Tagged!

I've been tagged by Marja, so here goes:

1. If a movie was being made of your life who would you like to be cast to play yourself? And why?

Meg Ryan, simply because she is my favourite actress.

2. You are spending a whole month on a desert island for charity and you have to choose your favourite celebrity to spend the first two weeks with & your least favourite celebrity to spend the second two weeks with, who would they be & why?

God this is a hard one! I don't have a favourite celebrity! But to answer the question, I'll go for Chris Evans as he would keep me entertained for the first two weeks. Least favouritie celebrity is much easier, I have lots of those, but as she is news worthy at the moment I'll go for Heather Mills. And no I am not jumping on the band wagon, I've never liked her and why? Because she does nothing for the image of females from the North East!

3. What are your three favourite crafting products?

At the moment, yarn, knitting needles and scissors.

4. If you could invent something to do anything what do you think it would be?

Something that would rid the world of mess and dirt and save me doing loads of housework!

5. What are the last three books that you read?

Elizabeth George 'What Came Before he Shot her'

Gil McNeil 'Divas Don't Knit'

Debbie Stoller 'Stitch 'N Bitch Handbook'

6. QVC or create & Craft?

QVC

7. Docrafts or Dovecraft or DCWV?

DCWV

8. What is your claim to fame?

OOOOHHHHHH, I've a few of these, and they are all really sad!

I have met Davina McCall and been on MTV with her a long, long time ago!

My parents used to live next door to the Krankies!

I've been part of the audience on Challenge Anneka!

Consider yourself tagged if you are reading this!

PS - no sign of a baby yet, but hopefully soon!

39 weeks! Arrrrrgggghhhhh!

Right it's official, I am completely and utterly p***** off now, I am sick of carrying this bump around! I want to have my baby today, by tea-time but after we have been to Teesside Park this morning! I've got to have it in less than two weeks, as the MIL wants to come over and I am NOT delivering at home (which is what I want) when other people are in the house. So no pressure or anything baby, but if you don't put in an appearance soon, Mummy is cancelling the homebirth and we will have to go to horrible hospital instead! GGGRRRRRR! And before anybody says a word, not one, not one single old wives tale of inducing labour works. I have tried every single last one of them, well apart from castor oil as I have read in can be a bit dangerous. So, don't suggest s**, fresh pineapple, Evening Primrose Oil, long walks or curry's because, they don't work. I was thinking about wearing a Tena and going for a good long bounce on the trampoline in next doors garden but they moved last week taking the trampoline with them so bang goes that idea.

So apart from being very grumpy and very impatient what have I been upto? Well, the green baby blanket is coming along nicely and I've done about 6 inches so far and I am into my second ball of yarn. I've also challenged myself to master double pointed needles and I've started my first sock using some lovely yarn from my local yarn store. Here's my progress so far


I am using the pattern the ladies in the shop gave me, so it's just some 2x2 ribbing and then stocking stitch. While I was doing the ribbing I was managing to knit inside out and I couldn't figure out how if I was just doing knit it would be stocking stitch. I finally decided that all socks must be knitted inside out but a search on the Internet told me differently and I have now master the art of knitting the right way round! So apart from the complicated bits, socks look like a good option for picking up and doing when time is short, whereas patterned stuff and blankets are better for night-time, in front of TV knitting!

Well, off to persuade the kids to have a bath and then we are going shopping. George has a birthday party this afternoon to go to and then that will be another day of waiting for the baby over with, isn't this a horrible way to live!

Blanket Progress

The Big Bad Baby Blanket is finally underway. The moss stitch border is lovely and I love the effect but boy does it take ages to do, especially with the way I knit! The yarn is just gorgeous to knit with and I would definitely buy it again. The blanket is knitting up a lot smaller than I thought and at the moment will be approx 50 cm across which really is quite neat. I need to decide what to do about the length, the pattern makes it square, but I am wondering whether to do three repeats of pattern to make it slightly longer than it is wide. The other consideration in that is how much yarn that will take as I only have 5 balls, so far the progress in the photo has taken about half a ball. It's looking good so far though and at the rate I am going I reckon the blanket is definitely favourite to win at the moment!


No signs at all of baby arriving, nothing at all and I kind of feel a whole lot better about it all. I guess I have finally relaxed a little bit and I have stopped looking out for signs that things are about to happen. The bump is really heavy now and my pelvis gets very uncomfortable, but it really isn't for much longer, and within three weeks it will all be over with and I can become one of those really annoying mum's at nursery who insist on refusing to be detached from their 4x4 pram or pushchair despite the fact they get in everybodies way! Well, actually I am more likely to leave the pram outside of nursery and carry babe in arms but I might do it just one day to make myself really annoying!

38 Weeks!

Had a delivery today! Not the kind I really want but a very close second. Here's my gorgeous Sublime Yarn.


My pram bag is behind the yarn in this one so you can see the colour combination, which is not too bad.


And here's the pattern I am following from 'Stitch and Bitch'. The yarn is thicker than what I had expected (I find alot of DK don't knit aswell as I would like on 4mm needles) so I may well go for 4 mm needles instead of the 3.75 mm I was planning. I don't want the blanket to be huge so we'll see. I also get to use my new Knit Picks needles which I've been dying to have a go with!.


So, I am going to finish a doll's house project I have on the needles for my Mum and then I am going to get this cast on and started. I really want some nice stitch markers to help do this pattern so I am just going to browse on Ebay for some! I am so pleased I've now got something to take my mind of waiting for this baby! Now start placing your bets, what's going to happen first, baby or finished blanket!!!!

Finished Baby Blanket!

I think it's 6 weeks since I started this, and for the first two thirds I flew with it. I then waited for new needles to arrive and started again only to say it was slow going was an understatement. Yesterday I finally decided I would get it done and here it is, all finished. I know for alot of people it's a very plain and boring knit but it's mine, there are no mistakes and although I am not completely happy with my choice of wool, I am really pleased with.


Still no sigh of baby, due date is still two and half weeks away, but I was so convinced that all the signs were pointing to an earlier delivery. I don't want to spend the nest few weeks waiting for the delivery so today I've made loads of plans of things to do around the house and then I am not sitting around waiting for it to happen! I am all ready now, everything is here for the home birth and there is not another thing I need to buy for now. I did treat myself yesterday and used some of the money I had made on EBay to buy some gorgeous wool to knit another little blanket especially for my pram. I've chosen a gorgeous colour called 'gooseberry' in a very special yarn from Sublime, I think I am compensating for the cheap acrylic I used for the other blanket!


I am planning on using the Big Bad Baby Blanket pattern for 'Stitch and Bitch' although I will be using smaller needles as usual! Can't wait for it to arrive!

The Pram!

I always wanted a proper pram, I almost had a proper pram for George, but truthfully it never quite hit the mark. I thought my family was complete after Imogen and so this baby really is the last. My last opportunity to snag a proper, fashionable, upto the minute eye stopping, what I always wanted pram. Well, here it is. I think I have chosen well. It's a Mamas and Papas Ziko Herbie and it's green and it has a proper pram body, that I've bought a mattress for, and it has a matching parasol and changing bag and I love it. It's very similar to the Bugaboo which I like when it's a pram but when it converts to a pushchair it looks a bit strange, well to me anyway. (I don't want to offend anyone who has one)
We haven't, rather foolishly, done a car run yet, but we are fairly confident the chassis at least will go in the boot of my car and then the car seat can clip onto the frame if needed. If I am heading further afield and need the pram body we shall just have to squeeze it in with a shoe horn, but I really do think it will fit!

So there we go, I've got my pram now all I need is a baby to go in it! Although my legs are well and truly crossed until Monday and why you might wonder. Well, no home birth if I go into labour this weekend, and I have no pain relief at home other than a TENS machine! My pethidine is at the hospital pharmacy so I need to collect that on Monday morning and there is no sign of my oxygen or entonox yet! One other minor concern is Rich is away paint balling this morning and not back until very late Sunday night, he is also right down the other end of the country in PLYMOUTH. So, no baby yet, I hope.

36 Weeks and Counting

I am 36 weeks now and it seems very close especially now almost everything is in place for the home delivery. The midwife called today to deliver the equipment and some of the drugs and the rest should be arriving very soon, including cylinders of oxygen and entonox and some pethidine.

Much to the midwife's surprise, but not mine, the baby's head is 3/5 th's engaged. I had a feeling I had 'dropped' as they say and fingers crossed this means I won't be going over my dates like I have with George and Imogen. I did think that baby's head didn't always engage with subsequent pregnancies but obviously I am proof they do, or I am actually in labour and unaware!

I should be getting the pram and the car seat this week and the clothes and bedding are all sorted and should be washed, dried and put away by the end of the week. We have enough wipes to last until Christmas and nappies coming out of our ears so we are kind of all ready now! I can't deliver at home until next Sunday and offically I am not on maternity leave until a week on Saturday so anything before either of those dates will kind of muck things up a bit but I am so ready to lose the bump and meet the baby now!

Up above is a 'dishcloth', the pattern came from Ravelry and I am knitting it in merino wool in a gorgeous shade of green. It's a very similar colour to the pram actually! I am not planning on using it as a dishcloth I just wanted to try following a more complex pattern, this is a moss stitch border, lace background and a butterfly in the middle. I love the way the 'columns' of stocking stitch and weaving in and around the holes. I've knitted it on smallish needles as I really have come to the conclusion I like my knitting tight and close together. The baby blanket is almost done, I was planning on backing it with cotton but I've had all these lovely blankets given to me on loan and now don't really know how much use it will get! I'll finish it I guess and see how I feel!

I am really tired now, I woke at about 3 ish this morning and just couldn't get back to sleep, I read for a while and then finally got up about 6 to watch the news and do some knitting. I may well go and put my feet up for half an hour!

Finished Projects

I thought I would share my knitted eggs with you and my lovely bunch of spring flowers. The egg pattern came from here and I really enjoyed doing them. I used 8 cm polystyrene eggs for inside and they fit just nice!


I got my Ravelry invite today so I've been busy finding my way around the site, and even if I just use it to keep upto date with my projects it's been worth the wait of almost two weeks! Knitting wise I am almost finished by baby blanket, the Addi needles seemed to take ages to come and then I needed to get back into the swing of doing the blanket again as it is a bit mind-numbing! I have done the front of a tank top for George with some Sirdar snuggly DK which is very, very soft, so soft I am not sure this tank top will last very long! I am also knitting another scarf for Imogen with some yarn she gave me in Boyes this week. It is one of those fancy yarns in bright pink and white and it's knitting up really nicely. I wouldn't wear it myself but she likes it! I don't know whether one ball is going to be enough for a long scarf so I might pinch an idea I have seen somewhere and I'll share it with you when I've done. Now until those three projects are finished I am not starting another thing!

Bump is doing well, it's very low, but measuring where it should at my last midwife visit. I have the midwife coming to the house on Monday to plan the home-birth and drop of the kit they need which is quite exciting. The crib is in our room, but needs washing and I've got the pram to pick up not next week but the week after. I am also finished work now which is great although I have yet to feel the benefits yet as I've been busy every day this week! The children are off school next week and I am looking forward to some nice weather and some time in the garden.

One last photo to share, it's a blanket I finished the other weekend at the caravan. The wool is Aero and I knitted it on very small needles for some reason, so not only is it small it's very heavy. The cats like it anyway, I've used it in a basket for them to sleep in! And if you look really closely you can see it's covered in catknip and clicked already!