Slow progress...

It's been a tough few days so I've been glad of being at a straightforward stage on my jumper where I can just keep knitting, round and round in circles, not having to think too hard about it and allowing the simplicity to calm my mind. I haven't felt in the head space to do any cross stitching so I haven't even picked it up which makes me feel pretty guilty to be honest, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually. With the jumper I'm probably about two thirds of the way up the main body 'trunk' so need to knit a little further and then make a start on the sleeves. They should knit up a little quicker as there are less stitches per round although a lot more shaping.

I don't know if it's the weather, the heating being on or the hardness of the water round here but the skin on my hands is incredibly dry at the moment and I noticed that it has a tendency to snag on the yarn as I knit at the moment which causes a bit of 'bobbling' I suppose. It's frustrating but with a concerted effort on my part in applying hand cream it does seem to be improving, just a shame that I then have to wait for it to soak in fully before dong any knitting otherwise the yarn gets greasy.  I'm pretty rubbish at self care in general and I know that realistically I need to take better care of myself, it's just hard to fit in (as I'm sure the majority of parents will attest to). To an extent I suppose it could be argued that doing a bit of crafting is my self care as it's something that I enjoy so maybe I just need to find some more time to do it - anyone know where I can find an extra couple of hours each day?

Right. Stop moaning Makepeace and focus on the positives!

These are the pull out storage we're getting for two
cupboards - they looked fab in the shop

We're making good progress in the kitchen.  All the wallpaper is now off the walls, the myriad of small holes from screws, poorly plaster and where the worktop was fitted have been filled and we've made a start on sanding down some of the woodwork in preparation for painting (such a SLOW job).  The most exciting thing for me this week though has been that we have ordered the kitchen units, the doors, the worktop and two pull out storage 'things'. With it being a small kitchen I wanted to maximise the space as much as possible. I'm quite excited about these though as it will mean that I no longer have to dive into the deep, dark depths of a cupboard (with the spiders, eeek!!). Everything will be arriving 2 weeks today and I CANNOT wait. Just need to make sure that we have done as much as humanly possible to prepare the room for the new units.

Finally, something that made me smile this week was how much little miss enjoyed her Messy Play session. I thought I'd share it with you all too as she made such a mess, but thoroughly enjoyed herself as always.

Exploring a new texture and turning herself into an Oompa Loompa 😂

Until next week,

M x

Knitting in the round

Well it's been pretty chilly here on the north east coast and this morning we've even managed a light dusting of snow (which melted almost as quickly as it settled) so as yet we haven't been able to build a snowman. I've been under the weather too for most of the week and generally feeling quite sorry for myself with it. Combined with a very clingy toddler it hasn't been the most productive of weeks. Although I did manage to squeeze in some baking with Master L.

I did manage to finish Betty the Bunny though and I have to say I'm quite proud of her. I decided against adding her little shoes - I made one up and put it on but after discussing it with the husband we both thought she looked better shoeless (plus it's one thing less to have to find at the end of a good day playing). At some point I'll have a go at some of the other outfits that are in the magazine for her and maybe even do another dress in a different colourway so Miss A has some choices of outfits when she's playing. I shared a photo of the completed Betty on to the Let's Knit magazine's Facebook page and got this feedback:

I've made a start on my new jumper this week: after an initial rookie's mistake of twisting the cast on row when I joined it in the round (and only realising about 4 rows in which given that there are 228 stitches in a round is a fair amount of knitting time), I've made a reasonable amount of progress and have now completed about 2 1/2 inches of the rib for the main body of the jumper. I'm not as far along as I would have liked to be, but things have just conspired against me really. I will get there and I'm hopeful that I'll make some good progress this weekend.

We're down to just a small amount of wallpaper to strip in the kitchen, 2 cupboards to remove, the last few tiles to take off and a small stretch of worktop to take off. The plan is to fit the units in about 3 weeks when my husband has a week off. I have to admit I will be glad when it's finished as I'm not enjoying the lack of storage and preparation space.

 Right, I'm going to leave it there this week as I'm currently typing with the small one's heading resting on my arm and it's making for tough going.

Until next time,

M x

Knitting 'Betty the bunny'

Phew, I'm actually glad it's Friday, it's been a week and a half! I'm shattered and ready for the weekend not unlike the boys. So I'm going to keep this short (she says) and get back to chilling out for the evening.

First couple of lines knitted

Crafting wise I've only done a little bit of the Lake Baikal cross stitch because I've been busy knitting up 'Betty the bunny', a freebie kit that came with the February edition of Let's Knit magazine which I treat myself to last weekend. It's a very cute little toy that I'm sure little miss A will love and there are a couple of additional patterns in the magazine itself for some clothing for the bunny.

The actual pattern is fairly straightforward to knit and I have only come across a couple of little issues which are niggles more than problems. There were one or two abbreviations in the pattern which were only explained in the long list in the magazine itself (and they weren't ones I'd come across before) which is fine, if a little frustrating if like me you don't necessarily carry the magazine around with you. The pattern for the bunny was printed separately to the magazine and so originally I thought that would be all I needed. The second little niggle is definitely a personal one and mainly comes from being out of practice with knitting and is just that, because the pattern is knit on 3mm needles it has given me some cramping in my left hand (I'm right handed).

'Betty' before her legs were attached this afternoon
and her cute little tail 😍

It's a quick knit with that aside though and I could probably have had it fully finished in a day to a day and a half if I'd had more time / my hands weren't aching as much. As it is, I just need to sew up the dress and add a button, knit one more shoe and sew both up and knit up the hair bow all of which I should get finished tomorrow all being well. Then it will just be a case of adding the facial features. In the instructions it uses toy eyes but, as I've mentioned previously, they are not easy to source in my town and as I'm giving it to an under 3 I've decided to embroider on the eyes. If I have a more serious gripe with the freebie it's that there is no thread included for the mouth and nose which are embroidered on but I guess that's because they assume that the average crafter will have some in their stash. Sadly I don't 😔

Next week should see me starting to knit my jumper which I'm knitting in the round and will be using the pattern that I have converted from being knit in sections on 2 needles. I picked up the wool for this last weekend in a gorgeous deep purple. I'm quite excited to see how it turns out and *think* that I have sussed out how to do the neckline which I was panicking about a few weeks ago.

Right, I said I was keeping this short...

Until next week,

M x