but that obviously qualifies for winter in Goa. So the baby gets a wooly hat and I hope won't get heat stroke in it. The pattern is from 'Last minute knitted gifts' and you can find it here on Ravelry.

Next up: a jumper( or sweater as my American friends might call it)

I put my foot down and made this out of cotton, Mirasol organic cotton to be precise.It is not finished yet, I'll add a border and ties once baby has arrived and we know if it's a boy or girl.

Pattern is the Baby kimono wrap on Ravelry. Supereasy to make!

I'm thinking of making a tiny pair of socks too, just need to find a pattern.

Knitting and Stitching Show

2009-10-12T12:48:00.004+01:00

...or..How to bankrupt yourself in less than 5 hours!

Set a budget...they said.

Take cash... they said.

Hm...nobody said anything about leaving your cards at home in case you leave your self control at the door, did they?!

And so it came to be that I have to eat baked beans for the rest of the year. Well, at least for the rest of the month. Luckily I had only Thursday morning to attend the show, since I had to work night shifts from that evening. I was in by 10:30 and out by 14:00 and still managed to spend shocking sums of money!

The good:

The bad: All the 'No photography' signs! Ok, I guess you have to protect against copying but really, you go to all the effort of making amazing pieces of textile art and exhibiting them to the public but you don't want anyone to take a picture? Honestly I have no hope in hell of ever reproducing the fantastic pieces on show(nor would I want to), all I want to do is take some pics and show them to others and say 'Wow, did you see that?Isn't that amazing work!?'

Instead I marvelled at the beauty and didn't get any pictures and felt a bit disappointed.

The ugly: my bank balance!

Treasury!

2009-09-28T19:37:00.001+01:00

Just found my yarn in a treasury. Lovely surprise!

Autumn Excitement

2009-09-28T08:13:00.009+01:00

Before I start going on about what I did last week I must announce that I love these shoes. I might just have to wear them with wooly socks all winter.

Now on to other news...

Last week I started a weaving class! I had been looking for a textile or weaving class all summer. At first I thought the City Lit or Mary Ward Centres may be an option, as their textile courses seemed to incorporate some weaving last year. However, when I looked at the classes they offered this year I was a bit disappointed. Mary Ward seems to have gone big on felting(which is also great , don't get me wrong) and the description of the City Lit textile course were so wordy and esoteric I wasn't really sure what they are actually teaching. I mean 'using a variety of techniques using stitch and mixed media, collage and drawing, investigating and exploring textile surfaces and imagery' sounds all very lovely but I want to learn how to weave!Anyway, I finally found a class at Kingston Adult Education entitled ' Spinning and Weaving' , see now that I can understand! When I phoned them I was told they only had one space left so I grabbed it fast.

I had lunch in this lovely little park before I went to the class, they had just cut the grass and the smell of the hay was wonderful.

There is only one other new student in my class, the others have been going for years. Everybody works on their own projects and gets help from the tutor when needed. They are all producing very beautiful work.The tutor asked me what I wanted to concentrate on and I said weaving, as my spinning is fairly decent and I can experiment with it at home(though I do want to learn long draw one day).So weaving it is going to be. We are making a twill sampler and made the warp for it last week.This week we will actually put it one the loom.The mind boggles.

And on the way home I found these. I love getting a hint of nature in the city.

Home

2009-09-25T11:42:00.002+01:00

At the beginning of September I went home to Germany for 4 days. I had had a really awful week at work before and spent a fortune on a last minute flight in a fit of misery and self pity.

Here is a representation of the proverbial cross roads I have been dithering at for months now, unable to decide in which direction I am going to take my life.

There was a picnic and cheesecake in the forest.That is my mum in charge of the cake, and my grandparents resting on the boot of the car.
There was lots of pretty heather.(is that the correct name in English? It's Heidekraut in German.)
Green fields bathed in golden sun.
Lakes with families of swans.

Who would have guessed East Germany was so pretty?!Well, I knew but then I grew up there. I will have to come to some decisions before the end of the year. Things can not go on like this.

A slightly mad FO

2009-09-21T12:09:00.003+01:00

My mum just set up her own little day care place and I decided to make her a yarny something for the walls. I wanted to use some of my handspun and sort of embroider/ appliqué a picture along the lines of a child's drawing. I used Aida embroidery fabric( the biggest size in John Lewis, I think its about 40cm by 60cm) for the base and went a bit mad with the stash and various leftover yarn bits. Here is the finished product:

The grass and the butterfly are from a cushion cover I knit with Noro Kuryon and then felted and cut up. The tree is crocheted with left over sockyarn. The pink flowers are from a scarf I bought ages ago and felted. The other flowers are crocheted and the leaves and stems are embroidered with yarn that I had left after plying handspun. There is also some commercial yarn in there and the leaves on the tree and the polkadot butterfly are fabric remnants.

I attached some plain fabric to the back and added 4 loops for hanging to the top(made from yellow bias tape).

Ripple blanket love...

2009-09-15T10:32:00.004+01:00

I have been feeling the crafty love over on Ravelry, Flickr and Craftster since completing my ripple blanket and showing it to the world.

And it does look super cute slung over the back of the sofa.

The pattern is from Vintage Crochet.

If you ever make one, weave in the ends as you go! It saves you looking at hundreds of them in despair at the end(ask me how I know).

Someone commented on Ravelry that some of the ends came out after they washed theirs, I have to admit I haven't washed this yet. I can imagine that would happen though, as the cotton is rather slippery. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it I guess...

Peru and back again... and there are presents!

2009-09-02T22:22:00.006+01:00

My lovely friend A recently returned from a year in Peru. She spent nine months volunteering at an orphanage and another three months travelling all over South America. Last week we had a party for her and she told us some of her fantastic stories.There was mention of robberies,creepy psychopaths and Ayahuasca. Lets just say I prefer my holidays a little more sedate.

Still, on her last big trip she walked into a minefield(and out again) so we are used to these kind of escapades and extremely grateful to the army of guardian angels she is clearly keeping busy out there somewhere.

She brought me back some amazing presents:

This fantastic handspun, handdyed and handknit hat from Peru! It has alpacas on it! Could it be any more perfect?! Given my propensity to make hats disappear, I think I will have to frame it.

And this adorable little bowl with lid.The carvings depict the story of marriage, and erm, it's got alpacas on it... I have a one track mind, forgive me. I love love love them both!

growing and growing...

2009-08-21T17:36:00.005+01:00

I love my little balcony gardening project.

Its not exactly a stepping stone to self sufficiency, the plants, seeds and compost easily add up to more than I save by harvesting a few veggies. But it's so much fun! Getting up at 7am and pottering around watering everything and pulling a few weeds here and there, its just so peaceful and calming.

Joy!

2009-08-14T11:36:00.004+01:00

This has to be the best wedding video ever. And for the record it isn't me, but oh do I wish it was....

Bloody genious!I can't stop smiling after watching it.

I just found out that the couple have set up a website to collect donations for the Sheila Wellstone Institute, an organisation dedicated to end domestic violence.Now I love them even more. I hope they have a very long and happy life together.